A/N – Ok, folks. Here goes another attempt at a more "con" story than random one shot. A lot of y'all liked my last attempt, so I hope you like this one as well. But first a few notes.

Yes, the Topsfield Fair is real. It's held in Topsfield, MA every year in October.

Also, yes, I'm fudging with the timing a little, to keep Sophie around. In my reality, she never left and she and Nate never had that graveyard moment. So I guess this takes place somewhere early season 2.

I'm gonna try really hard to keep from pairing anybody straight out, I really am. But I make no promises.

Ok, all that being said, hope you enjoy. Comments are love.

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CH 1 – Nate's Not the Only One Who Finds Jobs

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Nate woke up to a familiar pounding in his head. Groaning, he pulled his pillow over his head, trying to stop the noise, before realizing that the noise wasn't coming from inside his head. He hadn't had a hangover in months. Fuzzily, he realized the pounding was actually knocking, coming from the front door. Groaning again, Nate tossed the pillow to the floor and grudgingly sat up.

Pulling on a warm robe over his pajama pants and t-shirt, he padded barefoot down the stairs, wincing when he realized he had forgotten his slippers. It was October now, he'd forgotten how cold Boston could be in October. Peering out the peephole, only somewhat warily, Nate sighed in a mixture of relief and annoyance as he saw Hardison peering impatiently at the door. Shaking his head, he opened the door for the fidgety hacker with a dry greeting of 'Hardison,' before locking the door behind him and heading to the bathroom. The other man could manage to be alone for a few minutes.

When Nate emerged from the bathroom, teeth brushed and business taken care of, he found Hardison fiddling with his laptop, which wasn't altogether unusual. What was unusual, however, was Hardison fiddling with his laptop in Nate's apartment, on a Saturday, at 8 o clock in the morning, before Nate had even made his coffee. At closer inspection, Nate noticed Hardison was wearing the same jeans and sweater he'd been sporting the night before, when the rest of the team had mercifully gone home. He also noticed the hacker's eyes were adorned with bags that were far too puffy for somebody his age.

"Why did you knock? You never knock." Nate asked by way of greeting. Hardison just shrugged. Nate sighed, "Have you even gone to bed yet?" To which Hardison shook his head rapidly from side to side, pulling up various images to the big screens with lightning fast fingers.

"Ok then," Nate tried a new approach, "Want to tell me why you're here at 8AM? On a Saturday. With pictures of... what is that, pumpkins?" He stepped closer, bleary eyes revealing that the image in front of him was indeed pumpkins. Giant pumpkins, in fact.

Hardison finally rested his zooming fingers and stood to stand beside the TV, motioning for Nate to have a seat on the couch. Somewhat weary but altogether amused, Nate sat.

"I think I found us a job," Hardison began, "And ok, I know I don't really find the jobs, that's more your thing, or Sophie's thing, but I really think I'm on to something here, and I think we could help, and I just…"

Nate laughed. "Relax, Hardison," he interrupted, "You can find jobs too. Tell me about this," he waved in the general direction of the screen.

Hardison visibly relaxed at the words, slumping down into one of the armchairs with his handheld pointer before continuing.

"So you've heard of the Topsfield Fair, right?" He paused to look at Nate, who nodded a yes, before going on. "Anyway, the fair's been popping up in the papers a lot lately. Which, ok, isn't that strange. State Fair, could make a lot of money, lots of advertising, lots of contests, whatever. But then I noticed all the accidents."

"Accidents?" Nate asked, in that voice Hardison knew all too well. The voice that said, 'oh, we're getting involved in this. Oh yes.' He'd be lying if he said it didn't creep him out just a little bit.

"Anyway. Yeah, they've been having a lot of accidents lately. Nothing major, at least nobody's been hurt. But there's just something off about the whole thing. It doesn't seem as random as it should be. It's like…"

Nate nodded, "whoever is doing this has targets."

Hardison scowled at being cut off once again, but nodded, "Definitely. I mean, listen to this. In the past week alone, there was a small fire in the horse stable, no horses got hurt, just spooked, but still. Then there was fried dough incident. Several people got violently ill after eating fried dough, and now the Fair is facing a couple of lawsuits. Not to mention that attendance is obviously down. There's also been a few incidents of stolen cars, but I'm not sure if those are related or just bad luck yet. And finally, we have the pigs and honey debacle."

"Debacle?" Nate asked, tilting his head.

Hardison huffed, "Yes, debacle. I can use fancy words too." Nate just rolled his eyes. "The point is," Hardison continued, ignoring Nate's reaction, "Somebody set loose a bunch of big pigs… right into the honey tent… and they trashed the place. Nobody was around, thankfully, and the bees didn't get loose, but there was a lot of money lost. People love those honey sticks, I'll tell ya."

"They have candles too. Like, beeswax candles. And do it yourself candle making kits," Nate commented, mostly to himself, thinking.

"OoooK," Hardison said as he turned the TV screen black once again, "So you think we have a job?"

Nate grinned, in a way that matched the creepy voice to a t, "Definitely. Let's call the others; we've got a state fair to steal!"

Hardison nodded his agreement, but by the time Nate came back downstairs with his cell phone, the other man was fast asleep on the couch, screen pointer held protectively against his chest.

TBC

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