A/N: This was originally written for the Leverage Crossover Big Bang at LiveJournal. I had the idea such a long time ago and the Cross Bang made me want to buckle down and write it. Somehow I never posted here and now just felt like the time, since I've been missing my Leverage and Veronica Mars muses for a while. Hope anyone who reads it enjoys it :)

Disclaimer: All recognisable characters from Leverage belong to John Rogers, Dean Devlin, Chris Downey, TNT, and other folks that aren't me. All recognisable characters from Veronica Mars belong to Rob Thomas and other folks that aren't me. Any unrecognisable characters are mine, all mine!

Chapter 1

August 12th, 2009, 05:11 PST - Neptune, California.

There were bells ringing somewhere, far away at first and then much closer. Veronica Mars wanted to pretend she didn't hear them, block them out and hope they went away, but it wasn't working. Sleep was slipping away from her at an alarming rate, and all too soon her eyes were open staring at vivid red numbers on the digital clock atop the nightstand. They said it was just after five in the morning.

With a groan, she pulled herself up, not really surprised to find that her boyfriend was sleeping on, in spite of the phone ringing long and loud just inches from his head.

"Logan Echolls, I swear you could sleep through a nuclear war," she sighed as she reached past him for the offending phone and picked up the receiver. "Hello?" she said groggily.

"Ah, Miss Mars," the girl from the front desk of the Neptune Grand greeted her, "I'm so sorry disturb you but I have an urgent call for Mr Echolls, from a Mr McCormack."

"Cliff?" Veronica frowned, wondering what on Earth the local public defender and her own family's friend wanted with her boyfriend. "Um, just a minute," she said, shaking herself from a stream of ideas and panic as her boyfriend stirred at her side.

"What's going on?" he asked as he came to. "Veronica?" he said, rubbing his eyes and just now focusing on the look of concern on her face.

"Reception has Cliff McCormack on the phone," she explained, handing over the receiver, "Apparently it's urgent."

Now came the wait as Logan pulled himself up and tried to be aware enough to take this call that was apparently important. As awful as it sounded even in her own head, Veronica's biggest was concern was that their lives were about to be turned upside down by another accusation. Though she was pretty sure there was nothing Logan could be arrested for, it wouldn't be the first time it happened for no good reason. Of course, it seemed unlikely Cliff, a lawyer, would be calling for that, rather two deputies would be at the door of his home (a.k.a. the Neptune Grand Presidential Suite) to take him away for questioning.

The look on Logan's face wasn't giving much away, no matter how good Veronica Mars was at reading people. She could see confusion and surprise in his features, but that was to be expected. Lawyers didn't call at five in the morning for nothing, and the longer the unhelpful one-sided conversation went on, the more the little blonde P.I. was starting to freak out. She could hardly contain herself when Logan hung up the phone, desperate to know what had just been said.

"Okay," he said, leaning back against the headboard a moment after replacing the phone receiver in the cradle, "Uh... that was Cliff," he said pointlessly, since Veronica already knew that. "He just got a call about a woman who died. She, she used to know my Dad."

"Okay," Veronica nodded once, "So she knew Aaron, I don't understand why that matters now. It's been years since he..." she stopped short of using the D word, even though on some level Logan would always be just a little glad his murderous father was gone.

"That's kinda why Cliff called me," Logan explained, though his eyes stared unseeing at the opposite wall even as he continued to speak. "They opened up a safety deposit box, the one that belonged to this woman... to Grace Carmicheal," he went on, pinching the bridge of his nose as if he felt a headache coming on. "They found a letter addressed to my father and apparently with him gone, they've decided I should have it."

"Oh," said Veronica, not really sure what to follow it up with.

