A/N: I hope this story continues to be as popular as it has been so far. There's some bumps in the road coming along soon, just so you know...

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 8

Eliot and Parker walked out of the restaurant, both with their overnight bags slung over their shoulders. She had asked how he was so okay with leaving all his most important belongings in the truck but there was a simple answer to that. Eliot trusted no-one, expect maybe the team. His truck had alarms and protection enough, he told her. Parker immediately started asking about blades that shot out of the sides or an electric current like her taser running around the entire chassis. Eliot would neither confirm nor deny her theories, but couldn't help from smirking as he turned away from her then.

They headed back down the street towards a hotel they passed on the way into town. It looked like a decent enough place that wouldn't charge the Earth for a night's rest. Eliot moved to open the door for Parker like a gentleman might, but stopped short of doing so at the last. She looked at him strangely, waiting for an explanation that took a while in coming.

"When we get in there, no pulling that crap from the other place," he warned her. "We ain't brother and sister or lovers on the run or whatever other story you got spinning around in your crazy head, okay?"

"Fine," she huffed like it was a real inconvenience to not drive him nuts. "But we at least have to have names."

"Fine," he echoed both the word and her tone, looking around to check no-one was listening. "Pick one of your aliases, any one, it doesn't matter."

"I like Rose," she admitted with a shrug. "Y'know, when I went to the rehab place. That was fun," she grinned then, eyes sparkling.

Eliot tried to look annoyed but remembering how giddy she looked when she ran out of that place and just leapt into his arms, it made him wanna smile even now. He shook it off within a second.

"Okay, we'll simple it up," he told her, moving out of the way of the doors when he realised he was blocking the route for others. "You're Rose, I'm Mark, and we're just friends taking a trip together," he said simply, picking his alias from the same job to make things simpler.

It was all two parts truth, one part lie, which made it easier to keep straight. Plus, Eliot was ensuring Parker couldn't change things up last minute and stick them in a double room again. That had been awkward enough the first time, even if it had worked out for the best. It only occurred to Eliot when they reached the desk that having Parker in a separate room when she was so prone to nightmares and all was probably not the best plan.

"Hey", Parker smiled overly much at the male receptionist. "Um, I'm Rose, this is Mark," she gestured. "We're friends on a trip and we need rooms for tonight."

"Okay then, that's two singles," the young man with the badge that said 'Blake' stated back what he assumed he was being asked for, typing away on his computer.

Parker was immediately distracted by the display of brochures on the counter and then by a painting on the wall. Eliot watched her wander away and then leant over the desk some to speak quietly to Blake.

"Er, you got one of those... y'know, two rooms with the bathroom in-between?" he asked, making a vague gesture with his hand.

"Jack and Jill rooms? Certainly, sir," nodded the receptionist as he altered his search.

Before long he was giving Eliot the price and asking for names to log onto the system. Getting out his cash, he declared himself Mark Baker, and stumbled on Parker's alias. He wasn't sure he ever knew Rose's last name on that job, and if he had known it then he certainly didn't recall now. Calling the thief over to ask would seem crazy when she was supposed to be his friend.

"And Rose, er..." he floundered a moment. "Wilder. Rose Wilder," he said eventually, wincing the moment Blake turned away.

Thankfully, either the guy didn't notice his dumb mistake, didn't understand it, or just thought it was all a cute coincidence. Whatever the real reason, Blake said not a word, just took Eliot's cash and handed over two keycards.

"Enjoy your stay," he said politely, watching with mild amusement as 'Mark Baker' went and retrieved his friend from her wandering and encouraged her towards the elevators.

"If anybody asks, your last name is Wilder," Eliot whispered across to Parker as they waited. "I know it's dumb but I panicked, okay?"

"Why is it dumb?" she asked in earnest. "I think it's pretty."

"It's not... I mean..." Eliot got stuck for words for the second time in five minutes as the elevator arrived and he followed Parker into it. "You're seriously telling me you never read a Little House book or saw the TV show?"

"What little house? Where?" she asked him, but the hitter only shook his head.

"Doesn't matter," he assured her, hitting the button for the fifth floor.

It was crazy to Eliot how Parker could still surprise him after all this time, but she really could. After more than three years working together, getting to know each other better, and today was still one revelation after another. So she never saw one of America's best known TV shows or read the books that he was pretty sure every child, especially the girls, had been through in their youth. That was nothing compared to what she had been telling him earlier.

Parker wasn't a virgin, Eliot had been pretty sure on that. Despite how skittish she was with most men, he always assumed it was because something bad happened to her somewhere along the line. She was always okay when she felt in control, that's how he saw it, and he just thought there had been men in her life that she'd slept with. Apparently there were, but only two, the first of which she wasn't even totally clear on his name.

