75 Godiva Street, Sunday evening

[vdistinctive]

Eliot wasn't sure who had first started using the term for the occasions when the whole team got together for a friendly meal, instead of eating during a meeting for a job, but somewhere along the lines, "family dinner" had become official. With Nate and Sophie on the island, that was just what the team was doing now, with Eliot putting the finishing touches on his spaghetti sauce (one of the few dishes they all could agree on), Hardison and Parker grabbing dishes and napkins to set the table, and Val skipping about excitedly underfoot, all of them moving easily in and around each other with the ease of long practice.

Nate stood in the doorway with a beer and watched the process with a small smile.

"I take it Hardison bought your home out from under you, too?" he asked when he managed a moment with Eliot alone. The look on Eliot's face wasn't entirely quantifiable. It contained rather a lot of fond amusement, though.

"Sure," he said. "Somethin' like that.

[ooc: for the teeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeam!]

Comments

[thenameislara.livejournal.com]

Sophie gave a hoot of laughter before she put her hand over her mouth, reining it in to something more controlled. "Well, I can see the point with the students, but with you three--" Really, Fandom Island. Were you trying to scare them back to separate bedrooms? "I hope that didn't ruin your afterglow too much."

[vdistinctive]

"Hardison had to drag me out onto the fire escape and yell at me for scarin' 'em," Eliot confessed. "I ain't even ever thought about havin' kids. And then suddenly there's two little girls callin' me 'daddy' before I've even got my damn pants on."

[thenameislara.livejournal.com]

"Oh, Eliot." Sophie could just imagine the chin-wobbling that any daughter or niece of hers would inflict on him. "I find it hard to believe you've never considered it. You're wonderful with children. And teenagers." Sophie shook her head. "Although I can't say that anyone I know would deal well with that situation, really."

[vdistinctive]

Eliot shook his head. "I only just got it through my head that I might live to see forty. And I'm thirty-nine. I wasn't gonna have a kid just to die on it."

[thenameislara.livejournal.com]

That got a confined-to-the-inside-of-Sophie's head Oh, Eliot. "So? What's your take on it, now that you've met three probably outcomes of you living to see them grow up?"

[vdistinctive]

Eliot snorted. "Hell, I've gotten to see myself at sixty, thanks to this place." And he'd looked damn good, thank you very much. "And honestly. . . . I still don't know. Hardison likes to try'n freak me out by talkin' marriage." And it usually even worked. "But livin' day to day ain't an easy habit to break."

[thenameislara.livejournal.com]

"Despite the fact that you've been part of this family for six years, marriage is-- different. I've never been married either. Do you think Nate's the only one who gets twitchy when mention of engagement rings comes up?" Sophie's voice gentled a little. "There's nothing wrong not being ready yet. You're with the right people. The rest? It'll come." She paused and added, "Although I'd still really like an explanation for Gracie."

[vdistinctive]

"We did not ask," Eliot said. "And considerin' she was 8, she probably couldn'ta told us if we did."