akblake | Entries tagged with parker

Dancing isn't always dancing, except when it is...

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Eliot ignored the cummerbund pressing the hidden knife up into his kidneys, and the tie around his neck which felt like an anaconda he’d had the misfortune of running afoul of in a little Colombian backcountry. In his arms was an astounding goddess, and he didn’t want to miss a moment.

“When… why…” he whispered in her ear as he tried to ask without risking offense.

Parker smirked as she lightly twirled to complete the dance step and settled back in closer. She spoke low to keep anyone from eavesdropping, “Of course I can dance, silly! Archie taught me when I was little because it’s good for learning balance, and because I wouldn’t always be able to get into parties as the help. Sometimes security is tight enough that slipping in an anonymous server is impossible, but a dumb blonde escort in a revealing dress is always waved through the receiving line.”

At her wisdom, Eliot had to nod. He’d seen it time and time again, and knew female assassins who used the discrimination to their benefit. He mentally snorted to himself- idiots who assumed that women were harmless creatures deserved everything they got. Through his earbud, Sophie was waxing lyrical about all the times she’d brazenly walked into high-security parties on the arm of some septuagenarian, and he tuned her out in favor of paying attention to his lithe dance partner. Parker easily followed his lead, stepping in and around to flare her skirt’s short hem, and Eliot enjoyed the feel of her in his arms far more than he should have. By her answering smirk and almost imperceptible caress of her fingers along his trapezius, Parker shared his thoughts.

Giving him a saucy look at the end of the dance, Parker heeded Sophie’s prompt. “I need to go powder my nose dear,” she airily claimed as she sashayed off in the direction of the bathrooms. Every male eye in the area checked out her form, even the security guards station around the nearby doors, as intended, which allowed Hardison to slip around the physical security elements he couldn’t spoof electronically. A few minutes later she returned, having broken into the safe for him to smuggle out their prize, rejoined Eliot and sat sipping the glass of champagne that he dutifully had waiting in his cover as her escort. After the previous day’s mangled plan, they were all relieved that this last bit had gone like clockwork.

Okay everyone, Hardison has the ledger in the van, time to go. Nate’s voice intruded in their ears and Eliot and Parker shared a look. They leaned together to look like they were sharing intimate conversation. “Nate, we’re going to finish the party. Parker’s been marked by several of the security guys, and if she disappears it’ll stick in their minds when the ledger is missed. We’ll head out with the rest of the guests, nice and easy,” Eliot countermanded.

“Yeah, Hardison can erase me on the cameras but he can’t erase the guards’ memories,” Parker chimed in, and they could all hear indignant sputtering from Hardison. Eliot had to check the automatic dig that came to mind, reminding himself that this wasn’t the time or place to tease Hardison.

They heard Nate grunt, sounding like he did when Sophie kicked him with the toe of her pointy shoes, Okay you two, finish the party and try not to draw any more attention. Keep your comms on and meet us back at the loft, he commanded, and they both agreed.

Once more, Parker fitted perfectly into his arms, and once more Eliot directed them around the dance floor. They easily avoided clumsier couples and now freed from the necessity of keeping focused on the job, kept their eyes firmly on each other, trusting their finely honed instincts to warn them of any problems. All too soon the party broke up and couples meandered down the outside steps, some leaving with partners other than those with whom they had arrived. Parker and Eliot tucked into the middle of the dispersing guests and waited for Eliot’s sports car to be delivered around. Parker’s dainty little hand remained happily tucked into the crook of Eliot’s elbow and he silently enjoyed what was left of their close time together.

Neither spoke about personal matters during their drive, though Parker’s hand strayed to tickle Eliot’s thigh as he drove, as their earbuds were still active and every word would be picked up by the eavesdropping trio back at Nate’s loft. Every inner voice cautioned him against dallying with a teammate, but he couldn’t see a single drawback. Parker wasn’t a woman who sought a long romance, or a white picket fence; she struck him as a woman who knew what she wanted, got it, and then moved on to the next pursuit. That mentality suited him perfectly, though they’d have to talk about it as little bit beforehand just to make sure they were both after a bit of short-term fun.

Stepping into Nate’s loft was like stepping into a wall of noise. “What the hell?!” Eliot snapped as he nearly rammed into Hardison while to avoid a flying stiletto which ricocheted from the stairs. Sophie’s voice carried above the crashes coming from the sleeping area, but her tone was so agitated that he couldn’t make out the exact words.

“I don’t know what Nate said or did, but she started up as soon as we got back and hasn’t stopped for a minute,” Hardison shouted above the commotion. “Didn’t think y’all needed to hear all this, so I muted your earbuds while I waited for you to get back.”

Eliot clapped him on the shoulder in gratitude and all three shared a look before hightailing it out of the loft. Hardison leaned against the door in relief as soon as it closed and they all relished the quiet. “Man, I don’t think I’ll stick around for their encore, you know? Got the ledger sent off with Thompson, and I can clean up our electronic tracks from my apartment instead, so I’ll see you two later, k?” he escaped down the hallway before Eliot or Parker could do more than wave. Silence reigned for all of five seconds.

“So, my place?” Parker chirped before Eliot could figure out a smooth segue. Catching his surprise, Eliot grinned and nodded, and the two darted back to his car. All thoughts of having a talk with her flew from his mind at the prospect of a very athletic and entertaining night; but then, with those two, words were rarely ever needed to understand each other.

When Sophie notices something odd, she gets far more of a surprise than she'd bargained for!

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Sophie kept an eagle eye on the ‘kids’ as she called them- Eliot, Parker, and Hardison, the youngest thieves of their odd little family. They were all roughhousing by the pool and she didn’t want one of them getting hurt, or for an errant splash of cold water to interrupt her sunbathing. Eliot and Parker caught her attention yet again as she couldn’t put her finger on what was off; only that it drew her eye at infrequent times, like catching the barest glimmer of a diamond in sunlight. She watched unobtrusively and waited- the answer would eventually come to her, it always did.

“Bansai!” Parker shrieked as she leapt onto Eliot’s upper back, overbalancing him from where he’d been laughing after having thrown Hardison into the water and dumping them both into the pool with a riotous splash. Hardison was now cackling like a hyena, and even Sophie had to chuckle at the tables being turned on their normally sure-footed hitter. They had been at it for hours already and it finally looked to be slowing down as Hardison sedately paddled a few laps around the pool.

In a calm moment, Eliot put a hand on Parker’s face to still her, examining something Sophie couldn’t see from her distance, and then pointed to the shaded chairs. A pouting Parker emerged from the pool to flop bonelessly onto the lounger next to Sophie’s. “Party pooper,” she muttered, and Sophie could see what caught Eliot’s attention.

“Parker, darling, didn’t you put on any lotion earlier?” Sophie examined the deeply pink hue Parker’s skin had taken on in the sun and determined that perhaps only her nose and cheekbones would likely peel. An inconsistency caught her eye. “What is that?” she asked, pointing to an odd white shape on Parker’s finger, only visible due to the contrast between it and her reddened skin.

