A Life in Constant Flux
Title: A Life in Constant Flux
Genre: Angst, hurt/comfort
Word Count: ~6,500 words
Rating: PG-13 (language)
Pairings: Eliot/Parker
Warnings: None
Summary: Parker's life has always been one of constant changes, but along the way she's tried to preserve the things that are most special to her. One catastrophic event takes all that away. Eliot's there to show Parker that out of the ashes, great things can be spawned.
Author's Note: A huge shout out to my new Leverage fandom beta vivrebarefoot for her invaluable suggestions, they improved this fic by leaps and bounds. Leverage images used in the title banner are from Reality End Screenshots
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A Life in Constant Flux
Parker sat reclined on the couch, eyes alert and her head slightly cocked to the side as she watched the boys play their video game, some first person shooter that had become their latest obsession. Hardison would cuss when Eliot shot his character in the head. Eliot would laugh as Hardison's half of the screen was washed out in red and the words "GAME OVER" flashed in bold black lettering.
Something started vibrating in Parker's pocket, causing her to jump a bit. She twisted to the side and dug into her back pocket for the thing, flipping it over and answering the phone. Very few people had her number, and all of the people who did wouldn't call without a very good reason. She slid off the couch and hustled out of the room to take the call without interrupting the boys. Eliot always yelled at her for distracting him, she'd gotten the blame for a few of the times Hardison had actually managed to beat Eliot.
Eliot shot her a glance, raising his eyebrows as she disappeared into the hallway. She ignored that as she listened to the person on the other end of the line. As the conversation continued her breath quickened and sweat started to bead on her back. When she finally shoved the phone back into her pocket she was almost running back through the living room and toward the door.
She paused in the living room just long enough to mutter one statement. "I-I have to go. Tell Nate I'll be back for the briefing later." And with that she disappeared through the door, slamming it behind her before she was off at a dead sprint.
Eliot paused the game at that point and set his controller aside. Hardison's expression mirrored his own, one of pure confusion. "What was that?"
Hardison shrugged. "No idea, man. I didn't even know she had a cell phone. And I'm the one who should know stuff like that. She looked upset though, you see the way she tore out of here?"
Eliot nodded. "She was spooked. It takes a lot to spook Parker. Somethin's not right here. Can you track her phone?"
Hardison pulled his laptop off the end table and onto his lap. "Now that I know she has one, yeah. Shouldn't be that hard."
Hardison spent all of three minutes honing in on her phone signal, then another few moments tracing her position through the cell phone company's satellite. He finally looked up at Eliot who was on his feet by that time, pacing by the door. "She looks like she's heading home."
"To that warehouse we visited a few weeks ago?"
"Yeah."
"What about evasive maneuvers? I know Parker. We spent two weeks following her every night trying to find out where she lived earlier this year. It didn't work; she led us in circles every time before giving us the slip."
Hardison gave the data another look before responding. "No circles this time. She's going straight home."
Eliot shook his head again. "This ain't right. Put a call into Nate and Sophie to meet us there. Something's up."
Eliot started shoving his feet into his shoes and tying the laces tightly in the double knots he preferred. Hardison took a run to the kitchen to fetch his keys off the counter where he'd discarded them. They met at the door, Eliot already in the hallway as Hardison jogged to catch up to him. Together they went in search of one of their own and whatever had dragged her out into the night.
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Even in the city, with so many buildings radiating florescent light from offices where employees were working another late night, it was still dark in some places. In the place Parker had picked to live, it was often very dark. Street lights were busted by vandals or went inoperable with the decay that accompanied time and the city officials never cared enough to fix them back up in this run down area. All the better cover for the criminals that liked to prowl around during the twilight hours.
Yeah, that was how it normally was. Dark as pitch with only the car's headlights to illuminate their path. But that wasn't the case tonight. Red and orange and yellow light washed over the surrounding buildings. Grey plumes climbed into the sky, higher than any of the warehouses in this district until the billowing grey clouds overtook the sky. Sirens wailed in the distance, growing only louder as they approached.
