"So do you still have plans with Bonnano and your army buddy?" Sophie asked as she touched up her make up.

"Yeah, should be here in an hour," he said as he pulled out a deck of cards from Nate's desk.

"And Abby?"

"Movie night at a friends'," he said happily.

"You're really glad she's not one of those partying teenagers aren't you?" Sophie joked.

"You have no idea," he replied. "Hardison!" he yelled, trying to get some help from the hacker to move the card table.

"Yeah, I'm coming man!"

"You still going out with Tara?" the hitter enquired.

"Yes," Sophie replied. "And it shall be fabulous."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Wait a second?" Tara asked, utterly bewildered. "Eliot has a kid?"

"Niece, but the man pretty much raised her," she replied as she gestured to the bartender for another drink.

"I cannot picture Eliot as the parental type," she stated then brushed her long hair out of her face.

"Neither could I but he's wonderful with her. And, if I might add, she'd make a wonderful grifter."

"I can't imagine Eliot letting that happen. But enough about work," Tara complained.

"You're right," Sophie agreed as she raised her glass, "to a night of unbridled debauchery."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Just for the record, Block Buster sucks," Abby exclaimed as she opened the door to Nate's apartment. Walking through to the kitchen she paused, more confused than startled at the tall, dark haired, extremely handsome man twisting Detective Bonnano's hand behind his back.

"Should I be concerned?" She asked as the man released Bonnano, giving him a pat on the shoulder.

"Abby, this is Shelley," Patrick introduced as he coughed slightly, letting the air back into his lungs. "Shelley this is Abby Spencer."

"I'm a friend of Eliot," Shelley explained.

"Oh, that explains the ninja moves" she replied. "Where is everyone?"

"Nate went out for a drink. Eliot and Hardison went out for pizza," Patrick replied.

"So they're on a job?" she confirmed.

"Yeah, something to do with Mexican drug cartels; Eliot called a while back asking for information. How 'bout you?"

"Well," she said walking over to the bench and pressing a button on the keyboard to the plasmas, "some friends and I are having a movie night but Block Buster only had one of the four movies on our list so I offered to come over and grab them off Hardison's hard drive of mega movies."

"What's on the agenda?" Shelley asked as he took a sip of orange soda, making a face of disgust at the sugary taste.

"Classic 80's; Ferris Beuller, Pretty in Pink, the Princess Bride and Breakfast Club. And I'm pretty sure there's beer in the freezer. Eliot put it in there before I left to chill it. That is, unless you like drinking Alec's orange soda." She pulled a thumb drive out from one of the draws and pressed a few buttons, copying over her movies of choice.

"Thanks," he replied as he grabbed a beer out of the freezer. "And the Princess Bride? Really? What about Top Gun?"

"Forget Top Gun" Bonnano protested. "What about Die Hard?"

"You kinda wish you were John McClain don't you Patrick?" she questioned and the man shrugged. "And what do you mean 'and the Princess Bride?' It's a great film!"

"It's kinda lame," Shelley stated.

"Duh? That's kinda the point."

"Who are you anyway?" he asked.

"Eliot's niece."

"Oh, you're Abby," he said as he realised who the teenager was, just as Bonnano's phone rang.

"Yeah Eliot," he said into the device, "mhmm. You wanna take down the Mexican and Irish Mob's tonight? Gonna take about half to three quarters of an hour to set up. Yeah, I'll call you when we're in place."

"Tell him I'll be home after lunch tomorrow," Abby said.

"Did you catch that?" he said into the phone. "He says that's fine as long as you do your homework." He hung up the device. "Shelley, how do you feel about upholding some of that constitution you're married to?"

"It would be an honour," he replied quite seriously as the pair picked up their coats to leave. Abby pulled out the thumb drive and followed them.

"Have you even seen the Princess Bride?" she asked in the elevator.

"Have you seen Top Gun?" Shelley replied.

