(no subject)
Title: The Snow Job
Series: Keeping the Secret
Author: AyLee Cambell
Rating: pg-13
Pairing: Parker/Eliot
Warnings: Not beta'd
This chapter is for meg63005 who bid and won a fic from me to help Haiti. So here it is! Sorry that I took so long getting it out and hope you enjoy it!
“Parker! We’re going to be late!” Eliot called out from the kitchen hoping she would pay attention.
“I’m coming!” She said through the intercom she was just finishing. She had decided that it would be a nice project so she had started installing a intercom throughout the house a week ago and was almost done. He wasn’t exactly sure why she wanted one so much but he hadn’t argued with her.
She had allowed him to “booby trap” the perimeter of their house, so he thought it was only fair. And it would be nice to be able to talk to her while she was in the attic without having to actually go up there. Especially if he was in the basement and needed something, so he hadn’t put up a fight and hadn’t protested other then to ask if she knew how to install them.
The look she had given him had made him regret asking but he had wanted to know before she pulled out the wiring if he was going to have to be worried about getting shocked in the middle of the night. But so far it looked like she knew what she was doing. She may not have had all of Hardison’s knowledge with a computer but she was still good with electronics. Which was more then he could say.
Computers weren’t exactly his best friends.
Skipping down the stairs Parker took off her tool belt and looked at him. “I’m ready.” She told him, coming into the kitchen.
Eliot nodded and pushed his plate away. He stood up and brought it to the sink.
“Want anything to eat? I can make you something really quick or we’ve got some fruit on the table if you want to eat that.” He told her.
Parker shook her head and opened one of the cupboards and pulled out her bag of fortune cookies. “I’m good. I’m not that hungry today so I’m just going to grab a few and eat on the way.” She said and Eliot sighed.
“Fine, but try eating something kind of healthy for lunch please?” He asked and Parker grinned at him.
“I’ll try.” She said, and skipped over to him and kissed him before she twirled away.
“Come on, we’ve got to go!” She said and grinned at him when he groaned.
“I was the one who was just saying that!” He protested before grabbing his wallet and keys. With one last check he made sure she had her keys then watched her walk out the door before he set the alarm and followed her out.
Both of them walked over to their own cars and looked at each other.
“I’ll talk the long way.” Parker told him and he nodded already planning which route he would take so they would come from opposite directions, or at least look like they came from opposite directions.
“See you there.” He said and got into his truck.
Warning bells were going off in Eliot’s head as soon as he saw Nate walk in late with a hangover, and the feeling only grows worse the further they get into this job. He watches Sophie storm out and Nate not do a damn thing and he suddenly feels on edge.
When they’re on the plane to Aspen and Nate asks Parker how long she can hang from a ski lift without getting tired his skin starts itching. He gets up and goes to the bathroom so he can shake the feeling away but he doesn’t look at Nate when he get’s back.
He’s not sure what his face will show if he looks at Nate now. He doesn’t need Sophie reading him, not when he got a violent urge surging through his body.
It’s an urge he hasn’t had for a while, not towards anyone on the team and not toward Nate, but Nate just asked Parker how long she could hang from a ski lift and the only reason Eliot knows she will be fine is because she said she could do it without difficulty for hours if needed.
If Parker says she can do it, she can. Parker doesn’t boast or lie about her skills, doesn’t see any reason why. She was never taught to brag, and when your able to do everything she can do there really isn’t a reason to.
But he also knew that Parker would do crazy things and push her limits if people let her, and he isn’t so sure that Nate is in the right mind to be asking her to do crazy things.
But he doesn’t say anything. He knows Parker can support her own body weight for hours, he’s seen her practicing that before. She has always said that it’s an important thing to know; that it was good to be confident in a length of time when you were outside a building and high off the ground.
But it isn’t until they are in Miami that he starts to realize that Nate is breaking down. Really breaking down. Nate is starting to come apart and loose it completely, and Eliot’s not sure it will be safe enough to stick around anymore.
He’ll give Nate a little more room, but he’s not going to stick around and watch the man drown them all. First sign that Nate can’t think straight anymore, that the alcohol has clouded his head completely and he’s no longer thinking about the risks involved, Eliot will grab Parker and they’ll disappear.
