A/N: I absolutely love Leverage and I decided I would take a shot at writing it. This is my first Leverage fic, and it will mainly be a series of related one-shots.

Anime Girl23 has given me permission to take inspiration from her Leverage story, "50 Sentences". She has allowed me to turn prompts from her story into actual scenes and a story. So a big thank you to Anime Girl23! I'm so very excited to write this story.

Please review and enjoy!

Parker eyed the distraught couple in front of her with blank interest. On the outside, it looked as though she was listening intently and with some vague air of concern for their problems. That's what you were supposed to do, right? Pretend like you care, like their problems matter, until you reach your endgame and disappear. For her, it was the money from this job and the next and the next, ooh and the next… Just the thought all that payout made her feel giddy and she couldn't help the small smile that tugged on her lips.

A small cough behind her brought her back away from thoughts of swimming in a pool of cash and back to the room with a grieving couple who had no where left to turn and the four other thieves gone from bad to good. That's what they were, right? Good. Well, technically, bad guys who did bad things to help good people. That still qualifies as good, right?

The couple was still pouring out their story to the man at the front: Nathan Ford. Parker let her eyes rest on the back of his head, studying all she couldn't see and understand. That was her only flaw if she had any. (Several people, including the hitter standing behind her, might beg to differ, that her major flaws might include her lack of fear and overabundance of recklessness but really, those were assets in her profession). But Parker just didn't get people. All those emotions and thoughts and feelings and complexity and reactions to things that just confused her. That was why she worked alone. Nothing confusing or complex about bypassing security to break into a Castleman Acess Vault for a priceless nomad diamond. In and out in forty minutes and home free with more money to add to her collection. But these people in front of her…

Nathan Ford. Clearly an alcoholic, but a functioning one at that. They were not friends, no Nate had made that clear that he was above them, that he wasn't one of them. But here he was, a part of this…well whatever this was supposed to be. A business? A team? A team. Yeah, that's what it was. Parker suddenly sat up straighter, her eyes bright as her mind caught onto this new and exciting idea. A team. Yes…

Nathan Ford. Parker looked at the man with new thought. This man had gotten them in and out, them, a bunch of loner, high profile thieves and somehow gotten them all to love what they had done enough to stay together. He was their leader, their mastermind. A drunken genius. Maybe that's the only genius worth being.

Her gaze trailed over to the woman sitting on the arm of Nate's chair. Unlike Parker, she was actually listening to the teary couple, studying them, knowing them. She looked so normal, probably the only one out of the five of them. But Parker knew that Ms. Sophie Deveraux was full of surprises. Her acting on the stage may be utterly revolting, but her grifting and behaviorist skills were to be admired. (Though it wasn't quite as cool as rappelling off of a the Empire State Building). Sophie was their grifter, their second in command. She would keep them level when everything else…well, went to hell.

And then there was the man sitting next to her, Alec Hardison, the hacker. Parker had to admit, his skills were good. But damn was he geeky! He seemed naïve, but obviously very, very smart. And he had his own bag of tricks that Parker knew could be very entertaining. Alright, so he was their hacker, their Mission Control.

The fourth member of their newfound team was standing behind her, and while Parker didn't really know many social graces, she did know that turning her back on a client they were seeing wasn't a good mark on their record. But Eliot Spencer…he was a man of mystery. He was well built, muscular, and he could take down six men in under ninety seconds. He was a first class hitter, one of the best in the world. He was also the best at keeping his life very, very secret. Although they all hadn't known each other long, Parker already knew more about the others than she did Eliot. All she knew for sure is that he was clearly a southern cowboy and that he had many, many secrets to hide. But he wanted to be here right? Otherwise he would have left. No, he was their hitter, their backup.

"People like that..corporations like that….that have all the money."

It took a moment for Parker to realize that Nate had started talking now, that he was explaining what they do. Their team. A team she was a part of. Parker knew what she could do. They all knew what she could do. She liked to consider herself a bit of an eccentric legend. She was the thief.

"They have all the power and they use it to make people like you go away."

Parker nodded, her eyes becoming steely and cold.

"Right now you are suffering under an enormous weight."

It took all of her self -control not to start humming some sort of action music as a sort of build up. As it was, the music was drumming through her mind, giving her adrenalin a soundtrack. Maybe she could ask Hardison to burn a cd for her for moments like these…

"We provide…"

This time, Parker did turn around to face him. Eliot caught her eye, and while his face remained stoic and serious, there was a gleam in his blue eyes that made her stomach feel like it did when she jumped out a window. This was going to be fun.

"Leverage."