Disclaimer: Still don't own Leverage.

A/N: Again, thank you for the reviews and here's where the fun stuff begins! Enjoy.

Hardison sat back popcorn in hand looking at the many TV's watching the various camera angles they had from Nate and Parker's place. He didn't really want to be the one on watch duty but like always he lost Rock, Paper, Scissors against Eliot and so was stuck watching the cameras; Eliot told the hacker to alert him if Parker and Nate sat down to watch TV because that's when the next phase of their plan would be put into place.

"Man I've been sitting here all damn day long and I haven't even seen a single hint of them wanting to watch TV," Hardison grumbled to himself mad he was the one who had to be bored. "What in the hell do these people do for fun?"

"Talking to yourself again, Hardison?" Sophie asked walking into headquarters to give the hacker a break. "You know that's not a good sign right?"

"Ha ha. You sit here for five hours and try not to talk to yourself. Go ahead I dare you!" he defended himself setting the popcorn bowl down so he could stand up and stretch.

"Easy now, no need to get all defensive on me!" Sophie said walking over to sit down next to him on the couch. "Oh look they're watching TV."

"I hate you woman. Not even here for five minutes and they decide to watch TV when you come in to take over for me," he complained. "That just ain't right. Nate can't even see me and he somehow finds a way to get on my damn nerves and aggravate me."

"Just lucky I suppose," Sophie smiled calling Eliot to let him know Nate and Parker were in position. "He said to go ahead."

"Alright," Hardison said typing a few things on his laptop to get the show on the road.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Nate wrapped his arm around Parker bringing her in close to his side. He glanced down at her, remote in hand, "So what do you want to watch, something we taped or just see what's on?"

She shrugged her shoulders not caring, "Whatever."

"See what's on it is then," he replied finally finding a show they both enjoyed and settled back to watch it propping his feet up on the coffee table.

Five minutes into their show, however, the local news interrupted it eliciting a little remark from Nate, "What the hell could be so important they had to interrupt our show?"

Parker laughed a little at his aggravation reading the bottom of the screen, "Um apparently some dude escaped from the prison not far from here." She reached over and grabbed the remote from his hand to turn up the volume so they could clearly hear the broadcast.

"I'm here live in front of the local prison," the reporter responded (Parker thought she looked familiar but brushed it off more interested in the current problem). "Apparently inmate Roland Kilgore, a recent serial killer, escaped last night-"

"And they're just now letting us know," Nate scoffed.

Parker hit him on the arm, "Shh. Or we'll miss something."

"-and police say he is a highly dangerous man," the reporter stated.

The camera cut to an officer whose face was in shadow due to being undercover and when the man spoke it was clear his voice had been altered also, "Kilgore is extremely dangerous. He was captured and found guilty fifteen years ago for the gruesome and horrific murders of six different couples. We would like to warn the locals that he seems to kill around or on Halloween night which is only three days away. He also will more than likely be wearing a mask of some sort so he can blend in and hide his face making it harder for you to identify him."

The reporter appeared on screen again, "I've also gathered that he tends to kill couples who don't live right in the city but in the neighborhoods that can be found on the outskirts of town. Here's a sketch of the escapee and if you have seen or see him please call the number on the bottom of your screen."

Parker quickly pulled her phone out to input the number just in case her or Nate happened to spot him. Nate looked over at her seeing she was clearly scared, "Hey are you okay?"

"A murderer just escaped the local prison and we happen to live just outside of town," she stated turning back to the TV.

"We'll now return you to your show but please be careful as this man will not hesitate to kill," the reporter finished before the show they were watching before the interruption came back on.

Parker lowered the volume turning to Nate to see if he looked as nervous as she felt, "Are you even a little bit scared?"

He gave her a reassuring smile before replying, "Look the chances of him coming to our house is extremely slim for one and I'm sure the cops will find him in a couple of days time especially since they've now alerted the escape to the public. We'll be fine."

She relaxed a little after she thought about how many people actually did live outside of town, "You're right."

Nate leaned down to give her a kiss to show her that everything was okay but inside his stomach was churning; he prayed that he was right and that the murderer was caught soon without incident and that he and Parker remained safe.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The next day Nate called up the rest of the team to see if they heard about the prisoner finding out that they had all seen last night's news.

"Yeah that's incredibly scary," Sophie told him over the phone. "I'm so glad I live in town, but I'm sure you and Parker will be fine, although you may not want to give out candy on Halloween just in case."

"Huh yeah I suppose," he replied.

"Are you guys okay?" she asked with a hint of worry coming through.

Nate nodded his head answering, "Yeah we're fine. I think Parker is more worried than I am, which I find funny because usually she could care less about things but this has her a little rattled. Usually I'm the worry wart of the team…well besides Hardison. I'm surprised he hasn't left town just to be assured that he'll be safe."

He heard Sophie laugh, "I know although he did ask Eliot if he could stay with him, which is funny considering how they acted when a fake killer was supposedly after them."

"Right. Well I guess I'll let you go and hopefully this is all over with soon so people can Trick or Treat without the added fear of a killer being out and about," he said.

"Okay Nate. Bye."

"Bye," he told her hanging up the phone. He searched for Parker finally finding her in the living room. "They all saw the same thing we did last night."

"Well lucky for them they're safe and cozy living in town," she replied with a slight harshness in her voice.

He went over wrapping his arms around her for comfort, "Hey look at me."

She looked up at him worry evident on her face.

