AN: This is my second Leverage fic and it goes along with the song More Than I deserve. When I heard this song I just thought this is something Eliot would write/sing if he did that more. I can see him not thinking he's good enough for someone because of the things he's done, despite the fact he is good now. This is the second of I don't know how many fics. Enjoy!

P.S. I don't own leverage or the song


More Than I Deserve

"Why are you hiding?" Parker stage whispered, making Eliot jump.

"I scared you. I never scare you, except that one time when you were the fiddle. Do you remember when you were the fiddle?"

"Yes, Parker, I remember when I was the fiddle. And you didn't scare me." Eliot growled.

"Yes I did. You jumped. You never jump. Why are watching the client? Do you think someone is gonna come after her here? Should we get her to leave? I could go spill something on her." Eliot sighed, why couldn't Parker just keep her mouth shut?

"Parker, stop. No one is coming after Izzy tonight. Do not go spilling anything on her, got it?" He tried to say it without a growl this time but wasn't too sure how well he succeed. Izzy wasn't supposed be here, she was supposed to be on the other side of the country, living a nice happy life in Boston, but here she was and it was throwing him off.

"If you're not worried about someone attacking her then why are you standing here in the shadows staring? You've been acting funny since Nate told us about this case." Apparently Parker didn't really understand the word stop.

"I'm not staring and I haven't been acting funny." Definitely a growl.

Parker looked at Eliot and then at the client. She was a pretty woman, blonde hair, blue eyes, and oddly familiar. She glanced back at Eliot, whose attention was back on the client, and stole his phone. She walked away, looking for Hardison, he would help her. Eliot should have just answered her because now she was curious.

Looking at Eliot's phone she found he had a passcode on it. When had he learned how to do that?

"I need your help." Hardison looked up from his phone at Parker, one day he was going to figure out how she snuck up people like that.

"What's up baby?" Parker handed him Eliot's phone.

"I need you to unlock Eliot's phone, he's acting funny and I want to know why."

Hardison looked at Parker for minute, this wasn't like her; she was worried. Parker cared about the team, Hardison knew that, but she didn't pry more than endless questions that could be ignored. She didn't push or invade personal belongings.

"What's going on Parker?"

"I don't know, so unlock his phone and I can find out. I'm not telling you though."

"Yeah, yeah, I doin-, wait, why ain't you telling me?" Hardison questioned, why wasn't she telling him?

"If he wanted us to know he would tell us." Parker answered honestly.

*sigh* "Fine, but you owe me woman. Eliot finds out I helped you break into his phone the man will whoop my ass."

Parker smiled when Hardison handed her back the phone, now unlocked, and walked away.

She started with pictures, the client looked familiar so that was probably the best place to start. Parker went through the first 50 pictures (mostly of the team and stuff from jobs) and was about to give up when she found one of the client. She was smiling and turning away from the camera, her hand blurring a little as she brought it up to block her face. Parker kept swiping to the next picture, there were just as many of Isabelle as there were of the team, mixed throughout. Some of just Isabelle, some of both Isabelle and Eliot, a couple of them kissing. It wasn't hard for Parker to figure out they had dated, obviously they weren't now. Then she remembered why Isabelle looked familiar, they had met a few times at McRory's Pub, in Boston. Parker had never known that she had Eliot had dated though. She was about to stop looking through the photos when she found one of just Eliot. She looked at it for a moment, trying to figure out why it had caught her eye. He was smiling, looking at the person who took the picture, but there was something about the look in his eye that made her feel like she did when she walked in on Nate and Sophie whispering sometimes.

Realizing that she needed to get the phone back to Eliot before he noticed it was missing, she started looking for him. She found him quickly enough; he was still lurking in the shadows, leaning against a pillar, arms crossed, giving off the 'I'm-a-tough-guy-so-don't-try-talking-to-me' vibe. Parker sighed and snuck back over to him. She slipped the phone in his pocket and leaned forward, planning on whispering boo in his ear.

"I saw you walk over from the fountain, Parker." He said it quietly and Parker hoped that meant he wasn't so grouchy anymore.

"How long did you and Isabelle date?" she'd never been very good with subtlety.

Eliot froze, no way had Parker figured it out, even Nate hadn't put two and two together yet.

"What makes you think you think I dated her?" for some reason he felt bad lying to Parker, he'd stick to evasion for now.

"Well for one, you called her Izzy earlier. Two, you're hiding from her. Normally, you'd be moving around getting every view possible and possibly flirting but tonight you're hiding in the shadows. And the big tip off was that you a bunch of pictures of her on your phone." Parker smiled, she was rather proud of her conclusion, it was fun playing Nate.

Eliot on the other hand was not happy.

"Don't go through my phone." He growled as he checked his pockets, finding his phone right where he left it. This was Parker though, he had no doubt she had taken it, looked through it, and returned it.

