So, this isn't really Abby focused at all and I considered taking her out and publishing this as a one shot. But I decided against it, just because.
Hardison stared at the table blankly, his now unsavourably warm orange soda sitting untouched to his left. Parker sat just as silently opposite him, completely unsure of what to say to the man; she didn't, after-all, really understand fear. She shut it out, shut all emotions out to keep from being hurt and from getting caught and normally, that was a good technique for her. Until she was required to empathise and make her hacker feel better.
"I'll be right back," Parker said as she stood up and walked upstairs to seek advice from Sophie. "I..I, uh, I don't know what to do," the thief stammered when she was face to face with the grifter.
"About Hardison?" Sophie clarified.
"Yes! He's been so angry and jumpy and not Hardison since the whole coffin thing and I don't know what to do? I want to help him but I don't know what to do," Parker spat out as Sophie put her hand on the thief's shoulder.
That evening, the evening after Hardison had nearly died by being buried alive; there was an eerie silence as they returned back to Nate's place. Abby, having heard everything over the comms, ran up to him immediately and gave him a loving hug while the hacker stood, eyes glazed over, before he sat down on the couch and turned on the TV.
Nobody had liked the job, being that it had forced them to face issues they'd rather not face again; the death of someone they cared about, which all of them, had gone through before and had no intention, any time soon of going through again.
It had forced them to face their fears; to think about what scared them the most, which no one, not even the world's best criminals, liked to do.
But, they had recovered; except their hacker. Hardison, while taken up with the task of finding and taking down the Wicket's and the task of making sure Javier and his drugs were taken into custody, had been fine. The task had served as a distraction to keep him from thinking about how he truly felt about the situation. At the conclusion of the job though, the fear had begun to take the better of him and he was no longer truly himself; just a silent, moody, withdrawn, jumpy version of Alec Hardison.
"He's scared. What do you do want when you're scared?"
"What he wants," Hardison declared as he wandered into Nate's apartment. "Is for.. for this to never have happened."
"How are you feeling?" Sophie asked sympathetically.
"Don't, don't do that Sophie. Try to empathise with me? You don't know what it was like down there," the hacker exclaimed, uncharacteristically angry. "To think you're gonna die alone? I was damn scared out of my mind."
"What's going on?" Eliot asked suspiciously as he and Abby entered the room; Eliot carrying bags of groceries, Abby carrying her school satchel.
"Hardison was just…."Sophie began.
"...letting out his feelings," Nate interrupted.
"I don't need you all to coddle me like a baby; I can deal with this just fine," Hardison said as he walked to the fridge, angrily removing a bottle of orange soda from the door.
"You don't," Eliot said softly. "You don't have to be fine," he said, this time louder.
"And it's okay to let it out," Sophie added.
"What?" Hardison enquired.
"If you let out what is within you what is within you will save you, if…" Abby began softly.
"...if you do not let out what is within you then what is within you will destroy you," Nate joined in. "Gospel of Thomas," he supplied.
"Right," Abby agreed.
"It means it's good not to keep things bottled up," Nate explained, ignoring the fact that he chose to dismiss this advice every day. But that was him, not Hardison; the two were completely different people.
"Not to mention all of the psychological evidence that suggests that getting this out is very therapeutic," Sophie added.
"What do you want?" Hardison asked angrily as he leaned forward and looked down at the kitchen bench, his hands stretched out wide.
"Tell them how you feel," Parker clarified, though she was mostly lost in a conversation containing psycho-babble she knew nothing about.
"I didn't used to be scared of a lot of things that didn't involve losing my family, but now…" the hacker paused as he coughed uncomfortably. "Now I'm just scared."
"We all get scare…."
"You don't get it!" he yelled. "I'm scared. Scared of being left alone, scared of enclosed spaces; I can't even take the elevator up to this apartment."
"Everyone had fears Hardison," Sophie said.
"Not crippling fears! Not fears that make you walk twenty floors up to your apartment; not fears that stop you from doing something normal."
"Of course they do Hardison," Sophie stated again.
"I'm scared of people," Parker suggested. "That definitely stops me from doing normal people things."
"But you're…" Hardison began then halted as he searched for the most sensitive word. "Special. You're special Parker."
"I'm sure Sophie's scared of things too," the thief exclaimed. The grifter opened her mouth and then closed it again, not extremely keen to talk about her fears; just like the rest of the team and just like Alec.
"Flying," Sophie finally declared.
"What?" Hardison asked.
"Flying," she said again. "After that Genogrow business on the plane I get really nervous when I fly."
"And you all know how I feel about hospitals," Nate added as he took Sophie's hand lovingly. "I can't deal with them."
"I'm scared of the dark. I have to sleep with fairy lights on," Abby exclaimed.
All head's turned to Eliot, who took a deep breath.
"Abby," he stated. "I'm scared something is going to happen to Abby."
"See; we're all scared of something," Sophie reassured. "The key is, to not let it get the better of you."
"How?"
"Fight it," Eliot informed him. "You fight it."
"I…I don't," the hacker stammered as Eliot picked up Hardison's coat and gestured him outside.
"We're going out," the hitter declared, opening the door and giving a brief nod to Nate as he followed the hacker into the hall.
XXXXXXXXXXX
"Where are we going?" Hardison asked walking purposely behind the hitter who was walking at un uncomfortably fast pace.
"Doesn't matter Hardison," Eliot replied, stopping and turning to face the hacker in the middle of the street. "It doesn't matter."
"Then why are we out here?" he asked, shrugging his shoulders before crossing his arms.
"To talk," Eliot replied; the hacker shrugged again, gesturing the hitter to start his so called talk. "You know what I said inside about fighting the fear?"
"Yeah but I don't…"
"Know how?" Eliot finished for him. "Don't think you have the strength to get over it? Whenever you think that, whenever you feel like the fear is too much I want you to remember something. I want you to remember Parker."
"What, why?"
"Because you love her and because she got you through that hell hole. She got you through that fear; why?"
"Because… because she's Parker," he replied simply.
"Then that's how you fight it," Eliot explained. "If Parker got you through the worst of it she can get you through the rest of it. You fight the fear for her and because of her."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
That evening Hardison paced around nervously in the back of the bar before finally working up the courage to go and talk to Parker in the bar.
"I-I never would have made it through that without you," he began softly, standing close to her. "You know that right Parker?"
The thief shrugged as soft tears started falling from her eyes. "Oh, that's not true," she replied modeslty. "Anyone can learn to hold their breath," she continued before Hardison lent in and gave the thief a loving kiss on the cheek; an action which surprised them both.
"Thanks for not hanging up the phone."
"Yeah," the thief replied simply as Hardison began to walk away. She sat for a moment, smiling through the tears of half joy and half fear. "Hardison," she yelled as she stood up and ran towards her hacker. "Please don't do that again," she begged as she hugged him, her arms draped around his neck.
"Ain't gonna happen mamma," he replied as he hugged her back, his arms around her back. "As long as you get me through this."
"Sure," Parker, with a quizzical look on her face (knowing Hardison couldn't see) replied. "I'll get you through this," she said quietly and, even though she wasn't sure what it was she didn't care; she would be there for him, just like he had always been there for her.
Still looking for someone to assist with my writers block FYI- just need someone to help me with the con I'm working on.
Thanks for the reviews and PM's you've been sending me- they've been amazing!