Archive of Our Own ^beta

Twenty pounds of crazy in a five pound bag. Quinn had only really spent half a day in the Parker’s company, and as he stared over the edge of the roof at the street below, it was the one thought uppermost in his head. “Wouldn’t this be easier from street level?”

Okay, maybe it wasn’t the only thought, but this building was really high up. He wasn’t even completely certain it was Eliot he was looking at.

Once he turned away from the vertigo-inducing sight though, he was certain Parker was annoyed with him. Again. In the past handful of days he’d been working with her, he’d come to recognize that expression on her face very well. “How fast would you pick up two people tailing you from the ground?”

Quinn could feel his shoulders slump as he understood the thief’s point. “Pretty fast,” he admitted. “Eliot, probably faster.”

Parker threw up her hands in frustration. “Exactly!”

Something occurred to Quinn then, and he offered it up with only a moment’s hesitation. “Wouldn’t Eliot expect you to be tailing him from a higher vantage point though?”

He knew he’d scored when Parker glared at him and very pointedly walked to the edge of the roof, looking over the edge of the parapet wall. “He would if he was in his right mind,” she said reluctantly. “That’s kind of the whole point.” She turned back to face him, gesturing at the street. “Ever since he started hanging out with that person, he’s been distracted. He’s changed his routine – he’s not behaving like himself!”

Frowning, Quinn risked another glance over the edge. True it was hard to tell at this distance, but Eliot’s body language was relaxed, more relaxed than Quinn was used to seeing it, truth be told. “Parker, why am I here?” he asked, straightening up to lean against the wall. “You said you all needed extra hands with Nate and Sophie out of the game.”

The thief’s brow furrowed momentarily as she tried to process what he was asking. “We do. And you’re the best hitter I know after Eliot, and he said we should invite you.” She paused, eyes narrowing. “Don’t you want to work with us?”

He nodded without hesitation. The one time he’d been on the same side as the Leverage team had been fun, challenging and definitely profitable. He liked them, liked their quirky ways, and Eliot was probably the closest thing he’d ever had to an actual friend. The problem was, “I still don’t understand what you’re looking for from me, Parker.”

Quinn couldn’t remember the last time a pretty girl had looked at him so completely like he was the one not right in the head. “When Nate was the mastermind, Eliot was always his extra pair of eyes. He needed Eliot to see the bad stuff he couldn’t. I need you to see the bad stuff here, so Hardison will listen to me.”

Slowly the likely story began coming together for Quinn. “Eliot hasn’t told you guys anything about this woman, has he?”

“No,” Parker declared, clearly relieved that Quinn had finally caught up to her. “And she has to be evil, otherwise he wouldn’t be acting so differently.” She huffed out a frustrated breath. “He gets stupid about pretty girls sometimes, you know?”

Quinn nearly choked trying not to laugh. “Okay,” he said, when he could trust himself to speak, “I’ll take another look.”
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Parker was beginning to understand why Sophie would occasionally say “men” or “boys” with a look on her face like she smelled something bad. Eliot and Hardison, as much as she loved them both, could be so frustrating! And now it looked like Quinn was just like them, even though in the end he’d agreed to take a closer look at Eliot’s…girlfriend.

Hardison looked up from his smart phone as she and Quinn entered the offices in back of the Bridgeport Pub. “Tara said thanks, but she’s not looking for a full time gig right now. And Amy said if she’s going to take on more work we’d better be prepared to cough up more dough.” He turned his cheek up just in time for her to give him a kiss. “Hey, Quinn.”

The hitter nodded a greeting and took one of the stools for himself. Parker frowned, processing what Hardison had said about Amy. “Her family’s rich, isn’t it?”

Hardison raised an eyebrow at her. “Would you turn down extra money?”

Parker nodded, conceding the point. She put a hand on Hardison’s shoulder, leaning over to look at what he was working on. “Her name is Karen? Is that an evil name?”

He nuzzled her cheek briefly before transferring what they were looking at to the main monitor. “Babe, I know you don’t trust her, but there’s nothing here but good, wholesome stuff.”

