Happy New Year!

Sorry that it took me so long to update. I was very busy because of christmas, new years eve and school. :)

Leverage

Chapter 10

Everybody gathered in the conference room and sat down at the big table. Parker and Ave smiled happily, each of them had a candy bar in their hands which Sophie fortunately had found in the kitchen. Only Nate paced up and down in front of the table until he finally stopped.

"Okay.", he started and looked at Ave. "You definitely ended up with a really bad guy. Your foster father, Mike Ronson, is a criminal and a liar." Nates voice was laced with deep contempt. Ave had to grin slightly, strictly speaking he was all the same. "Ronsons insurance company is just a cover.", Nate continued passionately. "Originally it was a small and insignificant concern. And that was exactly what it was supposed to be because behind the cover of the small but seemingly reputable company something completely else proceeded."

Nate made a dramatic break. "Human trafficking." Ave gasped, shocked. Then Nate added contempuously: "His business booms and he gains millions with kidnapping and trading young girls. These girls mostly come from poor backgrounds or, in the case of our first client, are illegal immigrants so that their families have no possibilities to fight back. The already big success and earnings of his insurance company are in comparison with the money he gains with the human trafficking just a nice small additional earning. Ronson is already known to the police and the agencies but he is very clever and until now no one ever succeeded in proving an offense against him."

"What did you steal in Ronsons bureau?", Ave wanted to know.

"Our first client, Maria Hernandez, illegal mexican immigrant, has a daughter who is in Ronsons hands and she begged us to help her.", Sophie began.

"At first Nate refused to accept the mission.", Parker added and looked at him accusingly. "That would be 'too dangerous' and 'like messing with the mafia'!", she imitated him mindlessly. "But we could convince him that we already once managed to deal with the mafia. Ha! So why not again?"

"So Eliot came across an old friend of him who already had to do with Ronson.", Sophie continued to explain.

"And with a little money and a little threat I got him to talk to us about Ronson.", Eliot added triumphantly.

"He told us about a list.", Nate informed her. "A list on which allegedly all his girls are enumerated. With photos, details about them and, very important for us, even their location, where they are detained. Like a… stock list.", the last word he said with a disgusted and contemptuous expression on his face.

"So we broke in into Ronsons headquarter to get this list.", Eliot stated. "All the girls was a bit exaggerated. But with the help of the information on the list we could identify the first client's daughter and now know her whereabout."

Hardison sighed. "We can only hope that she is still there."

"What will we do?", Ave asked adventurously.

"We?", Nate emphasized. "We will do something about it. But this we does not include you!"

"Why not? That's unfair!", Ave whined unhappily. "I hate Ronson and I want to track him down personally!"

"Hey, guys!", Eliot interrupted them, annoyed. "Whatever we will do, it won't happening today anyways. It's almost evening, so we have time to think it over until to tomorrow."

"I'm hungry!", Parker declared vividly. "Eliot, do you cook for us?"

"You wish!", Eliot growled.

"Please?", Parker begged and looked at him with big blue puppy-eyes. "You are such a great cook, I love your food!"

"Well, alright, darlin'.", Eliot finally gave in, not able to suppress a grin. "But only if you stop fawning!"

Parker smiled, satisfied. "No problem!"

Ave wandered around in the Leverage headquarter. Everybody was busy: Eliot was in the kitchen, eagerly preparing their dinner; Nate had entrenched himself in his bureau, probably figuring out a master plan; Sophie had left the condo to buy something Eliot needed, but Parker had assumed that she surely would get stuck in some shoe shop; and Hardison and Parker sat in front of the TV, playing a videogame.

Ave wondered what she could do now. Hardison and Parker had asked her to join their game but she didn't really like those games. Her eyes always hurt when she stared at the screen for too long. So she decided to keep Eliot company in the kitchen.

"Hey Eliot, when is dinner ready?", Ave asked friendly while entering the room that was hot because of the stove.

"Nowhere near.", he snarled without looking up. Ave decided to ignore his constant growling and snarling since she now knew he didn't mean it. Eliot stood in front of the stove, stirring in a big cooking pot.

"What do you do there?", Ave asked interestedly. "Is that the sauce?"

"Yes.", Eliot answered impatiently. "But if you have to be here and annoy me with your questions you will at least help me!"

Aves face lit up. "Yeah! What can I do?"

Eliot had to smile at her enthusiasm. "Here." He handed her a small cutting board and different vegetables. "Chop this." Ave began with eagerness.

A few minutes they worked peacefully without saying anything.

Finally Ave broke the silence. "You are strange. But I like that.", she simply said.

