A/N: Here's chapter 15. We get to a bit of the action here, but not the main part, which should come in the next chapter or the one after. I hope you enjoy reading this story as much as I've enjoyed writing it for you. I don't own Leverage. I do this for fun and not for profit, and I make no money off of this. Thank you to everyone who has read, and a special thank you to my followers, favoriters, and reviewers. It really makes my day to know people like these stories, so please keep the reviews coming. I don't write slash. Thank you.

Chapter 15

Parker woke very early the next morning, and slipped out of Nate's apartment, half expecting Eliot, who was sleeping on the sofa, to wake and stop her. She moved very quietly, and while she wouldn't wake normal people, she had never actually seen Eliot sleep anywhere, and she didn't actually know how soundly he slept. He seemed to have a sixth sense for knowing when people were sharing a room with him, or moving around. She made her way up to the roof, and sat watching the building below for any sign of the rest of the team. She jumped when she heard a quiet voice in her ear, and in her surprise, she lurched forward, and almost went over the side of the building. She felt a steadying hand on her shoulder, which immediately let go once she was safe. She whirled around, came face to face with Doc, and started wondering how she could get off the roof and away from the other woman, short of jumping. Without gear, the drop was a little far, even for her.

Doc Carrington was looking at her appraisingly, and it made her uncomfortable.

"You're up early," Doc said.

"Always," Parker answered, and for some reason, she felt the need to say more, so she added, "I don't sleep much."

"Nightmares will do that."

Parker just stared at her, with a hint of surprise. "How did you know I have nightmares?"

"That was what woke you last night." Seeing the look on Parker's face, she said, "Relax. I have no plans to do anything with that information, though I am available if you would like to talk about them with someone."

Parker shook her head, staring at Doc and scowling. Doc almost laughed at her expression. That made Parker think the other woman was laughing at her, which made her angry, and she half turned away, peering over the side of the building.

"I owe you an apology, you know." Surprised, Parker turned back and looked at her. Doc's expression was sincere.

"I promised Eliot that I would take care of the team while he couldn't, and I always keep my promises. Now, I can see that what I did makes it hard for you to trust me, and I understand why. I am not apologizing for my actions because, like I said, I promised Eliot I would take care of the team, and I suspect he would have done the same thing I did in my place. I am apologizing because my actions led to your distrust of me." Doc chose her words carefully, and decided it wasn't prudent to mention that the reason she knew all of this was because she had done her homework on the team. Instead, she tried a different tack, "I don't expect you to trust me, but I hope we can reach a temporary agreement. We're on the same side in all of this. We both want one thing—to keep Eliot and the rest of your team safe. I realize I can't keep you out of this, and I am not sure I want to do so, but I would like to see us work together toward that end. And I would like to ask a favor of you, though it is more a favor to Eliot."

Parker said nothing, but she didn't take her eyes off of Doc. Slowly, Kitty moved up closer to her and sat almost beside her while they watched the entrance of the building below, waiting to see which of the rest of the team would come out first. Both of them would bet it would be Eliot. As the silence stretched out, into something with a life of its own, Parker finally spoke, "What's this favor?"

Doc nodded and said, "I would ask that you and the rest of the team give Eliot space while we are working. He doesn't want any of you to know about his past, and he is worried that his past will come out during this process. Somewhere inside himself, he sees all of this as weakness, though I am not sure he has admitted that to himself yet, and he is embarrassed to show that weakness in front of you all. If you need to be sure he is all right, I understand that, but if you must check on him, do it from a distance, and don't let him know."

Parker hesitated. She was still really angry at Doc for what she had done, but she was appreciative that the woman had made an effort to apologize. She would deal with her anger later, after they were all safe and the job was finished.

"I can keep the team out of this, up to a point, but when Eliot goes after Conrad, I want to help. That bastard hurt me to try to get to Eliot. I take that personally." Doc nodded, and leaned over toward Parker, and the two held a whispered conversation.

