Thank you again for the reviews, the alerts, the views. I sincerely hope you're enjoying the story as much as I am. It gets a little darker later on and from this point on the ratings have changed due to some violence and intimate situations.

I'm not affiliated with Leverage in any way.

RATED K+

Chapter 13

WTF!

The unabbreviated version flashed in Alec's head like a neon sign.

"I'm sorry," he exhaled incredulously before he stood up and walked to the computer screen and to Parker, "did you say that Nathan Ford speaks with Sonia regularly?"

He clicked on Nate's photo, "this Nathan Ford?"

Parker observed his fluster, "I've never seen Nathan Ford but Sonia speaks with Nathan Ford very regularly."

For one fleeting moment he considered the possibility that there was a mistake, a coincidence; that perhaps there was another Nathan Ford. But it was too much of a leap.

The simplest explanation is usually the truth; he heard Nana's sage words echo in his head.

Alec got a migraine headache instantly. He walked back over to the sofa and sat down leaning his head back to alleviate the pain.

Nate's been alive all this time and he didn't try to find me. That doesn't make sense…unless….

Alec didn't want to think it but the thought inflated itself slowly in his mind. Nate had to be involved. Nothing else made sense.

Anger began to build in him.

He's been alive and working with the enemy all this time while I've been here alone and blaming myself. He let them hurt Parker? Dammit Nate! Damn you Nate, Damn you straight to hell!

He sat up and rubbed his eyes and face before his stare fell to Parker as she watched the computer screen intently. She was reading her file with rapt attention. He wished he could give her something, anything to make her task easier but he knew that as hard as it was to watch her struggle this was something she needed to work out for herself. She knew that nothing is necessarily as it seemed. That truth was a good enough place to start. He also had a very strong feeling this entire situation was going to get a lot worse before it got better.

He had to get some more answers too. He had to know what they were up against.

"Did Sonia ever tell you where Nathan Ford was?" he asked, his mind already racing with possibilities and the inevitable questions as to why Nate hadn't popped up in any of his extensive searches.

"Sonia would never talk to me about something like that," Parker answered him distractedly, "and I stopped being curious about anything beyond of my own missions a long time ago."

He heard the very subtle catch in her voice. There was bitterness there. He wondered if it was directed at those who'd deceived her or those who'd left her behind.

His mind stayed on Parker for a moment. The irony struck him that she couldn't make a connection to her past and he couldn't let go of his. Finding out what happened admittedly consumed his life for the past three years. It drove him.

….drove him!

He remembered that someone else was driven, someone who was consumed.

Alec rose from the sofa and walked up to the computer, his mind buzzing with the excitement of inspiration.

Nate was consumed by helping the little man, by taking the big man down a peg or two. Nate was driven by what happened to his son Sam. Alec knew that Sam would always be the driving force of Nate's decisions. The situation gave him strength, he reveled in in, he hid behind it.

Alec eased himself next to Parker, "Can I ease in here for a bit; I have a lead I'd like to check?"

Parker nodded once and stepped away from the monitor and returned to the sofa.

Alec sat down and began plugging away. He created a search for every combination of names from Nathan's past and chided himself for not thinking of that angle before.

For someone as driven by his past as Nate was, this was almost an expected next move.

Alec sat back and looked at the myriad of names whizzing past each other, combined with locations connected to Nate's history. The minutes wore on and there were no matches. He interlocked his fingers behind his head and leaned back in the chair. He closed his eyes as the familiar sound of the electronic search lulled him. Then the hair at the back of his neck stood at attention. He could feel her eyes on his back.

Alec opened his eyes and turned the chair around slowly so that he was facing her. Parker's expression was coolly assessing as their eyes met.

"Is everything okay?" Alec asked when the silent seconds stretched too long.

"What happens if you tell me something about my past?" she asked him directly.

A small smile tickled his lips. So, she figured out that much.

He leaned in, resting his elbows on his knees. He looked at her with his head cocked to the side but he remained silent.

Their eyes held and uneasiness caught her off guard again. His eyes were big and their depths seemed endless. Her stomach fluttered and she swallowed thickly against the unusual effect he had on her.

A soft alert pinged on the computer and Alec turned away from her. The spell was broken. She shook her head and blinked herself back to indifference. It was too late though, she was conscious that he had a very definite effect on her. He contradicted everything she knew, he made her care.

