A/N: I am so feeling the love on this fic - thank you soooo much! Now, for those that don't know and might like to, Eliot's fake identity comes from two characters previously played by Christian Kane - Paul in Her Minor Thing and Lindsey MacDonald in Angel.

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 3

"Oh, this can't be good" said Sophie with a worried look as she and Nate watched the vid screen.

The grifter was now pointing to one panel where Eliot and Parker had just appeared into the main hall. A gathering of many couples, they had to presume an introductory meeting, was taking place. Without herself and Nate to guide them, well, Sophie just about trusted Eliot to keep to the story and his alias without too much trouble, but Parker had a tendency to be a bit of a loose cannon and to panic when she was left to her own devices on the grift.

"How's it going with the earbuds, Hardison?" asked Nate worriedly, turning from the screen to see the hacker alternately playing with his own comm device and tapping away on the laptop before him.

"Almost there... done" he proclaimed as he finished working on his own and handed Nate and Sophie their own buds back, "Course this doesn't really help us" he pointed out, just as the pair opened their mouths to try and talk to Eliot and Parker, "I need access to their earbuds too, else we still can't talk to them"

"Damn!" Sophie expressed her annoyance as she turned back to the vid screen.

She half-wished she could at least hear what was going on in that room at the retreat, but the other half of her was equally as glad she couldn't. She would only want to help all the more if she could tell her team members were somehow in trouble, and right now she had no means of doing that.

"Okay, it's not the end of the world" said Nate, considering their options, "Chances are good this meeting will be the only one today" he thought aloud as he checked his watch and found it was already mid-afternoon, "The real classes probably don't start until bright and early tomorrow morning, so we have the whole of tonight to get in there, and get the comms fixed"

"You got a plan, don'tcha?" said Hardison with a grin as the mastermind glanced back at him.

"Don't I always?" Nate asked with a half-smile, reaching for his abandoned glass on the table.

For once, Sophie didn't say a word about his drinking so early in the day or to an extreme. Honestly, she really didn't notice as she stared at the vid screen still. Parker looked awkward as anything with Eliot's arm around her shoulders, the pair appearing clearly uncomfortable together, even in this grainy black and white footage they were able to get via the security cameras.

Of course, it didn't blow their cover at all. A lot of people would be wary of a couples retreat like this, embarrassed perhaps that they needed some kind of therapy to make their marriage work. Still, Sophie knew some of Eliot's concern and almost all of Parker's own was fear borne out of having no back-up. She felt for them, she really did.

"Welcome to the Twin Souls Retreat" said Laurie Redfern as she stood before the room full of couples, "I know I already said that to each of you individually but it bears repeating" she grinned too much from her place on the stage, the squeaky laughter that escaped her lips making both Parker and Eliot wince, "You are all so welcome here in our little resort that is custom made to help you" she said, spreading her arms wide to her whole audience.

"Yeah, custom-made to ruin lives" Eliot grumbled under his breath, quiet enough that only his 'wife' heard.

"I don't know" shrugged Parker, leaning in closer to whisper to her 'husband', "She seems too nice to be a crook. Y'know, like really nice"

"It's called acting" the hitter reminded her, "She's no more a nice person than we are married!" he told her, stopping from talking a moment later when the couple sat in front turned around to glare at them for daring to interrupt the speech they were listening too.

Eliot faked an apology, growling audibly when the pair turned around to face the front again. Parker rolled her eyes though he didn't see her do it, else he might have been mad. This was going to be a looong job if all he was going to do was get mad at people. She didn't even have Sophie or Nate or Hardison to talk to til the comms were fixed and that seemed a long time coming.

"So, there are packs being passed out to you now by our wonderful staff" Laurie Redfern was saying when Eliot and Parker both tuned back in to the little red-head's speech, "These contain the rules of the retreat, your schedules for the week, and some general information you guys and girls might find useful" she smiled, "Now if you have any questions, we want you to know that we are here for you, anytime, day or night..." she rattled on, though the fake couple in the third row were no longer paying any attention... again!

"Dance classes?" Parker reacted with shock and apparently some fear when she spotted such a thing written on the timetable sheet she had just pulled from the pack labelled 'Mr MacDonald & Ms White'.

"And worse than that, Psycho-Analysis" grumbled Eliot, "Means talkin' about feelings I don't have to a guy that thinks I should 'cry it all out'" he rolled his eyes as he explained to Parker in his own words how awful he expected those particular sessions to be.

"Now I get why Nate and Sophie didn't want to come here" she said, wrinkling he nose, "It's like a torture chamber" she shuddered, immediately regretting speaking at all when Laurie snapped at her.

"Hello!" she called, "You two need to quieten down and listen now" she instructed as if they were little kids, all eyes in the room turning to stare at the fake couple, "Unless of course you have something you wanna share with the class?" she said with that same over-sized grin she'd been wearing before.

"We're just... so excited to be here" said Eliot with a forced smile at all the men and women around him.

He nudged Parker's arm to get her talk too, instead of just staring with her mouth opening and closing like a fish. Of course, he maybe ought to have thought that one through...

"Yep, excited" she grinned too much, "Can't wait to be tortured!" she told the assembled crowd, who laughed politely, assuming she was making a joke - she wasn't.