"Fire," Eliot growled.
"That's Parker's building," Hardison replied, failing to hide the concern in his voice.
"So where's Parker?" Eliot asked, hopping out of the car before Hardison had even pulled it to a full stop. Before he shut the door he paused to level a serious stare at Hardison. "Stay here. I'll find out what's going on and start looking for Parker. Wait for Nate and Sophie and stay back from the warehouse. A fire this big isn't something to play around with."
Hardison frowned. "It's not playing; we're looking for Parker. You could use the help."
Eliot narrowed his eyes. "The time we waste arguing is time not spent searching for her. There's already one of us missing. And that's one too many. I don't need to be worrying about keeping track of you when I need to focus on finding her."
Hardison gripped the steering wheel tightly as he mulled it over. "Fine. I'll wait. Keep your comm unit with you so we can stay updated."
Eliot nodded, digging for the small device in his pocket and sliding it in his ear. "Ok."
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Parker crouched on the edge of the building that flanked hers toward the river. Down here in the shipping district the buildings were crammed up against one another shoulder to shoulder. It was one of the reasons she'd picked this area to live in. There were lots of routes of escape: roof exits, air vents, hell, she'd even found an underground route that fed through an old sewer system.
It also meant that the fire that had started next door had bled over into her own building. The right side of the building was already a lost cause. She could see that from the firefighter's efforts. When she'd first arrived they had already been on site. They had been scattered around the building, aiming hoses at any blaze within their reach. They weren't trying to put out the areas that were on fire any more, though, they were working around the edges trying to contain it, to stop it from spreading.
Parker knew fires. She knew that they marched outward with the steady pace of time until they greedily consumed all of the resources available to them. The firefighters could fight it all they want, but it was inevitable as trying to hold back a floodgate that was already cracked open, they'd lose in the end. And this fire was devouring the closest thing she had to a home.
The building she didn't care about. She changed her living location often enough just to stay off the radar, it was four walls and a concrete floor and a leaky roof. But the touches of home that she brought into each one of her ever-changing domains, they were special. Things had never been constant for her, even back when she was a kid: her possessions were stolen by other foster kids; she was thrust from one family who didn't want her to the next. There were few static things in Parker's life; including some of the things she had taken into that building to surround herself with during the long nights. And she'd be damned if she would sacrifice those to the rage and greed of a fire.
She'd tried a ground approach once already, but a firefighter saw her and pulled her back and stuck her behind the police line. He'd told her that curiosity was fine and good but if she wanted to gawk she could do it from a safe distance.
Parker wasn't here to gawk. She was here to pull the few important possessions in her life out of the jaws of a destructive force of nature. She took a deep breath, sprung forward into a running start, and bounded from the roof of this building to the next, ignoring the flames that flared upward from the alley below.
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Eliot had started by wandering up to the police line and asking what had happened. A police officer had responded without turning his head away from the fire. The current theory was vandals had started the fire in the next building over, but this structure was the latest casualty. Eliot asked if anyone had been spotted in the building. The police officer shrugged, no one that they were aware of, the building was an abandoned storage facility. The only person that they had brought out this way was a cute little blond thing that had been wandering down toward an alley. She'd watched from behind the police line here for a few minutes before wandering off.
Eliot knew a fitting description of Parker when he heard one. And he also knew she was crazy enough to go inside that mess if there was something in there she wanted. He wasn't sure what that thing was, but the way Parker had fled back here without any concern for covering her steps made him suspect that she was here to save something from inside this building that was rapidly going down in flames.
So Eliot had flashed one of his fake badges that Hardison had made of him and slipped between the police barriers. He'd stolen a firefighter's uniform and protective gear off one of the trucks and plowed his way between fire hoses and ladders and voices screaming over the flames for more reinforcements. He finally stopped at the door that led to Parker's living quarters.
As the smoke thickened he donned the helmet and respirator and squinted through the haze. This side of the building wasn't aflame on the outside yet, but smoke poured out from underneath the rather inconspicuous grey door, not a good sign for whatever lay on the other side.
