031
Disclaimer: I don't own Leverage.
Title: The Rain Dance Job
Warnings: Spoilers up to The First David Job. Rather long as well.
Genre: Humor/Friendship/Romance
Characters/Pairing: Eliot/Parker, Nate, Sophie
Summary: In which there is rain, soup, and dancing.
Eliot isn’t sure what he’s doing here exactly. Nate hasn’t called them in and their last job ended three days ago. He tries to convince himself it’s closer than his house and he hates driving during a downpour. And it works - sort of. Anyway, it should be quiet, no one should be there.
He enters the office and looks around. It’s quiet and no one’s around so he debates for a moment before deciding that it’s the perfect time to clean the various knives he’s hidden around the office - especially since no one (like Hardison or Parker) are around to see where they are.
He’s doing well too, until he opens the door to Sophie’s office and is almost knocked out by a baseball bat. “What the Hell?” he demands. He turns and sees Sophie looking completely sheepish, the bat hanging limply from her hands. “Sophie?”
“I’m sorry Eliot; I didn’t realize it was you I heard.” She looks at him curiously. “Why are you here?”
He shrugs and frowns at her. “Why are you?”
“Touché.” She sets the bat down and he glances at it with raised eyebrows. “I’m sorry, but after what happened before with Sterling…well, I’m not that good with a knife.”
“You can shoot,” Eliot replies.
“Ah,” she agrees. “But I don’t like blood - it’s messy and it’d be all over my office.” He wants to say something but can’t think of what. “Was there something you needed?”
“Oh, uh…” He glances around, eyes stopping on the painting on the wall he’d hidden a knife behind.
“Go ahead and take it.” He gives her a questioning look and she shrugs before heading back to the leather sofa and picking up the novel there. “I found it a few weeks ago; I thought the painting looked a little off. I didn’t move it though.” She gives him a curious look. “Any more hidden here?”
“No.” She nods and picks up the book, stretching out on the sofa. “I’ll just be going then,” he mutters, quickly retrieving the knife.
He’s working diligently on the knives spread out on his desk. He’s even taken the one he carries around in his boot out to polish again. He’s ignoring the rain pounding against the windows and the thunder rumbling. He’s ignoring everything until he looks up suddenly because he feels eyes on him and there’s Parker, sitting across from him.
“Jesus Parker,” he grumbles. She smiles at him. “What are you…You know what, never mind? What do you want?” he asks instead. He doesn’t tell her she’s lucky he didn’t throw a knife at her.
“You can cook, right?” she asks, head tilted to the side. He sighs and sets the knife down.
“What do you want?” he repeats.
“Soup.”
She’s sitting on the stool, watching avidly as he finishes chopping the onions. Silently she hands him the pot when he sets the knife down and he scoops the onion pieces into it. He sets the pot on the stove and turns to look at her. “What?” he asks.
“Nothing.” Parker slides off the stool and sniffs the soup carefully. She turns to him and opens her mouth to speak. The kitchen door swings open though and she closes it quickly.
“Mm,” Sophie sighs as she enters. “I thought something smelled good. French onion soup?” She sees them standing there, staring at her and she raises an eyebrow. “Am I interrupting something?”
“No,” Eliot replies quickly. Because no, he doesn’t know why Parker glued herself to him as soon as he arrived at the office. No, he doesn’t know why she won’t talk to him if she insists on being there. And no, he doesn’t really want to know. “Just cleaning up. Do you want me to bring you a bowl when it’s done?”
“Please.” She looks at them for another moment curiously before shrugging. “Make it a large bowl - I’ll be in my office.” She takes a bottle of iced tea from the fridge before she leaves.
“You were sayin’?” he asks. He turns the water on in the sink and it comes in spurts. “Parker?” He looks over his shoulder but she’s no longer by the stove. He rolls his eyes because he really should be used to this by now. He turns back and almost drops the measuring cup in his hands. “Jesus Christ Parker.”
“Hmph - no.” She swings her legs as she sits on the counter next to him. “It’s still raining.” He isn’t going to ask how she knows this.
“That’s what they said on the news,” he replies instead. “Why, don’t like the rain?”
She looks surprised for a moment before she smiles brightly. “Oh, no. It’s good when I’m not on a job.” He watches as she slides off the counter. She does a little skip-thing before she disappears down the hall. “Bring me some when it’s done!” she calls back.
“Definitely somethin’ wrong with her,” Eliot mutters.
“Smells good,” Sophie murmurs when he brings her the soup later. She wraps her fingers around the mug (he hadn’t been able to find anything but throwaway plates and cups in the cupboards) and sighs appreciatively. “There’s nothing like hot soup on a dreary day. Thank you.” She flashes him a smile.
“No problem.”
Her eyes move to the two cups still in his hand. “I won’t keep you, I see you still have…deliveries to make.” He rolls his eyes.
“Only to Parker. I haven’t seen her anywhere.”
Sophie frowns slightly. “Last I saw her she was headed to the lobby.”
“Figures.”