Parker immediately pulled her hand away from Sophie’s inspection and stammered something to the effect that she’d tell them later, and then escaped. Intrigued, Sophie tracked her as she made her way directly to where Eliot now lay sunbathing, whispered something to him, and the two disappeared together after an unreadable nod to Hardison. Something was up. Ever patient as a lioness stalking her target, Sophie refrained from following and settled for simply observing.

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By the time that darkness and hunger had driven them inside, Sophie was beginning to become concerned. Eliot and Parker had remained indoors after the discovery and were now being conspicuous in their attempts at acting “normal”. By dessert, Sophie was ready to abandon her earlier resolve and harangue the two into explaining. Eliot standing, though, preempted her.

“Parker and I have decided to come clean with you all,” he started off, and Hardison’s knowing grin assured Sophie that it wasn’t a horrible secret that had been kept. “We’ve been dating for the past year, and four months ago we got married.” Eliot sat to silence while Parker beamed and held his offered hand.

“You two have been dating. For the past year?” Sophie nearly stammered with surprise; her job was based on observation, so how did she miss something this massive? Nate’s avoiding her gaze sparked an idea. “You knew!” Sophie pointed at Nate.

Nate shook his head, the proud look he’d had since Eliot’s announcement still very much in place. “I knew they were dating and ran interference so that they could get nights off together, but I didn’t know that they got married.” He turned to the couple and lifted his glass of water in salute, “Congratulations you two, I’m glad that you made it official.”

Hardison piped up, “Actually, I knew that they got married, but that’s only because I had to help with the marriage certificate. Crazy kids wanted to use their real names, but didn’t want to send up any red flags,” he rolled his eyes. Knowing Hardison’s talents, it had likely taken fewer than ten minutes to accomplish, but he still had problems showing that he cared. Sophie made a mental note that she’d have to work with him on that.

“When and how?” she asked rapidly, desperate now to know the details.

Parker grinned. “When we all split up for break, we went to Vegas and got married on a *bungee jump*,” she nearly bounced in her chair while Eliot shuddered slightly. “We also got tattoos, wanna see?” She pulled out what Sophie recognized as Hardison’s little ever-present black light and held out her left hand in demonstration. There Sophie could see that the odd white line appeared to be a luminous purple under the light; Eliot’s hand bearing the same strange line joined hers under the light a second later.

“UV-reactive ink?” Nate asked with appreciation as he leaned in to inspect the work. Sophie quirked an eyebrow at him in question and only received a smug look in return, which frustrated her. *Someone* was going to face an interrogation once she corralled him in their room tonight!

“Not like we can wear rings,” Eliot explained. “Rings hurt my hand when I hit people, and anything reflective would set off motion detectors on Parker, so we agreed to tattoos. The ink won’t leave any identifiable markings since it’s nearly invisible in regular light, but we can still feel the raised band.” Parker stroked over his tattoo to demonstrate, and Sophie watched them exchange a close look. She’d missed their courtship and marriage, but there was still something she could do for the obviously bonded pair.

“Since Nate is going to give you two weeks off, I want to give you a honeymoon.” Her soft announcement brought all eyes to focus on her, and Sophie used the opportunity to give Nate a look of warning. They were going to have time off whether he scheduled it or she took it from him. Nate nodded acceptance of her unspoken demand. “I have an island off the coast of Japan that I think would be a perfect getaway for you two- the guest house is a lovely little minka set on the seaward side of the island…” she trailed off temptingly. Another silent look between Eliot and Parker, and they both agreed, thanking her.

As it was late, they all retired; Eliot and Parker allowing themselves to be visibly together as they walked off hand in hand. Sophie snagged Nate’s arm as he tried to slink past unnoticed. “Where do you think you’re going?” she whispered as she towed him along to their bedroom. He was due quite the ‘punishment’ for hiding the pair’s dating, yet was due a reward for giving them time off, and Sophie had plans for giving him both tonight!

Eliot pulls Hardison aside for a little talk, and a reminder about how relationships work.

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Eliot waited patiently for the best moment; he couldn’t move too soon or the mood wouldn’t be right, and too late would see him brushed off with excuses. As their dinner started to break up, he stood and crossed the dining area, getting a nod from Nate as he passed by. “Hey, Hardison, could I have a word?” Eliot quietly asked, drawing a concerned look from their hacker- he knew that he was stepping outside of his usual behavior, but it was for a good cause. Hardison agreed and followed Eliot into one of the pub’s storerooms.

“Look, I know it ain’t my place, but I gotta speak up,” he started, uncomfortably crossing his arms and then dropping them as he remembered Sophie’s advice. Unthreatening body language, right. “You and Parker are a good thing, okay?”

Hardison shuffled as he leaned back against a rack of dry goods, looking thoroughly confused at the topic. “Um, yeah, we’re great.” As Eliot silently fought with himself on how best to voice his concern, Hardison interrupted his thoughts. “If you gotta say something, just come out and say it; gotta be better than standing here watching you try to play diplomat.” A crooked grin took the sting out of his words and Eliot had to huff a light laugh- diplomacy wasn’t even close to his strong points, and he easily conceded the point.

“When we were locked in that vault a couple jobs back, Parker and I had time to talk, and since then I’ve made sure to pay attention. You ain’t doing right by her, Hardison.” Eliot held up his hands to stave off Hardison’s now-angry rebuttal. “She told me all about the robot things you take her to, or what she could understand about them, and about sitting around to watch you play your online games, but you know what? When I asked her what you do with her she just looked confused and couldn’t answer. In watching you two I’ve seen that everything you do together is something you set up, something you enjoy.”

Angrily, Hardison broken in, “She’s never said anything to me about being unhappy with the way we’re doing things, so what do you know about it? You never date the same woman twice!”

Eliot nodded. “My dating isn’t what we’re talking about. What I know about it is that Parker doesn’t have enough experience in proper dating, you’re the first she’s tried this with, and she doesn’t know how to tell you when something is wrong. She’s afraid that you’ll end up leaving her like everyone else in her life has.” Hardison’s face was now thoughtful and slightly ashamed, so Eliot moved in for the kill. “Parker is beautiful, loyal to a fault once she’s given her trust, and still views the world as a beautiful place. Rather than trying to change her, or brush off her input, she should be treated like the treasure that she is or someone else will come along and show her what a true partnership is.” Eliot glared meaningfully at Hardison, making it crystal clear who that someone would be. He loved Parker dearly, like the bratty little sister he’d never had growing up, but he knew that the threat of competition would shock Hardison and make his point stick.

“So, what- either I do what you say or you’ll try to steal her away? I don’t believe that for a minute, but you’ve made your point,” he sighed and scrubbed his hands over his face. “Man, I don’t even like half the things she finds interesting, and the other half I swear are just creative ways of killing me. So what do I do?”

Eliot relaxed at that, having more half expected Hardison to take a swing at him. “You do what every man in the world does- you grit your teeth, smile through it, and do it because it makes her happy. At the end of the day, you gotta love her enough to put aside your own fears and step up.” He paused as a thought struck. “But if she ever wants you to go rock climbing with her, I won’t blame you a bit for backing out. Woman’s scary when she free climbs!”

