A/N: Leverage characters are not mine. Please leave a comment. Thanks for reading!

Chapter 2

Hank-less

Eliot pulled up in his pickup. Getting out, he looked at the main house, then at the barn. A woman was working with a child and a horse. Picking up the child, he started screaming and kicking. She quickly set him down, kneeling next to him. She spoke to him as she stroked the horse's leg. Walking over to the corral, he leaned against bars. The young woman looked at him, noting the jeans, boots, cowboy hate and plaid shirt over his t-shirt. "May I help you?"

"I'm looking for the owner." Eliot smiled.

"She's in the barn." She turned her attention back to the child.

"Thanks." He walked towards the barn. As he walked in, he heard a woman who sounded exasperated.

"What do you mean they refused to deliver the hay?" She had her hands on her hips.

"That's what Sam said." A gruff 40 something man was responding.

Looking towards the door she saw a silhouette of a man coming towards them. "Okay, I'll give Sam a call." She looked at the young man, furrowing her brow. "How can I help you?"

"I'm looking for the owner." Eliot looked at the slender woman, guessing her age was near 30.

"For now, that's me. How can I help?" Michele was straight to the point.

Eliot looked at the man. She turned slightly towards the older man. "Thanks Hank. Will you see if Emily needs any help?"

His mumble was inaudible as he left the barn. Eliot smiled. So that is Hank. Pleasant guy.

"I'm looking for a job."

"Sorry, I don't have any paying jobs. I can barely pay Hank." She started walking away.

"I can work for room and board."

She stopped and turned to eye him up and down. "Why?"

About then a large black bay swung his hindquarters around near the chain that went across the opening of his stall. Although she was inches from the chain, she took no notice.

"Aren't you concerned about being kicked?" He was surprised she hadn't moved away from the chain.

Michele gave the large horse a glance. "Charlie?"

The horse snorted and pushed his hindquarter against the chain. She reached over and scratched him just above the tail. His lips started twitching indicating she was hitting the right spot. "He's a big baby." She gave him a slap on the rump and the horse turned around extending his head over the chain to look at Eliot.

Eliot raised a brow. "Good to know."

"Come on." She took her cane off the stall wall and began walking down to the other end of the barn. He followed her into a small office. "Have a seat."

She picked up the phone and quickly dialed. Leaning back in her chair, she rested her boots on top of five gallon bucket that was turned bottom side up. "Hey Sam, Michele. I noticed that the hay hasn't been delivered yet."

Picking up a pen, she jotted some notes. "I see. And you spoke to Hank?" She tapped the pen against her chin as she listened. "Really? Huh." She wrote some more notes. "Well Sam, I think there was a misunderstanding." She reached down and pulled out a large business check book. Opening it while listening to Sam, she furrowed her brow, noting three checks were missing without any notations. "Sam, could you bring by 50 bales of hay and 20 bales of straw?" She nodded and smiled. "Yes, you and your family are more than welcome to the Gala. Sam, will you take a check? Great. Tomorrow? That would be awesome Sam. Thanks." She jotted a figure on her blotter.

She rested the handset in the cradle, pulling open the top drawer she pulled a small Rolodex out. Finding the number, she began dialing the number. "Connie, please. Hi Connie. I'm fine. Hey, could you do me a big favor? It appears I misplaced three checks." She read off the check numbers. "Not sure. Yeah, that's my thought too." She smiled into the mouthpiece. "Well, you know me and keys." She laughed. "Okay, I appreciate it Connie. Hey, are you coming to the Gala? Great. Bring your grandson, we'll put him on Merrylegs."

She hung up the phone and leaned further back in her chair peering at Eliot from under the brim of her cowboy hat. "Are you sure you want to work here?"

Eliot had stretched his legs out in front of him, pulling his hat over her eyes, lifting the cowboy hat up, he looked at her. "Yes ma'am."

"Looks like you are getting a paid position, which will include three hots and a cot." She smiled.

