crossover fic: Leverage/BSG, The Arrow of Apollo Job, PG
disclaimer: not mine
fandoms: Leverage, Battlestar Galactica
set: post-s1 of Leverage (if you can call it that), post-Home (season 2) of BSG (during Final Cut works)
pairings: Parker/Eliot (sort of), team/team, Parker/stealing things
rating: PG, language, adult situations
notes: c'mon, y'all knew this would happen sooner or later.
The Arrow of Apollo Job
by ALC Punk!
For Parker, the worst thing about surviving the destruction of the colonies was that there was nothing worth stealing anymore. Sure, there were people with things, but it was just stuff. It wasn't money or priceless artifacts (now made more priceless by their lack of a home), just stuff. So despite the frequent hunger and the search for Earth, she was mostly consumed by the utter boredom of it all. Sometimes, she fantasized about being captured by the Cylons and getting to case their ship before stealing something valuable. They were Cylons, they had to have something valuable, right?
Not money, of course. She was willing to bet (though parting with any money, despite its worthlessness, was still hard) that they didn't actually have money. They seemed sort of annoying that way.
When she was frakking Eliot, it almost seemed worth it. Almost. Of course, frakking Eliot was fast becoming complicated--not that he seemed to realize how annoying that was. And she had to be careful, make sure they were both using protection. A baby in the middle of their situation would be useless not to mention annoying.
Choosing Eliot had just been luck, though he seemed to think there was something karmic involved. He was there, the rest of them were dead, she was bored and he was a good kisser--also, Parker had always had a thing for his hands.
Eventually, though, she heard about something that was worth stealing.
It was sort of boring, though, and Parker flopped on her belly, staring at the Arrow of Apollo as it caught the bad lighting and sort of sucked it up. It looked like gold (and if her estimation was right, was a bit richer than 14 karat), and would once have fetched a pretty good price. But now?
"What the hell?" asked Eliot when he returned from his shift in the laundry.
"Do you think the president would ransom it back?"
"Parker, you can't just steal--"
"Why not?"
He seemed to think about that, hands scrubbing through his hair as he glared at the arrow. "It's just not right. That's supposed to help lead us to Earth."
"Do you think there are museums on Earth? To steal from?" She rolled onto her side, a sudden happy look on her face. "And money. I bet Earth has lots of money." She huffed out a breath, smile turning dreamy. "I wonder how it smells?"
It was probably new money, too. Parker liked the smell of new money, hot off the printer--especially when it was real and not counterfeit, though she had known one or two counterfeiters who did good work. She liked the smell of old money, when it sort of told a story about where it had traveled, too. Problem was, the fleet wasn't the height of sophisticated travel and the money tended to just smell like dirt, these days.
"Probably." Eliot fixed her with that Look. The one Sophie and Nate sometimes used to get when she acted not right in the head. "You have to give it back."
"What if I don't want to?" Feeling contrary, Parker grabbed the arrow and jumped up.
"They need it to find Earth," he pointed out, "You know, that place where there will be art museums and galleries and banks?"
"Maybe Earth is a myth and a lie," not that Parker cared. Prolonging the argument just made things less boring.
"It doesn't matter," said a voice from behind Eliot. Sophie Deveraux looked annoyed, "They might still need it, and I'm getting very tired of having only two pairs of shoes."
"Hey!" Bouncing around Eliot, Parker hugged Sophie. Normally, she wasn't into hugs, but there was the possibility that Sophie had something worth stealing on her--also, Parker felt that maybe, just maybe, she had missed the other woman a little. Which was odd, 'cause she never missed anyone. Usually.
"Parker." Sophie's hand caught her wrist and she snorted, "Nice try. That still doesn't help." She grabbed one end of the arrow and tugged, "We need to give this back."
Pouting, Parker spotted Nate and Alec Hardison coming down the corridor. "What if I want to sell it back?"
"No," was Nate's reply as he stopped in front of the tiny cabin she shared with Eliot. He looked at them, then at the arrow, "You can't keep it, Parker. I'm sorry. And there's no point in ransoming it back, there's nothing worth getting in return."
"Hey, man," Eliot pushed out into the corridor, smiling. He shook hands with Nate. "You survived."
"We all did. Of course, we thought you hadn't," Sophie smiled cheerfully, and hugged him next, "We had a very touching ceremony for you about six months ago. You would have loved it. Wouldn't they, Alec?"
"Touching--" with a happy grin, Hardison grabbed Parker and hugged her, then grabbed Eliot and hugged him.
"Got somethin' in your eye," Eliot muttered, rubbing at his own while glaring.
