Story: You Cut Me Open
Title: You Cut Me Open
Author: alinaandalion
Giftee: Meghan_84
Rating: T
Characters/Pairing: Eliot, Parker, Sophie, Hardison, Nate, Tara. Eliot/Parker, Parker/Hardison, Nate/Sophie, small amounts of Eliot/Tara and Sophie/Tara
Word Count: 6,909
Spoilers: Spoilers for season two.
Warnings: Cursing, some mild sexual content, a good dash of angst.
Disclaimer: I do not own Leverage or anything associated with it. That privilege belongs to the brilliant creators. I just like to play with the characters.
Summary: There are some things you can't ever plan for. Unfortunately, being in love with the wrong person falls into the category.
Notes: This was a new adventure for me, as I've never worked with the Eliot/Parker pairing. It was a fun experience, though, and they do make a cute couple. I might be converted yet.
Eliot gulped down some of his beer and looked around the bar. Parker was perched on a small stool; she gave him a small wave as Hardison walked up behind her and kissed her cheek. She turned away from Eliot to face her boyfriend, a smile lighting up her face as she talked exuberantly to Hardison. Eliot ground back a growl and drained his glass. He almost didn't notice Sophie when she slipped into the booth beside him.
"Pining away in a corner isn't going to help," she said quietly, her eyes fixed on the happy couple.
He shook his head. "Don't know what you're talking about. Besides, you're one to talk about not pining after someone. How're things with Nate?"
"The same." She sighed and rubbed at her temples with delicate fingers. "Take it from someone with a lot of experience. It won't solve anything."
"When's Tara coming back?"
"She hasn't said. Looking for a quick fuck?"
He didn't miss the hard edge in her voice. "You said that you weren't jealous of what we have going on. At least act like it."
"I don't like the fact that you're using my friend." She frowned. "I'm not jealous."
"Friends?" He snorted. "I'm sure Nate would see it that way."
"You wouldn't dare tell him?"
"No. But, he's probably already figured it out. He's not stupid."
"That's true. I was going to call her later this week. Do you want me to tell her you miss her?"
He shrugged. "There's no reason to lie. She can come back when she feels like it. I'll pick up a girl if I want one."
"I forget how…casual you can be." She furrowed her eyebrows and sank further back into her seat.
"You could try it out. Don't fix anything, but you get some fun out of it." A waitress placed a full glass in front of him, and he grinned up at her.
Sophie sighed in disgust and waved the waitress away. "Too many risks. I've seen too much to trust a random man in a bar."
"A few bad experiences in your past?"
"You could say that." Her phone went off in her purse, and she sucked in a breath when she looked at it. "I have to leave, but you're welcome to come over to my place tonight."
"I don't really want to go there with you, Sophie. No offense."
"I meant to cook and maybe watch a movie." She slid out of the booth and walked off, muttering, "Men. Only one thing on their minds."
He lifted his glass and toasted her retreating back. "You know it, darling."
He stood in the hallway outside Sophie's apartment and knocked for the fourth time. He considered breaking down the door in case she was in trouble, but the last time he had done that, she had only been in the shower, and he'd been forced to sit through two hours of her ranting at him about destroying her door.
Parker appeared beside him. "She's not home."
He blinked. "Okay. Where did you come from?"
"She's with Nate." Parker gave him a sly grin. "She won't be home for hours."
"You know something I don't?"
"Either they'll finally figure something out, or they'll fight, and she'll spend most of the night in a bar."
"How do you know that?"
"I've had to go get her a few times." Parker traced her fingers along the wood paneling of the door; Eliot stared at her fingers. She cocked her head to one side and gestured to the plastic sack in his hand. "What are you doing here?"
He sighed. "I was going to cook dinner and watch a movie with her. What are you doing here? And, where's Hardison?"
"I left him alone to play his troll-killing game." She wrinkled her nose and bent down to the lock, slipping out her lock-pick kit. She continued as she worked, "I thought Sophie might be free. I've been trying to convince her to try out my new rig with me."
Eliot grinned as the door swung open. "How's that going for you?"
"She'll agree to it eventually." Parker stepped inside the apartment. "Come on. You can cook for me, and we'll wait for her to come back."