Alec stared at the highlighted name on the screen and the location that accompanied it.

Samuel Logue, 47, Barna, Ireland.

That was it. He was certain.

It would be too much of a coincidence for a random person to have Nate's son's name, his mother's maiden name, and live in Barna, a suburb of Galway.

Alec tried to access photos of Samuel Logue but mysteriously none existed. Further confirmation.

He turned back to Parker excitedly, "got 'im."

She half-smiled and nodded in response.

Then he remembered she had no connection to Nate anymore and the realization made him pause.

"Nate…Nathan Ford, should be able to give us some answers." His exuberance faded in the face of her apathy.

He turned back to the screen and focused his attention on the location- Barna.

It was a beautiful little seaside town where someone could easily hide in plain sight.

Alec looked up the local directory but Samuel Logue was not listed.

Then another bit of inspiration made one of his eyebrows rise in gloating satisfaction.

He reached for his headset and punched in a 14 digit number on his keyboard.

"Hello, is this King's Wharf bar and grill?...My name is Cecil… I'm calling from Galway…I'm looking for Samuel Logue. Is he there?"

Alec's breath caught in his chest at the reply.

He swallowed thickly.

"Can I please speak with him?"

He held for one anxious minute, his own heartbeat pounding in his ears.

He didn't think he'd be so intensely affected by the thought of speaking to Nate again.

"This is Logue," the thinly veiled American accent called into the phone and Alec froze for a moment. Three years of sadness, regret, guilt spiked in his chest and a disbelieving anger roared to life.

You've been alive all this time and you didn't try to find me?

"Hallo," the voice called again impatiently and Alec snapped out of his reverie.

"Nate?" he said softly, his voice clear and firm.

Silence stretched the miles that separated them and Alec began to wonder if he'd made a mistake.

"Hardison…" The name was said quietly with reverence and disbelief.

"I…I…thought you were dead."

Alec was quiet as he listened, his mind registering the emotions Nate had to be going through. A small weight lifted off of his chest. All of the recriminations he'd held against Nate melted as he replayed Nate's words in his mind and really thought about what they meant.

"Nate something really big is going on…" He took a deep breath and continued quietly, "Parker is here…with me. She's different, Nate, but she's here."

Alec heard Nate's sharp intake of breath.

"Parker…wow, I…" he couldn't continue but instead a hiccupping laugh gave Alec the impression Nate was struggling to control his emotions.

"I take it you thought she was…gone, too?" Alec asked quietly as he swallowed the pain the thought brought him.

Nate didn't answer but Alec could almost picture the man nodding silently.

"They told me…they said that you all…"Nate finally answered his broken sentence mirroring the looping whir that filled his mind.

Alec didn't need him to continue. They had all been lied to- that much was clear. The question that remained was why.

"Why are you in Ireland? Actually, it doesn't even matter. I can have a ticket waiting for you at…Galway Airport. How soon can you get there? How does the 10pm Red-eye to Logan sound?"

Alec sped through his plan barely giving Nate a catch his breath or respond.

"No…I can't," came Nate's hushed and near panicked replay.

Alec stopped his flight search and pressed the ear piece harder to his ear.

"What? Did you just say you can't?"

"No, I can't," Nate responded firmer.

"Nate, do you understand that something huge is happening at Hastings. They've…" Alec turned to once again look at Parker who was staring intently at him. He ducked his head and lowered his voice, "…changed Parker. I don't know what's going on and I think it's going to get a lot worse before it gets any better."

"I can't return to America…actually I'm not even sure speaking to you on this phone is such a great idea right now."

"What…" Alec was getting annoyed.

Nothing was as it seemed and every time he made even the slightest headway he felt like he was slipping even deeper into the quicksand of this entire situation. He needed answers and as much as he hated it, after all these years of relying on himself, he needed his team.

"Nate I need your help with this? I can't…"

"HARDISON…" Nate shouted, interrupting Alec's plea, "I can't return to America because they won't let me."

Alec was thoroughly confused and what he needed most from Nate was answers not more challenges.

"Nate tell me what you need. I can make it happen."

"No you can't, Alec," he sounded resigned, dejected.

Alec wondered randomly if he'd ever hear Nate say his first name.

"You can't and I can't," Nate continued, "I have to do what they say…They have Sophie."