A/N: Sorry for the delay in updating. I really didn't mean to take this long! Thank you soooo much for all the lovely reviews. You peops make me so happy with your wonderful feedback, so please do keep it coming :)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 3

Parker looked to be half asleep in her seat when Eliot pulled off the I80 and drove up to the next hotel. He'd passed a half dozen in the past few miles, but trusted his instincts to know when one was worth stopping at. This place was big enough and looked smart and clean, he figured they'd get reasonable service. The biggest places, part of chain, tended to pay no mind to customers nor cleanliness. The little family-run stops were nice enough but poked their nose into your business if you weren't careful, and that was the very last thing Eliot needed. He didn't think much about what Parker would think, after all, this was his trip and she was the one insisting she had to come along for whatever reason. She would just have to go along with whatever he said.

"Where are we?" she asked, jolting awake the moment the truck stopped and the radio cut out.

Whether it was the smooth driving, the hum of the engine, or the music that had kept her sleeping like a baby so long, Eliot couldn't figure. He only hoped she wasn't now ready to be wide awake and bouncing like a kid on a sugar high when he wanted to get some rest himself.

"Pennsylvania," he told her, and apparently it was the best she was getting. "Now, move your butt out of the truck, we gotta get a room for the night," he added, opening the door and hopping out.

Parker followed suit since she seemed to have no choice. She glanced once at the hotel and shrugged her shoulders. It didn't bother her much where they slept. In the truck was very nearly working for her anyway. She could sleep hanging upside down in an elevator shaft, or in the cover of a shop doorway if she had to. A bed was a bonus and knowing Eliot was around to see she didn't come to harm meant not having to keep one eye open whilst she dozed, that was an even bigger advantage.

It was weird being just the two of them, and weirder still that Parker didn't feel all that strange about it. They were loners most of the time, so when they weren't with the team, they were by themselves. Parker had her own place, Eliot had his, and neither were much for hanging out and idle conversation. That was okay, it meant they both understood the silence that existed between them on this trip, and it was the comfortable kind. Of course, nobody could be silent all the time, that would be crazy.

"I was thinking about the team," she said, as Eliot pulled back the tarp that covered the back of the truck and reached for his bag of essentials.

He didn't answer her, in fact Parker wondered if he heard her at all. She was sure he must have, since there was only the back of the truck between them. There were no other people around, no strong wind or driving rain making sound. It was warm and calm and quiet here, and yet Eliot appeared to be temporarily deaf to her words. All Parker got in reply to her comment was her bag being flung at her across the space. She caught it easily, but that wasn't the point.

"Do you think they miss us?" asked Parker, still standing in her spot, even as Eliot swung his bag back over his shoulder and started walking towards the front door of the hotel.

He stopped suddenly when she asked that, but didn't turn back at all.

"It's only been one day, Parker," he reminded her, glancing at her then with a sigh of annoyance. "But honestly? I don't know if they will miss us, and... and right now, I don't care," he shook his head.

The little thief nodded once and then hurried around the front of the truck to catch up to him. Eliot was serious a lot of the time, but he was a whole different kind of grim since they took down Moreau. Parker never saw him look so pained as that day in the park when he confessed that he once worked for the worst and most powerful bad guy Team Leverage ever took on. From that day to this, he had been so deadly serious, so easy to anger, much more so than usual. There was a pain buried in him that Parker hadn't known about until he looked at her that day and begged her not to ask what he'd done for Moreau. She figured that same pain was why he had run from the team the way he had, and that same wound in his heart had made her hide in his truck and come along for this trip.

People think they need to be alone to figure out their problems, their internal pain and suffering. Parker herself always thought that was the best way, running from people, their kind words and comfort. Since joining the team, being part of a real caring family, albeit a strange one, they had taught her differently. Things hurt less when you let those that loved you help to ease the pain. Eliot didn't seem to realise that yet, but he would, and Parker wanted to be there for him when he did, just like he had been there to save her so many times and in so many different ways.