Hardison vehemently agreed, apparently having already experienced the ‘joy’ of that particular experience. Eliot knew how he felt- he regularly found himself on the wrong end of guns and other assorted weapons, and yet the one time he’d agreed to go climbing with Parker had been the most terrifying experience in his life. Humans were never meant to move that way. Ever.

“Look, I’ll talk to Parker tonight and work on including more of her interests,” Hardison agreed and looked like he wanted to say more before changing his mind and closing his mouth.

Reading the look, Eliot simply nodded to accept the hacker’s gratitude and made his escape from the room. Maybe now Hardison could grow up a little and the next time he talked to Parker she wouldn’t be so sad and confused. For the entire hour they’d been trapped together, Eliot had been glad that the vault they in was completely dark when she began talking about how hurt she felt, and why- he couldn’t keep the emotion off of his face as she asked him if this was normal. It was also why he talked it over with Nate and waited a while before bringing it up; less chance of anger making him say the wrong thing.

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Hardison dropped his keys into the bowl he used and walked over to join Parker in bed, studying her as he went. Eliot was right- she was a treasure, priceless beyond comprehension. “Eliot cornered me tonight, and made me realize how unhappy I was making you feel,” he started, picking up one of her deceptively delicate-looking hands and pulling her in for a cuddle. “I am so sorry, sweetheart.”

Parker interrupted his apology to twist around and pull him in for a fierce kiss. “I forgive you Alec,” she whispered against his lips before she settled back into his embrace. Both settled in for the night, cuddling was one of their favorite things to do as they dropped off to sleep, and both wanted to luxuriate in the relaxed air they’d built with just a few words.

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A/N: Just had to take a stab at ‘fixing’ a relationship which has always struck me as a little wrong, with how it’s treated in canon. Hardison always seemed a little immature and dismissive of Parker’s needs/likes. If we’d had a season six, it could very well have blossomed into a mature and respectful partnership, but it did improve a bit for season five. Mentally put this fic somewhere just after the first episode of season five, though I did play loose with the timing a bit.

A bit of friendship, and trust, between our favorite hitter and thief. Can be read as pre-romance if you squint and tip your head in the right direction.
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Eliot sat on the floor meditating while, thirty feet above him, Parker did her own version of meditation. She’d outfitted her new Portland warehouse with a tangle of steel bars, varying thicknesses, metals, placements, and angles. She had worked hard on it for months and today was the big test- will her modifications hold, or will they send her crashing to the ground?

“You still good up there?” floated up to her ears, making her smile as she crouched on one of the highest bars. Eliot had made her promise, years ago, that she would have him standing by any time she tested out new equipment or harness alterations; the team’s hitter wasn’t just her protector on the job, but also tried to be there to catch her any time she may need him. That level of care, and the trust she felt for him in return, was still such a new experience that her tummy got butterflies when she thought about it.

“Yep,” Parker sang out, “Just planning the best route down!” That drew his attention, and Eliot looked up in time to watch her step off the bar. She fell a second and then whipped her hands out to catch a thin bar, set at an angle from the one she just left. Swinging off of it tossed her in another direction and she joyfully went with the momentum. Eliot felt like he was watching a human pinball as the crazy but undeniably graceful thief swung from bar to bar, sometimes falling an alarming distance before bouncing and swinging back up again. The massive grin on her face was easily visible even from where he knelt on the floor. He had a small grin in response as he marked her progress up, down, and around, seeming to defy gravity with every twist and flip.

One pole shifted as her foot landed on it, Parker intending to spring off of it to reach the perpendicular iron bar seven foot above it and she slipped. “Parker!” Eliot sprang up, immediately calculating her speed and trajectory, and knew that the fall would be a bad one for them both. He still was in the process of moving under her, ready to break her fall, when she twisted like a cat and scrambled to grab onto a structural support which held up her twisted version of monkey bars. After slipping a few tense seconds, her hold stopped her momentum and they both froze, breathing heavily. Parker took a moment and then made her way back down to the ground where Eliot met her, automatically looking her over for any injuries. “You good?” he asked, trying to hold onto calm despite his racing heart and adrenaline.

“Yeah, I’m good. I’m good,” she repeated, reassuring herself too. “One of the anchoring bolts on the pole mount must be defective. It didn’t move the last two times I landed on it, so it either loosened, which it wasn’t supposed to do, or it stripped the threads…” Parker was still pale, and talking too fast, so Eliot stepped closer, giving her the choice. He couldn’t force her to accept comfort, but he could offer it if she needed it. She abruptly quit talking and immediately grabbed him for a quick hug before stepping back. One deep breath later and Parker appeared far less shaken-up than she did before. She flashed him a grin of thanks before turning to walk further into her living space, leaving a very puzzled hitter behind to deal with the fading remnants of his own fright.

She returned a moment later, holding her own custom harness and a spare which she offered to Eliot. “Want to go freak out some museum curators?” The manic look was back in her eye and her smile grew when he simply raised his eyebrows at her, face expectant. “I found my thing.”

Eliot waited a second for her to elaborate, but in typical Parker fashion she seemed to expect him to already know what she meant. “What thing, Parker?” he ran his hands through his hair in confused aggravation as he attempted to keep his temper. No one could wind him up faster than Parker. Granted, Hardison usually hit his buttons in four words or less, but it just wasn’t the same feeling.

“Like how your thing is cooking,” Parker attempted to clarify, cocking her head to study him, “I found my thing. I break into museums and switch the exhibits around, rearrange the dioramas,” she broke off to laugh. “It’s always funny to watch them freak out when I switch the Greek artifacts with the Egyptian, or shuffle the Rembrants, Monets, and Picassos. The curator in the Bowman wing still hasn’t figured out that I switched their Rubens and Ruisdael!”

Eliot had to laugh too, her joy proving infectious. He took the offered harness and buried his own dislike of dangling off the end of a rope. Whether protecting her from a mark’s goons or even from her own rattled nerves, he would always be her safety. Parker loosed a whoop, grabbed his hand, and pulled him out of her warehouse. They had a museum to break into!

The trio are thrown out of a theme park and decide that they must have revenge. Chaos ensues...

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“You want us to what?” Hardison asked incredulously, voice climbing in tandem with his irritation.

The park employee’s eyes flicked down to stare at the ground as he shuffled uncomfortably. “The park manager is asking you three to leave as you’re violating the decency rules,” he restated.

Eliot growled and Parker shifted to press against his side. “How exactly are we ‘indecent’? We’re fully clothed, and are not groping each other in full public view, unlike four other couples we could point out.” His even and controlled tone seemed to make the teenaged employee even more skittish and he shifted from foot to foot.

“Um. Well, Mister Benito says that,” he pointed at their joined hands, Parker sandwiched between Eliot and Hardison, “is indecent and morally offensive to normal folks. He’s banned you, and I’m to escort you out of the gates.”

