AN: surprise! here's an extra chapter, because I don't know when I'll be able to post again in the next week and a half. 3 days of class left and then finals! my last undergraduate semester ever is almost over! thank you all for your kind words of encouragement and love. you're too kind.

Parker awoke to find her face snugly against Eliot's chest, his arms around her back, holding her tight. She breathed in deeply, inhaling that strong, uniquely Eliot smell that was some cross between dark chocolate and musk. She looked up and was surprised to find Eliot's eyes still shut firmly in sleep. She knew how little sleep he usually got. He must've had a really rough time of it. Come to think of it, why was he back 3 days early? She'd looked it up after he left and had found it was a 28 hour drive from Portland to Eliot's hometown in Oklahoma. Doing the math in her head, that meant he had spent a grand total of…practically nothing actually there. Ohhhhh no. No wonder, he'd been on edge. There was only one explanation for his short stay: his dad hadn't wanted to see him. If he had seen him, even if his dad was still mad, he and Eliot would've at least had it out and that would've taken time. Her poor Eliot. She knew what it was like to feel alone. She also remembered when Archie had introduced her to his "real" family as his daughter. Sometimes "real" families weren't as good as the ones you make for yourself. If Eliot's dad didn't want him, that was his loss. Eliot was in her family now and she would do anything to make him feel better right now. Cookies wouldn't be enough. She'd have to think of something bigger. As she thought, she started to fidget. Soon she heard a low growl above her head.

"I thought I said no squirming."

"Eliot?"

"Shhh. One more minute."

She tried to stay still, but she really had to talk to him. She wriggled out of his strong grasp so she could look into his eyes.

"Eliot, I'm sorry."

He let out a deep sigh and rested his forehead against hers.

"No reason for you to be sorry, darlin'."

"I wanna help you feel better."

At that, he smiled.

"You are helping."

He was lying in his bed with an angel: a crazy, law-breaking, sugar-addicted, ADHD, angel. And as she lay there in his arms, smiling up at him with that heart-breaking look she had, he brought his left hand up to cup her right cheek and, without thinking, leaned in and kissed her. And, damn it, once he'd started he didn't want to stop.

He was kissing her. This was happening. She was lying in his bed at 7:30 in the morning and he was kissing her and she was kissing him back, because she'd been wanting to kiss him for, well pretty much always, and at that moment, she couldn't think of a single reason why she hadn't been kissing him for years. Until she heard a loud persistent buzzing on the nightstand behind Eliot.

"Crap. That's my phone."

He rolled over and picked up Parker's phone, looking at the screen.

Call from Hardison

"Shit."

He passed the phone to Parker.

"Oh God. Eliot, I…"

"Go."

"But I'm…"

"Just go, Parker. Please."

He couldn't even look at her; he just sat on the side of the bed with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands and begged her to leave him alone. What had he done? He'd kissed his best friend's girlfriend after he let her sleep in his bed with him half the night, that's what he'd done. Oh he was in deep, buddy. Without looking up, he knew she was still there, staring at him like he'd kicked a puppy. And still without looking, he knew when her hurt turned to anger and she stormed out. And even after she'd gone he didn't move for over thirty minutes before grabbing some clean clothes and heading to the gym. He needed to punch things.