SquidgeWorld Archive

TRUST FALL

Parker perched on the railing of the high-rise balcony, staring out over the city, waiting to see if it would give up any secrets. Her thoughts were heavy, troubled, but sorting them out had never come easy.

Eliot came up beside her, folding his arms over the rail. Neither spoke for a long time. “Did you talk to Hardison?” he finally asked.

Parker nodded. “He can’t come back yet.”

They felt like halcyon days tonight, a decade ago when the team was all together, and no one was missing. Eliot would cook them all dinner, Hardison was tooling around in Lucille, Sophie was acting in her plays, and Nate was working his mind control magic on unsuspecting marks.

“Is this something people do when they get older?” she asked. “Remembering the good old days?”

“You mean when Nate was always drunk, and Sophie was fighting with him all the time, and before the three of us…well, you know.”

“No,” Parker sighed. “I love where we are now, and the new team. It’s just…” she trailed off, unable to find the words. Those days had been far from idyllic. Funny how the mind always recalls the best parts. She wondered if someday she’d be looking back on today with nostalgia.

People were weird. Even after all this time, Parker still didn’t quite understand them, herself included. There was one thing she was certain of, though.

Parker fell back, and Eliot caught her, supporting her easily against him while her legs still hung over the edge.

“You miss him.” It wasn’t a question.

Parker nodded.

“Me too,” Eliot admitted. “He’ll be back.”

“It’s just hard…waiting.”

“Or we’ll go there, if that’s what it takes.”

They were the three musketeers. In those early days of building Leverage International, it had been just the three of them; now, there was a hole where Alec should be. They’d separated before when the job called for it, but never this long. Hardison belonged there, with them.

“It sucks.”

“I’m still here,” Eliot told her, tightening his hold. “Always.”

Parker let him pull her in and set her on her feet, allowing herself to be comforted by an embrace.

“Wanna jump off a building with me?” she asked.

“Uh, maybe later.”

“That means no, doesn’t it?”

“How’d you know I’d catch you?” Eliot asked instead of answering.

“I know you’ll never let me fall.”



the end