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

"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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It was pretty damn clear where Hardison had got it from.

"You ever talk to her about us?" Eliot asked.

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Parker was sure Hardison had talked to his Nana about her. But she was still curious. And a little hungry. MMmm, good sandwich bits.

So she just gave Hardison a curious look. Okay. Hopeful look.

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Goodbye, sandwich. Sometimes it was better to give in with grace. But the conversation was taking a turn that would make eating his sandwich difficult anyway, so better to Parker.

"Yeah, well...sorta. She knows all about y'all. All about the crew, really. Not, like, what we do, exactly, but that we help out the little folks. She's the reason I really got in, you know? She was always really big on helpin' out the less fortunate an' givin' back to the community, an' all that noise."

If they--if Parker--ever found out how much of his own money went to charitable organizations, he might never hear the end of it.

"She knows you two are my family an' that I don't ever see that changin'. An' I been droppin' hints and things for awhile now. I just--" He scrubbed his face, feeling guilty and unable to meet their eyes. "She's old an' religious. I ain't never heard her say nothin' against anyone but--I don't even know if she knows I like guys."

How to explain? That even now, at almost thirty, he had a fear of disappointing his Nana? That he would never expect her to start preaching hellfire and damnation at them, but the fear of her not loving and accepting the two most important people in his life was paralyzing? That this worry wasn't worthy of either his crew or his Nana, but he had it anyway? That there was still some part of that small boy who strove always to please so he wouldn't get sent away again inside him and always would be?

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Eliot shifted to rest his hand on the back of Hardison's neck. "It's cool, man," he said. "Hell, I had it easy. I ain't seen Trudy in twenty years. If she'd've taken it badly, wouldn't be hard to avoid her after."

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Parker had had no idea Hardison had been worried about this. She opened her mouth, then closed it. Then nudged took Hardison's hands and squeezed them, hanging on tight. She wanted to say she was sure his Nana would love him no matter what, but....

"It's okay. You don't have to tell her. About either of us." She bit her lip, then had to ask, "Do you think she'd be okay with me?"

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"I don't like lyin'." Said the thief. "Not to her. Not about y'all. You're too much a part of my life to pretend y'all ain't--everything that y'all are to me. An', yeah, baby girl, she'd love you."

Parker wouldn't be the weirdest person that Nana had accepted into her home and heart. Hardison getting sent to her had almost been a fluke, a 'gift from God', she'd always liked to say. Nana had been known for her skill with the hard cases, those who had been almost impossible to place with anyone else.

"Hell, I mean, she knows that you an' me are together." They'd been together for a year and Nana had gotten sporadic updates on their relationship's trajectory for years, as they'd tentatively moved from strangers to friends to lovers. "That's part of what's makin' me feel bad," he admitted. "Eliot, you ain't my--my dirty secret or nothin'. I'm proud to be with you, like I'm proud to be with Parker." Of that, there was never any doubt. "Feels wrong I should claim Parker to her, but not you. It ain't right. What we got might be newer, but it ain't lesser.."

He might have been stewing about this for awhile, yes.

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