"Won't Hardison miss you?" He followed after her, unable to resist her magnetic pull.
"Not for several hours. I'll go back in time to make him go to bed."
Eliot sat the sack onto a granite counter in Sophie's kitchen. He almost envied her apartment, and he had teased her endlessly when he found out about her state-of-the-art kitchen until one night they had cooked together. She had proven she was more than competent, and they had started a tradition. Wednesday nights, he could be found at her apartment for dinner and a movie afterwards. The only exceptions were was when Tara was in town. He didn't interfere with the two women, and Sophie returned the favor when Tara showed up at his door late in the night, hair wild and blue eyes dark with lust.
Parker perched on the counter and went through the bag. "Pasta. Yum."
She tossed him a package of angel hair pasta and grinned as she opened the freezer door with her foot, leaning over to rummage through its contents. She settled on a package of fruit-flavored popsicles and selected a yellow one. He suspected those were put there especially for Parker.
He put a pot of water onto the stove to boil. "Don't eat too much. You won't be hungry for dinner."
She relaxed against the wooden cabinets and licked her popsicle with relish. "I like popsicles. It's like eating colors."
He shook his head and pulled peppers from the sack, red, yellow and green. "You're really eating a bunch of sugar and water."
"It's good," she replied, as though there couldn't be any argument to that reason. "Sophie says that life is meant to be enjoyed."
"I'm sure she's enjoying the hell out of hers right now." The water was boiling, so he dropped the pasta into it and turned down the heat.
She watched him chop up the peppers. "You think she and Nate fought/"
"Or are fighting." He gave the pieces of vegetables in front of him a grim look. "When do they ever do anything different?"
"Why do they always fight?"
"That's something you'll have to ask Sophie."
"But talking about Nate makes her sad." Parker frowned and looked at the popsicle stick in her hand. "I don't like making her sad. She should be happy."
"It ain't that easy, darling."
"Well, it should be."
Parker swung off the counter and wandered to the main room of the apartment to examine Sophie's movie collection. She liked movies with lots of big explosions, maybe a sex scene; Sophie preferred foreign films and movies so old they didn't even have color. So, Parker got a little excited when her eyes landed on one titled Crash. She grabbed it up and bounced back to the kitchen.
She shook it in front of Eliot's face. "Can we watch this?"
He couldn't read the title, but he didn't really care. "Sure. After we eat."
"And you clean up."
"Parker, I'm the one making dinner."
"Exactly. You're the one making the mess. That means you get to clean it all up."
She was gone again before he could argue, so he turned his focus back to the sauce, keeping an eye on the thickening pasta. Maybe he would leave the dishes for Sophie as payback for bailing on him. Of course, if Sophie was there, he wouldn't be spending an evening alone with Parker. He would decide later after she came back, and he saw how drunk she was. He looked at the simmering sauce, using a spoon to taste it. He grinned. Perfection.
"Hey, Parker, get in here. Dinner's ready."
Parker ended up falling asleep halfway through the movie. He suspected she didn't read the back of the DVD case because it was nothing like the movies she normally selected. He wasn't complaining, though, because Parker had cuddled up into his side, and he could smell her fruity shampoo; maybe the evening had turned out better than he had hoped. And, he kind of liked the movie as well. Parker's phone vibrated in her pocket, and she stirred as she fumbled with a sluggish hand for it. She blinked and read the text message, grinning as she sat up.
Eliot scowled. "What's going on?"
"Hardison finished his big battle or something." She stood up and stretched. "He won, so I'm going to head out."
"Why does that matter?"
"He always gets horny when he wins." She winked and skipped her way to the door.
"Didn't want to know that!" he called after her. When the door closed behind her, he muttered, "Really didn't want to know that."
He groaned and looked back at the dirty dishes on the table. Shaking his head, he settled back into the couch to finish the movie.
He was fifteen minutes away from the end when Sophie stumbled through the front door. He took one look at her and started to operate on autopilot, immediately moving to Sophie's side to keep her from falling over and knocking what looked to be a very expensive vase to the floor.