He likes this team, respects Nate most of the time, but he wont risk Parker. Especially since she doesn’t always know when to stop.
She knows that Eliot’s on edge from something, but she isn’t quite sure what. He’s a little more tense lately. She knows the others don’t notice it, but she’s been with him for over three years and she can tell. His smile is a little less real, his eyes a little tighter and narrowed more. He also starts getting super aware of what everyone is doing. He sleeps less too when he’s like this, like he thinks he always has to be on guard.
Eliot’s conditioned himself to need very little sleep and he only sleeps maybe an hour or two when she isn’t there beside him. It doesn’t help either of them that they weren’t able to catch more then an hour or two together alone. Most of the time the others are wanting to go over plans or talk or something. Hardison is practically following her around so much that she’s finding it hard to disappear. But she’s made sure that every time she’s out of his sight she doesn’t have any technology with her, no phone and she’s swept herself for bugs this time. She’s clean.
Every time he asks her where she was when she gets back she just blinks at him with wide eyes and asks him “When?” and it seems to work. At least he isn’t pushing her. This team building stuff is annoying sometimes, but she’s gotten to learn a couple tricks with some new gadgets so it’s not totally bad.
But back to Eliot. She’s pretty sure that his twitchiness is being cause by Nate and Sophie, but mostly by Nate. Nate’s drinking is getting worse and Sophie and Nate seem to be fighting all the time and Nate’s asking her to hang from a ski lift, which she doesn’t mind doing, but she knows that Eliot hates that she’s doing it. He’s seen her practice and he knows she can do it, she wouldn’t lie about it, but she also knows he’s overprotective and hates not being able to be there when she’s hanging from a height without a zip line.
So Parker is watching Sophie and Nate and Eliot and trying to dodge Hardison without making it seem like she’s dodging him and the whole situation is starting to make her confused. She doesn’t know why everyone is mad at each other, she just knows that there is something going on.
She’s really glad when they get to Miami. They get their hotel rooms and Eliot has the room next to her while Hardison got the room down the hall because the WI-FI signal was better over there. So she gets to spend some time with Eliot the night before they check out the house where the Redsingers’ live.
It’s actually fun planting the booster in the office on the second floor. Sure she was almost caught, but Eliot was working with her for once. He gave her a boost up and was there to catch her when she jumped out the window. She took him by surprise but he still caught her, or at least cushioned her landing.
When he asked her how she knew he was there she remembered about their comms just in time to tell him that she didn’t know he was there. Which was a lie, since she knows the proper way to fall and you never just belly flop to the ground. She would tell him later that she always knows where he is when they are in the same area and that she knew he would catch her because he’s always right where she needs him.
Instead in the moment she just smiles and they make their way back to the car so that Hardison and Nate can do their part.
But then Nate starts changing the plan and she’s starting to realize why everyone is getting mad at Nate. She’s starting to get mad at him too.
When they get back to the hotel that night everyone heads for Nate’s room because they’ve all got a problem with the way this job has turned out. They all want to do a little venting.
Eliot is standing by the window and trying to hold onto his temper while the others start bickering behind him and Nate pours himself another drink at the bar. Finally, when you can’t hear what any of them are saying because they aren’t pausing to listen to each other he turns around and cuts them off. They all have things to say, but the need to stop bickering with each other and get on the same side and see where the problem is really coming from: Nate. Fighting each other isn’t going to get them anything. So he raises his voice and crosses the room to stand behind the couch Parker is sitting on. The others in the room will probably never realize it, and he hopes they don’t, but it’s his way of telling Parker that he’s got her back.
And if things get ugly, he wants to be close by. Not that he thinks things will get violent, but he doesn’t want anything nasty to be said.
But it doesn’t turn out how he thinks it will at all. Nate tells them that instead of helping just the client, he’s going to try to help them all. That they are running a bigger, different scam instead.
Eliot looks at the others, looks at Parker who seems excited and huffs as Nate does his elusive crap and walks out. He wants to see where this is going, and so far no one has been hurt. He isn’t ready to cut and run just yet.
