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

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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This wasn't how Eliot had been thinking of getting Hardison riled up. Honestly, he'd been kind of expecting a smart ass "She's known longer than you have" or something.

He tugged Hardison towards him, hand still firm on the back of his neck. "Hey. It's alright. I ain't offended."

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"I want to believe she'd love you no matter what, and be okay with us no matter what." Parker was rubbing her feet against Hardison's now, face drawn. "I want to say she doesn't matter if she doesn't accept Eliot. But... I know it doesn't work like that." Her face tense up and she said, quieter, watching her two guys, "But I don't want you to ever feel like you have to choose, or even have to be careful."

The world was so weird about this stuff. Sex and love and everything. She'd given up trying to predict people's reactions before Sophie gave her the keys, and still... it was totally different when it wasn't a mark, or a client.

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"She will," Hardison said with a finality that had less to do with belief and more with a readiness to be done with the subject. "'Sides, we're s'posed to be makin' fun of Eliot for gettin' beat up by his baby sister, remember?" He gave them both a smile that asked to be reassured that he hadn't ruined the good mood from earlier. "Did she get the jump on you? Or did Mama Spencer just raised a buncha brawlers? I need to know so I can prepare my delicate self for that visit."

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Eliot snorted, having no issue at all with changing the subject back around again. "She's scrappy," he said. "And what am I s'posed to do, hit her back? She's my kid sister."

This had not really stopped them from getting into actual knock-down, drag-out fights when they were little, but that was before he had five inches on her.

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"Now I really want to meet her," Parker said speculatively. "And ask her all the questions. All of them."

Had Eliot always been grumpy? When did he start getting obsessed with his hair? Did he have eyes in the back of his head as a teenager? Stuff like that.

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"Is she actually littler than you?" Hardison asked. "Like, how much shorter? Man, she must be tiny."

Yes, he liked lording his extra five inches of height over Eliot. God knew it was the only physical contest between the two of them that he's ever win.

"Is her hair pretty, too? Do y'all share regimen secrets? Does she have access to a trunk full of embarassin' baby pictures and stories?"

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"I barely talked to her in twenty years, when was I supposed to be sharin' hair care secrets?" Eliot shook his head. "She's tiny. Five-three. But solid, you know? Used to help out around the shop when we were kids, lugging five gallon paint buckets around like they were nothin'. She could kick your ass with her hands tied behind her back." Not that this was necessarily hard. "She keeps her hair short, these days, one of those, whatchallit -- pixie cuts."

He wasn't going to answer that last question. They'd find out if she'd kept all of their mother's old albums when they got around to going to visit her.

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"Does she still work at your dad's hardware store?" That had to be a sore spot, kinda, if she did. For one of them, anyway. "And you're Eliot. You could have sent them to her by messenger pigeon."

He could have.

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"Course she could kick my ass," Hardison said at the same time. "You think I'm stupid enough to raise a hand to a Spencer? Awww hell no. I like my jaw with all my teeth attached."

Because even if Trudy didn't whup his ass, Eliot would. Nope!

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"No one sends messages by pigeon anymore, Parker. And, uh. Nah. The store -- went under." And yeah. It was a very large sore spot.

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Parker grimaced at him, and leaned her head on his shoulder. One more reason not to meet his dad, probably.

She grinned at Hardison. "He came back here tonight." Yaaay. "So we should invite him to stay the night."

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"This is why you're the Mastermind, baby girl. You're brilliant." Hardison solved the invitation problem by shifting about a little and resting his absurdly long legs in Eliot's lap. There. Now he couldn't go anywhere. See? Problem solved.

But, y'know, for politeness's sake...

"Yo, Eliot. You wanna stay over tonight? Pretty sure me'n Parker could find some way to keep you entertained for the rest of the evenin'."

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