This is my first fanfic ever, so I'm a little nervous about posting it. And to turn this worse English is not my mother tong, but I had the precious help of silverbutterfly13 who did an amazing job as a beta.
This is a standalone…for now. I have some ideas that could turn this in a multichapter story, but I'm still not sure about it yet. Please let me know what you think, any constructive criticism is highly appreciated.
Disclaimer: The characters belong to Leverage, I own nothing. If I did, the show wasn't canceled and Parker and Eliot would be together.
It was like any other day in the past six months for the Leverage Consulting & Associates. Parker had just finished a final meeting with their latest client, an elementary school principal. She had given him a check with way too many digits and the paperwork to sue the contractor who had built the gym out of cheap materials and was responsible for the deaths of 5 children who had been killed when the gym roof collapsed.
This part of the job always brought a huge smile to her face. It was good to still be able to use her talents, but this way to help people and bring some justice in a world of corruption. This was a feeling she would never get tired of. Of course, now she had other responsibilities. Since Nate and Sophie's departure from the team, she was the mastermind, the one to elaborate a careful plan and occasionally do the grifting part of it along with Eliot. Hardison was the best hacker and probably one of the most intelligent people she had ever met, but grifting was not one of his best skills. The rest of the team respected that, giving him only the stereotyped characters he felt comfortable playing.
Hardison… Parker suppressed another grin thinking about her team-mate and friend. Their relationship had ended a couple of months after they had started the new agency. There wasn't even a real reason for the break up, other than that they figuring out that nothing had changed between them during those months together. Their relationship was too brother and sisterly to be called romantic, so they went back to being best friends. Parker would always be like a sister to him and they were both comfortable about their decision.
When the team parted ways, she, Eliot, and Hardison found an isolated house in the outskirts of town where they mostly lived together - even though they all kept their own homes – and used it as the operation base. Now she was coming home with a sense of accomplishment and a job well-done. The first thing she heard when she entered the house was the sound of celebratory roars from the screen speakers and Eliot's "NOO!" that made her laugh. She stepped into the huge screening room, ready to start teasing him about his hockey team's defeat. The only thing that stopped her was Eliot's murderous glare at the screen and the force that he brought the now empty glass on the table with. It was enough to teeter the whiskey bottle next to it.
Without sparing Parker a single glance, he got up, turned the tv off and threw the remote on the seat he had just vacated. She could swear he had mumbled something about "more disappointments" and "need a shower" before disappearing up the stairs leaving a stunned thief behind.
Parker gave a sigh and turned to the kitchen to fetch herself a bowl of cereal. There was something wrong with Eliot. Lately he'd barely talk to them about anything other than the job. His bad attitude was worse than normal too. At first she had written it off on the changes: missing Nate and Sophie and the added work in the team. But as more time passed, she started suspecting there was something more causing his odd behavior. He had never been the most talkative or sharing member of their little group, but lately he had completely shut down, bordering on plain rudeness. If the socially inept Parker could noticed this, then something was very, very wrong with their hitter.
And now I need to fix him! she thought, a plan already forming in her mind.
She knew that her chances to get him to sit and talk were next to zero, so she would do the only thing she could do to make sure he wouldn't bolt and run. She would have to trap him. And he was already closed in the small space of the bathroom; it was the perfect opportunity.
Parker ran silently up the stairs into Eliot's bathroom. After all, she was the only one who could sneak up on him. As soon as she entered the bathroom, she saw his form through the opaque shower glass go rigid. He knew he was not alone anymore and his body had quickly assumed a fighting stance. As he whirled around to face his opponent, only his hard training prevented him to fall on his face.
"PARKER!" he shouted, incredulity noticeable in his voice, "What the hell are you doing here? I'm showering!" he blinked a few times, waiting for her answer, but none came. She just turned, closed the door and locked it, clutching the key in her fist.
Eliot couldn't believe what was happening. He turned the shower off, grabbed a towel and wrapped it around his waist. It wasn't that he minded a gorgeous woman trapping herself in the shower with him, but said woman was Parker! This was not suppose to happen with Parker!
