Yep, this is my very first Leverage story. The only reason this was written was for a school assignment, and I thought, 'Sure, what the heck! Let's post it!' lol! It's very oddly written because it was a school assignment, and it's a bit out of my comfort zone, so I apologize if it sounds weird. But I do hope you all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Four Words

Her emotional responses are skewed because of the traumatic past our dear thief has had. Lacking social skills and the ability to connect with people, she fears getting close to anyone. She'd been hurt so many times throughout her childhood, her heart is scarred the way a burn scars skin. Tell her to jump off a skyscraper and she'll do it in a heartbeat without breaking a sweat... However, something as small as making small talk with anyone is pure terror that takes the place of her blood through her veins.

How in the world was a complete stranger, who suddenly enters her life, supposed to love her? The two people who brought her into this world, the two most important people in anyone's life, couldn't love her, didn't love her, they left her... What was love anyway? How did it feel? She couldn't remember a time when she was showed attention before she met her team, her family now. She couldn't remember being hugged as a child, tucked in at night, given kisses, being told that she was loved...

However, things changed when she met her teammate Alec Hardison whom she'd learned to love. He taught her that... But, she wasn't sure if love was supposed to hurt this much after a day's events. Hardison, as they called him in a term of endearment, had been buried alive by a group of men who had something against them. Parker was more than positive that she had lost him completely. But then he managed to call her cell phone panicked that he was in a coffin, buried! It didn't help that he was claustrophobic! Being a thief and having spent a disproportionate amount of time in her life in small spaces, she was able to help him control his breathing and use the bit of oxygen he had left wisely before he suffocated. Luckily, they were able to find him in time... Well, really just as time was running out.

When she watched Nate and Eliot help him out of the coffin, she wasn't sure how to react. If to cry tears of relief or if to scream... All she knew was that her heart was trying to beat out of her chest. The emotions she felt were very conflicting to her and that's why she sat here. In the darkness of the bar that Nate owned, which was closed, pondering on everything whilst fighting back tears.

She wasn't sure why she wanted to cry though... Was this like last time she allowed herself to cry in front of someone? The time the stupid psychic told her life in front of a live studio audience and in front of live cameras. He opened up and poked at so many wounds that day; Parker was sure a few bled even. She remembers the tears cascading down her face quickly as the words spilled from this man's mouth without remorse of what this was doing to her soul. Yes, to him, guessing what happened to her brother during her childhood is just a game and a way to make his paycheck, but to her...

It had been her fault her brother had died. He was the only real family she'd had that really loved her and he'd been snatched away from her all because she gave in and taught him how to ride a bike. Just remembering the memory was painful and caused several tears to spill from Parker's eyes as she sat on the bar counter. Her shoulders slump forward as she continues thinking...

"Hardison, you have to make it through this because... You are my friend. You hear me, Alec? I need you!" Parker had screamed those words out to him earlier that day when Hardison was tempted to give away to unconsciousness. Suddenly though, she wonders... What if something had happened to Hardison that day and he had died? He wouldn't have known how she felt about him... Though, she wasn't all too sure what it was, but she was sure it was love... Especially after what Sophie had told her just a few days before:

"This life is not worth living without the people that make us want to tear down those walls; the thrill of vulnerability, the danger of opening your heart. It makes us feel alive." Sophie said to Parker in her thick British accent, as she watched Parker sit on a park bench.

"I feel alive when I'm jumping off a building..." The blonde admitted, looking up at Sophie and squinting because the sunlight was hitting her eyes.

"Maybe that's why they call it 'Falling in love.'" Sophie winked at the younger woman and walked away.

She was right. Sophie had a point... It had to be called falling in love for a reason, and if she was going to fall, then alright... But she had to tell Hardison how she felt.

She hears heavy footsteps walking towards her and she turns her head to see who it was. Parker can't help but give a weak smile when she realizes it is Hardison walking toward her. Now's your chance, something in the back of her head tells her. She turns to stare at a random spot on the floor again, her hands are still wrapped tightly around a small compass that was buried with Hardison.

The dark-skinned guy leans back against the counter she was sitting on and begins speaking lowly, his voice quivering slightly, "I... Never would've made it through that if it wasn't for you. You know that, right Parker?"

She dismisses the thought, "Oh, that's not true. Pssh, anyone can learn to hold their breath-"

She is cut off when she feels Hardison turn around and tenderly press a kiss against her right cheek. Parker tries hard not to give in to the tears again and could only lean into his touch slightly as she closes her eyes to keep said tears away. As he pulls away slowly, he whispers into her ear, "Thanks for not hanging up the phone."

Parker looks up at him as he says this and their eyes lock almost instantly and suddenly, she whispers four words that he never thought he'd hear leaving her mouth, "I love you, Hardison."