They are at the hospital, waiting for Nate to arrive. They’ve managed to get into the room that they need. She’s pretty sure it’s because of something Hardison did on his computer earlier but she doesn’t really care. Instead Parker goes straight for the bed by the machine and hops on and lays back. She makes sure no one is looking before she shoots Eliot a smirk and a wiggle of her eyebrows, knowing he can’t say or react to her on the bed and teasing him is always kind of fun.
He’s relaxed enough to smile back at her and Parker thinks that maybe everyone has started to calm down. But Nate’s still late to meeting them, so maybe things aren’t as great as they could be.
Sophie tells her she’s playing the tumor lady and Nate walks in smelling like alcohol as soon as she complains. Sophie asks Nate where he’s been and Parker tilts her head to look at Eliot and notices his eyes narrow just a little and knows he’s on edge again.
Which just kind of sucks because they just spent a few hours relaxing in bed and she had just got him smiling and teasing again and now he’s all tense and on alert.
When the others start talking about how they are supposed to fake her having a tumor she starts going on alert. There is no way they are going to be injecting anything into her, especially not her brain. Luckily before she and Eliot have to go all kick ass on them (and she’s been spending way too much time team bonding with Hardison cause she’s starting to talk like him,) Eliot gives them a suggestion that will most likely work and not cause her any harm.
Parker tries not to smile at him while the others all give him slightly disbelieving looks. Once they aren’t looking she shoots him a wink and smirks at him and watches as he sends her a quick look back, a half smirk on his lips.
Then she hears that Nate wants them to find him a brain and she can’t help herself.
“Oh yeah, he’s definitely getting creepier.”
Eliot isn’t happy that he’s the one who has to steal the body, but he does it anyway. It’s the only way to do what they have planned, and if the alternative is to try to give Parker a false tumor…while it’s not the first dead body he’s ever been around. So he can live with it. He can hear Sophie trying to coach Parker about her acting and almost wants to laugh. Instead he can’t help the smirk that tugs at his lips and glares at one of the male nurses that shoots him a weird look. He isn’t in a happy mood cause someone is dead, even if it looks like it and the guy should mind his own business.
Both he and Hardison argue about who is injecting the cadaver with the hot wax and he suggests rock, paper, scissors to decide whose doing it. He wins, of course, and Hardison has to do it. Then they have to get the body ready and Hardison gets to his computer and does his things and it’s time for the others to do their thing.
The doctor falls for it and Dennis starts talking with the others, but he’s still not going along with their plans, not completely. Then Nate changes the plan on them again without letting them know and he writes Dennis a check.
Nate writes Dennis a check using the account the team had set up for emergencies or for certain jobs. It usually isn’t a big deal to use the account, but everyone has to agree on it before the money is touched. The reason for this is because the money in that account comes from all of them - except Nate who gave most of his money away - but most of the money comes from Parker.
The account had been created on another job when a large amount was needed and they had to get it fast. It had been an almost mess where they had been scrambling to gather the needed money. Since Parker was the only one who didn’t like spending her money, and instead usually preferred keeping it locked away she had put in the most in the account with the guarantee that they replaced whatever they took out.
It was a big deal of trust that she was giving to them. Parker could almost trust her life to someone before she trusted them with her money. For her to do to put that much trust in them, Eliot wasn’t sure the others realized how big that was. It didn’t matter that the amount in the account wasn’t even 1/10th of what Parker had locked away in hiding places where even Hardison wouldn’t be able to find it. The fact that she was willing to put any money in a place where others could take it was a huge thing.
So when Nate wrote Dennis a check with the money in that account, the money that was mostly Parker’s money, Nate crossed a line. Parker ran out of the room and Eliot got up, knowing he was the only one who had a chance of stopping her and knowing that if she got to Nate she wouldn’t only blow the whole thing, but if she actually reached him she would move past stunned surprise into violence.
He could hear Sophie’s nervous chatter as he rushed after Parker. She knew Nate signing over that much money without consulting them was bad. He had changed the plan so many times on this job no one was sure what the hell he was doing or if he could pull it off, but so far everyone had been going alone. This was pushing everything they had been feeling the past few days past their limits. Things were going to come to a head now.
