A/N: Hi guys!... This is my first Leverage fic. Hope my characs are not too OOC and everyone likes it... I am a staunch supporter of Eliot/Parker... They're kinda sorta perfect for each other aren't they?... then why the heck don't the creators of the series see that?... Anyways... I would love to hear your views about this fic and any advice you might have for someone who's just started writing for this fandom... reviews are love and will be responded to with a huge basket of virtual cookies... Ooh!... all that chocolate-y goodness waiting ;)

Parker stared and stared at the beautiful ring that was currently winking up at her from the ring finger on her left hand. She hadn't been able to tear her eyes off the circlet of platinum studded with precious stones ever since Eliot had slid it onto her hand just before pulling her to closer to his warmth and settling down to sleep for the night.

She could almost see the reactions of the rest of the team when they went in to the office tomorrow... Sophie would squeal and automatically assume that she and Eliot were getting married, congratulating them with bear hugs and kisses before commenting on the quality of the stones on the ring, giving Eliot brownie points for his good choice... Nate would probably make some noises about the ring and how Eliot had better keep her happy before heading down to the bar to get himself a drink... while Hardison...

She had no idea how Hardison would react... He would probably also assume that the two of them were getting hitched... because she was having a baby... Yeah... that was exactly what he would assume the blockhead... probably make some comments about the craziness they would be bringing into the lives of their children and how he would be the cool uncle they could learn everything from... yeah right!... like that was possible...

As usual, she hadn't remembered. But Eliot had... again, as always. He was the one who kept track of things... who planned and like to stick to a schedule. She was the free agent... the one who liked to do things on the spur of the moment, throw plans to the winds... She liked to create messes that he didn't mind cleaning up.

Today had been the one year anniversary of the first time they'd both buckled down under the weight of their feelings and the attraction towards each other and had started their year-long, still going strong relationship, that was in fact growing stronger everyday. It had been three years to the day they had met when they'd finally understood that the two of them were kinda-sorta perfect for each other, no matter how different they might look to the people who were looking in on their little world from the outside.

Parker had been surprised at the beginning stages of their relationship that Eliot had managed to hold on to his sanity for such a long period of time with her, every day just waiting for the axe to fall... for him to get frustrated with her antics... to lose interest in working it out with her. But surprisingly, Eliot had settled into their relationship with an ease that demonstrated his understanding of the person she was rather than the one she portrayed herself to be.

Early in her life, she'd learned the advantage of letting people make their own conclusions about her and not correcting them if they managed to brand her as a weirdo. It had almost always made people underestimate her skills and that was always good in her world. But, somehow, in the process of hiding her true self, she'd started losing it to the personality she'd created to mask it.

Eliot and Sophie had been the only people in the group who had seen beyond her craziness to the insecure but ready-to-give-it-another-shot young woman and though Sophie had tried in her own way, Eliot had been the only one who'd known how to get to the real person and convince her that she really was worth something... in fact something more than what she'd previously thought.

She'd always known from the beginning, that Eliot was just a big teddy bear beneath all the growling and threats of punching Hardison to oblivion, which the young hacker always seemed to believe. She'd even said it to his face once, and contrary to popular belief after the statement, she'd barely had to suffer a growl before Eliot had shaken his head and commented about how she was 'twenty pounds of crazy in a five pound bag' and had gone back to chopping onions for their dinner.

She noticed a small, soft smile edging its way onto his face a couple of minutes later... the kind which she now knew, meant that he was having warm, fuzzy feelings about her. Feelings that she'd never thought that any one, especially someone like Eliot Spencer, hitter extraordinaire, would ever have for someone like her. Eliot was a man who had worked his way through a lot of things in life... he'd worked in everything from a hotel kitchen to working under Damien Moreau.. Something that both of them were still working at trying to forget.

The southern charm and the hunky looks had gotten him whatever lady he had wanted, whenever he had wanted them... Something else that Parker was working hard at forgetting. But, to give him credit, ever since Parker and Eliot had started down the road to a relationship, she'd known that he'd not even had a date with any other woman. Parker, due to her work and the kind of person she was, had grown up a loner and she hadn't had any experience with building a relationship. And anything that Eliot had known about that had been from bad experiences in his life with the likes of Aimee.

They hadn't really talked about it, and like a lot of things in their lives, a silent agreement had been reached between them, resolving to give this relationship their best effort. And they had. To their collective surprise, Eliot and Parker had turned out to be very good at being in a relationship with each other and once the rest of the gang got used to their singular brand of craziness, they had also gotten used to the reality that was Eliot and Parker.

