AN: I am so so so sorry about the long break. I got super busy with school and finals. Next update won't take as long (I hope). I know where I'm going with the story, just gotta get it there. I'm also trying to write better. More details, less dialogue? There will be two more chapters, I promise the heist takes place in chapter 3

Thank you for all of the reviews! They mean a lot to me and are the main reason I'm continuing this.
floralisette: sorry I didn't make that clearer. At the end of the first chapter, I kind of had Jake asking his team the same question. They didn't recognize Jake because 1) it had been a long time for both Baird and Jones. 2) while Jake and Eliot are twins, they are quite distinguishable, not just the hair but the way the act, they have totally different personalities/mannerisms (except twirling things). And 3) they had no reason to think that he was Eliot. They met Eliot and Jake at very different points in their lives. Jones was just starting to steal and Baird was NATO when the met Eliot. They met Jake as they were thrust into a world of magic. As of now, I'm planning on mentioning that in the final chapter.

Cindy: Thank you for reviewing and keeping me at it. I'm sorry for the wait, I actually tried to use the story as a procrastination method but finals and guilt of not studying won out. I'm glad you enjoyed the story and wanted more.

Thank you so much to everyone else who reviewed and enjoyed it. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and the ones that come after (I promise to not leave the story hanging).

Disclaimer: I don't own leverage, librarians, any characters or any of the stuff I don't own. Also Hammond and Sparks are buildings at my school so they are probably named after people. Don't own them either.

On with the story!

"Well, it's about damn time." Eliot laughed as he looked around the annex, knowing his brother probably considered this place heaven or at least a haven.

Books filled the shelves and there were even more on the upper level, not to mention the volumes scattered over the large table in the center of the room and the messy desk to the side. It was surprising that Jake ever left the place.

"What do you mean? It didn't take us that long to get here." Cassandra asked, not understanding the long haired version of her sort of friend.

"Always knew Jakey would end up workin' somewhere surrounded by books, hell, I've been trying to get him out of our hometown since we were 16. Good for you Jakey." His final remark was sent towards his brother and meant as sincerely as possible.

Parker and Hardison, meanwhile were looking around in awe. They weren't quite sure what was so amazing about the room they were in but they could feel something that made them know that the room was special. Hardison thought it felt almost like the Tardis would feel, almost bigger on the inside.

They hadn't been filled in about the magic yet and Eliot was quickly realizing that they were going to have to have that conversation sooner rather than later.

"No. No, I do not want all of these people traipsing about in my annex. Oh god there's two of you?" Jenkins groused as he walked into the room, having heard the teams coming in.

"Jenkins, you knew we were bringing people back for this job."

"But why is there a hippie version of Stone?"

"Trust me, he ain't a hippie." Stone laughed, enjoying the mental image of his brother in a tie dye shirt and 90's fringe.

"Let's just focus on the job, okay?" Baird asked, trying to keep the teams focused, somehow knowing that this was going to be next to impossible. Especially since someone was already missing.

"Where's the blonde one, Parker, where'd she go?" the colonel questioned. This was just what she needed, a missing civilian in the annex.

"You set our coms to different frequencies, right?" Eliot asked the hacker.

"Yea, man. Brought some extras for the others too." He replied, digging out his tech and putting it all on the big table in the center of the room.

"Alright, Parker, we're gonna start, at least pay attention." Eliot ordered, taking up the position of team leader for now.

"You're not worried at all about where she went? We don't have everything the main library has but we've got a few dangerous things." Baird was worried, the girl could stumble on something dangerous. Like the apple. Shit.

"Parker, don't touch anything. I mean it." Eliot growled into his com before turning his attention to his bother.

"What are we stealing and where are we stealing it from?"

"Ring of Gyges, from the Hammond building in New York. They got some damn good security though man."

"The Hammond building!" Parker yelled, appearing out of nowhere, "Awesome! I haven't broke into there in ages."

"Alright, Hardison, pull up everything you can on the building, I want to see security footage. Parker, how many ways in do you have?"

"Five, six if they didn't fix the hole in the security that I got through last time."

"No way you've got six ways in! That place is like a fortress!" Jones exclaimed, having only been able to find maybe two way in himself.

"Jones, shut up. Parker, how many of those can you get me, you, and either Jakey or Eve in?"

"Three. Who's Eve?" Eliot rolled his eyes and jerked a thumb at Baird.

"Hardison, you got security footage yet?"

"Ya, your brother is right though, security is tight."

Eliot studied the footage and recognized the security pattern.

"This guy hired Sparks to fix their security. Shouldn't be too hard to get around it but that means that you're going to have to come up with new ways in, Parker. Sparks uses a basic model and adjusts it to fit the building. Its good security unless you've seen it before."

"Ok, so you can get in and out. One of us needs to go with you." No way was Baird letting them go in alone, not that she didn't trust them (she didn't).

