Disclaimer: I do not own any of the recognisable Leverage characters. Though, I wouldn't' mind owning Eliot.

Haven moved her hands over the ropes that held her to the column as best she could, her wrists were chaffing with the aftermath of her attempts at escape. The room was darkened around her but, she could hear scuffling. The muffle in her mouth - a dirty old rag- ground against her dry tongue making her choke from the sensation. She hated the thought of even having cloth in her mouth, it gave her the skeevies. Haven closed her eyes and sighed, she wasn't getting out alive that was for sure. She wriggled one more time and then stilled herself against the stone column. Her mind was racing, thoughts of her sister, her mother. She couldn't just bail on them, this was the first time she had gotten caught in a job. It was the first time she had been caught, every other time she was perfectly fine. Better than that actually, she was the youngest Master Thief to come from her family in three hundred years. Her pride and joy was that title, now the Master Thief had been captured by the one person whom she had promised herself she'd never be captured by: Her Father's Murderer.

Markus Van Otto, 'The Shrink' , the media so duely dubbed him. Markus was infamous for interrogating the thieves he caught before he offed them. In the past six years he had murdered eighteen International Thieves and Spies alike, and through this fact his name struck fear into the hearts of the White Collar Criminal Community around the world. Her father, Eric O'Connell, was the first Markus had killed. She remembered the day she found out just like it was yesterday. It was her eleventh birthday, her mother, Winnie Ferel-O'Connell, was brushing her hair back into a pony tail when Arthur, their butler, had come in. He whispered in her ear and a moment later her mother was on the floor sobbing. It had taken all her breath and strength to even muster the words to tell Haven. Haven locked herself in her room for three weeks refusing to come out, her food had to be brought to her, and her friends and visitors were turned away.

"Are you there?..."Haven heard through her thoughts. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked into the aqua blues eyes of a stranger. She nodded,

"Urgghmmmhmm." Was all she could muster. His hands worked quickly at the ropes around her and then, they dropped from her. Haven's body fell forward into his arms and she breathed normal for the first time in what seemed like days. Her chest heaved and shallowed as her air intake returned to normal.

"Thanks..." she said backing from his arms, "Haven..." she introduced herself. The boy, she figured it was a male from the way the stranger spoke a few moments prior.

"Haven...do you uhh...want to leave?" He asked awkwardly. Haven placed her hands on her hips and then said,

"Nope...wanna stay. Hope that's okay with you." She smiled. Eliot reached out a hand for her to grip,

"You need to steady yourself, you look like you've been tied there a while."

It had taken the pair almost a half an hour to escape from the labyrinth like building, Haven pushed her heels in to the dirt of the slightly damp ground. Her boots had dirt already caked on the sides and this was going to make it worse - she didn't care. Eliot stood in front of her his eyes slid down her body and she knew for sure he was checking her out. The least he could have done was make it less obvious,

"Thank you, Eliot." Haven said, tucking a strand of strawberry blonde hair behind her ear. Her teeth bit down on her full, pink lips and she smiled. Eliot's eyes came back up to meet her own and he replied,

"It was uhh...no problem." What Haven couldn't decipher was what his reason for being inside of Van Otto's home was. Eliot rubbed his face, either out of exhaustion or frustration, she couldn't tell. His body twisted around slightly as he popped his spine, she heard the audible cracks and laughed.

"Sounds like someone is sleeping in their car?" He nodded,

"Yea..have to. Being on jobs keeps me busy." Haven's eyebrows cocked up,

"Jobs?" She questioned. A bird cawed above grabbing Eliot's attention for a moment causing his answer to be delayed,

"Uhmm, Jobs. Yeah. Cons?" He looked at her as if he already knew what she was, who she was. It sent a chill down Haven's spine.

"Cons? You're a Thief?" Eliot nodded,

"Yeah, have been since I was fifteen. So, I'm going on my three year anniversary." Haven kicked the dirt around a little more, in her mind she was fighting whether or not to tell him who she actually was.

No. She decided, no was the answer.

"You were going to con Markus Van Otto's home? You're lucky you weren't caught and hog tied beside me." Eliot would have laughed, he almost tried to, Haven could see that.

"No, an..anonymous source hired me. They said they'd pay ten k for your safe return." Sounded like her family. It was probably her brother Dylan, he was overprotective to say the least . Haven nodded,

"That anonymous source is my family, and don't worry. You will get your money."Her tone was like ice, though she had no idea where her anger had suddenly risen from. Eliot's eyes snapped to her,

"You think I'm actually worried about the money?" Haven nodded,

"You wouldn't have come if it weren't for the ten g's your ass is sitting on for this job." She took a few steps forward.

"You may not know me, but, I thought you were smart enough to figure out that I was a nice person. I wouldn't have left you here. I'm not a hard-hearted ass!" He was angry now too, his eyes and voice shown it. Haven saw the mini twitches his muscles were making. Eliot took a few steps toward her and said,

"Maybe I wanted to rescue the damsel in distress for once." Haven laughed,

"Honey..I'm no damsel in distress."

Present Day.

Eliot's hard hands pounded against the leather of the punching bag, his strokes came from anger as well as exhaustion. He'd been up for two days straight thinking of ways to tell Nate he needed a break, he needed to find himself again. God, he sounded so damn sappy saying that kind of shit. It was true though, he'd need time off. Maybe a month at the most, most likely just a week in Boston. Hah, he laughed, he was wanting to look for her again. He'd done it every year since they'd met and parted ways. Haven had been the first one to break down every wall he'd ever put up, who'd been with him through it all. For a year anyway, until she disappeared. He'd tried his best to block out the memories of that morning, waking up in a hotel penthouse suite alone. His arms had been around her when they'd gone to sleep, he'd woken with them empty and no note and her stuff gone. She'd even taken his car. Eliot stilled the punching bag and grunted to himself, he'd loved her. He had loved her and she had left him, like a damn wounded dog he had cried for her. He had searched for her, he still searched for her.

"Eliot!" He heard Sophie's voice ring out. Eliot yelled back an acknowledgment then he heard, "We've got a job." Great. He pulled his damp brown hair back into an elastic and headed down to meet the team in the room. They sat in their normal seats, but, there was one addition a long, slender body topped with a head of strawberry blonde hair. She turned and Eliot felt his heart drop into his stomach ,

"Haven..." he whispered. Haven's eyes were filled with tears,

"He killed Dylan Eliot. Markus killed Dylan."

A/n: Any kind of review was awesome. This is my first Leverage fic so...forgive me if it's a little lame. :D

Please R/R.