"Of course," Sophie continued, ignoring the men, "We then heard that the arrow had gone missing--"
"Which led us to you."
"I never thought you were really dead."
"Yeah, you did," retorted Eliot, glowering at the three of them.
Hardison held his hands up, "Ok, ok, I thought that, maybe, y'know, you hadn't survived. Because we hadn't heard a peep from you two."
"We thought you were dead," Parker stated baldly, then she held up the arrow, "Why can't I keep it?"
"I did look--" Eliot was trying to defend himself, and his hand went through his hair again, "But there's so much confusion--there ain't even a database of people left alive to check through."
"Oh, I know," agreed Alec, looking gloomy, "They won't let me have my laptop or pda, and don't even talk to me about the ancient crap they got as a 'mainframe' around here."
"Have you seen the Memorial Hall?" Nate asked pleasantly, hands in his pockets.
"Nothing to steal, lots of candles," replied Parker, remembering slipping through it earlier. She'd almost run one of their pilots over, the woman small and dark with angry eyes. If Parker had had the time, she might have stopped to talk to her. Sometimes, Parker thought Alice still needed a friend.
"Yes, there are candles. There's also a photograph of the five of us."
Parker frowned, "I didn't see it."
"Well, we did sort of hide it," Sophie admitted. She smiled and hugged Parker again absently, hand brushing against the arrow. "Nate," she turned and looked at him, "Are you sure we can't keep it?"
"Sophie." Glaring at the both of them, Nathan Ford crossed his arms, "No, we cannot keep the Arrow of Apollo. I don't care if you two will pine away without it. It goes back to the Galactica, hopefully with no one the wiser as to who took it, and then we return to obscurity."
"I don't like obscurity."
"Of course you do," Eliot retorted to Sophie. "You want the marines to come haul all of us away?"
"Hey, now, I don't know about the rest of you, but I've seen those marines. They are not nice dudes. Now," Hardison held up the small palm pilot that seemed to be working for the moment, "If I'm right, there's another transport to the big G in an hour. We can get you on and then you can come back on the next one."
"What if I decide to enlist?"
There was silence for a moment before Eliot, Hardison and Sophie chuckled. Nate just gave Parker that Look again. She sighed.
"All right. I'll take it back."
-
Parker was taking her time wandering the halls of the Galactica. She hadn't exactly promised to return the arrow, but she was going to. Otherwise the rest would probably never speak to her again and that would be even more boring than not having anything to steal.
"Can I help you?"
She turned to face the man who'd spoken. One glance told her he was military, another labeled him 'attractive'. A third caught the stick up his ass. "No, no, I'm good. Thank you." She put on her best Alice smile, sort of shy and uncertain. "Are you a pilot?"
"Apollo--Lee Adama," he smiled and held out his hand to her. "And you're sure you're not lost?"
"Alice," shaking his hand was easy, extricating it was a little more difficult. She hitched the duffel on her shoulder a little higher, "And actually, I was trying to get back to the maintenance bay and then I got all turned around, and--"
He nodded, "If you'll follow me, I can take you there." He took her elbow, but let her pull free when a group of marines jogged by. "It's not really that far," he called over his shoulder, then stopped and blinked.
Alice was gone.
-
The worst part was having to lock the case again. Parker patted it and whispered a promise to the arrow to steal it another time, maybe when there was profit involved.
Getting off the Galactica was just as easy as getting on had been, and she had no more encounters with pilots, male or female. Briefly, she wondered what it would be like to throw herself into danger every time she got in a plane. That, of course, made her grin a little too much and she made certain no one was watching her.
Maybe she should ask Nate if going in for viper training was a good idea.
It would sure beat the boredom of laundry and Eliot and conversations that went nowhere. Parker highly doubted that the addition of Sophie, Hardison and Nate to their small circle would change the conversation problem. Not that she was much for talking, but Eliot was, and she apparently couldn't ever say the right thing.
Whatever the frak the right thing was.
-f-
fandoms: Leverage, Battlestar Galactica
set: post-s1 of Leverage (if you can call it that), post-Home (season 2) of BSG (during Final Cut works)
pairings: Parker/Eliot (sort of), team/team, Parker/stealing things
rating: PG, language, adult situations
notes: c'mon, y'all knew this would happen sooner or later.
The Arrow of Apollo Job
by ALC Punk!
For Parker, the worst thing about surviving the destruction of the colonies was that there was nothing worth stealing anymore. Sure, there were people with things, but it was just stuff. It wasn't money or priceless artifacts (now made more priceless by their lack of a home), just stuff. So despite the frequent hunger and the search for Earth, she was mostly consumed by the utter boredom of it all. Sometimes, she fantasized about being captured by the Cylons and getting to case their ship before stealing something valuable. They were Cylons, they had to have something valuable, right?
