A/N: Here's chapter 7. Hope you enjoy the new chapter. Thanks to everyone who has been reading, reviewing, following, and favoriting this story. The reviews, especially, mean so much to me. Thank you. It means a lot to me that readers like these stories.

I don't own Leverage, or any of the characters within, except for those of my own creation. I write for fun and not for profit.

Chapter 7

Eliot walked out into Nate's living room, to find the team ranged there together, obviously waiting for him. Without a word, he walked over and sat down in his usual place on the sofa. There was a beer waiting for him on the coffee table. Picking up the bottle, he took a long pull on it. He knew they wanted an explanation of everything that had happened, and they deserved one, but he wasn't sure he wanted to go into all of it again so soon.

With a sigh, he rested the beer bottle on his knee, and spoke. "Parker is resting, though not necessarily comfortably. She has a pretty nasty concussion, so I wasn't able to give her anything for pain, and the concussion has left her confused. She doesn't know where she is right now, or who she is, nor does she know who we are. The amnesia will hopefully get better as the swelling in her brain goes down, but until that happens, I had to restrain her to keep her from leaving again. She's gonna need our help to figure out where's she been and what has happened to her in the meantime. Hardison, what did you find out about Peggy, and how she's involved in this?"

"As far as I can tell, she's legit. Since she moved here, she's been volunteering with an organization that helps women leave abusive relationships. Apparently, this one was challenging, and she called Alice to help, thinking that, as a spy, she might be able to help keep Gabby safe."

"Why didn't Parker tell us?" Sophie asked.

"How would she explain us? If Peggy thinks she's a spy, how do we fit into that scenario? Spies work alone, and when they don't, they don't make it known that they are working with a team," Eliot said, with a slight growl.

"Peggy met me at the Venezuelan embassy that night. She thinks my name is Marge," Sophie explained.

"And you know that Alice is a spy, but that doesn't mean that you're one as well," Nate said.

Maybe she was meeting with Gabby to evaluate whether this was something the team could handle before she brought it to us," Hardison said.

"Maybe. I think we'll learn more talking to Peggy herself, and we'll need to find out if Gabby has any next of kin who should be notified of her death. Hardison, can we make that happen?"

"Already on it," the young hacker said, fingers flying over the keys. "I can't find any records for Gabby's next of kin, but I found Peggy's office address. Moments later, he touched a key, and then reached over and retrieved a piece of paper from the printer. He handed it to Eliot, who passed it on to Nate.

"Nate, we're gonna have to play this carefully. Those who took Parker and Gabby before know where we are and how to get here—or we have to assume they do, anyway. Someone needs to stay behind and protect Parker. I'm going to ask Bonanno to inform Gabby's family of her death. I don't want you going after Peggy alone."

"Do we have a choice?"

"There's always a choice. Depends on how much you trust my friends."

"Which ones?" Eliot smiled, but didn't answer.

"Let's go steal a memory," Nate said.

(0o0)

Peggy was seated in her office in the warehouse she rented, and had set up as a commercial kitchen. Her office was in a side room off of the kitchen, and with the door open, she could hear her sous chef barking orders to the rest of the staff, and the occasional laughter that erupted as he cracked a joke. They had three wedding tastings this week, as well as an office party, two baby showers, and several fundraising events for several major charities in the area. She couldn't complain about the number of new clients that event at the Venezuelan Consulate had gotten her, but it was keeping them busy. They were still breaking in a number of the new staff they'd had to hire.

Ten minutes later, Peggy was engrossed in bookkeeping duties for the business, and she didn't notice when the kitchen fell silent, until she heard a knock on her door.

"Come in," she said. She heard high heels thumping on the floor, and a moment later, she saw a woman she recognized standing before her. Two men came in and stood behind and on either side of her, and Peggy recognized one of them as well. He closed and locked the door behind him before taking up his position. Her heart sank, and she wondered what was going on.

"Marge, right? How can I help you?"

"Right. We need to talk to you, but I'm not sure it's safe to do so here. Would you come with us, please?"

Peggy swallowed once, and then again. "Where?"

