Guess what? I finally finished watching all the episodes of Leverage! When I started posting this story I was somewhere in the middle of season four, and last night I finally watched the last two episodes. So beautiful. So tear-inducing. What a great show this is! Anyway, thank you all SO much for your kind reviews on the last chapter! I want to hug you all. :)
The fateful knock came at exactly 7 PM. The house stilled, the children crept around corners to the front room, suddenly hyper-vigilant, apparently prepared to flee (or continue to beg) if they didn't like what they saw.
Nate rolled his eyes, unable to understand why they had to be so dramatic about it, and opened the door.
James Sterling stood there, his expression somewhere between a smile and a smirk, his hands in his pockets.
"You owe me for this," he told Nate as he stepped into the apartment.
Nate shook his head. "I believe you're the one that owes me. Kids! Come on out."
Eliot came in from around the corner, his arms folded across his chest, his pale eyes less than charitable.
"This is my oldest, Eliot," Nate introduced him, warning the boy to be nice with his eyes. "Eliot, this is my friend Sterling."
"Your dad's told me a lot about you," Sterling said, holding his hand out to Eliot.
The ten-year-old just stared at him.
"Eliot," Nate said, somewhere between a groan and an order.
Eliot did not shake Sterling's hand.
"Man of few words, eh?" Sterling said, his amused smirk still in place.
Nate gave up. "Alec! Parker!"
Parker came forward and stood just behind Eliot, Bunny clutched to her chest, with Alec close behind.
Sterling chuckled. "I don't bite," he told them, giving Parker a little wave.
"Say hello," Nate commanded gently.
Parker shook her head but Alec wandered forward. "You don't look like a babysitter," he informed Sterling.
"Ok, let me show you around," Nate said, giving up on the introductions and filling Sterling in on the dinner and bedtime routines.
Sophie joined them, adding a few instructions of her own, and then it was time to leave. To Nate's relief Parker stopped short of clinging to their legs and nobody was crying, but the looks of betrayal were enough.
"It's only a couple of hours," he reminded them. "Be good." And then he shut the door, breathed in the quiet of the front porch, and offered his arm to Sophie.
"You're sure …?" she said, glancing back.
"I'm sure," Nate said firmly. "Sterling is a decent guy. Has a little girl of his own. They'll be fine."
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"So," Sterling said as soon as the door closed. "What do you want to do?"
Eliot rolled his eyes and walked away without another word.
Parker stared at him impassively. "I don't like you."
"Yeah," Alec agreed. "You talk weird."
Sterling just rocked back on his heels and smiled. "You don't have to like me or the way I talk."
The two exchanged looks with a suspicious glint in their eyes, glanced back at Sterling, and ran for their rooms.
With the kids out of the way, Sterling pulled leftover pasta out of the fridge to reheat for them, planning on getting dinner out of the way as fast as possible. With any luck he could get them in bed early.
Eliot wandered in, glancing at the bowl in the microwave. "You put the mozzarella on that first?"
Sterling raised his eyebrows. "What?"
Eliot shrugged. "Just sayin'. It's better with mozzarella. 'Cause you gotta cut the heat of the chilis."
"What would you know about it? How old are you?"
Eliot glared. "I made it, that's how I know. And if you think you're gettin' any you're wrong." He parked himself in front of the microwave.
Sterling gave him a forced smile. "Okay. You can be in charge of dinner. Parker! Alex!" he called.
"His name is Alec, dumb a-"
"Watch it, little man," Sterling warned.
Eliot's jaw clenched and he turned away to take the pasta out.
"Where'd they go?" Sterling muttered, craning his neck to see down the hall.
"I'll get 'em. Don't touch that," Eliot warned, pointing at the steaming bowl on the counter.
He walked down the hall and opened the door to the room he shared with Alec, unsurprised to find his younger siblings crouched over Alec's tablet. They looked up sharply as the door opened and Alec drew the tablet closer to him, but they relaxed when they saw it was just Eliot.
"What're you doin'?" he asked, plopping down next to them on the bed.
Parker held up Sterling's wallet with a grin and Alec turned the tablet toward him. "We ordered a bunch of fortune cookies from all the delivery places."