"Hey," she slurred, patting him a little too hard on the cheek. "What're you doing here?"
He frowned. There were times when he really hated Nate. He could feel the anger burning him from the inside out. He examined her to make sure she was at least physically all right. Her make-up was a little smudged, and she was having a hard time keeping herself on her feet, but his inspection didn't reveal anything suspicious or out of the ordinary.
"Things not go well with Nate?"
"Don't talk about that bastard to me." She attempted to push him away, but it was more of her swaying into his chest. She grinned up at him. "But, look what I have here. A good, good man."
"Must have had a lot tonight." He adjusted his grip on her waist in order to keep her steady. "Come on. Let's get you into bed."
Apparently, that was her signal to pull him into a kiss; he was too stunned to move away, at first. Then, it was a matter of not actually wanting to. He was fuming from the fact that Parker had chosen Hardison. He was looking for something like this. And, Sophie was good at it. Her lips fit perfectly against his, her tongue responding eagerly to his rough exploration, her hands moving to his hair and tugging enough to pull a growl from the back of his throat. She pressed her body against him, her fiery dark eyes boring holes into him as she smirked with swollen lips.
He crashed his mouth against hers again and closed his eyes because her hair was too dark, and the voice was all wrong, but he was hurting, and he just didn't care anymore.
"Am I interrupting something?"
Tara's voice broke through his fog, and he took a quick step back. He instantly regretted that because Sophie lost her balance and nearly fell to the floor. Luckily, Tara rushed over in time to catch Sophie.
Tara threw him a knowing smirk. "Get her drunk enough to fuck you? I didn't think that would really be your style."
"It's not." He passed a hand across his face in an effort to combat the weariness overwhelming him. "I'll just leave you to take care of her."
"Yeah, thanks, I'm always happy to clean up after Nate." Tara groaned and managed to fling most of Sophie's weight across her slim shoulders.
"Hi, Tara." Sophie giggled. "I didn't know you were coming."
"I gathered." Tara nodded her head towards the door and gave him a pointed look. "Feel free to leave at any time."
"Always good to see you, Tara." Eliot turned on his heel and stomped out of Sophie's apartment, slamming the door.
Parker glared at the apple in her hands, squeezing her fingers tightly into the fruit. She could feel the dark bruises forming under the delicate skin. Too bad this was as close as she could get to playing out her fantasies of strangling Tara. It had been two weeks since Tara had arrived, and Parker felt deeply that the woman had outstayed her welcome.
Hardison came up behind her. "Whoa, mama, what has that apple ever done to you?"
Parker stiffened then forced herself to relax. "Didn't know I was squeezing it so hard."
He gave her face a searching look; she still wasn't that good at lying. He followed the line of her gaze to where Tara was sitting with Eliot. The more the two laughed, the darker Parker's face became. He didn't really know what was going on, but he didn't like it.
"Hey, what's wrong?" He kissed her forehead and took the stool next to her. "Do you want to talk about it or something?"
Parker slid off her seat. "No."
She tossed the apple over her shoulder to him as she walked off and out of Nate's apartment. He sighed and set it on the counter, giving a low whistle when he examined the indentations she had left behind.
"Is everything all right?"
He jumped and whipped back to where Parker had been sitting to see Sophie perched there. "Have you been taking lessons from Parker?"
Sophie gave him a half-smile. "Maybe. What's bothering her, Hardison?"
"She didn't say." He prodded at the apple. "My guess would be that it has to do with either Eliot or Tara. Or both. Can't figure out why, though. Has she said anything to you?"
Sophie looked down at the counter, her eyes dark as she studied the apple. "No, she hasn't."
"You still know something."
"Talk to her." She got up and patted him on the shoulder. "I'm sure it's nothing."
"Must be a whole lot of nothing to get her that upset," Hardison mumbled as she walked off, his eyes falling back to the apple.
Sophie frowned as she examined her reflection in the mirror in Nate's spare bedroom. She grabbed the curling iron and attacked a stubborn piece of hair. A knock sounded on the door.
"I'm almost ready," she called, releasing her hair and smiling as it fell into a perfect curl.
