Chapter 12

The Universe doesn't like secrets. It conspires to reveal the truth, to lead you to it."

Lisa Unger, Beautiful Lies

Eliot was officially, mentally exhausted. This job had taken a lot out of him. But at least that little, rich snot would pay for what he did to those vets. He needed to go home and shower. Hell, he probably needed ten hours of sleep. But the screams in his head wouldn't go away. What he really wanted right now was comfort; he wanted peace.

The fact that he was walking through the lobby, giving a nod to Jim didn't even surprise him. At this point he was too exhausted to question it, even if he wanted to. He didn't even wonder if she would be awake at this hour. It was Ally…of course she would be.

"Hey you," she greeted with a soft smile, letting him in with no hesitation.

He saw a blue blazer hung on the coat rack and a briefcase beneath it. "Is Josh here?"

She nodded as she made her way to the kitchen, him following. "Yes, he's asleep right now."

"Maybe I should go then. I don't wanna…"

She turned and reached out to lay her hand on his arm. "It's alright, he's asleep right now. You're not interrupting anything. I have a guest room for a reason," she assured him. He sat on the bar stool and sighed, running his hands through his hair. "You're not alright. What's wrong?" her soft concerned voice filled him with warmth.

"Just got done with a really rough…case; it just brought up some painful memories. Doesn't mix well with the lack of sleep I've dealt with for the last few days."

It wasn't until she wrapped her small frame around him, that he realized she had turned his stool around to hug him. He would never admit that he needed one, and it didn't stop him from wrapping his arms around her in return and resting his head on her shoulder. How did she know what he needed?

"Wow…uhm….alright…." She pulled away a little bit, her nose scrunched up. "You need a shower."

He chuckled dryly. "Yeah, I didn't exactly have access to one."

She pulled him off the bar stool. "The towels are in the hall closet, there are a couple different soaps to choose from in the bathroom, and you'll find your spare pajamas in the dresser drawer. Go shower and I'll put on some tea. Are you hungry?"

"I could eat," he admitted.

She gently pushed him toward the hallway. "Okay, I'll put something together while you get cleaned up."

The small hallway leading off the main one led to two bedrooms, a guest bath, and her work room. He was happy to hear that she had been spending more time making the jewelry that she so loved. After grabbing a towel, he headed to the bathroom and turned on the shower the hottest he could stand. After soaking up the warmth seeping through his bones again for a few minutes, he quickly washed up and headed to the guest room.

The dresser in question was massive, consisting of multiple drawers, housing spare clothes for all who stayed over at her house. He recognized some of Hardison and Parker's things, as well as a few items that most likely belonged to Olivia and Kieran. He quickly put on a pair of pajama pants and a white t-shirt before padding back to the kitchen barefoot.

She was pouring tea into two cups when he arrived, before placing one next to a small plate with a thick slice of soda bread, and a bowl of what he knew by smell was her lamb stew.

She took a seat next to him and turned to face him, sipping her tea. "So is the case anything you can talk about?"

Ally was already prepared for the silence she usually received after asking that question.

"Some rich kid was takin' advantage of homeless vets by experimentin' on them in return for money and food." Ally gasped softly. "Nothin' physical...it was all mental; sleep deprivation, cold, excessive noise."

"For what purpose?"

"For a college thesis…to see if they could force PTSD."

"That's just….evil. But you exposed them? They won't hurt anyone else?"

"Yeah…all taken care of. He won't be hurtin' anyone else."

"That's good. And you….are you okay? I'm guessing that you went undercover and went through the torture they did."

"It wasn't what I'd call enjoyable, but I've been through worse." Her face saddened. "So what have you been up to the last few days?"

She didn't even argue at the subject change. "Well, I've been working on my jewelry more," she admitted with a smile. "I've been thinking of ideas for jewelry that I could donate the proceeds to the charity it represents."

"How so?"

"I was thinking of starting off with Cancer, LGBTQ, Autism, and Child Abuse Awareness, but now that you've mentioned the homeless vets you came across, I'm sure that there's something I could do for them as well."

"Okay…you'd be doin' somethin' you love doin'."

"I was thinking of possibly doing this…my jewelry making….full time," she added tentatively.

"What about the school and the clinic? Wouldn't you start overworkin' yourself again?"

"Well Samm has been doing wonderfully running the clinic. It's running smoother than it has since it's opened. She's called me once since she took over two weeks ago, and that was just to give me an update. As for the school…I was thinking of hiring an administrator to run it in my stead."

"So they'd do what Samm does for the clinic, only calling on you occasionally?" he clarified.