"We're fine, okay?"

She sighed nodding her head hoping he was right because she did not want to spend her Halloween on edge wondering if someone was going to kill them or not every time their doorbell rang. He hugged her a little tighter before stepping back, "How about we go out for a little while so we can forget about this whole ordeal for a few hours?"

"That sounds great," she agreed grabbing her coat before following Nate out making sure she locked both of the locks on the front door not taking any chances.

They settled for a movie and ended up eating at one of their favorite places for dinner where Nate felt his cell phone buzz a couple of times signaling he received a message; he took the phone out of his pocket noticing it was Sophie who sent it. 'Nate just wanted to let you know that a couple was just found murdered. The cops say that it was more than likely Kilgore who did it.'

Parker spotted a small hint of worry on Nate's face when she looked over at him; she reached over the table grabbing his hand, "What's wrong?"

He looked up quickly noticing she looked slightly scared and immediately forced a smile onto his face deciding not to tell her about Sophie's text knowing it would just worry her more, "Uh nothing just that the Bruins are losing their game."

"You're worried about a hockey game?" she asked skeptically.

"I have money on it," he lied easily hating that he was lying but knew that it was better than telling her the truth, which would more than likely upset her putting her into a panic.

She rolled her eyes taking her hand off of his returning to her dinner not believing he was worried over a stupid game when there was a serial killer on the loose.

He ate a few bites of his dinner before texting, 'Do you know how close to our house it was?' Nate kept glancing down every few seconds willing the grifter to hurry up and finally received his answer a few minutes later. 'Not real sure. They didn't say where the couple was murdered but I'll text you as soon as I know.'

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Parker entered their house immediately turning on the light scoping out the room to see if anything seemed out of place giving a small sigh of relief when she assured everything was fine. Nate walked by her giving her a small squeeze to her shoulder placing his wallet, phone, and keys on the small table next to the door. "I'm going to get in the shower okay?" he told her heading down the hallway to their bathroom.

"Kay but hurry up," she called after him deciding against turning the TV on cause she wasn't in the mood to watch it just in case the news about Kilgore was on. She didn't really know why she was so rattled about the killer escaping because she was usually stronger than this but for some reason she found herself exceedingly worried; she was just happy that Nate had moved in before all of this happened that way she didn't have to be alone in the house but deep down she thought to herself, 'If he wasn't here though the killer probably wouldn't target the house.'

Nate's phone beeped causing Parker to jump; she turned around shooting the cell a glare for scaring her before picking it up to see why it did beep. She flipped it open noticing it was Sophie and couldn't help but read the message, 'Apparently the couple was murdered about five miles away from your place.'

Confused the thief opened up the whole conversation realizing he lied to her at the restaurant about the hockey game; he wasn't texting Eliot but was texting Sophie about some couple who was murdered by Kilgore earlier that evening.

Nate came down the hall in a pair of flannel jammie pants but stopped in his tracks when he saw Parker standing at the end holding his phone up glaring at him clearly mad, "Wha-"

"I can't believe you Nate!" she yelled at him causing him to take a couple of steps back in surprise.

"What's wrong?" he asked wondering why in the hell she was mad at him.

"What's wrong?" she asked not believing he didn't know what she was talking about and threw his phone at him. "You lied to me Nathan!"

He caught the phone realizing she must have read the conversation he had with Sophie at the restaurant and noticed the new one; he sighed looking away ashamed that he had lied to her, "I didn't want you to worry even more than you already were."

She turned her gaze to the ceiling, "You should have just told me cause you had to know that I'd find out eventually. You know I hate being lied to."

He slowly walked towards her trying to catch her gaze, "I know but what can I say, I'm stupid. I'm sorry."

Parker glanced back at him giving in to the look on his face begging for her forgiveness, "Uhh fine but Nate please don't lie to me again."

He hugged her to him whispering, "I won't, love, I promise."

They stood their holding each other for a few minutes; Parker still a little upset that he did lie but glad that they resolved the issue because the last thing she wanted was for them to be fighting when a serial killer was on the run. She was about to say something when they heard a huge crash out back; she clutched harder onto Nate, "What was that?"

He rubbed her back trying to calm her down but slowly pulled her arms off of him so he could go check it out, "I don't know."

Parker realized what he was up to when she saw him grab the baseball bat beside the small table by the front door. "What are you doing? That's a sure way to get us killed. Get back here and we can call the cops," she hissed at him not wanting Nate to go outside.

"I'm just going to see what it was. It was probably just a dog or raccoon or something," he answered sliding open the back door heart pounding like crazy in his chest, and noticed that the trash can was knocked over. Stepping outside with the bat raised he looked around trying to see if he could spot whatever caused the trash can to fall over. He heard something rustle in the bushes beside him and saw a silhouette of what he thought was a large dog, go around the corner of the house.

Sighing, he righted the tin can and went back inside to a now terrified Parker, "What was it?"

"It looks as though a large dog knocked our trash can over," he told her giving her another hug to calm her (and himself) down, "Nothing to worry about."

"You sure it was a dog?"

"Of course," he said, "How about we go to bed? It's been a long day."

"Yeah okay," she agreed. Parker climbed into bed immediately cuddling up to Nate feeling safer with his arms wrapped protectively around her.

A/N: I was going to have the entire prank in this chapter but thought it would be better if I split it up so the chapter wasn't too long. I hope you are enjoying it so far and please leave a review.