A/N: This wasn't suppose to be as long as it turned out to be, but I had fun with it. Thanks to SiriusDoctorWhoHoney329 who gave me the idea for the Cowboys and KausingKayn who love my car thief :) Hope you guys enjoy.
They were relaxing in the bar downstairs when Parker saw it. It was the bright orange color that caught her eyes at first, then the bold black images and lettering. She grinned as she picked the flyer up and read it several times before turning to the brunette car thief next to her. Layla had a irritated look on her face, one that Parker noticed, matched the look of the hitter. Parker sighed, they hadn't truly made up since getting home from Baltimore a week ago. She knew Layla had apologized for getting Eliot into the fight with the Raven fan, but Eliot was being stubborn, which made Layla just as stubborn. Even though they didn't think she realized it, Parker knew that the only reason Eliot was being so stubborn about this was because he cared about Layla. Parker thought he might even love her, but that wasn't her business.
Taking the flyer she shoved it into Layla's hands. This would be good for them all to do.
"Can we do this?" Parker asked, bouncing a bit as Layla read the flyer.
"What is it?" Eliot asked shaken out of his mood for a bit.
"The pub's having a costume party." Layla told him, handing him the flyer.
"You want to go to a costume party?" Hardison asked.
Parker nodded bouncing a little more. "There's even a prize for the best costume." She grinned.
"Sounds like it could be fun." Hardison smiled and looked at the other two.
"Why not." Layla said with a sigh. "I've never really been to one before."
That caused the rest of the table to look at her. Even Parker had been to a costume party before.
"What? My parents didn't believe in Halloween." She said with a shrug.
"Why not?" Hardison asked.
"They were hippies." She told him. "They didn't believe in celebrating any of the major holidays like normal people would. They thought it was contributing to commercial propaganda. You know I was six before I knew who Santa Claus was."
"Wow." Hardison whistled.
"Now we really have to go." Parker informed them, leaving no room for an argument.
The blond thief hopped off her chair and bolted toward the door. Hardison laughed and followed. Layla started to leave but was quickly stopped by Eliot who had been quieter than usual.
"I'm sorry for how you were raised." He said softly cupping her cheek.
"It wasn't all that bad." She said leaning into his touch. "Forgive me for Baltimore?" She asked.
"Yeah." He chuckled, kissing her gently. "But you owe me for putting that guy down."
She laughed as she slid off her chair and slipped her hand into his.
"Tell you what I'll let you pick out our costumes."
"Deal."
Layla was unnerved by the gleam she saw in Eliot's eyes, but kept her mouth shut.
________________________________________________________________________
"You are a braver woman than I thought." Sophie told Layla as they walked through the local pumpkin patch.
Parker had gotten it in her head that they were going to do Halloween right, which included carving pumpkins and decorating Nate's apartment door. She had wanted to decorate the inside but the mastermind had put his foot down.
"It's a small price considering." Layla shrugged.
She had been really surprised when the grifter had agreed to go with her and Parker. She had even dressed for the occasion in jeans and a sweater, but had to borrow a pair of Layla's converse, which looked really funny on Sophie's feet.
"Still, you have no idea what he's going to choose. You could end up wearing a grass skirt and a pair of coconuts." Sophie informed her, shaking her head in disgust.
"I don't think Eliot's that kind of guy." Layla laughed. "Have you convinced Nate to go?"
"I'm working on him." Sophie said with a small smile. "He's not too thrilled with my costume choice."
"I think Anthony and Cleopatra suits you." Layla told her. "Well that or Bonnie and Clyde."
Sophie laughed.
________________________________________________________________________
Eliot ducked as a bit of pumpkin came flying toward him followed by Layla's laughter. She and Parker had just finished carving their pumpkins and Layla was left cleaning up the guts while Parker ran out to get candles. He knew it was going to be a long night when he saw the empty coffee cups and the open bag of candy sitting between the two thieves. Layla was fine on her own. She seemed to thrive off of caffeine, something of which Eliot was working on changing, but when she was around Parker she seemed to feed off the blonds natural high. It was made even worse when caffeine or sugar were involved, and they had both.
"Do it again and see what happens." Eliot warned, trying to keep the smirk off his face.
Layla grinned and picked up another bit of pumpkin guts. She launched it laughing when it hit him squarely in the chest. She watched as he picked the pumpkin off his shirt and glared at her. The small voice in the back of her head was screaming at her to run as she watched him stalk toward her. She bolted to the left of him toward the stairs. She let out a mix of scream and laugh as she felt him grab her about the waist and something slimy slid down the inside of her shirt.
