AN: THIS IS SET A FEW MONTHS AFTER THE PILOT.
EPISODE 2: Hope Among The Ruin
Hope Granger thought moving to the city would change her life and make it easier. Bigger towns means more open minded people and better resources but she thinks maybe after living through today she was wrong. She rolls into Mcrory's bar in down town Boston for a much needed drink.
The bar was built before the ADA laws so it's too tall for her to order at from her chair. She rolls up to her typical table and waits for Cora to come by. She doesn't have to wait long before someone steps up behind her and sits a drink before her.
"I didn't order…"
Eliot shrugged. "It looked like a whiskey kinda day. What happened?" He asked. Flicking back his long hair he pulls out a chair and sits beside her. "Talk he prompts crossing his arms.
The rest of the team wonders over to cluster around the table. Parker sits on the floor at her feet, Hardison, on her right, Sophie sits across from her, Nate stands on her left near Eliot.
"Well you remember the guy I mentioned from my lit class? Caleb Hayden?"
Eliot grunted and she took that to mean yes. "I asked him out."
"Good for you." Said Sophie. Touching her arm lightly.
"He said no." she sipped her drink wincing at the burn of it going down. "Gave me the old it's totally not because you're crippled insert lame excuse here but we both know it really is spiel."
"Douche bag." Eliot spit angrily.
Hope smirked. "I'm used to it Eliot."
"Not the point."
"Oh but my day just kept getting better. I applied at Sonny's sandwich shop. A 16 year old kid got the job and I waitressed in mom's bar in Adrian since I was fourteen. I have more customer service experience they just thought I couldn't do the job. I can make a damn sandwich. And then I got to the grocery store and the bell peppers were too up for me to reach…" She sighed.
"Just one of those days where I realize the world wasn't made for me. Now enough wallowing tell me who y'all took down today."
"Let's run a con." Hardison says from her other side. She eyed the black man beside her. "Uh no thanks, I could just hear it now… Yes Mama I've made friends they're all con men and women and that's why I'm in jail."
"It's what we do mama," Hardison replies. "Help the little guy or girl in this case."
"And we don't get caught…" Nate adds he picks up her discarded whiskey and downs it.
The team seems to come to a silent decision regarding her fate. Hope can't help but be a little apprehensive.
A week later.
Hope watches her best friend's eyes widen comically. "What Trysta? Is Ben Affleck doin' naked jumping jacks behind me?"
She twists around in her seat and sees Eliot loping carelessly toward their study group. He leans down and kisses her on the cheek. "Hi babe,"
"Hey Eliot." She says hoping her confusion will come off as surprise. Pulls a chair from a table over and sits down beside her. He loops an arm around her shoulders. "Eliot you've met Trysta, The girl in the middle is Sammie, the blonde guy on the end is Caleb."
"Eliot, nice to meet you." He shakes Sammie's hand.
Hope watches Eliot jaw clench and eyes zero in suspiciously on Caleb. This could be bad, Eliot is the team muscle and Hope's seen the man work out and that's almost frightening in and of itself. She's never seen him faced with someone he didn't like.
He shakes Caleb's hand squeezing just a little too tight. Hope tries not to smile; she's sipping her drink when he says. "Hi I'm Eliot Hope's boyfriend." She barely manages not to choke on soda. She pointedly ignores Trysta's what did I miss face and shares a knowing smile with Eliot.
"How's Jane Austen?" he asked picking a fry off her plate.
"still dead and boring." Hope replies.
After the study group had left. She watches Eliot eat what's left of her burger. "What was that earlier?" she asks grinning.
"Tell a guy he can't have something that's when he wants it." He mutters around the last bite
She laughs. "I'll turn him down."
"You better. Come with me."
"Alright where? And did you enjoy my lunch dude?" she pays for the food
"You'll see, and mine are better." He replies and begins pushing her toward his truck.
They are standing outside Sonny's Sandwich Shop. Where there is a line around the block. There's not a sandwich maker in sight.
"What did you do?" She accuses.
"Technically I didn't do anything, Hardison hacked their marketing account and sent people coupons and advertised half prices sales for three counties, then Sophie put visine in the kids drinking water. He'll have the shits for week but he'll survive. He's probably in the can. Nate's going to pose as a chain manger that's getting complaints so you should be getting a call from the store manager."
Her cell phone rang. "You're hired Haley. We're getting slammed, can you come in?"
"I'm just down the block and my name's Hope." She pulled her long red hair up and rolled into the place. Eliot watched her take the first order before leaving.