Luckily when Parker reached the area where Sophie, Nate, and Dennis were at Dennis wasn’t looking and Eliot was able to grab Parker and haul her out of there while she was silently demanding that Nate tell her what he was doing. He wanted answers too, but he knew they would have to wait until Dennis was gone if they had even a tiny chance of getting that money back.
“I’ll kill him Eliot. I will fucking kill him.” Parker said as Eliot drove them back to the hotel.
The others had all decided that a meeting was needed, so they would all be meeting in Sophie’s room at the hotel. They had all agreed that Eliot should take Parker back - since he was the only one who wasn’t afraid of her - and he had agreed. None of them had listened to Parker’s suggestions. Mostly because she kept saying she would ride with Nate then mumble something about knowing how to get out of a moving vehicle in time.
So Eliot was driving them back to the hotel and was hoping that Parker would calm down enough that she wouldn’t attack Nate before she got all the information.
“I know you want to darlin’ and I’m not saying that you can’t, but just try to hear him out okay?” Eliot told her after Parker threatened to kill Nate for the fifth time. She seemed a little better by the time they pulled into the parking lot and she was at least controlling herself if not calm.
He kept an eye on her though, and was relieved when she didn’t lunge towards Nate as soon as she was in the same room as him, instead choosing to pace quietly in the corner of the room while everyone else sat down.
“How is she doing?” Sophie whispered to him as he walked toward the table to sit.
“Doing better. I’d keep her away from the sharp objects though. She came up with 15 different ways to kill Nate before she just started thinking about the best ways injure him. She’s pissed, but she’s willing to listen. You better hope he’s got something good to say though Soph. If he doesn’t-” He said trailing off and watched as she nodded.
“I know. But let’s just try to hear him out okay?” She pleaded quietly and he nodded as he grabbed a chair at the table.
Satisfied, Sophie sat down on the couch and watched Parker pace.
Hardison came in with his computer and watched Parker pace for a moment before shooting Sophie and Eliot looks and sitting down and starting to type. After a moment Hardison glanced at Nate, who sat there looking like he didn’t have a care, and caught Eliot’s eyes, throwing him a worried look.
“I’ll stop payment on the check, just give me a few seconds.” Hardison said, trying to fix the mess they were in.
But Nate’s response, like he seriously didn’t care about it pissed them all off. But it set Parker off again. Eliot watched her but he knew that this time she wasn’t surprised, she was in control and was a little relieved. A surprised or startled Parker was more dangerous in the short term. Parker in control wouldn’t make a move then, she would plan it out.
Nate tried to explain, but it just seemed like excuses now. When he said they would have to trust him, that blew Eliot’s temper.
Why should they have to trust Nate when he wasn’t trusting them? When he was just running loose without having any good explanations for his actions? They would all be willing to trust Nate, let the past speak for itself, if he would only explain what was going on in his head. But right now they had no explanations, only half-hearted excuses and Nate was drunk most of the time. He was falling apart and none of them wanted to be dragged down with him. Except maybe Sophie.
But he didn’t handle drunks well, never had. So having Nate drunk around him just put him on edge and now Nate was hurting Parker, whether he thought he was or not, Parker was hurting. He could see her glaring at Nate and her fingers were almost twitching with the desire to hurt him. Then Nate started to say crap to him and he lost it. Only Sophie stopped him from doing something he might have regretted later.
Instead Sophie asked to have a few minutes alone with Nate and they all filed out.
“Parker-” Hardison started but Parker brushed past him, heading to her room. A few seconds later her door could be heard slamming and Hardison and Eliot both winced. Parker never made noises when entering or leaving a room unless she was pissed or doing it to purposely so someone would know she was in the room.
Both men exchanged looks.
“I got this.” Eliot said, patting Hardison on the back and walking down to Parker’s room.
“Parker, let me in.” He said, knocking quietly.
After a moment Parker opened the door and waved him in, her lips pressed together.
She shut the door behind him and moved into the middle of the room and turning her back to him before she unleashed everything.