"Okay, darlin," he started, trying to keep his voice calm, "what the hell do you want that couldn't wait until I was out of the shower?" his hard stare focused on her.
She stared at him for a few seconds before answering in a whisper, "There's something wrong with you".
Of course, the irony of those words wasn't lost on him. How many times had he thrown the same word at her? Entirely meaning them in the beginning, then as a friendly teasing in the last few years. But never like this, not the way she said them now, meaning every syllable of them, deep worry stark in her eyes. Obviously, he knew why she was saying it. His attitude lately was bothering her, more than he first thought it would. But… it was the only way.
"Parker, I'm not doing this. We're not having this conversation," he took two steps towards her, but didn't make any attempt to obtain the key yet. "Open the door. I need to get on some clothes."
"No," was her only response as she kept staring at him, her face a perfect picture of determination.
"Parker, open the door now!" he growled, the threat ringing clearly in his voice.
Without any warning, she brought the key to her mouth... and swallowed it with a gulp.
Eliot's face would have been funny if it weren't for the present situation. A mix of shock, disbelief, and she could swear there was a glimpse of fear in his eyes.
"Now you're not going anywhere before we talk," a self-satisfied grin played across her lips.
That smile did it. How dared she trap him like this? Fuming, he grabbed her torso and threw her against the door, his gaze lethal, "Tell me you didn't swallow that key, darlin," the endearment menacing.
In response she opened her mouth wide for him to inspect. A careful look told him that the crazy thief had indeed swallowed the only way out without destroying Hardison's property.
"Great!" his fist hit the door behind her head with such force that the hinges creaked. To her credit, the blond didn't even flinched. "Now you explain to Hardison why I had to break his door."
Suddenly her demeanor changed, her body recoiled and her eyes glistened with tears. She opened her mouth a couple of times but nothing came out. This made Eliot step back a few inches and soften his expression. He could fight anything, battle against whatever was thrown in his way, but a crying woman had always been his soft spot. A crying Parker, no less, was the worst that could happen to him, even if had been ready to kill her a few seconds ago.
"Darling, I'm so…", he started to apologize, not sure what else to do and willing to do anything to stop her from crying, but her next words stopped him dead.
"Is my presence so unbearable that you'd rather break the door than talk to me?" her voice was no more than a whisper and the tears were now running freely down her face. "It's been weeks since you talked to me more than two sentences. Months perhaps!"
In that moment, Eliot was capable of ripping himself to shreds for making her feel that way. He had avoided her, yes. But not because he couldn't bear her presence. Quite the opposite. What kind of friend, of brother would he be to Hardison if he suddenly declared that he had feelings for the last few years for the girl his colleague had dated for so long? He couldn't do that!
But Parker had him trapped in the damn bathroom, with nothing but a towel around his waist, demanding an explanation. Those big eyes piercing, so beautiful even with the redness of tears.
He took a breath and gently reached out to touch her face in a small caress, bringing his lips to her ear. "Sweetheart... I love you," his voice barely audible.
For a few seconds she was silent, and it drove him crazy. He pulled back to look at her, and he could hear his own heart beating too loudly in his chest. She blinked at him a couple of times and frowned.
"I love you too," she said matter-of-factually, "but that doesn't explain why you're ignoring me," her frown deepened and she eyed him like she was studying a new species. "That's exactly why you shouldn't be ignoring me. That's not what friends do. And you are one of my best friends."
Of course I am, he thought. Now he understood why she was so calm about what he'd just confessed. She thought he loved her as a friend, specifically as a sister.
"No, Parker", he said, shaking his head, "I don't think you know," he clarified, before sending his reluctance to hell. Acting on instinct, he gently grabbed her face and crushed his lips to hers.
For a second he thought she'd push him away or stab him in the chest, but the next thing he knew, her fingers were running up his neck and twining themselves into his hair. Her tongue begged for entrance, and there was nothing he could do to deny her. He found hers with his own and battled until her hands started to descend down his bare torso to the towel around his hips. A mere flip of her wrists and the fabric fell on the floor. Nothing between her roaming hands and his naked body now.