Silence met his stumbling declaration and they could hear the roar of a distant roller coaster, followed by its riders’ screams. Hardison began sputtering incoherently in outrage and Parker had an unnervingly assessing glare as Eliot calmly dragged them all out of the side exit they were directed to. Putting up a public fight may soothe their highly offended egos, but Eliot knew his lovers better- revenge would be the order of the day, and for that they needed to be in their apartment, not in county lockup on charges of disturbing the peace.

Once back home, the three settled in for a quick meeting. “Okay, so we’re going to be our own clients for this one?” Parker bounced in her chair as she summed up their position against the discriminating park. They truly had only been holding hands, and perhaps exchanging a few chaste kisses, but far less than the newlywed couple they’d seen groping each other while standing in line, or the younger teens who looked like they were trying to consume each other’s faces.

“Yeah, mama, we’re going to take them down, hard. I looked up their company rules and they only list indecent exposure and lewd and lascivious behavior, which we certainly were not.” Eliot and Parker were nodding with him- for all their indoor shenanigans, none of them could see the logic in making a public spectacle of their relationship. The three knew they were together and loved each other, beyond that it was no one else’s business.

Eliot watched the two younger thieves collaborating and had to hide his grin. They were adorable when plotting and at least this time it wasn’t a practical joke that he’d have to step into. “Do you two know what you’re planning to do?” With Nate and Sophie off on their honeymoon, it left them short a mastermind and grifter, so Eliot was going to step into the guiding role. Plus, he had a few ideas of his own swirling around the back of his mind.

“Do I ever!” Hardison crowed, twirling his laptop around to show unintelligible lines of code scrolling in an open window. “I got access to their control systems- all those electronically-controlled rides are mine now.” He carried off into mumbling about his great plan, how the park would love his new ‘enhanced’ rides, and the other two simply smiled indulgently. He could be such a geek, and they loved him for it.

Parker grinned widely as she reported her idea. “I’m going to break in tonight and switch around all their merchandise. Maybe change everything out for the arcade game prizes, or put them on the rides,” her eyes sparkled with glee as the possibilities flashed through her mind. It wouldn’t exactly be stealing, but close enough to thrill her. “What about you, Eliot? You’ve been quiet- doesn’t this bother you too?”

Now both of his loves were watching him curiously, having both noticed his personal restraint. “Bothers me plenty, sweetheart, but I’ve learned that there are bigoted assholes everywhere, and I can’t just go and beat them up when they piss me off,” Eliot explained, grabbing Parker’s hand and kissing her rope-calloused palm. “Since you two will be doing your own projects, I’ll coordinate with Hardison and watch your back when you break in, Parker.” That earned a forceful kiss from Hardison as he walked passed to go set up his station. If they were going to move tonight on Parker’s plan, then he’d need to get the rest of his hacking done, and perhaps play around a bit in their other electronic systems to see what other devilment he could cause. Parker swung around the table to plop into Eliot’s lap. “So, if we’re not going to break in until tonight,” Eliot drawled as he pulled her close, “you got any ideas on how we can pass the time?” Parker’s top flying over to whap the back of Hardison’s head was her only answer. Hardison snickered in response and settled in to watch the show they were providing while he kept half an eye on his program.

After full dark they carried out their plans, and Eliot supervised Parker’s hours spent moving, rearranging, and switching things around inside the park. He laughed outright at the indecent staging in the case of a panda, wolf, and spider monkey stuffed animals which she left, spotlighted and on the jumbo screen, on the park’s theater stage. Their girl truly had a sick mind, though neither of the guys would ever complain about it. Parker giggled to herself the entire way back home, and Eliot immersed himself in her mirth and Hardison’s chuckles in the earbud as he deviously set up a program to randomly set off the park’s security alarms. All of them, several times throughout the day, including the tornado alert alarms which would result in all the guests being ushered out of the park per company rules.

The next day, they settled onto the couch to watch the security camera feeds as employees tried to put their park to rights. Eliot pulled them in for a hug as he watched the highly-amusing results of their efforts. Rides were going at a tenth of the speed, if they even left the starting queue, and even though most of Parker’s hidden merchandise was put back where it belonged, it rang up with the wrong totals thanks to Hardison’s playing with the software. Alarms went off sporadically throughout the day, sending customers and employees scurrying, and the three laughed themselves silly at the manager’s tantrums.

They kept up their torment for two weeks before a notice of closure stopped their fun. Hardison and Parker complained bitterly about losing their favorite pastime, but Eliot smirked. “It’ll only stay closed for as long as it takes you two to put everything back together,” he soothed. “When they went bankrupt, I put an offer down on the park and we are now the proud owners.” Eliot didn’t get much further as he was jumped on by his two very enthusiastic lovers.

Later, in bed resting from their efforts, they were tossing around ideas for their park. “I want a park made up of zip lines and rock walls!” Parker enthused.

“Nah mama, technology is the future. We have to have 3D virtual reality rides; think of all we can program them to do!” Hardison argued even as he traced circles on her bare tummy to make her squirm.

Eliot carefully hid a grin. “I say that we get out those statues Alec made a few years back and make our very own Bibletopia…” he had to quickly roll off the bed to escape the objects thrown in his direction and laughter echoed through the bedroom.

Unexpected circumstances provide Parker with the perfect opportunity to corner Eliot about his attitude.

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Parker glanced up at the hole in what used to be the floor, which was now the ceiling given that they’d fallen through it, and worked to keep the grin off of her face. She had planned to pin Eliot down for a serious conversation and though this wasn’t exactly what she envisioned, she’d take it anyway. “Nope, can’t climb out- it’s all at the wrong angle,” she fibbed when he asked if she could monkey her way back out. The tiny room had metal sides, and what looked like thick insulation in the ceiling, so given that and the fact that their earbuds couldn’t connect since their fall she guessed it was a refrigeration unit at one time. Its single door had resisted their attempts at forcing it open and was either stuck or locked from the other side. They had been checking out the warehouse in preparation of Nate using it to pose as an arms dealer, but the concrete floor had given out under their combined weight and dumped them into this unknown room. From the black mold coloring the insulation that tumbled down to join them, it appeared that water damage was the cause of the collapse.

Eliot swore and paced around the small space, and Parker could nearly physically feel his bad temper. His euphoria immediately following their triumph over Moreau had plummeted into a black mood which had the others stepping carefully to avoid drawing his cutting sarcasm, and Parker wasn’t going to put up with it anymore. He needed to talk, whether he would admit it or not, and now that they’d landed where he couldn’t escape without her help she’d happily take the opportunity to force the issue. Hopefully before Hardison realized that their earbuds weren’t responding and tracked them down.

“So, anything you want to get off of your chest while we wait?” Parker started off with a soft question to give him a shot at doing this the easy way. His venomous glare answered that question. “See, I think that you need to talk about something that’s eating you up inside, and since we’re not going anywhere-“ Eliot cut her off.