"You said that twenty minutes ago." Nate groaned and rested his head against the cool wood. "If you're not done soon, we'll be late."
"Fashionably late."
"We're already doing that. This is bordering on outright rudeness."
She rolled her eyes. "You can come in. No reason to shout at each other through the door."
He stepped inside, closing the door behind himself. "I thought you liked things that way." Then, he looked at her, his eyes roaming over her deep red dress in appreciation. "You look amazing."
She turned away from him and back to the mirror. "You can't just keep doing that."
Too late, she realized she could still see his reflection as his expression hardened. She looked down at the floor, but her shoulders were squared and her teeth set.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh, then, let me help you. You can't reject me one moment and then look at me like that the next. You can't have it both ways."
"Oh, really?" He walked up behind her and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her flush against his body. "That's a strange thing for you to say, considering that you're fucking Tara and chasing after me. I'm not the only one who wants things both ways."
"What I do with Tara is none of your business."
"Why not?"
"Because you've made it clear that even if you do want me, you're not going to do anything about it." Her eyes met his gaze in the mirror, cold and hard. "And, I'm not going to wait forever. Make a choice."
He leaned in, his lips ghosting over her ear. "You first."
She sucked in a breath, very aware of his proximity and his hands laid too low on her hips. She had to fight to keep from melting into him. She forced his hands off and whirled around to face him.
"What will you do when I make that choice?"
He stared down at her blood-red lips and considered making her forget all about the party. Make her forget about the con, Tara, everything. He took a step back.
"You have to gamble to win."
She smiled bitterly. "Spoken like a true addict."
He sighed and started to leave, turning back to tell her, "Five more minutes or we'll leave without you."
"You need me for this con."
"I always have a back-up plan. Learned that from you."
She threw her still-hot curling iron at the door as it closed on him, only halfway regretting that it didn't actually hit him. She glanced at her reflection before leaving the room. Face set, she walked out, following in his wake.
It was four in the morning. Parker paced along the waiting room of the hospital, still dressed in her waiting staff costume. Sophie and Tara were sitting in a corner; Sophie had found the time to change out of her dress into more casual clothes. Probably a good thing since she had been covered with Eliot's blood by the time Parker had gotten to them. Parker didn't spare them too much thought. Sophie was normally a comforting presence when things went wrong, but even though Sophie looked like she was holding it together, her brown eyes were large and frightened in her pale face. Parker supposed that was partially her fault. She was the reason a gun had been pulled on Sophie earlier that night, and from the looks Tara was giving her, she suspected that Tara knew.
Hardison tried again to convince her to sit down, but she shrugged him off. He looked hurt by that, but she was having trouble caring. It was her fault. Her fault that the mark had tried to kill Sophie. Her fault that Eliot leapt in front of the bullet. And, it was all her fault that Eliot was in surgery, and no one knew if he was going to make it. She had overheard a nurse say that he was lucky he even made it to the hospital.
Nate shifted for the thirty-seventh time in his chair. Hospitals made him nervous and upset. She knew that. He got worse when Sophie was in danger. He spiraled out of control when one of the team went down. Just another reason why she was going to hell. Not that it mattered or that she even cared. All that she wanted was for Eliot to wake up and be okay. She could live without forgiveness. But, not without him. She would march after his soul or whatever people had that left when they died, and she would drag him back.
The doctor was walking towards Nate. Parker stopped her pacing to stare, her heart in her throat.
"Mr. Baker?" the doctor asked.
Nate stood up, and Sophie was immediately at his side, her hand linked with his. He gave her fingers a light squeeze but kept his eyes trained on the doctor.
"My brother. Is he all right?"
"He made it through surgery, but he's not out of the woods yet."
Nate swallowed hard and nodded his head. "When will we know?"
"The next few hours are crucial." The doctor sighed. "I'll let you know if his condition changes."
Parker knew what that was code for. The doctor didn't think Eliot would wake up. He was stupid if he thought that. Eliot was invincible. He wouldn't let anything take him down, much less one bullet. Parker thought it would take hundreds of bullets. Thousands, maybe.
"Can we see him?" The words were out of her mouth before she even realized she was speaking. She waited for a response as the doctor looked her over in confusion. She remembered then that she didn't have a cover story.