(0o0)

Eliot woke up to find Doc gone. He walked through to the treatment room, where he kept a bag with some extra clothes. Noticing Parker was gone as well, he dressed hurriedly and made his way to the roof, wondering if Doc might have followed her up there. But the roof was empty as well, so he made his way down to the bar and out to the street. He needed to make some arrangements for the next step of his plan. Unlocking the door of the truck, he climbed into the driver's seat, and as he did, the passenger door opened and Doc, who appeared from nowhere, climbed in beside him.

He shot her a look that asked her what exactly she thought she was doing, and reminded her that Eliot wouldn't have let just anyone do this.

"We're going to your place. The one no one else knows about. The team doesn't need to see the next part of this. Vance will meet us there. Then, we are all going to take care of Conrad. Together."

"Kat—I," Eliot started to protest, but she cut him off.

"Just drive."

He did so, and when they reached the freeway, he asked, "So, what should I expect from this next session of yours?"

"You really want to know?"

He shrugged. "Knowing's better than not."

"We'll go through each of the trigger words you gave me, in a safe environment, to see what each one makes you do, and then we'll find a way to shut them down, and get you back to your team as quickly as possible. Now answer a question for me?"

"Sure."

"What do you plan to do about Mister Conrad?"

"How did you find out his name?"

"You seem to forget that we were once on the same field team, and I learned how to find the information I need from the same person you did. And from you."

"Oh, right." He smirked.

A moment later, he turned off the highway, and after a few more turns, they were driving down a tree-lined street in the suburbs. Suddenly her phone rang. She opened it, listened for a few moments, and then said, "find out what you can for me. Yes. Thanks. Call me when you have it." She hung up, as Eliot pulled in to his farmhouse.

(0o0)

Parker knew that Hardison would try to track them when he found out that she and Eliot were gone. If he didn't do it himself, she knew that Nate would ask him to do it. She knew that Eliot had left his phone on Nate's bar, where he knew they would find it. That was his way of telling them not to try to follow him. Of all of them, he needed time away from the team.

If they wanted to track her, she would give them something to track. She knew of eight different tracking devices that Hardison had hidden on her person. She guessed she should be angry, but it didn't really bother her. She could ditch them if she didn't want to be followed, and she knew it was just his way of showing he cared. He didn't like being alone, so he understandably had a hard time understanding that sometimes she just needed to be untraceable.

She knew she had at least an hour before the rest of the team woke, ate breakfast, and got moving. She made several overlapping circuits in the vicinity of Nate's apartment, systematically dropping tracking devices for the team to find. She left one of them in her warehouse, knowing that having to open the door and go inside to find it would slow them down. She was careful to do nothing to lead them to Eliot's place, but Nate was smart, and she knew he might decide to check there anyway, so she devised a plan to lead them away from it. She set each of the tracking devices to go off at different times. That should keep them occupied for a couple of hours, and with luck, it would all be over by then. She had contemplated calling Agent McSweetin of the FBI for help with Conrad, but she was afraid she would end up blowing her own cover and exposing her team, and she was fairly sure Eliot would be mad at her, really, really mad at her, if she led the FBI to his house—a house that even most of the team knew nothing about.

When she was sure all of the devices were gone, she rode the bus across town and got off in the suburbs, two miles from Eliot's farmhouse in the countryside. She had never been there, but she had heard him talk about it, and had drawn a picture in her mind from the information he gave about it. She found a piece of land that matched that picture on the map, and decided to try there first. She knew she was in the right place when she saw Eliot's truck in the gravel driveway. She understood that it was one of the places he went when he wanted to be off the grid for some reason, and having similar desires, she couldn't blame him for that.

Eliot's truck was in the driveway when she pulled in, and remembering her promise to Doc, she didn't get near the house. Instead, she settled in the tall grass of the vacant lot across the street, finding a position where she could watch without being seen. She had a score to settle with Doc, and still didn't completely trust her, but there would be time for all of that later. Right now, the priority was getting her revenge on Conrad. Three years ago, she wouldn't have felt the need for revenge, at least not unless there was money involved. Now she wanted to hurt Conrad because he had hurt Hardison and Eliot, and he had used her to hurt Eliot. She guessed that was one of the ways being on a team had changed her.