He shook his head and tried the door only to find it locked. He backed up a pace, threw a hard shoulder into the door and watched it crumple inward as he stepped inside. It was painfully bright, flames licking at the edge of his vision. The floor was scattered with debris being devoured by blankets of fire. He carefully navigated his way toward the corner where Parker kept most of her stuff, calling up the memory of the last time he'd come in here.
He slipped the respirator off so that it wouldn't muffle his voice. "Parker! You in here?"
There was no answer but he saw something move out of the corner of his eye. He snapped his head in that direction to watch a figure disappear behind a wall of smoke.
He snarled and lumbered in that direction beneath the weight of the protective gear. He stole another breath of real air out of the respirator before pushing it to the side again, the smoke searing his throat. "Parker! Whatever's here isn't worth your life. Let's go!"
Over the roaring of the flames he heard the sound of someone roughly rummaging around frantically.
He plodded forward, around debris and flames until he was standing next to an overturned chair and several drawers that had been pulled out of their dresser and discarded across the floor. Parker was on her stomach pulling things out from under the bed. He watched her frame shake as she was wracked with a series of harsh coughs. With one hand she held a piece of fabric over her nose and mouth to try to filter out the smoke, with the other she kept rifling through her possessions, no doubt looking for whatever item had drawn her in here despite the danger. She flinched as a piece of flaming paper fluttered through the air and settled on her shoulder. It smoked for a moment as it burrowed down through her shirt and met skin. She cried out as she brushed at the shoulder with one hand until she dislodged the stationary, but the damage had been wrought, he could see the burned, pinked flesh.
This had gone on long enough. He trudged forward and scooped her off the ground, arms wrapped around her waist.
She snarled. "Get off! I need to find it!"
He braced his muscles as she started squirming, clawing and kicking like a crazed animal.
"Parker, calm down. It's Eliot. We need to get out of here, this building's not gonna last much longer."
As if to highlight the point, a support beam to their left started to emit a sickening groan and began teetering to the left.
His words did absolutely nothing to pacify her resistance. "Let go!"
A fist pounded against the side his neck, taking him by surprise for a moment. But his grip didn't waver and he began walking the two of them out toward the exit.
He had thought that with distance from her possessions, when Parker actually looked around to see the maelstrom that surrounded them and the true danger they were in, she'd realize the importance of escaping while they had the chance. Her audible complaints stopped; perhaps she realized the futility in arguing with Eliot. But her aggression didn't die down in the least bit. Eliot found her almost escaping from his grip twice as he moved them away, but each time he readjusted his grip, braced his muscles against her small frame, and trudged onward.
He breathed a sigh of relief as he passed from the building into the alley way and down the road. The danger finally behind them, he started surveying Parker for damage. She was breathing heavily, straining against the smoke inhalation she had been exposured to. Her fighting died down as they moved out toward the emergency vehicles but her gaze never left the building. Not as they moved away, not as he set her down. The only reaction she did give in those few silent moments was when the building shuddered and the roof collapsed downward, flattening the side of the building she'd called her own. Her body shook in response, trembling slightly. He could've sworn he saw tears streak a path through the soot and down along her cheek, but he chalked those up to the smoke burning her eyes. Parker didn't cry, he'd never seen her cry. Until tonight at least.
He sighed as he released his grip on her, although he hovered just inches away in case she made a dash for it. She was wheezing now, her lungs sucking in all the oxygen they could get.
“Eliot, where are you guys?“
It was Nate's voice in his ear. He'd completely forgotten about the comm.
"We're at the entrance to the alley between Parker's building and the-" he looked around for some indication of what the other building was, his eyes zeroing in on a faded sign with chipped paint. "Between Parker's place and Cosset's Fishery."
"We'll be there ASAP for a pick-up. Have you two ready to move.“
He took a closer look at Parker. She still hadn't spoken; her eyes were fixed on the flaming building. He took off his helmet, placing it on the ground next to him.
She hunched forward as another round of coughs went through her.
Eliot shook his head and went to press his respirator up to her face, only to have her bat it away.
