Author's Note: I do not own Leverage or it's characters, I am just barrowing them. I do own my original characters. Thank you for reading.
Disclaimer: Character death.
The Leverage team had been extremely lucky until this point. The blonde thief had received severe injuries from the security team. Hardison had been sent to retrieve Lucille. Eliot had forced Sophie towards Nate, promising to take care of the problem. Nate forcefully pulled Sophie from the situation. They had just exited into the alleyway when Hardison pulled up.
Nate forced Sophie into the passenger's seat before getting in the back. Nate had just told Hardison to go around to the north exit when the gun shots rang through their coms. Sophie's scream almost drowned out all other sounds. Nate had to place his hand over her mouth so he could call out to the hitter.
No reply came.
Nate pulled open the door as Hardison pulled up to the north exit. He once again spoke to Eliot. Still no reply. Hardison pulled a laptop from next to his seat and started flipping through the cameras hoping to spot the two missing team members.
It happened then. The camera that showed the bodies of the security team has just popped up on his screen when the loud thud happened. Eliot had thrown himself and Parker out a window and landed atop Lucille.
It was a blur of moments. If you asked anyone what had happened now, they'd be unable to tell you. No one was sure how they'd gotten the injured hitter and thief from the roof and inside. Hardison wouldn't be able to tell you how he'd navigated them to the hospital two counties over. Sophie would be unable to tell you how she'd gotten her hands to stop shaking long enough to hold pressure on the wound to Eliot's head.
Nate wouldn't even stick around long enough for you to ask what happened, because what happened next had forever changed the whole Leverage team. It was a lose they'd each feel for the rest of their lives. It was something that had led them to another place they never thought they'd be.
Sophie squeezed Nate's shoulder before softly saying, "We can go together."
Nate gave a small shake of his head and stepped out of the van that had transported them to this driveway. He steeled himself before slipping from the vehicle. He closed the door and made his way past the group of cars that'd almost taken up the whole driveway. He made it to the door and forced himself not to look back before knocking on the door.
Nate had been the one to keep it together the whole time. He had been the calmest of the group when they'd arrived at the hospital. He had quickly come up with a plausible story for all the injuries, just glad neither had been hit by a bullet. He had sat in the waiting room comforting Sophie, and calming Hardison when the youngest member had started to panic over them not having news.
No one could have guessed that the thing that would made Nate break would be behind the door he'd just knocked on. No one, not even Nate had expected what would happen when the door was pulled open. Nate hit his knees after staring into a very familiar pair of blue eyes for a few seconds. Sophie and Hardison were by his side before anyone could join the teen at the door.
Sophie whispered to Nate as she held him close. He was unable to stop the flood of tears, the ones he had been denying since he'd taken what he thought was the last look at the blue eyes that he'd just unknowingly encountered.
The woman that joined the boy seemed to know who theses strangers were. Before Hardison could even open his mouth to explain she screamed. The hurried footfalls from inside almost sounded like a herd of animals. Two more women, three men, and a group of kids joined the entryway.
Confusion passed over some of the faces from inside, but one of the men told the oldest boy to take his siblings and cousins out back. His tone left no room for arguing from any of the seven kids. He waited until the kids walked away before he bent down next to his wife.
No one spoke. Not a word. But the other adults had caught on and had joined Nate and their sister in crying. In grieving a loss, they hadn't seen coming. A loss that no one to have ever met Eliot Spencer believed would ever come. As the man was the closet thing to Superman that the world would see outside of the fictional world.
The family and team were all sitting in the living room almost an hour later. Nate had reigned himself in and had started to talk to the eldest sister's husband. Ever pair of ears had been fine tuned to Nate. Had drunk in every word of their lost brother. They wanted to know everything they could possibly know about the man that had left years before, while he was still a boy.
Sophie waited for an opportunity before she informed the family that they'd brought his ashes home because they'd known that it was what Eliot would have wanted. She then looked at Parker, who held the box of ashes tightly to her chest, but Parker hadn't let go of the box since it'd been placed in her hands and knew it wouldn't be easy to get the younger woman to give it up.
All eyes fell on Parker then.
Parker looked down at the box and broke her weeklong silence, "I'm sorry he's gone. It's all my fault. And I brought him home like he asked me too."
The crying started again.
Hours later after the sun had set Nate announced their departure. Sophie once again worried about the box, still held tightly by Parker. Hardison whispered something to Nate, but Nate shook his head.
Nate, Sophie, and Hardison were all very surprised when Parker stood and walked towards Eliot's oldest sister, Katie Beth. Parker hugged the box one last time before she looked into the bright blue eyes, that seemed to be a very dominant trait in the family tree and held out Eliot's ashes.
As soon as Katie Beth had taken the box, her sister, Lily Grace, had Parker wrapped in a hug. Parker tensed up but didn't pull away from the shorter brunette. She just stood stock still as Lily Grace held her and whispered into her ear. Parker did not get a reprieve as she was let go another pair of arms wrapped around her.
Finally, Katie Beth relinquished Eliot's ashes to her youngest sister, Sarah Jane, then took her turn to hug the blonde. She like each of her sisters whispered something to Parker and held on for a few extra seconds before finally letting go. As soon as Katie Beth let go Parker escaped the house.
Nate and Sophie gave their final condolences and bid the family farewell then fallowed Parker's escape route. Hardison stayed for a few more seconds, he promised the family that they'd be taken care of the way Eliot would have wanted them to be. He then also made his way out of the house.
All three of Eliot's sisters stood on the porch of the house that the four siblings had been raised in and watched the van back out of the driveway. No one inside the van looked back to see if anyone else joined the women on the porch, they just drove away.
The loss that they had endured would never truly leave them. They hadn't just lost a hitter, they had lost a friend, a brother, and for one a maybe.