A/N: I got the name for this story from I think it was the 2 episode of Dollhouse. I came up with the idea after I had a nightmare that was like this only with different people. I'm not promising that this will be a fun/happy story 'cause it's not. The lyrics somewhere near the end are Girl with one eye by Florence + The Machine. (Ironically a song in one of the first fanfics I ever read and the first song I ever heard by Florence + The Machine) There will be another chapter and I don't own Leverage!

Prove You Deserve To Live

Nate walked downstairs to see Sophie sitting at the counter. She had her arms crossed and her head was down. Why was she sad? He quietly walked over to her, sat down next to her, and put his arm around her. Sophie bolted up, her brown hair falling over her profile.

"What's wrong, Soph?"

Slowly she turned to look at him. She had one blue eye and one brown eye. The woman looked like Sophie but not like her at the same time.

"Who are you?" Nate half yelled.

"I'm Sophie's twin sister Alice," She answered quickly. "I need to tell you something about Sophie."

"If it's not a matter between life and death then I don't really care right now."

"But it is!"

"Oh, come on," Nate rolled his eyes.

"Listen to me-"

Alice cut herself short when Sophie walked in. Nate gave her a look before going over to Sophie and acting like nothing happened.

"Hey," Nate kissed her hello.

"Hey, Nate. Are you ready to-"

"Hello to you too."

"Oh, hey Alice you're out of jail!" Sophie grinned at her sister.

Alice jumped over the counter and nearly strangled Sophie when she said that. Nate, however, pushed Alice back.

"You bitch! You framed me for that!" Alice screamed at her, making no effort to attack her now because she was sure Nate would defend Sophie. He deserved to know the truth but how could she tell him without Sophie killing her?

"I did not frame you for that Alice! The judge sent you to jail and not me," Sophie glared at her sister as she gripped Nates arm tightly.

Nate pulled away from Sophie's grasp and went to write his phone number on a piece of paper. He handed it to Alice and then went back to put his arm around Sophie's waist.

"You can call me if there's any problems. We'll be back in a few hours."

Alice didn't say anything but nodded ever so slightly. The two of them walked out the door and down to Nates car. They had just bought a huge house a few weeks before. It was pretty run down and needed a lot of work so they went there every other day to work on it. Today they were going to work on yard work since it was all over-grown.

LEVERAGE

"I'll go get the stuff from the shed and you can start weeding," Sophie said as she started walking over to the shed. The yard was fairly big and stretched on for about the length of a football field. The shed was stupidly placed far away from the house, which to Nate, made no sense. He started weeding and about 10 minutes later Sophie joined him.

"So, does Alice know you're a grifter?"

"No."

"Why was she in jail?"

"She murdered someone," Sophie said with a slight hesitancy in her voice. She didn't like talking about it.

"A murder?"

"There was one witness. Said they saw a woman with two different colored eyes and brownish black hair leave the house. It was my sister."

"How do you know for sure?"

"She's my sister, I know things," Sophie sighed and then yanked out a particularly large weed.

"Alice said you framed her...you didn't did you?"

"I've never killed anyone in my life, Nate," Sophie replied firmly.

"Then why did she say that you framed her?"

"Well, it's easy to blame someone else that looks almost exactly like you."

Nate had more questions to ask about her history with Alice when they were growing up and all these other things. Sophie looked like she was already closing off about the subject so he decided to leave it at that. He hadn't even known that she had a sister. Much less a twin.

"When was the trial and why did you never tell me about it?" The words spilled out of his mouth before he could stop them.

Sophie's body stiffened slightly and he knew he had crossed the line. "It was a little after Sam died. I figured you didn't need to know."

"Why did you never tell me?"

"Nate, can we please not talk about this! It's just not a pleasant memory nor is she a very pleasant sister," Sophie's voice was strained as she looked at him with her wavering brown eyes.

"Sorry, I shouldnt've brought it up," Nate apologized softly.

"Thanks Love," Sophie leaned over and kissed him on the cheek before going back to weeding. It wasn't much later that Nates phone rang.

"Hello?...oh hey...one second-" He pressed the phone to his chest. "I'm gonna go inside, I'll be back in a bit."

"Okay."

Nate went inside and brought the phone back up to his ear. "So, tell me this important information now."

"Try not to freak out when I say this because I'm not going to sugarcoat it," She paused. "Sophie's a murderer."

There was a long span of silence.

"What?"

"Sophie is a murderer!"

"That's a lie."

"She framed me for that murder you idiot!"

"But she said that the witness said that they saw a woman with two different colored eyes leave the house."

"Have you never heard of colored contacts?"

