Mod Gift for Whimoffate - 2014 Leverage Secret Santa Exchange
Title: Drawing the Veil(And Revealing the Truth)
Author: telaryn
Mod gift for: whimoffate
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairing: Team, canon pairings, Maggie Collins, James Sterling; Maggie/Sterling
Word Count: 1570
Spoilers: None.
Warnings: None.
Disclaimer: Only own the effort involved.
Summary: The team receives invitations to Maggie and Sterling's wedding. A few of them have a little bit of work to do before Sophie will allow them to attend.
(Or the one in which Sophie references the size of Eliot's balls in public and lives to tell the tale.)
Nate Ford. He was charming, intelligent, sexy, damaged in all the right ways, and sometimes Sophie didn’t know how she made it through the day without strangling him. “We are not arguing about this!” she said finally, pitching her voice to shut down his agitated protests. “If Maggie can be big enough to put her reservations aside and extend you an invitation, you can by God be man enough to not act like a complete jackass about it!”
She had never in her life been so happy the restaurant was closed. It was bad enough having Parker, Hardison and Eliot around to witness them having such an asinine argument. If strangers had been present she just would have just shot Nate in some non-fatal, but temporarily debilitating spot on his body and had done with the whole mess.
“But…Sterling?” Nate stammered, his expression the same study in stunned, horrified outrage it had been since Hardison distributed the mail that morning.
Eliot - curse him - looked thoughtful at that. “Gotta admit,” he said, “I’m kinda with Nate on this one. Sterling?” He made a face. “She can do a lot better.”
“Well maybe you should have grown a bigger set of balls and not let Nate chase you away from her then,” Sophie snapped - the words escaping her before she could completely evaluate the wisdom of speaking them in the first place.
Feeling the entire room draw away from her escalating rage, Sophie knew she had to get away from them before she said something even worse. “Maggie is our friend,” she said, narrowing her focus back onto Nate. “She cares about us, we care about her, and that means if I have to pump you full of happy drugs you are going to attend this wedding and be supportive!”
Turning on her heel, she stalked out of the restaurant and into the office area in the back. She was tempted to keep going, pull back to the safety of her theater until her anger had sufficiently cooled, but in the end she forced herself to stop. Her days of running away from Nate and the endless list of ways he had of winding her up were well and truly over.
Hearing faint footsteps in the corridor behind her, Sophie collapsed into one of the office chairs and put her head down on her crossed arms - the gesture recognized by actors the world over as signifying “I’m having a moment - please respect my process.”
By the time the intruder reached her side she’d identified the steps as belonging to Parker, and some of her rage had started to bleed out. There was no point in getting angry at the thief. She loved Maggie. She didn’t exactly hate Sterling, not like the boys did, and it would be akin to kicking a puppy. Which Sophie tried never to do if she could help it.
Parker slid onto the counter next to Sophie, moving as quietly as she could. The grifter waited until she stopped moving, then said, “I know it’s you, Parker.” Raising her head, she looked up at the thief. “What do you want?”
Sophie would have sworn that the thief’s “worry line” had grown considerably more pronounced since she’d adopted them as her surrogate family, and for a moment she felt extremely guilty about that.
“Does Nate have brain damage?”
Pushing herself upright with a small sigh, Sophie said, “While it would make it a lot easier in some ways if he did, no Parker - he’s just stubborn.”
“He understands that he and Maggie aren’t really married anymore?” Her words were spoken with great care, as though she were spending as much time as she needed to select the right ones.
Feeling her expression soften, Sophie nodded. “He understands it. Most days he even understands that it was the best thing for both of them.”
The thief huffed out a frustrated sounding breath. “Then why is he being such a horse’s butt about getting invited to the wedding? It’s not like he even hates Sterling - not really. Not like Eliot hates Sterling.” Breaking off, Parker side-eyed Sophie. “He’s having trouble believing you said that about his balls, by the way.”
Momentarily annoyed again, Sophie crossed her arms over her chest. “He deserved it…pompous ass,” she grumbled.
