A/N: Hi there... I know, I know... I have to finish the rest of my stories before I start a new one but I just couldn't resist. Rest assured, I will get to each and every one of them and give them the attention and time they deserve. But for now, enjoy...

And plz remember to review your thoughts and ideas... They make my day. :)

Lightning flashed, followed by resounding thunder, jerking Parker awake from an uneasy doze. She noiselessly got out of bed and picked her way through the room, not wanting to wake the man who was finally resting after spending most of the night soothing her from her nightmares. Another flash of lightning silhouetted her slim body against the backdrop of the big picture window she'd had installed in almost every room in her new apartment.

The workmen had looked at her as if she had dropped down form Mars when she'd insisted that she needed a huge window in every major room in her house, most of them not even having good views. Not even one of them knew why she'd insisted on placing her windows just so... or that all of them had mechanical ziplines attached to them on the outside, a small unobtrusive device that attached to the window ledge, allowing her to be winging her way across the rooftops whenever she wanted or needed to.

Most of the times Parker had used her ziplines in the past had been off the job. She'd loved the feeling of freedom it afforded her to just jump out into the open air... The feeling of being the only person in the whole world with that freedom and not having anything or anyone holding her back.

Parker had always been all alone. The small, blonde master thief had known from a very early age that the only person she could trust and depend on in this world, was herself. Giving even a small portion of her trust to any one else inevitably led to pain and misery for her and there was no way she was going to risk all that again.

She had always worked alone, ever since she'd left Archie at the age of 14. She'd run away from her eighth foster home at the age of 11 after having been beaten by her drunk foster father for the umpteenth time and had been found by Archie Leach. He'd taken her in and trained her in everything he knew, making her into the master thief she was today. But then he'd decided to go back to his real family and she'd once again been left alone and in the dark... feeling as if her whole world had just decided to turn its back on her.

For quite some time after that she'd tried unsuccessfully to fend for herself by doing some odd jobs here and there. But all that had done was to make her feel as if she was trying to live somebody else's life... Trying to fit into someone else's room... and the walls were just closing in on her, making her choke and want to run out that second.

That was when she'd found the only stable sense of freedom that she'd ever had in life. Base jumping and Rappelling. One of the kids in the crew she'd been working with then was as much a head case as she 'd been and had hooked her onto the rush it was jumping off of things... Buildings, bridges, cliffs... You name it, the kid had jumped it. She'd tried it one time, more from the idea of it going wrong and ending up with a face full of asphalt... that way atleast, she wouldn't have to feel so much pain, run away from so many things so many times of the day... So she'd put on the harness and jumped. And at the age of 18, Parker had promptly fallen in love.

Everybody who knew her now would probably guess that money was her first and only love. She understood that she'd come across as a hugely crazy person but what she was, was grossly insecure. She'd never had enough of anything during her childhood days... be it food, clothing, people or love. And as she'd grown up and realized the way things worked in this world, she'd understood the value of money.

Money for her had come to mean security. She needed money so that she could feel safe. Not because she wanted to use it to buy things for herself. Most things that people coveted, had never seemed important enough to Parker. Diamonds and jewellery were an exception though... she was a girl after all. If somehow, someday the equation turned and she knew she could feel safe, secure and happy by giving away her money, she would give it all. Okay.. maybe not happily give it all away but she would do it.

The green banknotes held only one angle of importance to Parker. They provided her with the feeling of security that she'd seldom had in her life. But try as she might, she couldn't get the freedom she craved because of them. That feeling, or as close to feeling safe as she could had been got mostly when she was jumping off the highest building around, feeling the wind rush through her hair, arms spread wide open, trusting in herself and her equipment... before feeling as well as hearing the braking mechanism kick in, slowing down her descent, finally pulling her to a stop.

That day when she'd learnt the pure ecstasy that was rappelling, was the day Parker's life began again. Now she had something to work towards, something to help her escape her mental as well as physical prisons and something that had freed a small portion of her heart that had remained locked away for a long, long time. That was the start of a beautiful relationship between Parker and the ropes. She started to train aggressively, trying to learn and understand the mechanism behind the whole thing, trying to duplicate the equipment while changing it to suit her purposes. She'd trained herself both mentally and physically for three whole years before she knew she was ready.

This had opened up a whole new world of possibilities for Parker and now, she was ready. With the impressive repertoire of skills she'd learnt from Archie, she dedicated herself into the art of thievery full-time, needing the rush it gave her, the notoriety it brought her... assuaging the need to prove to herself and the world that she was better than the rest of them at something. In a few short years, Parker's name was among the elite in her business and that was how, at the young age of 26, she'd been recruited into a team calling themselves Leverage Associates.

A/N: So there it is... a new chapter in a new story. Unless I am completely mistaken, this one's gonna be Parker's POV all the way.

Please review your thoughts and ideas... :)

Lotsa luv and Chocolate Almond Biscotti

Macybear