Title: Haunted
Disclaimer: I do not own Leverage or its characters and I make no profit from this. It's just for fun.
Spoilers: None.
Pairing: Nate/Parker
Summary: The team pretends to be a reality show ghost finding crew to pull off a con that a house is haunted…except they begin to wonder over the course of the night if they really need to pretend.
Author's note: I just finished a New Year's story that will be posted around, fittingly, New Year's. And it got me thinking, why not a Halloween story? And that led me…here!
Why am I posting this so early? Because my goal is to have it finished by Halloween.
XXXXXX
"Oh, hell no," Hardison complained, "I do not do ghosts, or anything else paranormal, or overall freaky, you get what I'm saying?"
"Hardison, there are no such things as ghosts," Parker said, though he didn't miss the questioning glance she threw at Nate, who shook his head no, and Hardison pounced.
"I saw that, I saw that look!"
"You saw nothing," Parker scoffed.
"Uh huh, and for the record, I am against this! Completely."
"You didn't have a problem when Tara pretended to be a psychic, remember?" Eliot asked.
Hardison was unimpressed. "That was completely different. She was the one putting herself on the line attempting to contact the dead, not me. I don't want to go aggravating any spirits. I like being alive, man, I don't want to join the other realm, not yet."
"It's cute that you think ghosts exist," Parker remarked.
Hardison turned back to her, aghast. "You just asked Nate if they did!"
"No I didn't," she lied. "Besides, he could be wrong. Or lying." She turned to Nate with sudden suspicion at the thought.
"You just said you didn't ask – know what? Never mind. You haven't convinced me."
"I don't get why we should have to convince you of anything," Eliot grumbled. "It should be majority vote, 4 against 1. Know what, I'm even leery on letting you vote at all."
"Hardison," Sophie tried, "you gotta man up for this one."
"How is insulting me supposed to convince me?" He crossed his arms. "You only want to do it because you'd get to act."
Sophie sighed dreamily, before snapping back to attention. "That has nothing to do with it."
"Alright – can we?" Nate gave each of them a packet. "Hardison, I promise this job risks no physical harm to you, or –" he added as Parker opened her mouth – "any of us. Now, we need you. We all want to do it, so it's up to you. Are you in? Because if you're not, we're all out."
Hardison skimmed through the packet, though he knew what was in it. They'd been approached by Steve and Amy Jones, who had been tricked into selling their home by a predatory couple. Jonathan and Claire Stiles had pulled off a con of their own, convincing the Jones', with fake documents and fake officials, that their home was on contaminated land and dangerous to inhabit. After they'd sold their home, they'd become suspicious and dug into the issue – too late. No real record of the contamination existed.
It was Sophie who'd come up with their angle, since Claire Stiles was a huge believer in the paranormal; she'd even done graduate level research on supernatural phenomena. More than that, she was terrified of the idea of ghosts, stemming from a childhood where she'd thought her home had been haunted. If they could convince Claire that her new home was inhabited by spirits, she would put it back on the market, and the Jones' could buy it back, hopefully for a substantial discount. At least, that was their most hoped for scenario, though some altering of the plan along the way might be called for to ensure things played out in that exact way.
Hardison sighed and glanced up, startled to see they were all watching him. "Alright! I'm in," he said grudgingly. "But I'm not gonna be bait. No way, no how."
"There's no need for that because there are no ghosts," Eliot reminded him. Hardison didn't bother to respond to that.
"Glad to hear it," Nate told Hardison, "because I've already put the next phase in motion. In case you were unaware, we're the new cast and crew for the local chapter of Ghost Finders! We 'find' evidence of a ghost in Claire's home, and before you know it, it's on the market." He grabbed a box from the next chair and started tossing them hats and t-shirts.
"Uniforms? Really?" Hardison held up the black shirt with Ghost Finders written across the front in orange. "I've always considered myself more of an individual." But no one was listening to him.
"I look good in black," Sophie murmured in approval.
"This is hilarious," Parker said enthusiastically as she put on the cap Nate tossed her. "People are so gullible."
