A/N:Thanks for reviewing, subscribing and favoriting , keep telling me what you think. Just a short chapter this time ... just some team banter and tension building.

As soon as they reached the office, Eliot maneuvered Parker to a chair.

"Let me take a look at that eye. Hardison, get an ice pack from the freezer."

Parker tried to brush him off.

"I'm fine."

"Let me be the judge of that", the hitter said and gently pulled Parker's baseball cap off so he could see better.

"Why do you think you know better than me? It's my eye we are talking about here."

"Because I have a lot of experience with punches from both points of view."

He grabbed Parker's chin with two fingers and turned her head to the side to get a better view.

"We have to keep the swelling down or you won't be able to open your eye at all tomorrow. Do you have any trouble seeing with that eye?"

"No, apart from the fact that I my eyelid kind of gets in the way."

"Okay, good. If you notice blurriness or any other signs of impaired vision, let me know immediately. What about your jaw? Can you open your mouth all the way?"

Obidiently Parker opened her mouth.

"Y aw ih hine" she mumbled.

Hardison returned from the kitchen with an ice pack for Parker and two bottles of beer for Eliot and himself.

"Y oun' I gek a geer?" Parker asked, her mouth still open.

"What?"

"Why don't I get a beer?" she repeated, after bringing her jaw back into a more normal position.

"Because alcoholic beverages are not for the wounded", Hardison proclaimed. Eliot suppressed a laugh.

"I'm not wounded. I'm fine. Besides, a cold beer would help me to keep the swelling down from the inside as well."

But she took the ice pack and pressed it to the left side of her face. Eliot brought his lips close to her left ear and whispered very softly: "Do you know Hardison got Nate's car booted?"

Parker laughed out loud.

"Nate will hate that"

Hardison looked confused.

"What will he hate? What did Eliot say?" he wanted to know.

"I was just checking Parker's hearing. Had to make sure the blow didn't do any damage to her inner ear."

"But what will Nate hate?"

"Yeah, what will I hate?"

Parker, Eliot and Hardison turned towards the office door. Nathan Ford stood in the door frame, carrying Sophie in his arms.

"What happened?" Eliot wanted to know and jumped up to help.

"She broke something", Nate explained, but his voice sounded unconcerned, just a bit breathless from carrying the grifter's weight.

"What? What did you break, Sophie?" Parker asked. Sophie smiled as Nate gently set her down.

"My heel. I knew it was a stupid idea to wear those stilettos, but they fit the dress so well."

Eliot sat down on a chair heavily and took a swig of beer.

"Don't joke with something like that. Just don't, okay?"

Sophie looked at Parker.

"Oh, darling, your face ... what did that piece of scum do to you?"

"Don't worry, he got as good as he gave", Parker chimed.

"Did you find anything?" Nate wanted to know. The thief nodded and took the hard drive out of her pocket. Hardison grabbed it and connected it to his laptop at once.

"How did you break your heel?" Parker asked Sophie.

"Well, Farnham finally decided he had seen enough marital drama and threatened to call the police, so Nate gave him some money to calm him down and ..."

"What?" The thief almost jumped into Nate's face. "How much money did you give him?"

"Two thousand. We'll get it back", he assured.

"... and", Sophie repeated emphatically, taking her stage back, "we got into the van to drive out of there."

"Yeah", Nate took over, "and since we knew you had grabbed a ride with Eliot here, we figured we would pick up the Tesla. And what did we find? A friendly note from the Boston Parking Clerk. Luckily the parking enforcement officer was still around and all to eager to collect the fee and release the boots."

"That was the hating thing, by the way", Eliot explained.

"Hey, you just gave two thousand quid to a total jerk and ruined our van ... how can a parking ticket even begin to bother you, man?" Hardison griped without taking his eyes form his laptop.

"So we decided to take the van directly to the workshop, which we did and there they had this nasty metal grid in front of their garage door and my heel got stuck and broke off", Sophie finished her tale.

"This is not good", Hardison said.

"You bet it isn't. I consider to sue them. Do you know how much I paid for those shoes ..."

"No. This. This is really not good."

Hardison stared at the screen. The rest of the team stared at Hardison. Beat.

"HARDISON! What?" Nate broke the silence.

"Why would you order four pounds of ammonium nitrate?" the hacker asked.

"To blow something up", Parker said at once. "Mix it with a carbon source, put a detonator on it and you have a nice little bomb."

Something in Eliot's head clicked into place. He grabbed the baseball cap Parker had put on the table.

"Parker, where did you get that?" he asked, his voice suddenly husky.

"I stole it from the guy in Farnham's office ... hey, where are you going?"

Eliot was already half out of the door.

"He was at Annie's shop earlier. He left a bag with groceries there", he shouted a rapid explanation.

Nate reacted at once.

"Hardison, call Annie. Tell her to get out. Then call the fire department. Tell them ... tell them there is a probable gas leak and they need to evacuate the area."

Then he sprinted out of the office. He caught the hitter at the elevator.

"Eliot! Wait! We'll take the Tesla. It's faster"