They walked into the hotel Reception, one behind the other, and faced the plump middle-aged woman behind the desk. Since Eliot gave Parker no direction as to what cover they might be using or anything, she stayed a step behind him, hoping to work off whatever he said. She doubted very much they would give their real names or anything, because that never happened!

"Excuse me, ma'am?" Eliot smiled, ringing the bell on the desk for good measure.

Parker frowned at how suddenly happy he looked. It wasn't real, just an act for the lady behind the desk, but if he could pretend for somebody he didn't know she wondered why he didn't make more effort with her.

"How can I help you?" asked the Receptionist, looking up at Eliot with a sultry smile of her own, then she spotted Parker and her expression changed.

"Me and, er, my sister here," he said, looking sideways at Parker. "We're looking for a room for the night, and I'm really hoping you have some space here, at a price we can afford".

He was playing it like a sob story to get them a reasonable deal. Parker didn't mind that. She wasn't sure how much she appreciated being passed off as his sister, especially when the other woman's eyes lit up at the prospect of Eliot being single. There was no way in hell Parker was willing to play third wheel for any part of this trip.

"Actually, he's my step-brother, and he's been driving for hours, he's really tired and grumpy. Always grumpy if he doesn't get enough sleep," she explained, throwing an arm around Eliot's neck and pulling him towards her. "Actually, he's grumpy most of the time, but you gotta love him, y'know? I guess I just love him too much," she explained, pertaining a Southern drawl to match his own. "That's why we're here, 'cause our parents couldn't handle the fact we're lovers now".

Eliot's eyes were wide as saucers and the Receptionist looked more than a little confused by the younger woman's over-zealous affection but said nothing. She had heard more odd stories than this, and sometimes it was best just not to ask questions. She got on her computer and checked for available rooms for the night, whilst Eliot unhooked Parker's arm from his neck and glared at her. She smiled back innocently enough, then poked out her tongue when he dared to growl at her. She didn't care what he thought. He was making this trip even more miserable than she had imagined, and she was bored with that. She wanted fun. This was fun.

"We have just one double room left," said the Receptionist awkwardly.

"We'll take it," Parker chimed in fast, before Eliot had a chance to work up some charm and make an excuse for something else that might be more appropriate than his sharing a bed with twenty pounds of crazy!

Sharing a room with Parker didn't thrill him at all, sharing a bed even less so. This night could not end well, and by the time they got to the room they were apparently going to be sleeping in together, Eliot was seething like crazy.

"What's the matter with you?" he asked Parker, exploding a little as he literally threw his bag down on the bed.

"What? I didn't do anything," she shrugged as she closed the door behind them.

Eliot paced the room like a tiger wanting to escape a cage at any cost. He was trying not to lose it with her, Parker knew that. It made her wonder herself why she acted the way she did in front of the receptionist. She could've just kept her mouth shut altogether, but suddenly she was Alice White and Eliot was her step-brother turned lover, Eric. She just kept talking, spinning out of control with her cover story the way Hardison sometimes did. This wasn't a con, she figured it was safe enough and at least it was fun for a few minutes. She might have known Eliot would be mad about it.

"Why didn't I just make you go home?" asked Eliot, though it seemed he was muttering more to himself than really talking to Parker.

When he turned around she was sat on the end of the bed with her legs pulled up under her. God only knew how she could appear so innocent and helpless when the opposite was so often true. There was no point being mad at her, Eliot knew that. She was playing around and she hadn't actually done any harm, but he didn't need the complications she caused. He just wanted to get where he was going, clear his head and make sense of things, feel better about it if he possibly could. In all kinds of ways, Parker's presence wasn't helping. He thought he could handle it, but after just one day, he was quite sure he couldn't.

"I'm gonna take a shower," he told her, opening up his bag and grabbing what he needed out of it. "You take the bed, I'll sleep on the floor," he said before he stormed out and slammed the door behind him.

