A/N A short story written for leverage bingo. the prompt was: It's a very distinctive...

Four times Eliot knew about it.

San Lorenzo

Eliot broke down Nate's door when he didn't receive an answer. The mastermind was just waking up, obviously after a night of drinking and… was there someone else under the covers? Eliot studied the room and smirked. Yep, their mastermind definitely got lucky the night before.

He left the man to clean up and joined the others down in the lobby. Hardison noticed the smirk on the hitter's face and raised his eyebrow in question.

"Nothing" he laughed. "Nate will be down soon" Then he noticed someone else was missing. "Where's Sophie? I thought you had to wake her up?"

"We tried man, but no one was there. The room was empty. I've tried her mobile phone, but it's switch off and she's not on comms."

"Should we be worried?" Parker was still struggling with the big crate. "You think someone has recognized her?"

Eliot started thinking and then he hit him. There was a distinctive perfume in Nate's room. One that he was familiar with but could quite place until then. So that's where Sophie was. "No, I think she's fine" he told the others in a cryptic way.

"There she is." They saw her walked down the stairs. Her tired eyes behind a pair of enormous sunglasses. Hardison and Parker thought it was because she didn't want to be recognized, but Eliot knew better.

"Did you have a nice night?" he smirked at the grifter.

Sophie studied him, wondering if he knew, but then she shook her head. "Eventful"

"I bet" he picked up her bag and carried to the taxi. By then Nate had come down too telling them that they were going to go their separate ways for four weeks.

He saw Sophie glaring at the mastermind and chuckled. Nate and Sophie having sex, he wondered how that was going to turn out.

Nate's apartment

Eliot, Hardison and Parker walked inside the apartment.

"Her potato is better than a Flintstone vitamin. And it can take anything that nature has to throw down, drought, disease, bugs. Think that happens naturally? No. Emily, she's a hacker. She's a certified, stone-cold plant hacker. Computer hacking? Bio-hacking, that's the future." Hardison was babbling about the potato, but Eliot had shut him out.

He was studying Nate and Sophie who were mysteriously acting strange. The grifter was sitting by the working station while the mastermind was standing by the stair case looking guilty. That's when something caught his attention. A distinctive piece of clothing was handing on the stairs. It didn't take him long to figure out how did Sophie's bra end up there. He tried to keep his faced neutral while mentally he was laughing and thinking on all the possible ways he could torture them for fun. So, they've finally decided to start something after that night in San Lorenzo? And they think they can keep it from the others?

Seriously? Eliot was trying not to notice Nate's lame attempts to collect the bra and pass it Sophie. Do they think I'm stupid? Oh, he was so going to have fun with them.

McRory's pub

Hardison, Parker and Eliot were sitting at the pub drinking and discussing the latest job. Hardison had his usual orange soda, Parker was sipping a lemon soda and Eliot was nursing a bottle of beer.

"I'm bored" Parker suddenly told them.

"Yeah, me too mama" the hacker agreed. "We should do something. Go to the cinema or pin bowling."

"Pin bowling?" Eliot arched his eyebrow in amusement "That's lame"

"Oh, come on. It will be fun" Parker whined and at the end the hitter agreed.

"Should we call Nate and Sophie? I wonder where they are" Hardison was already getting his mobile phone from his hoodie's pocket.

The thief shrugged "I saw them leaving together earlier. Those two have been strange lately."

I bet they are. Eliot thought to himself. "Put it on speaker" he told Hardison. He couldn't wait to hear that conversation.

"Hello?" Nate answered slightly out of breath.

"Hey man, Are you okay?" Hardison asked.

"Yes sure, Hardison." He shushed at someone "What do you need?"

"Eliot and Parker are here too. We wondering if you wanted to go pin bowling."

"No, thanks. I'm…. I'm having dinner" Eliot heard a distinctive giggle in the background. He lifted his eyes up to the other two, but it seemed they hadn't noticed. "I have to go."

"Oh… okay, talk to you later" He closed the conversation. "Well, that was strange.

"Try Sophie" Parker nodded at the phone.

"Don't bother" Eliot got up from his chair. "I bet she's busy with dinner too."

Office

Eliot saw the shadows through the glass door. They were dangerously close to each other. He quickly opened the door to tell them that Greg Sherman was on his way.

"Hey. Hurry up. They just pulled in." he walked back out leaving them alone.

He shook his head irritated. Come on! They weren't even trying to keep it low profile. What were they thinking messing around during a con? And a dangerous one like this one?

Team members shouldn't get involved. People get sloppy when emotions are involved And when you get sloppy, you get yourself hurt or worst… killed.

It was time to talk about this relationship.

Nate's apartment… again.

Eliot entered Nate's apartment after Hardison had gone. The hacker had informed him that he discovered who once behind the bugs in their quarters and wanted to ask Nate if he wanted him to follow the man for a couple of days.

Nate was getting ready to go upstairs, when her heard the front door open again. He sighed in frustration. "Eliot, what can I do for you?"

Eliot assessed his surroundings and then turned towards the older man. "Do you want me to spy on Latimer?"

"No, I'll go talk to him tomorrow."

Eliot just nodded and turned around to leave.

"How long did you know about it?" Nate asked him before leaving. He had noticed that hitter hadn't been that surprise at d

"Since San Lorenzo. You two haven't really been discreet about it"

"Yes… well… " the mastermind stammered. "Don't exactly know what this is."

"Don't hurt her" He simple told him and opened the door. "Oh and say hi to Sophie for me" he smirked knowing that the grifter was already upstairs waiting for Nate.