A/N: Okay, the cold is gone, the weekend was long, and all of you peops are so supportive with your reviews... and so, we have a new chapter!

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 4

Hardison looked deep in concentration as he took a tiny screwdriver to Eliot's earbud and fixed it to receive waves at a level they would be able to use. Of course, this kind of thing took much less intensive thought than it appeared which was how he was quite easily carrying on a whispered conversation with the hitter whilst he worked.

"What the hell is goin' on, man?" he asked, almost sounding mad though it was hard to tell with his voice so low and soft.

Eliot immediately opened his mouth to reply but the words stuck in his throat. Nothing had been going on with Parker, that's what he needed to say, but when he thought on it he realised it wasn't entirely true. Sure, nothing had happened, but it could've. If Hardison hadn't walked in, well, Eliot was seriously wondering what he would have done. Would he actually have kissed Parker? How would she have reacted? Maybe she would've moved first... It was a little too much to take in right now, too much to consider amongst everything else and Eliot refused to do it.

"Just do your job" he hissed at Hardison, taking the now fixed earbud from his hand and pushing it back into his ear, testing that Nate could now hear him.

The hacker gave him a scathing look before walking across the room to where Parker was laid out on the bed. She was on her stomach now, kicking her legs like a kid. She was still reading the brochures and information given to her and Eliot regarding all the activities and details about The Twin Souls Retreat. At least now she was reading in her head and not aloud, which had started all the trouble in the first place.

"Hey, babe" said Hardison as he approached her, "You wanna give me the earbud a sec?" he asked her with a genuine smile which she returned as she handed over the comm device.

"What's wrong with them anyway?" asked Eliot as he came over too, thinking about sitting down on the bed for all of a second before backing up a step.

"Cell phone blocker interferes with the signals is all" explained Hardison as he tinkered with the bud, "Just a slight change and... there we go, all fixed up" he smiled once more as he handed it back to Parker and she popped it back in her ear, "And one other thing for my favourite thief" he said, moving to reach into his bag that ought to have been a maintenance man's tools.

Parker watched with curiosity, and Eliot did the same, until suddenly a bag appeared and was tossed into the blonde's waiting hands. The grin on her face lit up the room, in spite of the fact the only gift she had received was a large bag of fortune cookies to eat.

"You're the best" she told Hardison, immediately pulling the bag open and munching on her snacks.

"You get crumbs in that bed and I'm not gonna be happy!" Eliot snapped at her without a moments pause, though all Parker did in response was stick out her tongue.

"Hardison, have you seen this?" she asked the hacker who came to look over her shoulder as she waved the brochure in his face, "Tomorrow we have dance classes"

"Dancing? As in, like... actual dance classes?" the hacker checked, stammering some over the words that felt alien in his mouth, "You? And him?" he said, pointing from Parker to Eliot and trying to stifle the chuckle that rose in his throat.

It became more and more impossible as he heard similar giggles being turned into coughs and splutters in his ear. Parker wasn't sure why it was funny, but Eliot was sure turning a weird shade of red as he heard the reactions from the rest of the team.

"I think now is a good time for this maintenance guy to get gone" said Hardison, coughing some as he picked up his bag and turned to go, "You two need plenty of rest, before your dance classes tomorrow" he smirked too much, practically running out of the door before Eliot had a chance to explode.

It was no surprise when the very next second the hitter went offline, barely saying so before tearing the bud from his ear and tossing it on the nigthstand without a care. Parker heard Sophie tell her through a stifled laugh that she should go too and get some rest. She responded with a cheery 'goodnight' as she removed her own comm device and placed it a little more carefully on the nightstand at her side of the bed. Eliot watched as she closed up the brochures she'd been reading and rolled off the bed, stuffing the papers and such in the top drawer.

Without a moments pause she righted herself, and began stripping off, her top coming over her head first and then her hands going to the zipper on her skirt. It took Eliot a moment for his brain to catch up to what his eyes were seeing and he spun around fast like a gentleman should. Parker had taken her clothes off in front of him before, in fact she'd done it in an elevator on their very first job as a team. He still wasn't used to that behaviour though and at least when he'd seen her do it before he knew she was changing into some other outfit or disguise for a con. Right now he didn't know if she was going to end up in some kind of nightwear or just naked lying next to him in a bed they were forced to share.

Trying not to let his mind settle too long on that, Eliot set about getting himself ready for bed too. He pulled his T-shirt over his head and flung it into the chair, his hands hovering at his belt buckle as he wondered if he really wanted to take off his pants. Reaching for his suitcase, he selected his sweats and exchanged his jeans for the more comfortable pants. What he was unaware of was the fact that Parker was watching. Sure, her back was still facing him, but as she had moved in the changing of her clothes, her eyes caught the mirror on the opposite wall and she got a good view of his naked back and his underwear whilst he remained oblivious to his audience.