“I trusted him Eliot, I trusted all of them. But he- Nate- I trusted him!” Parker started turning to look at Eliot, tears coming to her eyes but not falling over.
“They don’t get it, what that means. To them it’s just money, it’s not as important as other things, it doesn’t mean the same. But to me- they just don’t understand. How could he do that? Just give it away. He didn’t talk to me. He doesn’t even care!” Parker said and Eliot walked over to her, pulling her into his arms.
“I know darlin’ I know. They don’t get it, but I do. Okay. I know what that meant for you. It meant that you were trusting them, that you were letting them in and he messed that up. You say the word and we’re out of here. Got it?” He told her pulling back to kiss her forehead.
“We were supposed to be a team!” Parker said, angry and hurt.
“I know. Nate he’s-” Eliot started but was interrupted by a knock on Parker’s door. Both of them turned to look at the door in confusion.
“If that’s Nate I’m going to gut him with a shot glass.” Parker stated as Eliot let go of her and moved towards the door.
“I might just help.” Eliot mumbled and opened the door.
Sophie and Hardison were standing there.
“Can we come in?” Sophie asked and Eliot nodded towards Parker who crossed her arms and shrugged.
Both of them came in and Eliot shut the door behind them and leaned back against it, crossing his arms.
“You say anything good to him? He give you a reason for any of this?” Eliot asked.
“He’s-” Sophie started then stopped. “No. He didn’t. He’s drunk, and he’s starting to fall apart. We can all see it. But if we can get through this-” Sophie started but was interrupted when all three of them started groaning and talking at the same time.
“You said it yourself, he’s falling apart.” Eliot started.
“He’s changing the plans, not letting us know anything, that’s not Nate, that’s drunken Nate. I don’t want any of that.” Hardison commented.
“My money Sophie! He was using my money, and he didn’t care! He didn’t care about anything!” Parker burst out.
“Hey!” Sophie said, raising her voice to get them to stop. “I know okay. He’s getting worse. If we leave now he wont make it.” Sophie told them.
“How is that our problem?” Eliot demanded, arms crossed. Hardison and Parker nodded, agreeing. “He’s making it clear he doesn’t care about us. Why should we care?”
“Please you three. Eliot, Hardison, Parker. If you can’t do it for him, please do it for me. Just finish out this job. If things start to go bad you can cut and run, but I think he can still do it. If he pulls this off, if he gets a little better, please stay. For me? Please.” Sophie pleaded with them.
They all exchanged looks but Eliot was only focused on what Parker’s answer would be. His depended on hers. He noticed Hardison was looking at her as well.
Parker sighed. “He better get me my money back. After that, I’m taking my money out of that account so you can put it in or he can put it in. My money is under my control. If I decide to share it fine, but no one else get’s to sign it away.” Parker said and Sophie nodded.
“Understood.” Sophie said, nodding.
“He crossed a line. He crosses it again and I wont be here to watch him do it a third time. Got it?” Eliot asked.
“Of course.” Sophie said and turned to look at Hardison.
“Well if you all are staying I’m staying.” He told them with a small smile. “But do any of us have a plan or any idea how this is supposed to work out?”
“Not really.” Sophie admitted.
“No.” Eliot said.
“Not a clue.” Parker told him.
“Great. So we really have to rely on Nate’s plan to work?” Hardison asked.
“Pretty much.” Eliot told him then stood up. “I’m going to the gym. I need to hit something and the nearest bar is a couple miles out so the punching bag will have to do.” He said.
“I need a shower.” Parker stated then stared at Sophie and Hardison blankly until they stood up and made their excuses and left.
Eliot made his way to the elevator and pushed the button for the gym while he thought. Nate, Sophie, Hardison, Parker, and him all liked what they were doing. Helping people who needed it. They liked being a team and working together. But now he trusted them a little less. Now he would be making backup plans in case things went bad. He hoped everything worked out, he really did.
But if anyone hurt Parker again, or put her in risk, he wasn’t sure how he would react. These people were starting to be an almost family, but now he respected Nate a little less. Still, he was giving it all another chance. You could fix something that was broken, it just took time.
Trust could be earned back. He really did hope that Nate got better. He didn’t want to call it quits. Not yet.
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