A/N: A little pre new episode of Leverage treat for all of my lovely reviewers.
Cassie left the shop that afternoon so exhausted that she didn't even think about going to the gym to work out. What sort of moron decided that a bakery should be open from five in the morning until six in the afternoon? It was suicidal for someone to do all that work on their own. Luckily Jason knew some of the tricks of the trade -- at the very least he could made the breads and bagels the shop sold, and he had a keen eye. In no time at all Cassie was sure he would be working as a full time pastry chef ... even if he didn't have the formal training.
Regardless, she needed someone else to ease the load off her own shoulders. A good pastry chef who could step right in and start whipping up everything from shaped cookies to lobster claws to eclairs and cakes. Right now, though, all she wanted was someone else to share the load with. Maybe one of her friends from culinary school would be interested.
She flopped down on her sofa and browsed through the contact list on her cellphone. Someone had to be available and close to Chicago. Didn't they? Maybe she could convince one of them to move. She got down to the "K's" by the time her phone rang, disrupting her search for a partner.
Looking at the screen, hope rose in her chest. It was Tesa -- her college roommate.
"Hey, Tesa," Cassie greeted happily.
The sounds of sniffling and sobs responded to her, "Things are horrible, Cassie! Just terrible!"
"What happened?" she asked as concern replaced her momentary happiness at talking to her friend.
"The restaurant just closed down for good, Cas." Her words were coming in gasps through her sobs as she said, "Mark knew and he didn't tell me. What am I gonna do?"
Cassie felt sad and joyful at the same time. It was always sad when restaurants went under -- especially when the head chef was her dear friend. "Weren't you staying above the restaurant?"
"Yeah," Tesa sobbed, "Now I've got nowhere. I have to be out by tomorrow. I can't believe Mark kept this from me. God, I am such an idiot! I thought he was gonna propose or something with how strange he's been acting lately."
The baker frowned, knowing that she needed to take charge before Tesa had a mental breakdown from the stress, "Okay, Tes, I need you to calm down. Pack your bags of whatever you can't live without. We can buy you new clothes and books when you get here. Just pack the irreplaceable stuff and get over to the airport. I'll get you a flight out here and you can stay with me until you find a place of your own."
Tesa gasped on the other end, "Are you sure you have room, Cassie? Do you even want me there? Can you even afford to fly me out?"
She snorted, "I already need another chef I can trust not to ruin things out here, Tes. Don't worry about the money. Just get your ass in gear and I'll call you as soon as I know what airline you're flying out of. Say good-bye to Houston and it's fickle customers, my friend."
"Are you sure you're not my guardian angel, Cassie?"
The other woman just smiled with tears filling her eyes. She had to whisper so as not to give away her emotional instability, "I'm not from heaven, Tesa. I just know you'd do the same for me. It's the right thing to do."
A whispered response of, "Thank you, Cassie," was followed quickly by the click and dial tone that signified the end of the call.
With a sigh Cassie pulled out her laptop, unsure if she could still book a flight for that very night. Regardless, she had to check. Tesa needed her to.
Most Thursday nights were spent at home with books, knives, and food for Eliot Spencer, not sitting in one of his lesser used cars watching a figure move around a third story apartment. Of course, most Thursday nights didn't accompany a day in which Eliot Spencer found out that his past is not as secret as it should be. Most Thursday nights he didn't have to contemplate how to approach this new kind of woman.
In his experience there were generally three types of women that he encountered: those that knew who he was because they were a member of the same trade; those that wanted to believe he was a bouncer for some seedy club; and those that knew what he did and despised the killer in him for doing it. There was no fourth type of woman. All of them either feared or hated him once they found out what he did -- often both.
But not Cassie. She seemed completely at ease around him and he couldn't understand it. So what she was raised with secrets? She was obviously taught how to fight and handle herself by a master -- quite possibly more than one. When her brown hazel eyes met his at the restaurant, she was looking at him with respect untainted by the fear that he could use his skills to hurt her. Even Nate feared him on some level.
