Author's Note: This is just a fun little thing I'm trying out. I love the show Leverage and thought it would be pretty cool to write a AU using the Once Upon a Time cast of characters. This is written purely in fun and I'm not making any money off it. All the writes belong to whoever owns Leverage and Once.

The True Love Job

Prologue

Boston, Massachusetts

He needs a job.

Or a hobby.

Or another drink. Yes, a drink is far easier to get a the moment, so a drink it is. There is no one else in the bar at two in the afternoon so it doesn't take long for the bartender to see his empty scotch glass and remedy the issue. He takes one sip of the liquid when someone enters the establishment.

"Are you Nate Gold?"

He turns to see a boy, about ten, standing next to the empty barstool to his right. "Aren't you a little young to be in here?"

The kid shrugs and dumps a large book on the bar. "I'm Henry, Henry Mills. I need your help."

"How do you know I'm Nate Gold?"

Henry climbs up onto the bar stool and flips open the book. Nate turns to the bartender, surely a ten-year-old shouldn't be sitting at the bar but the man just shrugs and goes back to cleaning glasses. The kid's book is filled with newspaper articles, all declaring his many court room victories. He had had an extensive reputation as a shark in a suit, his cases and dealings iron clad and impenetrable. He wielded words like weapons, once upon a time.

His reputation as an insurance lawyer that prosecuted thieves for larceny and fraud and never lost a case is completely and uttered ruined now. He had lost his boy to cancer a year ago now. His wife gave up on him shortly after that. She wanted to move on, he couldn't so she went ahead without him. She was still moving ahead without him while he was living the last few months out of the bottom of a bottle. He wondered how much longer it would take before his liver gives up on him too.

But looking through the boy's scrapbook brings back the fierceness, the drive, and he could feel it like a phantom limb. He misses the chase, the laying of the traps and watching his prey stumble into them. The look on their face when they realize he caught them. As he continues to flip through the book, he is surprised to see the kid includes not only his victories but also some failures. There's weren't many, but there were three that left him very unfilled. Two he couldn't catch and one, one he let go.

Jefferson. A world class thief with no known last name, a taste for antiquities and penchant for theatrics. He likes going after small statues and oddly enough, Alice in Wonderland themed items. Whenever he made off with a particular prize, he always left a silk top hat in its place.

August W. Booth. A hacker that leaves no virtual trail whatsoever. Nate had chased him all around the world for eight months before he had to give up. It had been said that Booth didn't pay a dime on his world travels and had crossed the globe twice now on the backs of electronic funds.

And then, there is Belle French. She is the one he had let go though he wouldn't admit that to anyone. She had wanted to see the world, just as Booth had, but instead of skimming off bank accounts, she used men. She is the best grifter he has ever come across. He lets his hand linger over her face briefly, ignoring the headline "Insurance Lawyer Lets Grifter Slip Through His Fingers," before closing the book.

"So what do you want, Henry? My autograph?"

"I want your help."

"With what?"

"See, there's this town in Maine, Storybrooke and the mayor there is really bad."

Nate shrugs. "Vote her out."

Henry rolls his eyes. "Don't you think I've thought about that? No one is qualified to run against her. She makes sure of it and she's making everyone's lives horrible and we're all trapped."

"Trapped?"

"More or less."

"Uh-huh."

"Look, with your wins in the court room, you could take her. And if you need help to, you know..."

"Do things that are less than legal?"

"Yeah. Well, use the ones who got away. They help you with this and you'll stop chasing them. If they're smart enough to get away from you, they could definitely help you get the mayor out."

"Why not let the law get rid of her? Find a good candidate to run against her? Read the town charter for crying out loud! There are easier and very legal ways to remedy this."

"Read the town charter? I'm ten. I'm working through Harry Potter right now." Henry pats the cover of his book. "Besides, she controls the law and the newspaper and the businesses. She controls the town. We need your help to get her out."

He looks so young and desperate, pleading with a middle aged drunk of a lawyer, and in a brief moment, Nate sees his son staring back at him. Tears prick at his eyes and his hand grips the tumbler of alcohol. Words dry up in his throat.

"Henry!"

Nate and Henry both jump at the woman's voice. She is much less intimidating than she sounded, round-faced with green eyes and short, dark hair. She rushes over to him breathless, relieved but angry.

"Henry Mills, you are in big trouble!" She turns to Nate. "I'm so sorry, Mr..."

"Gold," Henry pipes up. "This is Nate Gold. He's going to-"

"Finish his drink," Nate ends the sentence himself.

"Well, I'm Mary Margret Blanchard, Henry's panicked fifth grade teacher. Thank you for staying with him. He wandered away from our field trip." She grabs Henry by the arm and helps him down from the bar stool. "Once again, I'm so sorry."

Nate waves her off. "No matter." He turns back to his drink, ignoring Henry being dragged out of the bar. It isn't until he finishes his drink that he realizes Henry forgot his scrapbook. He orders another drink and reopens the book. It is proof he had had a life. He had been useful, with a purpose. He turns to the articles of the ones that got away. He has chased these people for long enough to know how to pull off a heist. He could do this. It might be fun even.

He is going to need someone for a hitter position in this little heist group. If he remembers correctly, Emma Swan is recently out of work, the bail bonds company she worked for going belly up. Her capture rate is just an impeccable as his own. She is a force to be reckoned with and he is going to need another straight man to keep the thief, hacker and grifter in line.

It would be nice to see Belle again too.

Besides, he needs a job.