Hardison slid the tablet across the counter so Josie could watch the newsfeed. Kelly's beaten and battered face was clearly shown being shoved into the back of a police car. Sophie smiled as leaned over the faded red vinyl seats, "Not only is he being put on trial, but after every criminal in the city is aware of his intentions, he now knows he is safer behind bars."

Josie beamed as she looked up at the crew surrounding her at the bar booth. "I can't thank you enough. Not only once, but twice now you've saved my life."

Parker elbowed Keely, making her turn green, "Well it was really Keely who knew you were in trouble and thanks to her massive flirting with Fernando, Kelly's reputation in the criminal society is ruined, as well." Under Eliot's fierce scrutiny, Keely winched, still feeling grossly under the weather from last night's festivities.

She groaned defensively, "I wasn't flirting. It was strategic."

"Strategic flirting," Parker mumbled, making Keely frown.

She rubbed her temples as her headache worsened, "Strategic friendliness!I knew he wasn't completely bad and had strong streak of honor. If we were in trouble, he would consider it his duty as gentleman to always help a lady. So I decided he was the best person to tell about Kelly's con."

She threw up her hands as everyone continued to observe her with expressions of doubt, "I talked to him about his girlfriend. It wasn't flirting for crying out loud!"

Hardison took a sip of water and said under his breath, "How could it be, when you could barely stand?" Keely glared at him, which she had to quickly stop because she started to see stars again.

Josie perked up, "Oh I see, that's why you were complaining to him so much about…" Keely dove across the table and shoved her hand over Josie's mouth, signaling with a panicked expression to shut up!

She chuckled uncomfortably at everyone's stares, "I had a lot to drink and did some embarrassing things. Maybe it would be better to not rehash every detail of that night." Josie nodded slowly, understanding her meaning. But Eliot's expression didn't lighten at all.

Nate stood next to Sophie, "Well the important thing is, I can promise you, Josie, that Kelly will not bother you or the Mantlos again. He is out of your life for good."

Parker clapped her on the back, "You can go back to your old life now!" Josie kept her head lowered, her dark hair falling over her face. "It's not that I'm not grateful for what you've done… but I don't think I can go back to the Mantlos."

Parker threw up her hands, "Why on earth not?! You're free now!"

She gave a weak smile, "I know and I'm planning to start over again, but this whole mess started in first place because of my past." She rotated her mug anxiously in her hands, "What if it happens again? What if someone else from Lefty's crew or Kelly's bar tries to find me. I can't put the Mantlos in that kind of danger again. I can't ask that of them."

Hardison covered her hand with his and gave a friendly squeeze, "We've all done things we're not proud of."

Eliot nodded with his arms folded across his chest, "If we let mistakes of the past dictate our future happiness, none of us would let anything good happen to us. You can't let it keep you from living a full and normal life. Everyone deserves a second… Keely what are you doing!?"

Keely had taken hold of Hardison's phone and was fiddling with it. "I'm recording this for future reference for you."

He roughly yanked it from her hands, "Stop that!"

Josie waved her hands, "It doesn't matter. I disappeared without a word and ran to work in shady bar. I'm sure they can't trust me again."

Eliot pointed at the door, "I believe that's a question for them."

Josie turned around and stood up, her mouth gaping when the Mantlo family came bursting through the swinging door. "Josie!" First the two girls raced to her with beaming faces and clung onto her legs like monkeys, nearly knocking her over. "Megan! Katie! What are you doing here?!" She barely regained her balance before Mr. and Mrs. Mantlo threw their arms around her as well. Josie could barely breathe in the cocoon of Mantlos. Mrs. Mantlo was sobbing and Mr. Mantlo was hugging her so tightly he was shaking.

With tears still streaming down her face, Mrs. Mantlo put Josie's face into her hands and brushed back her hair. "Let me look at you. Thank God you are okay. We were so worried!"

Mr. Mantlo gently shook her shoulder, "Don't you ever scare us like that again ok. We thought the worst!"

Nate stood up and walked towards them. "We called them after we found you. We offered to send you home, but once they found you were safe, they insisted on coming to get you themselves."

Little dark haired Megan titled up her chin and stared up at Josie, "We missed you Josie!" The younger Katie's little brow furrowed, "Yeah the other babysitter is a dud!" Josie chuckled and when she brushed her cheek, felt the wetness and realized she was crying as well.

