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Sunday
Amy yawned as she got in for her shift, waving Molly off to bed. She hadn't even been out late last night! Just a couple of drinks with friends. Ugh. Getting older was the worst.
"Well that doesn't look good," observed an older gentlemen walking in the door.
"Archie!" she exclaimed. "How's the leg?"
"No better no worse. Where is my daughter?"
"Probably still in bed honestly. It's early."
Archie harumphed.
"Would you like some breakfast? I know Elliot is up. Or we could get you to your room?"
"Breakfast would be lovely, I'll see myself to the kitchen. Send Parker if you see her?"
"Of course! Good to see you."
"You as well dear."
After Archie wandered off, the morning dragged for a while. A couple of groups checked out to catch their flights, and Amy worked on the schedule for next week. Molly was leaving; she had a job. She'd be gone a week or so. Josie wasn't due in until then either, but Trevor might be willing to pick up a shift or two. And of course, Amy herself could always work extra shifts. It wasn't like her bosses were struggling to cover overtime pay. Of course, she had a show on Saturday...
Amy's musings were interrupted by a coffee being placed in front of her. She looked up to see Craig, grinning mischievously.
"Did you spike it?"
He faked offense. "I would never. Have you seen Mikel?"
"Not for a month. Why?"
Their conversation was interrupted by a heard of tourists coming from one of the dorms. Amy gave them recommendations for lunch and turned back to Craig.
"Anyways..."
"I find myself in need of some muscle."
"Put it on the notice board, if she doesn't see it someone will."
Craig tore a half sheet off the notepad on the check-in desk, scrawled something on it, and stuck it on the cork board across from the desk alongside requests for an artist's model, an announcement for pickup basketball on Tuesdays, and a note that read "Any Ha: MSQ 10/3 8d TC." among others.
"Thanks Amy!" and he was out the door.
She sipped the coffee and tasted Bailey's. Thieves. At least it was past noon.
Monday
Monday was pizza night, one of the brew pub's main strategies for getting people in on a usually slow night. Over the summer it had blown up what with college kids road tripping around the country on their breaks. If there was one thing college kids loved, it was pizza. Elliot's pizza, however, was nothing like the chain junk they probably ordered to their dorm rooms and he was very proud of that.
"Chef Spencer this is incredible!" a drunk coed crooned, petting his arm.
Olivia hid her grin in a sip of beer. She glanced around the room, spotting Parker in a corner. The blonde's eyes were narrowed, but she wasn't storming across the room so it was unlikely that anyone would have to save the college girl's life this evening. She dug into her own second slice, savory sausage and wonderfully caramelized onions onions greeting her tastebuds. Trevor plopped down on the bench next to her with a couple slice of his own.
"Amy roped me in to working this week." he whined.
"You've been here for almost two months and you've only covered like, five shifts. You had to know she was gonna ask eventually."
"I've been working!"
"Oh, stalking Widmark counts as working now?"
"He's on a job! With Quinn of all people! I'm helping!"
"Don't they have Chaos with them? They're fine on tech support."
"You can't actually tell me you trust Chaos."
That was...fair actually. No one trusted Chaos, even if it had been a while since he had actively tried to kill any of them. Still, it was fun watching Trevor's ears turn red when Widmark came up. Vice versa too. It seemed like everyone in their increasingly chaotic extended crew had money on who would ask who out first, and when.
"How are things going with you anyways?" Trevor asked.
"Alright. Amy's got a gallery opening this week and I'm looking forward to it. Thinking of heading out soon though. Maybe when Josie gets back."
"Oh, I remember her saying that. Saw Tara's ad for a hacker in Minsk in October, I might go for that."
"You stay here that long Amy is definitely going to make you take more shifts."
Tuesday
"May I join you?"
Archie looked up from his book to see a gentleman about his age with a mug of his own. It was a dreary day so the hostel's common room was rowdy with young people. Archie had escaped here, to the breakfast nook, with a cup of tea. The only other person there was a woman with a light brown, shoulder length bob, also engrossed in a book.
"You may, Mr...?"
"Heath. Toby."
"Toby. I'm Archie,"
"Parker's father, yes?"
"Indeed. I believe you are Elliot's mentor?"
"As much as he allows anyone to be. I came to bounce menu ideas around with him, but he's still out."
"Well, I'm not one to turn down talk of a good meal. What did you have in mind?"
"I'm looking to add more Spanish wines to my menu, and was hoping to talk about food pairings. There's a style of preparing pork that I've been interested in..."
The woman with the book looked up.
"Oh, do you run a restaurant here in town? I have a catering business back east, but I'm here for the restaurant convention and to visit Parker. I'd love to talk food as well."
They waved her over without hesitating.
Elliot returned about thirty minutes later to see the three of them deep in conversation with a teapot between them.
Wednesday
"You know your security is still a joke right?" Apollo announced as he walked in the front door on Wednesday evening.
"Is it?" Parker replied without missing a beat, "Knew you were here didn't I?"
"OK, fair enough. Heard Amy has a gallery opening later this week, figured I'd check it out. Got any spare beds?"
Trevor looked up from the desktop.
"Yep. Private on the fourth floor. Do what you will with the security."
"Thanks kid."
Trevor slid him the key for appearance's sake. Apollo and Parker headed for the elevator, riding it up the conventional way. When the door opened, the two thieves sprinted down the hallway shoving and jostling at each other. In front of the door, they bumped elbows over the lock, trying to screw each other up.
"HA!" Parker announced when she got it open first.
A few regular guests coming out of the dorm down the hall gave them strange looks. They moved on quickly enough though while Apollo threw his hands in the air in capitulation.
"It is your lock" he pointed out.
Parker sniffed. "Minor details."
