Fic: Losing Ground
Fic: Losing Ground
Author: LMX
Fandom: Leverage
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: Nate/Sophie, Parker/Hardison(/Eliot)
Warnings: Torture and mutilation
AN: Comment fic for smilesoftnsweet who prompted Leverage, team!fic, each member loses a different sense. I kinda failed on Nate (smell), but I didn't want to shoe-horn it in there somewhere. Forgive me?
Nate was watching from the doorway as Eliot slapped Hardison on the shoulder to pull his attention away from the laptop screen. He signed something that made the hacker laugh in that uninhibited way that he couldn't when the world first went silent for him, caught too close to an explosion in a con gone bad. They'd had far too many of those in the last few years, first Hardison, then Eliot, and then...
Nate was happy to hear it, though. It meant after nearly three years Hardison wasn't hiding from his own noise anymore. Maybe with a bit of time they would get him talking again, in the way that Eliot couldn't.
The hitter seemed to be adapting to life again without too much trouble, but then it seemed like Eliot could adapt to pretty much anything. The psychopath who'd held and tortured him, finally cutting out his tongue as retribution for Eliot not having the information he wanted, was dead at Nate's hand. Still, Eliot would never speak again, never taste his own cooking or the vegetables he grew, and Sophie's ever failing eyesight (genetic, she told them when she couldn't hide it anymore, from her mother) was making it progressively harder for her to read the signs Eliot and Hardison were using to communicate. Sophie had cried on Nate's shoulder more than once over Eliot's voice, over being so forcefully dissociated from him.
Sophie stepped up alongside Nate, her newest pair of glasses perched on her nose, lenses thick and still not quite enough. "Everything alright?" she asked, touching his arm.
He turned and smiled, taking her hand. "Are you ready to go?" he asked, not really avoiding the question, just avoiding lying.
"I think we ought to." she replied. "She's going to be waiting." Sophie peered across the room at the boys who were engaged in animated conversation, too fast for Nate to follow from this angle.
"Eliot." Nate called, and Eliot looked up, dropping his hands to his sides. Hardison followed his gaze a beat later and Nate smiled at them both. "It's time to go." he said.
Hardison looked down at his laptop. Eliot knocked his shoulder again, getting his attention, but Hardison waved him off as he started to repeat what Nate had said in sign. He'd read the words, he just hadn't liked them.
He got up, closing the laptop softly and stalking towards the door, past Nate. Eliot gave Nate a grim smile and followed him. Nate let Sophie take his arm and wondered how much longer his family could go on like this.
The hospice wasn't far from his apartment, and that was good. Most mornings before Hardison was up Eliot walked out here to see her, and he dragged Hardison out every afternoon when they weren't running a con. Still, with Sophie now they drove and when they walked in through the sliding doors they were enough of a familiar sight that most everyone knew them.
Parker's room was ridiculously decorated, puppies and sparkly things and photos of beautiful things that she had stolen. They didn't tease her with photos of things she would never steal, but she'd been teaching Eliot and Hardison things without ever leaving the bed. The first time Hardison brought her a diamond he'd stolen himself, she'd told him she loved him.
She smiled manically when they all walked in, and Nate couldn't understand why he always expected her to be sad. Hardison leant over to kiss her, all traces of earlier unhappiness gone as he took his usual chair at her side. He picked up her hand and held it tightly, and Nate thought about the way Alec's hands had shaken when he had told him that sometimes he imagined her squeezing his hand back. He could hold it as tight as he liked, he couldn't hurt her. She didn't feel a thing.
Nate let Sophie take the other seat, and Eliot stood guard by the door as he recounted to the thief this week's job.
-
Masterpost
[2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19]
Author: LMX
Fandom: Leverage
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: Nate/Sophie, Parker/Hardison(/Eliot)
Warnings: Torture and mutilation
AN: Comment fic for smilesoftnsweet who prompted Leverage, team!fic, each member loses a different sense. I kinda failed on Nate (smell), but I didn't want to shoe-horn it in there somewhere. Forgive me?
Nate was watching from the doorway as Eliot slapped Hardison on the shoulder to pull his attention away from the laptop screen. He signed something that made the hacker laugh in that uninhibited way that he couldn't when the world first went silent for him, caught too close to an explosion in a con gone bad. They'd had far too many of those in the last few years, first Hardison, then Eliot, and then...
Nate was happy to hear it, though. It meant after nearly three years Hardison wasn't hiding from his own noise anymore. Maybe with a bit of time they would get him talking again, in the way that Eliot couldn't.
The hitter seemed to be adapting to life again without too much trouble, but then it seemed like Eliot could adapt to pretty much anything. The psychopath who'd held and tortured him, finally cutting out his tongue as retribution for Eliot not having the information he wanted, was dead at Nate's hand. Still, Eliot would never speak again, never taste his own cooking or the vegetables he grew, and Sophie's ever failing eyesight (genetic, she told them when she couldn't hide it anymore, from her mother) was making it progressively harder for her to read the signs Eliot and Hardison were using to communicate. Sophie had cried on Nate's shoulder more than once over Eliot's voice, over being so forcefully dissociated from him.
Sophie stepped up alongside Nate, her newest pair of glasses perched on her nose, lenses thick and still not quite enough. "Everything alright?" she asked, touching his arm.
He turned and smiled, taking her hand. "Are you ready to go?" he asked, not really avoiding the question, just avoiding lying.
"I think we ought to." she replied. "She's going to be waiting." Sophie peered across the room at the boys who were engaged in animated conversation, too fast for Nate to follow from this angle.
"Eliot." Nate called, and Eliot looked up, dropping his hands to his sides. Hardison followed his gaze a beat later and Nate smiled at them both. "It's time to go." he said.
Hardison looked down at his laptop. Eliot knocked his shoulder again, getting his attention, but Hardison waved him off as he started to repeat what Nate had said in sign. He'd read the words, he just hadn't liked them.
He got up, closing the laptop softly and stalking towards the door, past Nate. Eliot gave Nate a grim smile and followed him. Nate let Sophie take his arm and wondered how much longer his family could go on like this.
The hospice wasn't far from his apartment, and that was good. Most mornings before Hardison was up Eliot walked out here to see her, and he dragged Hardison out every afternoon when they weren't running a con. Still, with Sophie now they drove and when they walked in through the sliding doors they were enough of a familiar sight that most everyone knew them.
Parker's room was ridiculously decorated, puppies and sparkly things and photos of beautiful things that she had stolen. They didn't tease her with photos of things she would never steal, but she'd been teaching Eliot and Hardison things without ever leaving the bed. The first time Hardison brought her a diamond he'd stolen himself, she'd told him she loved him.
She smiled manically when they all walked in, and Nate couldn't understand why he always expected her to be sad. Hardison leant over to kiss her, all traces of earlier unhappiness gone as he took his usual chair at her side. He picked up her hand and held it tightly, and Nate thought about the way Alec's hands had shaken when he had told him that sometimes he imagined her squeezing his hand back. He could hold it as tight as he liked, he couldn't hurt her. She didn't feel a thing.
Nate let Sophie take the other seat, and Eliot stood guard by the door as he recounted to the thief this week's job.
-
Masterpost
[2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19]