"Dessert," Parker said.
Eliot grinned and held out his fist for Alec to bump. "Dad'll be pissed."
Alec shrugged. "So will that guy who talks weird."
"Yeah, and we don't like him," Parker added.
"Me neither. You hungry, though?" Eliot said.
They nodded eagerly and followed him back to the kitchen. The bowl of pasta was sitting on the table, fresh mozzarella melted over the top. Eliot looked suspiciously at it, but sat down with Alec and Parker on either side.
"Enjoy," Sterling said. "You'll all be going quietly off to bed when you're done."
"No we're not," Parker giggled.
"It's only 6:30!" Alec protested.
Eliot just stabbed at his pasta.
"Your parents left me in charge," Sterling reminded them.
The doorbell rang. Sterling looked up, surprised, and missed the grins the kids exchanged. "Stay there," Sterling told them as he went to answer the door. He returned to the kitchen with a large bag of fortune cookies and an expression that told them he was not amused. "What's this?"
They all shrugged, pasting on their well-practiced "I know absolutely nothing about that" faces.
He watched them suspiciously but the doorbell rang again. He sucked in a deep breath and turned on his heel.
Alec had a harder time looking innocent when Sterling came back with a second bag of fortune cookies. He tried to mask his giggle with a large bite of pasta, but it didn't work. "Do you have something you want to tell me?" Sterling said, narrowing his eyes at Alec.
Eliot shoved his chair back and stood in front of his little brother. "Leave 'im alone. He didn't do anything."
"Are you telling me this was your idea?"
Eliot nodded. "Yeah."
The doorbell rang.
"Better get that," Eliot said, the corner of his mouth lifting.
"Maybe I should just call your parents right now and tell them that you stole my wallet and used my credit card - which is illegal, by the way," he said, patting his empty pocket.
Parker shifted uncomfortably in her seat.
Eliot sighed. "I'll get your wallet."
"Thank you," Sterling said, anything but polite. "Make sure everything is in it."
Eliot gave him one more glare before going to retrieve the wallet. He knew most of Parker's hiding places and found it easily, making sure they'd put the credit card back. He handed it back to Sterling.
"Excellent. This little secret can remain between us as long as the rest of our time together goes well. If you're finished eating, may I suggest putting on your pajamas?"
Parker and Alec watched Eliot, their food mostly uneaten. "I don't want-"
"Let's go," Eliot said. Looking away from Sterling to nod at his siblings.
They slid away from the table and followed Eliot down the hall, going into their own rooms with slumped shoulders.
Eliot handed Alec his pajamas but the younger boy just looked at him with drawn eyebrows.
"Stop lookin' at me like that," Eliot said. "This isn't over yet."
Parker joined them after getting into her own pajamas and they sat cross-legged on Alec's bed, heads close together.
"We're definitely not going to bed this early," Eliot told them. "We have to stop him."
"At first I thought he was funny, but he's mean," Parker agreed with a little pout. "The fortune cookies didn't even make him happy."
"They made me happy," Alec said, grinning. "Until Eliot got in trouble."
"We probably don't have too much time, so we need a plan," Eliot reminded them.
"We could call the police again," Alec offered.
Eliot shook his head. "They won't believe us anymore, remember?"
"We could push him off the roof," Parker said, her eyes lighting up.
Eliot frowned. "Uh, probably not, Parker."
"We could lock him out," Alec tried, bouncing a little in excitement. "I could get him to follow my car out and then we just lock the door behind him!"
Eliot thought for a moment. The plan had potential. "He's not going to want to follow your car. It'll have to be one of us. And we have to get his phone so he can't call mom and dad."
Both brothers turned to look at Parker.
She grinned.
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Sterling sank back into the couch with a satisfied smile. He hadn't heard a peep since threatening to call Nate. He turned on the TV and fiddled with the remote trying to figure the complex system out.
"Mr. Sterling?" he looked up at the quiet voice to see Parker and Alec standing there.
"What now?" he sighed.
"Can we have some water before we go to bed?" Alec asked, his eyes as big as he could make them.
"Go ahead if you really must."
"We need help," Alec said. "We can't reach the cups."
