A/N: So my goal is to end every chapter (especially ones like these that are more plot heavy than E/P heavy) with a Eliot Parker moment. I think that format is working so far… Anyway here's the next installment and I hope you enjoy!
"From what I've been able to dig up since Nate called me last night it looks like most of the information your neighbor gave you is right on the money." Hardison told them as they walked into Nate's apartment. It had taken every ounce of willpower he possessed but he had managed to pull away from Parker after about an hour of making out on the couch and call Nate.
"Like I said on the phone last night." The man himself came around the corner followed by a clearly irritated Sophie both with a glass of scotch in hand. "I've had this company in my sights for a while, Hardison had already done a portion of the background on them and you were right to be cautious." Nate put his glass down on the kitchen island upon noting Eliot's glare in his direction.
"I agree Eliot your instincts about Carter were spot on there's no other reason to have someone so far on the outside of the family dynamic other than a fall guy. There is no trust built and from what Hardison has been able to glean from their schedules not much opportunity to build it." Sophie added taking a seat on the couch next to where Parker was perched on the arm of the couch.
"Where's Tara?" Parker asked after a cursory glance around the apartment revealed no sign of the con-woman.
"She left already; we found out last time that cons together aren't really the best recipe for keeping a friendship." Sophie winked at Parker clearly trying to get the thief in on the joke. Parker simply stared at Sophie her face blank clearly waiting for someone to explain.
"Anyway." Nate coughed from the back of the room. "It looks like everyone is aware of what's going on and receiving the profits but Anthony is the one actually doing the dirty work."
"Exactly." Hardison put up a picture of an older man on the screens in front of them. "Like I said most of the information was accurate, the brothers did start the company together and it's not public. But here's the thing." Hardison flipped through a few screens until he came to a magazine cover that showed the four men they were after with the title Real Estate Giants underneath. "The younger brother Arthur, it's subtle but you can see the jealousy in most of the interviews he gets. Anthony likes to play it up like he did the whole thing himself and it kills Arthur every time he has to admit that it was his brother's idea."
"So there are cracks in the wall." Sophie leaned forward interested. "I understand the son is promiscuous."
"For sure. It's lucky your source told us that because it would have taken me a while to figure out. Most of his ladies like a more high class outing than the usual clubs and parties that come along with this kind of guy." Hardison put up security camera photos of about a dozen different women with the same man. "Ant here is damn lucky his daddy is rich because this boy has an ugly face."
"So that's our in." Nate informed the group nodding at the photos. "Sophie will become his latest date, get in close enough to exploit the cracks."
"Who is she gonna be this time?" Parker asked excitedly, "Can she be a cowboy, or a space cowboy like that movie we watched last night. Oh what about a space cowboy who also is afraid of horses because they're evil! A space cowboy who rides a motorcycle!"
"Easy Parker." Nate held a hand up silencing Parker almost immediately though she proceeded to pout at him. "Sophie is going to be me."
"Excuse me?" Sophie asked indignantly turning to face the grinning mastermind behind them.
"That might be better than the space cowboy motorcycle idea." Parker stage whispered to Eliot resting her hand on his knee to get closer to him. The feeling made him smile lightly, ever since last night when he made it clear that she was always aloud to touch him she had gone out of her way to do so. He only hoped she kept it PG while they were at Nate's.
"Hardison bring up the picture of the lobby we saw earlier." Nate ignored Sophie who sputtered indignantly. Hardison pulled up a picture of a high ceilinged room with several portraits. "Right there." Nate moved forward and tapped one of the pictures on the wall. "Parker is going to steal that right there."
"How does that turn me into you?" Sophie huffed her arms crossed across her chest.
"Because these portraits are insured by IYS and who knows IYS policy better than Nate Ford." He answered.
"And the Chief Financial Officer will have to deal with the insurance investigator." Hardison smiled a devious little smile.
"And that Chief Financial Officer just happens to be just my type." Sophie added catching on to Nate's plan.
"What about Carter? We can't risk letting him take the fall for this." Eliot asked with a nod to Parker.
"That's the tricky part." Hardison hit a few buttons on the keypad and brought up a logo for a security company. "After the embezzlement was discovered by your friend and Carter took over they upgraded the security system. It's all internal now there isn't any internet access inside the building. They couldn't risk anyone outside finding what was going on."
"The problem is that you aren't going to have any idea what you're getting into if we have you break into the servers directly." Nate directed this to Parker. "Sophie as part of her investigation will be able to get access to some of the security plans, we think the server room is off of Anthony's office it's the most secure office in the building."
