A/N: Yes, more author's notes. First of all: Gaben, thanks so much for being the best beta in the whole wide 'verse! Gaben, PSU93Girl, Sprite91360, and vivi749 thank you all for the great reviews! It really makes my day when someone takes the time out of their schedule to spend a minute or two writing to say they liked or hated my story. Sprite91360, I blame you for this becoming for than a one-shot!

Chapter 2: Snowy Sunday

It was a snowy Sunday in Boston. The type of day where no one wanted to go outside except, for children; and then only for a few minutes. It was a dense wet snow that was falling; perfect for snowballs, but too wet to stay out for long. Bone chilling his mother called it. Nate stared down at his cup of coffee and wished for something a little more bracing. Maybe later during the game, he thought. Eliot would be sure to come over, multiple screens. Sighing a little, he turned from the window and picked up his book. "Killing Lincoln;" it looked at the events surrounding the assignation of President Lincoln. Sophie had picked it for him last week when she'd been in a bookstore casing a potential mark. So far it was pretty good; an interesting examination of John Wilkes Booth.

Reading a page or so Nate glanced up at the sound of the door opening. Eliot came in shaking his head free of snow; pretty much like a dog shakes when it's wet. The team's mastermind cracked a smile at that thought. Their hitter pulled off his heavy boots so he didn't track snow and salt through the apartment, carried three bags of groceries into the kitchen, and then walked back into the living room dumping a book on the side table. Huh… It was going to be one of those days. Looking down at his watch, Nate wondered when the rest of the team would show up.

Sophie had left her book on the coffee table last night. Nate could hear the shower running, which meant she'd be down soon.

"You want breakfast?" Eliot asked from the kitchen where he was wrapping a bandanna around his head gesturing at the sound of the shower.

"No. I ate."

"Parker's gonna want pancakes." Eliot stated gesturing at the stairs, asking without words if he should make Sophie brunch.

"Parker always wants pancakes." Hardison yelled over from the door he'd just come in carrying a bottle of orange soda, his laptop and a stack of comic books. He eyed the grocery bags on the island. "What cha gonna make?"

"Ciopinno."

"Cio… Wha?" The young hacker asked.

"Chi-oh-peen-oh." Eliot carefully enunciated the words. And at Hardison's blank stare he added "Italian seafood stew."

Nate watched the by-play with a smile on his face. Ciopinno was a wonderful meal on a cold day. He remembered eating bowls of it in the Back Bay with his family when they'd go out for dinner on Sunday after Mass.

"Huh. Sounds pretty good." Hardison shrugged and dug into his stack of comic books while booting up his laptop. After all this time together as a team he trusted that Eliot would make good food. It was as good as his nana made; but, he'd never tell her that!

Nate shrugged at the hitter and got a shrug in return. Part of the non-verbal communications Sophie talked about now and then. The mastermind glanced over at the book Sophie had gotten herself when she'd gotten herself when she'd bought his Lincoln book. Parker had pooh-poohed the whole purchasing a book thing; it hadn't so much been the book part, but the purchasing part that she'd objected to. Yeah, that book was all Sophie: Fashion. It had a white cover and a bunch of people on it. It was a history or something like that and had a lot of pictures in it. Parker had gone off on one of her rants about how the people were all in really bad clothes, Clothes that weren't good for climbing, crawling through vents or repelling.

Speaking of which where was their thief? He could still hear the shower going; she'd be in there for a while. Parker seemed to have an uncanny ability to show up when the rest of the team was in residence. In fact Eliot had already started to make pancake batter, and Nate could see the bag of chocolate chips on the counter.

Eliot glanced over at the comic books which Hardison had spread across the coffee table. Something called The Watchman, and The Walking Dead. The one about dead people could be interesting; it looked like it had zombies or something. And zombies could make for an interesting story line. Nate was reading some kind of book on President Lincoln, huh… Maybe he'd need to borrow it.

"Oooh! Pancakes!" Parker announced as plopped herself down on the counter next to where Eliot was finishing the batter. "Chocolate chip?"

The hitter just grunted and held up the bag of Ghirardelli chocolate chips.

"Yeah, my favorite!" Parker snagged a handful of the chips before grabbing the book she'd brought with her. She hadn't come through the front door; but, he hadn't seen where she'd come from. More typical Parker behavior. After all she wasn't one of the best cat burglar's in the world for nothing!

As the blonde thief settled in on the couch and Nate caught a glance of what she was reading. Gemology. It looked like a textbook… As she flipped through the book, Nate realized two things; one the book had a lot of pictures and two it had a section on imitation and synthetic gemstones. Yes, she was the best for many reasons. One of which was: She did her research.

Sophie started coming down the stairs dressed in leggings and a slouchy sweater thing; she looked elegant as always. She gave Nate a smile saying that she'd enjoyed last night. As he smiled back, she sniffed the air and looked at the kitchen where Eliot gave her a nod holding up his spatula. She nodded back and he pulled out another plate.

Yes, it was just another snowy day in Boston. A great day to be with teammates, friends, and in many ways; family.

Leverage – Leverage - Leverage

As with the last chapter all the books are real! Nate is reading Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard. Sophie is reading Fashion: A Visual History: From Regency & Romance to Retro & Revolution by NJ Stevenson. The Watchmen by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons and The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman (and a bunch of other people) are both real comic book series – I know, my husband has both of them! And The Watchman was made into a really long movie with that hunk Jeffery Dean Morgan. Gemology is a pretty hefty textbook (good luck getting a recent copy for less than a hundred bucks US) by Cornelius S. Hurlbut and Robert C. Kammerling.

E/N: And now a shameless plug for my other stories! I've got a couple of other Leverage fics which I think are awesome: Cities (all about Eliot), Luxuries and Loss (More about Eliot), and To Be Or Not To Be (Hardison). Plus, I've got some stories in other 'verses too: Firefly, the greatest Science Fiction universe ever! CSI: NY, and NCIS: Los Angeles. So read on!