"But…" she looked pleadingly at Mrs. Mantlo, "this was my fault. I put your family at risk."

Mrs. Mantlo frowned at her and pointed scolding finger, "Don't be absurd Josie."

Mr. Mantlo patted her on the back, "Mr. Ford told us the whole story. You put yourself in so much danger just to protect us. That proves more than anything you are a part of this family."

Mrs. Mantlo smiled, "And don't even think of leaving us again."

The Leverage team smiled as they watched the whole family reunited once again.

"What are you doing?" Keely peeked around the huge pile of clothes and linens she was carrying. "Laundry."

Eliot took the pile from her so quickly, Keely got whiplash, " You don't need to do that. I have a service that does it."

Keely scowled and tried to take it back, "Well, you're right. I don't need to do it. I want to do it."

Eliot scowled back and neatly blocked her with his arm, "Well, I don't need or want you to do it. You're here as a safe house, not to do chores. "

Keely's watched Eliot's back disappear, her fists clenched in vexation.

"What are you doing now?!"

Keely was on her hands and knees with a bucket of soapy water and a scrub brush working on a particularly difficult scuff mark. "I'm scrubbing the floors."

"I can see that. Why are you scrubbing floors is the real question?

She just looked at him, "Well, that is what one does when the floors are dirty Eliot."

He yanked the bucket and scrub brush from her. "Stop cleaning!"

"Hey!" Keely briefly considered wrestling it from him, but stopped herself when she knew that she would lose… badly.

He held up the cleaning supplies, shaking his head. "Where did you even get this stuff?"

She shrugged, "Around."

He let out a deep sigh, as if she were the most frustrating person in the world. Hah! He should look in the mirror.

"I don't know what you've been up to lately, but every time I turn around you're trying to do a new project. I have people already that do that stuff so just stop it."

Keely crossed her arms and pouted on the floor. As he left the kitchen, she shouted out after him. "I'm just trying to be helpful. I hardly think that's such a crime!"

Eliot's voice echoed back, "It's worse than criminal, it's annoying. Cut it out!"

Keely growled in frustration

Eliot dropped his spoon on the kitchen table with a definitive clang, "Fine. What is it Keely?!" Keely shook her head, "What do you mean?" Eliot gestured down to his bowl of oatmeal. "You've been staring at me, eating my breakfast, for the last 20 minutes. What is going on with you?" Keely looked down at herself and realized she had, in fact, been balancing her head on top of her folded hands and had been analyzing Eliot since he came into the room to fix breakfast.

After a few more moments, she finally said the words that had been rolling around in her brain. "Am I ruining your life?"

Eliot froze with his spoon half way to his mouth. "Huh?"

"It's a simple question. Is my presence, here, with you, ruining your life?"

He only laughed and her and scoffed, "You're being ridiculous?"

For several minutes, Keely watched him again under intense scrutiny until she finally said, "Are you sleeping with anyone?"

Eliot immediately sputtered, spraying Keely and the entire table with the coffee he had just sipped. He started frantically wiping away at his mess, "What the hell is wrong with you? Why would you ask that?!"

Keely gently dabbed at the moisture that just accumulated on her face, not the least bit dissuaded. "Eliot since I've moved in, all you do is hang out at your condo or Nate's place. You don't go out, you don't have fun and you certainly don't bring any girls home." She stood up to clear the dishes, "I'm pretty sure that's the definition of ruining someone's life, especially a guy like you."

Keely could hear the scrapping of his chair as he stood up, "A guy like me, what does that mean?" In mid-dish rinsing Keely gulped. He had said it in his low purring voice, he only used when she was irritating him and he wanted to get under her skin. She turned around to find him already behind her, slowly closing in on her. She jerked backwards, slamming into the sink. It's rim pressed into her spine from trying to escape him. She stuttered, "I mean… I mean a guy that likes girls as much as you." He raised a brow. "And… and a… a guy who girls like…" she admitted. "A player!" she finally shouted, pointed a finger at him, as if that were the correct answer to his question.

Each palm struck the stink surrounding her, caging her in with his arms. Keely abruptly yelped and quickly covered her mouth. She could feel his breath on her hair and his lips curved into a wicked grin. A shiver ran down her spine. "A player, huh?" Keely closed her eyes and tried repeating her mantra under her breath.