"Leave me alone. I don't need your help."
But he wouldn't be thwarted. He held it there, not forcing it on her, just waiting patiently as her eyes dart between his face and the device he held in his hand.
"You're suffering some smoke inhalation. You need the oxygen."
Ultimately her shortness of breath won out and she nodded, allowing him to place the mask over her face. He looked to the rest of her body next, finding a few more small burns besides the one on the shoulder, although that one was the worst of it.
By the time the sound of the car engine interrupted them he had pretty much decided she was going to be ok with some follow-up care at their place. A hospital wouldn't be needed. He nodded as Nate hopped out of the car to help Eliot move Parker into Hardison's vehicle.
As Nate went to shut the door on them in the back seat Eliot pressed a list into Nate's hand, a list of equipment he needed lifted off one of the ambulances out front. Nate gave a quick nod and shut the door as their pulled away from the curb. Eliot kept his eye on Parker. She had scooted over to the other side of the car, as far away as she could physically get from Eliot while she was confined in the same vehicle. He observed that her gaze never left the burning building until they had turned the corner and it was out of sight.
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"Leave it be, Eliot! That hurts!" Parker snapped as she went to scoot away from him on the bed.
He stilled the motion by settling a gloved hand on her good arm.
"Easy. I know it hurts, but I need to get this burn cleaned out before I can dress it." He dipped the now red-tinted cloth back into the bowl of water he'd brought along with him and set to dabbing it against the wound. She hissed as he touched it.
He continued on, cleaning the wound gently, then layering it in medicated gauze and wrapping the shoulder to keep everything secured. He sat back on his heels and surveyed her frame. She was facing away from him, still breathing hard from the smoke. He didn't like that, reaching for the oxygen tank and mask he'd asked Nate to steal off one of the ambulances.
Parker spared him a quick glance and her expression darkened at the sight. "I'm breathing fine."
"No, you aren't darlin.' You sound raspy and still aren't breathing well and your complexion's three shades too pale."
She shook her head. "I said you could take care of the burn. I never agreed to anything else."
"Parker, it's this or a trip to the hospital and I'll let them deal with this stubborn routine of yours."
"You wouldn't."
"I would," Eliot argued back.
She growled and glared but took the mask from him and settled it over her nose and mouth.
Eliot nodded approvingly. "You need anything else?"
"For you to leave," she added.
He sighed, but backed toward the door. She'd been snappy and angry ever since they'd arrived back at the offices, not bothering to hide her anger at Eliot for having pulled her out of there before she had a chance to find whatever it was she'd been looking for. Eliot hadn't pressed the issue; there'd be time for that in the coming days. For now, he was content to know that she was alive and doing ok. And if anything did happen during the night, they'd all only be a room away. Eliot had kind of assumed as much when he saw Sophie claim a couch, fluffing a pillow that she'd stolen off Hardison's bed. Nate had taken one of the easy chairs and Hardison had retired to the kitchen with his laptop. All of their gazes had tracked his and Parker's movements as he led her into the guest room to look her over.
Eliot paused at the door. "I'm sorry, you know, about your place."
She didn't respond but he heard the blankets shuffle as she rolled away from him in the bed. With a sigh he gently shut the door.
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Eliot slowly eased the door open the next morning. He'd woken up at a little after sunrise. By noon he'd finished the feast he'd prepared with several of Parker's favorite dishes, a peace offering for whatever possessions he'd cost her last night. The rest of the team kept poking their heads in, attracted by the sound of eggs sizzling in the pan and the aroma of pancake batter. He'd shooed them out each time, no one was taking one nibble of that food until the entire meal was done and Parker was sitting at the table with the rest of them.
As he surveyed the room he decided that there was no need to turn on the light; the sun streaming in through the window was taking care of that. He did a double-take. The window was open. There was a lump on the bed, but as he moved closer and yanked back the blanket he could see that it was three pillows that had been arranged in a row. It was easily the oldest trick in the book. How had he fallen prey to that?
