Chapter 1
Disclaimer: This story is a product of my imagination, I only Claim the plot, and a couple of the characters. The Leverage team belongs to someone else, which is not me.
The meeting had taken longer than he thought it would. They had finished the job and it had been successful, so he didn't know why Nate had felt the need to keep them so late. He was so damn tired and at that moment, all he wanted to do was grab a beer and relax.
He was about to walk into his apartment building when he heard it. A woman's scream of outrage in the alley next to the building. He took off around the corner to the mouth of the alley and was instantly pissed at what he saw. Two men were attacking a Caucasian woman in her early 30's. But what got his attention was the 4 year old little boy glued to the alley wall behind her. She was doing a good job of fighting them off and screaming some pretty impressive obscenities at them, all while trying to stay in front of the little boy. Her arm shot out as she punched one guy in the jaw, and this momentarily stunned the other guy long enough for her to kick him in the groin. As he bent forward from the pain, her knee came up into his face. Eliot was impressed, but it was short lived as he watched the first guy recover and proceeded to punch her in the jaw. This spurred him into action.
Running towards them he yelled out, "Hey!" All eyes turned to him and for a brief second he noticed the look of hope in the woman's eyes. He stared them down, "Didn't your mama teach you how to treat a woman?" The guy that punched her stepped forward, "Get the hell out of here, this isn't your business." Eliot growled, "You made it my business when you hit her." The guy lunged at him. Eliot grabbed the guy's arm using his momentum to twist him around and kick him in the back. The second guy took this opportunity to try and attack from behind, but Eliot swept his leg behind him, knocking the guy down. The first guy had apparently recovered and when he came at Eliot again, he simply took his elbow to the guy's face and knocked him out. The Second guy came back at him and he dodged the guy's sloppy punch and spun around him to grab him in a chokehold until the guy lost consciousness.
He ran his hands through his hair to get it out of his face and turned to the woman and the little boy. She was hugging him to her tightly and talking in a low, soothing voice, telling him everything was ok, that he was safe. He noticed that she had a slight accent that sounded like his southern one. 'Hmm she's far from home' he thought, but then again, so was he.
He took a moment to look her over, mainly to see if she had any injuries. He could already see the bruise forming on her jaw from that bastard's punch. He also took in how pretty she was. Her hair, which was a shade of brown with red highlights, hung at her shoulders in loose curls. She was just slightly shorter than he was maybe around 5'5". She wasn't as petite as most women felt they had to be these days; she was curvy but in shape at the same time. After a moment, he looked up into her eyes to see them staring right back at him. God they were the most amazing shade of Hazel he had ever seen, but it was the weariness and pain that held his attention.
The little boy was clinging to her as if his life depended on it and looking up at him with curiosity. As he looked at the boy, he noticed that he looked part Hispanic, with curly hair and eyes the same shade as hers.
"Are you ok ma'am?" he asked cautiously.
When he had turned around she had found herself staring at a very attractive man. He stood only a couple inches taller than she was maybe around 5'8". His straight brown hair landed around his shoulders, and he was slightly built. Looking up to his face, she noticed the stubble around his mouth and chin. But it was his eyes that drew her in. They were the most amazing shade of Blue-gray she had ever seen and they seemed to say so much. She pulled herself out of staring when she heard the question, and was pleasantly surprised when she heard the southern accent.
"Please call me Sarah, and yes, we are. You were amazing, thank you." she said. "This is my son Cameron."
He looked behind her and saw a backpack & duffel bag at her feet.
"Name's Eliot, glad I could help." he said to her.
They were both quiet for a moment when she spoke, "We were so lucky you were passing by."
He shrugged, "Not luck really, I live right here, I was at the door when I heard you scream out" He paused for a second. "Do you and your little boy need a ride somewhere near?"
He was trying to find out if they had a place to stay. He noticed she had a ring on her wedding finger and wondered where her husband was.
"No, we haven't got a place to stay here yet, we just got in town tonight".
He knew there was more to the story and was sure that they hadn't stayed in one place for long in a while. He recognized the signs of someone on the run. He didn't know what made him do it, but something about her called to him.
"Well look, my place is right there, why don't you and Cameron come on up. I have a guestroom that's never used. I can fix us something to eat and then you guys can rest."
She looked around the alley and down at the guys at their feet. "I don't know, I don't want to put you out, you've already done so much for us tonight."
"It's no problem, really." he assured her.
She seemed to think about it, then replied, "If it's really no problem, then thank you."
