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The helicopter dropped them off on the lawn of one of Hardison’s safe-houses. She had made her own suggestions for where they could go, but he had offered it as a possible solution, and she hadn’t been able to turn it down. It was close to the city while also being fairly remote, and it belonged to one of the hacker’s aliases that he assured them no one else had ever even heard of, let alone connected to Alec Hardison.
The house was enormous, of course. She had to admit Hardison’s impeccable taste in real estate had surprised her the first times they had visited his properties, though she had realized soon after that, no matter how different their methods, they were all thieves, and dropping insane amounts of cash on their favorite things was par for the course. And while he spent most of his on ridiculously complicated computers and she spent hers on shoes and handbags, they did have a shared interest in owning more houses than they could possibly ever live in.
She gave her pilot a quick thanks – and a quick tip to assure his promise of silence – and then followed the others up the walk to the house. Its entryway immediately proved to be as empty as the last back-up safe house he had shown them, the few things there were hidden by white sheets.
“Sorry about the lack of… anything,” he offered before any of them could comment, moving past them to a coat closet off the entryway. “Been a while since I’ve been here.” There was a click, and when he stepped back from the closet, he was holding a laptop that even she knew was out of date compared to the hacker’s usual weapons of choice.
“He doesn’t have a couch, but he does have a computer. Why am I not surprised?” Eliot growled from the corner he’d settled against, and she turned to look at him, frowning at him. The hitter looked absolutely terrible, which rather figured considering the number of men he’d been up against on the boat and then considering they'd had to leave Nate behind.
It was clear enough to her that part was bothering all of them.
Hardison must have seen the same thing, because she actually saw the smart retort die on the man’s face. “Couch, no. Bed, working showers: yes. Y’all wanna get settled, I can run out and get some food.”
That was her cue, and she took a small step forward to draw their attention back to her. “I’ll do that. I need some things myself.” The other three just looked at her, and she rolled her eyes at them. “I’ll be right back, honestly.”
Eliot finally shrugged, stepping away from the corner, reaching up to rake his hair back out of his face and make his way up the stairs in the center of the entryway. "Whatever. I'll be upstairs."
Hardison watched him go, tucking the laptop under his arm. "Sure you're alright by yourself?"
She smiled at him. "I'll be fine, Hardison. Go ahead and get to work." Despite Eliot's comments, she felt sure they all knew why Hardison had gone for the laptop first.
"There's a car in the garage. Keys should still be in it," he offered before turning to follow the other man up the stairs.
Which left Parker. The thief watched the men for a moment and then turned back to face her. "I'm glad you're back," she said again, still a little awkwardly, and then turned to jog up the stairs after Hardison.
Sophie could only smile to herself for another moment before she sighed and headed through the house to the garage.
--
It took her longer than she had expected to get all they needed and get back to the house. Food was a necessity, of course, and she'd made another few stops to pick up fresh clothing for the lot of them.
The house was silent as she closed the garage door behind her, and she stopped for a moment, afraid something might have happened, that they might have been compromised again, that there might be an ambush waiting on her just outside the kitchen door, but a few moments of listening to well-developed instincts told her it wasn't that kind of silence. Still, she left the groceries on the counter, hefted the duffle bags with their clothing in one hand, reaching down to take her shoes off and hook them on the fingers of her other hand, and made her way silently up the stairs to where she assumed she would find the master bedroom.
When she did find it, she had to stop in the doorway to take it all in.
Three pairs of shoes lay scattered around the king-sized bed that currently held three-fifths of their team. Eliot lay on the farthest side of the bed, apparently fast asleep. Hardison had apparently also had some first-aid supplies around, as the small cuts on the man's face were hidden now by butterfly bandages. Parker lay next to him, her back pressed against his side. She had one arm tucked under her head, and the other lay across Hardison's legs. The hacker seemed to be the one who hadn't actually meant to fall asleep, as he was sitting up, suit coat draped over the one bedside table, laptop open and hibernating on his lap, head resting against the headboard. One of his hands still rested on the laptop's keyboard, though the other had found its way to Parker's shoulder.
For a moment, there seemed to be a lump in her throat, and she caught her breath faintly, ignoring the burning behind her eyes. Silently, she set the bags of clothing down and turned to head back to the kitchen.
Nate had called them his family, and there was no way she could try to contradict that statement. However unsure they had been of each other starting out, however many times they had nearly been at each other's throats over this or that, it was all behind them now, and she smiled to herself as she set to stocking the refrigerator.
In a little while, when she began to get impatient to work on getting Nate out - and when she knew the rest of the team would be ready to start moving again -, she would slip quietly back upstairs to gently shake Hardison awake, to see what information he had gathered. For now, though, she would let them sleep and take on her favorite role she had ever played: watching over her family.