It was a relief to know she hadn't been used and abused in that way. Eliot hadn't liked asking her about it but felt he had to in the moment when he had the chance. He meant what he said about killing any piece of scum that had laid their hands on her too, even if it turned out there was no list to work through, not even one target to kill, crush, destroy.

The elevator came to a juddering halt at the third floor, and a couple stepped in, the guy much older than his apparent girlfriend. Eliot wanted to tell Parker not to stare when he realised her eyes were on stalks. The girl in front of them, all high heels and short skirt, was either being paid for her time or looking to make a fortune off a sugar daddy. The old guy didn't seem to be complaining either way, that was for sure.

As the car stopped at the fifth floor and the doors slid open, Parker continued to stare at the odd couple walking out in front of her and Eliot.

"That's weird, right?" she asked, leaning towards the hitter, though her eyes never left the canoodling pair.

"Not really," he confirmed, shifting his bag higher on his shoulder. "That kinda thing happens a lot more often than you think."

Parker frowned some, making Eliot wonder if she understood the situation of the two that had now disappeared into a room down the hall, hands everywhere before they ever made it in through the door. He didn't really want to explain to her. There had already been more talk of sex between them in the last twenty four hours than Eliot was really comfortable with. Unfortunately, he wasn't getting much choice in the matter it seemed.

"So, do you think I'm a freak now?" asked Parker as they walked down the hall. "Y'know, because I only had sex twice?"

Eliot handed her the keycard for her room and gestured to the door a little way down from the one they had stopped outside of now.

"The rooms are joined together by the bathroom," he told her, as if he never heard her question at all. "If you need anything, come through, okay?"

Parker nodded that she understood, knowing from the look he gave her that he was thinking of her nightmares before. She appreciated the sentiment, she really did, but that wasn't the point.

"You didn't answer my question," she noted, at which Eliot sighed.

"No, Parker, you're not a freak," he assured her. "Don't ever think that."

It was strange for him to be the one saying this to her. After all, he was usually the first to tell her there was something wrong with her or call her crazy. Eliot meant no harm of course, and it hadn't taken long for him to realise that any quirks in Parker's character were pretty harmless, mostly amusing, and sometimes down right adorable. The last thing Eliot would want was for the thief to really believe she was abnormal in a bad way. The smile on her face told him she was glad of his kind words now and took them as intended.

"Good night, Mark," she winked in an over-the-top way as she opened up her door and slipped inside.

"Night, Rose," he replied with a smile as he followed suit.

Once inside his room, Eliot tossed his bag on the bed and sighed. This trip was exactly nothing like he planned, though he couldn't really say it was any better or worse for Parker's presence. She was determined to stick with him, and she was behaving like a normal person most of the time which was a good thing. The sex revelation was still blowing his mind a little bit, but that had to be understandable.

Whatever else Parker was or wasn't, she was most definitely hot. He'd have to be blind not to notice, and the hitter most certainly was not that, especially where women were concerned. Nobody ever tried it with Parker when she didn't want to go that far, and she'd only gone willingly with two guys, once each. It was weird, but in a lot of ways it was sweet really. For a thief, Eliot had always thought Parker was oddly innocent, and now he realised maybe she was in a few ways at least.

It put even more of a ravine between the two sides they existed on. The two of them could stand together on the team, as friends even, but the truth was they were so very different. Parker still had that innocence in her, even if it was only in small ways. Eliot had blood on his hands and a darkness in his heart that she could never understand, and he hoped she never did. Of course, all this just got Eliot to thinking on why he was out here in the first place, half way across the country with a way to go yet.

Looking at the bed, he considered things and decided he wanted to shower before he turned in. Riding along in the truck with the windows down was fine until you realised how much dust and fumes floated in. Eliot stripped down to his underwear, pulled out a towel and his wash-bag, and headed on into the bathroom. He locked Parker's door from the inside before getting into the shower. Washing away real dirt and grime was easy, but nothing could wash away his past or flush out all the busy thoughts in his head.

As if it weren't bad enough being reminded how far removed he was from the innocence of his road trip buddy, Eliot also had to have this revelation in Kentucky of all places. Aimee was here, not in this town, but within easy driving distance suddenly. He wouldn't go see her, not even if he didn't have Parker to baby-sit on this journey. They parted ways after the job with her Daddy's horses and this time it had to be for good. As much as he had loved her, as much as a part of him always would, that ship had sailed and Eliot knew it. He had a new life and a new family now, at least he thought he had.

When Moreau had to be dealt with, Eliot let himself back-slide into a darker pocket of his past, and though he had hoped a little time away would help him get some perspective and deal with it, so far it hadn't really done much good. He couldn't blame Parker, the woman was just trying to help after all. She cared about him, even though Eliot knew he didn't deserve it. He had no right to be loved, not by anybody, especially when they had even a vague idea of what he was capable of. Yet Parker was here, she was... literally here in the room, Eliot realised, with shock and anger.