"Ok, I give." She laughed.
Layla turned in his arm so she was facing him. She smiled even more when she realized he'd been laughing just as hard as she had been. They stared at each other for a few moments each waiting for the other to do something.
"Truce?" Layla asked as she rested her head on his shoulder.
"Yeah ok." He smirked at her as he let her out of his grasp.
She glared at him as she reached under her shirt and pulled out some of the pumpkin guts that he had shoved down it. She could feel more inching its way inside her bra.
"Ugh, I'm going to have to shower now."
"You started it." He reminded her, kissing her on the cheek, taking the opportunity to be the good boyfriend and help her remove the last little bit of pumpkin.
"If I didn't know any better I'd swear you did that just to cop a feel." She glared at him as his fingers trailed over bare skin.
"Don't need to shove pumpkin guts down your shirt to do that darlin'. That was just a bonus." He told her with a leer.
They both turned as someone coughed behind them. Nate and Sophie stood there was amused smiles on their faces.
"We're not interrupting anything are we?" Nate asked trying not to laugh.
"No." Eliot and Layla replied in unison.
"What are you guys doing here?" Layla asked as she picked up the rest of the newspaper.
"Parker said something about movies." Sophie told her.
Eliot looked at Layla waiting for an answer. This was the first he had heard of everyone coming over to watch a movie.
"She wants to watch Dracula. I didn't know she invited everyone." She told them.
Eliot shrugged. He had planed on Parker being there the rest of the night, a few more wasn't going to hurt.
"She's really taking this Halloween thing seriously." Nate said as he took a seat on the loveseat.
"She's trying to do it for me, but I think she's having more fun with it." Layla told him. "I'll be back down in a bit."
She disappeared upstairs to change and clean up. She was almost finished when she heard the door slam open and Hardison's voice ring out.
"You let her go buy candles on her own."
Layla finished quickly and hurried down the steps. She found Parker standing in front the two large pumpkins, two plastic bags sat next to her filled with an assortment of candles all of different sizes and colors. In the end she chose two medium size green candles. She carefully put them inside and lit them, smiling like a little kid as the jack o'lanterns came to life.
"Oh they're beautiful." Sophie said in awe.
"Yeah they are." Parker said with a sigh. "Movie time."
Layla laughed, tossing the DVD to Hardison. She joined Eliot on the couch, Parker sitting down next to her, Sophie and Nate took the love seat while Hardison took the chair.
By the end of the movie Parker had moved to the floor with a pillow and blanket from the couch. Layla and Eliot had stretched out, Sophie had her head resting on Nate's shoulder and Hardison was asleep in the chair.
"I was confused." Parker rolled over to look at the couch and loveseat. "What was the deal with the letters?"
"That is how the book is written." Nate told her.
"Yep." Eliot responded.
Layla shifted to look at Eliot. "You read Dracula."
"Had too." He smiled at her. "Just happened to like it."
Parker seemed to take all this and processed it. Then she smiled and got up.
"Time for another movie." She said going to the rack of DVDs.
"Wait, Parker." Layla said sitting up. "Can we at least order some pizza first?"
"Sure." Parker shrugged sitting back down on the floor.
"You call it in, we'll go get it." Eliot said.
He walked over and tapped Hardison on the shoulder. Hardison jumped and looked around quickly.
"We're going to get pizza and beer." Eliot told him. "Nate you coming?"
"Why not." Nate said smiling at Sophie before getting up.
Layla pulled out her phone and dialed the local pizza shop and placed their usual order.
"Eliot," Layla called to stop the hitter.
"I know. Woodchuck, Dark and Dry?" He asked looking over the couch.
She smiled at him. "Yep."
He leaned over and kissed her soundly before leaving with the other two. Layla knew by the way Sophie was looking at her that she was grinning like an idiot.
"You're good for each other." Sophie said with a smile.
"Yeah when we're not trying to kill each other." Layla said with a smile.
"Its just part of your relationship." Parker spoke up, she had moved toward the racks of DVDs again. "What should we watch next?"
"What are you in the mood for?" Layla asked coming to stand next to Parker. "We can continue with vampires or move onto something else."
"Like what?" Parker asked.
"Um, we could watch Cursed. It's a good werewolf movie, or the original Night of the Living Dead." Layla said with a smile.
"Don't like zombies." Parker said.
"What other vampire movies do you have?" Sophie asked coming to stand with the other two.