There was one thing Eliot still enjoyed with her around and that was teasing her. He apparently figured out her reactions to him (Not surprising since she obviously was very poor at keeping it a secret.) For some weird reason Keely could not figure out, Eliot got a perverse and immense joy from being able to make her blush and sputter or jolt and jump, just like the first time she fell off the couch to avoid him checking the bandages under her shirt. He would purposely do things to make her uncomfortable and watch her squirm. Then the jerk would just grin or even laugh at her misery. It was like a brother who would put bugs in his sister's bed just to enjoy her terror.

The worst was one time he emerged from the shower in no more than a towel wrapped low around his waist. Dripping wet rivets rolling over layers of finely crafted muscle. Keely thought her eyes were going to bulge out. That alone was making her have heart palpitations and run into walls, but he chose that exact moment to insist that Keely's crooked necklace needed to be corrected. The moisture on his arms dripped onto her clothes. His eyes appeared impossibly blue as he grinned. He could have only done it to drive her half-crazy by standing inches away only half-naked and his fingers gently grazing neck. It had to have been some cruel joke for him. After finally breathing again, Keely was so embarrassed, her face was bright as a tomato and she tripped over herself several times to climb upstairs to her room and far away from him.

After that particularly mortifying event, she even went to Sophie for reinforcements. Keely had guy friends growing up, but nothing like this. She just wasn't used to having men in such close proximity, especially virile, gorgeous, practiced seducers like Eliot. It was causing her head to spin. Sophie was only too glad to help. She told Keely a story about a time on one of their jobs when in order to complete the con the very reluctant Eliot had to dress up as a drag queen! The team had taken photos without Eliot's knowledge and Sophie very generously showed them to her. Keely had laughed so hard at the image of Eliot in a wig, thick make up and fake bosom, tears were streaming down her face. She now used that image every time Eliot would purposely fluster her.

Still pressed against the sink, she mumbled over and over under her breath, "Eliot as a woman. Eliot as a woman. Eliot as a woman…"

Eliot frowned at her, "What are you saying?"

"Nothing!" she quickly retorted. In much better control of her emotions, she pressed her palm against his chest, creating more space between them. "Stop it Eliot. I know what you're doing."

He held up his hands and looked like an accused innocent child. "I don't know what you are talking about."

She cocked a brown at him and shook a finger, "You love driving me crazy and you know it! But I'm being serious here. When's the last time you went out and did something your really enjoyed? It's a Sunday. I hardly think you would usually spend the whole day at home. What would you do if I wasn't here?"

He leaned back against the refrigerator and crossed his arms, "Keely, come on you're being silly…"

She stamped her foot, "Just tell me!"

"Fine, fine! I would probably go work on my cars. But I'm not going to do that now. I won't leave you alone here and it would be insanely boring for you."

She walked past him to grab her coat, "I don't care. That's what we're doing. Let's go."

"Keely…"

"I mean it!"

Eliot watched her stamp across the room, "You know. Everyone thinks you're so sweet and gentle, but you are sneakily stubborn and forceful at times."

Keely opened the door and gestured for him to leave, "Exactly, so you shouldn't waste time arguing with me."

"Okay, here are your two chai teas." The coffee shop girl was ogling Eliot and giving such strong come hither messages, she might as well have been a call girl on the street. Keely rolled her eyes. His life was just plain outrageous. Normal people didn't walk down the street with girls throwing themselves at you from every direction. Eliot gave the girl a seductive smile as he took the two cups, "Thank you sweetheart." When he winked at her, Keely thought the girl was going to melt on the spot. As Eliot turned to hand her her tea, the girl shot her a look of such vehement hatred, Keely could only blink in shock at her. She almost felt obligated to explain the circumstances of her relationship with Eliot and that the tall willow thin brunette had nothing to worry about with little Keely Thomas. But then again she didn't want to give the mean girl the satisfaction.

Instead, she shook her head and smiled at Eliot as she took the cup, and said wistfully, "What it must be like, to be you." He grinned and took a sip of his tea, wiggling his brows over the lid, "I know, right."

Keely laughed as he took hold of her shoulder and led her out of the shop, "My garage is just a block away." They walked side by side on the crisp autumn day. Eliot looked over to see Keely frowning down at her tea. "Alright Keely, what is spinning around in your head? Spit it out."

Keely sighed, "I just hate that you're always the one that has to buy the tea and the food and everything else we do! I can't even once treat you to a freakin' tea!"