-/-/-/-
Parker caught her leaving work and wrangled an invitation to go grocery shopping with her and Parker's weird enough as it that Hope didn't think to ask her why.
They're strolling down a produce aisle when Parker asked. "You didn't ask for help last night when you shopped? Why?"
"No one was around and when I asked the cashier if the store had personal shoppers they looked at me like I had two heads, I decided I didn't need the stuff that bad and left." She shrugged.
"How many did you need?"
"Two why?"
Parker slips two yellow bell peppers into her pockets.
"Parker! You can't just take them." Hope says exasperated.
"Sure I can I'm a thief." The woman replies.
"I know that but, never mind."
They check out. Hope puts an extra five on the counter. "For the peppers in Blondie's pockets." The checkers scowls. "Don't ask."
-/-/-/-
The next night at Mcrory's.
"You're making a face and don't know what this one means, so tell me." Eliot said swigging his beer.
"You can pretend to be my boyfriend and pull a con to get a me job. Not everyone has that…or no one does really and it seems too big to fix."
"Who says I was pretending," he grins and she rolls her eyes. "If you could do one thing, just make one change what would it be?"
"I'd make the world a more accepting place or at the very least my little corner of it."
"So do it."
Four months later.
She's leaving class when Caleb stops her. "Hope wait!"
She turns "Yeah?"
"You still seeing that guy?"
She smiles. "Maybe, why?"
"You wanna go get coffee?"
"I would but I have an art class to teach, here." She hands him a business card "Be there at 7. You show up and participate. I'll consider coffee."
-/-/-/-/-
Caleb actually beats her to The Be the Change Art Studio.
"This place yours?" he asks as she rolls forward and unlocks the door. "Yep I own it." They step in "How?"
"Uh grants, donations my job, "He looks around and sees a mural of kids with varying disabilities playing together along one wall. "Yours?"
"Yeah took me forever but I like it." He reads I sign she has posted. "No name calling, no bullying, no staring and if anyone says bless your heart too you, kick them in the shins."
He laughs. "No platitudes. Got it."
"Oh! That I'm from a really little town and all the old ladies used that one so I kinda hate that one in particular."
"I misjudged you. I'm sorry." Caleb says.
"You judged me period. That's the problem, and I'm trying to change it. Or at the very least give kids a safe place to be themselves. Apology accepted by the way."
"What do you do here? "
"Art and music therapy, consoling tutoring. You name it we do it. I didn't have anyone to pattern myself after as far as my disability goes, and I didn't have many friends either. My grandmother handed me a paintbrush and I felt normal. Equal for just a moment. My imagination became my best friend and I grew a thick skin. Some kids don't have that, this is me trying to give them that. A safe place. Where they can just be. I can't change the whole world but maybe I can change one person's world Ya know?"
There was a knock at the door. "That's the concessions, be right back."
"I'll get it. You mind if I stay for your class?"
"Go ahead."
She's setting up canvases for the kids when Eliot comes in. "Do not date that living Ken doll." He whispers in her ear.
"Is someone jealous?" she teases laughing when he actually growls in frustration. "I'm being the bigger person Eliot, to change the way people think you have to forgive idiocy."
She is fixing the concession table donated by the grocery store and Sonny's when kiddos flood in.
She rolls to the front of the room. "Alright today is a free for all guys! I don't care how you get the paint on the canvas just do it brushes sponges body parts use whatever you like.
She rolls around watch her students. April a young girl with spina bifida is too busy flirting with Hardison to worry about art.
Tommy a boy with cerebral palsy is trying convince Eliot to use his hair as a paint brush by dipping it in the paint and flicking it on to the canvas.
"I have epic hair man, I can't just –"
"It washes out." She says as she rolls by.
"You're not helping." He replies.
She comes to a stop next to Lilah a five year old girl with Down syndrome who rarely speaks. She understands the world around her just fine though, because her feet are covered in red paint and she's jumping up and down on the canvas. "Show the canvas whose boss Lilah!" she says kissing the top of her head before leaving her with Parker.
She can feel Caleb watching her and she wonders if she's changed the way he sees the world around him. Maybe, maybe not but here in with her art class kiddos she feels she's made a difference and that's what counts.
AN: I don't own anything Leverage related. It belongs to TNT, Dean Devlin, Chris Downey, and John Rodgers. I do own Hope Granger, Trysta McCabe, Caleb Hayden, Sammie, and The art class kids.