"Well, I felt funny, you looked sad and kinda mad and you wouldn't talk about it."

Eliot grimaced, he was supposed to be getting better at acting, not bad enough that Parker could notice he was upset.

"Don't tell Nate, or any of the others for that matter. They don't need to know. Alright?" Parker didn't like the sound of defeat in his voice and agreed.

"I won't."

"Can I ask you a question though?"

"You gonna ask whether I say yes or no?" Eliot replied, slightly amused and a little surprised that Parker was asking permission.

"Well, I was looking through the pictures and I mean you really really liked her, right?"

"Yeah, Parker. I did." He sounded sad again.

"Did you love her?"

Eliot didn't answer her right away and Parker was beginning to think he was going to answer when he whispered "Yeah, I loved her."

"And she loved you?"

"Yeah, she loved me." He had a small smile on his face now, turned up on one side and although it wasn't big, even Parker could see the emotions in his eyes.

"Well, why aren't you still dating then? I mean clearly you still have feeling for her or you wouldn't be all lurky and grumpy and sad hiding in the dark and she's the only girl you have pictures of on your phone besides me and Sophie."

Eliot looked at Isabelle, drinking champagne from one of the many servers, debating on what to say. "She broke up with me, told me to stay away. So that's what I'm doing, she doesn't know I'm here or that I'm on team protecting her, it's going to stay that way." He met Parkers eyes for the last part, making sure she knew it wasn't a statement, it was an order.

Parker nodded, she knew Eliot would never hurt her, even if she did tell Isabelle, but she trusted he had his reasons.

"If you love her though, why don't you try talking to her, she might not be mad about whatever it was she was mad about."

Eliot sighed and pushed off the wall, he was done with the question, of thinking about the last time he saw Izzy.

Eliot couldn't think of a single place he'd rather be than where he was now. He smiled at Izzy sleeping next to him, she had fallen asleep watching the football game with him but he was surprised she had agreed to watch it in the first place, she wasn't big on watching sports; she would rather play. Then again she probably agreed just so she could take a nap. He brushed some hair off her face and she looked up at him.

"Hey sleepy." He drawled.

"Hey, the game over?" she asked with the sleepy smile he loved.

"Yeah, I recorded it though so we can watch it now that you're up" He said, teasing her a bit.

"Hmm, as much as I would love to do that, I think I need to go check over that report I was working on." she grinned when he grabbed her around the waist as she tried to get up.

"And what if I had something for us to do other than watch football?" he whispered in her ear.

"Well in that case "she trailed off as she kissed him, her hands moving down to his chest. They stopped at his dog tags. She pulled away and looked at them, never haven taken a close look before. Funny she thought, I've dated him a year and never read his dog tags. They were always just there.

She froze when she read the name. ELIOT SPENCER.

Eliot stopped kissing her shoulder when he felt her freeze. He pulled back and looked at her and saw fear and anger and confusion in her eyes. Then he noticed his dog tags in her hands. could I forget? He was usually careful, keeping them tucked under his shirt and the few times she had started looking at them, he distracted her.

"I can explain." God, that had to be lamest thing he could have said.

"Really, you can explain why your dog tags say your name is Eliot Spencer when you told me you name was Eliot Bane? Because I really want to hear this." Pissed was an understatement.

"Izzy, I didn't mean to.. I was going to tell you…I know I lied about my name but I had to." How was he going to explain to his Izzy that he had lied about his name, lied to her because he had to keep her from knowing the things he had done, from the things he was doing now with the team. He was proud of what he and the team were doing but they were still thieves, and Izzy was many things but not a thief.

"YOU HAD TO! YOU HAD TO LIE TO ME! WHY? WHAT COULD POSSIBLY BE SO IMPORTANT THAT YOU COULDN'T TELL ME YOU REAL NAME! I DON'T EVEN KNOW YOU! WHAT ELSE HAVE YOU LIED ABOUT? DO YOU REALLY WORK AT MCRORY'S PUB OR IS THAT ANOTHER LIE! I KNOW YOU DON'T GET ALL THOSE BRUISES BREAKING UP BAR FIGHTS!" Eliot didn't think he'd ever seen her so mad, especially not at him. Nor could he remember ever seeing that twinge of fear in her eyes and he felt about 5 inches tall, knowing he'd put it there.

"Izzy, please, let me explain. I will tell you everything, just please, calm down. Come here." He held out his hand, hoping she would sit back down and let him explain.

Isabelle stared at his hand for a moment, and when she spoke again, she was no longer yelling.

"Get out. Get out of my apartment now. You need to go and stay gone. I don't know who you are any more. Please. Just. Just leave." Her voice broke at the end and she walked out of the living room, not looking at Eliot.

Eliot looked at her and knew she was right. He had screwed up and she deserved so much more. He had known that since he met her.

"I know you're mad and you have every right to be but please believe me when I say I never lied about loving you. I love you Izzy."

