Fic - You Cut Me Open 2/2 - Giftee: Meghan_84
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.
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.”
Return to Part One for comments
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.
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.”
Return to Part One for comments