Author's Note: There's probably a second, M-rated chapter to follow, but for now I'm going to call it T. Also, first Leverage fic... Be kind, please. : )

Chapter One: I Like You Best

"Parker," Sophie sighed, exasperated, as she laid her pen to rest on the oak desk, "we've talked about this. It's rude to stare at people. It makes them… uncomfortable."

Parker blinked owlishly in response, and then said, "But I want to."

Rolling her eyes a bit, and lifting her pen again, she said, "Fine. Go stare at Hardison, then."

The thief's bottom lip immediately jutted out in an adorable pout that Sophie couldn't help but smile fondly at.

"I don't want to stare at Hardison, I want to stare at you," Parker replied.

Sophie, not understanding Parker even in the slightest, said, "You have to study all sorts of humans to understand their behaviors, Parker. You can't learn everything from just watching one person. Everyone reacts differently."

"I know that."

"Then why – "

"I like how you react best," Parker stated bluntly, her expression blank and her eyes steady, but Sophie could hear… something, and it frustrated her that she couldn't decipher it.

"What are you talking about, Parker?" Sophie asked, resting her pen again and leaning back in her chair to better observe the blonde woman across from her.

Parker shrugged, but then stood up and walked toward her, and Sophie watched curiously to see what she would do. "I like how you stare back," Parker explained simply, still walking forward slowly, and Sophie's brows furrowed together in confusion.

"I like that when you're not pulling a con, you can't hide anything at all. I like that – THAT!" Parker announced, pointing.

"What?" Sophie asked softly, feeling the air charged with something, but she refused to name it because…. Well, because this was Parker, and there shouldn't be any charges in the air with Parker.

"How your eyes shift away for just a second when you're uncomfortable, and you push that one piece of hair back like it's annoying you, but you really just need a second to figure out what your next move is," Parker elaborated.

"I'm not trying to – "

"I know," Parker said, her voice gentler than Sophie had ever heard it. "That's the point. When I stare at other people, they act different – like they should change who they are or what they want to do because I'm watching them, and that's not as fun. You act the same."

"I'm a grifter, Parker," Sophie reminded her, softly. "Acting is what I do."

But Parker shook her head furiously in response. "No. You've showed me how to grift before. You've showed me the stupid little things that get people's attention, because people are stupid."

"People aren't stupid."

"Yes they are," Parker denied immediately. "You change when you're acting to become someone else that people will like."

"It's more complex than that, Parker. You have to mold yourself to fit exactly what the mark wants. That doesn't make them stupid, it makes them individuals – albeit, they're often disgusting ones with no morals, but – "

"But you don't need to," Parker interrupted, aggravated. "You're not understanding me."

Sophie knew that Parker struggled with conversations, and she knew that it was often because she just understood the world differently, and no one else could really grasp her explanations of things. But she wanted to understand.

"Then explain it to me," Sophie requested quietly.

Parker was right beside her then, in a move that only the thief could have executed so fluidly, and Sophie turned to look at her.

"You do things like this," Parker said, reaching out to touch Sophie's arm lightly, "and it makes people feel funny, and pay attention to you."

"What do you mean, funny?" Sophie asked, now almost whispering, feeling that electric current again and also unsure of what to do about it.

"Like… I don't know," Parker shook her head, baffled. "Like they want you to touch them some more."

Sophie wondered through the fog in her mind if Parker was talking about seduction – because that certainly was the point of a seduction.

"But they're stupid, because they only feel like that when you touch them first, or when you wear one of those tiny dresses with the heels that no normal human can walk in, and they see you on display for them, like you're a lion at the zoo, or a painting at the Louvre." Parker said softly, then paused, just looking at Sophie, maybe waiting for something, or maybe just looking; the grifter couldn't tell.

"But they don't look at how your hands move when you talk, or listen to your voice and feel everything just sort of… tingle, everywhere," Parker explained, frustrated as a hand came up and rested over her heart, "and things pull in here. They don't hear how you talk a little faster when you're angry. They don't see how pretty your skin is, and wonder how soft it is, because all they want is for you to touch them some more."

"What are you trying to say, Parker?" Sophie breathed, feeling incomprehensibly flattered, and extraordinarily surprised that such tender and thoughtful words could fall from Parker's lips.

Parker sighed softly, dropping down to her knees as her fingers grazed from Sophie's forearm down to her fingers. Sophie watched as the blonde's eyes closed briefly, before she looked up at her from under her eyelashes. "I'm saying that they're stupid, Sophie," she repeated.

"Why?" Sophie asked, almost inaudibly, if not for the small distance that separated them.

Parker smiled sadly and shook her head, her fingers tracing Sophie's palm carefully. "Nevermind. You don't understand," she repeated softly.

"Help me understand," Sophie replied desperately, feeling something, needing something, wanting to understand the mysterious thief.

Parker studied Sophie's hand for a while – for so long that Sophie wondered if she would ever get an answer to her question.

"All they want is for you to touch them," Parker restated. And then, in a voice that sent shocks to places Sophie hadn't paid nearly enough attention to lately, the thief whispered, "but all I want is to touch you…"

Parker's blue eyes remained on Sophie's palm, and Sophie understood everything now; the charge in the air, the electric currents, the shocks. Parker wanted her, and she – well, she was pretty sure that she wanted Parker, too.

Sophie wanted to see Parker's eyes, but she didn't lift the thief's chin to do it, because she knew that would frighten her. As seductively and sweetly as she had delivered her speech, Sophie wasn't stupid. Parker wasn't good with feelings. She didn't know what to do with them or how to act on them, and something like this was a huge step for her, so Sophie knew she had to tread carefully.

"Are you sure that's what you want, Parker?" Sophie asked lightly, and watched the thief's head snap upward with a glare that softened as her eyes met with the dark, wide ones across from her.

Sophie felt Parker's hand leave hers, but she didn't break eye contact with the blonde woman in order to see where it was heading next. She was a bit surprised when the thief's soft fingers touched her cheek just barely, like she was something precious, something that needed tenderness and care.

"Art is always beautiful, Sophie – not just when it's on display for everyone to see. Its beauty is what makes it so valuable; its value doesn't make it beautiful…"

Sophie's breath caught in her throat as she felt Parker's slim fingers ghost across her cheek, over her mouth, and when the urge struck Sophie to lightly nip at Parker's finger, she watched the thief turn furiously red and withdraw from her completely.

"I have to go," Parker said suddenly, leaving before Sophie had a chance to reply.

The grifter closed her eyes unhappily, releasing a sigh. She hadn't meant to, but she'd ruined it. She'd frightened Parker, or had made her feel embarrassed or… something. But that wouldn't do. Parker, surprising as it was, had just flattered her beyond the measures that anyone else had ever taken.

And, being honest, Sophie couldn't remember being this wet in a really long time.