"First of all, I wouldn't even let you treat me, ever."

Keely rolled her eyes, but they still twinkled as she chuckled, "You Southern boys with your old fashioned sentiments."

"Damn right! And second, it's not like you're a bum who won't get a job. It's literally a life or death matter. You don't have any identity and can't have that much exposure."

"No, no, you see, I pretty much am a bum. I have no income, no home, no job and am living off the charity of others. Yes, I believe bum covers it perfectly."

Eliot squeezed her shoulder affectionately, "It's hardly charity! And besides, it's just temporary, Darling. Once we find who is chasing you and stop them, you'll be back to your old life and you can buy as many teas for yourself as you want."

Keely skipped in front of him, walking backwards as she faced him. "Then will you let me treat you?"

"Hell no!"

Eliot led Keely to a metal door and punched in code. She followed him down the hallway. It was funny, Keely knew the Leverage team was very wealthy, but never really saw them use it. Sophie was the most obvious with her gorgeous clothes, place and art work. Although Keely wasn't sure how much of it was "collected" rather than bought. Hardison used hardly anything fancy at all and really only seemed to use his money on investments or high tech gadgets. Nate really only had the car and gave the rest to charity. Parker appeared practically destitute by her lifestyle. She preferred her money as only… money. Eliot had a nice place, but it wasn't in proportion to the wealth she knew he must have accumulated over the years, especially with Hardison's investments.

The lights flicked on and it was very clear how Eliot spent his money. It was cars. Very rare, very nice, very expensive cars. Although Keely did not know much about cars, she could tell they were all classics. She wasn't surprised Eliot valued older, traditional things that lasted. Under that skilled player and nearly superhuman fighting skills, he was a country boy at heart. I looked like he often worked on them himself too. Her gaze went to the walls covered with mechanical tools and equipment.

Eliot walked across the garage, staring at his cars like a kid with rows of candy, gently running his fingers along each hood. "Hello ladies." Keely smiled as well as she watched him. She was glad she made him come. It was probably difficult for him to be away for so long and she felt guilty that it was because of her.

Eliot lifted up one of the hoods and waved her over. "Come here, I want to show you something." As Keely joined him, he pointed to the engine. "You might as well learn something while you are here."

Keely stifled her laugh. If she spent enough time with Eliot and his cars here, she would end up learning a lot more about cars than he bargained for.

Eliot explained the inter workings of the engine and the differences between all of the models. He showed her the parts that were original and the parts he added and all of the tweaks he made, to make them leaner and faster. Practically all of the cars were racetrack ready.

He slid himself under one of the cars and Keely helped him by handing him tools. Keely placed a wrench in his outstretched hand, "When did you start working on cars?"

"I got my first car from a junk yard when I turned 14. It couldn't run at all so I worked on it everyday."

He held out the wrench and Keely replaced it with a nut driver. "How did you learn to do that?"

"My first job was a mechanic as well. I would work in the shop and in my free time would work on my own car as well."

Keely handed him a rachet. "They let a 14 year-old work there?"

"I looked older. You'll be surprised to know, I appeared very mature for my age."

Keely resting her chin on her hand, "Hmm, I'll bet."

"I spent two years on the car and by the time I turned 16 and could actually drive it, I was able to drive it out of that shop."

He took the skinny pliers she was holding out to him. "What happened to that car?"

"It's still around. I eventually gave it to my little… Hey!" He slid out from under the car and sat up, with grease and oil smudged over his stunned face. He held up the pliers as if they just manifested from thin air, "How do you keep doing that!?"

Keely blinked, "Doing what?"

"Handing me the right tools every time? I never said a word to you! I thought you said you didn't know anything about cars."

"I don't."

"Then how did you know?!"

Keely just stared at him. She was tired of coming up with stories to explain what she already told him. She was a bad liar to begin with and it always gave her a headache. If he didn't believe her that was his problem. She raised a brow, "Do you really want to know?"

Eliot looked back at her for a long moment, taking in her exasperated expression and then glanced down at the pliers in his hand. "Actually… no." He went back down under the car again.

Keely was quiet for awhile, watching him as her mind drifted off in deep thought.

"Elliot?"

"Hmm?"

"I want to get a job."

There was a loud clang, followed by a roar of pain and colorful cursing. Eliot slid out, vibrating with temper and rubbing his now very red and bruised forehead. "You want a what?!"