Title: Cookies
Author: serenelystrange
Fandom: Leverage
Rating: PG
Pairing: Teamfic, Eliot centric
Length: 951 words
Spoilers: Nothing specific, through the end of season one to be safe.
Summary: Eliot and cookies. You need more? lol
Notes: Written for the leverage500 Challenge #18: Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Later, he realized it was all his fault. He started the whole damn thing. But that was later. Before, well, Eliot just thought the team might want some cookies. And they were incredibly tasty, chewy, chocolate chippy, fan-fucking-tastic cookies, if he did say so himself. It wasn't until later that he realized, with his simple gesture, that he had opened the Pandora's box of cookie jars.

He made a big deal out of the cookies. In fact, he hadn't said a word. He just plopped the plate down on the conference table during the morning meeting. The last job had been taxing on all of them, mostly mentally. And even big bad hitters needed some comfort food once in a while. The team had reacted much the way Eliot expected. Hardison's eyes lit up as he grabbed a handful of cookies, and he murmured a "thanks, man" around a mouthful of deliciousness. Parker had looked at the cookies and then at Eliot with a hint of suspicion, before realizing if they were poison, Hardison would already be dead, and taking one for herself. Sophie gave him one of those knee wobble inducing smiles of hers as she took one, and he couldn't help but smile back. Nate clapped him on the shoulder silently as he reached for his cookie, and Eliot knew that was his way of saying thanks, and not just for the cookies. Eliot regarded them all with his usual stoic expression, but he munched on his cookie all the same.

It was the weeks that followed when Eliot began to realize he may have created a monster. The first incident happened after the next job, when he showed up to the meeting to find himself greeted by Hardison's eager face, which quickly fell to disappointment when he noted Eliot's empty hands. Eliot just raised an eyebrow, amused. He was less amused when he got similar looks from Sophie and Nate and Parker over the next several days. And then the not so subtle questions began. Namely Hardison asking, "when you gonna make us some more cookies, El? Those were awesome." They were awesome, Eliot agreed, but they were a one time thing. Just one. And the thought that would be the end of that. He was wrong.

The next incident was a few weeks later, and it involved Parker, as incidents usually do. Eliot was at home, as he usually was at 3AM, when not on a job. It wasn't the late hour that confused him when Parker showed up; after all, she was Parker. It was the fact that Parker used the door. She even knocked. That in itself confused him long enough to let her slip through the door and into his livingroom. After closing the door, he turned to face an all too awake Parker, raising his arms in the universal, "what the hell do you want at this hour?" gesture. Parker smiled and announced she wanted more cookies. To his credit, Eliot did not smack her, though he was tempted. Instead, he calmly explained that one does not just make cookies on request at three in the morning, and gently nudged her back to the door. Parker actually pouted at him and unleashed the sad eyes she knew he fell for, every time, but Eliot held strong to his will, still refusing to bake. Parker added a wobbling lip to her sad eyes and he nearly broke, but quickly regrouped.

Promising to make cookies again sometime, he none too gently moved her out of his apartment and locked the door, praying she would take the hint, since the locks were really no match for her. Thankfully, she did. In fact, after that, the team seemed to forget about the cookies completely. They stopped mentioning it, and even Hardison stopped giving him longing glances that Parker falsely identified as Hardison wanting Eliot, not his cookies. After a blissful week of no annoying questions and a fairly simple job, Eliot was happy that he was off the hook.

The final incident didn't involve anybody but Eliot, which annoyed him the most. He was sitting on his couch on a Sunday night, watching sports, when the urge to bake overtook him. With a sigh of resignation, he set about making the cookies.

Monday morning came too quickly, as it usually does, and Eliot set the cookies on the table without preamble, pointedly avoiding the other's gazes. Sophie couldn't help herself, however.

"Why more cookies all of the sudden?" she asked, and he could only hear a slight mocking tone in her voice.

Eliot shrugged before ducking his head and answering, "I kinda missed you all asking about them."

Parker laughed loudly in that disturbing way of hers, joined by Hardison's self described manly giggles. Nate just rolled his eyes and took a cookie. Sophie walked over and gave Eliot a quick kiss on the cheek, making him flush against his will, before taking her cookie.

"Aww, Eliot loooves us," Hardison teased, grinning.

Eliot glared, "shut up," but the bite was missing from the words. Truth was, he liked it better when they annoyed him then when they left him alone. They had been absent from his life for six long months, and that was long enough for him to learn that he missed them, his team, his ramshackle family, whom he had grown more fond of then he cared to admit. So he just took a big bite of his cookie and stared pointedly at the jumbo screen, waiting for the meeting to begin. Nate rolled his eyes again and picked up his files, bringing the meeting to an open and the Eliot teasing to a close. For now.

THE END