"Are you sure, Nate?" Hardison questioned. "There are a lot of potential holes in our story –"
"When has that ever stopped us before?" Sophie asked, practically. "It doesn't matter if there are two holes or two hundred – if we can pull it off quickly enough, that is, before Claire or her husband start to question things, then it doesn't matter. All we need is the weekend. Halloween weekend."
"That's tempting fate right there," Hardison muttered.
"Don't be a wimp, Hardison," Parker told him, as she stood to put a hat on him as well. He tried to duck out of her reach, but she was too quick. "It sounds to me like you're afraid of ghosts. Imaginary ghosts, at that."
"I am not afraid of ghosts!" He argued. "I just have a…healthy respect for them."
"Yeah, that doesn't sound like afraid," she smirked.
"We'll see how you act when the spirits commune with you," he said. Now that he'd been challenged, he was dying to prove Parker wrong, or himself right. "What exactly does this entail?" He directed it at Nate, but Eliot answered.
"It entails finding ghosts," Eliot told him. "How informed are you about ectoplasm?"
"This is ridiculous," Hardison said, googling it. "If I get murdered by a ghost, I'm going to haunt you until the end of time."
They ignored him as Nate started telling them plans for Halloween weekend. "Parker, you and I are the main psychic investigators."
"I'm on it," she said, leaving the room with a flourish.
"Where is she –? Never mind," he shook his head. "Hardison and Eliot, you two will be the cameramen. Sophie –"
"I'm the medium, contacting the desperate and troubled spirits of the underworld whose last wish is to communicate with the living!" She said dramatically, throwing her arms out and her head back. She had this part so down that she was going to convince even the rest of her team that she was having contact with the supernatural.
"Uh, sure," Nate said.
"You two better film every second of this," Sophie told Hardison and Eliot. "I'm going to need it later."
"Sophie," Nate told her, "this is not about your acting career. It's about convincing the Stiles' that their home is haunted."
"Of course, Nate," Sophie said beatifically. "You can count on me." She started making a list of all the horror movie directors to whom she was going to send the footage.
"Cameraman for the insane," Hardison muttered, "how the hell did I get roped into this."
Parker came back dressed entirely in Ghost Finders apparel – baseball cap, shirt, jacket and…shoes?
"I definitely didn't give you those," Nate said, pointing to her sneakers emblazoned with the Ghost Finders logo.
"Oh yeah, I got these ahead of time. Need to be prepared."
"I'm glad you're so…enthusiastic about it," Sophie said.
"How do I look?" Parker asked.
"Like a psychic investigator," Nate said approvingly.
"About that," she said. "I have a question. What does a 'psychic investigator' do, exactly?"
"You try not to get killed," Hardison said vehemently.
"You draw out the spirits," Sophie clarified, "so that I can hear their messages."
"You investigate psychic activity!" Eliot explained, as if it were obvious.
All of that might have helped…had she any idea what she actually had to do.
She did what she always did when she felt like this; she turned to Nate. She didn't even have to ask her question, though. "You'll follow my lead," Nate reassured her. "Trust me."
That was the only answer she needed.
XXXXXX
"Is there some significance to doing this over Halloween weekend?" Hardison asked, balancing his hand-held camera.
"It's the best day to reach the other realm!" Sophie exclaimed.
Eliot looked over his shoulder. "We're not on a ship, Hardison. Anyone who watches this is going to get seasick with the way you keep shaking. Don't tell me you're scared!"
"I'm unused to the rigors of cinematography," Hardison defended himself. He was currently filming the outside of the Stiles' home. It certainly fit the bill for a haunted house – an 1800's Victorian home that, though well-maintained, still had an aura of creepiness about it. The shutters that creaked in the wind didn't help, nor did the turret.
Nor did it help that he was currently filming on the afternoon of October 30th. In less than ten hours, the date was going to switch over to the creepiest day of the year.
"Halloween was merely a coincidence," Nate said, rejecting Sophie's answer, as he looked over the house. Even he was having some trepidation about entering the mansion, and that was saying something, considering he had never believed in ghosts or anything paranormal. Sophie and Eliot were hanging back near the wrought-iron gate, heckling Hardison, but he wondered if they were equally as unwilling to be the first into the currently empty home.
