It had taken only a moment for Eliot to light a fire in the living room and bring the older man a glass of brandy from the stash he brought over when he moved in. David accepted the glass with a smile and leaned back in his chair crossing his right leg over his left. "I know she's a handful but she's family you know. I can't ask my wife to throw her sister out onto the street, it just wouldn't be right."
"I won't begrudge you that David." Eliot spoke slowly weighing each word fully aware of the importance. "I'm just worried about Parker; she needs to be my priority."
"I can see how much you care about her. It's an incredible thing to look a woman in the eye and know that you would do anything for them isn't it." He winked at Eliot with a smile but Eliot was barely able to return the gesture. In that moment he realized that he never loved a woman the way he did Parker. He thought Aimee but he hadn't even been able to give her the only thing she truly wanted. She wanted a husband to stay and raise horses with her and her father. His devotion to his country and his service wouldn't allow him to give her that, or so he thought at the time. He would give up anything for Parker; he knew it without really even thinking about it. There was nothing, including his own life that he wouldn't give for the crazy little thief. "It's still new for you huh." David nodded clearly recognizing the look on Eliot's face. "But I'm glad you understand, when you love a woman like that the word no isn't in your vocabulary. You just spend the rest of your life praying they never realize the hold they have on you!"
"Parker's a tricky one." Eliot replied, "It's too easy to scare her off, makes me worried that I'll wake up one day and she'll be gone, no trace she ever really existed." For the first time he voiced his deepest fear since he began getting close to the blonde. If anyone could disappear completely it would be Parker, hell he didn't even know her last name!
"You'd search for her?" David asked though it wasn't really a question.
"Of course I would do anything for her." Eliot replied without even thinking.
"Even surrender your principles?" the other man had turned from curious and somewhat amused to contemplative and almost sad.
"What's going on David?" Eliot asked, he had never considered someone a friend so quickly, but he knew right away that David was a good person and in his book that was half the battle.
"Just some stuff at work." He answered taking another pull off his drink with a large sigh. "I found some irregularities in the paperwork when I was working on it last month. I'm pretty sure that someone is embezzling and I brought it up but nothing had been done. When I asked after the status I was told if I ever wanted to work again I would keep my mouth shut no matter what I saw."
"You should go to the police." Eliot told him after a moment of thought.
"I don't have any proof, as soon as they realized the mistake it was corrected, all my hard copies and evidence were destroyed." David sighed again. "I'm sorry to lay this on you but I feel like I can trust you and for someone in my position that's all it takes to get me spitting out stories like crazy." He stood and held out a hand. "I've kept you from comforting your woman long enough my friend."
"Give me some time." Eliot shook his hand in return, "I'll think on your problem, I may be able to help."
"Don't trouble yourself. I'll make sure that proper apologies are sent along to Parker, and tell her I'm sorry as well." David left then the only sign of his presence the empty glass Eliot held in his hand. It seemed trouble found him wherever he went. He was going to need Parker, together they could figure out how deep the corruption in the company went and then they could decide if they needed to involve the team.
The thought of returning to their lives before almost sickened him. He knew maintaining their new closeness in front of Nate and Sophie would be tough, but Hardison would be devastated. Even if Parker had no idea the young hacker was infatuated. Eliot knew it was nothing more than puppy love, Hardison did not spent a lot of time around beautiful women so when one like Parker who seemed almost attainable crossed his path it was like match to flame. Perhaps he should talk to Sophie about setting Hardison up on a few dates before he announced what was still a mostly one sided relationship.
"Is he gone?" a ghostly voice called out from somewhere above him.
"He is, did you hear what he said?" Eliot asked watching as she gracefully dropped down from the rafters just in front of him.
"He's sorry." She answered nodding, "I don't really know why though because it wasn't him that did that."
"He's sorry for what his family did. Sometimes as a man you have to take responsibility for what the people in your family do." Eliot replied with a shrug. For him it wasn't a question, an honorable man would stop by and extend his apologies David was an honorable man, which was the end of it for him.
"Do you apologize for me?" Parker asked walking back into the living room forcing Eliot to follow her in order to continue their conversation.
"Nah, most of the time you're right." He told her smirking.
"I got overloaded." She told him sitting curled up on one end of the couch. Eliot took a moment to run a hand through his hair. It was a stall technique Sophie had taught him to give him a moment to think before speaking. Parker must thing he liked petting himself with how often he was forced to do it in front of her, the girl jumped around so quickly in a conversation it was almost impossible to keep up especially as tired as the evening had made him.
"Overloaded how?" he asked after a moment's thought. He sat down at the other end of the couch prepared for a long discussion that he would only understand half of. He should have known that with Parker one always had to expect the unexpected.
