Disclaimer: I don't own Leverage or the characters (or Angel and its characters)… trust me, that fact is probably a good thing.
"Just put on your bowtie and ring the doorbell," Nate said as he left the room.
"Ring the doorbell? Are you kidding me?!" Hardison grumbled as he stood in the kitchen.
"Hardison, this is possible," Eliot stated as he walked in.
"What do you mean, possible? No, it's not. There is no way I can win this trial, especially not this far into it. No way!" Hardison was so very close to throwing his hands up in frustration.
"Trust me, it's possible. Tell me what you have on the last witness," Eliot ordered him, leading the younger man back into the conference room.
"Okay, um… he graduated from UCLA twenty-five years ago, middle of his class. He graduated from Harvard, middle of his class. He was arrested twice for DUI in the last ten years. He has been called as an expert witness everywhere in the US, especially in California. For the last year, he's only been on the witness stand in places he could drive to."
"Why? Guys like this don't just stop taking in easy money when they can," Eliot interrupted.
"He's on the no-fly list."
"Why is he on the list?"
"He's a drunk that can't keep his hands to himself. He's been reported on his behavior more than twenty times in the last year."
"Just use that. Don't worry about how smart he is. Use the fact that he's not even allowed to get on an airplane to take him out of the trial. No normal person would listen to someone on the terrorist watch list."
"That… might work. How do you know how to do this?"
"I had a past before I started busting heads for a living. One part of that involved me being in and out of courtrooms for several years. This will work. Now, get all your papers printed out, you've got court in an hour."
Hardison sat down and got to work, feeling slightly more confident about court; just slightly… not that he would tell Eliot that. Maybe it will work….