The enigma known as Cassandra Fraiser intrigued him. She not only didn't fear him, but when she spoke of her friends she got this look in her eye that said, "You may be the best, but they could teach you a few things." And she didn't judge him for having done the things his life had dictated he do. No, she had smiled like she understood and let it lie as that. His stomach did strange things when he thought about her and her lack of fear and judgement. Strange things he hadn't felt before -- even with Aimee.
He watched as she exited her apartment, turning all but one light off as she went. Eliot looked down at the dashboard and wasn't too surprised to find out he'd been sitting there thinking for almost three hours.
Cassie came out of the doorman protected building and checked for traffic in the late evening before rushing across the street -- right toward Eliot's car. He wasn't sure if he should leave or not, but when she leaned down next to the driver's seat window, he was out of time to bale without looking like a complete ass.
Obligingly, Eliot rolled down the window half-way. "Can I help you, ma'am?" he asked formally, testing her reaction to his sudden burst of manners.
She smirked as she replied in like manner, "I don't know, cowboy. You feel like givin' me a ride to the airport?"
He put on his best charm as he unlocked the door behind him. He decided in that moment that if she could look at him without fear, without judgement, and definitely without many of the fighting skills that he had, then he at least could trust her not to kill him in a moving vehicle.
"I reckon I can do that," he slowly drawled as she buckled her seatbelt and he pulled out into the street. "I thought you said your friends weren't coming until Monday?"
Cassie grinned in his rearview mirror as she watched the buildings pass by, "DIfferent friend." Her eyes flickered to catch his in the reflection before turning back to the window, "Care to share why you were parked outside my place for so long?"
"And here I thought I was being discreet," Eliot said, tsking in disappointment at himself.
"Oh, you were," Cassie assured him, "But I started to get a little concerned when I saw the car and it didn't move. Next time bring that big truck of yours so that I know it's you watching my place. You're lucky the security camera pointed to the street has such a high resolution otherwise I might have done something we'd both regret."
He raised his eyebrows at her assurances, "Sounds like you have that building locked down tight."
Her sigh was half of longing as she replied, "Sometimes when you overcompensate for safety you're able to sleep at night."
They rode in silence as Eliot steadily drove toward the airport. Once it was in site he asked, "What airline do we need to get to?"
"United," Cassie replied, "Terminal Five, I think."
"You think?" he prodded, unsure how she could be so positive in her trust of him, yet unsure of a terminal number.
"I'm sure," Cassie clarified. "She's coming in at Terminal Five."
"She?" Eliot asked, wanting to know more about this woman sitting in his back seat that he had become chauffeur to at a whim.
"Tesa," Cassie replied, her eyes sparkling with anticipation. He had to smile slightly at the sight that reminded him so much of Parker. "She was my college roommate."
"What's she doing in Chicago?"
"Oh, she's going to help me at the bakery." Cassie was a bundle of energy as he pulled into the parking garage and found a spot quickly. "The restaurant she was working at just went under and she needed a place to stay. Chicago's as good a place as any."
"You're a good friend to have," Eliot replied as they made their way into the airport.
Cassie turned and grinned at him before motioning for him to follow her over to baggage claim. "Her flight should be landing now."
A short time later, as the pair waited next to the baggage carrousel that would soon start spitting out luggage from Tesa's flight, the woman in question appeared with a squeal.
Eliot raised an eyebrow, wondering if Parker had a sister or a cousin somewhere he should know about as Cassie was practically tackled to the ground by a woman no taller than five feet with hair dyed to a vibrant shade of flame red. If Parker was twenty pounds of crazy in a five pound bag, then this woman most certainly was twenty pounds of trouble.
"Tesa!" Cassie squealed happily as she tried to disentangle her friend from herself.