Anything to do with Aaron tended not to be good. When they were kids, she knew the evil old man beat on his son and on his wife too. As teens they'd found out he had not only slept with Logan's girlfriend, Lilly, but also subsequently killed her, only to escape justice and be set free despite his obvious guilt. That was when Clarence Wiedman had cleaned up the mistake, courtesy of Lilly's family, but it didn't take away the pain Aaron had caused. Not to mention the secret son he had, who had come to light during their Freshman year of college. That had been an almighty mess too. Thankfully, these past two years and more had run pretty smooth, at least since Veronica and Logan had got over their differences and reunited. The memory of Aaron faded somewhat and here they were, enjoying their summer together before Senior year of college, hoping that all the badness of their teen years was way, way behind them. Now it was starting to seem that things would take a turn for the worse again.

"How many scenarios do you have running through your head right now?" asked Logan as he looked across at his crime-solving girlfriend. "I mean, what could possibly be in a letter like that?"

"I don't know," the blonde shook her head, pushing her hair out of her face as she thought on it some. "Maybe there's something she wanted him to have when she was gone," she mused. "Maybe there was something she just always wanted to say to him but never had the nerve... y'know, out of fear?" she said with a knowing look.

"Maybe," he echoed the word, since everything was going to be uncertain until they actually saw this mystery letter. "McCormack's pretty shaken up by it."

"He read it?" asked Veronica with a frown.

"I guess he thought he could, with my Dad gone," shrugged Logan, not really phased by it. "I probably asked him to deal with anything that came up... I don't remember," he waved a hand in a vague gesture, before turning to swing his legs out of the bed.

Veronica might've asked what he was doing, but after all this time she knew him well enough she didn't need to. This thing was going to play on Logan's mind until he knew everything, just as the curiosity would kill her too. They were going to the lawyer's office now, regardless of the early hour, and they were going to find out the truth, because that's what they always did.

August 12th, 2009, 13:24 EST - Boston, Mass.

"So it's not Area 51, but there is an Area 50?" Parker checked she had her facts straight, around a mouthful of Eliot's delicious stir-fry. "And that's where the spaceships are?!" she gasped, all excitement and intrigue as usual.

"Sweetie, please," Sophie urged her. "Swallow your food before you ask anymore. I'm wearing more of your lunch than you've actually eaten!" she grimaced.

"Sorry," the thief was quick to say, spitting a tiny piece of pepper at her friend before swallowing hard. "All gone," she declared, showing the entire table her empty mouth then.

"There's something wrong with you," muttered Eliot at her childish behaviour. "Didn't anybody ever teach you table manners?"

"No," the thief replied like it was the most natural thing in the world. "Now, tell me more about the aliens!"

"Well, y'know, that's what the Loch Ness Monster probably is," Hardison considered, causing Parker to whip her head around to face him instead of the hitter by her side. "How else do explain a thing that big-ass scary in a Scottish lake?"

"Can we please talk about something else?" asked Nate, pinching the bridge of his nose like he felt a headache coming on. "Anything else? Like a job, or sports, or... anything?" he tried again.

It was a struggle not to go back to hitting the bottle, it was always going to be, he supposed. There was no such thing as an ex-alcoholic, only a recovering or functioning one. Nathan Ford just had to keep on fighting the urge, which was a whole lot easier to do when the 'kids' on his team weren't fighting or talking crazy.

"Nate, we only just finished this job," Sophie complained. "Don't you think we could use a little break, even if just for the weekend?"

Nobody else seemed willing to jump in on what might well turn into an argument. As if things weren't strained enough between the mastermind of their Robin Hood team and his right-hand grifter. Their never-quite-a-romance was complicated enough. When they got into team politics, all the others were prepared to do was sit back and watch the fireworks rather than get into the middle of it.

"The world never stops turning, Sophie," he told her not actually looking up from the food he was picking at but not eating. "Somebody always needs help, and that's what we do now, isn't it? Help people who need us?"

"You got anyone specific in mind?" asked Eliot.

For himself, it really wasn't a problem if they swung into a new job straight away. It was different if he'd suffered in any serious way but the fighting had been minimal on this last job and half the time he'd taken on Hardison's job behind the computer. He was no hacker like his friend, and honestly, if he didn't get his regular dose of hitting bad guys, he just got antsy.

"I have," the mastermind nodded once, deciding just to put the fork down and give up on the food right now. "One small problem. The client is in California, outskirts of Los Angeles to be precise."

