Author's Note: I do not own Leverage or any of its characters. Please enjoy!

*~*~*~*

Nate couldn't sleep, not after the fight that he had over the video cam with Sophie. As much as it could be called a fight, considering that she decided to cut the link when he was going into his rant. However, it was his crew more than it would ever be her crew, especially since she left. That's what angered him the most, that she decided to just up and leave. They could have worked around the fact that she was supposed to be dead easily. He wished that she could have stayed instead of running away, but he couldn't fault her. He couldn't due to the fact that he loved her and that it was her modus operandi. Her method of operation that when the con fell through that it was best to run as fast and as far away as possible. He sighed as he sat up, getting up out of bed. He was glad that there was quiet in his apartment around 3 in the morning. He probably would kill any of the team members that decided to come in now.

He made his way down to the kitchen, going over to the cabinet where the food stuff was kept. He reached up to the top, taking down different things that were in the cabinet to get to a secret compartment in there. He popped it open and reached inside. However, his hand reached nothing as he pulled it out to peek up in there. He blinked, knowing that he didn't drink the bottle of vodka. He bought it when Sophie left them, wanting to just drink, but he just put it away instead of pouring it out. "Where the hell did it go?" He said to himself, sounding very frustrated.

"Down the drain," Parker said quietly from behind Nate. She held up the empty bottle of vodka, looking at him. "You said that you'd stopped. That you weren't going back to it."

"Which is why it was unopened and hidden," he replied to her as he turned around to look at her. Of all of his team members, she was the best one to pour his liquor down the drain. "Why Parker?"

"Because I like you sober," she said quietly as she put the empty bottle in the recycling. "It takes you less time to get to the point and you don't yell at us as often as you did before. Also, you're more like a father when you decide not to medicate yourself."

"I haven't – " he stopped himself, thinking over what he was about to say. It wasn't that he didn't truly adopt Parker, but he did take her under his wing. True, she listened more to Sophie than he did to him, but she did listen to him and take his direction well. She was the only one in the group to do it with the least amount of snark. "I guess I have adopted you," he said with a sigh. "Even though I didn't mean to."

"We've worked how many cons now and it took you that long to realize that?" She asked with a grin. "And besides, I adopted you first."

"I'm not going to argue about that," he said with a chuckle. "Do you think we're doing okay without her? Or do you think I should have chased after her?"

"Yes and no," she replied. "We saw what happened – she refused you. So there was no reason for you to run after her. She needs to make up to you, at least from what I see of things. I do miss her though."

"I know," he said quietly with a sigh. "I miss her too." He paused and started to put everything back in the cabinet. "Thank you Parker."

"For what?" She asked as she passed some things to him in order to help him.

"For saving me from going back to the bottle," he said with a chuckle as they put the cabinet back in order. He gave her a bit of a fatherly hug and made sure that she was comfortable on the couch before he went up to bed. He laid down and sighed, grateful for the daughter he had now that he never had before.