The fact that they worked with each other just made their relationship better, rather than tear it down. The understanding and communication that had flowered between them, that they had painstakingly cultivated for the sake of tight situations on the job had made them understand each other much better off the job too. The way they had learnt to understand and react to each other's non-verbal signals and the way they had both learnt the way their partner's thought processes worked had actually brought them closer in their relationship.

Parker had had a lot of misgivings about being in a relationship... rather, her having feelings for someone, in the beginning. She'd almost started avoiding Eliot altogether before he noticed her attempts at creating distance and had blown her walls down in signature Eliot Spencer style, leaving her with no way out other than acknowledging the attraction that they felt for each other.

Once Eliot got through to Parker, it had been surprisingly smooth sailing for them. They both knew that each of them carried enough emotional baggage to weigh down a couple of 747s and they had both of them stepped into this with their eyes open. They didn't expect anything more than the other could give and were happy enough that their partner had come home in a single piece.

Very soon into their relationship phase, Eliot and Parker had gotten used to being around each other and living with each other. Since Parker seemed to be spending most of her time at his house, which she loved, Eliot had suggested that she might like to move in with him. A suggestion that she might not even have considered before... in fact, before Eliot, if any other man had suggested that she move in with him, it would've been her cue to move on... away from him. But with Eliot, she knew... She knew that he'd rather hurt himself than hurt her in any way. She knew that he would give his life happily if it meant saving hers.

If there was one thing that Parker knew from the first day, it was the fact that Eliot was a protector... both on the job and off it. He always protected what was his and never ever gave up on anything. Parker was an independent young woman who didn't even entertain the idea of belonging to someone, but in Eliot's case, when he said during a job that he always protected what was his, she'd felt a delicious little shiver of excitement at his possessiveness while feeling a warmth radiate through her body at the glow in his eyes as he looked at her.

Thinking back to the depth of emotional attachment that had developed between them in the last year, Parker almost didn't notice the warm body of her partner slowly come to life behind her. Automatically, her body leaned back to the warmth of his broad chest, his arms coming to wrap around her waist from the back. Snuggling into his body, Parker made a contented noise as she felt Eliot chuckle and kiss her exposed neck lightly. Bringing up her left hand back into view, she grinned at the ring sparkling off her finger and asked the question that she'd wanted to since she'd seen the uniqueness of the ring he'd chosen for her

"Eliot... Why did you choose this ring?"

Her directness elicited another amused chuckle before he took her hand in his and asked

"Do you like it?"

Turning in his arms to look him in the eyes, she whispered

"I love it!... I love you... Now tell me... Why this one?"

At that, he laughed out loud...

"Still the same Parker... That's why I love you as much as I do... I chose this ring for you cuz it reminded me of you darlin'..."

Parker looked down at the ring twinkling in the glow of the moonlight... It was a circlet of pure platinum, which she loved, but the special thing about this ring of hers was the number and color of the various precious stones it was studded with. There was an array of seven stones, each in a different color, but set together, they looked perfect.

With her extensive knowledge of the metal as well as the value of the different precious stones due to their line of work, Parker knew that the ring must've cost him a pretty penny. She knew that Eliot must've gotten it specially made for her because the cut, clarity and size of the stones was such that it would be impossible for this ring to go without notice in the social circles. And Parker had intimate knowledge of all jewellery displays, personal collections and auction lots...

She was shaken from her contemplation of the beauty and origins of the ring when she heard Eliot ask her softly

"Do you wanna know why I chose this particular one for you darlin'?"

At her silent nod, Eliot continued

"You see how there are seven stones on this ring?... From the left to the right... that's an..."

She quickly interrupted him

"An Amethyst, a Sapphire, a Lapis Lazuli, an Emerald, an Imperial Topaz, a fire opal and... a Ruby... all of the stones are of the same level of quality, which is top-notch, with almost the same carat-age, totally around 6 or 6.5 carats...correct?"

"Do you even need to ask?... As you well know... you are correct... But do you understand the significance of those particular stones that i have had used to make the ring?"

At that Parker's face turned into a puzzled frown, trying to contemplate the reason behind the usage of those particular colors... or stones.

Smirking at the cute expression on her face, Eliot gathered Parker closer to him, and dropping a soft kiss on the tip of her nose, he pulled her hand up again, so that he could point out the significance of the ring

"You told me what the stones were... But did you notice the colors darlin'? Well let me show you... that's from the left... Purple, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange and Red... Those are the colors in..."