Eliot sat up. "When do I start?"

"Just as soon as I fire Hank." Slowly lowering her legs, she put a hand on the desk and pushed on the desk to help herself up.

As they walked out of the barn, they saw Hank get into a ranch pickup. Michele stepped in the path of the truck and he slammed on the brakes.

"What?" He stepped out of the truck.

"Hank I gave you $400 for the hay. Sam says that you told him we were unable to pay and that he might as well take the hay back home."

He spat some tobacco juice near her cane. "You gonna believe the that old codger, or me."

Michele took a breath. "Seeing how I know I gave you the money and you signed for it and we don't have the hay, yes I am going to believe Sam."

He spat again, nearly hitting her boot. Michele held his eyes. "There's also a concern about three checks missing from the check book with no notations."

"You don't keep the office locked, anyone could have them." He looked over towards Eliot, who had been quietly getting closer to them. "You just stay there, punk."

"Hank, I admit I have been sloppy about keeping my office locked. Connie will be on the look out for those checks. But, if I have staff that steals, my solution is to fire them."

He spat again, this time hitting the toe of her boot. "So, I'm fired?"

"Bright boy." Eliot grinned.

"Yes Hank, you're fired. You need to hand over all keys and anything to do with the ranch." She crossed her arms against her chest.

Hank reached in the truck, turning off the engine. Taking the key out of the ignition, he twirled them around his finger and then threw them as far as he could. "There's your keys."

Walking to his truck, he reached in and pulled out several sheets of paper and a small envelope. Michele recognized the color of paper the checks were printed on. He dropped them on the ground. "There's your precious checks and business credit cards." He looked at her with narrowed eyes. "I worked here for six years. I am owed severance."

Michele shook her head. "Consider the $400 a severance. Now, get the hell off my property."

He stood there for a minute looking from Michele to Eliot. "You'll be sorry." He got in his truck and spun his wheels kicking up dust and gravel. "You'll be damn sorry." He turned the truck sharply and sped down the road.

Michele watched him until she saw that he was the county road. Walking over to the papers and envelope he had dropped, she picked them up. Eliot searched for the keys, finding them hidden in some tall grass. He walked over to Michele, trying to give her the keys. She looked at them. "You'll need them to do your job."

Looking over towards the arena, the young woman was still unable to get the child on the horse. Michele sighed. Walking over to the fence, she watched the young woman trying to convince him to get on. "Hey Isaiah!"

The boy turned and looked at her. He smiled and ran towards her, easily slipping between the bars on the fence. "Michele!" He gave her a big hug. She hugged him back.

"Don't you like Matt Man?" She pointed to the horse.

"He's big." The boy stood on one foot peering between the bars at Emily and the horse.

Eliot kneeled down. "Hi Isaiah, my name is Eliot."

The child looked at him shyly. "Hi."

"You know who is also big?" Eliot smiled at him.

"Who?" His eyes were wide.

"You are." Eliot took his cowboy hat off, placing it on the boy's head. He stood up.

Isaiah smiled looking up at him and at Michele. He held his arms up to Eliot, who picked him up and had his legs straddling his neck. Emily had walked over to the fence watching them walk around. "Well I'll be a monkey's aunt."

"You and me both." Michele couldn't take her eyes off of the two.

The boy pointed at a car coming up the driveway. "Momma!" He waved as Eliot stood at the side of the driveway.

The car stopped abruptly and a woman got out of the car walking towards Eliot and her son. "Isaiah, what are you doing up there?"

The boy leaned over for her to take him in her arms. She looked from Eliot to Michele. "Unbelievable."

Isaiah took off the cowboy hat handing it to Eliot. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Eliot smiled again, looking at Emily and Michele who still had stunned looks on their faces.

Watching the woman put Isaiah in a car seat, Michele turned to Emily. "See if Carl is available for Isaiah's next session." Emily nodded.

A/N: Leverage characters are not mine. Thank you for reading. Please leave a comment.