Fic: It's The End Of The World (As We Know It) - Chapter 4
Title: It’s The End Of The World (As We Know It)
Author: Kyra
Disclaimer: I don’t own them; if I did I wouldn’t be writing fanfiction.
Summary: Everything changes when the bomb Parker and Hardison went after turns out to be a fake…And the real one goes off. In the aftermath of the Pulse, things only get more complicated when the Leverage team takes in a stray with secrets of his own.
Pairings: Very light Nate/Sophie and Hardison/Parker
Spoilers: Up through most of ‘The Big Bang Job’ for Leverage, goes AU on the train, and all of Dark Angel is fair game.
Warnings: None that I can think of.
Chapter 4: Life Goes On
“We’re back!” Nate called as he stepped into the apartment with Eliot right behind them, both of them carrying large bags.
“How did everything go?” Sophie asked, looking up from the file she was reading.
“Good. We got everything,” Nate replied before turning toward the sound of pounding footsteps coming down the hall they had built to connect Nate’s apartment with the one next door in order to expand. “No running in the apartment!”
Ben and Parker both skidded to a stop in front of him. “Sorry,” they chorused, looking utterly unrepentant.
“Here you go, kid,” Eliot said as he tossed a small sack to the now-fifteen-year-old Ben. “Six month supply of Tryptophan.”
“Thanks, Eliot,” Ben said with a nod.
It had taken the boy a while to trust the team and let them in, but after Parker had found him during a seizure four months after he moved in they hadn’t really given him much of a choice. They had taken care of him through the seizure, Parker holding on to him and refusing to let go until even the tiniest of tremors had disappeared. Then they’d sat down and made Ben explain what had happened and why he had kept it from them. He had done so reluctantly and was surprised when they simply accepted him and his past. The only things that had changed was that Parker became even more protective of him than she had been already, Eliot would spar with the young X5, and they now kept a constant supply of Tryptophan on hand. It also meant that when Leverage Consulting and Associates finally got up and running again almost three years after the Pulse, Ben was part of the team and allowed to help with the jobs, even though he had only been twelve at the time. His roles were always small, but since he was so young, he was often overlooked and that tended to come in handy more often than not. And when not on jobs, the team made sure that Ben had as much of a normal adolescence as possible. Though their standards of normal were probably a little skewed…
“Where’s Hardison?” Nate asked, looking around and not seeing the hacker.
“New bulletin,” Sophie replied, referring to the information hacks Hardison did. After the Pulse, corruption became even more prevalent, and there were only so many jobs Leverage Consulting could take on. Everything else, Hardison covered in his hacks, letting the public know what was happening through what was known as Black King, White Knights Information Bulletins. Recently, they had even started hearing rumors of a west coast equivalent known as Eyes Only.
Nate nodded as he sat down next to Sophie, giving her a soft kiss as he did, both of them ignoring the chorus of ‘ewww’s and gagging noises they got from the three others in the room.
“Honestly, you’d think they were all Ben’s age,” Sophie said with a fond shake of her head as they broke the kiss.
“I may not be Ben’s age,” Eliot said as he headed into the kitchen for a bottle of water, “but that doesn’t make it any less like seeing your parents make out.”
Parker and Ben nodded their agreement.
Wooo! Time for Spring Break!!! No more school for a week! Though, unfortunately, I do have to major papers I have to start over break… :-( Hopefully I’ll be able to fit some writing in there, too, though. Hope you all liked this chapter!
~ Kyra