“Can just you me and Hardison go?” Parker asked abruptly. “We can tell them Nate and Eliot are sick or something.”
Sophie started to shut the suggestion down as gently as possible, but paused as she considered the merits of Parker’s proposal. There was literally nothing preventing them from doing what the thief suggested. Nothing except Nate’s determination to make this a ‘thing’, she reluctantly reminded herself. “We still have a few weeks until the wedding,” she finally told Parker. “In a perfect world, Nate needs to get over himself and be happy for Maggie. If that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen, we’ll go with your plan.”
Parker looked momentarily touched at the idea of Sophie considering one of her plans worth pursuing. The child doesn’t understand how smart she really is, does she? Sophie marveled. “We’ll make Eliot stay home too, right?” Parker asked, her eyes practically sparkling with mischief.
“Well of course,” Sophie told her. “Somebody has to babysit the biggest child I have.”
*********************************************
Nate understood that he belonged to a generation of people who were more likely to reject technology than embrace it. He’d tried over the years to keep from being “that guy” - a quest made easier by Hardison’s determination to make sure they all had the latest toys and a deep and ever-present fear that if he didn’t at least do his best to keep pace with the modern world, eventually Hardison would end up running the team.
And that way lies Eliot on trial for murder.
Skype, Facetime, and similar programs were the sort of technological advances he wished had been around when Sam was born and Nate’s determination to be a good provider for his young family had kept him traveling more often than not. He might not have gotten to see every moment, but he was certain he wouldn’t have reached this point in his life so keenly aware of everything he had missed.
Positioning his personal tablet, he dialed Maggie. Thoughts of his ex-wife and his former best friend filled his mind as he waited for the connection, but after the initial shock of being forced to acknowledge that there was something real at work here, he was starting to find his peace with the idea.
“Well this is a surprise.” Maggie’s lovely features suddenly filled his screen - showing a familiarly cautious look in her eyes that Nate suddenly realized he was tired of putting there. “Let me guess - you got the invitations?”
Momentarily overcome, Nate nodded. “I’m not in the mood to argue about this, Nate,” Maggie said before he could find his voice. “James and I would like your blessing, but if you’re going to insist on being an ass about the whole thing…”
“Wow,” he said, chuckling in spite of himself. “Here I was blaming everything on Sophie, but I really have been that horrible, haven’t I?”
Startled out of her rant, Maggie blinked. “You have, actually. We haven’t been husband and wife for a very long time, Nate.”
“I know.” He paused, trying to sort out exactly what he wanted to say. “I wasn’t ever going to be the right man for you, was I?”
Maggie opened her mouth, closed it, then said, “No…you weren’t.”
He nodded. “I was thinking about it just now - how crazy it made me when you suggested that you had always been attracted to Sterling, and how guilty I always felt after a run-in with Sophie. I know neither of us ever really strayed, but that’s not an everlasting kind of love, either.”
“No, it isn’t.”
“Can I ask you something?” he added. When she nodded he said, “Are you doing this because it will make you happy?”
Maggie’s expression clouded again. “You don’t get to be my protector anymore, Nate.”
Realizing his question had been misunderstood, Nate shook his head. “No - this isn’t about that. Jim’s a smart guy - he knows how lucky he is to have you. He won’t screw this up.” Exhaling sharply, he forced himself to go on. “I just wanted to make sure that you’re doing this for you this time.”
A long moment of silence fell between them. Nate realized he was grateful Maggie was giving his question full consideration. “I am,” she said at last. “I never went out looking to get married again, but after this past year I’ve realized that I could be very happy growing old with James.” She paused. “I’m sorry if that’s hard to hear.”
Smiling wistfully, Nate shook his head again. “It’s something I need to hear. And I am happy for you Maggie - I just wish we both could have figured out this grown-up thing sooner, so we didn’t waste so much time on things that were never going to make us happy.”
“Look at it this way,” Maggie said. “Taking so long to get here means that we better appreciate what we have. Less likely to throw it away on a whim.” After another moment she asked, “Does this mean we can mark you and Sophie down as attending?”