"Oh no, man. No way!" Hardison began to protest. "Less than a year ago we was in L.A., watching our own offices blow sky high thanks to James Sterling and your old buddies at IYS. Then we pulled that two Davids job. If we show our faces there now..."

"Calm down, Hardison," Eliot urged him. "Let's hear about the job and check out the players before you get your panties in a bunch."

Parker laughed out loud at that comment, her over-active imagination putting the hacker in bunched panties and nothing else all too easily. It was a genuinely hilarious sight in her mind's eye. She might've gone on a whole lot longer if Sophie hadn't swiftly encouraged her to calm down.

A few minutes later the team were all gathered around the six-part screen on the back wall, whilst Nate spoke quietly to Hardison and the hacker started pulling up details from the Internet and such. Eliot, Parker, and Sophie shared the couch, asking questions about what this new job might entail. It was all pretty normal for the Leverage crew, until suddenly Parker shuddered violently for no apparent reason.

"What the hell, Parker?" asked Eliot with a look that was equal parts annoyance and concern - it was his usual expression when looking at the thief.

"I don't know," she admitted, frowning herself as she considered it. "It was like... I don't know," she repeated when she realised she couldn't explain the strange feeling that passed through her then; it was just so weird.

August 12th, 2009, 06:31 PST - Neptune, California.

"This better be good, McCormack," said Logan without any kind of real greeting as he cleared the door of the lawyers office, one hand gripping Veronica's own.

"I would hardly have called at such an hour if it wasn't," his lawyer said definitely, rounding the desk with papers in his hand and nodding a greeting to the blonde.

Veronica wasn't sure what they were going to see when the letter was handed over, but given that it all led back to Aaron Echolls, she wondered if she really wanted to know. To her surprise, Logan didn't take the letter from Cliff's hand, just shook his head and dropped himself into a chair, prompting his girlfriend to do the same.

"Explain to me again why I'm here for a dead woman's last letter to daddy dearest?" asked Logan seriously. "What gives, Cliff? Aaron's been dead for three years now."

"The woman that wrote this letter, a Grace Carmichael," he began to explain, seating himself on the front edge of the desk. "She wasn't exactly of stable mind."

"She was mentally ill?" Veronica checked with a frown.

"Yes and no," Cliff tried to explain. "Our Ms Carmichael was heavily into drugs, living on the streets for a not small portion of the time... Perhaps I should just read the letter to you?" he suggested.

When no argument came from the pair, Cliff cleared his throat to begin.

"Dear Aaron, if you're reading this then the worst has happened and I'm dead. I doubt you'll care much..."

"Spare me the sob story drama," Logan sighed then. "If there's something in this letter that matters, just skip to the details," he encouraged the lawyer, snapping his fingers to dictate the speed he was after.

Veronica gripped her boyfriend's hand tighter. He was only being so obnoxious because this had to do with Aaron. This meeting was about all the touchiest subjects for Logan; his father, all Aaron had done wrong in his life, and his untimely but completely justified death. She only hoped Cliff wasn't about to make matters worse by adding to the store of pain Logan was already having to get over where his Dad was concerned.

"Okay..." the lawyer nodded once, flipping over the letter in his hand and finding the most relevant paragraph, then continuing reading aloud. "I know it would've been easier to get it taken care of, I know that's what you would've wanted but I couldn't do it. After she was born, I just couldn't deal. I handed our daughter over to the adoption agency, and I never saw her again"

"What?" Logan gasped in abject shock, his hand going to his face as he tried to take in what he was hearing here.

"What this means, Logan, is that Aaron might very well have had a daughter he never met," Cliff explained succinctly. "And she might just still be out there somewhere, completely oblivious to where she came from."

August 12th, 2009, 15:27 EST - Boston, Mass.

Eliot was actually starting to wonder why he was climbing the roof access ladder in Nate's apartment block. Maybe he was crazy but then that would be about right these days given the team he had fast become a part of. A couple of years ago he was the epitome of lone wolf. Now there were these people around him and as much as it pained him to admit it, Eliot had come to care about all of them.