"Didn't think you army guys had time for films," Abby said smugly.

"Oh, we make time for Top Gun," he replied.

"But honestly? Have you seen the Princess Bride?" she questioned again and he shook his head.

"I saw about ten minutes of it on a plane once."

"And?"

"I was kinda distracted by the Yakuza," he stated matter of factly. Both Abby and Bonnano made a questioning face.

"Should I ask?" the detective enquired.

"You could but then I'd..."

"Have to kill me," Bonnano finished. "Got it."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I'm home," Abby said as she entered their apartment.

"How was movie night?" Eliot asked as he tied up his tie, preparing for the days job.

"Fun! These girls are great. And I heard you got up to mischief last night?"

Eliot paused, worrying for a second she had found out about his liaising with 'Sister Lupe'. He didn't like to set that example for Abby and was especially conscious of it after Sophie's phone call to him several weeks earlier.

"What was it," Abby continued. "Mexican drug cartel?"

"Yeah," he replied, relieved. "All in a day's work."

"All in a day's work? You took down two established gangs. On your night off? That's totally epic!" she yelled enthusiastically. "By the way, you know your army friend Sammy?"

"Shelley," he corrected.

"I know. You know he hasn't seen the Princess Bride?"

"Neither have I."

"Seriously? How can you not have seen it? ROUS's, rhyming giants?" she questioned. "Not ringing any bells?"

"I think I saw ten minutes of it on a plane once."

"Let me guess, distracted by the Yakuza?"

"Somethin' like that."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Tara!" Sophie exclaimed gleefully as her and the rest of the team entered Nate's apartment, all having just come from tidying up from lasts night's impromptu jobs.

Tara had helped herself to a glass of red and was comfortably lounging on one of the bar stools, aimlessly flicking through some paperwork which had been left around.

Just like she had done when the team had first met her, she had made herself at home.

"I thought you were flying out to Shanghai tonight?" Sophie continued.

"Well I was," Tara replied, standing up and adjusting her very short dress, "but this whole Eliot and the kid thing got me curious and I had to see it for myself. This must be her." The grifter nodded her head towards Abby.

"I must be," Abby agreed, though she was rather confused. "And you would be?" Abby asked, looking up at Eliot.

"Tara Cole," the woman said before Eliot could reply. "I worked with this little…family here a few years back."

"Right," the teenager nodded then moved forward as she realised that she, and the others, were still standing in the doorway. She stepped forward pulling of one shoe, then took another step pulling off the other and tossed them next to the door.

"So this is actually a thing?" Tara laughed. "You actually like take care of her and do the whole parenting thing?" There was an unprecedented amount of disbelief and amusement in her voice.

"Why does everyone find this so hard to believe?" the hitter replied rhetorically, walking into the kitchen and pulling himself a beer. He ignored Tara's gestures to refill her nearly empty glass

Tara waved off Eliot's dismissal and threw back the rest of the wine. "Maybe it's because you, I don't know, are so calm and thoughtful and don't have a temper at all." The sarcasm was so evident that even Parker could pick it up. "Seriously?" she asked again. "There wasn't a parent you could dump her with?"

"Well thank goodness there wasn't," Abby replied quickly. "Because then you wouldn't be quite amused."

"Touché," Tara replied, mildly impressed as she gathered her belongings and made her way to the door. "I'll be seeing you. Eliot's parenting skills is something I don't want to miss." Without looking up, she gave a wave and then left.

"She seems… abrasive," Abby declared and the others nodded in agreement, except for Parker, who ran across from the kitchen to the couch where Sophie was sitting and embraced her in a rather awkward, one sided hug.

"We're so glad you came back," the thief exclaimed. Sophie smiled and strained her hand to pat Parker on the head; the only form of physical affection the thief's embrace had enabled her.

Question.. how do you guys feel about the altering of how things played out in an episode?

I'm on the fence about it so I thought I'd leave it up to you.

Ta