Title: "The Ties That Bind Job" (Part Ten)
'Verse: Leverage/Angel
Characters: Entire Leverage team plus Faith and Angel
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2598
Summary: Nate and Faith try desperately to reach an understanding. Sophie, Hardison, and Parker enter the lion's den to retrieve their retrieval specialist before he gets himself further into trouble.

The sun was just disappearing over the horizon when they pulled into the parking lot of the Seaport Hotel. "You know," Sophie said as they got out of the car, "if he's determined to face this, you're not going to stop him."

She's right, Nate told himself. "I just want to make sure we're not ending up with a bigger body count," he said. "We don't know what's in Eliot's head right now. He's off-line, dealing with the death of his twin brother, and the trauma of his attack. He's either going after Angel for answers, or tracking down the vampires. Either way…"

"Vampire," Parker said, pointing across the parking lot. Two figures – one tall, one short with shoulder-length hair, were walking quickly across the VIP lot. Eliot and Angel.

"No sign of Faith," Nate muttered, scanning the surrounding area. The two men appeared to be headed for an automobile. Making his decision in a flash, Nate turned and tossed his keys to Sophie. "We've got GPS on them," he reminded Hardison. "Follow them, but do not engage unless you think you can get Eliot out."

"Where are you going?" Sophie asked.

"Playing a hunch," Nate said. He touched his ear significantly. "Let me know when you land – I'll join you."

Turning his back on the team before Sophie could protest further, Nate jogged across the lot to the lobby of the hotel.

He knew there was a chance he'd read the situation wrong, that Faith was actually waiting for Eliot and Angel wherever the vampires had nested. And what are you going to say if she is waiting for you? he wondered as he rode the elevator up to the fifth floor. One on one, the odds of him being able to keep his secrets and work the job would drop so far as to be almost nonexistent.

Cross that bridge when we come to it, he reminded himself, getting off the elevator and walking as confidently as he could manage to the door of Angel's suite.

It was open. Heart suddenly pounding in his chest, Nate, stepped over the threshold. "Faith?"

There was no answer. Exhaling softly, Nate took another couple of steps – eyes scanning what he could see of the place. "Hello? Is anybody here?"

He was in the suite's sitting area when he finally saw her – sitting on the edge of the same window sill where several hours earlier Parker had tried to show them Angel was a vampire. "Ah…the door was open," he said, moving a little closer and trying to draw her attention from whatever she was looking at. "Is everything okay?"

Something was wrong. He couldn't put his finger on precisely what, but it was suddenly all Nate could do to keep from backing away from the dark-haired young woman.

"Firecracker," she said at last, turning from the window to face him – dark eyes shadowed with the stain of memory. "She said he used to call me his 'little firecracker'. Was that you she was talking about?"

Nate's heart twisted in his chest. "It's what I used to call her," he said, his voice suddenly hoarse. "I didn't…I didn't know you existed back then."

Anger flushed across her face. "Oh, bullshit. I've been sitting here thinking about it, and you had to have known. It's why you used to stare at me back in Belmont. The girls all used to kid me that you were having impure thoughts about me, but you knew back then, didn't you?" She leapt to her feet, hands clenched so tight into fists, the skin across her knuckles gleamed white in the low lamplight. "Didn't you?"

Nate raised his hands, taking an involuntary step back from her anger. "I didn't," he said. "Not at the time." Face to face, the excuse sounded just as lame as he'd always known it would. Sighing heavily, he lowered his hands. "I didn't ask. Ellie had named Georgie as your father, and it was easier to go with that than to face the possibility that I'd had a child with her…that I'd walked out on my own…" Words failed him, and he shrugged helplessly – knowing that Faith couldn't possibly hate him more than he hated himself in that moment.

Tears spilled down her cheeks. "Do you know what you did to us? Do you know how it feels thinking about your car and your money and your perfect fucking life, knowing where you left us? Where you left her?"

"Perfect life?" Nate laughed bitterly. "Hardly that. And you have to believe me Faith – I didn't know at first. Yes, I suspected when we met at Belmont, but by that time …" His voice died in his throat again. "I loved your mother very much. I would have done anything for her if I'd known."

"Anything except stick around," she growled. "Anything except admit who you were when you had the chance."