The shorter woman allowed herself to be removed from her roommate's body with a smile, "It's been way too long, Cas." Her eyes flickered to the man standing next to Cassie and looking at her like she was going to start singing show tunes loudly and off key at any moment. Tesa's face fell and as quickly as she had appeared on the scene, she started to cry.
"Oh, sweetie," Cassie said, gathering her friend up in a hug that reminded Eliot of how Aimee used to hug her sister. "What is it?"
Tesa buried her tightly shut blue eyes into Cassie's shoulder as she explained, "His hair!"
Eliot's brow furrowed as he reacted to her words. "What the hell is wrong with my hair?" he demanded as one of his hands went up to feel the loose locks.
"Nothing!" Tesa sobbed into Cassie's shoulder. "It looks like Mark's!"
Cassie's eyes widened at that announcement and she rubbed her friend's back soothingly as she tried to calm her down so they didn't attract too much attention, "I didn't realize Mark grew his hair out."
Tesa nodded into Cassie's shoulder before pulling away, her sobs having subsided into a quiet flow of tears. "I should have cut it all off before getting on the plane. Bastard deserves it."
Cassie firmly took Tesa's chin in her hand, turning her head gently so that their eyes met. "Eliot is not Mark, Tesa." She smirked as she added, "His hair is far prettier."
Eliot looked at the now giggling women in shock as he tried to school his features. It didn't matter if she did think his hair was pretty. For all he knew this "Mark" had the hair of an ape. Probably took minimal care of it, too. Every muscle in his upper body was aware of itself as he reached behind him to pull his hair into a ponytail as the baggage claim started to spin and the luggage from Tesa's flight came forth.
"Okay, which one's yours?" he asked, getting ready to grab her bags when they came off the line.
Tesa motioned with her head, "The hard cased brown luggage with the barcode on the side."
Eliot raised his eyebrow again as he spotted the dark brown suitcase with a barcode painted across one side. He turned to look at Tesa curiously, "Really?"
She rolled her eyes at him, "You were expecting a cupcake?"
"Yes, actually, I was," Eliot retorted before moving forward to lift the suitcase in his arms. He hefted it up and wanted to say something snarky about the unexpected weight of the thing, but all he could come up with was, "What'd you do? Stuff all your cast iron skillets in here?"
Tesa grinned, "No," she shook her head once as the trio began to walk toward the exit, "Just the pretty ones. The rest of the stuff in there is mostly books I couldn't bear to part with."
Eliot swore under his breath. The bag had to weigh at least seventy pounds. Not exactly something he enjoyed carrying in such a cumbersome shape.
Cassie was leading the way through the apartment building for Eliot and Tesa when she felt what Jack had dubbed "disturbance in the Force" when she was fifteen. She stopped just short of her apartment and frowned, trying to feel where the naquadah was coming from.
It had taken her some years to get the skill down, but if she cleared her mind the way she did with Teal'c, she could usually isolate where it was coming from. At the very least she could get a direction, which tended to help when running away from fights.
"What is it, Cassie?" Tesa asked, remembering many times Cassie had stopped and acted just as oddly when they were roommates in college.
"Someone's in my apartment," she whispered, her eyes opening and turning to look at the other two with her. She knew from Eliot's reaction that there was a note of fear in her gaze that told him a fight was almost sure to ensue. "Two someone's if I'm right."
Tesa backed into the wall, knowing Cassie wouldn't want, nor need her help if a fight ensued. Eliot put down the suitcase carefully, quietly, before reaching into his boot and pulling out one of the sharpest knives Tesa had ever seen outside or inside the kitchen.
Cassie was approaching the door, key in one hand while the other one held something that looked like a ninja throwing star. She was about to open the door when it was yanked open from the inside to reveal a dark skinned, muscular man on a cell phone.
"I have located Cassandra Fraiser, Colonel Carter. All appears to be well," he said in a deep rumbling voice to the woman on the phone.
Eliot was on edge as Cassie relaxed, putting the star away with a flick of her wrist as she sighed at the scary looking man with a streak of white running through his midnight hair.
