Title: Eclipse!
Author: Pacacapa
Rating: K
Genre: Family, friendship
Length: ~1,500 words
Summary: In honor of the Great American Eclipse of 2017, which passed right over Portland, Parker organizes a picnic on the roof. Some teammates are more excited than others, but they all take the time to appreciate some normal family fun. Adheres to canon P/H, but no real romance. No spoilers. Oneshot.
Disclaimer: I do not own Leverage or any of its characters; I'm just borrowing them for fun and no profit.
Parker fidgeted relentlessly, waiting impatiently for this magical event. Beside her, Hardison jerked at the picnic blanket spread out on the roof of Nate's apartment building.
"Parker, stop wiggling! You're getting the blanket all wrinkled."
Sophie, curled delicately on a separate blanket with Nate, scolded him. "Don't ruin the moment, Hardison. An eclipse like this hasn't been seen in 100 years. Let her have her fun." She smiled brightly at Parker.
Nate cleared his throat and mumbled, "99 years."
"I'm sorry?"
"The last time an eclipse reached all the way across the United States was 1918. It's only been 99 years."
Sophie swatted him with the cardboard box in her hand, but didn't reply.
Hardison had objected to the cardboard boxes, claiming that they could more than afford the special glasses that would give them a perfect view. Unfortunately for him, Parker had insisted on making traditional boxes, since she hadn't gotten to as a child. Sophie had been enthusiastic to help, and Hardison had found he couldn't say no to the two of them.
Still, he had ordered a secret stash of glasses just in case the boxes weren't enough.
Parker bounced up and down on the blanket, squinting at the bright sky. "How long, Nate?"
He sighed and dutifully recited, "12 minutes, 46 seconds." Since he hadn't wanted to help with the boxes, Parker had assigned him to keep everyone updated on the time. Hardison had objected, saying he was the tech guy, but when Parker said she wanted to just enjoy it with him, he hadn't said another word.
Now he couldn't be happier, sitting next to the admittedly energetic love of his life, waiting for the eclipse.
Parker had made sure everything was in place: blankets, boxes, a timer, the news on three different monitors she had borrowed from Hardison, and of course, all the snacks they could need: hundreds of fortune cookies and several liters of orange soda.
She just didn't understand why Sophie and Nate had such a problem with the food she had provided. They hadn't touched the food or the drinks, saying they would just "wait." Refusing to let her spirits be dampened by their lack of excitement, Parker shoved three fortune cookies in her mouth and checked her box for the tenth time.
The door to the staircase creaked open and a magnificent smell wafted over toward the four gathered on the picnic blankets. Eliot carefully closed the door with his foot and approached, a giant steaming pan in his hands. With a happy squeal, Parker jumped up to grab it from him, but he deftly jerked it away. "Hey, don't touch 'til I'm done." Hanging her head a little, she followed him back over to the blankets.
The mouthwatering tray was piled high with homemade gourmet nachos. Or, at least, Parker assumed they were gourmet. She hadn't ever heard of gourmet nachos before, but that's what Eliot did, right? He made regular food special?
His gruff voice stole her attention. "Now leave it alone —" he stared right at Parker, "—while I go get the rest of the fixings." When she nodded in assent, he headed back downstairs.
As soon as he was out of sight, she reached for a corner of a chip, but Sophie swatted her hand away. "You just promised him you would leave it!"
Parker pouted, then grabbed her box again. "How much time, Nate?"
"Ten minutes, 16 seconds."
Parker grinned and glanced back up at the sky. It was already starting to darken, and the air was noticeably cooler. Not cold, but more like… well, nighttime. As you would expect when the sky looked like it did right around sunset.
The door opened again and Eliot appeared, carrying another tray packed with various toppings and salsas - homemade, presumably, from his own vegetables. Parker watched him with huge, excited eyes, but didn't say anything or make a move until he gave her a little nod. Then nothing could hold her back.
As Parker scooped giant piles of nachos onto her plate and the other three picked at them more delicately, Eliot settled into a sitting position and fiddled absentmindedly with a box. "I remember the last solar eclipse," he began softly, as if reminiscing. The others didn't pause, but he had definitely earned their attention. "It was 1994, and I was eighteen. Senior year of high school, just months before I joined the service." He paused again, glancing down at the box in his hand. "Eclipse passed right over our home in Oklahoma."
He fell silent, still staring off into space. Parker tried not to pry, she really did, but… well, she couldn't help herself. "Did you do this with them? Your family, I mean? Boxes, food, picnic on the roof… well, maybe not on the roof but on the… um, rocks? Oklahoma doesn't have grass, does it?"
Sophie gave her an expression with big eyes and an open mouth, like she couldn't believe Parker was just that insensitive. But it wasn't Parker's fault; Eliot brought up the subject in the first place!
Eliot was staring at the box now, still silent. A tiny smile pulled at his lips. Finally, he spoke. "Yeah, Parker. We have grass in Oklahoma."
Parker frowned when he fell silent again, but didn't push the matter. He had obviously said all he was going to say, and judging by the way he was staring at the box and not seeing it, Parker knew his mind was more in that past than the present.
Breaking the contemplative mood, she asked Nate, "How much longer?"
Rolling his eyes, he made a big show of checking the timer. "Two minutes, 34 seconds."
Parker's face lit up and she shoved a handful of nachos into her mouth. "Then in a little over two minutes, Eliot will watch his second eclipse with his second family, and I will watch my first eclipse with my first family."
Hardison grinned and squeezed her a little closer to his side, but didn't say anything. Sophie reached out and gently patted her hand, a lovely smile gracing her lips. Nate just muttered, "Technically, first total solar eclipse, because, you know, lunar eclipses…" At the glare he received from everyone, including the back-in-the-present Eliot, Nate just shrugged.
In the silence that followed, everyone continued to dig into Eliot's nachos. Parker noticed that the sky was nearly black, with only a hint of light visible now. Hardison's warmth at her side helped offset the coolness in the air, and she decided that she rather liked having him that close. Perhaps Hardison wouldn't mind doing this more often?
Suddenly, an ear-splitting alarm broke the silence. Hardison nearly jumped out of his skin, and Sophie simultaneously cringed and covered her ears. "What is that awful noise?"
Nate dropped the screeching object from his hands as if it were on fire. "Parker!"
She happily snapped it up and clicked a button on the side, silencing the alarm she had been anticipating… but had obviously failed to warn the others about. "Thirty seconds until totality!" She chirped. Without even pausing, she grabbed her box and held it up to her eyes. Hardison and Sophie quickly forgot their irritation and followed suit. Eliot, seemingly lost in his memories again, lifted his box slowly to his face. Nate waited until the last second before rolling his eyes and peering into his box.
Parker squealed with joy as the last sliver of light disappeared, and then a tiny ring of light marked where the sun had once been. The roof was almost reverently silent as everyone observed the rare phenomenon. When the ring of light disappeared and the edge of the sun was visible again, Parker let her box fall to her lap. She didn't even try to contain the bright grin that had seized her face.
Hardison elbowed her gently. "Was it everything you imagined?"
Letting her grin settle into a genuine smile, she nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, it was."
Her gaze moved slowly from Hardison's face to the faces of the rest of her team - her family - all watching her. Yeah, it was definitely everything she had imagined. At the end of the day, the eclipse was neat, but it would have been better on TV. It wasn't the event itself that made this day special - it was spending the event with her family. She would treasure this memory forever.
A/N: What Nate and Sophie are referring to - the eclipse from 1918 - was the last time a total solar eclipse moved all the way across the United States, from one coast to the other. The eclipse from 1994 was also real, and it did pass over Oklahoma.