“She had an umbrella with her.” He looks at her blankly and she sighs, stirring the soup with the plastic spoon. “You know, since it’s still raining.”
“She’s gone?” Mentally he reruns their previous conversation in the small break room. She had said she’d wanted some. “She left?”
Sophie makes a noise and shrugs. “I don’t know Eliot; I’m just telling you what I saw. For all I know she could be on the roof.” They both pause and Sophie frowns, looking at the window behind her. “No…she wouldn’t…it’s pouring.”
“It’s Parker,” he growls.
He turns and storms out of her office, glancing into the other rooms as he passes. Sophie shouts something after her door slams shut but he ignores her, heading for the lobby, the elevators, and the door to the roof next to them. Sure enough, when he gets there he sees that the lock has been jimmied open expertly. He opens the door and hears the wind howling above him. Apparently she left the roof door open because the stairs are slick with rainwater.
He wants to turn around and march back into the office with his damn soup… The soup he’s left on Sophie’s desk he remembers now. He frowns and glances back over his shoulder. If something happened to Parker up there though he isn’t sure who he’d be more afraid of - Nate or Sophie. He curses loudly and pulls the door shut behind him (no need to get the whole floor soaked) and starts up the stairs. God help him if she’s decided it’d be fun to rappel off the building in the rain…
She hasn’t. She’s in the middle of the roof, her arms outstretched and her face upturned so that the water hits it. He stares at her for a moment, his mouth hanging open. She’s soaked through and shaking and not moving. Idly he wonders if she was hit by lightning or something.
“Parker!” he shouts from the safety of the doorway.
Her eyes fly open and she turns to stare at him. He watches as she grins brightly at him. “Eliot!” she yells back. “I knew you’d come find me. Come on out!” Her voice is teasing as she shouts, “The water’s great!”
“No way in Hell,” he grumbles. She skips across the slick cement toward him. “Get in here before you catch pneumonia.” He isn’t worried about her, really. He’s just worried Nate’ll call and there’ll be a job, and then Parker will be useless and he’ll be blamed. “Parker!”
“Don’t be such a baby,” she laughs. She grabs his arm and pulls him away from the overhang. Belatedly he notices the umbrella holding the door open. It figures that she’d use it as a doorstop. “I thought you were tough.” She pushes him ahead of her still laughing.
“Are you back on the happy pills?” he demands. Thunder rumbles and he can see lightning a few miles off. “I am not jumpin’ off-a anythin’ Parker,” he adds.
“We aren’t going to jump off anything,” she replies. She does a twirl and he shakes his head feeling his hair stick to his face from the rain. “Isn’t it nice?” She smiles at him again.
“Parker, I am soaked through, there is lightning, we are on a roof, and you’re…what are you doing?” Nothing she does should surprise him anymore but she’s still smiling and advancing on him now.
“Trying to be normal.” She stops, looking confused. Her head tilts and there’s a definite threat of pouting. “Sophie says I need to practice being normal.” She pauses, frowns a little. “So does Hardison, so I think I should, right?”
He takes a deep, steadying breath. “Parker, normal people don’t stand on a rooftop in the middle of a storm.” He’s trying to be patient, really. She can be hard headed and he isn’t sure what Sophie’s told her so it’s important he handles this carefully.
She’s standing too close, watching him. “Sophie says normal people like the rain. I like the rain.”
“Okay,” he replies. He takes a step back and she takes a step forward so that they’re still the same distance apart still. “Look, Sophie’s right. Some people like the rain and they like being in it. I don’t.” He can’t stand being cold and wet, especially when he doesn’t have a change of clothes and is at least a twenty minute drive from his house. All he wants to do is go down stairs, finish cleaning his knives, and eat his soup after he reheats it.
He turns to head back to the door because he’s had it. Let her get hit by lightning or slip off the roof without a harness on, or even get sick. It isn’t his problem and he can always blame Sophie for giving her the crazy idea in the first place. But she’s in front of him again. He growls and moves forward, she steps back still watching him.
“What’re you doin’?” he asks. She looks unsure, scuffs her toe along the wet concrete. “Parker.”
“Well, Sophie said…” He will kill her. He will risk Nate’s wrath and kill Sophie the next time he sees her. Which will be as soon as he gets downstairs again. Parker watches him through wide eyes and he tries to ease the scowl off his face. He sighs loudly and sidesteps, she mirrors his movements. Her eyes light up as he tries to get around her again. “It’s working.”
“What’s workin’?”
She smiles at him. “Well, not quite.” She looks confused for a moment before stepping closer still. “Sophie said…” Her face screws up in concentration and she tilts her head staring at him. “This is normal, right? Dancing in the rain is normal?”
He knows his jaw is hanging open. He knows because rainwater is filling up his mouth and making him choke. “…Dancing in the rain?”
“Mm-hm,” she responds. She gives him a look, like she thinks there’s something wrong with him. He starts laughing. Hard too. He can’t help it, he can’t stop either. He doubles over, hands against his thighs to brace himself as he continues to laugh. “Are you…okay?” she asks.