Parker had opened her mouth to speak but got no chance at all, so closed it again abruptly. She wasn't helping and she knew it. She was just making Eliot all the more grumpy if that were possible. Lying back on the bed, she stared at the plain white ceiling and sighed. Even she wasn't exactly sure why she wanted to do this anymore. It seemed like a good plan, to be there for Eliot when he needed someone. So far not so good, because he was mad at her, and apparently not willing to share a bed. He shouldn't be sleeping on the floor, not that Parker really wanted to do that either, but she would.

When Eliot returned to the room twenty minutes later, in just a T-shirt and boxers with his hair still dripping some, he found Parker wrapped up in a blanket on the floor beside the bed. She had a book in her hands, and that and her head was about all of her that he could see sticking out from under her covers.

"I told you to take the bed," he sighed, not sure if she was trying to nice or a pain in the ass here.

"I'm fine," she said simply, carrying on reading without even glancing at him.

Eliot sat down on the end of the bed, pushing his hair back behind his ears with both hands. This was ridiculous. She had royally pissed him off, she was doing something nice to try and make up for it, and somehow it was him that felt like the tool. Parker was like no woman he ever met, and honestly, he was glad. Two of her in the world would be too much for any man to handle!

"Sweetheart, I ain't got time to argue with ya," he sighed, crouching down beside her.

Before Parker had a chance to realise what was happening, Eliot had one arm around her back and one under knees, picking her up blankets and all from the floor and depositing her on the bed in one fluid move. Apparently, she was getting the bed, whether she liked it or not.

"I didn't mind..." she began, scrambling to pull herself up further on the pillows.

"Doesn't matter," Eliot interrupted as he set himself up on the floor where she had just been a moment before. "Chivalry ain't dead, sweetheart. Battered and bruised maybe, but not dead," he smiled just enough to look almost genuine about it, before flipping off the lamp on that side of the bed, and settling himself down on the floor to sleep.

Parker put out the light her side too, and put her book on the nightstand. She wriggled around, moving from under the spare blanket to get under the bed's proper covers, but still wasn't comfortable. She felt bad about Eliot being on the floor, but not brave enough to ask him to join her. It was weird, because she trusted Eliot, more than she ever trusted anyone really. She knew he wasn't going to make any bad moves on her, not even if they were in the same bed together, but something stopped her ever suggesting such a thing. She didn't know why, and that bothered her even more.

"Eliot?" she whispered in the dark when another thought hit her.

"Yeah, Parker," he replied with a tired sigh.

"I thought you only slept ninety minutes a day?" she checked.

"I can live on 90 minutes a day," he explained, never opening his eyes, though she wouldn't have known either way at this range and in the dark. "I don't want to, especially not with the driving and all".

"Oh," Parker replied simply. "Tomorrow, I could drive?" she suggested, and had barely got the words out when he answered too loudly.

"No!" he insisted. "Just, go to sleep, Parker, please," he urged her then.

Deciding it was best just to do as asked this time, Parker pulled Bunny up close to her and shut her eyes, trying to sleep. Eliot hoped that once she was quiet he would drift off himself, but it seemed to be impossible. He lay on the floor with one arm behind his head, not even bothering to keep his eyes closed after a few minutes.

This was crazy. He made this huge deal about needing rest and yet sleep was now eluding him, even after he heard Parker snoring softly in the bed above. Maybe tomorrow he should take her home, then start this trip over. Maybe he could get her on a bus or a train that'd take her safely back to Boston where she belonged. She sure as hell couldn't belong with him on this trip, they'd end up killing each other before it was over. Still, it remained a sweet idea she'd had in tagging along to watch his back or whatever. She was a good girl, there was no doubt about it, and the more Eliot thought on it, the funnier it became when Parker pulled that stunt in front of the receptionist - he honestly thought the poor woman's eyes were gonna roll out of her head. With a smile that eventually came to his lips at those thoughts, Eliot closed his eyes again and this time managed to drift off to sleep.

To Be Continued...