Disclaimer - I do not own Leverage, any of its characters or plot line. I only own my original characters and anything that isn't familiar with the show's storyline.

I started writing this after watching the series. I absolutely adore Christian Kane and truly believe that Eliot deserves to find love just as his teammates have.

The title is based on Daughtry's "I'll Fight" which I consider Eliot Spencer's theme song.

Reviews and comments are appreciated.

So without further adieu, here we go. Enjoy!

Most people believe that Eliot Spencer's first love was his high school sweetheart, Aimee. He gave her a promise ring sometime during their relationship; but due to unforeseen circumstances he was never able to return to her and she ended up moving on and marrying another man. While this is all true, Aimee was not Eliot's first love, nor was she the one that Eliot had to leave behind.

No, his first love was his childhood best friend, Alexa Talon. They grew up less than an hour from one another in their small Oklahoma town, along with her younger sister Katie, and his younger sister Sarah. The two were inseparable growing up and despite Eliot's flirtatious manner with other girls, Alexa had always been his first and only choice.

Eliot sighed as he leaned his elbows on the counter in Nate's kitchen staring at a 4x6 photo, worn at the edges and creased in the middle, held between his fingers. In the photo was he at 18 with his arms around the waist of a beautiful brunette girl; the photo was taken just hours before he boarded a plane bound for the Army base. A rare smile graced the hitter's lips as he studied the young girl. Waist length dark brown hair that fell in small curls down her back, a sweet smile that he knew was reserved only for him; and her most stunning feature, bright aqua eyes that reminded him of a clear Caribbean sea.

Her clothing style was complimentary to his, comfortable and functional, and clearly reflected her country upbringing; tight jeans, worn cowboy boots, a black tank covered with a blue plaid western shirt. A real smile, one he reserved just for her sat on his lips. But it was the twinkle of blue on her left ring finger that dropped the current smile from Eliot's lips.

He'd tried to lie to his team during the mob wedding job, when Hardison had asked him if he'd ever been close to getting married. He'd told him no, but Hardison's smirk told Eliot that he saw right through him. Hardison had asked him the girl's name, Eliot had panicked and said Aimee since the team already knew about her. However the truth was that he had been engaged; to Alexa. They were a couple throughout their four years of high school, and when Eliot had decided to enlist in the Army he wanted to know that he'd have someone worth coming home to in the end. So he'd asked Alexa to marry him the night before he shipped out. The ring was a simple rose-gold band, and the single princess cut stone was a fire opal. Alexa was never a diamond kind of girl.

But just as he had told his team, he'd made a promise to her and a promise to the United States Government, and he could only keep one. But unlike how most women would act when they were told they'd never have what they wanted; Alexa had taken the breakup in stride after Eliot had explained himself to her. She assured him that there were no hard feelings and that when and if the day came that he decided to settle down, she made him promise that she would be his first call.

Over the years since he'd left the Army Eliot had picked up the phone multiple times, wanting to take the risk; but the further his life delved deeper into the crime world, the more he felt that he didn't have the right to put her in harm's way. However, it wasn't as if she didn't know the man he had become, quite the opposite; she knew exactly who Eliot Spencer was these days. Despite severing ties with practically everyone in his former life, he couldn't bring himself to let Alexa go. She was to him, what Sophie had become to Nate. She was always there in the back of his mind, guiding him, calming him, reassuring him. So, after every mission or job, he called her and confessed his transgressions like a parishioner to his priest.

So for over a decade Alexa had been privy to his darkest secrets. She knew about the members of his team, the things they had done and the people they had helped out. Eliot never worried about telling Alexa any of this, he trusted her with his life; knowing that not even torture or threat of death would make her give him up. They trusted one another completely, and nothing would ever change that.

Eliot sighed, it'd been a few months since they'd broken Nate out of prison and he hadn't had a chance to call Alexa and check in. He was reaching towards his back pocket for his phone when the front door opened and the rest of the team came in. Quickly he folded the picture in half and shoved it into his pocket alongside his wallet. He trusted his team, but Alexa was something he wanted to keep to himself for as long as he could.

Unfortunately for him it seemed as though fate had something else in mind, when just as Hardison started to brief them on their next mission, Eliot's phone rang. He pulled it from his pocket seeing Alexa's name flashing on the screen; immediately his body tensed, Alexa had never called him, he was always the one to initiate their communication.

He could feel the team's individual sets of eyes on him as he quickly answered the call. "Lex?"

From the other end of the line came a distraught female voice, one he knew very well, but it wasn't Alexa. "Eliot."

He instantly heard the raw emotion in her voice and his heart clenched. "Katie? What's wrong?"