"No," he answered finally. "Not until he's completely stable."
He left after that. Parker went back to her pacing, just noticing that Sophie was now sitting with Nate. Hardison watched her from across the room, his brow furrowed as he took in her agitation and guilt. He knew something had gone wrong that night, and that Parker was somehow involved. The thought crossed his mind that she had blown the con on purpose, but he dismissed it out of hand. There was no reason for her to pull a stunt like that. Still, he would ask her later about what had happened. There were a lot of questions in his life at the moment, and he didn't have enough answers to go around.
Cold. That was what Eliot remembered. And, red everywhere. He hadn't meant to get shot. The plan had been to get the gun away from the mark. Unfortunately, the man had a nervous trigger finger. It hadn't been a conscious move on Eliot's part. This was what he did. It was hardwired into him by now: protect the team, no matter what. Sophie had screamed. He thought he remembered her pulling a knife from somewhere underneath her dress and slashing the mark's throat.
Cool hands had smoothed along his forehead. Trembling hands. Red swam into his vision. Sophie, in her blood dress. There was blood all over her; it took him too long to realize that a lot of it was his. He had closed his eyes because he didn't want to see her. Her face told him he was dying while she lied and her fingers probed at the weeping hole in his chest. It had hurt, but it was different from injuries he had in the past. Everything was at a distance.
"Tell her that…"
"No, I'm not telling Parker anything." He could feel her salty tears falling across his lips. He wanted to tell her he wasn't thirsty. Make her laugh. "You're going to be fine, Eliot."
"I'm sorry." He barely managed to choke out those words before his tongue fell silent in his mouth.
He had more to say, but his body that he had spent so much goddamn time training into obedience was finally failing him. The world had gone black, then, edged with blurred colors. The next thing he saw was a fuzzy halo of blonde hair.
He didn't think. "I love you."
He heard the beeping monitors. That meant he was safe. The team was safe. So, he didn't fight the heavy darkness. And, he didn't really see the girl beside him.
Parker gripped his hand a little tighter and pushed his long hair out of his face, her eyes darting across his features. His words had frozen her to that spot. She licked her lips and tried to pull together a stern message with a fierce expression to let him know that she meant business, and he had to wake up again. She failed miserably.
"Maybe that's a good thing," she said quietly, glancing down to where their fingers were threaded together. "Because I think I love you."
Sophie had left the others in the waiting room because Parker had disappeared for a few hours, and no one knew where she had gone. It had been decided that Sophie should search for her. She wandered down the hospital hallways, working her way to the ICU. Her guess turned out to be correct when she peered into the room where Eliot was placed and saw the lithe girl perched on the edge of his bed. Sophie eased her way into the room, checking over her shoulder to make sure that no nurses had seen her.
"Parker, what are you doing here?"
Parker looked up and shrugged. "I wouldn't want to be alone."
"Are you doing all right?" Sophie tried to place a comforting hand on her shoulder, but Parker shied away.
"It's my fault, you know." Parker's eyes were trained on Eliot's limp body, her lips trembling. "I was trying to make Tara look bad. I didn't know the mark had a gun or that he would try to kill you."
"Why would you want to make Tara look bad?"
"I don't like her. She doesn't belong here."
"Parker, I'm not sure I understand."
Parker turned her head to look at Sophie. "You do know. You just want to hear me say it."
Sophie raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms across her chest. "Okay, fine. You have feelings for Eliot. Do you want to explain that?"
"I can't."
"You're going to have to. You're with Hardison."
"I know," Parker said softly. "What should I do?"
"I can't tell you what to do, Parker. The last time I tried to help you in the romantic field, I helped you start a relationship with Hardison, which apparently isn't what you want. Maybe it would be best if you could tell me how you feel about them." Sophie pulled up a chair. "And, it might be a good idea to do this before Eliot wakes up."
Parker sighed and let her blonde hair fall into her face. "I liked Eliot, but Hardison liked me. And, I liked Hardison, too. I thought these feelings would…go away, but they haven't. I don't know what to do because I don't know how I feel. Why can't you just tell me?"
