What, was &quot;Rudy&quot; on cable last night?

"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."

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

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"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."

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

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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...)

Edited Date: 2015-05-11 04:27 am (UTC)

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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.

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"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."

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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.

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"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?"

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"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."

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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."

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"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.

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"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."

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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?

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"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'."

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"Oh, she's expectin' ya," Eliot told them. Tomorrow, even, if Trudy had her way, but Eliot had managed to talk her out of that. "I figure so long as word about Portalocity doesn't get out back home, we can swing by maybe over the next break?" If they wanted to? Was meeting his sister too weird? It felt a little weird, right?

God, he wanted to show off the woman his little sister had become, though. He'd kept an eye on her in his way, from a distance, but it was nothing like seeing her in person.

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Parker perked up immediately, eyes open wider, body leaning forward further, vibrating a little with more focus. "Ooo I get it! No one who has a price on your head can track you if we use Portalocity, and nobody will believe where we're going when we leave, and it'll all be over before anyone finds out anyway. Is she like Maggie? Or more like Debbie?"

Parker's two touchstones for blatantly Normal people. And a very subtle way of asking, Do you think she'll like us?

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They really wanted your family to like them, Eliot! Especially Hardison, would would probably have a few 'Oh god, I'm the black dude dating a good ol' boy and going to meet his family' panic attacks in between now and whenever that meeting happened.

"I ain't got nothin' planned over next break," Hardison said, giving Eliot a smile to show how very not weird this was. "If you really want, we could even take a couple of different portals, just to be on the safe side. You know, bounce around a bit afore we get to Podunk, Indiana. Or is it Arkansas? I can never tell flyover states apart."

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Yeah, well, that would be why Eliot would make sure his father absolutely didn't get involved in that trip. A black woman, Papa Spencer probably would've handled. Not gracefully, but handled. A white man? Pushing it, but they might have turned him around eventually.

A black man? Eliot didn't even want to think about it.

"Really?" he asked, giving Hardison a distinctly unimpressed eyebrow. It worked well to cover the slow release of nerves. "Didn't you grow up, like, next door to Indiana?"

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Parker had finished her sandwich by now, and had insinuated herself more across the guys than in between them. "Can we bounce somewhere like Rio first, and then to Oklahoma? We could bring presents for your family that way."

They had some really huuuuge emeralds in Rio. Yup.

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"Seriously? Seriously? Man, all this time we been together an' you still don't know where I'm from?"

Hardison was totally a Chi-town boy. But Eliot hadn't sounded entirely certain, which meant that Hardison had free rein to mess with him.

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Honestly, that denial just made Eliot more certain.

"I could be three states off and you'd still be next door," he said. Because just because he was now more sure didn't mean he wasn't going to tease back. "They're all packed in up there like sardines." He leaned back as best he could with Parker sprawled across his lap. "What kinda presents you thinkin' of, Parker? Trudy ain't the flashy type."

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"... then maybe she'd like a geode?" Parker asked, uncertain. Those were easy to hide, right? You just flipped them over and the gems were hidden in a gray rock. "Or a parrot. Whichever she'd like more." She leaned into him and poked Hardison with one socked toe, eyes on the last of his sandwich. "What did your Nana say when you called her?"

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"Pretty sure you ain't supposed to give people exotic pets without warnin'," Hardison said, trying in vain to protect the remains of his sandwich. Sadly, there was no way to keep her from it, not unless he wanted to shove it all in his mouth and spray them with crumbs.

Which--tempting. It was a good sandwich.

"Mostly we just talked about what her current kids were up to," he said, smiling a little. "The house was clean when she got up an' she didn't have to cook dinner, so it was way better than some Mother's Days in the past. They went to church an' to a coupla cemeteries around town, before spendin' the afternoon visitin' a few correctional facilities. Nana always makes sure that any of the kids she's got who wanna spend some time with their own moms on Mothers' Day get to."

She was the ultimate Care Bear, let it be known.

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