"You guys, we're going to have so much fun tonight," Sophie said as she went to grab some of her bags from her car. "I've planned a séance, and several other fun activities to draw out the spirits!"
"A séance?" Hardison said, voice unnaturally high. "Doesn't that like…make them come to us?"
Sophie waved a ouija board at him. "Many think of them as simply children's toys, but when used correctly, they are one of the most effective means of communicating with the other side."
"Get that away from me!" He yelled.
Nate watched Hardison stumble away from Sophie with growing dismay. "You all know that there are no ghosts here, right?"
"Man, now I'm gonna have to tape over that," Eliot snapped. "Try to stay in character, Nate!"
"Sorry," he rolled his eyes.
"I expect this kind of thing from Parker," Eliot complained, as he rewound his tape, and indicated that Hardison should do the same, "not from you."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Parker asked from an inch behind him, and he whipped around.
"Don't do that!"
"Keep in mind that you are talking to an official Ghost Finders psychic investigator," she said with an air of authority. "I have credentials to prove it."
"Credentials I made," Hardison called from across the yard.
"That's irrelevant," she said.
"Are you ready to film my intro, Hardison?" Sophie asked.
"What intro –"
She ignored him to begin. "In the summer of 1861, the home behind me was the scene of one of the most brutal and gruesome murders in the history of America."
Nate, Parker, and Eliot could only watch in morbid fascination.
"George Williams murdered his entire family in their sleep – with a machete! His wife and seven children – here one day, gone the next, subject to a madman's uncontrollable rage!"
"Wow," Parker whispered, glancing back at the house.
Sophie was far from done. "Over the course of the next 150 years, this building served as a Civil War era battlefield hospital, a sanatorium, and a prison for the most heinous criminals."
"She's really going all out," Eliot whispered to Hardison.
"Now, it's in the hands of private residents who suspect, and fear, that spirits inhabit their home. Literally thousands of tortured souls have crossed this threshold. Who will we encounter this evening? And will we make it out tomorrow alive?" She paused for a minute. "Did you get that?"
"Sophie that was…that was…" Hardison looked at the house with a mixture of horror and fear.
"I don't want to go in there now," Parker complained.
"She made it up," Nate said. "Tell them, Sophie."
"Yeah, I did," she grinned. "But you bought it right? Then my job here is done. Eliot, help me get the rest of my bags from the car."
"I'm not the bellboy," he complained, though he went to help her anyways. He picked up one of her bags and looked inside. "The only things in here are candles!"
"Exactly," Sophie said, shoving three more bags at him to carry.
"Do you guys mind if I sleep in one of the cars?" Hardison asked, glancing longingly at where Sophie was weighing Eliot down with various pieces of luggage. It had to be safer than sleeping in this creepy house, and had the added bonus that if anything strange happened, he could just drive away.
Parker ignored him, as did Nate, who started directing him on what shots to get. She watched as they all conveniently found other things to do, and realized they were stalling on going inside. Fine, then, she'd have to do it – even if the thought gave her more than a moment's pause.
She marched over to Nate and grabbed the key from his pocket. "We don't have all night!" She yelled at them as she went to unlock the front door. She flipped the light switch to her right and then jumped when the hall light flickered into brightness for a moment before dying. Either a blown light bulb or fuse. "Hardison," she called to him, as he filmed a dying rose bush along the side of the house with much more attention than it deserved, "go check the fuse box."
"Hell no!" He yelled, trying desperately to keep the camera steady so that they wouldn't make fun of him for this footage later.
Parker watched as Sophie berated Eliot on treating her luggage with care, and Nate lectured Hardison about how to capture the atmosphere of their surroundings.
"You'd rather send me in there than check it yourself?" She complained, trying to play on Hardison's chivalry. (She should have known he wouldn't be swayed.)
"You're tough," Hardison assured her. "Besides…I have to get these exterior shots," he said, as if it were direly important. Sophie and Eliot ignored her altogether.
