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Eliot didn't know if Dubenich didn't realize or didn't care that Parker was a Sentinel too. Maybe he thought Hardison being a Guide would fix it or that all it would take was Nate cracking down to prevent any problems.
Eliot didn't blame him for not realizing what a clusterfuck it could have been. Everybody knew about Sentinels and Guides but they didn't know.
The government got to study registereds but the 20th Amendment made sure they had a choice about it; made sure they couldn't be forced to register either. And plenty didn't. Of course, force came under different names. Either way, Sentinel/Guide business was kept mostly need to know.
People didn't understand what it was like to be an unbonded Sentinel or worse, unbonded and untrained and what kind of trouble could come when you shoved more than one of them together without the tribal constraints of society.
Fortunately, Both Eliot and Parker had learned a long time ago how to manage without a Guide and how to control themselves around other Sentinels. Sure it sucked not being able to stretch your senses as far as they would take you but they adapted. Zoning out without someone to watch your back in their business was a death sentence.
Eliot knew the minute he met Hardison that he could be a true Guide for him, not the kind of temporary hacks the army gave him to work with. But Parker and Hardison had clicked from the beginning too and Parker needed Hardison more than Eliot did. She needed a chance for something like normal in her life.
Still, Eliot couldn’t help it sometimes, leaning into the hugs Hardison offered so freely. It took a lot to force himself to push him away but the truth was, it wasn’t just Hardison he’d felt instantly protective about, it was Parker too.
Sentinels had no choice but to learn to be civil. It wasn't the old days of far-flung tribes and Sentinels barely encountering one another. Sure some people called Sentinels cavemen and throwbacks and worse but they'd adjusted, found other uses for their skills. That meant certain occupations were full of Sentinels and it was get along or wreak havoc. What Eliot felt around Parker was more than just getting along though. It was something rare with Sentinels. They were each other's tribe.
That didn't mean he didn't want to kill her sometimes. "Parker, I'm not climbing up a building in a crosswind with just suction cups...I'm not Ethan Hunt."
Parker frowned and put a big X through that section of her notes and then drew a sad face next to it. "Who's he? Is he a thief? What's his highest climb?"
"Nah, babe, he's Tom Cruise."
"Is that his alias?"
Hardison laughed."Okay, that's it. Next movie night is a Mission Impossible marathon. You'll love it, Mama..he's like your spirit animal."
*****
Eliot dropped down into the hall from the attic. The minute his feet touched the floor, he froze. "Shit! Abort. Parker, abort now. Go back the way we came in." She had moved across the building and was heading down to the merchandise. He was supposed to be making sure nobody came up and caught her.
"Too late."
He heard the resignation in her voice.
"What? Talk to me. What's going on?"
And that was panic in Hardison's.
"It's booby-trapped."
"It can't be. We went over all their security and took down everything."
"It's booty trapped for Sentinels."
"Son of a bitch!"
Eliot twisted his knife into his thigh a little harder. The pain was working to keep him grounded for now but it wouldn't last for long. "Hardison, you've gotta get Parker out of here. I'll be fine."
"Ah hell nah, that's not how this goes."
When he spoke his voice had changed. He wasn't just Hardison, he was a Guide.
"Parker, you're gonna go get Eliot and I'm gonna come get both of you."
Eliot felt himself wanting to trust and obey instinctively. The yearning for Hardison to be his guide stronger than ever. "Damn it, Hardison! We don't have time."
"Have I ever let you down? Either of you?"
"No." Parker's voice was solemn. Eliot knew just how much that meant to her. Everybody else in her life had let her down in some way, even Nate with his drinking, Sophie with her betrayal over the other David and him and Moreau. Hardison never had though, not once.
"Right. I got you. Both of you. Eliot. You know what Parker's heartbeat sounds like."
"Of course."
"Good. I want you to find it and focus on it and let yourself zone."
"That's what I'm trying to keep from happening!"
"Right. You don't want their zone. You want ours. We control the stimulus, we control the zone."
Eliot didn't know if Hardison's plan would work or not but they didn't have a lot of options at this point. He dug the knife into a new spot until his senses were his again for a moment, then he sought out the soft rhythm he knew better than his own and let himself fall.
When he came to, he was in the back of Lucille with Parker naked and wrapped around him, pressing soft, open mouth kisses against his lips.