She smiled. "Exactly. And that would clear up my time a great deal. I've already cut back on my hospital visits." She took a sip of her tea. "My therapist also suggested I explore a new activity, something to do when I need to decompress."

He paused for a moment. "I could teach you horseback riding. Unless you already know how? I know this place right outside the city limits."

Her face took on a horrified expression. "NO. No horses."

"Why not?"

"I went to a horse ranch when I was eight. One of the horses got spooked, I stumbled back and got kicked in the side. I received two broken ribs and a nasty bruise. The remainder of my school break was spent in bed, recovering."

"You never tried again?"

"The next year I was in my accident, and horses were the last thing on my mind for a long time. I haven't really thought about it much since then."

Eliot nodded silently as he finished up the stew. "How did that date with that guy Michaels go?"

"He was…nice, I guess?"

"You don't sound sure about that. Did somethin' happen?"

"Not…exactly," she sounded confused. "All night he was overly attentive and….distant at the same time. If that even sounds possible. It was almost as if he was scared?"

"But he treated you okay?"

"Yes, he was a perfect gentleman."

The corner of his mouth lifted barely as he nodded, "Good."

"Would you be willing to help me with a small project next week?'

"Sure," he replied easily.

Ally grinned. "You're very brave to agree so readily. I could be asking you to help me bury a body."

The hitter had to stop himself from saying it wouldn't be the first time. "I'd still help you. Are you plannin' on burying a dead body?"

"I want to establish a small garden on my balcony," she answered after a short giggle. "It's large enough and gets good sunlight."

Eliot's attention was peaked. "You have any specific plants in mind?"

"I was hoping you could help me with that."

The next hour was filled with animated talk about the different herbs and smaller vegetable and fruit plants that would work best for the situation. At no point did either suspect Josh eavesdropping as he listened in to their easy conversation at the edge of the hallway with a scowl on his face.

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Ally and Kieran had been invited over for game night, as Parker had dubbed it. By the time they had arrived, Pizza had been delivered, someone had went out and bought numerous varieties of chips and dips, and Hardison was setting up the bar, as Parker brought out this large bag filled with numerous board and card games she had acquired at a nearby game store.

Eliot was a strategic genius at Risk, taking over the others' territories with ruthless efficiency and winning the game within forty five minutes. They had tried Taboo, but Parker quickly got frustrated over not being able to say the key words listed on the cards, so they moved on to Scattergories, which ended up creating a whirlwind of challenges of unfamiliar words from Sophie, Ally, and Kieran. Parker caught on quickly and gave Kieran a run for his money before Sophie snuck up behind them in points and properly trounced them. Between Parker's esoteric answers, and Kieran, Hardison, and Eliot's raunchy ones, Cards against humanity quickly became about who could produce the biggest shock value. Everyone was laughing so hard by the time Nate won, surprising them all with his dark humor, that they had to take a break to calm down. Eliot refilled Ally's glass before grabbing another beer as Parker setup Monopoly.

"So what is the goal of this one?" Ally asked after taking her Bailey's from Eliot and thanking him.

"To break up families mostly," Hardison answered with a grin.

"What?" she exclaimed in mild alarm.

"Not literally," the hitter assured her. "It just has a reputation for starting arguments."

"And there's flipping tables and the game pieces being scattered EVERYWHERE!" Parker exclaimed, almost maniacally.

"I believe that we're capable of playing a civilized game," Sophie added.

No one saw Ally dominating the game within an hour.

Within two times around the board, Nate had amassed fifty percent of the properties. Hardison was wiped out first, having only landing on other people's properties and Chance cards where he had to pay. Parker kept landing on the red and yellow side of the board, continuously owing money to Nate, as he owned it all. Sophie conceded in the end, when she decided it wasn't worth selling the few properties she had just to pay rent to Nate. Kieran made a bad trade with Ally for a property he needed, and didn't have enough money to pay Eliot when he landed on one of the hitter's four railroads. No one had paid attention to Ally until she landed on Boardwalk finally, gaining control of the blues. Everyone watched in astonishment as she counted out all the money she had been amassing from passing go and community chest cards, and proceeded to place the maximum amount of hotels on all eleven of her properties all at once. Eliot had the extremely bad fortune of landing on a fully decked out Boardwalk, bankrupting him immediately. The game lasted for another few rounds, before Nate had the misfortune of having to pay for all the hotels he owned, and then landing on Ally's park place.

"How the hell?" the hacker looked on, trying to figure out how she had amassed so many properties so quickly.