“What, we’ve pulled a few jobs as a team and now you think that you know me well enough to play amateur psychologist? Doesn’t happen that way, and I don’t want to talk,” he snapped and went back to his restless pacing.

Parker watched him stride five steps to her right, spin, and pace the same five steps back to the other corner of the enclosure. He held himself stiffly which, given that they weren’t injured beyond a few bruises in the fall, spoke to her of agitation and stress. “No, I think that you do,” she contradicted his claim. Parker decided to take an educated guess as to what had him wound so tightly. “I think those memories are eating you alive now that you’ve had to bring them up again and you don’t have a way of forcing them back down again.” She watched him twitch slightly and turn furiously to face her.

“When I said that I don’t want to talk, that means stop pushing! I don’t want to satisfy some morbid curiosity of yours, or let you see how far you can poke before I react.” Eliot all but yelled. “You wouldn’t have the first idea what’s bothering me, so let’s just pass the time in silence, not talking.” He drew a deep breath and forced his hands to unclench. Parker caught an expression flash across his face for just a second before it was gone, but it was enough for her to recognize. She’d seen it in her own reflection a few times.

She settled onto a fallen chunk of the floor above and tucked her knees up to her chest. This conversation would be painful, in more ways than one, and she couldn’t help her own need to curl up, to hide. “Yeah, I think I do. Shut up!” She raised her head and glared as he snorted and opened his mouth to send another volley her way. “Let me speak, and then you can say anything that you want when I’m done.” Parker rested her chin on her knees and hugged them to her, eyes sliding away from his to focus on a bit of insulation swaying in the air current.

“The first time I killed someone I was ten years old.” She deliberately started blunt, determined to hold nothing back if she was going to tell. Eliot froze in place, but she didn’t pay him too much attention. “I was always small, too thin, and he grabbed me when I cut through an alley. We ended up on the ground and even then I knew what he wanted to do to me, so I fought. I scratched and kicked, and when I felt something on the ground, I picked it up and swung it at him too. Caught him right across the throat.” Parker swallowed hard at the feelings the memory brought up and took a moment to collect herself before continuing. “It was some twisted piece of metal, maybe from a car wreck, but it just cut across his neck so easily. He… I remember being shocked at how hot his blood was when it splashed on me. I freaked out, ran away, and had nightmares about it for weeks. Tried to justify that it was self-defense, but a part of me was satisfied that he was dead- he couldn’t hurt anyone else.”

Parker glanced over to find Eliot staring at her, frown of confusion pulling at his lips and furrowing his forehead. She shook her head to remind him to keep his mouth shut until he was finished. If he interrupted, she may never get the courage to start this up again. “The second person I killed couldn’t be justified as self-defense, it was cold revenge, and I was twelve.” She heard a shuffle and thump as Eliot must have sat on the floor, but didn’t look over to confirm it. Parker couldn’t stand to look him in the eye as she voiced her own ghosts.

“On the streets, I had made a friend of another kid, Katie. We scavenged and begged together, and usually did okay. I remember that it was a Tuesday when I found her, laying there so still beside our favorite dumpster, and dragged her back to the building we were hiding in.” A tear broke free and rolled down her cheek as she remembered just how badly beaten her first ever friend had been. “She managed to tell me that an older boy had caught her, took all the food she’d managed to find, and beat her for absolutely no reason. She didn’t fight, couldn’t have hurt him, but he still kicked her nearly to death before he ran away. When Katie got worse, I couldn’t take her to the hospital- they would have split us up, put us in group homes, and we’d have ended up worse off than we were on the streets. Wouldn’t have made a difference, though, as she died two days later.”

Parker sniffled and wiped the tears off of her face. She could still remember how Katie’s face lit up with a massive smile whenever they had begged enough money to actually buy food from a store. Those memories were still etched, perfect as a photograph, in her mind. “I tracked down the boy who’d attacked her, followed him until he finally split off from the group he was with, and deliberately beat him to death with a brick I’d picked up just for that purpose. He cried, and begged, and screamed, and I didn’t stop until I couldn’t lift the brick again. By then I’d caved in his head and when I picked something off of my shirt, I had to go puke as I realized that it was some of his brains. Still really don’t like gelatin.” She risked another glance at Eliot.

Contrary to what she’d feared, he appeared more understanding than horrified, though his gaze seemed to be looking more into the distance than focusing on her. Parker could work with that far better than horror or disgust. She took advantage of his distraction to gather herself back together again. She had very good reasons why she rarely spoke of her past and the emotions seemed to suck away all of her energy and she just wanted this over. “I killed again a few years before we made a team. Had paired up with another thief to steal the Marluck collection and once we got away, he tried to shove me off a rooftop rather than split the jewelry.” Parker noticed out of the corner of her eye that Eliot seemed to be focused on her again rather than whatever he saw in his head. “I ended up shooting him in the stomach; must have hit something important because he died before I could do too much to help. After that I kept away from everyone; didn’t want any friends after Katie, no partners who could double-cross me, nothing. The only reason I took Dubenich’s offer is because he didn’t tell me it was part of a team until he called to say where I should show up.”

Parker steeled herself and stared Eliot directly in the eye. “So you see, I do know what I’m talking about when I say that memories are eating at your insides. I do know that you need to talk.” Eliot thought silently and then nodded.

“I need time to get my thoughts together,” he responded, and Parker realized that his request for time wasn’t some sort of dodge. He wanted to get himself sorted out before he’d come and find her for that talk. Grateful that he wasn’t trying to discuss the admissions she’d made, she gave him a small nod in acceptance before standing and dusting off her pants.

“Now that that’s settled, let’s get out of here before we panic Hardison too much.” Parker eyed the pile of collapsed concrete and rebar and began plotting a route to the top. It would be tricky, but fairly easy compared to some of the vaults she’d broken into.

Eliot made an inarticulate noise of frustration. “You mean that this entire time you could have gotten us out of here?!” he growled.

“It was an opportunity to get you to talk without everyone else around and I took it. We aren’t hurt or in any danger, just confined where you had to stop and listen. Would you really have let me speak if you could have walked away?” Parker crossed her arms over her chest and faced him squarely.

His frustration visibly drained away. “No, I would have walked out of the nearest door,” he admitted.

“Okay, so it served its purpose and now we can get out of here.” Parker ended the conversation by carefully working her way back out of the room they’d fallen into, and lay down on the floor to offer Eliot a hand up. He dubiously eyed some of the fallen debris before he decided to jump and trust that she’d be able to lift him. Parker easily managed to pull him up and help him climb out onto what they both hoped was solid concrete.

Eliot rolled to his feet first and helped pull her up. “You’re not as crazy as you act, are you?” Parker eyed him speculatively. She didn’t allow too many people to see the person under her protective shell, but she’d already pulled away part of it when she gave voice to some of the worst memories she carried.

“I won’t ever be normal, but I’m not just crazy,” she admitted. Part of it was her, and part of it was an act to keep everyone else at arm’s length where they couldn’t hurt her. Eliot accepted her reasoning without comment and the two friends carefully exited the warehouse to tell Nate that he’d have to find another place to take their mark- this one was far too dangerous to use.

