A/N: Tying this story up is proving to be problematic. Might get two more chapters out of it, or maybe just one long one? We'll see. In the inbetween time, thanx to all who reviewed - you rock!
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)
Chapter 15
"Really, Nate? This early?" asked Sophie as she wandered into his office and found him pouring a healthy measure of scotch into a glass, despite the fact it was barely mid-morning.
"I just... er..." the Mastermind foundered some over an excuse before deciding it was easier just to change the subject entirely, "How's Hardison doing with that audio from the bug?" he asked.
Sophie's eyes narrowed and he ought to have known that she was not going to let it go so easily.
"He's doing just fine" she said simply, "Now, back to my question about the booze?" she tried again, taking the seat opposite his desk and crossing her legs as she sat down, "Nate, you can't keep doing this. It's getting worse"
"If you knew what I knew, Sophie, you might be turning to the bottle yourself" he told her, taking a gulp from his glass, watching over the rim as the cogs turned in the grifter's head.
She was good at reading people, probably better than him in some ways, and yet she didn't seem to have noticed what he was sure of by now. There was a long moment when she considered asking what he meant and Nate genuinely thought about telling her, until both finally realised it was unnecessary.
Sophie gasped with sudden realisation, a light dawning in her head and all the pieces falling into place. Getting up from the seat, she rushed to the door and looked out. Hardison was in the boardroom with his headphones on, listening to the audio from the bug Parker had planted. He would probably be there for hours, given the two huge bottles of orange soda and giant bag of gummy frogs he was primed with. Still, Sophie wasn't taking any chances as she closed Nate's office door and returned to her seat, whispering across the desk at him.
"You think something real is going on with Eliot and Parker" she gasped, not a question but a statement since she was already sure she had got his full meaning.
"Well, I think there's a high possibility" he told her with consideration as he leant back in his chair, "It really never occurred to me before. Honestly, I was more worried about Hardison falling for her and that causing problems" he shook his head, "Oh, I know Parker is, er, off the rails or whatever, but I thought Eliot at least had more sense" he said putting a hand to his head as it began to ache already.
"Nate, it's not about good sense" Sophie reminded him, though her brain was running at a mile a minute putting this together still.
She had seen signs, or rather heard them, when it came to real feelings developing between the hitter and the thief. He was so quick to defend her, so angry when that Roger bloke upset her. She didn't want anyone to hear her latest conversation with Laura Matthius and had stumbled on a reason why she liked the woman so much. Things were different this morning too, the morning after the night before when both Eliot and Parker had offlined without warning...
"Oh God, I think they had sex last night!" she exclaimed suddenly, causing Nate to all but choke on his scotch.
"Yes, unfortunately, I figured that out too" he said as he wiped his chin with the back of his hand, "Now, I know, it's not my place to tell them they can't have... a relationship" he opted for, not sure how else to go about discussing this, "but it's going to complicate things"
"Maybe" the grifter nodded her agreement, "but, I mean, I can't deny that when I think about it, they do make an adorable couple" she smiled without really meaning to until she saw the look on Nate's face, "I'm just saying, I think they'd be so cute together. The crazy little thief to keep him on his toes; the protective hitter to keep her safe. It's a perfect opposites attract match" she reasoned, "and neither of them ever has to lie about who they really are" she shrugged.
"Yes, but they're on our team" the mastermind pressed his point, sitting up in his chair as if leaning over the desk would make him more right, "We're just now establishing a... a dynamic that works. This is going to confuse things" he shook his head.
"It's clearly not confusing them" said Sophie thoughtfully, "And I know what you're thinking, Nate, but don't. They're not us" she told him with such a look in her eyes that he couldn't quite read.
Perhaps disappointment that their own relationship was not running so smoothly or quite in the same direction as Eliot and Parker seemed to be with their own. Maybe she was making a different point entirely but there wasn't time to figure it out or ask her as the office door suddenly swung open within seconds of a knock that went unanswered.
"Guys, you gotta come hear this" Hardison grinned from the doorway, "I got somethin'. Somethin' gooood" he told them, encouraging them to follow.
Out in the board room, Nate and Sophie listened as Hardison flipped on the audio that now blared through the speakers of the room instead of just the hacker's headphones. There was some muffled, garbled chatter that the sensitive bug had picked up in the room, then a moments silence before Ritter's voice became loud and clear.
"Jer, it's Danny. We got another good batch in this week, probably at least three sets of clients, plenty of cash, easy to break up, but this has to be the last" he explained, apparently to a voicemail system, since no response could be heard, "I can't go on like this, Jer, I can't. I need to be with you, not just when we can both spare an hour, when your wife isn't looking. I need you all the time. I can't wait for us to get away from here. I love you"
"Blimey" said Sophie as Hardison shut off the audio, "These two really are serious about this"
"Yeah, serious about duping couples into divorce and bankruptcy... and worse" he recalled with distaste, "I mean, them having an affair and running off together, that hurts Kendall's wife and that's bad for her, but what they're doing here, destroying all these other relationships to fund their getaway" he shook his head, "No, we're not letting them get away with that"
"I don't know what y'all are planning" said Hardison, "but with the connection I had to Ritter's phone and the messages recorded on the bugs, could be I could hack into Kendall's phone too, get the original voicemail message, maybe more" he explained, hoping it was helpful.