Overcome with emotion again, Nate finally settled for a nod.
Author: telaryn
Mod gift for: whimoffate
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairing: Team, canon pairings, Maggie Collins, James Sterling; Maggie/Sterling
Word Count: 1570
Spoilers: None.
Warnings: None.
Disclaimer: Only own the effort involved.
Summary: The team receives invitations to Maggie and Sterling's wedding. A few of them have a little bit of work to do before Sophie will allow them to attend.
(Or the one in which Sophie references the size of Eliot's balls in public and lives to tell the tale.)
Nate Ford. He was charming, intelligent, sexy, damaged in all the right ways, and sometimes Sophie didn’t know how she made it through the day without strangling him. “We are not arguing about this!” she said finally, pitching her voice to shut down his agitated protests. “If Maggie can be big enough to put her reservations aside and extend you an invitation, you can by God be man enough to not act like a complete jackass about it!”
She had never in her life been so happy the restaurant was closed. It was bad enough having Parker, Hardison and Eliot around to witness them having such an asinine argument. If strangers had been present she just would have just shot Nate in some non-fatal, but temporarily debilitating spot on his body and had done with the whole mess.
“But…Sterling?” Nate stammered, his expression the same study in stunned, horrified outrage it had been since Hardison distributed the mail that morning.
Eliot - curse him - looked thoughtful at that. “Gotta admit,” he said, “I’m kinda with Nate on this one. Sterling?” He made a face. “She can do a lot better.”
“Well maybe you should have grown a bigger set of balls and not let Nate chase you away from her then,” Sophie snapped - the words escaping her before she could completely evaluate the wisdom of speaking them in the first place.
Feeling the entire room draw away from her escalating rage, Sophie knew she had to get away from them before she said something even worse. “Maggie is our friend,” she said, narrowing her focus back onto Nate. “She cares about us, we care about her, and that means if I have to pump you full of happy drugs you are going to attend this wedding and be supportive!”
Turning on her heel, she stalked out of the restaurant and into the office area in the back. She was tempted to keep going, pull back to the safety of her theater until her anger had sufficiently cooled, but in the end she forced herself to stop. Her days of running away from Nate and the endless list of ways he had of winding her up were well and truly over.
Hearing faint footsteps in the corridor behind her, Sophie collapsed into one of the office chairs and put her head down on her crossed arms - the gesture recognized by actors the world over as signifying “I’m having a moment - please respect my process.”
By the time the intruder reached her side she’d identified the steps as belonging to Parker, and some of her rage had started to bleed out. There was no point in getting angry at the thief. She loved Maggie. She didn’t exactly hate Sterling, not like the boys did, and it would be akin to kicking a puppy. Which Sophie tried never to do if she could help it.
Parker slid onto the counter next to Sophie, moving as quietly as she could. The grifter waited until she stopped moving, then said, “I know it’s you, Parker.” Raising her head, she looked up at the thief. “What do you want?”
Sophie would have sworn that the thief’s “worry line” had grown considerably more pronounced since she’d adopted them as her surrogate family, and for a moment she felt extremely guilty about that.
“Does Nate have brain damage?”
Pushing herself upright with a small sigh, Sophie said, “While it would make it a lot easier in some ways if he did, no Parker - he’s just stubborn.”
“He understands that he and Maggie aren’t really married anymore?” Her words were spoken with great care, as though she were spending as much time as she needed to select the right ones.
Feeling her expression soften, Sophie nodded. “He understands it. Most days he even understands that it was the best thing for both of them.”
The thief huffed out a frustrated sounding breath. “Then why is he being such a horse’s butt about getting invited to the wedding? It’s not like he even hates Sterling - not really. Not like Eliot hates Sterling.” Breaking off, Parker side-eyed Sophie. “He’s having trouble believing you said that about his balls, by the way.”
Momentarily annoyed again, Sophie crossed her arms over her chest. “He deserved it…pompous ass,” she grumbled.
“Can just you me and Hardison go?” Parker asked abruptly. “We can tell them Nate and Eliot are sick or something.”
