Pushed you too far
It was 3 in the morning and Parker had just walked into Nates apartment. It was pitch black, except for the little bit of dim streetlight coming in through the windows.
"Nate?" She called out. She knew he would be awake, sitting in the dark, alone. "Nate?"
There was a grunt from her right and she flicked on the lights. Nate was hugging his knees to his chest and sitting at the very far end of the couch. He looked in a particularly bad mood as he hid his face behind his legs.
"Nate." Parker said with a slight scolding tone to it
"What?" He grumbled
"I just wanted to see if you were okay" Parker admitted. "You seemed in a pretty bad mood earlier"
"So you come at 3 in the morning?" Nate retorted bitterly
Parker ignored the question and sat down next to him. Silence hung over them for about a minute. "You need to face your demons"
"Pardon?" Nate turned his head to look at her
"Come on," Parker pushed his back against the couch and forced his legs down with her feet. "Uncurl yourself from your tiny ball of self-despair and talk to me"
Nate raised an eyebrow at her.
"You need to face your demons," Parker repeated
"What demons?"
"Sophie"
"Sophie's no demon. She's a person and a human being just like the rest of us." Nate just assumed it was another one of those crazy Parker moments
"No, no, not in literal terms. What I mean is that she's the reason your acting like this" Parker said with the implication of his tiny ball of self-despair
Nate scoffed. "You don't know that"
"Yes, I do" Parker corrected firmly
"What's your point?"
"You...need to tell her...how you...feel" Parker's voice was soft and small
"I tried to get her to come back. I tried to...move things along"
"You didn't let her walk away?" Parker asked in confusion
"No. She walked away" Nate spat out harshly
"She told us that you let her walk away and didn't try to stop her"
"I didn't try to stop her because I didn't want to push her. I was giving her the time and space she needed to figure things out" Nate said truthfully
"You know she didn't want that" Parker said slowly
"What?" Nate asked, now confused
"I have an idea! Go sit somewhere where the camera can't see you and then don't you dare say anything. I'm going to prove to you that Sophie isn't trying to figure out who she is" Parker spoke with something Nate tagged as conviction and excitement
"If she isn't trying to figure out who she is then what is she doing?" Nate asked as he moved to sit behind the monitors
"Sophie's running away from facing you. She's not facing her demon" Parker said and she brought up video chat. It rang a few times before Sophie picked up.
"Parker!" Sophie smiled, clearly happy it wasn't Nate on video chat just to rant at her
"Hey Soph," Parker grinned
"What are you doing on video chat? Isn't it like 3 in the morning where you're at?"
"I couldn't sleep at all!" Parker said truthfully
Sophie sighed. "You know you can't just keep calling me Parker. I'm trying to figure out who I am and you guys are not helping"
Parker sunk back in the couch, her face etched with hurt but the anger boiling deep below. "What do you mean?"
"No, Parker that's not what I meant-"
"No Sophie, that's exactly what you meant!" Parker spat out, the rage starting to pulse through her. "And by the way I know why you haven't come back!"
"I'm trying to figure out who I am!" Sophie said slightly harshly, offended by the tone Parker was taking
Parker laughed bitterly. "No you're not. You're running away from facing your demons!"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You're running away from facing Nate!" Parker yelled
"Oh, so now you're on Nates side for this?" Sophie slammed her hands on the table and jabbed her finger at the camera.
"I'm not on anybody's side! Just please come back Sophie"
"No, Parker. I'm not coming back" Sophie said firmly
"Why not?" Parker demanded. "You don't figure out who you are traveling the world-"
Sophie reached up to shut her laptop
"Don't you dare hang up on me you fucking bitch!" Parker screamed, her breathing heavy from rage
Sophie's eyes went wide, taken aback by Parker swearing at her. Parker NEVER swore. "Parker-"
"You and Nate both need to face each other or else you'll never find out who you are and Nate will never stop hurting" Parker felt her voice crack as the burning sensation ebbed into her throat
Sophie's face was cold. "How dare you swear at me"
"I only do it when people aren't listening to me!" Parker defended loudly
"Well you're not helping yourself"
"Listen to me Sophie! We need you!" Parker cried
Sophie scoffed. "I bet Nate put you up to this. He's too much of a coward to say that he needs me"
"God dammit Sophie, don't you understand?" Parker yelled and half cried
"No Parker, I don't understand! What the fuck am I missing?" Sophie yelled back
"Nate only let you walk away because you said you wanted time and space. You can't expect him to know that you wanted him to hold you back. You need to stop playing this stupid ass game of push and pull!"
