The New Leverage Headquarters (the loft above Luke's), Sunday night

[vdistinctive]

Eliot got back to the island much later than he'd originally expected. After the cemetery, Trudy had dragged him home to properly meet his nieces and nephew, and reacquaint with his brother-in-law. It'd all been ridiculously overwhelming, and he and Trudy hadn't been done arguing, and Trudy hadn't even been close to done hitting him -- and Eliot hadn't been able to wipe the smile back off his face until the moment Jake had mentioned inviting his father over for dinner. (Trudy had talked Jake right back out of that idea, thank god, so Eliot didn't have to hear his dad refuse.)

It was well after dark by the time he got back to the island, and he was exhausted -- and not even remotely ready to go back to his quiet house. So he headed for Luke's instead, stopping in the dining room just long enough to grab some of the day's leftover cold cuts and rolls on his way upstairs.

He knocked on the door, smiling to himself as he thought back on the conversations through the day. And how he'd laid claim to Hardison and Parker out loud. Announced them to his sister. "Come out."

It was a hell of a thing.

[ooc: for thems on the other side of the door.]

Comments

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Can you believe it?" Hardison was still ranting, yes. "Man, he leaves a message an' tells me, 'Call your Nana.' Like I'd forget. What, like I gotta be reminded to call my nana? Yeah, I need to be reminded about this from Mr. I Can't Be Bothered To Leave Useful Messages. It's a good thing he called an' told me about that. I mighta forget. Cause, y'know, I ain't been doin' it for years without him tellin' me."

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

"Nope. You would never forget," Parker confirmed. Then she did a dive-roll to the door off the couch, and got up on tiptoe to peek through the peephole. "Eliot!" She beamed and punched in the code to the door to let him in. "We have gummy bears. And where were you?"

[vdistinctive]

"Hey darlin'," Eliot greeted, leaning in for a kiss. "I had a thing to do. You didn't eat the gummy bears for dinner, did you?"

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"He was visitin'," Hardison grumped, pulling a face at Eliot. Yeah, he'd figured out your code, Eliot, just minutes after he got it. DIDN'T MEAN HE APPRECIATED THE WARNING ANYWAY. "Your message still sucked."

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

"He called his Nana," Parker reported, then wandered further in to the apartment. "I had the gummy bears for dinner, but I was going to eat a carrot for dessert. Who did you visit?"

[vdistinctive]

"What?" Eliot shrugged at Hardison and started setting out the cold cuts and rolls. "It was succinct." TOTAL EFFICIENCY. "I, uh. Went home. To Oklahoma." These cold cuts needed to be very carefully arranged, okay. "Saw my sister."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Told you," Hardison said, absolutely not sulking because Parker had gotten a kiss and he hadn't. Whatever. He didn't care. He was still grumpy anyway. "Thought you just sent flowers an' stole pictures."

[vdistinctive]

If Hardison came over to greet Eliot, he'd get a kiss right away, too.

"How did you --" Okay, that question was stupid and Eliot wasn't going to finish it. "I lost track of the date. Forgot to set up my usual messenger."

'Forgot.' Yeah.

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Parker leaned over Hardison's shoulder, watching the byplay like a ping-pong match. If one watched those from halfway over someone's head.

"Is she okay? Is your nephew okay?" Parker knew that he'd mentioned a nephew at some point, vaguely. "Date?"

Go figure, Parker didn't track Mother's Day on her phone.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Mmmhmm." Hardison wasn't moving. You'd left with a stupid message, you had to come give him kisses. "Cause you're so bad at rememberin' dates an' stuff. Certainly didn't make sure to remind me."

[vdistinctive]

"Sophie might argue with the word 'forgot'," Eliot admitted. "It's Mother's Day, Parker. I went to visit my momma's grave, and Tru was there, too. Her kids are doin' fine." And were very excited (albeit confused) to finally meet their uncle Eliot.

He finished putting together a couple sandwiches and brought them over to the couch, flopping down next to Hardison. "I, uh. Told her about you guys."

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

"Told her... what?" Parker asked, a little wary now. Although she was eyeing that sandwich pretty hungrily.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Told her?" Hardison said, grabbing a sandwich. No kiss for Eliot, though. He was clinging hard to his dudgeon, thank you. "About us? Like, you told her about some of what Leverage does? Or...told her. About us."

[vdistinctive]

"Told her." If Hardison wasn't going to go for the kiss, then Eliot would just have to do it himself. "About you."

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Parker watched the kiss a moment, then happily slipped the second sandwich out of Eliot's hands, taking several bites while she waited for that kiss to shake out, leaning into Hardison's back.

(Even though her curiosity was eating at her like she was eating the sandwich, and she wanted to know what his sister said, and what he said then, and and and...)

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Well...a'ight. That kiss was pretty good. An' maybe the message had been enough, considering he'd been able to figure out where Eliot had had gone and why. He rested his hand on Parker's knee, giving it a loving squeeze, even as his other hand came up to play with Eliot's hair.

When the kiss was finally over, he leaned back and gave Eliot a lazy smile. "Tell us about tellin' her," he said, biting into his sandwich.

[vdistinctive]

"Ain't that much to tell," Eliot said, leaning back and not bothering to hold back his own grin. "She hit me, called me a moron." He snorted. "Actually asked me if I was 'comin' out' to her."

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Parker's first instinct was to ask if that was the same as coming on to someone, but that was too weird even for Eliot, she decided.

"Did she hit you because you 'came out'? Because if that's why I don't get why you're grinning like that," Parker mentioned, draping an arm over Hardison's shoulders for security, and tracing Eliot's smile with one finger.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Is this some kinda Spencer bonding ritual?" Hardison asked, tucking Parker close to his side--and holding his sandwich a little further away from her, so he could be assured of at least eating a bit of it. "Some, 'We have strong emotions, we gotta punch somethin' kinda thing?"

[vdistinctive]

"No!" Eliot said, sounding vaguely offended. "We yell for strong emotions. Hittin' just kinda . . . happens."

He and Trudy had always been a little rough-and-tumble.

"Anyway, she dragged me back to her place and we spent the day catchin' up." He reached over idly to tuck Parker's hair behind her ear. "It'd -- been too long."

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Parker put down her sandwich in order to grab Eliot's hand, and twine her fingers around his wrist. "And. It was good? Not like... when you tried to talk to your dad?" She already suspected that it had been, but she kind of had to ask. She gave his hand a squeeze anyway, and said, a little softer, "We would've gone with you. If you needed it."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Yeah man," Hardison said, giving Eliot a smile--and eating his sandwich while Parker was distracted. "
Specially if we'd'a known you were gonna you was gonna get beat up by your little sister."

He had an idea that Eliot would have rathered this reunion been alone, but still. They'd always have his back. He just needed to be reminded of this from time to time.

[vdistinctive]

"She'd take you apart if she heard you callin' her 'little'," Eliot said. Trudy was all of 5'3", but she was scrappy. "And yeah, it was good." If it had gone like it had when he tried to see his dad, he'd've come home, hid in his house, and started pretending like nothing ever happened by the time he went to work tomorrow. He gave Parker's hand a squeeze in return. "And I know. You guys woulda had my back. But it was better this way. After all this time . . . she deserved to get me to herself for a bit."

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Like her and Nick. Parker took another bite of her sandwich, and put her head down on Hardison's shoulder, then said, "So... you're gonna see her again? Maybe? Maybe introduce us?" That would be.. kinda cool? Maybe?

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Y'know. On your own schedule," Hardison said, a little more diffidently than he'd intended. "I mean, we'd be good to meet 'em whenever, but you ain't gotta rush on our account or nothin'."