He growled. The exact specifics of how it had happened didn't matter. What mattered was the fact that Parker wasn't here. He had an inkling as to where fled off to. At least he knew that she must've only left in the last hour or two. He'd checked on her properly a few hours ago, getting close enough to listen to her breathing, it had improved markedly through the night. The fire should be out by now so there she shouldn't be in any overt danger. But she still shouldn't have been out alone in her state at all.
He snagged his keys, muttered to the team permission to chow down while he went after Parker, and that he'd call them with an update when he found her.
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She was sitting on her bed. Or what had used to be a bed, she thought. It was a pile of black ash intermixed with charred fragments of what would've probably been her blanket. The sun was hot against her back. Nothing compared to the heat from last night when she'd tried to save her most important possessions, but hot none-the-less. It used to be cold in here, the warehouse had no windows and the concrete floors were always freezing. She breathed deeply of the morning air, absorbing the smoky aroma.
She spared a sideways glance as a figure sat down next to her on the sooty ground.
"You had us worried, you know, taking off like that," Eliot chided her softly.
"Last night or this morning?"
"Both."
She shrugged. "I'm fine," she said, looking at Eliot. "And I would've been fine last night if you'd just left me alone."
He shook his head. "You don't get to make that call on your own. You're part of a team now and you should've told us what was up. We would've helped."
She chuckled and turned back to face the smoky ruins of her house. "Yeah, I'm sure you would've let me come in here with the fire and all."
"No, we would've told you it was stupid to risk your life over some inanimate objects." Eliot said as he gently touched her shoulder, prompting her to meet his gaze. "You can replace possessions, Parker. We can't replace you."
Her expression grew colder at that. "You know, my whole life, it's been bouncing around one place to the next. Different houses, different families and siblings, friends and enemies and occupations. I dealt with it though, you know? In this giant world that kicked me from one corner to the next, I created my own haven, I created a few constants that kept me from going crazy."
Eliot kept his expression neutral but his mind skipped back to the scene he'd witnessed the last time he'd invaded her home, looking for any clue that could lead him and the rest of the team to her whereabouts when she'd gone missing while helping her mentor. One image in particular stuck in the back of his mind, a stuffed rabbit, stitching loose in a few places, carefully positioned in the middle of a neatly made bed. It might've once been white, but a lifetime had faded it to a motley grey. Parker's living quarters had been clinically neat and that one touch of home, of her, had been the only thing to bring character to it.
She spoke again, rousing Eliot from his thoughts. "I didn't risk my life for some stupid possessions. I came back to retrieve the few things are, or I guess were, constant. And now they're gone because of some vandal who thought it would be fun to light up the building next door to mine." She scooped some of the ashes into her hand and let them run between her fingers. "It's all gone now."
"Did you find anything that survived the fire?"
She shrugged. "A few of my lock-picking tools. Most of them were melted, but a few are salvageable."
"That was all?"
"Yeah," she said bleakly. "It's back to a life in constant flux. Goes to show that nothing in life in constant. I guess I actually started believing that some things were forever." Parker took one more look around at the wreckage before standing up and brushing the soot off her pants and walking back toward Eliot's truck. "You coming?"
He stood. "You sure you've gotten whatever closure you needed? If you want longer, we can stay."
"There's nothing left here," she muttered softly as she dropped into the passenger seat of his truck and slammed the door. After she'd shut the door, when she knew Eliot couldn't hear, she muttered her second thought. "Everything I cared about is gone."
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From the time Eliot and Parker stepped back into Hardison's apartment, Parker made the fire a taboo topic. Parker made it a point not to bring it up herself, and when others tried to ask her how she was doing or whether she needed a place to crash she said she was doing fine and had a place to stay. The team got the message, she was moving on in the way she deemed best, and that was to leave the event in the past. That didn't stop them from wondering amongst themselves, though, when she was out of the room. Hardison had tried without success to find out where she was living these days.
Eliot checked on Parker's burn from day to day, watching the wound blister and scar and then start to fade. Cons continued on as if nothing had happened and Parker seemed like her normal self for the most part.