"Mommy said no climbing on the counters," Parker put in.
Sterling rolled his eyes and got up, getting cups of water for both of them. Alec grinned at him as he handed the small boy his cup, then took one step and stumbled, dumping the water all over Sterling's pants.
"Sorry!" he squeaked, but Sterling wasn't convinced it was an accident since the boy was still grinning.
"I'm ringing your father right now," he hissed, putting his hand in his pocket only to pull it out again.
"Whatcha looking for?"
Sterling whipped around to see Parker standing by the front door, his phone in her hand. "You little –" he lunged forward, but Parker was out the door before he could reach her. He followed her out but didn't see her anywhere. Then he heard the front door slam shut behind him.
Eliot leaned against the door for a moment, listening. "I don't hear anything. Go make sure the window's open for Parker," he told Alec.
The younger boy ran off and returned with Parker, giggling at their success. Eliot smiled. "Nice," he congratulated them.
"Can we eat ice cream and fortune cookies now?" Parker asked.
"I call the rest of the rainbow sherbet!" Alec cried, running for the freezer.
Parker ran after him, and Eliot followed slowly, glancing over his shoulder to make sure the door was still locked. Everything was quiet. Then the knob jiggled, went still, and jiggled again. Then it slowly started to turn. Eliot froze, his hands balling into fists, and faced the door.
The door swung open and Sterling came through it, his face dark with anger. "I warned you," he said, his voice low and hoarse. "You little brats think you're going to get away with this?" He slammed the door behind him and stalked toward Eliot.
Eliot backed unto the kitchen where Alec and Parker were watching warily. "You can't hurt us," Eliot said.
Sterling grabbed Eliot's arm. "Consider yourselves locked in your rooms for the rest of the night! No bathroom breaks, no water, and when your parents come home-"
The front door opened.
"Mommy!" Parker cried, dashing past Sterling, Alec close behind.
Sterling turned, erasing the anger from his face and letting Eliot go. Eliot stepped in front of the babysitter before he could head toward the returning parents.
"How about you don't mention us locking you out, and we don't mention your threats," he said.
Sterling's anger resurfaced briefly, but he didn't say anything. And as he told Nate and Sophie that everything had gone fine, Eliot bought the silence of Alec and Parker with promises of candy from his Halloween stash.
Once Sterling was finally gone, Parker obtained permission to get out the ice cream and they sat down for a bowl. "I'm proud of you guys," Nate told them, seated around the kitchen table.
Alec put a huge spoonful of ice cream hurriedly in his mouth and Parker smiled blandly.
"Eliot, I think you've earned the title of official babysitter. Think you can handle it?"
Eliot couldn't help the smile that crept over his face. "Yeah," he said. "I got it."
No one else saw the wink Nate gave him.
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"I'm glad you found someone to stay with them," Sophie told Nate in their room once the kids were in bed. "That was a lovely night."
Nate hung up his coat. "Yes it was."
"Do you really think things went as well as Sterling said? Where did all the fortune cookies come from? And I saw Parker put his phone into his pocket on his way out. Do you think he noticed?" she said, sounding purposefully nonchalant as she changed out of her dress.
Nate chuckled. "I'm certain things didn't go as well as he said."
She watched him with narrow eyes. "What do you mean? And what do you suppose he meant when he said 'you planned this' to you?"
He turned to face her as her tone changed.
"How exactly do you know Sterling?"
Nate sat on the edge of the bed, and she stood over him, her arms crossed. "I used to work with him. He owed me a favor."
She raised her eyebrows. "I'm feeling more and more concerned about this."
"It was a little bet a long time ago," he admitted. "We've sort of had an ongoing …thing."
"So why haven't I heard about him?" she said.
Nate sighed. "Sterling is the sort of person that helped me make the decision to leave IYS after Eliot was born. The kind of person that denies claims to people who really need it."
"Nate, did you just use our children to exact revenge on your old colleague?" she said, shocked.
"What? I knew they could handle themselves."
Nate's most charming grin didn't save him from sleeping on the couch that night, but it afforded him the opportunity to listen to the kids giggle about their misadventures late into the night and he was smiling when he fell asleep.