Nate, at least, was willing to be a man about things. He patted Hardison on the shoulder and told him he was doing fine, then followed her into the house and flipped the switch a few times, as if unwilling to believe it didn't work when she tried it. "Basement it is. Parker, go check things out."
A sudden gust of wind blew through the front hallway and somewhere, deep in the house, a door slammed shut.
"Yeah right!" She said in disbelief. "You go!"
"I thought you didn't believe in ghosts?" He muttered, switching on his flashlight. Though it was still afternoon, it was overcast, and the inside of the home was quite dark.
"I don't, but just because I don't believe in something, that doesn't mean it doesn't exist."
"There's logic for you," he found the basement door. "Come on, you're a psychic investigator, remember? We have to investigate."
"Sure, we'll investigate all night...with no one filming us," she said.
He went back to the front door. "Hardison, you have more than enough footage of the outside, get in here and set up! We're going to check the fuses." He and Parker disappeared through the basement door.
"Think we'll ever see them again?" Hardison asked Sophie and Eliot as they stepped cautiously into the house.
"Hardison, your negative energy is not conducive to summoning spirits," Sophie said, shutting the front door behind them and locking it. She didn't want to spend the night here, but…they had to do what they had to do.
"If I see a poltergeist, I am out of here," Hardison swore, swiveling the camera to focus on pictures over the mantle. "You know they are the one type of ghost that can kill people? I saw it on a History channel documentary!"
"Shut up, Hardison," Eliot growled. "With your incessant chatter, we're going to miss any readings from our sound recorders." He was currently setting them up around the first floor. A bit difficult without electricity, but still doable with the flashlight he had.
"You're going to be glad for me later on, when you're being murdered by a ghost and I'm the one filming the proof," Hardison swore. When Eliot moved to rip the camera from his hands, Hardison ran upstairs.
(A decision that, within five minutes, he would regret.)
XXXXXX
Nate stopped a few steps down when the beam of his flashlight fell on a switch along the wall. He tried it, but light refused to illuminate the darkness. "Great, looks like this is on the same fuse."
"If it is a fuse," Parker said worriedly. She didn't want to descend the steps into the basement, but at least with Nate at her side, she felt a courage she wouldn't have otherwise.
"What else would it be?" Nate asked.
"Ghosts," she whispered. "Intent on leaving us in darkness for the entire night."
He took her hand and gripped it tightly as they made their way down the stairs. "Parker, that's not an option, trust me."
She hoped he wouldn't lie to her, and before today she'd never given much thought to anything of the paranormal kind. But she had to admit, Hardison's obvious belief mixed with Sophie's insane story had combined to push her closer to the edge than made her comfortable. "Whatever you say," she muttered, whipping her flashlight around to try and light up every dark corner simultaneously. She wasn't afraid of the dark, per se…merely of what it could hide.
"The fuse box is probably this way," Nate said, moving further into the darkness, toward the oil burner in the far corner.
She would have hesitated on following him, but seeing as she wasn't willing to let go of him, she went along. "This is creepy as hell, Nate. Why did you come up with this plan?"
"It's just a blown fuse," he said, carefully keeping his voice steady to put her at ease. His flashlight shone on the fuse box. "See?" It showed that, indeed, a fuse had been tripped.
"How, exactly, does flipping on one light trip a fuse?" She asked.
"I don't know, I'm not an electrician. Maybe the Stiles' left some things on, or maybe it's old and faulty wiring." He flipped it and the entire basement was flooded with a bright light.
Parker shielded her eyes and flicked off her flashlight. "Maybe the spirits did it," she suggested.
"Of course, how could I forget that obvious explanation?"
It took a moment to readjust to the light, but when she did, she wished she hadn't. "Nate, I think I preferred the darkness," she whispered, as they both looked around.
As he took in the sight before him, he couldn't help but think he whole-heartedly agreed with her.
XXXXXX
TBC – won't be a long story – just long enough for me to let Sophie do some crazy rituals, torture Hardison, and get Nate and Parker together, of course! (And I am working on both my other stories.)