"Ok" Parker said nodding, "I'm going to go check out the building security. Hopefully I can do it tonight." She grabbed her jacket off the back of her chair and much to everyone's shock she simply got up and left.
"What was that about, is she ok?" Hardison asked after a moment of stunned silence. Eliot knew something was bothering Parker but he wasn't quite sure what it was. He stood ignoring Hardison's question and walked out the door nearly running into the thief who was standing just outside it.
"What the hell Parker!" he exclaimed surprised to find her. Without a word she whirled on her heel and walked down the stairs with him following close behind. She led him down a few streets and into an alley three blocks from the apartment.
"Do you think Sophie and Hardison are mad at us?" she asked out of the blue turning to face him startling him again with her abrupt movement.
"What are you talking about?" he asked. Despite his love for her she was still the most infuriating woman on the planet sometimes.
"We ruined their vacation." She said for some reason looking just as exasperated with him as he was with her. "I was kind of upset that we had to come in to the office. I liked it just being you and me and Harris but they didn't seem mad. Were they mad and I missed it, or were they not mad?"
With that question Eliot understood what was going on. He had gotten so used to Parker understanding him and being able to express her feeling to him in the week they had spent together that he had forgotten that she wasn't normally that good at it. She was clearly confused, perhaps she had expected yelling or a few angry comments by Sophie or Hardison who had just taken it in stride that they were getting called in. "Parker I know we had a month off but I don't think any of us really thought we would go the whole month." He answered honestly. "I thought we might get a few days before Nate called us back, he doesn't really do vacation."
"Did you miss it?" Parker asked, "This last week, I think we'll have another job when this is done right?"
"To be honest yes, I did miss it here and there. Mostly when I thought of how much fun something would be." He reached out and took her hand in his, "But I would have stayed in that House just you me and that yappy dog forever if that was what I thought you wanted." He pressed a gentle kiss to her knuckles and pulled her out of the alley. He knew her well enough that she would need to process what he said just like anything else he told her.
"Eliot I think I would have been ok in the house forever." She told him, "If we could go outside sometimes though. I think it would be boring being inside all the time, and if Jimmy could come over and play sometimes." Eliot could not have wiped the smile off his face for a million dollars.
"Well we've got somewhere else to play now." He led her to the car. "Recon first?" he asked, she nodded and they set off through the crowded streets to their destination. Parker pulled her tablet from the glove box of the car and began looking through what he assumed to be building blueprints. Parker had an ingenious mind, quite a bit like Nate's if he were being honest. Though she wasn't as good at seeing the people-related aspects of a con he knew that instead of lines on a paper she was walking through the halls of the building in her mind.
He left her to it as he tried to navigate the busy streets it was only twenty minutes later that he pulled up in front of the building parking the car in a parking structure a few blocks away. Parker exited the car without a word her nose still buried in her research, he couldn't see exactly what it was but it looked like a schematic for a security camera that she had pulled up. After the mess with the Parker 2000 (she had liked it until she overheard a comment from Hardison that it might just be better than the original, then she smashed it with a baseball bat) Hardison had given her a tablet with all the information on every security system from the key lock to the electronic one on it. Though she knew much of the information she had been glad to have the opportunity to double check her knowledge, especially with so much new stuff coming out almost daily.
"You familiar with the system?" he asked as they settled in on a park bench. He wrapped an arm around her and leaned in so it looked like they were reading the tablet together.
"I've cracked it once before but it's a two man job with the security. Looks like you're coming with me Sparky." She said smiling up at him.
"Need me to protect you?" he joked back nudging her with his hip so she would know he was joking.
She turned serious looking up at him and he could see she was struggling with something. "I don't need you too." She said finally looking down at her hands which were clutched in her lap. "But I kind of want you too."
For the second time that day Eliot Spencer was completely floored. He knew better than anyone what it took for her to say that to him. For her to offer up a part of herself like that, all he could do was stare at her in wonder as he realized that this beautiful, incredible, talented, smart woman. That someone like Parker was willing to let down her walls and to attempt to trust him with her heart. "I will always be there for you." He hugged her to him tightly and instead of making a joke or squirming away he felt her small hands grip the back of his shirt pulling him even closer. He never would have thought they would have a moment like this one sitting on a park bench while casing a mark. It was strange, it was weird, and it had probably never been done before outside of a heist movie but upon reflection; it was them and that made it perfect.