"Because this has to be your decision. You're the one who has to live with it." Sophie took a deep breath and leaned forward. "Who do you want to be with more?"
Parker worried at her bottom lip, her eyes flickering over to Eliot. "I don't know. Eliot. But, what about Hardison?"
"Are you sure about Eliot?" When Parker nodded her head, Sophie stood up. "Then, you have to tell Hardison. Don't make him be the bigger man about this. He loves you."
"He's never told me that."
"Just talk to him, Parker."
Sophie started for the door, but Parker's timid voice stopped her. "I don't want to hurt him."
"It's going to hurt, no matter what you do."
Hardison was huddled in front of his laptop at Nate's apartment. The rest of the room was dark because Parker was asleep on the couch. Sophie and Tara were sharing the spare bedroom, and Nate was downstairs in the bar. Eliot was still at the hospital, and the only reason any of them weren't there was because a nurse had found Parker in Eliot's room and promptly kicked them all out. Well, that, and it had been over twenty-four hours since anyone had gotten some sleep.
He couldn't sleep yet. He still had some caffeine coursing through his system, so he was going back through the audio files he had taken. He did this after every con, but he needed to know what had gone wrong. He clicked on the file and paused when he saw the extra length. He had thought he had cut the feed off after they got to the hospital. Shrugging, he decided to check to make sure he hadn't missed anything important. Sophie and Parker's conversation played back through his headphones, his face paling as he listened. He jerked off the headphones as if burned and threw them across the room.
Parker sat up and peered over the back of the couch. "What's going on? Is something wrong?"
Hardison resisted the urge to yell at her. "Yeah. Everything's fine."
He got up and walked out of the apartment and down the stairs. Nate was passed out in a booth, a half-empty bottle of whiskey in front of him. Hardison bypassed him and headed behind the bar, liberating a bottle of vodka and a small glass.
"So, I take it you found out?" Tara leaned over the bar and gave him a half-smile. "I was wondering when it would happen."
"You knew?" He poured a measure into his glass and gulped it down. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"It's not my job. It's Parker's business. I'm not going to meddle where I'm not needed."
"Why didn't Sophie say anything?"
"I don't think she saw it for awhile. She probably only just put the pieces together."
Hardison filled his glass and drank again, slamming the glass onto the bar. "It's not fair. He always gets the girl. Always. I waited for years for Parker to be ready, and I…I love her. Why couldn't she be happy with me?"
She sighed and sank onto a stool, reaching across the wood to take his hands. "Listen to me. This sucks, and it isn't fair. But, it's happening. And, if you love her, you'll let her go. If you don't, you'll get stuck and you won't get a second chance at this."
"So, is that how you feel about Sophie?" When she ducked her head and didn't answer, he sighed. "Sorry. I mean, how do you stand it?"
"I always figured that I got at least a part of her, and I wasn't always in love with her. Then, she met Nate, and I lost her after that. I just don't know how to walk away from her."
"It's the same thing for me with Parker. I don't want to let her go. She's everything to me."
"I would say that time makes things better, but I can't do that in good conscience. However, it's possible that you'll get over Parker and find someone else." Tara withdrew her hands and reached for the bottle. "I think I'll take a drink of my own."
Hardison bent down to produce a fresh glass, sliding it across the bar to her. She poured a small amount into it and lifted it in a bitter toast. He mirrored her gesture and tipped the burning liquid past his lips.
Eliot stirred and opened his eyes. He took stock of his situation. He was in a hospital room, and his mouth was incredibly dry. There should be some ice chips around there to fix that; he just had to find them. He started to move his heavy limbs in an effort to sit up, and suddenly Parker was in front of his face.
"Hey." She smiled at him. "I should probably call the nurse and let her know you're awake."
"I just want some ice chips."
She reached over and returned to his line of vision with a handful. "Here you go."
He opened his mouth and let her slip the cold fragments into his mouth. They melted on his tongue, moistening the muscle and allowing him to move it experimentally. Parker was staring at him, and he narrowed his eyes, unable to do much more. A quick glance to his left revealed that he was hooked up to an IV, which meant he was probably on morphine. He probably wouldn't be lucid for long.
