A/N This was written for Leverage Big Bang. Thanks to Leveragelover for being my beta reader

I hope you like it :D

"Dad come on, it's time to get up"

Nate groaned as he felt someone shaking him awake from his slumber sleep. "What?" he muttered.

"It's my first day at the new school and you have a job interview" Sam stood beside his father's bed hands on his hips looking him with a disapproval glare typical of a pre-teenager.

"What time is it?" he sat up running a hand over his sleepy face.

"It's half-past seven. You've got twenty minutes to get ready."

"Oh damn. " Nate quickly got up, now fully alert. "The alarm clock didn't go off," he rushed to the bathroom to get washed. "Why didn't you wake me up earlier?" he slurred with a toothbrush in his mouth while he was trying to brush his teeth and shave at the same time. Their new life in Boston wasn't really starting in the best of ways.

After he quickly got dressed in the suit he had prepared the day before, he went straight to the kitchen for a cup of coffee and a hurried bite of toast. Sam was sitting at the table going through the last few days of mail. A white envelope caught his attention and he eagerly opened it.

"Hey Dad, check this out," he passed him the invitation inside.

Nate grabbed the piece of paper and read through it while sipping his coffee. He nearly choked with the hot beverage once he had got to the bottom. Inside there was a leaflet:

The State Street Playhouse
presents
The Sound of Music
with Sophie Devereaux in the role of Maria

"There's a letter inside too," Sam started reading from it before Nate had the chance to snatch it from his son's hands. "Dear Nate and Sam, how are you? I hope you're doing okay. On Monday the 1st of September will be the opening of my new theatre play. There will be two tickets waiting for you at the desk. I really hope you can make it. See you soon, love Sophie."

Nate sighed. Of course he hadn't heard from that woman for nearly six months now and she just sends an invitation from out of the blue.

"That's tonight," Sam exclaimed enthusiastically. "We're going, right Dad?"

Nate looked at his son's happy expression and he knew he wasn't going to be able to say no to him. He hadn't seen him so happy since they had separated. In the months following their leaving L.A. and before moving to Boston, they had gone for a long father and son vacation visiting most parts of the US and stopping at Disney World too. But even though Nate knew Sam had enjoyed it, there was still the spark missing from his eyes. He knew that his son hadn't been happy about his decision to split the team and move on without them. In the year they had spent together with the band of thieves, they had become great friends if not even family. Sam had learned to horse-ride from Eliot and the two of them had sometimes gone to the hitter's ranch for the week-end. Nate was sure that the hitter had also taught him some defense moves, even though he hadn't been really happy with the idea. Sam could have had always counted on Hardison on getting him the latest mobile phone model or a computer game that had just come out and, the hacker had been like the big brother he never had and they would spent afternoons playing together. Then there had been Parker. Strangely, the thief had connected with the mastermind's son. Sam saw her as a big sister and Parker was always so protective towards him. And last but not least, Sophie. While Nate had been struggling with his drinking, Sophie had been the only stable parental figure in Sam's life. After Maggie had died in a car accident, Nate didn't think Sam was going to connect with anyone else again, but the young boy had been smitten with the grifter . Like father, like son. That was what brought him to the decision, after he had been shot in Juan during a job, to entrust Sophie to be Sam's guardian if anything should ever happen to him. He knew that his son was going to be in good hands.

"Dad?" Sam interrupted his thoughts.

"I don't know, buddy, It's a school night." He went to the kitchen sink to rinse the mug.

"But we can't miss it." The ten years old whined. "It's Sophie. Did you know she was in town?"

"No, I didn't," Nate shook his head, still wondering why the grifter hadn't tried to contact them earlier.

"We can't not go. It would be rude. It's only the second day of school, it's not like we're doing much. Plus, I miss her, I want to see her."

Nate still didn't look convinced. He would be lying if he said he didn't want to go and that he missed her too, but he knew that going there that evening was going to open the door to series of troubles.

"Okay," he finally agreed.

"Yes!" Sam jumped, his fist in the air.

"Now, let's go. We're already late as it is."

After he had dropped Sam at his new school and made sure he was okay, Nate drove towards Boston Assurance where he had his job interview. He parked the car on the first empty spot, but he didn't make a move to exit the vehicle. He leaned forward and watched the tall dull empty building from the front window. He sighed. It reminded him so much of IYS and the bad memories that went with it. He took a big breath and finally got out of his black car.
The receptionist at the desk told him that the manager was waiting for him at the 24th floor, and Nate made his way to the lifts. He nodded to the people inside the cabin, but for the rest of the ride he kept to himself, never being the socializing type. When he reached his floor he stepped outside.

"Ah, Mister Ford," a middle age man greeted him.

"Mister Brumby." Nate shook his hand with his tight and false smile.

"Please follow me, I'll be happy to give you a tour of the facility." He gestured with his hand and Nate followed the skinny man through the narrow corridors.

"I've read your file. You found that stolen Monet in Florence, saved your company a $25 million payout. That identity-theft case, you saved $15 million. So, what have you been up to for the last year? It didn't say in your CV."

"Working with individual clients. Confidential," Nate tried to answer vaguely. He so needed this job to give more stability to Sam.

"Nice. Solving rich people's problems. It couldn't have been easy after all your personal problems."

Of course he knew, everybody seemed to know. It was something that is going to follow him everywhere.

"Actually, the other way around." He smirked.

Brumby looked at him in question "Hmm?"

But Nate just kept smiling.

"Well, glad to have you here. Welcome back to the insurance game. Great, there's lots of files I'd like you to review from our international branches. Bangkok, London, Madrid, Mexico City, Los Angeles. Let's start you as a consultant, work high-profile recoveries on a commission basis, and get you an office, maybe..."

