Hi everyone! New Leverage story :)

I hope everyone is staying safe in these trying times. We'll get through it together. I hope that I can try to ease a little of your boredom and stress in the world right now by posting new stories and updating every few days ;) This story is fully written and just needs a good dose of editing, so I'll have the whole thing up over the next few weeks.

This story is like an AU of The Long Way Down Job. There were soooo many things that could have happened on that mountain, and I love the Eliot/Parker scenes. I personally see them as a sibling relationship, but view this however you like.

Stay healthy and I hope you like the story! Always lovely to hear your thoughts if you wanted to leave them. :)

~cosette141

"And… there! Broadcasting the video to every TV in their lil' party tent over there! Ha! If that ain't damnin' evidence then my name's not Alec—"

"Hardison!" growled Eliot, irritation having finally broken the dam of his self-control. Here he was, still on the side of a freakin' mountain, and he was tired, slightly lightheaded and freezing in every single place that should never be this freezing.

"So…" said Parker, coming up beside Eliot where he'd stopped walking, snow drifting into her face. The snow had picked up significantly as they began their descent. She squinted against it and raised a gloved hand to swat it away. "We did it? We stole a mountain?"

Eliot suppressed a sigh. "We didn't steal a—"

"Hell yeah we did, mama!"

Dammit, Hardison.

"All right," Eliot cut in. "We're still on our way down. Shouldn't be too long." Eliot put his mask back on, giving a nod to Parker to let her know he was going to start walking again. "No more mountain jobs. Hear me, Nate? I've got snow everywhere I shouldn't have snow."

"We've got hot chocolate waiting," came Sophie's soothing voice, and normally Eliot would have scoffed at the childish drink but at this point he'd even ask for some whipped cream on the damn thing.

"Are we there yet?" asked Parker, and Eliot heard her mostly through the comms. He also heard a slight chatter from her teeth. It gave him pause to even hear her complain; she hadn't said a word the entire way up the mountain or even this far down about the temperature. And Parker wasn't normally one to complain.

"Not yet, darlin," he said to her quietly. "Soon."

Eliot had a vague idea of where they were on the mountain, but without Hardison giving him directions every few minutes he'd most likely have already been lost. His sense of direction was much better when the temperature was above zero degrees fahrenheit.

"You'll make it down in about forty minutes, at the pace you're goin'," came Hardison's voice. Eliot nearly groaned. His mind crawled back to Sophie's hot cocoa.

It was another ten minutes of trudging through the snow after that that Eliot sensed something was wrong. It was deep inside his chest, some primal instinct that sent a chill like an electric current through his body. He froze.

Not a few seconds later, something slammed into his back. Eliot stumbled as Parker walked into him, but he recovered quickly and caught her arm to steady her. He stared out into the distance, up the mountain.

Something was wrong.

"What's wrong, Sparky?" asked Parker.

Eliot didn't reply. He just kept staring, that feeling nagging at him. He didn't exactly know what was wrong. Just that something was.

"Hardison," said Eliot then. "What's your radar sayin'?"

A pause, followed by typing. "Hmm. Nothin' new, man. Just a little wind. Why?"

Wind.

Eliot's eyes widened. He grabbed Parker by the arm again and yanked her with him, gunning it down the mountain. The snow, at least three feet deep, made them impeccably slow but he fought it, never releasing Parker.

"What—?"

"Dude, what are you-"

"Eliot," said Nate's voice suddenly. "You don't think it's—"

"An avalanche," said Eliot through gritted teeth. Even as he said it, the ground beneath them started to shake. He thought the wind had picked up earlier but was too cold to put two and two together. He risked a glance back and nearly blanched at what he saw. Because he—Eliot Spencer—had seen a lot in his life. A lot. And he'd been terrified before.

But nothing quite surpassed seeing a tidal wave of heavy snow on his tail, blocking out the sun.

"Don't turn around, Parker!" he ordered, whipping around and nearly wishing he hadn't himself.

"Wh-what—?" she stammered, her other hand grasping his arm.

"Is that rope secured on you?" he yelled through panting breaths, checking his own to make sure it was tight and secure.

"Y-yeah," she breathed.

The roar of the snow was deafening now.

"Oh, my god—" exclaimed Hardison. The sound of a chair being knocked backward. "Eliot—Parker—RUN!"

"What—do ya think we're—doin', man?!" growled Eliot.

"God, Nate…" Sophie breathed.

Nate had gone deathly silent.

Eliot steeled himself and turned around again.

The snow was thirty feet behind them and gaining. "Shit!" he exclaimed, pushing himself to run faster.

"Eliot—" Parker's voice was half between a gasp and a sob.

He tightened his grip on her and spoke fast. "Parker—hold onto me as hard as you can. If—if you let go, the rope should..." He swallowed, hoping against hope the rope wouldn't snap. "The rope will keep us together. That snow is going to bury us." Those words hit heavily, even to him. "Get out of the snow, don't—don't you look for me. Get out first! Okay?" he shouted, already feeling the snow pelting his back.

"But—"

"Promise me, Parker!"

"I prom—"

The words were snatched from her as the wall—the tidal wave—struck them both. The last thing Eliot remembered was grabbing Parker and holding the thief to his chest as tightly as he could. Then flying, then falling, then…

Nothing.