Eliot let himself relax against her and kiss back, just for a second. Hardison couldn't begrudge him that much. He took just a second to pretend he could have what he'd always wanted and then he shoved her away. "Parker, what the hell are you doing?"
"She's bringing you out of a zone, man. Sensory immersion."
Hardison was standing there, watching them both smiling proudly. What the hell? Then it registered what he'd said. That was impossible. He'd never heard of a Sentinel bringing another Sentinel back from a zone.
"Damn it, Hardison! That's impossible, Hardison." Hardison's voice was low and scratchy and Eliot realized he was imitating him. He glared but Hardison just continued.
"It's not like you're the smartest Guide in the Pacific Northwest, Hardison, or maybe the entire country. "
Parker was pulling on her clothes and giggling at Hardison. Eliot switched his glare to her. "Don't encourage him."
"Seriously though, I admit I'm only the second-best Guide in the world after Dr. Sandburg. He thinks it worked because of the connection between the three of us. Parker could channel the Guide part of me somehow."
"You've been talking to Blair Sandburg? The premier authority on Sentinels and Guides in the twenty-first century, Sandburg? The man that governments wait years to get access to, Sandburg? "
Hardison grinned that stupid, shit-eating grin that always made Eliot want to wipe it off his face with his tongue. "Yep."
"Hardison..."
"What? Turns out he plays WoW. Besides, I had to figure out a way to make this work between the three of us."
"There is no three of us!"
Parker had been quietly going over their scrapped plans but now she leaned over with a frown and poked him in the chest."Don't be stupid. Of course, it's the three of us."
“I don’t know what the two of you think you’re playing at but I’m not letting you do this.”
“I don’t think you have much choice, man. It’s done.”
“Argue later; right now, we need to go to plan F.”
That was Parker’s mastermind voice and they both snapped to business. This wasn’t over though. Eliot didn’t have to ask why they were doing this. He saw the looks they threw his way sometimes, guilty and sad. He noted the way they’d starting asking him to stay over more. It had been more than a year since Nate and Sophie left and the three of them worked like a three-headed hydra, in perfect sync. But that was work. He knew they felt bad for excluding him, felt pity for their third wheel.
*****
Eliot hoped they would just let it go after they finished the job, but when had they ever let anything go? He finally confronted them one day. "This is not going to work!"
"It has been working for the past six months and you didn't even notice." Hardison smirked." I'm just that good."
Eliot thought back. Sure Hardison had been more touchy-feely than he usually was and there had been a lot more of Parker's surprise monkey act, but he had put it down to the three of them adjusting without Nate and Sophie, that and him spending the night more often.
He attributed how easy everything was with his senses to the same thing. He hadn't even had to meditate in months. He didn't know how he hadn't seen it.
He looked up to where Parker was hooking herself up to the zipline Hardison had installed for her. She took off with a loud squeal of joy.
“You’re not going to get into this?”
Parker swung back past them. “Nope.”
“He’s your guide!”
She swung back again, this time with a popsicle in hand. How she reached the freezer and got the popsicle in the 5 seconds it took her to swing back, Eliot had no idea. “He’s our guide.”
"It doesn't work like that! Two Sentinels can't share a Guide."
She shrugged. "It works like that for us."
Eliot shook his head, " A Sentinel and Guide have to be fully committed to one another."
Hardison put down the butane torch he'd been playing with and stood up. He walked over to Eliot and crossed his arms. "I know you ain't saying me and Parker aren't bound to each other."
Eliot looked over to where Parker had stopped zipping around and was sitting on the counter watching them solemnly. He thought about watching the two of them slowly inching their way towards each other and what it was like when they finally got there. He didn't think he'd ever seen a stronger or more suited bond. "No, I'm not saying that Hardison."
Hardison unfolded his arms and leaned in."So you think we're not bound to you?"
"It's not the same."
"Really? Because "till my dying day" sure as hell sounds like it's the same. Or did you think this was one-sided?"
Eliot wanted to pull his hair in frustration. "Damn it, Hardison!"
"Nah, you said this won't work but it has been working. You said we're not committed but we are. You said it's never been done." He laid his hand, large and warm against Eliot's heart.
Parker slipped off the counter and came up behind him. She wrapped her arms around Eliot and tucked her head into his shoulder. He could feel the connection between the three of them, humming contentedly. She kissed his neck and he could feel her smile against his skin. "But we do six impossible things before breakfast."