Even in the dim light of early morning, their contrasts are startlingly obvious. Her alabaster skin practically glows against the navy blue sheets and his dark body. The slight chill in the air causes him to stir, pulling her closer and burrowing his nose deeper into her icy blonde hair.

"Hmmm... Parker," Hardison mumbles, still half asleep. "Parker?" he questions, thinking that his dream is getting outrageously realistic. "Parker!" he says in alarm after finally opening his eyes.

"Huh? What?" She mutters groggily.

"Girl, how long have you been in this bed?" She wasn't there when he fell asleep. He's quite certain he would have remembered that.

"I don't know. What time is it?"

"Hold up, how did you even get in here?" He sits fully upright, finally noticing the unusually low temperature of his bedroom. One quick glance rewards his curiosity: one of his windows sits half open.

"Your window was open," she says unapologetically, but shrugs like a child who was just scolded. He misses her skittish reaction as he throws back the blanket to haul himself out of bed.

"Seriously? It is thirty-five degrees outside!" Hardison exclaims as the soles of his feet hit the frigid hardwood floor and he almost trips over a pile of ropes and climbing gear. "You know damn well this window was closed." He firmly pushes the window down and flips the lock back in place.

"Well, it was unlocked." Parker turns onto her side, feeling unwanted and on the brink of tears. "That's just as bad," she tells the wall.

"Parker..." her name sounds like a challenge. He strides across the room and picks up a small electronic tablet off his dresser. With a few taps on the screen, he checks his security systems and turns the heat up a few degrees.

"Ok, fine!" she says, freeing herself from the sheets with jerky motions. "It wasn't exactly unlocked but, that isn't a real lock. It's just a latch. That shouldn't even count!"

Hardison is surprised by her outburst and is momentarily frozen as she pulls her boots on.

"I thought this was a thing that people do, that friends do. When they're upset and can't sleep, they-" her voice starts to crack when she tries the untangle her harness. She is determined to get out before he can see her cry. "It was a mistake, I'm sorry. I'll go and leave you alone. It won t happen again, I just-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," he bursts out, trying to catch up. He's in front of her in two quick steps but reaches for her hands carefully. "I don't want you to go," he says slowly. Parker drags her eyes up, forgetting about the tears she was trying to hide. "I just want you to use the front door-"

"Like a normal person would," her eyes drop to their hands again.

"Like a friend," Hardison corrects, moving his palms to rest on her upper arms. Although her head is still bowed he can see the cautious smile start to form. Parker takes a half step forward, close enough to rest her cheek on his chest. The hard panes of muscle tighten under the soft cotton t-shirt as he wraps his arms around her.

She doesn't return the motion, her arms hang at her sides, but he feels her body relax against him which is more than he expected.

'So, this is what it feels like to not be alone,' she thinks to herself while listening to the steady beat of his heart. They had been saying 'friend' a lot, but this didn't feel like a friend thing anymore. Not to Parker, anyway. She couldn't picture herself doing this with Eliot or Nate, not even Sophie. 'Maybe I'm not doing it right,' she muses, 'what if I m a terrible friend?'

Alec Hardison wasn't wondering anything. He knew this had gone beyond friendship a while ago. He was using this moment to kick himself. 'Did something heavy fall on my damn head? When you wake up with a beautiful woman magically in your bed, you don't ask her how she got there! No! You just pull her close and thank god.'

As much as he is enjoying where the moment had taken them, he wracks his brain for a way to get them back into the nice warm bed without breaking the spell.

"Are those polar bears?" Parker asks, interrupting his thoughts. In the gray light of dawn, she is looking down at his pajama pants. They are bright blue with white polar bears walking in neat rows across them. It should also be noted that they are quite obviously too big; at least six inches of extra material pool on the floor around his feet.

"Excuse me, my nana sent me these for Christmas last year," he says, sounding very much like himself. He stands back to look at the ridiculous pattern. "If I had been expecting company I would have worn... something with-out bears..." he trails off.

"Why are they so big?" She steps out of her harness and pulls off her boots.

"Nana seems to think I'll grow into them."

Parker smiles brightly for a moment but her eyes seem far away. She is imagining what it would be like to have someone send her unnecessary things on Christmas or her birthday. Of course, nobody knows when her birthday is or, more importantly, her mailing address. Aside from that minor glitch, it sounds kind of nice.

This time Hardison notices the little shift in her mood and gets an idea before she can try to jump out the window again.

"Don't move! I got something for you." He walks back to his dresser and rummages in the third drawer. "Close your eyes," he commands gently; she obeys. When he allows her to open them she is staring at a familiar polar bear pattern.

"What's this?"

"The top half, I never wear 'em, so..."

"So, I can have them?" she asks in disbelief.

"Yeah." 'When was the last time this girl got a gift?' "Can we please go back to bed now?" Parker nods, still staring at her impromptu present. "Good. Put your new pj's on," Hardison says motioning toward the bed. "I like the whole robbery/chic thing you got goin', but I don't like sleeping next to a ninja."

Like a gentleman, Hardison looks away when Parker starts peeling off her black t-shirt and pants. It isn't easy, but he manages. By the time he turns back, she looks just as ridiculous as he does. The soft material falls almost to her knees and the sleeves have swallowed up her hands, but for one lonely hacker it's the most beautiful thing he's ever seen.

He takes a deep breath and swallows hard as Parker climbs into his bed. He reminds himself not to ask any stupid questions this time.

Hardison tries to look as casual as possible while clambering into bed after again almost tripping over Parker s rope and harness. She settles in exactly as before, aside from the wardrobe change. Her companion, on the other hand, is doing a spastic shuffle trying to decide the most appropriate way to sleep. He wants to pull her as close as before but, more than that he really doesn't want to scare her away.

He ends up laying stiff as a board, staring at the ceiling, wondering how many jokes Eliot would be making if he could see him now. After a few moments of silence their breath starts to even out. He thought Parker had fallen asleep until she turns over and stares at him.

Neither speaks, but millimeter by millimeter she closes the distance between them. Hardison lifts his arm and she crawls into the gap resting her head on his chest.

"Do you want to tell me why you came here tonight? Why you can t sleep?" he asks when the silence becomes too heavy.

"No,... This is enough for now."

Alec Hardison doesn't ask anymore questions. Instead, he listens to her steady breathing. He relishes the feeling of her body against his. Although he fights to stay awake, wanting to enjoy this as much as possible, he soon falls asleep with the scent of her hair filling his nostrils.