It took him an hour and a half to make it back to Boston then another twenty minutes to get in touch with Hardison to give him directions.
The hacker answered sleepily, not surprising for five something in the morning, but, upon hearing where he was going, perked up and gave him the address and GPS details without hesitation.
It then took him a further ten minutes to drive to the location and took five minutes to sit in the car and do some recon. Then, as the clock struck five to six, Eliot pushed open the car door and walked purposefully towards the perfectly kept house and, hesitating only slightly, knocked on the door.
Steven opened it with a surprised look on his face. "E..El..Eliot?" there was undoubtedly worry in his voice as his mind flash backed to the last time Eliot showed at his front door and threw a punch that was visible on his face for the next month.
The man rubbed his face in recollection of the injury as though it was yesterday as Eliot stared at him menacingly.
"Steven," Eliot replied dryly.
"What are you… is Abby okay?"
"No, she's not okay. Do you have any idea how much you've messed with her head? Do you have any idea how much trouble you've caused her?"
The man opened his mouth to defend himself but instead, ended up gaping hopelessly like a fish.
"Cleary not Steven, so I'll say it again," he continued forcefully. "Stay away."
"No threats?" he questioned, cautiously and stupidly, as Eliot, with his already clenched fist, threw a perfect right hook into Steven's jaw. The man, if he could be called that, stumbled backwards into the wall behind him, flailing his arms as he tried to regain balance from the surprising hit.
He grabbed at throbbing and reddening jaw; the hit was just as painful as the last time.
Eliot stood for a moment, letting the man stagger, then threw another punch to the same side of the face but this time to his eye.
It was highly satisfying.
"Didn't think it was necessary," Eliot smirked as he walked away, leaving the man gaping in his foyer; after all, the last punch had kept him away for 16 years, with any luck this one would do the same.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
By the time Eliot returned back to the house, the sun was rising and, with it, were Parker and Abby.
"Where'd you go?" Abby questioned as he walked into the barn. She was slipping on another jumper, trying to stay off the morning chill.
Parker, on the other hand, was standing, in just a pair of jeans and a singlet, in the middle of the room, effortlessly picking locks.
"Went to get coffee and donuts for breakfast," he explained, holding up the tray of beverages and bag of donuts as he did.
"Oh!" Abby replied, leaping up to seize the bag of donuts from his hand and grab a dose of much needed caffeine.
"Did you get the one with the m'n'm's?" Parker asked enthusiastically.
"No," was Eliot's gruff reply.
She shrugged and waited patiently for Abby to pass the bag over. When it was handed to her, she dug through it eagerly.
Abby meanwhile, held the donut in her mouth as she sat down next to last night's embers and pulled on her shoes.
Eliot, upon receiving the crumbs and half eaten donuts which Parker had decided she was not fond of, sat down next to her as he chucked a few branches on the fire.
"Igarfunsterma," Abby mumbled, the uneaten donut still hanging out of her mouth.
"What?" Eliot laughed.
With both shoes now on, she grabbed the donut with her hand and swallowed the crumbs. "I had fun yesterday," she repeated.
"I did too," Eliot agreed, pocking the fire with a long branch, trying to get it going. "Do it again sometime?"
She nodded and, fixing up the cuff on her pants, smiled. "It'd like that."
They continued throughout day working on the back of the house, tearing down rotten wood and ripping out the old boards. It was actually quite enjoyable, Abby and, not surprisingly, Parker found. There was something about being destructive, but in a productive manner, that was remarkably therapeutic.
They worked mostly in silence but occasionally, they exchanged small conversation, but mostly, it was a time of quiet contemplation. Or, rather, quietly contemplating while half listening to Parker and her excited rants.
They remained in silence until late in the afternoon when the crinkling of a car on the stone driveway interrupted their productivity.
Eliot paused and, motioning to the others to do the same, he made his way to the nearest (but pane-less) window, gripping a crowbar tight in his hand.
The hitter looked cautiously out into the yard and, upon seeing Hardison, Sophie and Nate step out of the vehicle, he relaxed.
"Look at this beautiful sunshine!" Sophie declared, tilting her head up to the sky and soaking in all of the heat as she shut the car door.
"Look at all these damn bugs!" Hardison cursed, swatting at the air at flinching at any sort of movement in his peripherals.
"You wanted to come out here Hardison," Nate retorted as he made his way around to the trunk of the vehicle.
"Y'all conned me into coming out here," the hacker corrected, jumping to his left as he swiped at his jacket. He could have sworn he saw another damn creepy crawly.
"I'm sure I don't know what you mean," Nate smiled, pulling out his and Sophie's bag and slamming the trunk shut.
"What are you guys doing here?" Abby asked enthusiastically from the front door. She had made her way there after Eliot had told her who had arrived. Parker had followed, surprising Abby by jumping quickly onto her back and running down the stairs to greet Hardison.
"We thought it might be nice to come and, you know, help out," Sophie explained, making her way up to the house.
"You? And Hardison? You're going to help out?" Abby asked in disbelief. Nate snickered.
"It's not entirely unbelievable," Sophie retorted, kissing Abby on the cheek in greeting.
"Nate," Eliot greeted simply, leaning against door frame.
"Eliot," the man replied, following the grifter up the stairs. "Need a hand?" He placed their bags down next to front door.
"If you're prepared to get your hands dirty."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Who buys a rotten house?" Hardison asked as he pulled away half of a rotten board.
"Someone who wants to fix it up, Hardison," Eliot replied, throwing a few pieces of timber out the window into the junk pile.
"So how come you're really here?" Abby asked, wiping the sweat off her face with her forearm and pausing to take a drink of water.
Sophie and Nate both looked at Eliot who gave them a slight nod of assurance.
"We pulled a con yesterday," Nate began but was swiftly taken over by Sophie.
"On your father."
"Really?" she asked, screwing the lid up on the bottle.
"You pulled a con without me?" Parker asked disappointingly as she gestured to Abby to pass the water bottle over.
"That's okay, isn't it?" Sophie confirmed.
All eyes were on her as she considered the question. "Yeah," she said firmly, tossing the bottle to Parker. The thief caught it with ease. "Yeah, that's good."
Sophie let out a sigh of relief.
"How did you con him?" Parker asked. Despite the fact she was still disappointed she hadn't been asked to join, her voice was filled with enthusiasm.
This chapter was especially written for
I hope this was satisfying for you =) It certainly was for me