"What is it?" he finally asked, feeling like he was missing out on something important.
She shifted, and he grunted in annoyance as mild pain rippled through his body. Her eyes studied his bedcovers like they were the most interesting things she had ever seen. He reached out and brushed her hand with a couple of fingers, wanting her to look back at him.
She did, a little startled, but she started talking. "When you got out of surgery, I came to see you. And, you said something."
"I hope it wasn't anything embarrassing." He was already backtracking to see if he could remember what had come out of his mouth. Unfortunately, all of those memories were fuzzy to the point that he didn't know what belonged in reality and his dreams.
"You said that you love me."
He blinked. Well, he didn't remember that. And, her timidity was disconcerting; she was with Hardison, and as far as he knew, she tended to not care about confessions of feelings. Of course, that was as long as she didn't feel the same way, and his brain was finally catching up.
"Oh."
She nodded her head and picked at a stray thread in his sheets. "Yeah. Did you mean it?"
"Well, Parker, I don't remember saying it." He studied her blank face and wished that he was better at reading her. "But, I meant it."
She bent her head further downward, her hair falling into her face. He rolled his eyes and prodded at her arm with his outstretched fingers.
"What do you think?"
She shrugged. "I don't know. I wasn't exactly expecting that, you know?"
"Believe me, I wasn't either."
That got a small chuckle out of her. She looked up and met his gaze. "I think I feel the same way."
"Okay." He sighed and closed his eyes, trying to think. "What are you going to do?"
"I'm breaking up with Hardison. And, after that, I don't know."
"Don't worry about it right now."
She wrinkled her nose and looked down at him like he was the one with a few screws loose. "What?"
"Don't worry about it. You're here right now."
She smiled, her eyes lighting up a little. "Okay." She stretched out a little. "I'm glad you didn't die."
"I feel the same way. Would have been a horrible way to go down. Embarrassing."
"You won't ever die. Well, not for a long time. You're like Batman."
"Not Superman?"
"Batman is better than Superman. Everyone knows that." She snuggled her nose into his shoulder. "He could totally take Superman down."
"Really?" Eliot laughed. "I never really thought about it."
"These things can be very important," she said with such a serious look on her face that Eliot wondered if she really wasn't joking. Her eyes twinkled as she looked up at him. "You're going to make me pancakes when you get better."
"I am?" He put on his angry face and shook his head.
"Oh, yes, you are." She sat up and edged off the bed. "Sophie will get mad at me if she found out I didn't call the nurse. I'll be right back."
She slipped out of the room, and he stared after her, still not quite sure that everything that just happened wasn't just some hallucination from the morphine. Then, Parker had brought in the nurse, and she stood off to the side while the woman worked. Parker winked at him and brandished a cell phone and wallet before brushing past the nurse and giving them back. Maybe he wasn't dreaming.
Nate woke up, wondering why his entire body was so stiff he could barely move. He lifted his head and realized that he had fallen asleep in the booth the night before. Well, maybe he had passed out. Regardless, he had a pounding headache, and all he really wanted was a glass of water and several aspirin. He moved and groaned. Make that an entire bottle of aspirin.
"I was wondering when you would wake up."
He cracked an eye open to peer at Sophie. "What time is it?"
"Eleven in the morning. Did you spend the entire night down here?"
"Apparently." He sat up and stretched his legs out. One of them had fallen asleep. "Where is everyone?"
"Parker is back at the hospital. Tara is upstairs. And, I don't know where Hardison is." She slid a few pills across the table along with a bottle of water. "Here. I thought you would need this when you woke up."
"You're not mad? Going to give me a lecture about how disappointed you are?" He threw the medicine into his mouth and used the water to chase them.
She arched an eyebrow. "Would it matter?"
He sighed. "Fine. Do you know how Eliot is doing?"
"Parker sent me a message saying that he's awake. I was waiting for you to go." She stood up. "You're going to need a shower and a fresh change of clothes. Come on."
She walked to his side of the booth and offered him a hand. He grasped it firmly, letting his hand curl around her fingers and pushing himself out of the booth with a groan of protest. She gave him a slight smile and started for the door.