Nate paced the floor in front of the vid screen that displayed pictures of the Retreat Staff, green wavy lines of audio feed in another area, and shots from the security cameras on the third set of panels.
"Okay" he said to himself, putting a finger to his ear, "Eliot? Parker?" he called for their attention, hoping they may be back on comms by now, "Guys? You there?" he tried again, but to no avail.
"What the hell those two doing, man?" asked Hardison, though his eyes never left the laptop screen.
He missed the look that Nate and Sophie shared over his head and that was probably a good thing. Those two had a very definite idea of just exactly what their hitter and thief were up to, and it was not something they particularly wanted to share yet.
"Wow" Parker was gasping for air as she fell back against the pillows beside Eliot, "Seriously, I have never said this to a guy before, y'know and meant it, but that might actually feel as good as free falling off a fifty storey building"
Eliot wasn't sure how he would take such a remark from anybody else, but this was Parker. Knowing her the way he did told him that was a huge compliment, and yet he hadn't really the energy to be too smug. They were, without question, the two fittest members of the Leverage team, and yet they had apparently managed to exhaust each other with their activities. Perhaps that wasn't so very surprising when Eliot caught sight of his watch and realised how long they had been enjoying themselves.
"Damn, Nate's probably going crazy right about now" he said, pointing Parker's attention to the timepiece on the nighstand.
"Oops?" she responded with mostly apathy as she propped herself up on her elbow, "Do you care?" she checked, as she leaned over Eliot, genuinely curious.
"About what Nate thinks?" the hitter shrugged, "No, not really, but the con still matters, Parker" he reminded her, "We have to finish this thing, for Natalie James and her husband that she lost and the kids she has to bring up alone now" he told her, as he reached out to gently push her hair off her face.
She knew he was right, and yet Parker also wanted to be a little selfish. Staying here with Eliot, she could get into that idea. Never in her life did the little thief recall a time when she felt this comfortable with anybody, this safe and warm and all. It bothered her some that this happy place she had found was going to get ruined the second they stepped out of the Twin Souls Retreat.
"What happens after?" she asked, "I mean, when we get out of here, when we're not Alice and Paul anymore, do we just go back to how we were before?" she checked.
It wasn't a trick question, Eliot knew. She wasn't trying to trick him into saying he loved her or making a commitment in the dizzy after-sex haze they were currently in. Parker was straight and honest in all things, which was rare for a thief, but it was just part of the enigma that was his Parker. Man, it felt good to realise that she really was his right now.
"Parker, we're not Paul and Alice" he reminded her, "We're Eliot and Parker, and we still will be when we get out of this place" he explained, pulling her gently down beside him and putting his arm round her as her head dropped onto his chest, "I can't promise you that it's going to work out, darlin', because nobody can promise you that, but I'm not gonna act like this didn't happen just 'cause the con is over"
"That didn't really answer my question" she pointed out, a slight frown marring her features, "I mean, I never did this before, I never wanted to, I..." she stumbled a little on what she meant to say, her head suddenly coming up off Eliot's chest so fast she nearly clocked him in the chin, "It's kinda scary" she admitted then, not something she would often allow herself to think nevermind say, but Eliot seemed to get it.
"I know" he nodded his agreement, though hadn't a clue what else to say right now.
Admitting he was as petrified as Parker was at the prospect of having a real romantic relationship with anyone was more than he was willing to give right now. She knew he cared about her a lot, liked her a lot, and sure didn't object to the sex they'd been having. Still, the word love was a step too far right now for either of them, and honestly, this was neither the time nor place for talking this over, not when the con was hotting up the way it was.
"We should check in with the team" he said, pressing a sweet kiss to her lips before moving to get out of bed and pull on some clothes.
Parker waited a moment before following suit. Honestly, she was happy enough that Eliot didn't want to make this thing they had any more than it was. The sex was good, the caring and sharing was the weirdest kind of nice, and there was nothing she could find to complain about, so she wouldn't. Besides, her team-mate and lover made a good point, they had a con to finish, a woman and kids that needed some kind of revenge and hopefully closure following the death of a man who died too young and too soon.
"Nate?" said Eliot as he pushed his earbud back in and Parker grabbed her own.
"Hey, guys" she greeted them, only to realise she was being yelled at before they even began.
There was a confusion of everyone talking over each other, complaints that Eliot and Parker had offlined so long, and everyone trying to get their opinion across. After almost five minutes of this, a loud shrill whistle cut through everything, and Nate and Hardison looked wide-eyed at Sophie, shocked by her behaviour, as all four members of the team grabbed their ears in pain.
"We don't have time for this" the grifter pointed out, "We need to get these awful people exposed and get Eliot and Parker out of the retreat, before Kendall or Ritter realise we're onto them" she reminded the team.
"You found something on the bug?" checked Parker with a grin, "Did we get the bad guys?"
"Almost there, mama" Hardison told her proudly, as he made a couple of extra clicks on his laptop, "Okay, I done my part, but I need you guys to do yours"
"Anything to get outta here" growled Eliot in his usual state of permanent annoyance, though honestly it was all show today.
The truth was, he was kind of glad he had come to the Twin Souls Retreat, and even more so that he'd come along with 'Alice White'. He meant what he said about not being sure how this relationship with Parker would turn out, but one thing was for sure, it certainly wouldn't be dull!
To Be Continued...