Chapter Thirty-One
Since their visit to the doctor yesterday Nate had been following the orders he had been given to the T.
He had been steered to the bedroom and wasn't allowed to leave it and thanks to Nate he had his very own 'Parker Patrol'.
She was giddy in her new job and if he even attempted moving or readjusting without announcing it first she had the bells and whistles blaring and the Calvary coming.
The only good thing to come from yesterday in his opinion was the removal of his stitches.
They had itched near unbearably and it only seemed to be getting worse as the days came.
Now though the four of them were sitting on the bed with breakfast, mixed fruit since no ones skills had really shined at making the morning meal, talking.
Parker was next to Eliot, Nate across from her, and Hardison next to him.
"What is there to do around here on a weekend?" Hardison figured he'd ask someone who knew. He had gone looking a few times but nothing really caught so instead he had bought a game console but surprisingly enough he was bored of it.
"There's always some kind of game going on in the park on Reed. You can watch and it's usually just the local guys so you could probably join if you wanted but right now I bet it's soccer." Hardison was looking at him like he had just dyed his hair blue and it took him a minute to figure out why. "Right, you don't do nature. Well..." Hardison looked like he wanted to say something but to his credit he held his tongue. "The swap meet's open." Eliot shrugged, Hardison wrinkled his nose, but Parker looked genuinely interested even saying that she might go check it out.
"I read in the paper that there's a carnival or something like that coming through next weekend, you two should go check it out." Nate suggested even though he felt like making it an order.
Without something to do they really seemed clueless.
Parker had found herself a place to disappear to for a few hours a day and the strange way she acted before she left had brought him to two conclusions.
She had either gotten herself a secret pet or else she was building a bomb.
He was really hoping for a cotton tail or a stray calico.
Hardison on the other hand stayed in the house.
He was up all night slept most of the day and barely came out of his room.
Nate was keeping himself busier than either of them and he was about ready to get the dictionary out to see if they could actually define vacation.
"It'll be there for a few weeks. It's a family thing around here, you pack up the kids and make a day of it or you get your girl and you're set for the night."
"Girls around here actually go for that?" Hardison wasn't buying it.
"Why not?' Parker asked as she set her plate on the nightstand.
She had never had a relationship with that kind of simplicity and she still wondered what it would be like to just want to spend time with a person just for the sake of being with them.
"It sounds very highschool, go get your girl, I suppose afterward you take her to the barn too." Hardison spoke with sarcasm.
"What do you have against a roll in the hay?" Hardison was left sputtering and Nate pinched the bridge of his nose trying to decide if he'd be better off sighing or laughing.
"Now that's stereotypical. Any decent guy ain't taken his girl to a barn and hay's itchy Parker." Decision made Nate started laughing. Eliot was looking way too serious for the occasion.
"And how would you know?" No way was Hardison answering her question so he asked one of his own instead.
"Never said I was decent." Eliot lifted his eyebrow with a smirk.
"You nasty." Parker was looking quizzical and Nate had a look that was daring Hardison to go there.
"You're just jealous." Eliot threw back.
"Of? I think all them guys and girls have gone to your head." Parker fell over near cackling with laughter and one look at Eliot had him realizing what had been said. "That's just... you got your mind in the gutter girl. Ya'll are just wrong with that one."
"I didn't say a word." Nate raised a hand to that,he was not partaking in this conversation.
"No one did." Eliot agreed. "So where's your mind that you think hers is in the gutter? Maybe it's not that you're jealous maybe you're just intere-"
"OH GOD NO!" Hardison grabbed at his throat making dramatic gagging noises.
"Don't flatter yourself. If I swung that way I could do a hell of a lot better." A fierce look from Nate had him adding to that statement.
"Not that he's not a good catch." If possible Nate's glare grew more intense.
"Not that I'm looking to..." He stopped as he realized there was no good way to get out of that. "Anywho, what are you two doing Tuesday?" He thought it was a safe topic change but obviously not with Nate's reaction.
Tuesday?
Tuesday, Tuesday, Tuesday?