"The Lost Boys, Salem's Lot," She poked through her collection reading off other titles.
"I vote for this one." Parker said holding up Werewolf in London.
"Good choice." Layla said with a smile.
Sophie nodded. "It's a classic."
"I think I would want to be a werewolf if I had to choose." Parker said as she stared down at the case.
"Really, why?" Sophie asked as she sat back down.
"Because you don't have quite the restrictions vampires do. Three days a month you turn into a beast."
"I don't know I think I'd rather be a vampire." Layla said with a smile.
"You would." Sophie said with a laugh.
"What would you rather be, Sophie?" Layla asked smirking.
"The beautiful human that falls in love with the vampire of course." She responded with a laugh.
________________________________________________________________________
"Wonder what they're talking about?" Eliot asked as he heard the laughter coming from the other side of the door.
"Probably you two." Hardison told him as he shifted the pizza boxes.
"What?" Nate asked turning to look at the hacker.
"We left three women alone. More than likely the men in their lives are subject to conversation and comparison." Hardison informed them.
"You've been watching Oprah again haven't you?" Eliot asked the hacker.
"I'm just saying Layla and Sophie are probably in their comparing notes, while Parker is filing information away for later use."
Eliot rolled his eyes and opened the door. The girls were where they had left them, when they saw the guys all three of them started laughing again. Nate and Eliot looked at each other then over at Hardison, who had a smug I told you so look on his face.
________________________________________________________________________
"What were you talkin' about with Sophie and Parker?" Eliot asked Layla later after everyone had left.
"We talked about a lot of things tonight." She said pulling her hair up into a loose pony tail.
She crawled into bed snuggling up next to him. He wrapped his arms around her pulling her closer to him.
"When we came back with the food what were you talking about?"
Layla laughed looking up at him. "Nothing bad. After Parker picked out a movie we starting talking about werewolves and vampires. The three of us came to the conclusion that Nate would make a good vampire and you'd make one hell of a werewolf."
"That's it?" He chuckled.
"Yep." She grinned. "It was Parker's fault, she started it."
"Somehow that doesn't surprise me." They sat there a moment in pleasant silence. "You guys talk about Hardison like you do me and Nate?"
"Parker said he couldn't cut it as either. Said he'd be a good Renfield though."
________________________________________________________________________
Eliot heard her shriek the minute she walked into their bedroom. He had made sure to lay out her costume on the bed while she had been out earlier. He knew he was going to be in trouble the moment he thought of it, but the temptation had been too great.
"You have got to be joking?" Layla asked from the stairs.
"Nope." He smiled at her.
"Eliot,"
He held up his hand and stopped her protest. "You told me I could pick out the costumes and promised that you would wear whatever I picked out. Now that's what I've picked out you can wear it or stay home."
He smiled to himself when she stomped back up the stairs muttering something about pigheaded boyfriends.
An hour later Eliot answered a knock at the door to find Parker and Hardison waiting on the other side.
"Trick or treat!" Parker said with a smile, holding out a plastic pumpkin.
Eliot shook his head but placed a candy bar in it anyway. He had made sure to have something for the blond thief when she got there, knowing her tricks would be a lot worse. He noticed the grey pleated skirt and matching sweater with the long black robe over top and smiled. Parker had made everyone sit through the latest installment of Harry Potter.
"Who are you suppose to be?" The hitter asked looking at Hardison.
"I'm Jedi master Mace Windu." Hardison said proudly.
"Figures." Eliot muttered. "Layla lets go."
"That's not a costume Eliot." Parker said pointing at him.
"What's wrong with it?"
"It's your Cowboys jersey and jeans." Parker crossed her arms over her chest.
"I'm dressed as a Fan." He said with a smirk.
Parker and Hardison both rolled their eyes at him.
"And Layla let you get away with it?" Hardison asked.
"I didn't have much of a choice." Layla informed them as she came down the steps. "Just like I didn't have much choice in my costume. Happy?"
She put her hands on her hips and glared at Eliot. He grinned walking around her slowly, taking in the sight of her in the white and blue of a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader.
"Very happy." He replied.
He watched as she spun on her heal walking toward the door.
"Just remember," She turned to look at him. "if you get into a fight tonight because some idiot decieds to hit on me it's not my fault."
The smile faded from his face, he hadn't thought of that.
"Yeah but I get to go home with you." He called after her as she and Parker walked ahead of them.
"Yep," Hardison smiled, patting Eliot on the shoulder. "but I have a feeling you're going to be sleeping on the couch."