The manager kept talking, but Nate wasn't listening. He looked at all the bored people working around him. They all seemed machines without life, emptiness in their eyes. Everything was running in slow motion. The file dropping, a telephone ringing in the distant, an employee walking to his cubicle... he knew he couldn't do this. He couldn't go back to his old life. Without even realizing what he was doing he turned around and left hearing the manager behind him asking him where he was going.

He quickly got out of Boston Assurance walked towards his car, but something caught his eye. An insignia of a bar at the other side of the road. He stared at it for a long moment. He kept thinking of all he had to go through to stop drinking. The first weeks after they left L.A., Nate had sent Sam to his former in-laws so he could go through alcohol withdrawal without worrying about his son seeing him at his lowest point. He could still remember the sleepless nights that he had spent hallucinating and in delirium and the days he would shake and have cold sweats, craving for a drink. It was like reliving the con the team did at the rehabilitation center, but even worse. But after a week he had slowly got better and now he hadn't had a drink for nearly five months.

He so wanted to walk away, he needed to walk away, but something was dragging him across the street. He was already loosening his tie and unbuttoning his collar when a car going out of control hit a parked truck and flipped in the air right above his head. He ducked and saw the car landing on its top and catching fire. Without thinking twice about it he rushed towards it to check the people trapped inside. He kneeled next the passenger seat to his a girl about Sam's age. He opened the door and helped her get out.

"I've got you," he reassured the girl. He picked her up and carried her away from the car.

"Are you okay?" he helped her to her feet.

She nodded. "Yes, but my dad."

He turned around to see a bulky man approaching the car. He thought her was going to help the girl's father, but instead he opened the back door and stole a briefcase.

"Hey," Nate shouted after him but the man in baggy clothes and a cap just ran away. Nate shook his head and went to try and save the man still trapped inside the car.

The car was catching fire fast and soon it was going to exploded. He didn't have much time left. He unbuckled the man's seatbelt and dragged him outside. Together they ran to the side of the street, a big explosion behind them nearly stopping their run.

"Dad," The girl rushed to her father and put her arms around him.

"It's okay, baby," He patted her back before collapsing on the floor.

Soon the fire trucks arrived, followed by a couple of ambulances and police cars.

Nate spent the rest of the morning giving a statement to the police. Even though he had told them that he was fine, a police officer insisted that he got checked by a doctor.

He hated hospitals and it really was the last place he wanted to be.

After he had been cleared by the doctors, he was making his way to the lifts. He wanted to check that both father and daughter were okay. The phone inside his jacket started ringing.

"Dad, where are you? You were supposed to pick me up."

Nate checked the time and cursed mentally when he saw that it was already that time.

"Sorry, buddy. Something happened..." He didn't want to worry his son.

"What?"

He sighed. "I'm at the hospital..."

"What?" This time he heard his son shouting worriedly.

"I'm okay, don't worry, there has been an accident involving a girl and her father. It's too long to explain. I will give Cora a call and ask her if she can come and pick you up. I'll meet you at home when I'm done."

After making sure his father was really fine, Sam closed the call and waited for Cora to arrive. Of course the boy had no intention to wait for his father back at their apartment. And after a lot of convincing, Cora sighed and drove the boy to the hospital.

Back at the hospital, Nate was talking to the doctor who was following the victims of the crash.

"The father is still in surgery, but the daughter is in a room. You can go and visit her, if you'd like."

Nate nodded and made his way to the girl's room. He noticed two men standing outside the room. The short and balding man turned towards him when he saw him approaching them.

"Hi, I'm Glenn Leary. I'm Matt's boss at the bank." He introduced himself. "I'm sorry. This is Lieutenant Bonanno of the State Police." He pointed at the tall and well-built man next to him.

Nate looked at the detective curiously. "State Police? A car crash downtown usually involves Boston P.D."

"It does, doesn't it?" Bonanno smirked like he was hiding a well-kept secret. "Good job on saving those people," he said before leaving.

"Apparently Matt called him to set a meeting."

Now Nate got more curious; maybe it hadn't been a simple accident. "Something at the bank?"

Leary frowned. "How? There isn't even going be a bank after Friday. We work at First Boston Independent. We're going under. At the end of the week, the government's going come in, write one last check for all our bad assets, and that's it." He got closer to Nate and whispered. "I think it was caused by his drinking. All these problems at work and then he passing of his wife. You know what a mess people are when they drink"

Oh, he certainly did. He nodded at Leary who just walked away.

"Dad!" Sam shouted after him.

Nate quickly turned on his feet. "Sam? I thought I've told you to wait at home" He saw Cora walking behind the boy giving him an apologetic look. It wasn't easy saying no to Sam.

"I wanted to make sure you were really okay. What happened?"

"Nothing you should worry about." He smiled at the young Irish girl, who he considered a niece. "Thanks Cora, I'll take it from here."

"Okay, see you later at the pub," She waved at them as she walked away.

"Something's wrong with the car." They heard a faint voice coming from the hospital room on their right.

"Hey," Nate walked inside followed by Sam. "Are you feeling better?"

"It went real fast, and then the brakes..." She started crying.

Nate laid a comforting hand on her arm. "Listen, there's a detective. I could call him…"

"No, something was wrong with the car," She repeated more agitated.

"Okay, okay. Now sleep."

The girl closed her eyes and soon fell asleep.

Sam looked at her curiously. "What was she talking about?"

"I don't know…" Nate looked down at her apprehensively. "Something about the car accident."

"Well, she clearly needs our help. You're going to help her, right Dad?"

Nate shook his head. "Sam, I'm not in that business anymore."

"But you could be…" he smirked.

He smirked back. "Come on," He put an arm around his son shoulders. "Let's go ready for our tonight's appointment with culture."