Parker and Eliot practice a little stealth and tracking... Unrepentant excuse for Parker/Eliot smut, some parts explicit- fair warning!

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Eliot and Parker arrived at the park early, ready to set up their surveillance. Their mark, a Joseph Donaldson, seemed to prefer meeting his criminal contacts at various parks, believing that there was less risk of being observed. He was right, in a way, given that the various law enforcement agencies didn’t work as well in those circumstances, but a team of thieves had far more freedom. Their plan was to bug the bench that he was most likely to use and then get out of there, but that plan fell apart almost immediately.

“Damn it!” Eliot swore under his breath as he caught sight of a familiar face and ducked behind a nearby tree, pulling Parker with him. He could hear the others’ questions in his earbud and explained what he and Parker could easily see. “Donaldson’s showed up early, and he’s not alone-he’s kept Quinn on the payroll and must have brought him along to act as a bodyguard for the meeting. If Quinn sees us, he ain’t gonna keep his mouth shut.”

Parker thought quickly and then looked up with a grin. “I think I know a good hiding place,” she drew his attention to the large tree they were currently using as cover in the mostly-exposed park. He shook his head vehemently as she lithely slipped up into its branches and then held a hand down to him. “Look,” she scolded, “we don’t have a better choice; the leaves will camouflage us if we’re careful, and they’re getting closer. Hurry up already!”

Spurred on by the realization that they’d be seen if they ran, and seen if they stayed on the ground, Eliot grabbed her hand and let her help haul him up into the tree. Early summer meant that the tree was in full foliage and he was grateful that it was also old enough to have a few limbs thick enough to support his weight. Parker seemed to weigh no more than a feather, but he had no illusions about what would happen if he ventured onto the wrong branch. Parker settled down in front of him, reclining against two branches, and they listened to the mark’s arrival under them.

They couldn’t answer any of Hardison’s questions over the earbuds as the park’s morning quiet wouldn’t cover their voices, but they had trusted in the equipment’s sensitivity and near-silently shushed him. Barely five minutes had passed when Parker began slowly inching backwards, crowding Eliot between her body and his perch against the tree trunk. He gave her an exasperated questioning look, to which he only received a devilish grin and comically wiggling eyebrows. For some reason, that didn’t entirely reassure him.

Parker settled for a moment as movement below drew their attention; Donaldson’s meeting appeared to start, and both sets of bodyguards went on alert. Eliot’s attention snapped back to Parker as she began to slowly grind her butt against his crotch. She looked back and quirked an eyebrow at him in question and challenge- was he up for it?

He certainly was, and becoming more up for it by the second as she continued her careful sinuous movements. Eliot reached around to undo the button on Parker’s pants when she grabbed his hand and redirected it across to her left breast while she efficiently dealt with her clothing. They couldn’t strip, but she was flexible and strong… and determined. So he didn’t argue and instead slipped his hand up under her shirt to squeeze each breast just how he knew she liked, and used his left to manage his own belt, zip, and boxer flap. By the time he’d pulled himself free, Parker was nearly panting and reached around to grasp him. Eliot bucked slightly when he firmly pinched the nipple he was playing with and her hand reflexively tightened its hold.

Abandoning her handhold, Parker quickly shifted enough to drag her pants down to her thighs and carefully moved back onto Eliot’s lap. She bit her lip as he guided himself home and they froze as each had to battle their bodies’ demands to move. If they moved wrong and scuffled against the tree’s bark, the noise would alert the people below; they also had to be careful not to shake the limbs they were hanging onto as trees don’t normally shimmy without a wind blowing. Parker carefully shifted, left hand keeping a strangle-hold on a parallel branch to steady her, and felt Eliot begin a very slow glide. She knew that he usually wanted to use his hand below, and so nudged him out of the way so that she could pinch and squeeze her own breasts with her right hand.

Eliot had to quickly think as he secured his footing on the branch. With him squatting on it and Parker partially crouching above him, it was an awkward affair, but also an interesting challenge and the risk only enhanced their thrill. He couldn’t thrust as hard as either of them wanted, so he followed Parker’s silent prompt and put his free hand to good use. With the extra stimulation, she soon climaxed and Eliot stilled, both to help support her and to stave off his own. Her internal muscles clenched around him, a delicious sensation, and he nibbled on the back of her neck as he waited for her to regroup. A few moments later and she was arching back to receive a proper kiss, leaving him in awe again at her seemingly spineless flexibility.

Once her mind cleared of its pleasant haze, Parker purposefully squeezed down on Eliot to let him know that she was more than ready for round two. As he resumed his incredibly slow strokes again, Parker could only hang onto her branch and enjoy. She couldn’t really move without her weight shaking the branch as she was further out along it than Eliot was, and couldn’t turn around to face him as she’d already determined in her mind that the geometry just wouldn’t work. He seemed to be trying for a longer buildup this time, alternating the pressure of his fingers and their speed, and Parker mimicked that variation as she pinched and rolled her own nipples. She felt his breath stir the loose strands of hair at the nape of her neck just before Eliot firmly bit down and catapulted her into her second orgasm. Parker barely had enough presence of mind to freeze in place, though she was sure that the earbuds caught her tiny grunt that escaped, and felt Eliot’s arm come up to clamp around her shaking middle, helping to ground her.

Miraculously, when they both recovered enough to look down again, none of the people below had noticed their camouflaged activities and the meeting was still going. Eliot rested his forehead briefly on Parker’s shoulder as he tried to pull his control back together. That orgasm nearly pulled him over the edge with her and had they been alone in a bed he knew that his bite would have had her screaming. Neither of them cared a lot for pain during sex, but occasionally used it to throw the pleasure into high relief. More than once he’d sat back during team meetings only to feel the stings as he pressed fresh scratches along his spine against the chair’s back rest. Those times it was all he could do to contain his self-satisfied grin, remembering how he’d earned her clawing up his back.

Eliot gathered himself and set back into motion- slow pull out, pause, slow push back in. It was maddening in more ways than one, but he couldn’t complain as the alternative was for them to sit, bored out of their heads, until the meeting broke up. Speaking of, Eliot paused as they both tuned back in to listen. He slowed the movement of his fingers as well and received a slightly frustrated look from Parker in return. Eliot simply gave her the same grin and wiggling eyebrows that she’d given him, and she responded very maturely by sticking her tongue out at him. The meeting finally concluded and Donaldson walked away towards downtown, presumably to wherever he’d parked.

“Parker, Eliot- are they done?” Nate’s voice startled them both as Hardison had apparently cut the incoming audio feed to their earbuds while they couldn’t respond so that they didn’t have to put up with all the chatter.

“Yeah, they’re done and walking out. Once they’re clear we’ll have to work our way down out of the tree and we’ll meet you at the van,” Parker informed the rest of the team and shot Eliot a wide grin as they heard Nate’s agreement. They’d still have to be silent to keep from alerting the team, but now they could finish this!