Eliot pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming on, as he walked back into the room that bore his and Parker's fake names. He hated this place already and really wished he was anywhere but here doing this con right now. The thought occurred that he could technically just walk out, make some excuse like his marriage wasn't worth saving and just go. Then he would remember why they were really here, that they were trying to get as much justice as they could for a guy who had killed himself because of the people here and what they were trying to do. That made him stick this thing out, inspite of the migraine, the awfully peppy woman in charge, and Parker being… well, Parker.

"We really have to stay here a week?" she checked as she followed him into the room, letting the door slam behind her, and flopping down on her back across the bed.

"If we wanna do what we do, yeah" Eliot told her as he turned to see her lying there, the folder of information they'd been given hugged to her chest still, and God only knew what that was about.

After their meeting they had been taken to a dining room to eat. Parker had at least looked happy then, until she realised that the whole detox thing this retreat had going on extended to food. So many of her favourites were out of bounds, a healthy balanced diet the only option for the next week apparently. It didn't bother Eliot, he didn't really eat junk food anyway, though the lack of a decent drink might just kill him before the week was out. Dealing with Parker was always a little easier when he was three beers in; sober for a week with her was going to get interesting, and not necessarily in the good way.

Aside from the food, the dining room had started the couples surrounding them wanting to socialise. Eliot was by nature not really a social animal. He was the lone wolf and he liked it that way. Of course, he didn't have a choice but to be friendly and polite here, and at least somewhat nice to Parker in front of company. After all 'Alice' was supposed to be 'Paul's' wife, and however on the rocks they were, they had to seem to care for each other a little, else why bother coming to a retreat that ought to be trying to put them back on track?

"You think Hardison will get the earbuds fixed soon?" asked the blonde from her place on the bed, her hand going to her head as she fiddled with the comm she wore, "It's too quiet in my head"

"You mean there aren't enough other voices in there already?" said Eliot as he came to sit on the end of the bed for lack of knowing where else to be eight now.

Parker's only response was to sit up enough to meet his eyes and stick out her tongue like a six year old.

"Very mature" the hitter told her as he kicked off his boots and considered lying down.

He might've thought better of it when he realised Parker was still lying there too, having moved around now so her head was on the pillow. Eliot swiftly told himself he was being an idiot. Like sharing a bed to sleep in was a big deal, especially since the other person was Parker. It wasn't as if anything would ever happen between them.

With that thought in mind, Eliot swung his legs up onto the bed and laid with one arm behind his head staring up at the ceiling.

They were kind of stuck here, with no comms and nothing to really do until the morning when they were expected to attend their various dumb classes. It might've seemed like some kind of hell, but right now wasn't so bad when he thought on it. The bed was comfortable, he'd had plenty to eat, and folks here were pleasant enough, if not a little annoying. With no team in his ear and no distractions like TV or radio rattling away in the background, Eliot felt decidedly peaceful, almost enough to close his eyes and...

"What the hell are you doin'?" he snapped, eyes popping open as he scooched away from the finger poking him in the ribs.

"I'm bored" said Parker, pouting like a kid as she rolled onto her side and ever closer to the hitter, "You wanna do something with me?" she asked, all in innocence.

Elliot was a little disturbed to find several answers came to mind that he would never, ever suggest to this girl in particular. He wasn't blind, he knew Parker was attractive. She had the body of a gymnast and the face of an angel; if it weren't for the fact he knew she was a thief and a crazy person rolled up into one package, maybe Eliot would be tempted to tell her just exactly what he'd like to do with her, but then again, maybe not.

For all that he was, a hitter, a liar, a thief, his Momma had raised him right, and he wasn't going to take advantage of Parker just because they were here alone together like this, and the opportunity had presented itself.

"If you're bored, go find a friend to talk to" he suggested, gesturing for her to leave just as soon as she wanted to, "Or just go to sleep, I don't care, so long as you're not bugging me" he told her, perhaps a little too harshly, as he turned onto his side, facing away from her.

Eliot heard Parker let out a sigh behind him and then a rustle of papers as presumably she was pulling pages out of the information pack she'd been holding this whole time.

"The Twin Souls Retreat Welcome Pack" she read aloud, "Welcome to our world, a world in which we believe every marriage is worth saving, and we want to be the ones to help you save it..." she continued on.

Eliot just knew she was going to go on and on reading until one of two things happened - either she ran out of pages to read, which was gonna take a very long time, or he was gonna lose his cool and snap at her, letting her win by giving her attention. In the end, it had to be the latter of those two things, because Eliot just couldn't take the monotone with which she was reading for a moment longer.

"Will you shut up!" he snapped, turning over fast.

The momentum of his movement and the bounce of the mattress threw him closer than he meant. Much further and he might have actually landed on top of Parker. As it was they were close enough that he could feel her breath in his face. She visibly swallowed hard as Eliot shook his hair out of his eyes and both of them considered what they were doing.

A sudden knock broke the would-be moment, and before either of the fake couple could move the door swung open to reveal one of the resorts porters and a very familiar young man dressed like a maintenance guy. It was Hardison, and his eyes were wide as saucers at the sight he was facing now.

To Be Continued...