Surprised Eliot looked up abruptly to see Ave smiling widely and innocently at him. Eliot couldn't help but smile back. "You aren't that normal by yourself. But I'm used to that."

"I'm sure you're worse than I am since you even are paranoid…", Ave smirked mischievously.

"What are you talking about?" Eliot frowned suspiciously.

Ave giggled. "When I first saw you all I eavesdropped."

"Oh, yeah, I remember, you followed us.", Eliot answered with discomfort.

"Exactly.", Ave affirmed. But she added sympathetically: "But you don't need to feel offended because you didn't notice me following you. Nobody ever succeeded in that!"

"Well, that's just great!", Eliot answered sarcastically.

"Yeah, isn't it? It's a very useful skill. It helped me in lots of serious situations.", Ave explained sincerely.

"You don't say.", Eliot growled and rolled his eyes. "You definitely have a problem with irony, don't you?" He laughed.

"What are you talking about?", Ave asked innocently and acted cluelessly.

Eliot continued to work on his sauce while Ave just continued to chatter. "You know, I always wanted a family.", she told him casually. "But I never had a real one."

Eliot wasn't sure whether she just acted so unaffectedly or whether she could really just babble about her screwed life. He never mentioned his past in front of other people unless it was absolutely necessary. Even Parker who could be an unnerving blabbermouth was silent about that.

"I once ran away from one of my foster families.", Ave added nonchalantly with a hint of pride, but still deeply concentrated on chopping the vegetables. "For a while I lived in a small group with other street kids. They were the closest to a real family I've ever had." Suddenly her face became dark and painful and she began to hack the poor vegetables angrily. "But then they just took me away from them!"

"They?", Eliot asked softly. Ave was surprised he could speak so gently.

"They… the police, the foster-care, whoever.", Ave answered vivaciously and looked at him furiously.

Eliot sighed and laid down the spoon with which he had stirred the sauce to look at her intently. "Ave… why do you tell me this? Why can you just talk about this while you refuse so vehemently to tell us about your time with Ronson?" He waited a moment for her to answer but she looked away and kept silent.

"Ave!", Eliot tried again, this time with more emphasis. "If you want to work with us, as a team, then you have to be honest with us.", he told her gently but firmly.

Ave looked at him pensively. It was impossible to guess what was going on in her mind. Finally she nodded. "I like to talk. It can be relieving. But there are things..." Her voice became a whisper. "I cannot talk about things that just happened." Ave felt the tears begin to prick in her eyes. These wounds were much to fresh. "It… hurts.", she sobbed. But immediately Ave felt embarrassed for crying and tried as hard as she could to suppress her tears. Angrily she turned away from Eliot.

"Hey, it's okay.", she heard Eliot say softly and suddenly she felt his hand gently grabbing her shoulder. But Ave shook it away.

"Don't touch me!", she shouted, upset.

"I'm sorry.", Eliot mumbled calmingly. Ave once again felt the tears arise and now she couldn't fight them anymore. They freely streamed down her face. She could kick herself, so sorry she felt for yelling at him. It was just... she never ever experienced before that someone wanted to comfort her, make her feel better. She didn't know how to deal with it. She couldn't handle it.

"It's okay. You don't have to tell me, okay?", Eliot told her comfortingly. "And it's okay to cry."

That was the wrong thing to say. "It's not!", Ave screamed harshly. "It's a sign of weakness!"

"No. You're wrong. It is strong to be able to express your feelings.", Eliot disagreed firmly. He turned her gently towards him and put his right forefinger under her chin so that she had to look at him.

"That sounds wise.", Ave whispered sadly. "But I'm not sure if it's true."

"I say it is. And as long as you are with me we play with my rules." Eliots words may sound rude but his voice was gentle and convincing. Ave stared into his eyes. They had his typical wild and audacious expression but nevertheless she felt like they sent her comfort, compassion and sympathy. Suddenly she felt safe. He made her feel safe.

"Whenever he was mad at me he imprisoned me in a small, dark room.", she finally whispered. Desperation appeared in her eyes. Eliot just continued to look at her and listened carefully. "Sometimes, when he forgot about me because of his work, for one or even two whole days. I had nothing to eat and nothing to drink." Only by talking about it Ave felt like she could feel her dry mouth and her empty stomach again. Only thinking about it made the pain and the fear come back.

Suddenly Ave threw herself into Eliots arms like a lost child and buried her face into his chest. At first Eliot was a little bit baffled but then he closed his arms around her and pressed her comfortingly against him. "You are safe.", he whispered into her ear. And she knew it was true.

Trust me, this won't be a Eliot/Ave romance. It is meant more like a big brother/little sister relationship.