Leverage/BtVs; Five Times: Part IV
Title: Five times Eliot didn’t fall in love with a Scooby, and One time he did: Part IV
Author: Sky
Rating: PG-15 for violence
Crossover: Leverage/Buffy
Pairing: None
Characters: Willow, Eliot
Word Count: 735
Disclaimer: The characters and stories of Leverage and Buffy the Vampire Slayer belong to their respective creators and owners
Summary: Eliot meets a strange woman in Brazil
Warning: No real spoilers; nothing explicit has been revealed about Eliot’s past in the series, so I invent some details
Author's notes: A few years post-chosen when Willow was hanging out in Brazil
*****
Eliot grumbled to himself as he stomped through the undergrowth of a Brazilian rainforest. It wasn’t that he didn’t like the outdoors -he’d grown up on a ranch after all - but these days the city was more his kind of habitat. His jobs involved alleys and warehouses, dirty streets, and polluted air, not goddamn banana trees and God knows what kind of animals.
He was a retrieval specialist, not a damn treasure hunter, but the person he was trying to… question, had abandoned the cities and decided to try his luck in the jungle, so here he was using his rusty tracking skills, hoping that he caught up with the guy or else he would have to go back to the city and try a different lead.
Finally he caught a glimpse of the man he was chasing and took off at a dead run. The bastard happened to turn around at the same time and took off into the undergrowth. Eliot growled and ran faster, determined to keep him in view.
He had just lost sight of the slippery bastard when he heard a high-pitched female voice squeal in surprise.
He sprinted forward and less than twenty seconds later burst into a small clearing. A slender woman in her mid-twenties was standing with a look of surprised shock on her face, and the thug he’d been chasing was out cold on the jungle floor.
He stood stock still for a moment before his brain started moving again. He first knelt down next to his target to make sure he really was out, then he stood to face the woman, hands out in front of him in a non-threatening manner. She was very pretty in a fey sort of way, with pale skin, delicate pointed features, and brilliant red hair that glowed in the shafts of light that penetrated the canopy.
“Are you alright, miss?” he asked in the soft drawl he knew for a fact worked especially well on women. Nothing to see here ma’am, just a good ole southern boy.
“Oh! No. I mean, yes. Yes, I’m fine,” she stuttered. “He just -he just startled me.”
Friendly smile. Not enough that she’d think he was laughing at her, just enough to convey wry understanding. “I imagine he did, miss,” he said softly. His momma may not have been around for long, but she’d for damn sure taught her boy proper manners. He moved a little closer. “What’s a pretty woman like you doin’ out here all by herself?”
She blushed, as he’d known she would. “Oh, I just… I like it out here. It’s nice and peaceful. Great for sp- for communing with nature!” she said hastily. On the outside he favoured her with an agreeable nod, but on the inside he frowned. What had she been about to say?
“If you don’t mind my asking miss-“
“Please, call me Willow,” she interrupted.
“Willow,” he said with a pleased smile. “What a lovely name. How did you manage to knock my friend here unconscious?” Because she was just about as tall as he was, but couldn't weigh more than 110 soaking wet, and this guy was no amateur.
“Your friend?” she said with dismay. “Oh, I’m so sorry! He just came out of nowhere and I didn’t even think, I just hit him with a- with a branch!”
This time he didn’t manage to school his expression quite as well. “A branch?” he asked in disbelief. The forest floor was littered with all sorts of natural debris, of course, but he didn’t see any branch big enough to knock out a full-grown man.
“Yes,” she said, hesitancy disappearing, chin tilted stubbornly upwards. “A branch.”
Ohh-kay… None of his business, anyway. “Well you must have quite the arm Miss Willow,” he teased with a smile. He gently grasped her hand and brushed a soft kiss against her knuckles. “I do hate to be rude, but are you quite alright to find your way back? I should wait here with my friend until he wakes up.”
She coloured again at the reminder of what she had done. “Of course! It’s not very far, and it’s a nice walk.” She took a few steps backwards, looking a little anxious to leave. “Please tell your friend I’m sorry.”
“I’ll be sure to do that.” He waited until he could no longer hear her before pulling a coil of rope from his pocket to bind his target’s hands and feet. Then he sat and waited for him to wake up, his brief encounter with the strange woman already half-forgotten.