"I have but how does that help? I barely know you so how can I believe you?"

"Did Sophie furnish your house so far?"

"Yeah, she's bought quite a lot of stuff already."

"Has she put it around the house?"

"Yes, all of it is in its place..."

"Look around at the stuff she's bought and tell me if you see a theme."

Nate looked up from his place on the couch to the piece above the mantel. Two swords crossed. He looked at the coffee table legs where things were carved in. People being tortured. Nate walked over to the kitchen and looked at another piece hanging on the wall. A swordfish. They had also bought a new set of knives. This was getting a little creepy. He walked upstairs to their bedroom and saw that the pair of nightstand lamps had a fake gun as the pole. He walked down the halls and looked at a few pieces of artwork she had brought. Most of them were the normal beautiful paintings that she stole but some of them were morbid battles and fights filled with blood and gore.

"Notice a theme?"

"So there's a lot of weapon related things and death but the doesn't mean anything. She's always been a bit...sadistic...and liked sadistic things..."

"Well, tell me how it goes while you're at a secluded location with a murderer."

"She's not a murderer," Nate growled.

The line went dead and Nate sighed. He went back outside to see Sophie on her phone.

"Yes, I get it!...sleep with him or don't, I don't care...well what do you want in the relationship?...Tara, stop being so difficult!...don't call me a bitch!...fine!" Sophie huffed and shoved her phone back in her pocket.

"What was that about?" Nate asked as he grabbed the gardening shears off the ground.

"Tara was asking me if she should sleep with this guy. She was being difficult about it," Sophie sighed and went back to hoeing the dirt.

"How are you enjoying this yard work?" Nate asked with slight amusement as he took a spot next to her.

"It's bloody stupid but sometimes you have to do the dirty work. I'd rather be inside cooking."

"Cooking?"

"Yeah, don't you remember me saying I wanted to learn how to cook really well when we bought those knives?" Sophie frowned as she looked at him.

So that explains the knives. "Oh, yeah, I remember that," he lied.

LEVERAGE

Sophie was in the kitchen looking at how sharp her knives were when Nate walked in. Her mind was focused on the blade but she could tell he had stopped in his place and was frozen still.

"If you look at that thing hard enough it'll cut your eye," Nate joked.

She smirked and put the tomato on the cutting board. The dangerously sharp knife cut through it like it was nothing. "Very funny, Nathan."

"Do you need help cutting anything?"

"No."

"Let me know if you need anything," Nate said as he turned to leave the room.

"What's been up with you today?" Came Sophie's worried voice.

On any day before this idea had been planted inside his head he would've found the voice comforting. Now it made him shiver. He turned around and forced a fake smile.

"You're forcing a smile I can tell. Come here," Sophie walked over to him and took his hand, instructing him to sit on the stool opposite of her on the island. "You seem really uptight today."

"Aren't I always?"

"No. Today you seem like cautious of something...was it Alice that bothered you?"

"Yeah. Actually she is." And that wasn't a lie.

"She gives off a weird vibe doesn't she?"

"Little bit."

"Well I'm sorry that she decided to show up like that."

"How did she get into my apartment?" Nate suddenly asked, remembering that Sophie greeted her like she hasn't seen her yet.

"Well maybe she knows how to pick locks. She is a killer after all."

Nates stomach lurched at the words and he felt himself almost start gagging. He clamped his hand over his mouth and tried to keep from getting sick.

"Nate, what's wrong," Sophie walked over to him and held his face in her hands.

"It just felt like I swallowed an air bubble," Nate said. It wasn't a great excuse but it would suffice.

"Oh. I thought you were going to be sick!" Sophie laughed a little and went back to cutting up more stuff. Nate got up to get a glass at the same time Sophie turned around, and because of the way the kitchen was laid out they were right next to each other. Her knife slashed across his arm, creating a huge deep gash.

Nate cursed in pain as he clutched the open wound. "Dammit Sophie what was that for?"

"It was an accident! I turned around at the same time you walked over!"

Nate watched the blood run down his arm and drip onto the floor. He pulled his hand away to see it covered it in blood. Sophie quickly went to cleaning his gash, getting blood on her hands in the process.

"Why don't you go lay down upstairs babe," Sophie suggested as she finished wrapping gauze around his arm.

Nate cringed at the nickname and the pain in his arm. "Why?"

"Dinner," Was all she said.

"Oh, okay," Nate went off upstairs. He let out a deep breath and let go of the inhibitions that had been clogging his mind and body. Alice was crazy and Sophie was nice. He was overreacting. Sophie was the kind and loveable person he knew and she would be nothing else to him no matter what. She was probably right when saying that Alice was the killer. Like an evil twin.