Eliot may've been keeping his own secrets from Parker just as much as she was clamming up about the fire or where she was staying. Eliot went back to the warehouse a day after Parker and he had visited. He knew they would bulldoze the wreckage soon and wanted to get there before that. He'd combed through the area that Parker had been frantically looking around when he'd pulled her out of the fire. He moved debris and swept away ash until he pulled one small item from the debris, cradling close against his chest in much the same way he had carried Parker out of the blaze.
He'd dropped the item off with a specialist he knew. It was beat up; he knew it might be a lost cause. But he was willing to pay if the woman could do her best with it and try to put the pieces back together and mend the damage. A few weeks later found him pulling up to the small shop to pick up the item and take it back to the Leverage offices.
The offices were empty at the moment, save for himself. Hardison was at one of his geek conventions and Sophie had dragged Nate to some big art opening. Parker was supposed to meet him here tonight to hang out. He settled the restored item on the countertop in the kitchen. It slouched a little to the side as he let go, requiring him to go back and straighten it up again. With an approving nod he retreated to the kitchen table where he pulled out the latest Mixed Martial Arts magazine and waited for her to show up.
It didn't take her long, although she startled him by knocking on the window attached to the fire escape instead of using the door like a normal person. He shook his head and smiled, typical Parker. He popped the lock on the window and backed up to give her space to climb through. She smoothed her hair, straightened her jacket, and closed the window before turning around.
Eliot had dropped back into his chair and returned to flipping through his magazine, more skimming than reading. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Parker shoot him an annoyed expression. "I thought we were gonna watch a movie or something tonight."
"We are. I was waitin' for you, darlin.'"
She shrugged and moved toward the fridge for something to drink when she saw something that caused her breath to hitch and her movements to halt midstride. She lowered a shaky hand to the countertop and lifted her rabbit off of it, cradling it close against her chest. "Where did this come from?"
"I found it," he said, nonchalantly.
"But the fire-"
"Didn't destroy everything. I found the little guy in the wreckage and had a friend fix him up the best she could."
She didn't speak for the next few minutes, rocking the little stuffed animal against her chest. She saw that one eye was a little melted and he had patches of newer material sewn over part of his chest where the flame or heat or a combination of the two must've gotten to him. But even with new bits mixed in with the old, this was a piece of her past that had survived when she thought it long dead. And that meant the world to her. She looked up at Eliot with a breathless expression as she set her bunny back down gently and crossed the distance between herself and Eliot, wrapping him in a hug.
He bristled at that, not quite sure how to respond, but she ignored the awkwardness. Let him adapt. She may not express a lot of emotion, but when she did, she meant every bit of it. In a soft voice she spoke just two words, "Thank you."
He nodded and patted her back, not quite willing to give enough of himself to return the hug. But he didn't move for the few moments she remained there, warm against his skin. He stood there, solid as the rock he'd always been.
They watched a movie that night; she sat on the couch next to him instead of in the chair she normally favored. She didn't snuggle up against him or bury herself in his shoulder at the scary parts. He would've been more surprised if she had. But she kept that rabbit in her lap the entire time, and every once in awhile she'd readjust her position and just maybe her bare foot would accidently brush up against his leg. And for the evening, for him, that was enough to know that Parker was expressing her appreciation in her own quiet way.
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The next day a string of items began going missing from their headquarters. First it was Nate's favorite shot glass, followed in the same week by Sophie's favorite scarf and Hardison's gaming controller. A search of the place had turned up none of the missing items. Eliot had an inkling as to who was stealing the items, but he had yet to discover why that individual might be doing it, and until he had that uncovered, he didn't feel the need or the right to out her to the others.
So it didn't surprise him one bit when something of his own had gone missing. No, it had been something else that surprised him, and that had been that he'd seen the item disappear. Parker and he had been in the kitchen together. She'd been watching him cook. He'd shed his trademark bandana as he'd worked over the stove, using it to wipe the sweat off his brow before he'd discarded it on the counter. After dinner, he'd turned around from putting the last dish in the dish washer to see Parker lock eyes with his and then slide the bandana into her purse.