Eliot watched Parker brace herself better and then began to forcefully thrust, more than ready for his own release now that there was no reason to delay. He sped up his fingers’ rhythm and pressed harder, knowing that it wouldn’t take much as her body was already sensitized by the two previous orgasms. Parker’s muscles clenched around him and he stuttered a few more thrusts before he joined her in release, he pulled her against him in a tight hug as he gently kissed the side of her sweaty neck. They remained until Hardison’s questioning reminded them that they were supposed to be getting down out of the tree, not getting off in it.

“Yeah, Hardison, I know! We’re working on it,” he snapped as their hacker went into yet another tirade about them taking too long. They separated to rearrange their clothes and then, sharing one last long look, worked their way back down to the ground. Parker exuberantly bumped his shoulder with hers as they hurried off to join the others in the van and Eliot grinned back at her as he tried to walk off a cramp in his calf. That hadn’t been too bad of a wait, and certainly had been an experience!

Eliot remained in his hiding place as Parker worked her way along the faint trail he'd left for her. It was an obvious trail, to his experience eye, but she was just learning how to read a person's passage from a few snapped twigs and slightly scuffed dirt. The main point of his training today though was getting her to remain aware of her surroundings even as she focused on tracking. Parker could narrow her focus to one single problem, shutting out the world and its distractions, but he needed to break her of that as it was an easy way to get killed while tracking.

The faintest brush of clothing against skin brought his eyes to the trail in time to watch her slowly scan for more clues. She was definitely getting faster at it as he'd predicted it would take another five minutes before Parker got to this point. Eliot waited until she passed before he silently stepped out onto the trail behind her. "You didn't pay attention," he scolded as she spun around and made a face at him in dismay. “I was in plain sight and you walked right past me, Parker!” Eliot captured the wrists that she held out and began to tie them together with a length of rope he’d packed in his pocket.

“You’re doing that wrong,” Parker complained and wriggled her hands around in annoyance, “I can get out of that in two seconds.” She scoffed lightly as the rope twisted and fell off her wrists, proving her point.

Eliot gave her a flat look and retied the rope over her objections. “I don’t care if you don’t think it’s ‘realistic’!” He tied it back around her wrists a third time and stilled her irate struggles by gripping her hands. “I caught you fair and square, Parker, so leave it alone,” he emphasized and waited until she met his eyes and nodded before he let go. She huffed and muttered about authenticity as he brought them both out of the forest he’d been using for her tracking lesson and back to his truck.

Once back at the truck, Parker nimbly opened the passenger door herself and hopped up into the cab, making sure not to lose the rope that Eliot insisted remain tied. She was still rather offended that he wouldn’t even tie her up properly so that she could practice her escapes. Both enjoyed the silence during their short journey back to Eliot’s country house, the staging ground for their impromptu lesson; she’d insisted on tracking for today’s lesson, and he’d insisted on using his own property for safety. Parker let herself out of the truck, always too impatient to wait for Eliot to walk around and open the door for her, and gave a wide grin at his long-suffering look as he came to escort his ‘prisoner’ into the house.

He let them in, disabling the alarm system as they passed, and snagged Parker’s wrists to pull a very willing thief along to the bedroom. Parker always raced to an orgasm with as much enthusiasm as she put into cracking a safe, and it usually meant that their love-making was rather shortened as he just enjoyed the experience and went right along with her. When it was his turn to dictate the evening, however, he truly got to indulge and take hours before allowing himself to orgasm.

“Strip and get on the bed,” Eliot ordered as he pulled down the bedding before he slowly followed suit, distracted by Parker’s shimmying out of her tight clothes. The rope had been discarded and disdainfully kicked under the dresser just as soon as she’d stepped into the bedroom. “I am going to make love to you until you can only twitch,” he promised as he tucked himself along her left side and leaned in for a long kiss.

He freed his long hair so that it would tickle her skin and make her squirm as he kissed down to her breasts. Eliot kissed her near breast before he sucked its sensitive nipple into his mouth. Parker began squirming in earnest when he nipped the tip before moving over to the other, hand drifting to tease further down. She was already hot and very moist when his fingers ghosted over her curls and her legs quickly fell open to allow his ministrations. By the time Eliot raised himself for another kiss, he was just in time to swallow her moans as she climaxed around his fingers.

Parker quickly grabbed his head and buried her fingers in his hair to pull him into a far deeper kiss as she came down. Eliot pulled back a bit so that he could gently stroke the side of her flushed face and rested his forehead against hers. Hazel eyes met his and they crinkled at the corners from the force of her smile, warming his heart with her affection. Parker tipped her head for one more kiss before Eliot pulled away to slide down her body, tips of his hair drawing tickling lines along her skin.

Eliot teasingly dipped just the tip of his tongue into her folds as he looked up the length of her body to watch her shiver. Her incredible flexibility allowed Parker to widen her legs in a near split, and he used the greater access to kiss from one knee up, across her dark blonde curls, and down to the other knee before he returned to playing with her body. Eliot’s left arm braced his weight while his right parted her folds and he dipped in for a lingering taste; musky, sweet, and very much Parker. He focused on her little nub as he set up a rhythm with his fingers stroking her inner walls to stimulate the nerves there. Parker quickly began trembling as her orgasm neared and he backed off a bit to draw out the pleasure. He continued in that fashion, bringing her near to completion and then drawing back, until her whines and moans started to pick up a frustrated edge before he allowed her to fall over that edge. Eliot made sure to lean forward a bit so that her legs, locking to him in orgasm, held his shoulders and didn’t box his ears.

When she’d recovered enough coherence, Parker hauled him up her body for a deep tongue-tangling kiss. She had to back off a bit to catch her breath and gently picked up his right hand, bringing it to her mouth to press a kiss to his palm in thanks. Eliot simply chuckled and gave her one of his slight smiles, which on anyone else would be a cheek-splitting grin. She pressed his hand to her chest over her heart and was content to cuddle while he allowed her body to calm. Her muscles felt like heavy putty after Eliot’s efforts and she could only close her eyes in satisfaction as he moved just that little bit to slide into her.

He teased them both by making shallow little thrusts, barely inside her heat, and then drew a sigh from Parker as he forcefully pushed all the way in. Eliot paused, reining in his body’s instincts which had been screaming at him the entire time, and reaffirmed his solid control. He loved using his training and body to bring pleasure rather than pain, even if Parker didn’t always allow him to indulge for hours on end. His hair fell forward to form a curtain around their faces as Eliot propped himself up on his elbows to properly watch Parker. She tipped her head up in invitation and he nibbled her bottom lip as he began to move in long, slow strokes. They were both sensitive enough, her from the previous orgasms and he from aroused anticipation, that the sensations set their nerves on fire. Parker reached up to push away a handful of damp hair that had stuck to the side of his face and he gently nipped at her wrist, drawing a breathy giggle from her.

