Fic: Every Team Needs a Ghost (AU, PG)

[sheryden]

Title: Every Team Needs a Ghost
Author: sheryden
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1982
Genre: AU
Spoilers: None
Warnings: Well, Parker is a ghost. But the event that causes that occurs “off-screen.”
Disclaimer: If they were mine, Eliot would be shirtless in every episode.
Summary: AU. After a mishap on a job, Parker becomes a ghost, and Eliot is the lucky person who has the ability to see her. Blame my low blood sugar. :D
Notes: This was written for au_bingo for the “Fantasy and the Supernatural: Ghosts.” Oh, and this is meant to be pretty light. Don't expect a lot of angst.



When he pushed open the door to his bedroom, Eliot found Parker sitting cross-legged on his comforter. She was waiting for him just like she always had after jobs. He stared at for exactly three seconds, then he leaned down to unlace his boots.

“Huh,” he said. “I wondered when you were gonna show.”

She uncrossed her legs and rose to her feet. “You should really take your boots off by your door.”

“I might need to put ‘em on in the middle of the night.”

“Good point.” She slipped up next to him and poked him with her index finger. “Eliot? Did I do something weird again?”

“You always do something weird. Why?”

Biting her bottom lip, she glanced down at the floor. “Because no one will talk to me. I tried to talk to Sophie and Hardison, and they ignored me.”

Eliot let out a breath and lowered himself onto the bed. As he started to undo the buttons on his flannel shirt, he said, “They’re not ignoring you. They didn’t know you were there.”

“What do you mean? I was right next to them.”

A heavy feeling settled over Eliot’s body. Patting the bed next to him, he said, “Sit down a minute.” When she complied, he cleared his throat. “You remember the last job you worked? You were breaking into that high rise?”

“Of course, silly. We just finished that.”

“No,” he said. “It’s been a couple of months.”

“Did you hit your head again?”

Nudging her knee with his, Eliot tried to make his tone as gentle as he could. “Listen to me, okay? Your line broke.”

She shook her head. “That’s not possible. I was too far up. If my line had broken, I’d—oh.”

“Yeah.” He knew he should probably say more to comfort her or to explain what was happening to her, but he just didn’t have the words.

They sat in silence for almost a minute. Finally, Parker twisted her body until she was looking straight at him. “Eliot? Why can you see me?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “I guess I’ve seen so much death that I have a different relationship with it than other people.”

Cocking her head at him for a moment, Parker nodded. “Okay. Can we watch a movie?”

“Yeah,” he said. “I guess. By the way. Bunny’s in my hall closet. I figured you’d want it eventually.”

“Him.”

“Whatever.”

***

“Stop it.”

“You stop it.” Parker shoved her hand through Eliot’s wrist and snatched the remote control from his grasp, causing him to shiver slightly. She flashed him a victorious grin and flipped the channel. “Caspar!”

Eliot put his head down on his arms and muttered something Parker couldn’t make out. She and Eliot were sitting in Nate’s place at the island where the team held their meetings. Nate was downstairs at the bar, and Sophie and Hardison were off doing whatever it was they did on their free time.

Since Eliot had told her of her untimely demise, Parker had started to experiment with her newfound situation. She had learned almost immediately that she had ghost superpowers. For example, she could go from one place to another just by thinking about the new place. She could make the lights flicker if she concentrated. And if she shoved her hand into a person all of the sudden, she could make them really cold and unsettled.

All in all, Parker didn’t mind being a ghost. Already, she had gone on jobs with the team and had used her powers to steal important stuff and to keep Eliot from getting pummeled. Really, it made her a better thief.

As she and Eliot sat there watching Caspar the Friendly Ghost, the front door pushed opened and Nate ambled inside. Remembering the remote in her hand, Parker slammed it down and tried her best to look innocent, even though it occurred to her than Nate couldn’t see her anyway.

Nate walked over to Eliot and motioned at the wall of screens. “You’re watching cartoons now?”

“No,” Eliot scoffed. “There was a commercial break.” Scowling in Parker’s direction, Eliot snapped up the remote and flipped back to the game he’d been watching earlier.

“You know,” Nate said. “we haven’t really had a chance to sit down and watch a game in a while.” He leaned against the island, apparently trying to look casual. “I was meaning to ask how you’re doing.”

“I’m fine,” Eliot said, his eyes on the game. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You’ve been kind of… and Hardison thought he heard you talking to yourself earlier.”

“Cell phone?”

“Maybe.” Nate slipped into a seat next to Eliot.

Suddenly feeling uncomfortable, Parker looked around the room for something to keep her occupied until Nate left and she could steal the remote again. Licking her lips, Parker glanced first at Eliot, then at Nate. With a face-splitting grin, she jumped up from her seat and ran into the kitchen, ignoring the look of horror she was sure must have appeared on Eliot’s face.

Once in the kitchen, she gingerly opened the cupboard where Nate kept his pots and pans. With two saucepans in hand, she stood just inside Eliot’s range of vision and started waving the pans around in the air while doing her own version of the can-can.

Midway through her dance, she lost her grip on one of the pans and sent it clattering to the ground. Panicked, she tossed the other one onto the kitchen table.

Nate turned toward the noise. “What the hell was that?”

Eliot bit his lip to suppress a grin. “I think you have a ghost, Nate.”

***

Three nights later, the team was sitting around Nate’s kitchen table gazing at Eliot as if he had sprouted an extra head. After the incident with the saucepans, Eliot had insisted to Parker that they come clean to the others about her presence.