"Back to the bar."

"I'll need to let my sous chef know. He'll have to handle the ten o'clock tasting."

"All right. Just tell him that you are going out. Don't tell him where."

She nodded, saved the file she was working with on her computer, and put it to sleep. Then she rose, took her jacket off the back of her chair, put it on and moved around the desk to join them. As she did so, there was a loud knock on the door of her office. They all stared at one another, and Shelley put his hand on his gun. Shaking her head, she walked around them, unlocked the door, and flung it open. She smiled widely at the man standing there.

"Hurley?" Nate said, under his breath. He and Sophie exchanged glances.

"Hi hon. This is a nice surpirse. What are you doing here?"

"I came to surprise you—to take you to lunch." His gaze fell on the others in the room, and he smiled widely.

"Nate. Hey, man. What's going on?"

"We came to take Peggy to lunch. We have to talk to her about something important. You may accompany us if you like."

Hurley started to protest, and Shelley drew his gun, taking the safety off as he did so. Hurley swallowed hard, but said, "Nate, what's this all about?"

"It isn't safe to discuss it here. We're asking you both to trust us, accompany us somewhere safer, so we can talk."

Hurley nodded. He had had cause to trust them twice now. Turning slightly, he looked at the other man in the room. "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm Eliot's friend. My name is Shelley." He looked at the rest of the team. "Let's go."

Hurley took Peggy's hand, and together, they accompanied the team to Lucille. When they were safely in the van, with Nate behind the wheel, headed back to the bar, Peggy decided she wanted some answers.

"Marge? What's this all about. Did Alice send you?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes. She was injured at the meeting you set up between her and Gabby, and she can't speak at the moment. We were hoping you could tell us the purpose for the meeting."

"Wait. What happened? Is Gabby okay?"

"Gabby's dead. We need to know why they were meeting."

"Since I moved to Boston last year, I've been volunteering with an organization that helps battered women escape abusive homes. Her husband apparently has some important friends in the government, and Gabby was afraid to leave him because she knew his friends would help him track her down, and she was afraid he'd find her and kill her, if she tried to leave. I put her in touch with Alice hoping she might use her connections as a spy to help Gabby hide from her husband, and to track him down, and put him in jail so she wouldn't have to hide forever. Now, I'm guessing that didn't happen."

"No. It didn't. From what you've said, it sounds like Gabby's husband caught wind of what was happening, and decided to stop her while he still could. Do you know anything about him?"

"No. I only had an address for her. She wouldn't tell me any more than that. I think that was her way of keeping all of us safe, too. Is Alice all right? Can I see her?"

"When we get to the bar, we might be able to arrange that. Do you know if Gabby had any next of kin?"

"Yes. Her mother. She lives up in the northern part of the state. That's where she was planning to go when we helped her escape, but she didn't want to do it until she knew her husband wouldn't be a problem. He knew where her mother lived, and she was afraid for the safety of her mom and her little sister as well. She told me she was worried that her husband would kidnap her little sister."

(0o0)

Eliot was pacing somewhat nervously, back and forth, in the treatment room. Parker was still not out of the woods, and she was angry besides. At the moment, she was refusing to look at him or to say a word, but her whole body was trembling with her fear and anger, and he was beginning to think she might never forgive him for what he'd had to do. He sighed, and paced back the other way. His grandmother would have told him he was going to wear a hole in the carpet. He wasn't really looking forward to what was about to happen with Gabby, but there wasn't really a choice. He hadn't been able to think of a way to get Gabby a decent burial while still protecting Parker and the rest of the team, and without asking Bonanno to risk his career, but what he was doing wasn't exactly legal, and he knew there was a very real possibility he or the team would have to answer for that.

Everything was ready, but he didn't like it. Gabby's loved ones deserved to be able to take her body, and dispose of it according to their own beliefs or traditions. They deserved answers, and closure. She deserved protection, too, but she didn't get it, did she? This was where the circular logic broke down, where his thoughts always ended up again.

As he fought to keep his thoughts from consuming him, to stay in control of his anger, there was a loud banging on the front door.