When it had proven boring waiting for Hardison to find all the relevant information of their latest job, the team decided to go their separate ways for the night. A little rest and relaxation, a little alone time too, it was all good as far as the members of team Leverage were concerned. Nate stayed at the apartment but left his hacker alone to do his 'sweet funky' as he was currently referring to it. Hardison was best left to his own devices when he was busy anyway.

Sophie had decided she needed a little retail therapy and gone off shopping whilst Eliot had said he would deal with the dishes from lunch and then probably head to the gym. Somewhere in amongst all this, Parker had disappeared. Not that it was so shocking for her to do that. She could quite literally appear in a room and disappear just the same without anyone seeing her entry or exit. This was different somehow, and Eliot couldn't help but wonder if something was going on with Parker, more than she was letting on.

When he was done with the dishes, Eliot didn't even bother to say goodbye to Hardison or Nate, the former was so engrossed in his hacking he was talking to himself and the latter had gone to his room to read, apparently. Eliot had made to leave the apartment but stopped short at the stairs. He didn't know why he thought so, but something told him Parker hadn't strayed too far. It was instinct, he guessed. The roof was the little thief's preferred location when she was upset, lonely, or similar. Heights were her friend, that much Eliot had learnt, somewhere between the base jumping and rappelling. It was why he wasn't at all surprised when his usually good instincts proved right once again and he came up onto the roof to find her sat right there by the edge.

Mindful of startling her, even though it ought to be impossible, he didn't call her name, just strode across the space between them. She reacted only when he was within two steps.

"I thought you went home," she said flatly. "How'd you even know I was up here?"

"Maybe you're becoming predictable, darlin'," he smirked as he moved to sit down beside her. "Or maybe I know you well enough by now to see when something's up. What gives, Parker?" he asked her straight then. "I know people like us, we like to hide what's wrong. I'm as guilty of that as anyone, but if it's a real problem..."

"It's not," she shook her head, letting out a deep sigh. "I'm fine, I just... I don't know. I guess sometimes I just start thinking about how everybody else had this normal life, y'know, when they were a kid? Sometimes it makes me wonder..."

"Makes you wonder, what?" he prompted when she fell silent.

Parker's eyes shifted from the distant horizon to meet Eliot's a moment, then she promptly looked away again. There was a long pause in which he just watched the wind whipping her loose hair around her face, and finally she told him what was really wrong.

"You think if I'd've had two parents, real parents, and a family and everything, you think I'd be normal?" she asked then. "You think you'd have less excuses to tell me there's something wrong with me?"

Eliot had no doubt in his mind at all that the last thing she was trying to do here was fish for either compliments or an apology. If she was badly hurt by the things he said, she'd make it clear enough. Parker always said what she thought, or she stabbed you with a fork and ran for the hills. No, what she was asking here was real and genuine, and just exactly the questions she put to him were the things she wanted answered. Unfortunately, there was no right answer for him to give.

"Darlin', I had two parents, good folks, plus a sister, a nice home, the whole works," he told her as she looked sideways at him. "You think I turned out normal?"

Parker just shrugged her shoulders at that, her eyes returning to the horizon.

"The truth is, none of us is normal," Eliot went on, pushing his hair back off his face when the wind blew it sideways. "I don't think anybody in the world can be, 'cause there is no normal. Everybody's just trying to deal with their past, make it through today, and try not to worry too much about what's coming up in the future."

The silence that followed was as unreadable as Parker's expression right now. Eliot wasn't sure if he'd helped or made matters worse. Fact was, he had approached this just exactly as he always approached everything, head on. Parker almost managed to startle the unshakeable hitter then as she stood up suddenly and patted him on the shoulder.

"Thanks, Eliot," she sort of smiled, and then she was walking away and back down the hatch before he even had time to react.

Apparently, they were done talking for now.

To Be Continued...

A/N2: There are 8 chapters to this thing and they all need formatting and such before they get posted, hence not doing it all at once, but it'll be pretty quick appearing, at least that's the plan :)