Work Text:
Parker is Parker and always has been, but she also has a second name that she keeps locked up tight inside her, because if you have people that you care about then you have something that can be used against you.
He reaches down and grabs the hand that’s half inside his back pocket. Turns to see a small blonde child staring up at him, doing her best to mask her astonishment at being caught. “Nice try, kid.”
“Parker? You want us to work with Parker?” Eliot asks. “You know she’s insane.”
Nate just smiles. “But the two of you are the best retrieval specialists in the game.”
Eliot does have to admit that. He’s the one you hire when you want the mark to know exactly what kind of mistake they have made by taking whatever it is that Eliot was hired to reclaim. Parker’s the one who gets things back without anyone noticing they’re gone.
Parker appears out of nowhere. “Thief, actually.”
Eliot doesn’t startle, because he’s worked very hard to suppress that instinct. But it’s close, and that’s why everyone in the game thinks she’s insane. You do not nearly-startle Eliot Spencer if you care about your own safety.
Nate tosses her a glance that Eliot can’t quite read. “Technically, yes.”
~~
The job goes smoothly up until it doesn’t, the great Nate Ford caught out by a cut-rate grifter, which would be amusing if Eliot hadn’t also been fooled, and the entire team nearly blown to bits.
“You want to run a game on this guy?” Eliot snarls. “You?”
Nate nods. “Yeah. I mean, how do you think I got most of my stolen merchandise back? I mean, this guy he’s greedy, he thinks he’s smart, he’s the best kind of mark.”
“He does think he got rid of us,” Parker adds, watching Nate with— concern? Can’t be. Everyone knows Parker is only in it for herself.
Maybe she’s wondering what’s in it for her. Yeah, that makes sense, because Eliot has the same question, and asks it.
“Payback,” Nate says, “and if it goes right, a lot of money.” Eliot is surprised there’s no judgement there; people like Nate are usually not that accepting of that part of his job.
Hardison looks between the three of them. “I was just gonna send a thousand porno magazines to his office, but, hell yeah man, let’s kick him up.”
Parker hasn’t commented on Nate’s intentions. Eliot doesn’t know her well enough to judge. Maybe she’s just in it for the money. But Nate, white hat, good guy, incorruptible despite how much money he could’ve diverted without being caught, especially given what happened to his kid? “What’s in it for you?”
He’s looking at Nate, but the answer comes from Parker, who’s staring at Nate with an expression he finally recognizes. Protective.
“He used my brother.”
”What’s your name, kid?” Nate asks. There’s something about her, maybe some overflow from being a new dad, that won’t let him just leave her here, and he’s pretty sure the system has already failed her; she’s too good at what she does. A few more years on the street, and he’d bet he wouldn’t even have noticed her lifting his wallet.
She looks up at him suspiciously, and he doesn't know what she sees in him that changes that, but: “Parker.”