"I wasn't exactly hiding my cards Alec," she smiled. "I'm just better with money I guess," she said with a smirk.

"Well I for one am ready to play a game I might have a chance on. Who's up for Mario Cart?"

"But Ally won't be able…."

The hacker cut Parker off. "Oh….that's right. That's too bad…" He didn't sound sorry at all, plus the toothy grin didn't help.

"Don't worry, he ain't winnin' that one either," Eliot murmured in her ear, making her chuckle. "I'm in," he announced, brushing his hand over her shoulder, before moving over to the bigger couch.

"Grab me a controller too Spencer," Kieran called out, as he refilled his Whiskey.

Everyone turned toward the door at the sound of banging on the front door. Eliot immediately stood up, all signs of playfulness gone as he made to move toward the door, but a glance from Nate stopped him. Sophie threw a worried glance at the mastermind, but he just gave her a reassuring smile as he reached for the doorknob.

"Answer the damn door Nate! I know your home!"

Ally started at the sound of her dad's angry voice shouting from the other side of the door.

Relaxing slightly, Nate opened the door with a smile on his face, only to be roughly pushed aside as Patrick stormed inside.

He briefly glanced over at his children before violently throwing a pile of manila folders on the table and turning back to Nate. "The only reason I don't lay you out right now is because of our years of friendship Nate. Of course, the friendship aspect of our relationship is no doubt about to change," he seethed.

Ally stood with a concerned look on her face. "Daddy, what's…."

"Allyson, Kieran, get your belongings, we're leaving."

Kieran stepped up next to his father. "Dad, what's going on?"

There was fire in the elder Hayes' eyes as he glared at Nate. "Do you want to tell them?" He turned to the group, "Or maybe one of you would like to illuminate the situation," he all but growled.

Sophie's eyes widened in horror as she opened the folders on the table. "Oh no…"

Curious, Eliot, Parker, and Hardison stepped over to glance at the contents only to respond in the same manner. Eliot's eyes immediately landed on Ally before swiveling to Nate, trying to get a read on how he wanted to handle the situation.

Ever the mastermind, Nate didn't need to see the contents of the folders to know what he would find there. His expression turned resigned. "How did you get those?"

"How did I…." Patrick stared at him in disbelief. "I confront you with proof that you are all wanted criminals, and the only thing you want to know is how I GOT them? I don't see how it fucking matters, but if you must know, they were delivered by courier to my office an hour ago."

"What…I don't…Eliot?"

Eliot's chest tightened at the confusion and burgeoning hurt he could hear in her voice. He took a step toward her, only to be blocked by Kieran.

"Not another step Spencer," he warned.

The hitter sighed and took a step back.

"But we help people now," Parker exclaimed, turning toward Nate and Sophie, "tell them that we help people." She turned to Eliot with an almost desperate look on her face. "Eliot….tell her."

Ally turned toward Eliot.

"We do," Nate answered. "They all have histories, but now they use their talents to do good."

Patrick let out a bitter laugh. "Yes, I'm sure there's a LOT of ways a hacker, a thief, a con artist and a hitman can 'do good'."

Ally let out a choked sound.

Kieran had retrieved Ally's purse and cane and placed his hand on her lower back, leading her to the front door, keeping his eye on Eliot the whole time.

Parker went to step toward her, the lost look on her face speaking clearly that she didn't know what she was supposed to do. Hardison put his hand on her arm to stop her and shook his head.

"I know Sam's death hit you hard Nate, but this…."

Nate's expression hardened as the others worriedly looked at each other.

"My daughter has been spending time with you and your group. You KNEW she was letting felons stay in her home…KNOWN that a god damn MURDERER was spending the night in her house!"

Ally flinched as if struck.

"Don't contact us again. Out of respect for the friendship we had, I won't report you are your group to the authorities. But if ANY of you ever try to contact my daughter again, or attempt to see her, I will contact every agency that has you in their crosshairs and walk them to your front door. Do I make myself clear?"

Nate just nodded neutrally.

Patrick stalked to the front door and threw it open, but before Kieran could walk his sister out, she stopped and turned around to face them.

"Allyson, it's time to go." Her father's firm tone brooked no argument.

She looked as if in a daze, like she wasn't truly mentally present. But Eliot could see the shock, the hurt, the confusion…..the betrayal.

So it didn't surprise the hitter one bit when she didn't stop Kieran from leading her from the apartment and out of their lives.

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Hiya all! Happy New Year! Still don't own Leverage unfortunately. Would love to hear your thought on the chapter. =)