"All the questions and everything that happened. Like when Hardison makes his little computer do all kinds of stuff like his big computer but it's just little so it breaks. It doesn't know how to do all the stuff the big one can so it breaks and it loses something." Eliot simply looked at her; she had her head turned down toward the sofa cushions as she softly pulled at a loose thread. "Sometimes if it has less to do then it doesn't break." She said finally her voice soft almost like a child.
"Sometimes if you give the weight to someone else, they can help you hold it." Eliot reached out tentatively and took one of Parker's hands in his pressing the cold thin fingers between his own. "That's what I'm here for Parker, I'm here to share your weight and you'll take some of mine. That's what a relationship is about, having someone else to lean on."
"What if we have too much?" she asked scooting closer to him clearly wanting to trust him but not quite there yet.
"That's what friends like Nate, Sophie, and Hardison are for. Even if it's something you can't talk to me about you can talk to them." The thought of her feeling like she could confide in one of them over him nearly killed him, but if it could help her change back into the strong confident women he knew. If it could help bring back his Parker who wasn't afraid of her own shadow, he would be OK with that.
"I like you better, you understand me." She admitted scooting just a tiny bit closer so her hip was pressed up against his knee where he had turned to face her.
"Come here." He lifted her easily ignoring her squeal of surprise and deposited her in his lap tucking her head down under his chin and lying flat out on the couch with Parker still a bit stunned on top of him. It took her a few moments but Eliot could literally feel the warmth fill his body as Parker melted into him with a soft sigh of contentment.
"You're like bunny but bigger." She told him softly giggling along with his chuckle at the comment. He had never been a cuddle but something about the fact that he could get one of the most skittish women he knew to let her guard down and just lay with him. There was something incredibly powerful about that fact it appealed to the animal inside him who wanted to stake his claim. It meant that his mate knew he could keep her safe and in that moment he vowed to never make her feel otherwise. He pulled the afghan off the back of the couch and settled it over the two of them taking the opportunity to pull Parker a bit closer and wrap his arms gently around her back. "Do you remember when you kissed me before?" she asked suddenly out of the blue still not looking at him.
"I do remember that, why do you ask?" he answered slowly hoping against hope that he knew where she was going with that question.
"I liked it I think." She said and began picking at his shirt; he was quickly realizing that was a nervous habit of hers when discussing personal things.
"You think?" he replied a bit disappointed that he had not received a better review but determined to knock her socks off next time.
"I was kind of surprised." She told him propping herself up on her elbows so she could look him in the eye. He took a hand from her waist and placed his behind his head stretching out and also giving her an escape should she decide she wanted it. As curious as he was to the direction of his conversation he would never leave her without a way out should she decide she needed it.
"I'm sorry about that darlin but don't worry next time you'll know." He said smiling reassuringly at her.
"Sophie says first kisses are awkward." She answered back still clearly trying to get some point across but unsure of how to say whatever was on her mind. "She says that is why actors practice before so that the first kiss won't be awkward."
"Sophie would know more about that then me; I was never much of an actor."
"Well I don't think that the ninja kiss counts as a first kiss because I wasn't really there for the whole thing." She explained slowly as though she was speaking to a child. A tone he imagined she picked up from Nate when he tried to tell her why she couldn't steal from random people on a job.
"I see." He was trying to say as little as possible until he understood where she was going with her rambling.
"So I think we should do it again to get the awkward one out of the way." She said, "Just in case we ever have to kiss on a job or anything, like when Hardison and I pretended to make out that time."
"Sounds perfectly logical." Eliot didn't hesitate once he had been given permission. He pulled her further up his body so their faces were even and moving in slowly so he couldn't be accused of 'ninja' kissing her again he pressed his lips gently to hers. He kissed her softly once then twice fighting his baser urge to claim in exchange for her comfort. Though he knew she would allow him to go further than just the soft closed mouth kisses he was pressing against her lips they were both too tired for that step. He kissed her softly once again and pushed her back gently when she would have gone in again for more.
"Don't worry babe now that I've started I don't think I'll ever be able to stop kissing you. For now just rest we'll see in the morning." He told her in response to the pout on her deliciously swollen lips. He couldn't resist just one more gentle kiss before he tucked her back in breathing her in and committing the last few moments of his life to memory.
A/N: Finally inspiration struck in the form of Parker AND Eliot KISSING on LEVERAGE! I apologize for the long wait unfortunately my father has had some health problems in the past few weeks and between the hospital and trying to keep everyone sane it's been a long month. He's doing better and if they keep giving me inspiration like these last episodes expect many more updates very quickly. Even the last one where Hardison practically ignored Parker and Eliot helped her find her passion, so awesome! I figured since we got a TV kiss I might as well move up my timetable and give you guys a fic kiss as well. Hope you enjoyed it and I'll see you next time!