Nathan Ford walked into the Leverage headquarters more than extremely late and only a little hung over. It could have been the other way round but he hadn't had enough coffee yet to work it out properly. He dropped his laptop back in his office and then stepped across the hallway to the conference room. He didn't know what confused him more. The fact that his team were nowhere to be found or the fact there was a six year old boy sitting on the edge of the table, his legs swinging underneath. He pulled his sunglasses off and stared at the boy who stared back with wide trusting eyes.
"Hi," the boy greeted him.
"Hi," Nate returned.
The boy tilted his head slightly, "What's your name?" He asked inquisitively.
"Nathan, what's yours?"
"Caleb."
"Hey!" Nate's head snapped to the right and he winced at the motion. Eliot strode into the room fast and stopped in front of the boy. "What did I tell you about talking to strangers Caleb?"
"Don't?" The boy answered.
"Exactly, no talking to strangers."
Nate frowned, "I'm a stranger now?"
"You are to him," Eliot motioned towards Caleb.
"His name is Nathan," Caleb told Eliot.
"Yeah see? Not strangers," Nate smirked, "Eliot, a moment?" Nate sidestepped to the doorway and motioned for Eliot to join him. Eliot raised an eyebrow but followed Nate out of Caleb's earshot. "Eliot?"
"Yeah?"
"Who on earth is that kid and what is he doing here?"
"That's my nephew man; my sister dropped him off about an hour ago."
"Your sister dropped-" Nate stopped and stared at the kid "We're a babysitting service now? And while we're on the subject, how the hell does your sister know where you are?"
"Please, I could be in the middle of the Mojave and she'd still be able to find me. Do you know what it's like trying to take down four armed Austrians when your sister is on the phone demanding to know when you'll be back in the country so she can set a date for her son's christening? And hey, I thought you liked kids man."
Nate's not about to tell Eliot how much his nephew reminded him of his son. "I do I just..." He sighed "How long's he going to be here?"
"She's picking him up this evening."
"Okay okay, just, you know," Nate waved his arms around.
"Yeah yeah, you'll never even notice he was here," Eliot walked back to Caleb and turned towards Nate. "Come on kid," Caleb wrapped his arms around Eliot's neck and his legs around his waist. Eliot rested his hands under Caleb's thighs to support him and lifted him off the table. Nate watched as Eliot carried his nephew out of the room piggyback style.
******
Eliot entered the kitchen and dropped Caleb down into a seat beside Alec. "You hungry?" Caleb nodded, his head moving up and down in sharp jerky movements. Eliot reached across to the counter and dropped an apple into Caleb's open hands. "Drink?" Caleb nodded again.
"Here kid," Alec twisted the lid off his bottle of orange soda and handed the bottle to Caleb. Eliot pried it from Caleb's hands inches from Caleb's lips. He glared at Alec as he replaced the soda bottle with a juice carton.
"Don't be giving my nephew sugar man."
"Hey, I've been drinking that stuff since I was his age and I came out fine," Alec defended.
Eliot snorted, "That's debatable."
"This coming from the guy that kicks ass for a living. Got anger management problems there Eliot?"
"And don't say the A word in front of him either!" Eliot growled, "My sister'll kick my a-...behind if he starts spouting new words at dinner with the grandparents."
"Dude, I'd pay to see that."
Eliot glared his patented Eliot glare, "Just go type something."
"I'm going to ignore you said that," He took a gulp of orange soda as he lifted himself from his seat and left the kitchen.
"Uncle El?"
"Yeah?"
"What's leverage?" He asked before biting into his apple.
Eliot wasn't expecting that question. He slid into the previously occupied seat and frowned, his eyebrows furrowed, "Well ....uh, leverage is when someone has something you want and you get something they want. That's becomes your leverage."
Caleb's apple crunched loudly in his mouth as Eliot spoke, "Like what?" He questioned with a mouth full of apple.
"Like...." Eliot searched for an example.
"Like your apple," Another voice said. Eliot looked up to see Sophie standing in the doorway, a hip leaning against the wood. "Pretend I want your apple," she started, pushing away from the archway and stepping into the room. "I've got to find something you want more than the apple to get you to give it to me," She slipped her hand into a pocket and pulled out a candy bar, "Like this," Caleb's eyes widened at the sight of the candy. "This," She continued, waving the bar around, "Is my leverage," Caleb's eyes followed the bar, "How about we trade?"
Caleb handed over the apple instantly. Sophie picked the half bitten apple out of Caleb's hand and replaced it with the candy bar. Caleb ripped the wrapper open and practically inhaled the chocolate inside.
"Why'd you go do that? I just stopped him from drinking soda," Eliot demanded.
Sophie rolled her eyes, "You his uncle not his parent, uncles are supposed to spoil their nephews."
"You haven't met my sister."
"I'd like to, might explain some of this," Sophie waved her hand towards Eliot.
"What do you mean by this?" Eliot growled. "There's nothing wrong with this."
"In case you haven't noticed, you're a little aggressive Eliot."
"Yeah, and what's with the hair man?" Alec agreed, suddenly appearing in the doorway.
"And you're so grunty and growly all the time," Parker appeared from behind Alec. She slipped past him and dived into the fridge for a bottle of water.
"I've finished," Caleb spoke up. He handed his empty juice carton to Eliot. "Can we go do something fun now?"
"Wanna learn how to pick a lock in under ten seconds?" Parker asked.
"No!" Eliot intervened quickly, "He doesn't, you're not teaching my nephew how to pick locks." Parker opened her mouth, "Or lift wallets.....or watches," Parker shut her mouth. "In fact none of you are teaching him any kind of thievery okay? I think my sister would appreciate if I kept her son from going into the family business," Eliot let out a deep breath. "Y'all are a bad influence on him."
"Says the guy that kills people and enjoys it." Parker returned.
Caleb's eyes widened, "Uncle El? Do you kill people?"
Eliot glared at Parker for a moment before turning to Caleb, "Of course I don't kid," he lied easily. "Come on" He held out his hand and Caleb slid from his seat and walked over to his uncle. Eliot rested his hand Caleb's crown and ruffled his hair slightly. "Let's go to my office, I'm sure I've got some cool computer games you can play."
"Hitman?" Alec suggested and Sophie smirked.
"Solitaire," Eliot replied, his teeth gritted.
"You know," Sophie began once Eliot had led Caleb away, "Eliot'll be a good father one day."
"Yeah," Alec agreed, "Let's hope he doesn't have a daughter."
Parker wrinkled her nose, "Why?"
Sophie grinned, "Because he'd kill any boy who laid eyes on his girl."
"Damn straight!" They heard Eliot shout from the other room.
Nathan watched from the hallway as Eliot set up his computer for his nephew, brushing stray hairs out the way as he leant over the six year old. Eliot laughed at something Caleb said and it made Nate want some scotch and fast.
"You okay?" Sophie asked. Nate didn't know how long she'd been standing there but he quickly plastered on a smile. "Fine," He turned and escaped to his office. He'd never wanted to be Eliot before, didn't want to hurt people or get hurt like Eliot did on nearly daily basis, but he wished it was him in that office, wished the little boy was his too. He let out a deep breath and stalked over to his drinks cupboard.