"Ya, you or Jakey. I won't work with Jones and I don't know you." Eliot replied, directing the last bit of his statement to the redhead.

Eve nodded, she could work with that.

"You don't trust people either." Cassandra said finally, looking at the brothers standing next to each other.

Eliot glanced at his brother, wondering what the redhead had done to lose his trust. Not that that was a hard thing to do. He'd have to talk to him though, he needed to know any issues going on before they started a job.

"Alright, before we get started, we should probably fill in my teammates here in on the whole magic thing. I'm gonna –"

"Go talk to my brother while ya'll fill them in." Jake finished for his brother. They had too much to talk about to put it off any longer.

Eliot looked at his twin and nodded. "Ya, I'm gonna go talk to Jakey. Hardison, Parker, listen to them and don't even think about trying to steal anything that might be magical."

"Wait wait wait! Man hold up a sec. What do you mean "magic"?" Eliot didn't bother replying.

"Let me see where you got shot."

"No wounds, already healed. It's like magic." Jake just stared at him, not willing to take his brother's crap this time. Well not that he really took it any time.

"Dude, I ain't kiddin around here." Eliot rolled his eyes but pulled his shirt to the side to show his brother the healing bullet wound in his shoulder.

"I ain't showin you the other one. It's healing up the same. First things first I guess, how'd you get this gig?"

"Serpent brotherhood tried to kill me. Why don't you trust Jones?" Jake wasn't sure why this was his first question but he wanted to know.

"Remember when I told you I got captured in North Korea because some idiot set off a fire alarm and you assumed it was me?" That was a fair assumption, in Jake's opinion. Not like Eliot worked with people often. And he could be an idiot sometimes.

"Seriously? Wait. That was when Aimee left. And that was years ago. How old was he? And how haven't you killed him yet?"

"I got…closure. With Aimee. And I thought he was older, okay? Why don't you trust Cassandra?" He threw back, not wanting to get into the Aimee issue at all or admitting that he hadn't bothered checking Jones's fake id because they'd met in a bar. There was a saying about making assumptions that he didn't feel like hearing.

"What do you mean closure? Did you sleep with Aimee?" He really didn't want to get into the Cassandra issue with his brother right now either.

"No! …Maybe. Doesn't matter. What's up with you and Cassandra? Did you sleep with her?"

"No! It's nothing like that, man. It's- it's complicated." Eliot stared at his brother and waited for him to continue. Give him long enough and he'll spill everything. Always worked.

"Fine. I'll tell ya. Just, don't say anything to her, alright?" always would.

10 minutes later

"You're an idiot."

"This coming from you? You still want to hit Jones? And when was the last time someone double crossed you?"

"Four years ago in LA. Sophie tried to con us. I told ya about it. I still trust her. I took time but I trust her now. That's your problem man, you don't give people second chances. You really think this chick is going to double cross you again?" Eliot rolled his eyes but knew his brother was just as stubborn as he was and if he didn't trust the girl, it didn't matter what he said.

"Alright, what does this ring do exactly? Parker ain't going to start flying or something if she touches is, right?"

This was actually Eliot's biggest worry about telling his team about magic. If they knew about it, they'd want to know more about it and use it. Parker and magic was just trouble waiting to happen.

"No, but it does grant the wearer the power to become invisible. According to legend King Gyges of Lydia found it in a tomb when he was a shepherd and then used it to seduce the queen and kill the king. Then he became king and married the queen."

"Right, turns the user invisible, we probably shouldn't tell Parker and Hardison that just yet. Not if you want it back anyway."

"See Alec, I told you magic was real. How else would Santa get all around the world so fast?" Eliot really should have expected Parker's reaction but nope, she still surprised him.

"Don't tell her Santa isn't real. We haven't had the heart to break it to her." He muttered to his brother as they joined the others in the main room.

"Dude, Santa is real. I met him this year."

"You met Santa!" Apparently Jake wasn't that good at whispering, he never really had been though.

"Ya, it was pretty cool." He turned to his brother and grinned. "I got into a bar fight on Christmas Eve with Santa Claus. How freakin' awesome is that man!"

"Now you're just screwin' with me."
"Sadly, he's not. Santa was switching between incarnations and apparently one of them is a god of war. They tore up a bar in Canada."

"Dude, it was awesome!"

"Hey, wait. Happy Eliot, were any of Santa's incarnations ever a thief?"

"Parker, for that last time, that was not Santa Claus's church."
Jake looked at his brother. "Do I even want to know?"

"Probably not. Parker how are those plans coming? We should have three in and out, not counting the front door."

"Why not the front door." Cassandra asked, finally speaking up after watching the others interact. She was nervous as to what Jake might have said about her but knew he must've said something, Eliot had looked right at her when they walked back in.

