A/N: This chapter is mostly back story and paragraphs so I will give you some notes and you can choose which parts you would like to read. The next chapters will be the juicy dialogue parts.

CAPSLOCK is Sam emphasizing everything.

Bold is Sam's frustration and/or sarcasm.

No, I do not own Leverage. Could we please stop reminding me of it?

As I said before, feel free to skip around if paragraphs aren't your cup of tea. Dialogue just refused to say hello, but you will be missing out! :)

Sam Ford: Matchmaker

It had been a little over six years after the divorce when Sam Ford finally decided he was ready for his parents to start dating again. Okay, so it was six years after the divorce when he got sick and tired of watching his mom date and his dad stay home all the time. Okay, so it was six years after the divorce when he got sick of his father not dating anybody… at all! If you really want to get technical, it was about three years after his parents got divorced when Sam Ford decided his father was ready to try the dating pool again. That decision might have been due to the fact that it was exactly three years, two weeks, and four days from the divorce finalization date when Sam Ford met Sophie Devereaux, Eliot Spencer, Alec Hardison, and Parker.

Sam had been very nervous about his dad's new group of friends the first time he met them. They each had their own quirks. Parker had no other name and liked to be a bit crazy but she was a lot of fun and didn't treat him like a kid, probably because she was like a kid anyway so they got along almost instantly. Hardison won Sam over the moment he started playing games with him that weren't even out yet, sure the hacker still had a sugar addiction but it was something they both learned to appreciate together. Eliot took a lot longer to like. That was probably due to the fact that the man was BUILT TO KILL! Once Eliot started teaching him how to fight people and how to make sugary goodness he was pretty much set too. Sophie was a completely different story.

First time they met: Sam thought she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen and he was going to marry her. That thought went up in smoke the moment he realized Sophie had a crush on his dad. Sophie became the enemy after that. Okay, so he might have still been a little upset over his parents not being together, but seeing somebody interested in his father other than his mother was a very surprising task. Sam had to go out of his way to make certain Sophie and his father were never in the same room without him present. Yes, he could tell that his father was interested in the brunette but she was not his mother and was not allowed to have his father. His father, on the other hand, seemed to have a different plan because any time Sam was with him and his dad needed to go somewhere Sophie was the one forced to babysit. The first time that happened ended with the brunette baking him everything he asked for, including ordering very expensive food, while he turned his nose at the food or decided he wanted something else. Sophie finally gave up and told him to choose or get nothing. Needless to say Sam was expecting a very long discussion with his father afterwards. When his father came home, Sam prepared himself for the onslaught of tattling "Devereaux," as he liked to call her then, would do. Instead, the woman just smiled at both of the Ford men and quickly explained that she couldn't decide on what food she wanted so she just got it all. That's right, the woman he was completely evil to all night long just put all of the blame on herself when she was given the opportunity to spill her guts to the man before her. Sam could respect that. He even admired that. That was the moment Sam Ford decided he liked Sophie Devereaux at least a little bit.

Eventually, Sam started to like Sophie, as he was begged to call her when "Ms. Devereaux" had slipped out the second day they spent together. He liked Sophie a lot. Okay, so he was a little in love with her but totally not as much as his dad. Sophie was cool and just as smart as his father. She would teach him art and explain cool body techniques so he could tell whenever the teachers were going to assign him a pop quiz. He was really starting to like that woman. Then, his dad and his friends suddenly stopped talking to each other for six months as if that was something they could do all the time. He heard a lot of "dammit Sophie" and "why couldn't she just think?" and "what am I supposed to wear?" and "should I really subject Sam to this?" Eventually Sam realized what he was being subjected to when he went to see one of Sophie's plays for the first time. That was when Sam knew his father was definitely in love with her. How, you ask. Sophie is the worst actress ever! That's how Sam Ford knew his father was in love with her.

Sam was busy trying to stay awake, made easier whenever Sophie made the mistake of singing high because she could actually sing the occasional low note that wasn't always in the song. Anyway, Sam was busy trying to keep his eyes open when his attention was grabbed by the hitter next to him. Eliot was apparently terrified of Sophie's acting because he was very jumpy and twitchy and freaking out at anything that moved. Parker was too enthused to be believed. Okay, so she wasn't paying attention to the musical at all because she was too busy counting the number of nuns she saw in the musical when they missed their cues. Hardison was playing on his phone which was totally rude and something Sam would have loved to be doing. Nathan Ford on the other hand… was smiling. Yeah, he was smiling… like an idiot… who just discovered how to make fire! That was when Sam Ford knew his father was completely enamored with Sophie Devereaux. That was the day Operation Cobra had finally been born.

It took some work but Operation Cobra was finally underway when Sophie's play was informed that it was never to play again. It was for the best but that wasn't the important part. The important part was when Sophie's moping forced her to not realize Sam's brilliant plan. That's right, he pushed her into his chair right beside the mastermind with the obvious intent to console her with a cup of hot cocoa. His father was stuck comforting the poor woman while Sam worked out the rest of his plan. The rest of his plan failed the moment the others entered the room and suggested drinks in the bar which Sam was not allowed to participate in due to the fact that he couldn't drink no matter how hard he tried to steal some. Plan B was a little easier, until the boyfriend showed up.

A/N II: Hey, you made it through the wall of text. What do you think?