Puddle Jumping and Mud Pies
Fandom : Leverage
Characters : De-aged!Eliot, Parker, Nathan and Sophie (it was for a prompt – I've never written a de-aged character before so… forgive me if it's not so good!)
Rating : PG-13
Word Count : 1,450
Written for the prompt : Leverage, Deaged Eliot/ any, mud pies and puddle jumping
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.
Puddle Jumping and Mud Pies
It had rained almost non-stop for the last three days and much as Sophie had to admit that Eliot had been well-behaved, there were clear signs of the five year old needing to let off steam as soon as possible. She was run ragged, they had baked and painted and Nathan had played board games and built models with blocks and played with cars. They'd even gone easy on their usual strict rule of no jumping on the bed, because at this point anything that let a little of the excess energy out was essential.
So it was bad timing, or maybe misfortune, or just plain old Fate that had the first let up in the rain coming while Parker was looking after him. It had been unavoidable, Nate and Sophie both having to deal with the clients of the upcoming job and Hardison was busy elsewhere. So they'd left the two of them curled up on the couch with a bowl of popcorn and Disney's "Lilo and Stitch" playing on the TV.
They'd come back to find popcorn everywhere, all of the cushions off the couch and all the other chairs in the room and no sign of either Parker or Eliot. "Oh God, what did we do?" Sophie grimaced. Nate already had his phone out, calling Hardison.
"Hardison, I need to know where Eliot and Parker are," he said bluntly, unsurprised by the sigh and the 'I told you leaving Eliot with just Parker was a bad idea', that he received in return.
"The Park or so the tracker in Eliot's trainers say, but for some reason it's beginning to fritz in and out," Hardison said, a few minutes later. "You okay to go down yourselves or do you need help?"
"We'll be fine," Nathan sighed.
It wasn't far to the park and they headed over to the children's play area as soon as they arrived. The already alert anxiety raised a few notches further when there was no sign of either of the missing pair. They started to walk a circuit gradually widening out from the play area. It wasn't long before they heard a familiar voice shouting, "I'm 626, ah ha ha ha ha ha!" in an approximation of an all too familiar evil laugh.
"Oh no!" Sophie moaned in despair. "Not again! I tell you that film has to go!"
"Aw come on, it could be worse," Nate laughed.
"Worse than a child who wants to be an evil genius' alien experiment? How could it be worse than that?" she snapped back at him, both of them already heading for the voice.
They had entered the clearing where Eliot was clearly having a fantastic time, but there was still no sign of Parker. Sophie let out another groan as she took in the disaster before her as Eliot jumped from puddle to puddle splashing mud high in the air. It was beyond too late to worry about the state of his clothes as it was already almost impossible to tell what he'd been wearing when he started his game, but the free and happy smile on his face was echoed in Nate's, if not in Sophie's.
"Do we just take him or do we worry about what happened to Parker?" Nate asked, still not drawing the little boy's attention from his game.
"It depends . . . can I kill her when we find her?" Sophie glared at him. "What was she thinking?"
"I thought he'd behave, he was fed up of being inside and the rain had stopped. I didn't know he'd be like this!" Parker's voice hissed from above them.
They both looked upwards to find Parker perched in a tree above their heads, out of sight. "What are you doing up there, Parker?"
She sighed and pulled an 'isn't it obvious?' face. "I didn't want anyone to know he was with me! Not when he was like this. It was alright at first, he just wanted to go on the swings and slides and run about a bit, but then . . . but then . . . " Her voice dropped to a horrified whisper, "I think he really is 626!"
"So what did you do?"
"I climbed up here when no one was looking!" Parker answered as if it was the most understandable answer in the world. "I can still see him and he hasn't run away and no one has tried to take him away, although I think if they were going to steal a child they'd pick a cleaner one!"
"Wheeeeeeeeee! Boom!" came a cry from the other side of the clearing. "Wheeeeeeee! Splat! Wheeeeeeeeeee! Schplooooooom!" Eliot continued to jump from puddle to puddle, laughing.
"Eliot!" Nathan called.
The little boy turned, beamed brightly and called back, "Look! Watch me! Wheeeeeeeeeee! Kersplat!" Nathan had to admit that it had been a particularly impressive splatter of mud.
"Very exciting," he called back, "Come on though, it's time for us to go now before the rain starts again. It would be terrible to get a cold and not be able to come back and play next time the rain stops, wouldn't it?"
Eliot's eyes widened in horror at the thought and promptly stopped his game, starting to run towards Nathan. "Aunt Sophie!" he yelled noticing her standing alongside Nathan and immediately redirecting his run towards her, with his arms outstretched. Nathan reacted quickly, stepping in front of her so that he took the full impact of the muddy little body as Eliot threw himself up into the waiting arms. "Hmph!" Eliot pouted, "I was going to give Sophie a hug and tell her about what I'd been doing!"
Nathan laughed again, then whispered into Eliot's ear, "I think Sophie would rather hear it when you're not quite so muddy!"
Eliot looked surprised for a moment before accepting the explanation and wiggling to be let down to the ground again. "Parker didn't want to play anymore so she went and sat up in the tree," Eliot said, pointing up at Parker as they passed underneath. "She said she doesn't like me anymore, but," his voice got louder as he finished, "I don't care, I don't like her either." His voice dropped again, more tentative as he said, "She said she hoped someone would come and take me away, but nobody would want a horrible alien experiment. You want me though, right?" The doubt was back in Eliot's voice, "You do want me? You don't want someone else to take me away?" There was a tearful tremor to his voice.
Sophie cast another glare in the direction of the tree under which a slightly guilty looking Parker stood. Sophie dropped to her knees, and took Eliot in her arms, promising that they did want him even if he was muddy and he most definitely wasn't an alien experiment. "It's time to go home now, Eliot," Sophie said as she stood back up, taking one of his hands in hers and beginning to lead him towards the gate.
They were just passing a trash can when Eliot's free hand snuck out and grabbed hold of the post, jerking both himself and Sophie to a halt. "Wait!" he shouted. "You have to wait! I made something for dinner!"
"For dinner?" Nathan asked tentatively. Eliot nodded furiously before beginning to pull Sophie back towards the play area. Parker trailed behind them at a distance.
"I made pies for dinner!" Eliot said enthusiastically. "I even put worms in them!"
"Oh!" Sophie gasped.
"Erm . . ." Nathan seemed to be at a loss for words.
"Oh!" Eliot's shoulders dropped and his disappointment was clear at the dilapidated mess on the ground. "Someone stood on them!"
"Oh," Sophie barely held back the relief. "Well, not to worry, when you're all cleaned up, maybe you could help me make something else for dinner. Something . . . tasty!" she nodded enthusiastically, taking Eliot's hand and leading him determinedly towards the park gate.
"I could . . . I could catch the worms again to put inside," he said hurriedly, feet pounding along beside her as she hurried him from the park.
"Maybe another time, sweetheart. We really need to get home and get you in the bath or you won't be ready in time to help make dinner."
"Oh! Okay, maybe tomorrow then," he agreed. Moments later he was pointing out cars and pedestrians that caught his eye, worm and mud pies forgotten for the time being to everyone else's relief.