"Parker, that's mine."
She didn't respond, instead heading for the door, leaving it open on her way out.
He growled and shook his head. Parker's thievery was far from news to him, but still, it was annoying to catch her in the act. And then he had to think for a moment, Parker didn't ever get caught unless she'd intended to. Which meant what? That in Parker's own way she was telling him to follow her?
He didn't know, but he did know that he wanted the bandana back. It was the same one he'd carried for the last five years and he wasn't about to surrender it to her without good reason. So he snagged his coat off the back of his chair and jogged out of the offices after Parker, shaking his head as he went. That girl led him on more wild goose chases.
Parker didn't make it easy for him, he noticed that. She led him through a construction site, over a ten foot fence, and through a slew of other obstacles before the journey finally ended. But he knew how she was when she really was giving it her all, and she didn't make it impossible for him either. Just when he thought he'd lost her, he'd see her figure disappear around a corner or hear a sound that pointed him in the right direction.
He was out of breath by the time her convoluted path led him into an apartment complex, up three flights of stairs, and finally to an open door in a hallway. Which was odd, this location. It was a place where real people might actually live, not a warehouse like her last haunt. But just as he had during the rest of the night, he trusted Parker and followed her in.
She was in the sparsely furnished living room. There was a TV and a well-worn couch. Parker was sitting on that, facing a box she had sitting on the coffee table in front of her. He walked over and sat down next to her.
"You going to tell me what this is all about? Or give me my bandana back? I saw you take it."
She opened the lid on the metal box and dropped the bandana inside amongst a collection of other items. His eyes scanned the interior of the container. He silently noted that it would protect the items inside if there were a fire. The bandana partially obscured a silver, polka-dotted scarf. It was surrounded by a small glass shot glass with a corner chipped out of it where Nate had drank a bit too much one night. Leaning up against one of the walls were Hardison's controller and Parker's bunny.
She began to speak without looking at him. "Things change a lot in my life. I've never really had a home, just places I've lived. And I've never really had a family, just enemies or acquaintances or business associates or clients. Things are constantly changing, for the most part, so I try to collect small bits and pieces of the few things and the people that I treasure." She picked up the rabbit and ran a hand through its worn fur. "Because it means when the people I love are gone, I have a small piece of them that I get to keep."
He laid a hand over hers for a moment. "Parker, we aren't going to leave you, if that's what you're worried about. Teammates don't do that, families don't do that."
She laughed. "Tell that to every family I've ever had."
"And this family?" Eliot asked, "What about us? We've been together through a lot and we'll continue to do so."
She shook her head. "It doesn't have to be a conscious decision. Sometimes things just happen. Like after the David Job when we had to split and go our own ways to stay ahead of the feds."
"And look what happened afterward, huh? We're back together again."
"How can you have that much faith, that things, people, the universe won't conspire to break up this good thing we have? I don't know how to do that."
"It takes faith, and trust, and a lot of hard work on everyone's part. But our team has all of those things. We aren't going anywhere."
She looked up from her box and her rabbit to meet his expression. "Do you think we can keep this going? Create a constant in an ever-changing world? Everything I know says the opposite."
"With as much effort as we fuel into keeping this good thing going every day, I think it's impossible that we would fail in that."
She nodded, thinking. "You want your bandana back? You can take it if you want; I know it's wrong to steal from you guys."
He removed his hand from hers, slowly shutting the lid on the box. "I have others."
"What about the rest of the stuff. You gonna tell the guys?"
He shrugged. "As far as I'm concerned, the other guys got a bit sloppy in handling their stuff and misplaced it."
She beamed a wide smile at him, putting the rabbit in the box and shoving it under the couch before retaking her seat. She sat a bit closer this time. Not quite touching, she wasn't ready for that yet. But close enough to feel the heat radiate off his body. Close enough to know he was right there. And they sat there into the night, side by side and silent, battling the continuous flux in the universe as they started to generate something long-lasting and constant.
---THE END---
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