"It's Lexi. She's been kidnapped."

3 hours earlier

Katie Talon sat on the top rung of the wooden fence bordering the corral, which was positioned behind their family farmhouse and to the left of the large capacity barn; gripping a stopwatch in her right hand she watched her older sister Alexa run the barrels inside. As her sister passed through the open gates Katie clicked the button on the watch, smiling as she let out a whoop of joy.

Alexa slowed the large equine to a walk, turning him in a circle she steered him back over to the fence where Katie was sitting. "How'd we do?"

"14.35!" Katie shouted.

"Yes!" Alexa laughed, patting the massive horse on his sweaty neck. "Good job, boy."

The horse named Kohana, meaning "swift" in Native American, nodded his head as he accepted his riders praise. At 16 hands high and weighing over 900 pounds, he was the largest horse to compete in the barrel racing competition they were currently training for; he was also the only Mustang to ever be ridden by a competitor and the only stallion entered.

From the local competitions to the Nationals, everyone had told Alexa that a Mustang stallion of his size would never be able to beat the smaller swifter mares ridden by her competition. But Alexa didn't listen to any of them, she knew that Kohana had what it would take to capture the gold. They had proven themselves in the months prior, taking multiple wins at the regional rodeos which secured them a spot in the National Finals that were being held in one week. Kohana had silenced his doubters with blistering paces that bested his opponents by 3 or more seconds; and in barrel racing, 3 seconds was an insurmountable obstacle to beat.

"You shaved a full second off of your time from Regionals."

"I knew he could." Alexa smiled as she reached up and scratched between Kohana's ears, the horse nearly purring as she did so. "What was the quickest time from the other rodeos?"

"14.38. You guys got this in the bag." Katie said with a high-five to her sister.

"I hope so. That prize money is our only chance of saving Kohana's herd."

Katie hopped off the fence, placing her hand on her sister's knee and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "It's gonna be okay. We're gonna save 'em."

"Yeah. I'm gonna get him washed and brushed down." Alexa said before clicking her tongue and guiding Kohana over to the outdoor wash area beside the barn.

Hopping down off of Kohana's back, Alexa frowned at the wet stains on the butt and legs of her jeans from the horses sweat. During training she always rode bareback, knowing that if she could run him and hold on with no saddle, it'd be a breeze with one during competition. The only downfall being the interesting stains on her jeans and chaffing marks on her skin afterwards.

She unbuckled the bridle and draped it over the side of the concrete wall that bordered the wash on three sides. Unlike a couple of her other horses who weren't too fond of baths and had to be hooked to a lead in order to stay put; Kohana loved the water and soap cleaning his tan colored coat, and milky white mane and tail.

As Alexa washed the horse down, laughing when he shook and spattered her with water, she thought about Eliot. He was the sole reason she had been blessed by Kohana's loving and gentle nature, and Texas sized personality.

2 years ago

Alexa was standing in the kitchen when there was a knock at the front door. Walking over she opened the screen and found a man standing on the covered front porch with a clipboard; a truck and horse trailer were parked on the dirt driveway behind him.

"Can I help you?"

"Are you Alexa Talon?" The man said with a smile.

"Yes I am."

"Then I have something for you. Sign here please." He said holding out the clipboard with a shipping manifest on it.

Alexa was confused but took the clipboard and signed her name before handing it back. "And this is for you as well." He handed her a white envelope with her name scrawled in messy handwriting on the front. She knew that handwriting very well.

"Hey sis, what's goin' on?" Katie asked as she came out of the house behind her.

"I'm not sure yet." Alexa said in a skeptical tone eyeing the horse trailer as she opened the envelope and took out the piece of paper inside; reading it aloud so that Katie could hear it as well. "Lex, I know you're gonna kill me for this but I couldn't resist. Thank the Lord I'm a few thousand miles away. I came upon him during a job, he needed help and I knew just who could. He deserves a second chance, and you give those better than anyone. I should know. I hope he'll be everything you ever wanted. Eli."

Alexa sighed and closed her eyes, shaking her head with a chuckle. "Damn that man." Looking back down at the note she saw a small message written underneath Eliot's signature. "P.S. his name is Kohana."

"Lexi."

Katie's breathy voice saying her name caused her to look up towards the trailer. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw the man unload the most beautiful horse she had ever seen her life.

"He's a Mustang." Katie said as the two women descended the porch steps and walked over to the huge stallion.

Alexa was in awe as she took the lead rope from the delivery man, marveling at the beauty before her. Kohana leaned his head down and sniffed her shirt before lightly bumping her chest with his nose. She laughed and instantly fell in love with her new friend; and subsequently fell a little further in love with her best friend.