Tears burned his eyes. "I was going to say something when this was all over. This may be just another day at the office for you, Faith, but I don't know how to work in 'hi, did you know I might be your father' around vampire attacks. I'm sorry."

Silence stretched between them.

"I wasn't strong enough to defy my father," Nate said finally, forcing himself to maintain eye contact with Faith. "He wanted me out of the life, remember? And he was connected enough to make it happen. When I finally told him about your mother, he had me shipped off to boarding school." You should have tried harder…

He swallowed hard against a lump in his throat. "By the time I saw Ellie again, she'd hooked up with Georgie. I knew he and Gable had her hooked on drugs, but I couldn't prove anything."

Faith's expression darkened. "You knew Gable?" There was something cold and deadly hidden deep in the question; Nate shivered involuntarily.

He nodded. "He was a pig – the worst sort of excuse for a human being – but we needed an enforcer. Even at seventeen, he was a good one."

"He was your friend?" Again, Nate sensed there was more to the question than he was hearing.

He shook his head. It was easy to be honest where Gable was concerned. "I would have killed him if I could," he said – and meant every word. "If your mother had given me even the slightest reason – if she'd just admitted even once that he was the one who got her hooked…"

Faith snorted. "I was twelve when I figured it out. Don't know how a smart guy like you missed it."

There was nothing Nate could say to that. "Faith, I can't change what I did or didn't do. Maybe I should have asked more questions – maybe I should have fought harder for Ellie and for you." He paused, steeling himself for the one thing he needed to ask – the one thing he suspected he had no right to ask from her. "I'd…I'd like to have the tests done. If you're willing – settle the issue once and for all."

My father. The words didn't even sound right in her head. Her father was a loser, who'd never given a damn about her, and who'd died in jail when she was eighteen years old. Nate was a faintly pleasant memory from a very dark time in her life.

Nothing more.

Listen to his side of the story… Angel's parting words to her. I did, Faith thought. I listened. He loved her, he didn't know, he was scared…boo-fucking-hoo.

Doesn't change anything. She'd made her peace with her past a long time ago. Her life wasn't all sunshine and roses these days, but it was a good life. She helped people. She was more than just a mistake – more than the Slayer who never should have existed.

"You know she's dead," she said abruptly. "Gable killed her."

It was the first time since she'd known him that Faith could believe Nate had grown up on the same streets she had. It was only a flash, but it was there. "I know," he said. "I also know you tried to kill Gable for what he was doing to your mother, and I know that he and Georgie are both dead now." He paused. "Hardison's background checks are nothing if not thorough."

Faith studied Nate for a long moment, trying to picture how different her life would have been with him in it. Pretty damn different, she had to acknowledge. Now that her initial feelings of betrayal were waning, she also wasn't sure she had it in her to punish him for things that might not have been his fault after all. "These tests," she said finally. "Why get them?"

He didn't answer right away. Faith was grateful that he wasn't throwing some pre-packaged answer at her. I might actually have to hurt him then, she thought. She needed honesty from him if she was going to consider anything he wanted.

"I'm as positive as I can be that the tests are going to say I'm your father," he said at last. "The timing works, and while it's not impossible that your mother cheated on me, I have to believe that she loved me as much as I loved her." He smiled wryly. "Even if she did cheat on me, I would bet my life it wasn't with Georgie."

Admirable, Faith thought, but not really an answer. "So why find out for sure?"

Nate sighed. "I'd be lying if I said guilt wasn't a part of it." He shrugged. "Catholic, you know. And I don't know if you need anything from me – or want anything, for that matter. But if we establish legal paternity, I can provide for you without anyone arguing the point."

He'd lost her. "I don't need your money," she said. "I do all right."

"Fair enough." He smiled again – that small, wry grin that hinted at a sense of humor very much like Faith's own. "I just wanted to make sure you knew buying your affection was still on the table." He sobered. "I was thinking more in terms of your being able to inherit in the event of my death."

"That's morbid," Faith observed. "But I get it. Providing for the future and all that." Not that I really expect to have one, she thought. Now was definitely not the time to have that discussion, however.