Sophie started to shut the suggestion down as gently as possible, but paused as she considered the merits of Parker’s proposal. There was literally nothing preventing them from doing what the thief suggested. Nothing except Nate’s determination to make this a ‘thing’, she reluctantly reminded herself. “We still have a few weeks until the wedding,” she finally told Parker. “In a perfect world, Nate needs to get over himself and be happy for Maggie. If that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen, we’ll go with your plan.”
Parker looked momentarily touched at the idea of Sophie considering one of her plans worth pursuing. The child doesn’t understand how smart she really is, does she? Sophie marveled. “We’ll make Eliot stay home too, right?” Parker asked, her eyes practically sparkling with mischief.
“Well of course,” Sophie told her. “Somebody has to babysit the biggest child I have.”
*********************************************
Nate understood that he belonged to a generation of people who were more likely to reject technology than embrace it. He’d tried over the years to keep from being “that guy” - a quest made easier by Hardison’s determination to make sure they all had the latest toys and a deep and ever-present fear that if he didn’t at least do his best to keep pace with the modern world, eventually Hardison would end up running the team.
And that way lies Eliot on trial for murder.
Skype, Facetime, and similar programs were the sort of technological advances he wished had been around when Sam was born and Nate’s determination to be a good provider for his young family had kept him traveling more often than not. He might not have gotten to see every moment, but he was certain he wouldn’t have reached this point in his life so keenly aware of everything he had missed.
Positioning his personal tablet, he dialed Maggie. Thoughts of his ex-wife and his former best friend filled his mind as he waited for the connection, but after the initial shock of being forced to acknowledge that there was something real at work here, he was starting to find his peace with the idea.
“Well this is a surprise.” Maggie’s lovely features suddenly filled his screen - showing a familiarly cautious look in her eyes that Nate suddenly realized he was tired of putting there. “Let me guess - you got the invitations?”
Momentarily overcome, Nate nodded. “I’m not in the mood to argue about this, Nate,” Maggie said before he could find his voice. “James and I would like your blessing, but if you’re going to insist on being an ass about the whole thing…”
“Wow,” he said, chuckling in spite of himself. “Here I was blaming everything on Sophie, but I really have been that horrible, haven’t I?”
Startled out of her rant, Maggie blinked. “You have, actually. We haven’t been husband and wife for a very long time, Nate.”
“I know.” He paused, trying to sort out exactly what he wanted to say. “I wasn’t ever going to be the right man for you, was I?”
Maggie opened her mouth, closed it, then said, “No…you weren’t.”
He nodded. “I was thinking about it just now - how crazy it made me when you suggested that you had always been attracted to Sterling, and how guilty I always felt after a run-in with Sophie. I know neither of us ever really strayed, but that’s not an everlasting kind of love, either.”
“No, it isn’t.”
“Can I ask you something?” he added. When she nodded he said, “Are you doing this because it will make you happy?”
Maggie’s expression clouded again. “You don’t get to be my protector anymore, Nate.”
Realizing his question had been misunderstood, Nate shook his head. “No - this isn’t about that. Jim’s a smart guy - he knows how lucky he is to have you. He won’t screw this up.” Exhaling sharply, he forced himself to go on. “I just wanted to make sure that you’re doing this for you this time.”
A long moment of silence fell between them. Nate realized he was grateful Maggie was giving his question full consideration. “I am,” she said at last. “I never went out looking to get married again, but after this past year I’ve realized that I could be very happy growing old with James.” She paused. “I’m sorry if that’s hard to hear.”
Smiling wistfully, Nate shook his head again. “It’s something I need to hear. And I am happy for you Maggie - I just wish we both could have figured out this grown-up thing sooner, so we didn’t waste so much time on things that were never going to make us happy.”
“Look at it this way,” Maggie said. “Taking so long to get here means that we better appreciate what we have. Less likely to throw it away on a whim.” After another moment she asked, “Does this mean we can mark you and Sophie down as attending?”
Overcome with emotion again, Nate finally settled for a nod.