Abby stared aimlessly at the fridge in Nate's apartment. Orange Soda, beer, and leftover Chinese food which smelled oddly of Hardison's van were all it contained. She closed the fridge, stood pointlessly for a moment, and then opened the fridge door again, this time with lowered expectations. Not surprisingly, there was nothing edible in the whole apartment.

She looked at the clock and sighed. Sophie and Nate were still in a client meeting, Parker was goodness knows where, Hardison was getting the van, to everyone's delight, cleaned and Eliot was out doing the food shopping, seeing as he trusted no one to get the right ingredients for him to cook with. She was beginning to regret not going with him; at least at the supermarket there would be food she could eat.

"This is a bad idea Nate," Sophie said as her and Nate walked through the door. "There's no way he's going to go for this."

"He's going to have to be isn't he?" Nate replied and then looked up at Abby in the kitchen who was still staring aimlessly at the fridge.

"You good there Abby?" he asked.

"I'm hungry, there's no food," she stated simply then walked into the living area and flopped down on the couch.

"Yes well, you can blame you and Parker for that for that one," Sophie stated as she sat down and pulled her shoes off.

"And who's not going for what?" Abby asked.

"Nothing," Sophie said, a little too quickly just as Eliot walked through the door carrying several bags of groceries.

"Thank goodness," Abby exclaimed. "I'm starving!" She ran into the kitchen and began helping her uncle put away the food, her ulterior motive, of course trying to find something to eat.

"How was the client meeting?" Eliot asked opening the fridge and throwing out the questionable container of Chinese.

"Ah, good," Nate replied vaguely as he poured himself a drink at his desk.

"Aha!" Abby exclaimed as she fetched out a container of dip and a bag of chips.

"Really?" Eliot asked. "Dinner's gonna be ready in like an hour."

"Yes," she said as she opened the bag. "I'm starving." She walked off and plonked herself down on the couch, turning on the TV to Phineas and Ferb.

"So who's the client," Eliot asked Nate and Sophie as he pulled on an apron and began to prepare the meal.

"School teacher," Nate replied. "Some rich, private school on the upper east side."

"All of their scholarship students have had their scholarships taken away from them for some ridiculous reason or another. The money's being pocketed by one of the teachers," Sophie continued, walking over to the kitchen and leaning on the bench.

Eliot paused from his current task of chopping onions and spun the knife, the tip resting on the chopping board and the hilt in his palm, as he stared threateningly at Nate.

"Eliot I..."

"Dammit Nate," Eliot hissed. "I know what you're planning and don't. Don't even think about it."

"Eliot the school doesn't have any scholarship students left. We need a scholarship student."

"What the hell are you thinking? She doesn't need this."

"Eliot, I know you love her more than anything and I also know that you know that this is inevitable. She's too smart and not to mention she wants to," Sophie pointed out.

"Sometimes kids don't know what they want," the hitter replied bitterly.

"That's not true for Abby," Nate paused waiting for a reaction from the hitter. "Look Eliot, it's a job in a school. All she has to do is go in and, well, go to school. Nothing dangerous, nothing illegal..."

"Except for the fake identity thing," Eliot pointed out.

"Eh, semantics," he dismissed. "You can get a job as a teacher and be there the whole time."

"Eliot these kids in the program, they come from really bad backgrounds," Sophie began, seeing that Eliot was still unconvinced. "I'm talking foster care, parents in prisons. Do you know what this education can do for them? What it's giving them an opportunity for?"

"Are you seriously trying to guilt me into this?" he asked Sophie angrily.

"Eliot," she replied softly. "What if that was Abby. No family, no money but she was given a chance to change that."

"And?" Eliot questioned, flicking the hair out of his face.

"And then imagine that was taken away," the grifter continued. "Wouldn't you want to give that opportunity back to her?"

Eliot placed down the knife which he had been toying with in his hand and then took a deep breath, and brushed the hair out of his face once more. Sometimes he hated it when Nate was right.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Abby tugged at her uniform.

"Couldn't we con a school that didn't have a uniform? It's really scratchy," she complained.

"At least you ain't wearin' a stupid tweed jacket," Eliot said on the other side of the comms.

"I don't know what you're complaining about," Parker stated. "At least you guys get to have some fun. I'm stuck here in this stupid van."

"Hey don't be dissin' on the van," Hardison complained as he walked into the teacher's lounge at the school.

"You're all hopeless," Sophie said as she stepped out of the car and stared at the mammoth of a school in front of her. She looked at Abby, getting out of the other side of the car and gave her a small, reassuring nod. "You ready?"

"Yeah, I think so," the teenager replied and together they walked inside.

"Sorry about taking you out of school by the way," Sophie apologised. "We'll have you back there in no time."

"I don't mind," Abby shrugged as she admired the enormity of the school. Tall pillars loomed over them and the marble which decorated a large proportion of the building gave it the unmistakable statement of money; this was definitely a rich kid school. "I think I needed a break from there anyway."

"Oh?" Sophie enquired.

"I don't exactly fit in and Kyle well," she began venting then halted, realising she could be heard by everyone via comms. "Kyle's a scaredy-cat," she finished.

jinxcat21…. I wish I could say this was because you asked for it and take the credit for being awesome at requests but really it was already in motion and next on the list to publish. I hope you like it, regardless.

quirkapotamus- thanks! I always though Eliot would make an excellent father... his skill's really be put to the test in about after this job concludes