Again, Parker jumped in with the answer, seeming mightily pleased with herself

"the rainbow!... Even I know that... Oh... I have a rainbow on my hand!"

That elicited another laugh and a soft kiss from Eliot before he hugged Parker close to him, and continued

"Yeah... those are the colors of the rainbow sweetheart... Those are the colors that you brought into my life ever since you stepped into Nate's loft for the first time. You've been the center of my life ever since I brought myself to understand that I loved you honey... You are the rainbow in my sky and I wanted to show you that... I wanted you to have your own rainbow whenever you wanted one..."

As he trailed off, she remembered that day, quite early in their relationship, she had been completely bored.

They'd just finished wrapping up a big job and Nate had told them all to take a couple of days off. But like always, the bunch of misfit thieves had congregated at Nate's loft for a lack of better things to do... Hardison had been tapping away on his computer, Parker watching a series of Saturday morning cartoons while munching on cereal, Eliot making everyone lunch in the kitchen while Sophie and Nate had been sitting on the couch trying to look all innocent and non-relationship-y... They hadn't succeeded at all cuz all of them had known that Nate and Sophie had recently worked out their issues and were willing to give it another go at happily-ever-after this time...

Parker had been watching some Disney movie on the big screen TV, completely enraptured by the storyline and the animation... Right after the movie got over, she'd gone into deep thought, only to be broken out of it by Eliot lightly tapping her on the shoulder, trying to get her attention so that they could go eat... She'd followed him without complaint though he'd sent her a couple of penetrating glances targeted at getting her to spill whatever it was that was bothering her...

At the table, she'd suddenly announced that she wanted a rainbow. The rest of the team had stared at her in shock for a couple of seconds at her random demand before making some noises about it and getting back to their meals... They'd gotten used to her random ideas, her antics and her general craziness quotient by that time, enough to not react in any way more than just a moment of shocked silence greeting her sudden outbursts at times... But she'd noticed a slight smile tugging at Eliot's mouth and his eyes taking on a sparkling but calculating look.

Eliot hadn't commented then but that day, he appeared slightly preoccupied with something. She hadn't questioned him about it but she'd been concerned enough to worry about him. He'd seemed to spend a lot of time conferring about something with Hardison, and they would start talking about something entirely different when she came into hearing distance. She knew they were plotting something between themselves but for the life of her, she didn't know what.

And then a couple of days later, the great mystery had been revealed... Eliot had almost kidnapped her from her house, picking her locks with an ease that made her shiver even now... She hadn't known that he was so good at that... but now she knew... He'd picked her up without a comment, locking her door on the way out, buckled her into the passenger seat of his truck and they'd taken off, driving at a fast pace down the highway. He'd refused to answer any of her questions and had remained silent for the rest of the 40 minute drive, preferring to let her stew... making her even more curious.

After some 15 minutes, she'd quietened down and literally sat in a huff the rest of the way... But all her anger had melted away when Eliot had parked at the edge of a cliff, some distance away from the city limits. It had just stopped raining and right across the sky, had been a huge, bright and perfect rainbow. The cliff where they had stopped seemed to be the best place to view it from and Parker realized she was grinning her face off while tears rolled down her cheeks when she felt Eliot's warm, callused fingers gently wipe the tears away.

Wrapping her close in his arms, he'd said softly

"You asked for a rainbow darlin'... Well... here's your rainbow. You like it?"

She'd nodded enthusiastically at that and turning around in his arms, fitted his mouth to hers in a kiss that had held them both speechless for the next few minutes.

"Thank you... thankyouthankyouthankyou... I love it Eliot... I've never had a rainbow of my own... I... I love it... it's awesome!..."

He'd laughed at her enthusiasm as she'd literally been bouncing around then... They'd stood there for the next fifteen minutes it took for the rainbow to slowly lighten and finally disappear. After murmuring a small 'goodbye' to her rainbow, Parker had been exhausted and had slept the rest of the way... Something she did only in Eliot's company.

Coming back to the present to see Eliot looking at her with a warm, loving expression on his face, the affection and happiness radiating from him, Parker could do nothing but smile brightly through the happy tears she found filling her eyes. Snuggling closer into his arms, she looked back down at her ring... the ring that signified a promise. His promise to her...

"Parker... Darlin'... In our line of work, there are no guarantees... So as much as I would like for us to get married and have a normal family... I don't know if it is possible for us... atleast right now I don't know... Both of us have made a lot of enemies in our lives... Me more than you..."

