Despite wanting to share the dog with Parker as soon as he could, Eliot had been glad when he was the first back to the House. It gave him a chance to get the squirmy Harris settled. It had taken three trips from his truck to bring in all the supplies while Harris followed every step of the way seeming content for the moment just exploring rooms at Eliot's pace. He had laid out a dog bed in the living room, bowls for food and water in the kitchen, and with the help of the dog who was now proudly carrying a green stuffed elephant had scattered the toys throughout the House.
When Eliot first heard the barking he had been warned about it was while he was in the back yard setting up the dog House beside a tree taking time out every few minutes to throw a tennis ball across the yard which the dog would Chase. "Eliot!" he heard a shout from the gate and that was the cue for Harris who charged full speed at a clearly shocked Parker who was apparently frozen in surprise. The dog reached her before Eliot could shout a warning and the force of the small animal colliding with the stunned blonde sent her flat on her back with Harris licking her face proudly.
"Hello fuzzy!" Parker giggled as the dog continued to lick her face. As Eliot approached the dog jumped off Parker and ran to him, Eliot barely had time to pat his head before he was off and jumping on Parker again. Eliot sat on the grass across from Parker as Harris continued to run back and forth between the pair of them letting out excited barks every few moments.
"Parker this is Harris, he's our dog." Eliot said after a moment. He had been unable to look away from the expression of pure Joy on her face. Her eyes were lit up as they followed the puppy's excited journey back and forth from one of them to the other.
"He's soft!" she exclaimed as the dog settled down between them clearly exhausted after almost fifteen minutes of running back and forth between the pair. He had stretched out his entire body along the length of Parker's leg and had tucked his nose under her calf and heaved a great sigh as he closed his eyes.
"Do you like him?" Eliot asked, he supposed it was irrational to be jealous of a dog but she hadn't even looked at him since she entered the yard.
"He's perfect." She said running her fingers through the dogs' hair as he let out a contented sigh. Eliot felt his eyebrows furrowing as Parker still refused to even look at him. She didn't often look people in the eye but he was different he always had been.
"What's wrong Parker?" he asked moving toward her slightly. He didn't want to crowd her but he also knew with the dog resting as he was she would be less likely to bolt; he could push the boundaries just a tad.
"Nothing." She replied unconvincingly tightening her fingers in the dog's hair just a bit.
"I don't believe you." He said moving close enough so he could grab her free hand. "Parker I know you're new to this but we can't fix things or solve our problems if one of us doesn't know what our problems are." He waited patiently not relinquishing his grip on her hand as she continued petting Harris clearly mulling over what he said.
"Are you a man whore?" she finally blurted out. Eliot choked out a laugh that the look on her face quickly stifled.
"Are you serious?" he asked. What the hell had Sophie and Tara been telling her about him? He thought they were on his side. He thought at least Sophie with her damn all-knowing looks and smug smiles would support his attempt to woo the thief.
"Tara said I should be careful before I started a relationship with you, then I didn't know what she meant and she said that you were a man whore." Parker blurted finally meeting his eyes hers filled with fear. Eliot brought a hand to his forehead barely resisting the urge to set fire to Tara's favorite pair of shoes.
"Parker I'm not a saint." He replied finally. "I've done things I'm not proud of both in and out of the bedroom but you need to know that this." He took her other hand much to Harris' annoyance from where it had been playing with his ears. "You and me, this is it for me and if it doesn't work then I'm done. Whatever Tara said about me and whatever you've seen over the years. How I feel about you is so different it's not even in the same ballpark."
"I don't know what that means." Parker said she didn't pull her hands back which he considered a good sign and kept holding on for dear life.
"It means that no matter what this relationship is my priority, nothing is going to come between us if I can help it, least of all my past." He tried to pull her closer to him, to hug her but she still resisted.
"What about Hardison?" she asked stubbornly.
"What the hell are those two trying to do to me!" Eliot growled falling back against the grass. Harris who thought that meant a game began barking and running up to him again with a cheerful puppy grin on his face.
"I don't get it." Parker said again clearly frustrated that she couldn't understand. "Especially not what Hardison has to do with this but Sophie kept asking me that like a million times."
"Hardison has a crush on you." Eliot grumbled not getting up from where he had laid back against the grass but instead throwing his arm over his eyes to protect them from the sun. he knew these were all conversations that they would need to have eventually but he certainly did not appreciate Sophie and Tara making them conversations they needed to have in one afternoon only a day after they decided to try a romantic relationship.
"Really?" Parker asked, he could tell from the way her voice had changed that she was lying beside him now. "Does that make me a man whore too?" she asked.
"You." Eliot turned to her with a smile, "You are most definitely not a man, whore or otherwise." He opened his eyes and found her lying on her stomach in the grass propped up on her elbows with her feet swinging back and forth behind her. He watched as Harris brought a tennis ball to her which she then rolled all the way across the yard with the excited dog chasing after it.
"Hardison never got me a puppy." She said finally. "I don't think I like him like I like you. It feels different, like when you get all Huggy Eliot it's just different." She told him clearly nervous about what she was saying.
"There has never been a woman in my life who made me feel the way that you do." he confessed after a moment of contemplation.
"Ok." She replied.
"Ok." He agreed. They lay there in silence for a few moments watching Harris attempt to wrestle the tennis ball into submission.
"What next?" she asked after a moment.
"You can help me finish building his doghouse." Eliot motioned to the shell of the boxed doghouse he had purchased earlier in the day. He got the frame up but still had a ways to go before it was completed. He had gone a bit overboard and bought a two story one that had a place for food and water bowls so he wouldn't always have to go inside when he was hungry or thirsty. He stood brushing grass of his jeans as she did the same beside him.
"Hold on." Parker said when he started toward the doghouse. She stepped forward into his personal space and before he could even react she kissed him gently. Unlike the one from earlier this was sweet and soft and lasted only a second before she pulled away. "Thank you."
"You're welcome Parker." He smiled as she bounced away he couldn't help a rather Hardison like fist bump into the air. He knew that they had kissed before and the one in the hallway had been more passionate but that was the first time she had initiated any kind of intimate physical contact. He knew Parker well enough to know that in the stairwell earlier she had teased him to the point where he had kissed her; she wanted it but had been afraid to take it. This was progress, a small step to be sure but a step nonetheless.
A/N: I know it's short but there is also alot of information jammed in there, the next chapter should be out tomorrow at the latest if not later tonight...