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Eliot looked down at Elaine and Colby with the barest hint of trepidation. Most thirteen year-olds wouldn't have been able to spot that expression amidst Eliot's business-like scowl, but then again, they'd been trained by the best.
Who were, of course, watching him for the same reaction and picked it up even faster than their offspring.
"Please, Eliot," Sophie coaxed. "You're the only one we trust for this."
Having the kids present for this discussion was, of course, the basest kind of emotional blackmail. Both Nate and Sophie's daughter and Hardison and Parker's son treated Eliot as their favorite uncle, and Eliot was completely vulnerable to their charms. He tolerated pranks from them that he'd sent other men to the hospital for, and laughed the entire time.
"Please, Uncle Eliot!" Colby begged. "Mom says I need to balance strength and flexibility, and you're the best strength guy she knows!"
Hardison snorted behind his hand while Parker just grinned in that offhand way of hers. Colby, with Hardison's lanky build and Parker's grace, had been working out alongside his mom since he'd been old enough to stand, and had a hell of a head start from Eliot at a similar age.
"I don't want to have to depend on anyone but myself. I'll do my very best, Uncle Eliot, please!" Elaine chimed in relentlessly. While neither of her parents was very physical, Elaine had been imitating Eliot's gym routines since she was six years old. She was going to be more of a heartbreaker as her mother, and in the outside world, knowing self-defense was going to be vital.
Over the kids' shoulders, Nate was giving him the "you owe me" face, Hardison was making with the puppy eyes, Sophie was being her most beseeching, and Parker had the kind of look that promised she'd steal Eliot's guitar and hide it on top of the Empire State Building unless he gave in.
Even so, all it took was one look at Colby and Elaine and any lingering resistance vanished.
"Please?" they chorused in unison.
"All right, all right, enough with the begging," Eliot said, all but throwing his hands up. The kids cheered, until Eliot fixed them with a serious scowl. "This isn't a game, you know that, right? I'm not going to be easy on you, not like your parents."
"Yes, Uncle Eliot," they chorused again, eyes dancing with mischief, but keeping a sober expression.
"And you, little lady, will not give him any backtalk, or we will hear about it," Sophie admonished her daughter.
"Colby, you just listen to Eliot, and he'll teach you how to kick ass, just like I've been telling you," Hardison said, and Colby gave his parents a fist-bump that seemed to be the expression of ultimate affection in their family unit.
"Now, don't you two think you should thank Eliot for agreeing to teach you?" Nate asked pointedly.
Eliot abruptly found himself under assault as his niece and nephew tackle-hugged him. He put his arms around them to show them how it was really done, and exchanged flashing smiles of gratitude from his teammates for letting him do this for them.