"You know, I didn't get a chance to say it before, but I'm glad you're okay. I don't know…you know, I'm just…glad."
She turned around and looked at him. "I know. And, I ended things permanently with Tara."
"Why?"
"I decided to take a gamble." She opened the door and threw back over her shoulder, "I'm not used to losing."
He grinned and followed after her. "I'm not, either."
Parker fiddled with her glass. Hardison watched her hands, waiting for her to say something. After about fifteen minutes of sitting in silence, he sighed.
"You said that we need to talk." She looked up, and he raised his eyebrows. "When exactly are we going to start the talking part of this?"
Her eyes fell back to the table as her slender fingers wrapped tighter around the glass. "I don't know how to say this. I think we should break up."
"It looks like you managed to say it just fine."
"You're not mad?"
He shook his head and clenched his hand beside him in the booth into a fist. "I don't know. Maybe. I knew, before we came here."
"How?" Her eyes narrowed. "You weren't spying on me, were you?"
"Not on purpose. I accidentally listened to you and Sophie talking about Eliot."
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"I didn't know what to say. What am I supposed to say to the fact that my girlfriend of the past year is in love with someone I consider my best friend?" He laughed bitterly. "I still don't know."
She chewed on her bottom lip, saying quietly, "I am sorry. I didn't want to hurt you."
"I hope…" he paused and forced himself to finish. "I hope you'll be happy."
He got up and walked away. She watched him leave, tears hovering in her eyes. She sniffed and swiped at her eyes, wiping away the unwelcome moisture before leaving the booth and heading for the roof. Sophie had been right. It did hurt.
When Eliot was sent home from the hospital, Tara left, and so did Hardison. With his hacker missing and Eliot still unable to participate in any strenuous activity, Nate put a halt on any jobs. That didn't mean they didn't all end up in his apartment anyway, which he complained about often and loudly.
Parker dipped her finger into the batter Eliot was stirring, smirking when he used the spoon to gently smack the back of her hand. Sophie and Nate were off somewhere, but she didn't worry about it because they had stopped fighting so much. Of course, that didn't mean they had stopped fighting completely.
Sophie stormed through the door. "You are an insufferable bastard!"
"Oh, come on, Sophie, it's not that big of a deal." Nate followed her inside, shutting the door.
Parker perched on the counter, and Eliot put his spoon aside to watch the unfolding show.
"Not that big a deal?" She flung her arms wide and gestured to him. "You can't just challenge someone to a bar fight and expect for that to be okay. Especially not when you lose!"
Eliot looked over at Nate and noted a few bruises, but he didn't look that beaten up.
"Well, I don't know if I actually lost. We'll never know, in fact, because you knocked the guy out with your purse."
"And, in thanks for probably saving your life, you yelled at me!" She flung her bag at Nate; he ducked out of the way just in time. "Next time, I'll just watch while someone beats you into a bloody pulp."
Sophie stormed her way up the stairs, and Nate went after her, saying, "If you wouldn't interfere, I might actually win. You could be surprised."
Parker looked over at Eliot. "That's not a real fight, is it?"
"Nah, they're just doing their weird way of flirting."
"You don't think they'll, you know?"
"Hopefully not while we're here."
She gave him a sly grin and scooted closer to him along the counter. "We could leave the cake until later and go back to your place."
He slipped his hands around her waist and pulled her closer, pressing a kiss to her lips. "Later."
She pouted, but she didn't try again when he let her go and returned to his bowl. "When do you think Hardison will come back? He's been gone for two months now."
"Next week." He poured the batter into two separate pans and slid them into the oven.
She gaped at him. "How do you know? Can you read minds like Sophie now?"
"First of all, Sophie can't read minds. Second of all, he called me after he talked to Nate to let me know." He shrugged. "I think he got bored."
"Do you think I messed everything up?" She pulled her knees up to her chest and peered at him with vulnerable eyes.
"No. Shook things up, sure. But, Hardison is going to be fine. No lasting damage done." He smiled. "We're still a team, sweetheart. Nothing is going to change that."
She reached over and took his hand in hers, remembering. "Yeah, nothing."