"Damnit, Parker!" he complained as the shower ran too hot when she turned on the tap at the basin.

"What?" she replied, her voice sounding weird.

Eliot pulled the curtain back a little to peer around it and realised why. Parker had her toothbrush jammed in her mouth and had obviously put on the tap just briefly when she spat. Not that it really mattered what she was doing, she just shouldn't be in here right now.

"Get out," he ground out, but the little thief remained unmoved as she looked at him via the reflection of the mirror. "How'd you even get in here?"

"Hello, lock picker! And I'm not leaving because I'm brushing my teeth," she pointed out, words garbled by the brush still. "Why does it matter?"

"Because I'm taking a shower!" he stated the obvious since she didn't seem to be getting it on her own. "I don't want you in here when I'm naked!"

Parker giggled at that, spitting and rinsing before she actually answered him.

"What's the big deal?" she snorted then, turning around to face him and causing Eliot to duck a little further behind the shower curtain just in case. "I've seen most of you naked already, and this is a bathroom. People get naked in bathrooms for showering and bathing, not for, like, sex or anything."

Parker's face was a picture when she met Eliot's eyes. It was only then that the hitter realised she seriously didn't understand.

"Oh," she said, her mouth hanging open a moment. "Seriously? You can do that?" she asked, apparently thinking about it altogether too much, head tilting to the side as she stared at him.

"We're not having this conversation, Parker," Eliot growled, already uncomfortable about standing here naked and dripping wet not five feet from her.

The fact she was now thinking about sex, and in a shower no less, he really couldn't handle this at all.

"It's not like it's my fault I didn't know," said Parker too fast, looking suddenly awkward as her eyes darted to the door and back. "Two guys, remember, and they were both in bedrooms," she muttered. "I can't help that I'm weird."

She ran then, as Eliot knew she would somehow. The trouble was, a much as he'd been hoping she'd leave already, he didn't want it to be at top speed with a look of pain on her face. That really wasn't the plan at all.

"Damnit," he grumbled as he got out of the shower, wrapping a towel tight around his waist.

Maybe it ought to have occurred to him to get dressed first, but he was too worried about Parker. Running to her room would be fine, but knowing her she'd be out of the building before he could blink if the fit took her. This was a woman who jumped off buildings for fun, could happily sleep in an elevator shaft. The same person who hid in the back of his truck for hours just so he wouldn't leave and not come back.

"Parker," he breathed a sigh of relief as he went into her room and found her in the window seat, her knees pulled up to her chest.

"Just leave me alone, Eliot," she told him. "I don't care what you think."

She wanted it to be true, he was sure, but clearly it wasn't. Parker always acted like nobody else's opinion mattered, but the team was different. For all of them, the opinions of their new family did have an effect on them. She truly believed Eliot thought she was some kind of freak right now, that was why Parker was upset. She was embarrassed to have let out details of her past that had changed his opinion of her for the worst, at least that seemed to be what she thought.

"Sweetheart, you're not weird," he promised her, coming to sit down beside her, mindful of keeping the towel straight and covering everything it should. "Honestly, it's a good thing that you don't... that you don't just sleep with anybody that comes along," he told her.

"Why?" she asked, turning from the glass to look at him. "That's what you do."

"That's different," he cut in immediately.

"Why?" she pressed, like a small child who wouldn't give up.

Eliot pushed his wet hair off his face, turning away from her.

"It just is," he replied lamely, getting up to go - this had not been a good idea.

"But why?" Parker tried again, just a little startled when he exploded at her without ever turning her way.

"Because you can still find your happy ending!" he all but yelled over his shoulder, back to a normal even tone in a moment. "It's way too late for me," he added, as he walked away.

"Because of Moreau?"

Her words stuck him to the spot, halfway between the window and the bathroom door. Eliot just stood there, dripping all over the carpet, wishing he could pretend he hadn't heard her. He couldn't. At this range, with his highly honed senses, there was no way to deny it, and he couldn't bear to have her repeat the question. He had to give her some kind of answer, whether he liked it or not.

"Parker..." he began as he looked back at her, hating that they were all but reliving that moment in the park a couple of weeks ago.

"Love is more than that," she insisted, "isn't it? A person that loves you is supposed to forgive anything, everything," she said definitely, like a small child, seeing the world in simple terms that she ought to know didn't apply in their world, in any part of life. "If I loved someone, I would..."

"Parker," he cut her off, afraid of what she might say or even imply right now, though he'd never admit it. "Please. Go to bed," he urged her, his hand covering part of his face by now. "Just go to bed, and let me do the same," he said, turning away and striding through to the bathroom then.

Parker watched him go, didn't even jump when the door slammed shut with a thud. What did surprise her was the drop of water she felt slide down her cheek the very next moment.

To Be Continued...