"I don't have any other children," Nate said. A shadow of…something…crossed his face. "And I'm not likely to at this point. Aside from that, though, I want you to be able to call on me for anything." He sighed. "I can't be a father to you, Faith. I know I'm too late for that – and all the reasons and excuses in the world won't give us those years back."

He's making a good argument, Faith thought. She decided she was at least willing to meet him half way. "Let's get out of this case," she said, "and then we can talk more about your tests."

The best that could be said was that the vampires hadn't retreated far. "Docks district, Nate," said Hardison into the coms, watching as Angel's Plymouth came to a stop in front of them. "Four streets over from their first location. I'm sending you the information now."

"Warehouses," murmured Sophie, contemplating the scene in front of them. "Plenty of places to hide."

"River," added Parker. "Plenty of places to run."

"You think they're tryin' to clear out?" asked Hardison. Thatpossibility had not occurred to him. Not good.

Parker shrugged. "They've already been attacked once. They probably know that Faith and Angel haven't left the area. Whatever they're making, it's too valuable to lose. If they're not running, they're ready to." She paused, biting her lip, before adding, "They'll be desperate. They won't want any witnesses to survive."

"And Eliot's heading right for them," Hardison finished grimly.

"What can we do?" asked Sophie. She parked the Hyundai a few yards away from the cluster of buildings. The Charles was just visible in the distance, reflecting the light of the rising moon. "Nate told us not to engage, not unless we can get him out of there…and I really don't know if we can."

Parker's response was to pull her stake out of her pocket. Hardison and Sophie staredat her for a long moment, and then they both shook their heads vehemently.

"Parker…"

"No…"

"Do you have any better ideas?!" Parker demanded. "Nate told us to get Eliot out. Eliot won't get out until the vampires are dead."

"Yeah, and did you see what they did to him the first time around?!" Hardison demanded. He shook his head. "No. No. We need another plan."

"I'm all ears," growled Parker, rolling her eyes and slinging herself out of the car. "In the meantime…"

"Parker!" called Sophie, hurrying after her. "Wait!"

"Wait!" echoed Hardison with a yelp of fright, realizing that he'd suddenly been left alone. He scrambled out of the car, and hurried after the women. "Wait, Parker! Woman, you've got the stake!"

Eventually, he and Sophie got Parker to stop – even if it was only long enough to pull some pieces off the nearest crate and turn them into makeshift stakes for Hardison and Sophie.

"You're serious," said Hardison flatly, looking directly at Parker. "You're really gonna fight these things face-to-face."

"Uh-huh."

The hacker sighed, then reached into his pocket and pulled out three identical objects that glittered in the street lights. He passed one to Parker and the second to Sophie – keeping the last one for himself.

"Crosses?" Sophie asked, holding hers up to see it better. The tiny silver pendent spun on the end of its chain, throwing off glints of light. "Hardison, you're brilliant!"

Parker grinned like a kid at Christmas as she fastened her necklace around her throat.

"I was really hopin' it wouldn't come to this," Hardison admitted with a shrug. "'Cause, y'know, I got a thing about sharp pointy objects, especially if they're in the mouth of a thing that shouldn't exist and that has an unhealthy obsession with my jugular vein. But I am nothin' if not prepared. Not sure how helpful these'll be, but they might at least stop 'em takin' a bite out of us."

Parker actually hugged him. Hardison allowed himself to enjoy the contact for a moment, before reminding himself to get serious again. "Let the record show, however, that I am still seriously opposed to this plan. I mean…Eliot's the one who wades in and beats guys until they stop movin'. I get that. I respect that. That is how he does things. Weare not Eliot. No offence to my man, but I really think we can use our heads to solve this problem. Until we see exactlywhat we're dealin' with, I say we put the 'pause' button on Operation Helsing. Deal?"

Sophie nodded. "I agree. We need more information before we make out final move, and we need to find Eliot."

Parker nodded, a little reluctantly. "I wanna see 'em explode into dust."

"Believe me, so do I," said Hardison. "I promise you, we will save a couple of vampires especially for you and I to poke with a stick. Afterwe save our man and get the job done. Deal?"

Parker looked for a second like she was going to continue arguing. Finally she sighed. "Deal."

"Cool." Hardison hefted his stake and slipped his necklace on, trying to feel brave and ready and failing miserably. "Let's do this."