They got Apollo settled in, and then Parker headed back downstairs. She poked her head in to Hardison's office where he was doing research on a potential job, threw a dart in the common room just for funsies, and plopped down at the bar between Todd McSweeten and Craig.
"You get an answer for your ad yet?" she asked the thief.
"Not yet. But there are worse places to wait around."
They drank in companionable silence until a jingling over the door interrupted them. A sly grin bloomed of Craig's face when Tara came through the entryway. He grabbed his jacket and slid off his barstool, waiving a cheery goodbye to the other two.
"Don't wait up!"
Thursday
"You're scaring the kids" Elliot told Quinn as another punch landed on the heavy bag.
Indeed, the hostel patrons lifting weights in front of the mirror kept giving Quinn vaguely terrified looks.
"You know who I was on a job with. I've got some frustration to work out."
"Who Widmark? A little naive but he's a good kid."
"Very funny. I have been pulling jobs with Colin for years now and he never gets better."
"That's not true. He's not actively trying to kill us anymore."
"An impressively low bar. Craig is looking for muscle, though I think he has an eye on Mikel."
Quinn rolled his eyes. "Of course he does."
Elliot tilted his head then, letting Quinn know that someone was on coms. His face went pale.
"Shit. I gotta go. Totally forgot Nate and Sophie were getting in today."
Quinn waved him off, and Elliot nearly sprinted out of the gym. He took the stairs up to the sixth floor, their floor, and hurried through a shower to get the workout grime off. Once clean, he took the time to blow dry his hair before dressing in a button down and slacks. Neither Parker nor Hardison were in the apartment, which meant that Sophie and Nate had probably arrived during his brief shower. Shit. Elliot rushed over to the elevator, pushing the button like his life depended on it. He picked up a few patrons on the second floor but thankfully that was the only stop. Elliot stepped out of the elevator and met the rest of the original crew in the brewpub's main dining room, greeting Sophie with kisses on both cheeks and Nate with a handshake.
Friday
"Are you sure you've been eating enough?" Her father asked, leaning over the check-in desk.
"Very sure dad. I promise. Hard not to with so much good food around."
"I'm your father, I worry."
"James, she's a grown woman. I think she knows how to eat three meals a day," Maggie chastised.
"Thank you!" Olivia exclaimed.
"Of course dear. Now. James mentioned that you're thinking of heading out soon?"
"Yes, I think so. There are several tournaments in Europe that I've qualified for."
"Sounds lovely. Perhaps we'll be able to stop by a few if we're in the area."
"I am due a visit at some of our European offices," her dad added, because heaven forbid he just travel for fun.
Maggie and Olivia shared a brief eyeroll as the door banged open.
"There's my favorite front desk worker!" exclaimed Shelley as he burst in.
"I'll bet you say that to all the front desk workers!" she retorted.
"But with you, I mean it! Hello, Mr. Sterling, Maggie. Sterling, I think Vance wants to talk to you about using interpol as a model for mixed agency teams. Give him a call when you get a sec?"
Sterling, who had been glaring suspiciously at Shelley despite having met him on at least half a dozen other occasions, seemed to relax at the compliment.
"I suppose I could do that. Would he be interested in having interpol agents on those teams?"
Shelley shrugged. "Don't see why not. Olivia, you got anything for me?"
"There's a private next to Apollo up on four, or you could slum it in the dorms."
"I'll take the private thanks. Are you two staying here?" he asked, addressing Maggie and Sterling again.
Maggie chuckled. "We're a bit old for hostels, even the private rooms. We're at the hotel down the street."
"Aaah, the good life. See you around!" He snatched his key mid air as Olivia tossed it, waved, and disappeared into the stairwell.
Saturday
"Great turnout!" Aimee exclaimed, coming up to her non-quite name twin.
Amy smiled a bit ruefully.
"A bit ironic that if this was any other show, none of the would be prepared to spend money," she observed wryly.
"Hmm. Probably true. Still, you've done excellent work here. You should be proud!"
"Thank you. I am."
"Besides," Nate announced, sneaking up behind them in that way that never got any less creepy, "Really, only about a quarter of the people here are us. You have a phenomenal audience here."
"And I am grateful that everyone showed up." Amy was quick to add. "And that Trevor and Hardison were able to advertise on the Portland art websites so...um...efficiently."
"You know how we do girl" Hardison grinned, slinging an arm around her as if summoned by his name.
"I absolutely know how you do. I should go mingle with the guests I think."
"You got this," Hardison reassured her, giving her a side hug before releasing her.
She left the group to speak with some patrons, laughing and shmoozing with buyers in between saying hello to friends. It really was amazing that everyone had come out for her, that her event had brought so many people together. Jack and Peggy were talking with Toby by the buffet, Tara and Quinn were catching up near a landscape, and Mikel had evidentially heard that Craig was looking for her because the two of them were deep in conversation on one of the benches. Amy was amused to note that while Nate was still talking to Aimee and Hardison, Sterling had wandered to the exact other side of the room to speak with Shelley. This meant that Sophie and Maggie abandoned their husbands to chat and catch up. Everyone else was scattered among the other guests. All of a sudden, Amy heard a commotion in the corner.
Widmark was blushing, as was Trevor. Olivia, Josie, and Molly were laughing their asses off.
Amy made her way over, somewhat cautiously.
"What's up?" she asked no one in particular.
The girls composed themselves, Molly more so than the others.
"Trevor and Widmark finally got their shit together," she explained.
Well, that would do it. She suspected it was as bumbling and ridiculous as their flirtationship had been so far, knowing those two and seeing the girls' reactions. Still, among this crowd there really was only one question to ask.
"Ok. Who gets the money?"