Parker positioned herself and then tipped her hips up in open invitation, and Eliot took it. He gradually built from the slow strokes to shorter, and then began to truly thrust, nearly pounding. Sharp nails raked across the middle of his back in approval as she encouraged him further. The slight edge of pain brought him close to release and he reached down to roughly tweak her nipple and give her just enough to trigger her own orgasm. This time Parker did scream in pleasure as her body was too spent to lock down, though her inner contractions pulled Eliot into his own muscle-clenching release. He dropped his head down to tiredly kiss her neck as he rode out the pleasure before gently letting his weight settle on top of her. Parker loved to feel his heavier weight pressing down on her, a reminder that he was still there, and she hugged him to her with as much strength as she could muster.

They remained that way until their bodies started to cool and the drying sweat became uncomfortable. “Shower?” Eliot mumbled into her ear and Parker nodded. They didn’t often need words to communicate, but sometimes it was just easier to ask. He heaved himself off the bed and upright, taking a second to find his balance, and then helped her to her very unsteady legs. They both tottered into his shower and Parker took the opportunity to rest back against the wall- sex with Eliot was better than any exercise workout! They gently helped each other wash, taking care to be gentle and not try to stimulate already over-sensitive bodies, and perfunctorily dried off before staggering back into the bedroom to drop onto the bed. Neither cared that their hair was a bit damp around the edges from the shower’s spray; they’d shower properly tomorrow when they had more energy.

Parker tried to sit up enough to grab the covers, but ended up listing to the side into Eliot as her torso’s muscles refused to work. He settled her back onto the bed and retrieved the bedding to cover them both. She waited until he’d settled on his back before Parker curled up partially on top of him. Her head ended up tucked under his chin, her arm thrown over his chest so that she could feel his heartbeat, and her right leg was across his hips to better hold him to her. Eliot kept the grin off his face and allowed her to position herself however she wished; if he tried to hold her off, she’d only end up like this in her sleep, and he’d learned that it was better to just give in gracefully, especially when he got to hold a warm and sleepy Parker. He reached up to the wall plate and flicked off the room’s lights, plunging them into darkness as night had fallen while they made love, and they both allowed exhaustion to ease them into a peacefully deep sleep.

Parker was used to flitting from shadow to shadow, silent as a ghost. She wasn't, however, used to nearly-silent footsteps following her even if it was a familiar cadence to their steps. She thought as she walked home and came up with a course of action- she'd see if the footsteps followed her back to her warehouse and then deal with her follower after. Parker slipped through back alleys in the worst part of town with utter fearlessness as to what could be hiding in the dark. Her shadow's footsteps sounded aggravated, if footsteps could display an emotion, and she smirked to herself, tallying a point on her mental scoreboard. Before too long she had wound her way through the city and was nearly home; time to deal with her shadow. Parker silently shimmied up the brick side of a nearby building, one that she had scoped out in the first weeks because of its second floor balcony- perfect perch for a cat burglar.

Mere seconds after she ensconced herself in her hideaway, the source of the footsteps came into view. No more than a deeper shadow within the alley's shadows, it moved with the loose grace of a powerful predator and she knew that the barely audible footsteps were merely a courtesy to her. She felt no such chivalry in return and wore a wicked grin as she dropped down silently behind her stalker. "Caught you!" She caroled happily.

Eliot stilled, stifling his instinctual reaction to the sudden displacement of air behind him, and turned to face Parker. "So you did. Question is- what are you going to do with me now that you caught me?" He allowed her to circle him in victory, eyes down submissively in keeping with his status of 'prisoner'. He truly hadn't caught her climb, even if he'd noticed her jump, and willingly conceded that he lost that round. Besides, losing was still winning in their game.

Parker used her scarf to loosely hitch her prisoner's wrists together behind his back before she pushed on his shoulder to get him walking to the warehouse. She keyed in the access code and Eliot followed her inside the surprisingly warm building without needing unnecessary conversation between them. Once inside, Parker released his wrists so that she could hang the scarf in its place with her coat by the door and Eliot simply grasped his left wrist with his right hand to keep his arms behind his back. She led him by the elbow to the center of the room where she left him standing while she walked around the room.

His heart began to race as she came back into view, completely nude and absolutely unashamed. Eliot kept his gaze on the floor's rug as she circled him again before coming to stand squarely in front of him. Strong fingers buried themselves in his hair and he was pulled in for a dizzying kiss before that same hand yanked his head back so that she could lean in to deliver a sharp nip to his throat. Eliot tried to breathe through the desire to reach out and pull Parker into his body; no one could test his control like she could and he tightened his grip to near-bruising on his wrist. The slight pain allowed him to better focus beyond his desire as he was pulled back in for another deep kiss.

"Knees," Parker bluntly ordered and purred to herself as he immediately complied. She carded her fingers through his loose hair again before giving a slight tug to get him to look up at her. Parker widened her stance and used her grip to pull his head forward, right where she wanted him. His devilish smirk as he set to work made her groan even as her eyes slid shut in pleasure.

Eliot kept up his exquisite torture, pushing her towards the peak and then backing off before an expert graze of teeth made her knees buckle. He caught her slight weight and held her through the tremors of her orgasm, untangling her unresisting hand from his hair so that he could give her a proper kiss. They remained on the floor, Eliot still kneeling and her held close, until Parker caught her breath. "Bed now?" he rasped, withheld desire making his voice rougher than normal. At her nod against his chest, he rearranged his hold and easily rose to carry her over to the plain bed.

Parker stretched bonelessly once he laid her down and basked in the endorphin rush while she watched him efficiently strip. That he allowed his clothes to fall into a messy pile on the floor spoke to his urgency more than any impassioned words ever could, and it was a sight that she loved to see in her normally restrained lover. He joined her on the bed and Parker pulled him on top of her so that her hands could wander as they kissed. She loved the feel of him- bumps and ridges of scars over warm muscle on his back, the dip of his lower back, and the muscles in his sides that tightened in ticklish reaction every time she lightly raked her nails up them.

Having recovered and more than ready, she swept Eliot's right knee out from under him so that she could roll them. His hands instantly came up to her hips and Parker immediately sheathed him to keep him from flipping them back. At the sensation of tight heat, Eliot's head thumped heavily to the pillow and his hands tightened on her hips to pull Parker even closer, all thoughts of moving them forgotten. They quickly moved into rhythm as neither wanted to dally this time and soon his thumb working her as she rode brought her to muscle-clenching orgasm. Her internal muscles contracting pulled him over the edge and he crushed her to him as he rode out his own release. Sweaty and panting, they lay beside each other and let their racing hearts calm.

"I love your stealth training," Parker emphatically stated as she rolled over to rest on Eliot's chest. His arms came around her as they shared a gentle kiss before she shimmied down a bit to lay her head over his heart and listen to its steady beat.

Eliot hooked the comforter with his toes and stretched to pull it over them without dislodging Parker. "Certainly ain't how they taught it in basic," he chuckled. This was the best way that he'd come up with for teaching Parker and keeping his own skills sharp; whoever was caught ended up at the mercy of his or her captor, and he hadn't ever experienced torture as sweet. Giving one last gentle kiss, they both settled in for a quick nap before round two.