He'd smiled a little self-deprecatingly at that and she'd hurried to press a kiss on his lips before he continued

"But I want you to have this ring... It may not be an engagement ring or a wedding ring... but it signifies a promise I am making to you... It is to tell you that I'll always be there... No matter what the situation... no matter what the odds... I will always come for you. Till there is a breath left in my body, I will always be there to protect you."

"You will never have to be alone from now on... I will be by your side whenever you need me... And I will always come home to you... No matter where we are, or where we might need to be in the future, remember this... I will always come home to you. My home is not here or in the many safe houses that we have all round the world... My home... is where you are sweetheart... And this promise ring is to remind you of that... I will always be there... I will always protect you and you never have to face anything alone... ever again"

By the time he'd finished, both of them had tears in their eyes... Something Parker had never seen Eliot do before. Eliot had always been the rock... The strength behind their group. He'd silently made everyone feel safer, more comfortable just by being his calming self. She'd never seen him so emotional... never seen tears in his eyes. It was what made this moment all the more precious to her. Quickly drying her tears, she tried to speak, finding a tight ball of hurt blocking her throat. Swallowing painfully, she cleared her throat, hurrying to convey her feelings to him in the form of words

"E... Eliot... There is no way I am going to be able to express myself in as beautiful a manner as you did just now... I don't know how to say things... not like you or Sophie do... I am not very good at expressing myself. But I just wanted to say... that I trust you. I trust us Eliot. I have faith in us to not screw this up... to make sure that we last for... forever... if not more. I... I love you Eliot. I have never been able to say that to anyone else in my life... till you. I've tried to sometimes... but I've never been able to say it before. But with you, it is so easy..."

She smiled brightly at him before continuing in a softer voice

"You make me feel so safe... I know that you'll always be there for me... always protect me. And I want you to know that I'll always be there for you and protect you too Eliot... I know you don't need anyone's protection or anything like that... But i'll always be there... And no one and nothing can take me away from you. I promise you that. If I ever leave, it will not be because of my decision."

"This might not be a traditional engagement or a wedding kind of relationship but there's nothing in this world that can bring us closer... I am already completely yours just as you are mine and that is how it is going to be for the rest of our lives, if I have any say in it."

She was brought back from her reverie by his soft, gravelly voice speaking again...

"The colors mean something else too darlin'... Purple is for elegance or royalty... my princess, Indigo for intelligence my little mastermind, Blue for loyalty and trust... Green for safety, honesty and optimism, Yellow for your intellect, liveliness and energy my little ball of sunshine... Orange for your cheerfulness and creativity and finally Red to signify your passion, courage, determination and love..."

The expression in her eyes as she looked up at him this time made him feel like he was ten feet tall. The warmth, the adoration and the honest to goodness love... the emotion that he'd never thought he'd see in his little thief's eyes during the initial stages of their relationship, were there for the world to see... spilling over into her bright smile before she pulled his head down to her to bestow him with a long, sweet kiss that had both of them panting for breath.

"I love you Eliot..."

She said simply... the emotion radiating from every single part of her, lighting her up from within and making her glow like an angel in his arms. It made Eliot lean down to capture her lips again in a soft kiss before settling back into the pillows, with his arms gathering her close to him as he murmured

"I love you too sweetheart... I love you too."

Looking back into Eliot's eyes, Parker could see sleep tinting them a deeper blue and softly whispered in his ear

"You told me that I brought the rainbow into your life... and that is why you wanted me to have this ring. But you should know that you are the rainbow of my life... The one that brought safety, happiness and love into my life and I love you more than anything or anybody else in this world Eliot. I love you more than I thought it possible to love someone and I know that my feelings for you will only grow stronger with time... and just like in everything, We are going to be the best of all of them at this too..."

Smiling contentedly, Parker drifted off to sleep, secure in the arms of the man she loved and who loved her more than anything else in the world, already dreaming of the tons of happy days and nights spent in each other's company. Her last glance before sleep claimed her was once again aimed at the beautiful ring adorning her slim finger and her face eased into another happy smile as her eyes drooped with sleep and she was lulled away into a dreamland with just her, Eliot and their happiness. She was his little thief and he was her protector and she knew... just knew that this was the start of their very own happily ever after.

A/N : Hope everyone liked it... review if you did... review even if you didn't... if just to tell me what went wrong... Keep reading and reviewing

Lotsa Luv

Macy Bear