He looks up at her through the parts in his hair. She has her arms crossed and her hair is plastered to her face and shoulders. She’s as soaked as he is and she’s giving him the look she usually wears when Sophie hands them tickets to her latest play. Well, the look she wears when they’re at her latest play.
He takes a couple of deep breaths before standing up and looking at her. She shivers a little, head tilted so her bangs aren’t in her face. “Sophie told you dancing in the rain is normal?” She nods. “You want to dance in the rain or you want to do what you think is normal?”
“No.”
“No?” he repeats.
“No,” she agrees. “I want to dance in the rain because I like the rain and I like you. Sophie just said it was normal to.” She looks at him curiously. “Is that a problem?” He continues to stare at her. “…Eliot?”
“You’re insane,” he mutters. She looks hurt for a moment and he smiles, tugging at a blonde strand of hair. “You want to dance in the rain with me?” She gives him a look that quite plainly says I’ve told you that already why do you keep repeating it? “Because you like me?”
“Eliot do not make me throw you off this roof,” she warns. “I’ve done that before, Hardison knows.” She frowns a little and smiles. It makes her look insane. “Then again he was wearing a harness, you wouldn’t be.”
“Nice Parker, nice.” He chuckles again and then pulls her close, resting a hand on her waist. “If you wanted to dance Darlin’ why didn’t you just say so from the start?”
“I thought you weren’t supposed to be direct? I thought you were supposed to hint and wait for the guy to get it?”
“Did Sophie tell you that?”
“No.” They’re moving now and it’s much better now that he knows this is what she wants and not that she was thinking about shoving him off the roof for kicks. “I saw it on TV, on a movie. It’s what all the girls do.”
“Parker, movies and television aren’t real. Most of ‘em ain’t normal either. Except sports,” he adds hastily. She narrows her eyes. “Also, you’re you. Subtle doesn’t work with you. Directness is better.” She frowns again. “Didn’t it work better?”
“Well…yes,” she agrees. She smiles as he spins her carefully and she lets her face tilt up so the rain can hit it again. “This is nice, isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” he agrees.
“So, you like me too?” she questions staring at him. “You like me because you’re dancing with me.” He starts to respond but she’s still talking. “Kind of like Peggy liking Alice and asking her for coffee, right? Only not because you aren’t Peggy and this isn’t coffee.”
“But you are Alice,” he points out, trying to keep up with her thinking.
“Yeah, but you like me enough to dance with me,” she responds. She’s smiling up at him and looking completely at ease. He hasn’t seen her this happy since the time they came across the crate of money, or maybe when she stole the first David, or maybe it was when she’d gotten the message from Peggy. He thinks about that. No, it was definitely when she hugged the crate of money. “Right?”
He slows down, stopping to study her. She bumps into him, looking confused again. There are footsteps on the stairs and then suddenly Nate’s standing in the doorway, staring at them both incredulously. “We have a new client.” He pauses to look at them through narrowed eyes (eerily similar to Sophie’s earlier looks). “What are you two doing?” he demands. He’s making sure to keep under the overhang. “Sophie said you’d been gone over an hour and the staircase is flooded.”
Eliot looks between the two of them helplessly. No way is he about to tell Nate what they’re doing, what’s going on. Not only because he isn’t sure he understands it completely himself but also because it would just be weird. “I like the rain,” Parker replies. She turns to flash him a brilliant smile. “Eliot was getting me for soup.”
“For over an hour?” Nate questions.
Eliot shrugs, stepping around Parker and heading toward the stairwell. “I told you, she’s twenty pounds of crazy in a five pound bag. Not my fault you didn’t listen.”
“Hey!” she yells, chasing him. “Eliot!”
They brush past Nate, leaving him to kick the umbrella out from under the door. Eliot has a feeling Nate’ll make one or both of them mop up the stairs but he doesn’t want to think about that now. All he wants is to sit down in his office with reheated soup and try and thaw out.
Parker has other ideas though. She slips in front of him and stops him just outside the stairwell. “Uhm…” She toys with the ends of her sleeves, pulling them over her fingers. They’re dripping on the floor. “I…well…”
He steps closer, listening for footsteps from either the stairs or the office. He doesn’t want to have to explain this. “Yeah,” he murmurs, “I like you. Enough to dance with you in the rain and catch pneumonia and hypothermia and whatever else.”
She nods and grins up at him. “Good,” she replies. She turns away before she suddenly turns back. “Oh, yeah…” Before he can question her she has her arms around him and she’s kissed him soundly on the mouth. “See you in the meeting,” she tells him.
Then she’s skipping away into the office and he’s standing there, staring after her. Nate exits the stairwell and looks at him. “You know you’re cleaning that up after the meeting?” He nods absently. “Good.” He walks off and Eliot follows slowly. He wishes he hadn’t come in until called and he’s glad he came in when he did. He worries that Parker’s insanity might be catching but he can’t see himself distancing himself from her either. “Eliot!” Nate calls.
He follows Nate into the office. The worst is over, he tells himself. All he just needs to do is corner Parker and demand what the Hell just happened. Because her answer can’t be any more insane than the past hour.