Sometimes, when Eliot can't sleep, he drives around town. He never has any destination in mind, but he always ends up passing each home of his team. He doesn't get out his truck and knock on their doors, just knowing they're home and safe is enough for him as he keeps his engine running.
The hacker's penthouse apartment is to the south. Eliot stops the car outside the tall building and peers up until his neck hurts. It's late, or early depending on who you ask, but Eliot sees the soft glow of a widescreen TV and various computer screens. Hardison is probably more nocturnal than him, unable to rest his fingers until it starts getting light outside. When Eliot is satisfied everything is how it should be he steps down on the accelerator and moves on. He stares down at the blue stain on his carpet for a moment and makes a mental note to get Hardison to clean it up, by whatever means necessary.
Parker's house is only a five minute drive from Hardison's apartment, that's if you could call it a house. Eliot has yet to work out how exactly Parker's mind works, but then Eliot's not sure he wants to know. He shakes his head every time he stops outside the converted firehouse. He's only been inside the building once when Parker decided to throw a dinner party. The dinner had consisted of burnt pizza and sliced apples for pudding. The lights are all off inside but that doesn't mean Parker's tucked up in bed. Who knows where the unpredictable woman is.
He doesn't drive past Nate's townhouse. He knows the older man won't be there, hardly ever is. The lights are on at the Leverage offices, though. Eliot's not surprised. He wonders how far through a bottle of scotch their leader is. He's always believed you're only as strong as you're weakest link and Eliot can't get his head round the paradox that's Nathan Ford, both their weakest and their strongest link. He's the man that brought four criminals together, criminals that never worked as a team. He can't imagine taking a job on his own anymore, learning to rely on people having his back.
Nate's not stupid enough to try and drive home drunk so Eliot's satisfied he won't be leaving the office any time soon. He adds fresh coffee to his mental list for the next morning and continues on to Sophie's house.
He's never been inside the ultra-modern building, but he gets a good view of the inside from the large floor to ceiling windows and he can guess from the amount of clothes the English wore her closet was probably the size of Texas. The lights are on inside Sophie's house, illuminating what would normally be dark at this time of night. Sophie was never awake this late, her lights were always off, curtains closed and it is making Eliot feel very uneasy.
He turns off the engine and steps out of the car. It's a little chilly but after spending months in Russia it took more than a little cool air to make Eliot shiver. He makes his way quickly to the front door and raises his eyes and he sees the door slightly ajar. Sophie's a smart woman, and she's damn good at what she does. She'd never be stupid enough to leave her front door open. He pushes the door open wider and spots dirty boot prints on the cream carpet. He doesn't need any more convincing that someone's broken into the house.
He hears a crash and voices up the stairs and he snaps into action. He climbs the staircase easily, keeping his movements as quiet as possible. He doesn't want to let the intruders know they have company. The sounds grow louder as he moves towards the main bedroom at the end of the hall. The door is half open and as he stops outside the door he can finally hear Sophie speak.
"Please, just take anything you want and go" Through the crack in the door he sees the brunette sitting in the bed, her hands and feet tied with plastic ties. She has a nasty bruise already forming on her cheek and looks a little roughed up, but apart from that she seemed unharmed. The room is also occupied by two men dressed all in black. One of them stands over Sophie, his back to the door and a gun to her head. He can't see from his position whether it's loaded or not but Eliot isn't going to take the risk. The second man is digging into Sophie's closet and drawers looking for jewellery and anything else of value. Anything interesting he finds he immediately stuffs into a duffel bag.
Eliot waits for the right moment before making his move. He creeps into the room without a sound and before the gunman realises what's happening, Eliot takes the gun from his hand and wraps an arm around his neck. He yanks the man to the side as the second man charges at him. Eliot kicks the man in the stomach, launching him backwards into Sophie's clothes.
He kicks at the back of the gunman's legs, sending him to his knees and he cries out in pain. Eliot slams the butt of the gun down on the man's crown and he falls to the ground unconscious. As one man falls, the other is climbing to his feet. He raises two fisted hands and tries to punch Eliot but Eliot dodges easily. He hits the man hard in the side, blocks another attempted punch with his other arm and punches the man twice in the face. With he man disorientated, Eliot grabs the man's shoulders and knees him in the groin. The man bends over and his hands fly to cup himself. Eliot keeps hold of the man's shoulders and knees the man in the face, the force knocking him out. Eliot lets go and the man drops to the floor like a stone. Once both the men have been subdued Eliot stands up straight and runs his hands through his hair, pulling it away from his face.
He finally looks over at Sophie, her eyes wide. "You okay?" He asks and she nods dumbly. He steps over the second man and pulls a small knife from a strap on his ankle. He flips the knife open and cuts the plastic around Sophie's wrists and ankles. She rubs the red marks left on her skin and stands up.
"How?" She shakes her head. "What are you doing here?"
Eliot shrugs, "I was in the neighbourhood."
***********
Nate raises an eyebrow and looks up at Sophie through his hangover sunglasses. She definitely didn't have a purple bruise on her cheek when she left yesterday.
"What happened to you?"
Sophia waved him off and sat down in her chair. "Just had a small incident last night," she bends down and picks up something off the floor by her seat. She plonks the pack of bottled beer onto the table and slides it down in front of Eliot. She knows he's not one for grand gestures and she's not about to attempt to hug the man, but she still wants to show how grateful she is to Eliot for saving her last night.
He looks up at her in surprise and she smiles, "Thank you Eliot."
Eliot looks round at the table of curious faces and then looks back to Sophie, he nods in return and her smile widens.