She froze in the door way to her bedroom but didn't turn and didn't speak; she kept moving after only a moment, shutting the door behind her.

Eliot closed his eyes, cursing his own stupidity, he never should have lied to her.

He left his key to her apartment on the kitchen table.

Eliot shook off the memories and went to the open bar, he'd try Nate's way tonight.

Two beers, a shot, and an hour later and Eliot was still miserable. He got up and started making his rounds, he didn't think anyone was coming after Izzy at the charity event tonight but there was no such thing as being too careful in his opinion

They didn't strike until the end. Izzy was walking back to her car, Parker and Hardison following a few rows over, talking and laughing, trying to make sure Izzy and anyone else in the parking lot knew that they weren't alone. Eliot followed crouched low, close enough to be at Izzy's side in 5 seconds if needed.

"AHHH"

He was needed.

Eliot ran to Izzy, 5 guys, army trained judging by their stances, had her surrounded. He charged in, punching the man holding Izzy and pulling her towards him before pushing her towards Parker and Hardison.

"Get her out of here." He growled as he faced the men in front of him.

Parker and Hardison didn't need to be told twice. Parker grabbed Izzy's hand and told her to run.

Eliot sighed to himself as he listened to the retreating footsteps then focused on the five army trained and now pissed off men in front of him. He glared at the men and made a come at me gesture. They came.

Eliot ducked under the first man's punch and drove his own fist into the man's solar plexus. He then turned and used the man to block the next man's attack and kicked out behind him at Guy Number 3 who thought he could sneak up on him. He managed to block the next punch but not all these men were idiots. The last man had watched before moving in and taking advantage of Eliot's distraction. He slammed his fist into Eliot's face and rammed his knee into his Eliot's ribs. The other men joined in and started throwing punches. It wasn't long before Eliot was thrown back, landing on his side. He got up, spit out some blood, and chuckled.

He stood up and grinned in a way he knew showed his bloody teeth and scared men braver than the ones in front of him.

"Come on" he growled.

The men charged and he proceed take them out. He grabbed the first man's fist and used the momentum to flip him, pulling the man's shoulder out of the joint. The next man pulled a knife and Eliot disarmed him, throwing it at the man coming at him on his right while turning to his left and swiping the knife man's feet out from under him. He punch the last man with an uppercut, knocking him out.

Eliot looked at the men laying around him before picking up the car key Izzy had dropped. He got in her car and radioed in on his comm.

"I'm done, where's the client, I have her car." He growled.

"We're headed to the pub" Parker filled him in, briefly.

Eliot hit the gas and got to the pub just as Hardison led Izzy inside. Parker was leaning against the wall next to the door, obviously waiting for Eliot.

He walked over slowly, not wanting to disturb the bruises he could feel forming. When he reached her, he held out the key but she wouldn't take it.

"You beat them pretty quickly." Eliot could hear more coming but answered anyway.

"There were only five."

"You can't avoid her forever you know." She said softly.

"I've done a pretty good job these last few months." He bit out.

"Maybe, but she recognized you, wanted to know what you were doing there. She was pretty curious."

"Parker.."

"I didn't say anything." Parker broke in before he got too worked up.

"Thank you."

They were quiet for a minute before Parker broke the silence.

"I'll make you a deal. I won't make you go in there if you tell me why you never went after her, never tried to fix things." Parker asked, sounding worried at the end. Eliot knew Parker well enough he could guess that she was afraid he'd leave the team the way he left her.

Eliot sighed and ran a hand through his long hair.

"Because she more than I deserve. Livin' with me, it ain't easy. Sometimes, even I wanna run away. She is a good person, she works hard, she loves with everything, and she cares. And she deserves more than guy whose job is hitting people and lying." Eliot answered honestly, he knew there was no point in lying to Parker, and he didn't want to anyway.

Parker thought about it for a moment and took the keys from Eliot, a deal is a deal.

She had one thing to say before she went in though.

"You're wrong you know." She said it like it was obvious. "You don't just hit people and lie. You help people with nowhere else to go. And not just clients, I've seen the way you help others, kids especially. And she's not mad about the lying, she said so herself. She said the thing that pissed her off the most was that as much as you claimed to love her, you gave up. You didn't go after her."

Parker look back at Eliot then and got in her last piece.

"And don't you ever say you don't deserve someone. You're one of the best people I know and nobody talks badly about my friends, not even my friends."

And with that she turned and walked into the pub, leaving Eliot to stare after her in wonder, pondering the blonde thief's words.


The End! Finally! This is much much much longer than I planned but I think I like it

Please Review!

Also here is a link for this song if you want to listen to it. (I don't own the video I just found it on YouTube)

watch?v=16nIUMwcZXg

And here is one for the first fic, How I'm Living Now. (Again I don't own the video, just found it on that amazing video sharing website )

watch?v=4t-n2PEG6g4