The conversation was going about as well as Eliot had expected.

“Parker’s what?”

Eliot bit his lip and glanced at Parker, who was sitting on the kitchen counter, swinging her legs back and forth. “She’s here with us now. And I realize how this sounds.”

Sophie reached forward and patted his hand gently. “Eliot, honey. I know this has been difficult.”

“Soph, I’m not crazy. She’s here, and she’s been here.”

Hardison sat at the other side of the table. his arms folded across his chest. “You know that ain’t possible.”

“It is, though.” He leaned forward, hands clasped in front of him. As much as Eliot cared about these people, he’d rather be off fighting the Butcher of Kiev than trying to explain the spirit world to them. “There are ghosts all over the place. You guys don’t even realize how many are around us on a daily basis. Sometimes, people linger. Parker’s lingering.”

Nate rested a hand on his shoulder. “Eliot, we want to believe you.”

“Let me ask you something,” Sophie said quietly. “Why are just telling us this now?”

Eliot looked over his shoulder at Parker, who flashed a sunny smile and waved. “She wasn’t ready, I guess. Or maybe I wasn’t ready.”

Across the table, Hardison made an audible gasp. Then muttering obscenities under his breath, he pointed at Eliot. “Man, this isn’t even funny. Either you need some serious help, or someone needs to knock you on your ass.”

“What are you talking about?”

Hardison turned his laptop around to where the others could see the screen. In gigantic black and white letters was the word BOO!

“That’s not me, man. It’s her.”

“Just stop,” Hardison said. He snapped his laptop closed and ran a hand over his face.

Nate shook his head. “Hardison, Eliot can barely send an e-mail.”

As the team bickered about the message on Hardison’s computer, Parker jumped down from the counter and walked over to Eliot. “Tell them about my superpowers.”

“No,” he whispered.

“No what?” Nate asked.

Licking his lips, Eliot motioned toward Parker. “She’s talking to me. She wanted me to tell you that she has… powers.”

Hardison covered his face with his hands. “Eliot…”

Before Eliot had a chance to defend himself, the stereo on the other side of the apartment burst on, followed by the TV. Eliot watched out of the corner of his eye as Parker dashed into the kitchen and threw open the refrigerator and every one of Nate’s cupboards. And as a final flourish, she pulled out a wad of money she’d had stashed behind the microwave and tossed it directly at Hardison’s head.

Eliot leaned back in his chair. “So.”

His face pale, Nate sat up straight and said, “So why don’t you start over at the beginning.”


***

It was after 3 in the morning, and McRory’s bar was closed to everyone but Nate Ford and his crew. They had just finished a job, but as usual, things had gone a little differently than Nate had planned.

Eliot paced back and forth in front of the bar. “It’s not my fault, Nate,” he groused. “Parker improvised again. I told her not to.”

Parker sat on the bar a few feet away from Nate. She made a face and shrugged. “Got the job done, didn’t it? And you didn’t even have to fight.”

Folding his arms across his chest, Nate let out a breath. “Is she here?” When Eliot nodded, Nate continued. “Parker, you blew up a warehouse.”

“No I didn’t. It accidentally blew up. Plus, nobody was in it.”

Pointing in Parker’s direction, Eliot said, “A. Warehouse. Blew. Up.”

Sophie looked up. “In her defense, it’s not the first warehouse we’ve blown up.”

Nate glared at Sophie over his shoulder. “That’s not the point. Parker, I know you have some additional abilities now, but you’ve got to use some restraint.”

Parker made a face. “Why? I have superpowers, Nate. Why can’t I use them? Ask him, Eliot.”

Eliot let out a breath. “She wants to know why she can’t use her superpowers.”

“You can use them,” Nate said. “But you have to show some restraint.”

Hardison, who was sitting a few feet away tapping away at his laptop, slipped out of his booth and walked toward the bar. “Nate, I got this. Listen, mama,” he said. “You listening? A wise man once said that with great power comes great responsibility. See, you kind of remind me of Peter Parker. He—”

As Hardison started ramble on, Eliot pinched the bridge of his nose to ward off a headache. He and Parker had come clean to the rest of the team almost three weeks ago. In those three weeks, Parker had pushed the envelope again and again. Eliot knew she genuinely meant well, but she had regressed into the Parker she had been during the early days of the team—reckless and prone to running off on her own.

After a couple of minutes of listening to Hardison, Parker jumped down off the bar. “Eliot, I’m gonna go haunt Sterling. Don’t tell Nate. I’ll be back tomorrow.” And with that, she disappeared into thin air.

Eliot gazed at Hardison, who was gesturing with his hands and talking about responsibility. “Hardison,” he said.

Hardison held a hand up. “Now just wait a minute. I’m getting to the important part. See, Parker, after his Uncle Ben died, Peter—”

“She’s gone, Hardison.”

He blinked at Eliot. “What do you mean she’s gone?”

Eliot grinned. “She has a date.”

“Oh, that’s just perfect.”

Sophie smiled at Hardison. “It was a nice speech, though.”

“Moving,” Eliot said. “Seriously, I might cry.”

“Cute. I see how you people are.” His expression shooting daggers at Eliot, Hardison walked back to his booth and started fussing with his laptop.

Nate leaned back in his chair. “Do I wanna know what she’s up to, Eliot?”

Eliot smirked. “No, you really don’t.”

“Just like old times.”