Bonding

Riley chewed her lower lip as her fingers moved effortlessly across her keyboard. Hardison leaned in lose to his screen checking for any holes. Both she and Hardison had been using the four computer screens on the wall and two monitors each for nearly the entire morning and part of the afternoon going into the late evening.

"I can't believe they're still working," Sophie said, shaking her head. She set her magazine down and got up,stretching. She went into the kitchen and fixed herself another glass of tea.

"What are they doing?" Parker whispered as she came up behind Eliot.

The hitter didn't take his eyes off either hacker as he answered. "Hardison is rewriting security codes and Riley is setting up new firewalls."

"Have they blinked?" she asked.

"What? Of course they've blinked? Why would you even ask that?" he asked her, confused.

Parker shrugged and went and sat down next to Sophie, who was browsing through online shoe stores, and picked up the deck of cards on the table. Nate joined her a little while later and the two began playing poker. Eliot kept his place in the doorway of the meeting room, occasionally leaving to get a beer or bring a plate of food. Not once had the hackers moved from their spots.

It was around midnight, at least, before Riley pushed herself away from the table and clenched and unclenched her fingers. Hardison had left hours ago; he always finished codes before her. She stood up from her seat and stretched.

Turning off the monitors and screens she packed up her gear and found Nate lying on the couch, a glass of whiskey in one hand and a novel in the other.

"You're still here?" she asked, closing the door to the meeting room. She set her stuff next to the vacant chair and sat down.

"Hardison asked me to stay. He had something he needed to do, said he'd be back later," Nate answered,looking up from his book.

Riley's stomach growled and she blushed embarrassingly. "Any food left?" she asked. "I think Hardison ate all the stuff Eliot brought us."

He set down the book and stood up. "I'll whip you up something. Just sit tight," he answered, going to the kitchen.

She nodded and leaned forward picking up the book Nate had been reading earlier. It was an old worn copy of The Odyssey. She couldn't help but smile and chuckle to herself before putting it back its original place. Nate and Riley never fully had a conversation before. She was either working with Hardison or practicing with Parker, working on grifting with Sophie or sparring with Eliot.

"Here you are. Grilled cheese," he said, handing her the plate.

"Ooh yum," she grinned, accepting it gladly.

She took a bite and looked at the sandwich before looking at Nate with just a hint of shock. "This is better than Eliot's," she said.

"Family recipe," he replied.

They sat in mostly silence before Riley spoke up.

"The true genius shudders at incompleteness - and usually prefers silence to saying something which is not everything it should be."

Nate chuckled. "A fan of Poe?" he asked.

"Guilty as charge," she answered smiling. "He's an amazing writer."

"Ehhhh, it's a little debatable," Nate replied. "Most of his work is good but others are bit too dark."

"You have to admit that the Raven was one of his best," she said, setting her empty plate down.

"I'll give you the Raven," Nate replied as he stood from his seat. He walked over to the book shelf both he and Eliot happened to frequently, pulling a book off of the shelf and walking back over to hand the book to Riley.

"I believe you may find that some of the authors in here are just as good as Poe," he told her as he retook his seat.

She smiled and thumbed through the book. "It could be debatable," she replied, smiling.

Nate cleared his throat and shifted in his seat. "Hardison said you used to be a dancer."

"I was going to be with the Whitebird Troops," she replied with a shrug. "That's how I met Luciano,actually."

"What happened?" he asked.

"I uh..tore my ACL a few weeks before auditions..." she trailed off. "But hey, who wants to be a worldwide professional dancer when you can hack the Interpol database, right?" She gave him a small strained smile.

"Can I ask why you were with Luciano so long?" Nate asked. "What Hardison said about him seemed harsh."

Riley grew quiet.

"Ah, you don't have to answer that if you don't want to," Nate added hastily.

"We went to school together," she started. "He was a year older. A junior and I was a sophomore. The new kid. Oh, how it sucked being the new kid," she laughed. "He was, uh, he was a nice guy before everything happened. When we started dating he would bring me a single violet rose everyday. Fresh from his mother's garden."

Nate handed her the box of tissues as tears began to brim her eyes. She blinked them back before continuing.

"We were together three years. Even when he went off to college in Boston and I stayed to go to college here, he never failed to send me gifts and cards and we'd talk all night. He was in the middle of his final when his mom told him I tore my ACL. The professor had to lock the doors to the classroom to keep him from leaving." She smiled a little, shaking her head. "He proposed that night."

"Sounds like a great man," Nate replied, leaning back in his seat.

Riley twisted the tissues in her hands. "He was, but a few months later his father was arrested and sent to prison. We postponed the wedding for a while. He was under too much stress and one night we got into an argument and he, uh...he slapped me. I remember the shock on his face. He was apologizing for weeks, he started to see a therapist to figure out what was wrong but-"

"Nothing helped?" Nate asked.

Riley shook her head no. "He got worse. His mother, Ana, tried her best to help but nothing worked. I did what I could to keep from making him more upset. Making his favorite meals, doing whatever he asked...but he got more violent, he always said he was sorry but it happened again and I grew accustomed to it. When he pushed me down the stairs, that was the first time in a long time he felt guilt for what he did. It was months before he became violent."

"What changed?" he asked softly.

"I tried to leave," she answered with a sad smile.

"Hello?"

Riley wiped her eyes as Eliot walked into the offices. He shut the door behind him and strolled into the living room.

"What are you doing here?" Riley asked, getting up. She picked up her plate and took it into the kitchen.

"Hardison asked me to give you a ride home," he answered.

Riley nodded and picked up her bags.

"Don't forget the book," Nate said holding it our to her.

She thanked him before following Eliot out of the apartment.

"What was that about?" Eliot asked taking her laptop case.

"Nate's quite the literature buff. He lent me a book," she answered with a shrug as she got in the truck. He shut the door and got in the driver's seat.

Riley yawned and leaned back in the seat and closed her eyes. "Nate and I had a nice chat."

"Really? About what?" Eliot asked as he began driving. He looked in the rear view mirror and frowned. Luciano's men were still tailing him.

"Books and stuff like that," she answered with a shrug. "No big deal."

He nodded and pulled to a stop in front of Hardison's apartment building and got out, grabbing her stuff from the back.

"Thanks for the ride," she called as she went inside.

Eliot waited until he was sure she was inside before driving off. He checked the rear view mirror again and growled under his breath before peeling off into on coming traffic, hoping to lose the guys.