Back in the kitchen Sophie was cleaning up. She waited until Nates was upstairs to relax. God, was it difficult to keep this demeanor up. Alice had already told him that she was a murderer and of course Nate didn't believe it. She knew this because she had been listening in on her own phone (something she had learned how to do from Hardison.) That's why she had been 'on' the phone when Nate came out. Alice was right though, she did use colored contacts because it was easier to frame her sister for the murder so she wouldn't have to go to jail. She licked the blood off her hand absent-mindedly, a twisted grin carved into her face as she tasted the fear in his blood. 'Accidents' happen all the time.

LEVERAGE

Nate was breathing heavy as he fell back down in bed next Sophie. She giggled softly and snuggled close to him. He put his arms around her and turned on his side to look at her.

"You...are...amazing," he breathed as he kissed her lightly.

"So are you."

He smiled and brushed the hair out of her face. Alice was so wrong. Sophie would never hurt anyone on purpose. She was too nice to hurt anyone.

"You know, we never did eat lunch."

Sophie felt her stomach growl. "Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. I'll go down and finish."

"I'll be up here. Come get me if you need me," he kissed her one more time before she got out of bed. A little after Sophie left Nates phone rang. It was Alice. He reluctantly picked up the phone.

"What?"

"Oh, good, you're not dead!"

"I told you I don't believe you! Please stop bothering me about it."

"I will after you tell me exactly what you've done in between now and since we last talked."

"No!"

"I need to know!"

The main reason why Nate didn't want to tell her was because they had had 'dinner.'

Meanwhile downstairs

Sophie cleaned off the knife she was using and started drying it off. She put it in the knife holder with the other ones in the set and pulled out her phone. On the screen it showed a picture of a phone sending signals out. That meant Nate was on the phone with someone. She hit answer and put the phone up to her ear.

"No, I'm not telling you!"

"Are you injured at all?"

There was a pause and Sophie took that as her chance to join in. She started to sing.

"She told me not to step on the cracks

I told her not to fuss and relax

Well, her pretty little face stopped me in my tracks

But now she sleeps with one eye open

That's the price she paid

I took a knife and cut out her eye

I took it home and watched it wither and die

Well, she's lucky that I didn't slip her a smile

That's why she sleeps with one eye open

That's the price she paid."

Dead silence.

"Do you get it now, Nate?" There was panic and fear gushing out of Alices voice.

"Yeah, I get it, but who was that?"

"How could you not know?" Sophie said smoothly. She had changed into her black huntress clothing and was now grabbing her knives.

"Sophie?"

"Yes?"

"Don't you get it Nate? 'I took a knife and cut out her eye'"

"Are you saying that Sophie cut out your eye?" Nates voice was half hesitant and half confused.

"She's not saying it she's stating it."

"So you actually cut out her eye?"

"Yep," Sophie grabbed her 7in knife and put it in the the holster connected to her sash.

"You were right!" Nate whispered.

"I told you!"

"I have to get out of here!"

"Now. Now. Just wait!" Sophie's voice started to change as the insanity and adrenaline of hunting and killing started to set it. Her accent became grittier and stronger. "You can't leave yet!"

"Why-why not?"

"Because you haven't played my game yet."

"What's the-the game?"

"Prove you deserve to live."

"I-I don't li-like that game!"

"If you prove yourself worthy then I don't kill you," Her face was expressionless as she slipped her two pockets knives in her pocket and watched as the metal of her throwing knives glinted in the sun. "If don't prove yourself worthy then I kill you."

"Have you lost your mind?" Nate practically yelled.

"She's not lying Nate. I played this game and nearly lost my own life," came Alice's voice.

"Now, I will make this quick and simple if you just come downstairs and hand yourself over to me. If not we can chase - and when I say chase I mean I hunt you."

"Hunt me! I'm not an animal you can just kill!"

"The world is like a big food chain. Those who are on top can kill whoever they want," The insanity and adrenaline was pumping even quicker in her veins and her voice.

"Get out NOW!" Alice screamed.

A few seconds later Sophie was standing at the far end of the hall. Then Nate came bounding down the stairs. He stopped in the hallway as he felt her gaze penetrate his back. Slowly, he turned around to see the most frightening thing in the world.

There was the woman he thought he loved standing tall and still. The sun lit her up from behind and cast dark shadows over the front of her. He saw her with knives around her waist and knives in a sash across her torso. One hand had the phone to her ear and the other had another knife in her hand.

He literally almost screamed bloody murder. Nate saw her lips move and a second later he heard one word whispered in his ear.

"Run."