"Front door means trouble. We're going to do this so they don't even realize we were there til we're long gone."

"They just finished explaining magic, which, by the way, how did you not tell us about that? I'll need some time to figure out how to get in. We should go soon though, I want to do some recon before the break in."

"We can go now, if you want." Baird was ready to get this job done with.

"And how exactly are we getting there? Seein' how ya'll didn't want me to buy the tickets, we still ain't got a way to New York."

"I told you man, all we had to do is come here to the annex. We'll take the back door."

"Hardison come on already. It perfectly safe. Look, I'm in New York. Now I'm in Portland. Now I'm in New York." Parker laughed as she jumped back and forth through the door, enjoying the way in made her stomach lurch, almost like jumping off a building.

Eliot just stood there and glared, he'd gotten annoyed at Hardison's refusal to use the magic door pretty quick.

"Fine man, get a plane and meet us there. Give me that laptop though so I can look over security until you get there."

Hardison eyed Eliot suspiciously but walked over to give him the laptop. He wasn't gonna look a gift horse in the mouth.

That said, he really shouldn't have been so surprised when Eliot grabbed the laptop and shoved him through door. Probably should have tried a little harder not to scream too.

Eliot looked around the room to make sure they hadn't forgotten anything and followed through the doorway.

He didn't enjoy the trip quite as much as his brother and Parker did but he did find it interesting. They were definitely in New York now. The smells coming from the dumpsters and trash littering the alley told him city and New York traffic had a very distinctive sound.

"Dude there is something wrong with you, just pushin a brother through a magic door like that. Come on man. Why ya'll gotta push me off stuff and through stuff. Why can't you just leave me where I am? Huh?"

"Damn it Hardison. Shut up."

"Nice to see your people skills have improved." Jones commented.

"No way, he was way grouchier when I met him." Baird added, enjoying messing with the man currently leading the way to the hotel.

"Happy Eliot, was Grumpy Eliot always Grumpy?" Parker asked, realizing they could learn a lot about their teammate through his brother. Cassandra realized this too and decided she would try to talk to Eliot later. When he was less grumpy.

To his credit, Jake only paused for a moment at the name before answering.

"Nah, not really. I mean, he's always had a short fuse, but it used to be way longer. Army didn't help, neither did losing Aimee. And then –"

"You do know I can still hear you, right?" Eliot growled back to the group following him.

Jake was the only one who bothered to look repentant.

"The world's greatest thief tries to sneak up on me on a daily basis, I know you're there Cassandra." Eliot said without looking up from his book.

"Sorry, I wasn't trying to sneak up on you. I just didn't want to interrupt you while you were reading." She replied. She had been standing in the doorway for a good two minutes before he'd said anything and she had thought he really didn't realize she was there.

Everyone else had scattered for now. Parker and Hardison had gone to do recon while Jones and Jake had gone to get supplies as the two thieves called them in. She wasn't quite sure where Colonel Baird went.

Eliot put his book down with a sigh, he'd wanted a chance to talk to the redhead in private, looks like he'd have to do it during the best part of his book.

"Why don't you sit down? I wanted to talk to you anyway."
"R-Really? Why?" Eliot raised an eyebrow.

"Jake told you about the first time we met? Didn't he?" she answered her own question as she sat on the sofa next to the chair Eliot was in.

"Yea, didn't want to but for a guy who keeps so many secrets, he kinda sucks at it."

"He never mentioned that he had a twin. I mean, we knew he had siblings, nieces and nephews, because he was wrapping their presents for Christmas, but he never mentioned you or really any of his family. Well other than when he says family ain't ever easy. But he said nobody back home knew about how smart he was but you know and-"She stopped suddenly, realizing she was rambling when Eliot raised an eyebrow at her.

"Sorry, I was rambling. I do that sometimes. You said you wanted to talk to me too?" she said after a moment, hoping to stop the brain grape moment she could feel coming.

"Yeah. Jakey wasn't lying exactly, I'm the only one who knows about his big brain. Can't keep much from yer twin."

"Right, you guys must be close, being twins.
Twins. Two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.
Two. Two is the first and only even prime number.
Prime number is a number greater than 1 that has no positive divisors other than 1 and itself.
Goldbach's conjecture state that every even integer greater than 2 can be expressed as the sum of two primes.
All even integers greater than 4 are Goldbach num-"

"Hey, hey. Cassandra. Calm down. Calm down. Breathe, close your eyes and just breathe" To say Eliot was freaking out was probably an understatement, not that he showed it. He was good under pressure after all.

"That's it, just- just breathe." He held onto her hands, hands that hand been sorting through something only she could see, held them between his and tried to calm her.

"Every integer greater than 5 can be written as the sum of three primes."

"Alright darling, you're fine, just slow down a bit. Breathe."

Eliot sighed in relief as the petite redhead beside him calmed down and finally stopped rattling off math.

