Glimmers
By Felicia
Timeline: Post-Second David Job
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Dean Devlin or any of the actors or production staff. I write this out of pure love for the series.
Author's Note: This is my first fanfic for Leverage. This is also the first fanfic I have written in several years. However, as I was enjoying a mini-marathon of Leverage last night, something Dean Devlin mentioned in the writer's video blogs on TNT. tv struck me. As much as I tried to ignore it, it kept banging away until I put it down on paper. This is the result:
1/1
The face reflected in the mirror was familiar, but not the one he had grown accustomed to greeting every morning for the last few years. Older, paler, a little haggard, yes , but in this face's eyes glimmered a light that had been extinguished the day his only son had died.
The job was finished. His intervention completed in a completely non-traditional fashion but in a manner which brought closure to more than one aspect of his sorrows. Blackwell had been ruined. Sterling was put in his place. But most importantly, Maggie had absolved him of his self-inflicted culpability. Now if he could only forgive himself.
"I'm so sorry, Sam. Sorry that I wasn't able to provide what you needed when you needed it most," he whispered, watching the face watching him. The lips moved, but the light didn't dim. Every day prior to this, any semblance of happiness let alone contentment had faded when he uttered those words. But not today. Fascinated by the sight, he tried again.
"It was my fault that I couldn't get IYS to pay." The light still glimmered and the words that had been his mantra for so many years now sounded hollow. Illegitimate.
"I..." he began, intent on continuing the verbal flagellation, but the words he intended didn't form. Instead, he heard himself say, "IYS was responsible. And now they have paid that debt to you, my son, and to all the other children whose parents placed their faith in that insurance."
The face in the mirror smiled and the glimmer brightened to a full-fledged gleam. The reflection no longer looked older, paler or even a little haggard. Instead it was brighter, more confident and surprisingly peaceful.
He stared part dumbfounded part in awe of the change. Relief washed over him and he felt lighter than he had in years. His eyes caught on the clear bottle beside him. Its contents untouched but waiting to be sampled; his solace and self-prescribed anesthetic. Bile rose in the back of his throat as he recalled its effects, its taste. He looked once again to the reflection seeing the gleam and the smile that hovered about his lips. He lifted the bottle, its weight familiar to his hand and tipped the neck. The liquid sloshed along the sides.
His eyes returned to the reflection. With a new resolve he watched and heard himself say, "No more. I don't need this anymore." Nate raised the bottle to the reflection in a toast to new beginnings and poured the bourbon down the drain.
[fin]
As I mentioned before, it has been maaaanny years since I wrote fanfic. I would love to hear your thoughts. Please r/r.