Prompt: A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

Fandom: Leverage

Characters: Parker, Eliot Spencer, Nathan Ford, Sophie Devereaux, Alec Hardison

Pairing: none

Parker was sitting on the roof of Nate's apartment flipping through a photo album. For months now she'd been was of of the team, and it seemed non of them had noticed, which she thought, was strange, for a band of robin hooding thieves. She wanted to remember everything about the crew, from the way that Eliot's eyes twinkled when he smiled, to how Hardison always drank orange soda, and as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

She gently trailed her small, delicate fingers over each picture, as if simply touching the photo could bring the moment back to life, but handling it too roughly would shatter it forever.

The first picture was of the entire team, minus Parker, of course. They were sitting in Nate's living room watching a football game, and she had caught Hardison in the middle of taking a sip from his ever-present bottle of soda, and Sophie popping a Cheetos into her mouth. She remembered all the afternoons spent this way and how oddly family like it had seemed.

Next was one of Eliot in the kitchen. His hair was pushed back with a bandana and he was working diligently on the vegetables he was cutting. He had a real smile on his face, one of the few that really reached his eyes and you could tell that he honestly enjoyed cooking for the team. She remembered how the hitter never let anyone help him in the kitchen - 'it's my me time!' he always protested.

Another was of Hardison sitting on Nate's couch with his feet up on the table and his laptop in his lap playing World of Warcraft. He looked alive and happy, not annoyed like he usually did on a job when something wasn't working or someone wasn't paying his technology proper respect. Parker remembered the way that Hardison's entire face changed when he played WoW, how he always conversed lightly and joked with the other players.

Next was a picture of Nate playing chess at his small kitchen table. He was playing alone and had a stern look of concentration on his face, and Parker knew that if she were to disturb him he would probably lecture her for hours about it. She remembered how the strategy of chess was what Nate used to plan their cons, and how he could sit for hours playing against himself.

The final picture was of Sophie laughing at something Nate had said. Her laugh spread through her entire face, the way it never did around a mark. She remembered how the grifter always knew what to say, and how to react, how she could turn any situation into a good thing, almost effortlessly.

So, why pictures? Why not just write all of this down? Because a picture is worth a thousand words, silly. And it'd take WAY too long to write a thousand words!