Alexa smiled as she finished rinsing the soap from Kohana's coat then shut off the water. She turned back towards the horse only to be met by a face full of fabric; laughing she took the towel from the horse's teeth and proceeded to dry him off. When she said that Kohana had a Texas sized personality she wasn't kidding. She sometimes wondered if he'd been a human in his past life with some of his antics.

She had finished patting him down and was brushing his coat when an SUV pulled to a stop behind her; she didn't have to turn around to know who was stepping out of it. "Mr. Gavin. To what do I owe this uninvited and unwelcome visit to my home?"

Jacob Gavin owned a slaughterhouse the next town over, passed down through three generations of his family. He was rich, good-looking and thought he was God's gift to every woman in the world.

"Well, I just came to see if you'd given my offer any more thought."

"Did you?" Alexa asked coyly from the other side of Kohana. "And what about our last conversation made you think I'd reconsider?" She smirked remembering how she'd dumped a very expensive glass of red wine down the front of his thousand dollar suit.

"You're running out of time, Alexa. The deposit you placed on those Mustang's is up next Monday. Now my offer is more than generous."

"Yes. Fifty-thousand dollars is very generous and I could put that money to a lot of good use." Alexa admitted as she took Kohana over to the corral and let him loose. "But as I told you before, it's not about the money. That's Kohana's herd, and they deserve a home here with him. So, my answer is still no." She stated crossing her arms over her chest.

Gavin chuckled as he stepped forward, raising his hand and running a finger down Alexa's cheek. "I see now why you identify with the Mustang's. So beautiful, yet so stubborn. Wild and free, but really just begging for someone to tame you."

Alexa jerked her head to the side away from his touch, before spitting in Gavin's face with defiance. A split second later she was looking down the barrel of a 9mm, held by one of the three henchmen he'd brought with him. Despite having a gun pointed at her head, Alexa never flinched or faltered; she actually looked bored by the situation, trait's she'd picked up from Eliot over the years.

"Safety's on." She said tipping her head slightly to the left. Unlike a seasoned gun user the henchman took his eyes off of her and glanced down at the gun. That was the opening Alexa wanted. With catlike speed she reached out and grabbed the gun with her right hand, dropping the magazine to the ground; then with a quick movement of her hand she racked the slide and ejected the bullet from the chamber.

"You really should teach 'em better, Gavin." Alexa stated as she calmly re-crossed her arms as if nothing had happened.

"It appears so." Gavin said with a somewhat impressed grin. "Tell me, where'd you learn to do that?"

"I picked up a few tricks from my best friend."

"Does he need a job? Cause I could use a man like that."

Alexa's eyes darkened as she offered up a feral smile. "Trust me, you don't ever want to meet him. If he showed up here, the only thing you'd be doing… is begging for your life. Have a nice day." She calmly stepped past the quartet heading for the house.

She leaned against the porch railing as Gavin and his men got back into their SUV and drove off the property. Katie came out as they were driving off, eyeing her sister as she stood beside her. "What did Gavin want?"

"Same as always. He wants the herd. I don't know why, but he wants 'em bad."

"Maybe you should call Eliot. See if they can help." Katie offered. She wasn't privy to Eliot and his team's exact skillsets, but she knew from her sister that they helped people.

"Naw, this isn't their kind of problem." Alexa assured her sister, even though she'd love to see Eliot. "All we have to do is win Nationals on Saturday. Then we use the grand prize to buy the herd, and we'll have enough left over to feed the whole ranch for a year."

"Okay fine." Katie said with a smile. "But admit it, you were tempted to call. Just to see him again."

Alexa shook her head with a laugh as her sister headed into the house; reaching up she fingered the pendant hanging around her neck with a sigh. "Yeah. I'm tempted."

Just down the road from the Talon farm in a small pullout, Jacob Gavin sat in the backseat of the SUV; he was fuming as he took a handkerchief from his suit pocket and wiped Alexa's saliva from his face.

"What now boss?" His right hand man Rico, asked from the driver's seat.

"Now. We do things the hard way. Call the boys, tell 'em to bring the trailer. I want them here within the hour."

Forty-five minutes after Gavin had left the property, Alexa was in her office going over that months receipts and inputting them into her computer. She had changed out of her riding clothes into a plain black V-neck t-shirt and a pair of cutoff jean shorts. She tucked her bare feet up under her in the chair, looking up as Katie rapped her knuckles on the doorframe.

"Hey sis, I'm heading into town for a supply run. Need anything?"

Alexa looked up with a smile. "Uh, yeah actually. The new tack I ordered for Nationals should be in. Could you swing by the tack shop and pick it up for me? Please and thank you."

