Disclaimer: I do not own anything except the character Sasha, her immediate family, and her aliases. Marissa Stiles and her aliases belong to my friend Rosabelle Meave Sterling, while the Leverage team belongs to Electric Entertainment and TNT (though I wish some of the actors did belong to… Ahem. Back to business…).

A/n: In the lovely little fantasy land that is my brain, this takes place at the beginning of season four, just after The Long Way Down Job.

The blonde woman leaned into her car and pulled out several bags of groceries. She had a cell phone sandwiched between her ear and her shoulder. As intent on her conversation as she was, she didn't seem to notice the two men watching her from their car across the street.

"No, Frank." She shifted her bags from one arm to the other, digging for her keys in her pockets. "I am not dropping the charges." She juggled bags and keys, managing to unlock the door and set the cloth bags inside. Switching from ear to ear, she walked back to the car and grabbed the last bag. "I know threats were issued. I don't care." Using her free hand to grab her purse and slam the trunk shut, she didn't bat an eye as the two men dressed in dark clothes passed beneath the streetlight towards her. "The kids are staying with your mom, and I can take care of myself." She sighed, rolling her eyes and placing the last bag on the porch chair as the two men reached her. "Frank, have you forgotten how we met? Hang on a second."

Dropping her purse and phone, the woman spun around, anticipating the first man's move. She didn't expect the second man though. As blows landed and were traded, the cell phone squawked on the ground.

"Allisa? Allisa!"

.0.o.0.o.0.

The waitress handed off four items at the booth: three mugs of coffee and a bag of ice for the woman sitting across from Nathan Ford and Sophie Devereaux. The blonde murmured a quiet thanks and held the ice to the magnificent bruise blooming across the left side of her jaw. Nate motioned her to continue.

"Two months ago, I found some weird information on one of the servers of the security company I work for." She winced slightly. "Worked for. I'm a risk analyst. I figure out if a person needs security and what the holes in their security are."

"Worked?" Nate asked.

She nodded. "There was a file located where it shouldn't have been. I opened it, and it was a risk analysis for one of the foreign dignitaries Premium Security contracts out to. But it was how to assassinate this man, not how to protect him." She signed, then shifted the ice on her jaw. "I took it to my supervisor, a man named Rottfield. Next thing I know, I get a note telling me I'm fired. When I tried to bring a civil suit against Premium, I started receiving threats." She paused again. "I could handle the threats against me, Mr. Ford, but they threatened my kids. No one threatens my kids." There was a steely glint in her eye.

Sophie interjected, "Why not go to the police?" Her accent made her words dance. "I mean, it just seems like this is the sort of thing they handle, Allisa."

Allisa shook her head. "My husband is a detective with the Massachusetts State Police, under Detective Captain Bonanno. We tried to get at the Premium heads, but they couldn't find anything on them. Mrs. Bonanno mentioned that you helped her husband last year. Please, Mr. Ford-" she put down the ice and reached out to grasp his hand, "please. I haven't seen my kids in three weeks. They're staying with my husband's mother. What if they'd been home when those two men jumped me?" She indicated her face. "Frank is an understanding man, but he doesn't seem to get it."

While they were talking, Eliot Spencer walked in. Only Nate seemed to notice him, and he waved Eliot over. "Mrs. Hilbrand, Allisa, if you're worried about their safety, we have someone who can help."

"Really?" Alissa was skeptical. "He can take on two armed men and win? You're sure he can protect-"

"Sasha?" Eliot was staring at the blonde, stunned. Sophie noticed his face.

"Nooooo, this is Allisa Hilbrand. Allisa, this is-"

"Eliot. Eliot Spencer." She turned in her seat and looked up at him with green eyes, running her thumb across an old scar on her right jawline. "Yes, we've met." Nate looked from Allisa's stern glare to Eliot's stunned silence.

"Eliot, what is going on here?"

He seemed to find his voice. "Nate, I'd like you to meet Sasha Allisa Hilbrand, formerly Spencer." Eliot got over his shock, bent down, and hugged the woman, who failed to return his embrace with enthusiasm. Shaking his hair out of his eyes, he looked back at Nate. "She's my big sister."