Nate was looking at him expectantly and he had a feeling he was supposed to know this answer.
"Well seeing as I've been layed up here I haven't exactly had the chance to do anything but I'm sure Nate's got an idea or two." The answer was vague enough to let him off the hook for now but that only gave him two days to figure things out.
He was already searching his head for what it could be but now actually thinking about it his dates were blurred.
It would have to be something important because Nate was really looking like he cared and Hardison had directed the question toward them so that probably meant it was personal as well.
Nate's Birthday?
That would be his first guess but he was nearly positive that was in late summer.
An anniversary would be his next guess but that couldn't be right.
They had yet to celebrate one of those and the thought just didn't seem to fit.
Besides how would Hardison know when that would be?
Nate wouldn't have said anything, not to him.
Tuesday May, 15th?
He knew this, he knew he did but it seemed to be just out of reach.
Maybe he did have some memory loss.
"I might." Nate spoke casually.
He hadn't brought up their anniversary because he wanted to see if Eliot would.
It was nothing more than the 731st day they had been seeing each other and he didn't really care about celebrating it but he wanted to know how Eliot felt.
If he cared about the milestone or if they'd just mark it as a checkpoint and quickly move on.
"What's Tuesday? What are we doing then?" Parker knew she was missing something.
"We'll be out of here, the house will be yours for the day." Hardison told Nate. "We should probably go now too Parker." Hardison suggested as he lifted his and Nate's dishes and soon left the room. She followed behind with her own set as she continued to question him.
"So how do you want to spend Tuesday?" Nate got up to close their door before stretching out on the bed.
"In all honesty," Eliot sighed as he figured it best to be straight. "and don't go gettin' pissed at me either Nate, I don't know what Tuesday is."
"Are you serious?" He sat back up in disbelief.
He would have expected Eliot to say it was another day and there was no need to treat it differently or even that he didn't think it counted but not that he forgot.
He memorized things down to the littlest detail yet he was saying he didn't remember this. "You forgot?"
"I didn't forget I just don't remember." Nate wasn't looking angry, he was looking disappointed. Maybe it was his Birthday.
"It's the same thing!"
"No it's not.
It's there, I know it is I just can't find it.
I'm lookin' but..." He sighed, more than frustrated with himself.
"Eliot when's my birthday?"
"Juuulaugust?" Nate wasn't looking amused by his month mashup but all that was coming to mind was the heat that was always present on that day.
"When's your birthday?" The annoyance had changed to suspicion.
"November 14 no 15th, 19-"
"You don't know the year?" He was worried now.
"Give me a minute." And borrow from the one.
"You shouldn't need one!"
"It's seventy.. six."
"You did the math!" He had watched Eliot think it through.
"I know my birthdate." Though it was putting him off that the information had been so distant.
"Barely." Nate was off the bed and to the dresser for his phone. "I'm calling your doctor."
"Yeah" Eliot didn't bother arguing, it looked like a few of the answers he had given were false negatives.
Twenty minutes and a scheduled appointment later and Nate was lying back on the bed with his thoughts.
Eliot wouldn't be ready to work again until July and with this new discovery it could possibly be longer.
That wasn't a problem, he'd just have to decide whether to start working without him or to temporarily disband the team.
"August 12th"
"Excuse me?" Nate lifted his head to look at a pleased Eliot.
"Your Birthday. It's August 12th." It had taken him way too long to figure that out but he knew it was there and was glad to see he was correct.
"It is." Nate affirmed as he sat up. "How long did it take you to figure that out?" Eliot didn't even bother with an answer, his look said it all. "Have you thought of anything else you've forgotten?"
"How am I supposed to remember that I forgot something?" It had taken close to a half hour to get one answer now he was expected to look for more without the questions.
"Right, stupid thing to ask."
"So are you going to tell me what Tuesday is?" He watched Nate move closer until he could lean in.
It was a minute of hot breath against his ear before he received the slightest of whispers as if it was a great secret. "Nope."
E/N: Yay me! Squeezed in another before school! And you're Welcome!