"Don't scare me like that, Teal'c!" Cassie groused as the man ended the call he was on.
Teal'c raised a solitary eyebrow on his stoney face as he replied, "Indeed. One could say the same thing of you, Cassandra Fraiser. General O'Neill was most put out at the thought of you in enemy hands."
Cassie rolled her eyes, "I'll apologize to him later. Right now all I really want to do is go inside and work out sleeping arrangements for Tesa. Can you grab her bag, T, please? Eliot was having a little trouble with it. Who'd you bring with you anyway?"
"Vala Mal Doran accompanied me," Teal'c replied as he stepped out into the hallway to retrieve the luggage.
The man in question shot her a glare as Teal'c easily lifted the heavy object in his arms before taking it into Cassie's apartment, followed by a now at ease Tesa. "I can see I'm not needed here," Eliot told Cassie, "So I'm just gonna go."
"Not so fast, cowboy," Cassie told him before he could back away more than a step. She pointed a finger at him and said, "You're part of the reason they're here so you get to stay and help explain things." She shrugged at Eliot's glare, "Besides, you wanted to meet them."
"Yeah," Eliot groused, following Cassie into her apartment with little hesitation, "When they were coming on Tuesday not tonight."
Cassie rolled her eyes at him as she leaned in to whisper in his ear, "I know this must be weird for you, Eliot. I mean, we just met. But go with me on this. Teal'c can smell a lie, and he wouldn't have any qualms about showing you exactly how much experience he has in fights if you pushed him to it." She leaned back and led him into the living room where Teal'c and Tesa were standing, "Besides, it'll give you a chance to show me your mad skills in the kitchen."
Eliot opened his mouth to protest but he was cut off when a head poked out from Cassie's bedroom. The brunette had the same look in her eyes that Parker had, only hers was added to by the pigtails that captured her hair in a childlike manner. She grinned when she saw Cassie, "Ah, there you are, Cassie. I told Muscles that you weren't kidnapped, but nobody would listen to me about it. Did I hear you say something about food?" She looked at the others in the living room, as if finally noticing that she was not alone with Cassie and Teal'c. "Oh, hello Tesa. I love the hair."
Tesa brought a hand up self-consciously to her newly reddened locks. She smiled at the older woman, "Thanks, Vala. I like it, too."
The intergalactic thief's eyes turned to the man trying to sink into the wall behind Cassie, "And who is this, Cassie? He looks like a smaller version of Muscles."
"Vala!" Cassie admonished. "This is Eliot. He's a friend of mine. That means hands off."
Eliot looked between Cassie, Vala, and Teal'c. He wondered briefly if it would even be worth the energy to run.
The older woman visibly deflated as she finally came all the way into the living room, revealing a basic outfit consisting of bootcut jeans, brown leather fashion boots and a pink t-shirt. "You're no fun, Cassie. Now did you say something about food or not?" Her eyes lit up again, "Oohh! I know! Let's order a pizza!"
"Nothing beats a homemade pizza when it's done right," Eliot stated, causing all eyes to turn to him again. He motioned with his head toward where he assumed the kitchen was, "May I?" he asked Cassie politely.
"By all means, cowboy," Cassie said with a smirk, "Let us witness your mad culinary skills."
Eliot mumbled something under his breath as he walked into the kitchen. With an exasperated sigh he yelled into the living room a few minutes later, "Don't you have an apron a little less frilly?"
"Only the one that says 'Kiss the Chef, Screw the Food' on it," Cassie replied cheekily.
The others could hear Eliot mumble something that sounded like a curse as a few pots banged around in the kitchen. Apparently he didn't care so much for Cassie's sense of humor.
A/N: Review. You know you wanna. Oh, and for those of you hiding out in the story alert section and not leaving reviews, please bear this in mind: I get cranky when people do that ... and my muse tends to go on vacation if too many people do that. I don't write for the reviews, but they do help me write and that's why I keep posting stories up here. Just a thought.