"Sorry, brain grape. I wish Jones had never called it that, now I do. Its just-it's nothing." Cassandra muttered quietly, silently wishing she would melt into the couch.

"What's a brain grape?"

"I have synesthesia and a photographic memory." She continued at his confused look. "Um, all my sense are linked to my memory but they are kind of cross wired, so when I remember stuff, I smell things. Usually breakfast. I also have a brain tumor, it's about the size of a grape. Brain grape. Jones came up with the name and it stuck even though I don't really like it."

Cassandra stopped talking and began to fidget under the quiet man's gaze.

'How can he be so quiet and Jake so not quiet.' She thought to herself.

"We figure one of us compensating for the other, not sure which way it goes though." Eliot said with a small smile and it took Cassandra a moment to realize she had voiced her thoughts.

"Is it terminal?" he asked quietly.

"Yes. You said Jake had told you I betrayed them the first time we worked together, to save my life. This is why. The serpent brotherhood said they would cure me."

"Piece of advice, never trust a group that has a serpent for a mascot. Learned that the hard way. I'm sorry about the tumor." He meant it, no one deserved cancer.

"Thanks. If it makes you feel better, I'm not going to betray them again. I care about them. They're my friends."

Eliot nodded, he knew she wouldn't double-cross them again. For the same reason he wouldn't abandon his team.

"Jakey will come around. Eventually. Probably." He paused for a moment. "He's stubborn but not stupid." He added with a smirk.

Cassandra smiled at the cowboy beside her, not quite as intimidated by him as she was before.

Eliot studied the blueprints on the tv screen and considered Parker's advice on how to get in. She had done him one better and come up with four instead of three ways in and out and he was again impressed with her skills.

They had entry and exit points, guard rotations, and Hardison was manning the electronics. Really he only had one decision left.

Baird or Jakey? Which not-a-thief member of his brother's team would join them on the heist? He had been leaning towards Jakey, just because he trusted him more, but now he was leaning towards Baird. Mostly because Jakey had been giving him funny looks since the teams had come back from recon and shopping and found Eliot and Cassandra making snacks in the kitchenette.

His brother was jealous. Eliot supposed he shouldn't find it amusing and he tried not to. Really, he tried. Very hard.

He knew his brother well, knew he didn't have many people who knew how smart he was and that he wouldn't want to share those few people. Even if Jake didn't realize it, he cared about these people he was working with. He trusted them more than he realized, probably had even started to trust Cassandra again. Maybe it was time to make him realize how much he actually cared about this team of his.

"Alright, Baird, you're gonna come in with me and Parker. Hardison, Jones, Cassie (yes, he was going to call her Cassie, just to screw with his brother.) and Jakey are going to monitor things off site. Hardison, you and Jones, are going to be across the street, its an empty office, get in there and set up what you need. Jake, Cassie, you two are going to take a lovely stroll around the building, I want updates on anything suspicious. Jones, you listen to Hardison. He says jump,you jump. He says run you run. If says don't open a door, don't open the damn door. Got it?" he glared at the young thief.

"One time, mate. You ever gonna let it go?"

"Probably not. I hold grudges way better than my brother. Hardison, how long will you need to set up?" Jake didn't bother rolling his eyes. So what if he held grudges, better safe than sorry. Besides, seemed like Cassandra was getting along fine with at least one of the Stone brothers. Cassie? Since when did she go by Cassie?

"With this equipment, not long, fifteen minutes tops." Eliot nodded, expecting the time frame.

"Alright, once you guys are set up, we'll wait another fifteen minutes and then start."

"Say it." Parker demanded, staring hard at Eliot and not noticing the strange looks the others were giving her.

"Say what Parker?" Eliot asked, slightly exasperated. Hardison grinned, realizing what she meant a beat before Parker answered.

"Say let's go steal a something. You gotta say it. You're the mastermind on this job. Say it."

"I ain't sayin' it Parker." He growled out.

"Aw, come on man, you gotta say it." Eliot growled at Hardison too.

"Come on Eliot, you gotta say it."

Eliot glared at both of them, and at his brother for snickering.

"Let's go steal a ring." He ground out finally before storming out of the room.

"He even left! He's a pretty good mastermind, don't you think Hardison?"

Hardison just laughed.

Jake smiled, his brother was in good hands, even if they were kind of crazy.

Baird, Cassandra, and Jones just shared a look, wondering if it was wise to leave the fate of the ring in the hands of thieves so clearly not stable. They only laughed at Eliot a little bit.

"Let's go already!" Eliot yelled back, wishing he'd taken those rest days he'd told Nate he needed.

Hope you enjoyed. Please review. They make my day, they really do. Advice is welcome, I really want to do the characters justice.

I was going to end it with Cassandra and Eliot's conversation but I wanted to have next chapter be just the break in. :)