Afternoon all, going to try something a little more involved this time, all set up and ready to go…got Christian Kane playing on my you tube list, soda and I'm ready to roll. This one's been rolling around in my head for awhile, I think this was inspired pretty much by his song "In the Darkness"

Disclaimer: I don't own Leverage, its characters, my plot, only Sara belong to me, I'm not a medical professional, I do take liberties with somethings, others not so much.

Hope you enjoy, love feedbackJ

_____________________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 1

Sara looked up as the door swung open, "Hey you, long time no see."

Eliot smiles a genuine smile as he recognizes Sara's voice "hey you, how ya been?"

She stops wiping down the counter and reaches into the fridge behind her "sweet tea?"

"sounds good, thanks," he drops his duffel and sits at the counter, he rolls his shoulders, placing his elbows on the counter. "looks a bit slow, business been ok?"

She smiles as she puts the tea in front of him, " Been great actually, just different busy times right now, harvest you know, it'll pick up later."

She refills the glass he drained, "you droppin' in for a visit or just moving through for somewhere exotic?"

"Droppin' in for awhile if that's alright with you," he takes another drink of tea.

"Relaxin' or lookin' for work?" she looks at him deadpan.

Eliot smirks, she always was a direct one, kinda reminded him of Parker in a way, just sayin' what's on her mind, "Little of both."

"Can always use an extra hand in the kitchen…washin' dishes, stuff like that, you hungry?

"always," he laughs and decides this was a good idea droppin' in on Sara.

Eliot watches as Sara goes into the kitchen, watching her through the pass through window and thinks back to what brought him here in the first place. They had some down time due to his injury on the last job and Nate hadn't wanted to put him into any dangerous situations. The first few days he relaxed and healed, the next few he spent working on getting back into shape, then he'd gotten restless, grabbed his duffel, got into the truck and started driving only stopping for gas. Somehow he'd ended up on Hywy 80 going east and ended up back in Nebraska, he turned north on 81 and right on 91, drove a few miles and was back to where he felt at home, Sara, she didn't ask questions, let him help out at the restaurant and the farm, she was good people, had come from good people. He felt almost normal being here. So here he was, in a small Northeast Nebraska town, (population 752, thank you very much), thank god he knew the people here, small towns were funny about new people.

He was brought back as Sara put him plate in front of him, he looked at her and grinned, "pan fried huh." he looked at his plate, pan fried chicken, mashed potatoes (homemade no doubt) and sautéed veggie blend.

"yep, only the best for you," she chuckled. "So how long you stayin'?"

"Not sure," he dug into his food and enjoyed the home cooking.

Sara watched him eat as she finished getting ready for the supper crowd, "so you up to helping out for supper, one of my waitresses called in sick?"

He looked up at her, "Sure, sounds like fun, do I get to wait or cook?"

"Your choice cowboy," a grin tugging at her lips, "I know you can do both."

"I got the kitchen, you get the people," he raised an eyebrow at her

"Well then you better get a move on they'll start coming in in an hour or so," she started rolling silverware.

Eliot followed Sara out to her farm after the supper run, she wasn't kidding when she said it would get busy. They were farmers for the most part, there were also some of the widowed ladies from town in earlier, the place had been overrun and they were busy for 3 hours solid. He'd made everything from chef salads to steak and eggs, it felt good to work like that again. He'd also recognized every face that walked into the place, he had to admit it felt pretty good.

They got to the farm and he parked next to Sara's truck, grabbed his bag and followed her to the house. "your room is still in the same place" Sara told him as they walked up to the older farmhouse. The walked into the from unlocked door and he looked around, "looks good, Sara, changed the color scheme I see."

"Had to, can't stand drab colors like Josh did, it did keep him from climbing the walls though, " she walked into the kitchen turning on the lights as she went. She turned and watched his face as he walked into the room.

"Wow, really like what you've done with the kitchen," he admired. She had every appliance know to man in the thing and it was huge.

She watched the surprise come over his face, the last time he had been there it was a small farm kitchen with outdated appliances. She and Josh had knocked out a couple walls to open it up, put in an island and top of the line appliances. "I'm gonna grab a shower, make yourself at home," she turned and left the room.

Eliot followed her partway down the hall stopping at 'his' room and went in to get settled. After unpacking he went to the living room looking at the framed photos hanging on the wall. Most of were family, both Josh's and Sara's, Sara and Josh's wedding photos. Eliot stopped short when he saw the photos of his and Josh's unit in various places overseas and stateside. She walked up next to him smelling like mint and rosemary, "hard to believe we were ever that young huh," he looked over at her.

"He would have followed you anywhere you know," she said softly.

He looks at her again, "I know but I couldn't drag him away from you this place, it was better this way."

"Better?" she gasps, "no, never better Eliot. If he would of went with you he wouldn't have reenlisted and got himself killed in some godforsaken desert." she looked haunted, "I'm going to bed, see ya in the morning."

Eliot watched her leave the room kicking himself for bringing it up again.