Fic: Losing Ground [4] in two parts
Fic: Losing Ground [4]
Author: LMX
Fandom: Leverage
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: Nate/Sophie, Parker/Hardison(/Eliot)
AN: See parts [2] and [3]
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19]
[4]
a)
It was like a physical separation, even though they're still all together. They would know, of course, they've scattered four times now, and that's not counting the time Sophie spent travelling, or while Nate was shot and in prison and when Eliot disappeared after... No one blamed him for that anyway, except Parker. She'd held that grudge for months.
But Parker knew Sophie was finding it harder and harder to follow Eliot and Hardison in sign as she went blind, so for her at least it was like they weren't even there to talk to her. Sign had been a revelation of sorts for Parker - with facial expressions that *meant something*, that spoke words or punctuation rather than some undefined 'feeling' that she'd never been able to understand. But now her hands were tied to the sides of her broken body and Hardison wasn't patient enough for lip reading, he got distracted too easily. She knew he was trying, trying so hard, but Eliot had become the barrier between them, signing her words for the hacker as he clung to a hand that she could see but not feel and looked anywhere but at her.
Nate was still holding them together. It'd been him who'd tracked down Eliot when he'd been missing. Him who'd sat with her in the ambulance, calm and quiet and smiling like nothing was wrong as people rushed around her in too small a space. Him who'd dragged Hardison to briefings and forced him to prepare them, even if he wasn't willing to talk through them. Him who'd convinced Sophie, was still convincing Sophie, that she could still work, at least a little while longer, just a couple of jobs. Sophie didn't even realise she was being conned, still working away for him like she thought she had any control over the situation.
One of these days things were going to fall apart for them. With no thief, no grifter. A deaf hacker and a mute hitter and his own skills weren't going to get Nate Ford far. Then maybe they'd really separate. Just get together again for special occasions, all in this room - because she wasn't going anywhere, she'd like to see them try. No really, she would. Nate would stand up and say: "Let's go steal back Parker." and Eliot would roll his eyes and Sophie would plan a costume she'd buy to dress up as a nurse or a doctor, and Hardison would just be happy to be coming to see her again.
A nurse - not Sophie - leant into the room. "You need anything, honey?" she asked. The accent was all wrong, even if the costume was great. "I'm just headed across town."
"A happy birthday banner." Parker replied decisively. "And a Christmas tree."
The nurse blinked slowly. She was very convincing. "It's still March, dear."
"They have to know I'm prepared." Parker explained. "If they don't, they might think I'm not and then they won't come."
The nurse nodded with a smile. "That's fair enough, dear, but if you're talking about your friends I think they'll come and see you anyway. Doubt there's anything that'd keep them away."
Parker just rolled her eyes. One of these days Eliot and Alec wouldn't be able to talk to Sophie and Alec would be too lazy to wait for Eliot to speak for her and they'd all separate for real. She just had to make sure they would always come back to her.
b)
Hardison's lip reading was good and getting better. He still missed things, lots of things, even when he was looking straight at you while you were speaking, and his brow would furrow and you could see him moving his own lips, thinking the shapes through. He was impatient, and hated to ask people to repeat themselves, but he was getting better at that, too.
The only person Hardison couldn't read was Parker. She'd been the fastest of all of them to pick up on sign language, practiced and confident before Alec had even left the hospital. She'd been the one to give them all their sign names, which Nate had argued should be Hardison's responsibility, but then Hardison'd been mostly out of it at the time, so they'd used the ones Parker had chosen and Alec had just taken them as they were when he'd started picking it up and signing back at them.
Now, though, Parker couldn't sign at all, and Hardison had never been able to hold her gaze for long. He couldn't keep his eyes on her lips either, not even for long enough to read what she was saying. Hardison's lip reading was good and getting better, but he still couldn't read the words of the woman he loved, because he never got to tell her that and hear her say the words back, and somehow that made all the difference.
-
Masterpost
Author: LMX
Fandom: Leverage
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: Nate/Sophie, Parker/Hardison(/Eliot)
AN: See parts [2] and [3]
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19]
[4]
a)
It was like a physical separation, even though they're still all together. They would know, of course, they've scattered four times now, and that's not counting the time Sophie spent travelling, or while Nate was shot and in prison and when Eliot disappeared after... No one blamed him for that anyway, except Parker. She'd held that grudge for months.
But Parker knew Sophie was finding it harder and harder to follow Eliot and Hardison in sign as she went blind, so for her at least it was like they weren't even there to talk to her. Sign had been a revelation of sorts for Parker - with facial expressions that *meant something*, that spoke words or punctuation rather than some undefined 'feeling' that she'd never been able to understand. But now her hands were tied to the sides of her broken body and Hardison wasn't patient enough for lip reading, he got distracted too easily. She knew he was trying, trying so hard, but Eliot had become the barrier between them, signing her words for the hacker as he clung to a hand that she could see but not feel and looked anywhere but at her.
Nate was still holding them together. It'd been him who'd tracked down Eliot when he'd been missing. Him who'd sat with her in the ambulance, calm and quiet and smiling like nothing was wrong as people rushed around her in too small a space. Him who'd dragged Hardison to briefings and forced him to prepare them, even if he wasn't willing to talk through them. Him who'd convinced Sophie, was still convincing Sophie, that she could still work, at least a little while longer, just a couple of jobs. Sophie didn't even realise she was being conned, still working away for him like she thought she had any control over the situation.
One of these days things were going to fall apart for them. With no thief, no grifter. A deaf hacker and a mute hitter and his own skills weren't going to get Nate Ford far. Then maybe they'd really separate. Just get together again for special occasions, all in this room - because she wasn't going anywhere, she'd like to see them try. No really, she would. Nate would stand up and say: "Let's go steal back Parker." and Eliot would roll his eyes and Sophie would plan a costume she'd buy to dress up as a nurse or a doctor, and Hardison would just be happy to be coming to see her again.
A nurse - not Sophie - leant into the room. "You need anything, honey?" she asked. The accent was all wrong, even if the costume was great. "I'm just headed across town."
"A happy birthday banner." Parker replied decisively. "And a Christmas tree."
The nurse blinked slowly. She was very convincing. "It's still March, dear."
"They have to know I'm prepared." Parker explained. "If they don't, they might think I'm not and then they won't come."
The nurse nodded with a smile. "That's fair enough, dear, but if you're talking about your friends I think they'll come and see you anyway. Doubt there's anything that'd keep them away."
Parker just rolled her eyes. One of these days Eliot and Alec wouldn't be able to talk to Sophie and Alec would be too lazy to wait for Eliot to speak for her and they'd all separate for real. She just had to make sure they would always come back to her.
b)
Hardison's lip reading was good and getting better. He still missed things, lots of things, even when he was looking straight at you while you were speaking, and his brow would furrow and you could see him moving his own lips, thinking the shapes through. He was impatient, and hated to ask people to repeat themselves, but he was getting better at that, too.
The only person Hardison couldn't read was Parker. She'd been the fastest of all of them to pick up on sign language, practiced and confident before Alec had even left the hospital. She'd been the one to give them all their sign names, which Nate had argued should be Hardison's responsibility, but then Hardison'd been mostly out of it at the time, so they'd used the ones Parker had chosen and Alec had just taken them as they were when he'd started picking it up and signing back at them.
Now, though, Parker couldn't sign at all, and Hardison had never been able to hold her gaze for long. He couldn't keep his eyes on her lips either, not even for long enough to read what she was saying. Hardison's lip reading was good and getting better, but he still couldn't read the words of the woman he loved, because he never got to tell her that and hear her say the words back, and somehow that made all the difference.
-
Masterpost