*****
Author: Sky
Rating: PG-15 for violence
Crossover: Leverage/Buffy
Pairing: None
Characters: Willow, Eliot
Word Count: 735
Disclaimer: The characters and stories of Leverage and Buffy the Vampire Slayer belong to their respective creators and owners
Summary: Eliot meets a strange woman in Brazil
Warning: No real spoilers; nothing explicit has been revealed about Eliot’s past in the series, so I invent some details
Author's notes: A few years post-chosen when Willow was hanging out in Brazil
*****
Eliot grumbled to himself as he stomped through the undergrowth of a Brazilian rainforest. It wasn’t that he didn’t like the outdoors -he’d grown up on a ranch after all - but these days the city was more his kind of habitat. His jobs involved alleys and warehouses, dirty streets, and polluted air, not goddamn banana trees and God knows what kind of animals.
He was a retrieval specialist, not a damn treasure hunter, but the person he was trying to… question, had abandoned the cities and decided to try his luck in the jungle, so here he was using his rusty tracking skills, hoping that he caught up with the guy or else he would have to go back to the city and try a different lead.
Finally he caught a glimpse of the man he was chasing and took off at a dead run. The bastard happened to turn around at the same time and took off into the undergrowth. Eliot growled and ran faster, determined to keep him in view.
He had just lost sight of the slippery bastard when he heard a high-pitched female voice squeal in surprise.
He sprinted forward and less than twenty seconds later burst into a small clearing. A slender woman in her mid-twenties was standing with a look of surprised shock on her face, and the thug he’d been chasing was out cold on the jungle floor.
He stood stock still for a moment before his brain started moving again. He first knelt down next to his target to make sure he really was out, then he stood to face the woman, hands out in front of him in a non-threatening manner. She was very pretty in a fey sort of way, with pale skin, delicate pointed features, and brilliant red hair that glowed in the shafts of light that penetrated the canopy.
“Are you alright, miss?” he asked in the soft drawl he knew for a fact worked especially well on women. Nothing to see here ma’am, just a good ole southern boy.
“Oh! No. I mean, yes. Yes, I’m fine,” she stuttered. “He just -he just startled me.”
Friendly smile. Not enough that she’d think he was laughing at her, just enough to convey wry understanding. “I imagine he did, miss,” he said softly. His momma may not have been around for long, but she’d for damn sure taught her boy proper manners. He moved a little closer. “What’s a pretty woman like you doin’ out here all by herself?”
She blushed, as he’d known she would. “Oh, I just… I like it out here. It’s nice and peaceful. Great for sp- for communing with nature!” she said hastily. On the outside he favoured her with an agreeable nod, but on the inside he frowned. What had she been about to say?
“If you don’t mind my asking miss-“
“Please, call me Willow,” she interrupted.
“Willow,” he said with a pleased smile. “What a lovely name. How did you manage to knock my friend here unconscious?” Because she was just about as tall as he was, but couldn't weigh more than 110 soaking wet, and this guy was no amateur.
“Your friend?” she said with dismay. “Oh, I’m so sorry! He just came out of nowhere and I didn’t even think, I just hit him with a- with a branch!”
This time he didn’t manage to school his expression quite as well. “A branch?” he asked in disbelief. The forest floor was littered with all sorts of natural debris, of course, but he didn’t see any branch big enough to knock out a full-grown man.
“Yes,” she said, hesitancy disappearing, chin tilted stubbornly upwards. “A branch.”
Ohh-kay… None of his business, anyway. “Well you must have quite the arm Miss Willow,” he teased with a smile. He gently grasped her hand and brushed a soft kiss against her knuckles. “I do hate to be rude, but are you quite alright to find your way back? I should wait here with my friend until he wakes up.”
She coloured again at the reminder of what she had done. “Of course! It’s not very far, and it’s a nice walk.” She took a few steps backwards, looking a little anxious to leave. “Please tell your friend I’m sorry.”
“I’ll be sure to do that.” He waited until he could no longer hear her before pulling a coil of rope from his pocket to bind his target’s hands and feet. Then he sat and waited for him to wake up, his brief encounter with the strange woman already half-forgotten.
*****