Parker smiled to herself at the view she was getting. There was no denying that Eliot was a well-built man, and she would have to be blind not to notice. She was a woman and she had eyes and blood coursing through her veins at quite a speed given what she was seeing. Of course, thinking too much about Eliot's body and the things that could be done with it was probably not a good idea, given that they were about to share a bed, and he thought she was every kind of crazy and weird. Even if she offered him the chance of making out or even sex, she doubted he'd go for it.

When she turned around, shaking her head to clear her thoughts out, Parker found Eliot was already in the bed now, his back facing her, not much more than his head and one shoulder visible now. If she didn't know better, she'd think he might be asleep already, but of course he wasn't.

Eliot wasn't convinced he was going to be able to sleep at all tonight, as he waited and eventually felt the slight movement of the mattress as Parker climbed into the bed beside him. He hoped she was wearing clothes, just because it would make things less awkward if either of them moved too much in their sleep.

"Goodnight, Eliot" she said through a muffled yawn as she flipped off the light.

"G'night" he replied, closing his eyes and willing sleep to come, but honestly, he doubted it would.

This whole thing was just too weird already, and it was only the first day!

"It's only the first day and already I feel exhausted" said Sophie, leaning her elbows on the table and putting her face in her hands, "Oh, Parker was just not cut out for grifting" she all but wailed.

"Relax, Soph, she'll do fine" Nate advised her, patting her on the shoulder, "Besides, she has Eliot with her, he seems to cope just fine with this, so I'm sure they'll handle it well enough" he tried to sound comforting, even as he got up and wandered around the table to refill his scotch glass with a double, "You have to have confidence in them"

"Confidence?" echoed Sophie as she raised her head to look across at him, the look on her face just this side of mad he realised when he met her gaze, "I had no idea it came bottled these days" she gestured to the scotch he was pouring.

Nate only gave a wan smile and downed his drink too fast. Now wasn't the best time for him to be getting into an argument with Sophie about his alcoholism. He knew he drank too much, he wasn't so stupid he couldn't count shots or didn't understand the implications of his being less than sober for a not small portion of the day and night, but it really wasn't any of her business.

"Maybe you should head home, get some rest" he advised, but she wasn't letting go that easy.

Sophie wasn't stupid either and she always knew when someone was trying to throw her off the scent. Changing subjects, getting conversations to go in just the direction you wanted, these were the skills she'd learnt and learnt well. She would be a pretty poor grifter if she couldn't manipulate people, and yet she did not take kindly to others trying the same tricks on her. She certainly wasn't going to stand for Nate shutting her out like this, not now.

"Don't do that to me" she said sternly as she got up from her seat and faced him, her arms folded across her chest, "I know why you're changing the subject just as well as you do" she told him, "And I know why we didn't go to that retreat as the undercover couple" she added perhaps too loudly as she gestured towards the vid screen that still showed various shots of the resort in question thanks to the security cameras that continued running all night.

"I told you" said Nate calmly as if she hadn't just exploded at him, "there might be people there that could ID us..."

"Oh, spare me the company line crap, Nate!" Sophie yelled once again, "The real reason you didn't want to go to Twin Souls with me is not because we might be identified as fakes. I don't think it's that you'd be ashamed to be seen with me, thankfully, or even that you might have to show some real emotion for an hour in each day" she ranted on, "It's because the place is dry isn't it? Because you couldn't have a drink in there, right?"

She was asking questions, and yet they both knew she wasn't looking for any kind of answer. Sophie was smart, she knew a lot more than Nate ever gave her credit for. She could read him like a book, and to her he was a very simple, thin book with large print letters on enormous pages. It was the only thing he could find to dislike about her, the fact she refused to let him be, let him suffer alone and hide in his dark little hole with a bottle of booze.

For the longest moment they stared at each other, her not willing to say anymore until he did, and him just wondering what on Earth he could say that wouldn't make matters worse. They were both saved from having to be the first to break the awkward silence when Hardison strolled in, maintenance man bag still in hand and hard hat on his head, just because he'd hardly noticed he was wearing it.

"Er, yeah" he said from the doorway as the deathly silence and tension in the room all but gave him a bump on the head, "Y'all know I could hear you this whole time, right?" he checked, only just now removing the bud from his ear.

Sure, he could've taken it out sooner, not so much when he was concentrating on driving back, but after. The trouble was he was so caught up in the conversation they'd all been waiting too long for someone to have with their leader, Hardison just couldn't help but stick it out to the end.

Nate didn't say a word, just picked up his glass and the scotch bottle as well, with a look that was more than a little defiant, before stalking out of the room.

"Doesn't matter what you heard, Hardison" said Sophie, though her eyes remained on the mastermind as he walked out and slammed the door, "It's no secret he's a drunk!" she yelled behind Nate, for all the good it did.

To Be Continued...

A/N2: What does everybody think about me working the Nate/Sophie dynamic into this as well? Eliot/Parker is my main ship, but I like to play with the Mastermind and the Grifter's relationship too...