Challenge 22: Crossing Over
Title: The Heart to my Soul
Crossover: Once Upon a Time / Leverage
Summary: Parker wasn't expecting anything from the day, it was supposed to be 'down-time', just some time to relax in the ventilation shafts. Then the phone call happened. Then she found out someone knew her secret.
Rating: G
Word Count: 1,289
Parker thought it was just going to be a normal day at Leverage Incorporated, well as normal as a day there could be. Nate was still gathering information on the next mark so everyone else was on 'down-time'. Sophie was out at a gallery opening, no doubt using one of her many aliases, Eliot was in the gym, taking out his worldly frustrations on what was likely to be a punching bag. Hardison - Hardison was tinkering with Lucille, yet again.
Everyone thought that Parker was unaware of the emotions of people around her, but that was on the contrary - she was very aware, she just didn't care too much. Thinking about those kinds of things were hard, they were difficult. But there was something with Hardison, over the past couple of weeks - the start of a crush. Parker didn't know how to let him down easily, she knew that she could never have the feeling for him that he was having for her.
Parker lifted herself up into the ventilation shaft of the room, revelling in the feeling of the cool, enclosed space around her. This was her place - somewhere where she could think and today she really needed to think.
She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, using the techniques that Archie had taught her many years ago to clear her mind. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. In.
Her eyes snapped open when the loud ringing sound interrupted her. Figuring it was just for someone else, she closed her eyes with a huff.
Next she heard someone shouting her from below - Parker crawled back towards her 'exit' from the ventilation shaft, flipping down and landing solidly on her feet.
Parker saw Nate standing in the corridor, holding a phone in one hand and a bundle of documents in the other. Wordlessly he handed her the phone and then moved back to his office. Parker looked down at the phone, this is hers, she thinks. Parker couldn't be too sure - she went through mobiles like Sophie went through shoes. She couldn't help it - it's hard to hold onto them for long periods of time, those things have GPS embedded in them which is never a good thing for a thief. You never know who is watching.
The phone started ringing again and she picked up, putting the phone next to her ear.
“Hello,” she said, after a few moments of silence, static filling the the line.
“Hello Alice,” said the voice, a male but that's all that Parker could tell.
“Alice...White?” Parker said, questioningly. The team had spent many hours teaching her the aliases that Hardison had made for her.
“No, I mean Alice Jefferson.” As she heard that surname, she froze, her hand outstretched towards the glass of water that she was reaching for, now just clutching at air.
“Sorry, I think you've got the wrong person,” she said, her mind whirring - where could anyone have heard that surname. She had only ever used that surname when she was someone else. In another life.
“Wife to Jefferson, mother to Grace. I know who you are Alice. I know your story.” The voice said down the phone, causing Parker to go incredibly pale. No one should know. No one could know. That past was lost a long time ago.
“Sorry, I think you've got the wrong number. Have a nice day.” Parker said quickly, trying to end the conversation as quickly as possible. She put the phone down and set it down away from her. Parker sat staring at it for a while, then it started ringing again. Parker let it ring through to voicemail. It then rang again, and Parker let it ring through again.
On the third try Parker's patience ran out. To be fair, she never had a lot of patience, but today it was shorter than normal.
“Yes,” she said impatiently.
“Hey, Parker,” Hardison said from the end of the phone, sounding mildly concerned which meant Parker felt a bit guilty for snapping at him.
“Hi, Hardison, sorry - it's been a long day,” she said, rubbing a hand across her face.
“You okay? I was just wondering, I've got tickets to this film that's opening tomorrow, would you like to go, with me that is.” Hardison said, and Parker felt sorry about what she was about to do, she really did. They could be nothing other than friends.
“I don't know Hardison, it would just be as friends right? Because that's what we are - friends, colleagues, amigos, coworkers...” Parker said, trailing off towards the end.
“Um, sure - of course it would be just as friends, you know me girl,” Hardison said, sounding slightly dejected, from what Parker could tell.
“Then sure, sounds good. See you later Hardison,” Parker said, hanging up the phone before Hardison could say more than 'good'.
Parker put the phone down with a sigh, and sat there in complete silence for a second. Then that silence was broken, yet again, by the ringing of a phone.
Parker picked up the phone cautiously, fully prepared for giving the person on the end of the phone a piece of her mind, as long as they weren’t a member of her team of course. Or Peggy, that’s not what friends do, based on what Sophie had told her.
“Alice, please don’t hang up the phone again. I need to talk to you,” the mysterious voice said again. This time, Parker hesitated, her hand already creeping towards the ‘end call’ button on the phone. Something stopped her. Something in the tone of the man’s voice. There was something desperate there that made her want to hear him out.
“Alice, my name is August - August W. Booth,” the voice, well August, said. “My name is August and I need your help.”
“Why could you possibly want my help? Where did you find this number? My friend is very good at making phone numbers without traces so you must have done some serious legwork in order to find this,” Parker said, gesticulating with her hands as she moved from question to question.
“It’s not really me who needs your help, I would like your help, but someone else needs it. I think you know who I mean,” August said, which caused Parker to stop for a minute. Of course she didn’t know who he meant - she’d never met the man, so how could she know if they had someone in common.
“Sorry, but I can’t help you - I don’t know this person who wants help but if they want help, the kind of help that I provide then you then you’d know to go to my boss Nate. He’s the one who can help you.” Parker said.
“I doubt that, Alice - only you can help him. Only you can help Jefferson, the one the tales call the ‘Mad Hatter’. Your husband.” August said, his voice growing more and more passionate.
“Firstly, he was never the Mad Hatter, my husband was good with a needle but he was never the Mad Hatter when I knew him so please, don’t use that title around me,” Parker said irritably.
“Secondly, you cannot know my husband. It’s a very complicated situation but to be blunt, he’s not here. So why are you talking to me?” Parker said.
“Oh but I do know your husband, not hugely well, but well enough. I believe I should introduce myself. You might have heard of me - my name in the Enchanted Forest was Pinocchio. Your husband is here, and so is your daughter. They need you.” August said.
Parker stood there, silent for a moment, her mind whirring to various possibilities before everything became too much and darkness took over her vision.