Sophie clenched her teeth and narrowed her eyes at the Thief. "When did you start becoming so damn defensive of Nate?"
"He's family Sophie. I'm going to stick up for him when no one else will" Parker's voice turned slightly scared
Sophie looked at Parker in confusion.
"HE'S IN LOVE WITH YOU!" Parker screamed
Nate suddenly got off the floor and moved in next to Parker. "Parker what the hell are you doing?" He hissed
"He's been here the whole time?" Sophie roared in anger
Parker turned to look at Sophie, her face cold. "Yeah, Sophie he has. I did it to prove that you weren't trying to figure out who you are, you just running away like a selfless coward. I was hoping to instill the truth into your brain"
"I can't believe you Parker. That was a shitty move on your part, you should know better" Sophie shook her head sadly
"You can continue soul-searching Sophie but just know that I will have vengeance" Nate said loudly and firmly
"I didn't do anything wrong" Sophie defended
"Look at your life just in these past two months. Do you know what you've done to me? Do you know the pain you've caused me?"
Sophie didn't respond by just stared at him, the hurt flittering across her eyes.
"Before I die alone, I will have vengeance." The hurt spilled out of Nates voice and he turned to walk away.
"Nate!" Sophie yelled after him. "Come back here!" He continued walking and started to ascend the stairs "Nathan Ford, get your ass back here!"
"I'm coming back!" Nate yelled and then muttered to himself, "unlike you"
Nate came back about 10 minutes later and stood next to Parker, his arms crossed.
"What were you doing up there?" Sophie asked
Nate shrugged, deciding not to give her an answer.
"I was just explaining to Sophie how she managed to get to this point" Parker said slowly and she saw Nate wince slightly
"Were you up their planning your revenge?" Sophie demanded
"No" Nate shook his head. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Parkers went wide and she grabbed his forearm. He let out a whimper of pain. "Ow! Parker please let go!"
She moved the sleeve of his jacket up to see gauze wrapped around his wrist, a little redness seeping through. Quickly she let go, not wanting to make his wrist bleed more then it should. "Nate" Parker whispered, the tears filling up her eyes
"Nate what have you done?"'Sophie half yelled and half pleaded
"I-is this what you meant?" Parker stuttered out, choking back tears
He nodded yes and slowly took the gauze off.
"What the hell is going on?" Sophie cried
Nate showed her his wrist, which was dripping red blood. "This is the pain you've caused me Sophie." Nates words slashed out at her like the blade itself
Sophie backed away from the computer, her hand covering her mouth as the unrelenting tears poured down her face. "Nate"
"You took this stupid game too far and it's me who ends up paying the price" Nate cried as he fell down onto the couch
Parker sat down next to him and pulled him into a hug. She could feel his tears soaking through her shirt but she didn't move. "It's okay Nate, I'm here for you" Then she turned to look at Sophie, "He needs you Sophie, not me, not the team; you. Because all we can do is try and stop him." Parker disconnected the video chat before Sophie could respond.
Nate stayed clutching onto Parker until he finally pulled himself together. He felt like he could pass out right then and there and he would be fine. Instead Parker gently grabbed his hand and led him into the kitchen where she wrapped up his wrist again.
"Thank you Parker" Nate said with a sad smile
"For what?"
"Everything," was all he responded
"We have to stick up for each other" Parker smiled slightly
"You'll be the hero of the group...you know for bringing Sophie back"
"I don't want to be the hero. I wanted her to come back on her own but as we talked a little bit over these two months I finally put the pieces together" Parker sighed and looked down at her feet
"Work of a mastermind, I'd say" Nate smirked
Parker smiled slightly. "I should get going," she started heading towards the door
"Will you be alright this late at night?" Nate called after her
"What do you think?" Parker gave him a look, one foot already out the door.
They both laughed and Parker shut the door. No matter what Parker said, she was still a hero.
A/N: So I came up with the idea for this story while listening to Zack Hemsey's song Facing Demons. Parker may seem a bit out of character for being all talk-like but I kinda had to write it like that. Anyway I don't own Leverage :(