Straightening, Parker looked at all the documents Hardison had assembled. Bank accounts, work histories, school transcripts. She was a vet-tech who volunteered at an animal shelter twice a month. “Somebody hired her to get close to Eliot,” she said. “Did you check for debt? Vet schools cost a lot of money, don’t they?”

“She’s not a vet. She’s just a technician.” Adrenaline shivered through Parker’s body as she heard Eliot’s voice.
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It was insane. He should have been mad – angry enough to hit something – and for a second after he’d received Quinn’s text he had been.

But then it had passed. They care. They’re worried. And neither of his teammates had ever been good about expressing their feelings. Parker in particular; Eliot was privately amazed when he did the math and realized that it was less than five years since Parker had even really understood what a feeling was beyond carefully banked and nurtured rage.

And in the end, had anyone been hurt? Eliot knew as well as anyone how stealthy Hardison was when tip-toeing through a person’s life in cyber-space. If he really had found nothing on Karen, that was a good thing right? Something he should have had enough presence of mind to ask the hacker to do anyway?

Parker had only tailed him with Karen. She hadn’t dangled Karen off a building, and she’d been self-aware enough to bring Quinn in for a second opinion on the whole mess. Still, he was going to have to try and get through to her if he was ever going to have a shot at a relationship of his own. “Hardison, Quinn – can Parker and I have the room?”

Quinn waited long enough to clap him reassuringly on the shoulder. Hardison cupped Parker’s face between his hands before kissing her. “Listen to the man,” he said, before following Quinn into the restaurant.

“I’m not going to apologize,” Parker said defensively, as soon as they were alone.

Eliot walked to the counter, closing just enough of the distance separating them to be able to adopt a casual, non-threatening pose. “I’m not asking you to.”

That threw her. Parker’s eyebrows went up. “You’re not mad?”

“Not anymore,” he said, remembering when he’d promised himself he would never lie to Parker. “I was at first, but then I understood that you were worried about me.”

“You get stupid around pretty women,” Parker said.

“And Karen’s not the kind of woman you’re used to seeing me with, is she?” It was the main reason he’d kept his involvement with the vet tech such a closely guarded secret. Karen was sweet, kind…normal. She was the kind of girl he’d dated in high school, and he didn’t have the words anymore to describe what it meant that someone like that could still be attracted to even part of the man he’d become.

Sophie would have understood. Nate would have too. Parker just shook her head. “What if one of your enemies hired her to get close to you?” she asked, completely serious. “What if she’s some kind of sleeper agent or ninja assassin?”

He laughed softly, ducking his head. “Now you sound like Hardison.”

“Hardison’s right a lot of the time,” Parker huffed, drawing herself up indignantly.

Eliot nodded. “You’re right. He is. You both are. But Parker – you’ve got to trust me to be able to find something out there like what you guys have.”

The thief was silent for a long moment. Finally she asked, “What if you make a mistake? You promised Sophie you would make sure we’re all safe. You can’t do that if some ninja assassin veterinarian kills you after sex!”

The bitch of it was, she wasn’t wrong. He trusted his own instincts, and his ability to get himself out of nearly every situation, but he wasn’t perfect. “So how do we get through this?” he asked, finally. “I don’t mind you guys watching my back too, but not if it’s going to interfere with my having a life outside of this madness.”

Silence fell between the two of them. “You don’t lie to us,” Parker said finally, crossing her arms over her chest again. “You don’t con your crew.”

It was his own mantra flung back at him, and all Eliot could do was own his behavior. “Deal,” he said. “But if I tell you when I’m dating somebody, you don’t get to follow them or harass them in any way.”

“Hardison gets to run a background check,” Parker countered.

“So long as he just looks,” Eliot agreed. “No messing around with anything.” After a beat he stuck out his hand. Surprised into a smile, Parker took it and they shook.

“You know,” Eliot said, pulling her into a light, one-armed hug, “Nate was pretty smart to put you in charge.”

“Really?” Parker asked, looking up at him. “Because I’m pretty sure he was drunk.”