"Sure thing. I'll be back in about an hour."

"Alright. I'll start dinner when you get back."

Katie gave her sister a wink and with a click of her tongue she left the room. Alexa smiled as she resumed her work, hearing the front door close and shortly after the diesel engine of their truck start up and head out down the driveway.

"There's our opening boys." Gavin grinned as he saw Katie pull out onto the highway. "Let's go."

Alexa was just finishing up the receipts and filing them when she heard multiple whinnies and grunts coming from outside. Now a true horse owner knows the difference in the sounds their animals make and these were not happy playful ones… the horses were scared.

Standing up from her chair she glanced out her office window towards the barn and the corral where she had left Kohana. Something was wrong. Kohana wasn't in the corral.

Immediately she shot out the office door and down the hallway heading for the back porch. As she stepped out letting the screen slam shut behind her, she saw two men trying to drag her Mustang into a trailer. Kohana was fighting for all he was worth, struggling against the ropes that were bound around his thick neck; sweat dripped from his coat, saliva and foam slathered around his mouth as he cried out for help.

"Kohana!"

Her momentary distraction brought her defenses down, which was why she never felt the arm wrap around her waist from behind. She only registered a sharp prick in the side of her neck, like being stung by a bee; before a numbness spread throughout her body, paralyzing everything but her mind. Her last thought was wishing she'd taken Katie's advice and called Eliot.

Katie returned to the ranch within the hour just as she had said she would; backing the truck up to the front of the barn so they could unload the supplies into the tack room. She looked around curiously as she noticed Kohana wasn't in the corral; Lexi usually didn't put him in the barn until after nightfall. Shrugging it off, she headed towards the house hollering, "Hey! You gonna come help me unload, Princess!"

Her airy laugh was cut short when she saw a piece of paper tacked to the screen door. Ripping it free her blood turned to ice in her veins as she read the words scrawled on it. "No." Her voice was merely a whisper as she threw open the screen and ran into the house. "Lexi! Lexi, where are you?!" She screamed till her voice grew hoarse as she tore through the entire house searching for her sister.

She collapsed in a heap beside the desk in the office, which appeared to have been tossed as it laid on its side; tears streaming down her face as heavy sobs wracked her body. It only took a second for her figure out who had taken Lexi and Kohana. But what could she do now? She couldn't call the cops, as the note said if she did they'd kill her sister; and besides, there wasn't a cop in the state that Gavin couldn't just payoff.

But there on the floor in the heap of strewn papers and scattered office supplies, Katie found her answer. Her sister's phone. She opened the contacts and scrolled down the list clicking on the only person she knew could save Alexa.

Eli.

The team watched carefully as Eliot spoke to whoever was on the other end of the call. Judging by his body language which they had come to know well, they had a new, more pressing job that needed their full attention.

The muscles in Eliot's jaw clenched as he looked at the picture of the note that Katie had just sent him. We have your sister and the Mustang. They will be returned the day after the National rodeo. If you call the police they will be sent back to you in pieces. Eliot closed his eyes and took several deep breaths, trying to calm the fire inside him.

"Katie. I need you to stay calm. I'm gonna get her back, I promise. I'll be there in a few hours, just sit tight."

Eliot hung up the phone after they'd said goodbye, grabbing his leather jacket and shrugging it on. "Hardison, I need a flight to Oklahoma." He glanced over to see the hacker still unmoved and staring at him. "Now!"

"Eliot, what's going on?" Sophie asked concerned, she had never seen fire in his eyes like she did now.

"A friend of mine's in trouble, I gotta help her. Hardison now!"

"Whoa, calm down." Nate said holding up his hands. "Just hold on a minute and tell us what's going on."

"I don't have a minute, Nate! They're gonna kill her! Unless I get there and stop 'em!" Eliot shouted. His emotions were on overload as he placed his hands on the desk, heavy breaths leaving his chest as he tried to reign his feelings in. He then softly said, "Please, Alec."

It was then that the four other members of the team knew that this wasn't just a job, this was personal. To see their usually stoic and controlled hitter so emotional and distraught, this woman was something important to Eliot; that in turn made her something to them all. They all shared quick looks and nods confirming that they were in as well.

"You're not going alone." Nate stated. "Hardison, book us on the next flight to Oklahoma."

The young hacker nodded as he quickly picked up his tablet and made the purchase using their aliases. A few minutes later he looked up as he completed the transactions. "Done. Plane leaves in an hour."

As the group split up to pack their go bags, Eliot sighed as he stood up in front of Nate giving him a grateful look. "Thank you."

"We're a team." Nate said reaching up and clapping a hand on Eliot's shoulder. "Now, let's go save your friend."