Not money, of course. She was willing to bet (though parting with any money, despite its worthlessness, was still hard) that they didn't actually have money. They seemed sort of annoying that way.
When she was frakking Eliot, it almost seemed worth it. Almost. Of course, frakking Eliot was fast becoming complicated--not that he seemed to realize how annoying that was. And she had to be careful, make sure they were both using protection. A baby in the middle of their situation would be useless not to mention annoying.
Choosing Eliot had just been luck, though he seemed to think there was something karmic involved. He was there, the rest of them were dead, she was bored and he was a good kisser--also, Parker had always had a thing for his hands.
Eventually, though, she heard about something that was worth stealing.
It was sort of boring, though, and Parker flopped on her belly, staring at the Arrow of Apollo as it caught the bad lighting and sort of sucked it up. It looked like gold (and if her estimation was right, was a bit richer than 14 karat), and would once have fetched a pretty good price. But now?
"What the hell?" asked Eliot when he returned from his shift in the laundry.
"Do you think the president would ransom it back?"
"Parker, you can't just steal--"
"Why not?"
He seemed to think about that, hands scrubbing through his hair as he glared at the arrow. "It's just not right. That's supposed to help lead us to Earth."
"Do you think there are museums on Earth? To steal from?" She rolled onto her side, a sudden happy look on her face. "And money. I bet Earth has lots of money." She huffed out a breath, smile turning dreamy. "I wonder how it smells?"
It was probably new money, too. Parker liked the smell of new money, hot off the printer--especially when it was real and not counterfeit, though she had known one or two counterfeiters who did good work. She liked the smell of old money, when it sort of told a story about where it had traveled, too. Problem was, the fleet wasn't the height of sophisticated travel and the money tended to just smell like dirt, these days.
"Probably." Eliot fixed her with that Look. The one Sophie and Nate sometimes used to get when she acted not right in the head. "You have to give it back."
"What if I don't want to?" Feeling contrary, Parker grabbed the arrow and jumped up.
"They need it to find Earth," he pointed out, "You know, that place where there will be art museums and galleries and banks?"
"Maybe Earth is a myth and a lie," not that Parker cared. Prolonging the argument just made things less boring.
"It doesn't matter," said a voice from behind Eliot. Sophie Deveraux looked annoyed, "They might still need it, and I'm getting very tired of having only two pairs of shoes."
"Hey!" Bouncing around Eliot, Parker hugged Sophie. Normally, she wasn't into hugs, but there was the possibility that Sophie had something worth stealing on her--also, Parker felt that maybe, just maybe, she had missed the other woman a little. Which was odd, 'cause she never missed anyone. Usually.
"Parker." Sophie's hand caught her wrist and she snorted, "Nice try. That still doesn't help." She grabbed one end of the arrow and tugged, "We need to give this back."
Pouting, Parker spotted Nate and Alec Hardison coming down the corridor. "What if I want to sell it back?"
"No," was Nate's reply as he stopped in front of the tiny cabin she shared with Eliot. He looked at them, then at the arrow, "You can't keep it, Parker. I'm sorry. And there's no point in ransoming it back, there's nothing worth getting in return."
"Hey, man," Eliot pushed out into the corridor, smiling. He shook hands with Nate. "You survived."
"We all did. Of course, we thought you hadn't," Sophie smiled cheerfully, and hugged him next, "We had a very touching ceremony for you about six months ago. You would have loved it. Wouldn't they, Alec?"
"Touching--" with a happy grin, Hardison grabbed Parker and hugged her, then grabbed Eliot and hugged him.
"Got somethin' in your eye," Eliot muttered, rubbing at his own while glaring.
"Of course," Sophie continued, ignoring the men, "We then heard that the arrow had gone missing--"
"Which led us to you."
"I never thought you were really dead."
"Yeah, you did," retorted Eliot, glowering at the three of them.
Hardison held his hands up, "Ok, ok, I thought that, maybe, y'know, you hadn't survived. Because we hadn't heard a peep from you two."
"We thought you were dead," Parker stated baldly, then she held up the arrow, "Why can't I keep it?"
"I did look--" Eliot was trying to defend himself, and his hand went through his hair again, "But there's so much confusion--there ain't even a database of people left alive to check through."
"Oh, I know," agreed Alec, looking gloomy, "They won't let me have my laptop or pda, and don't even talk to me about the ancient crap they got as a 'mainframe' around here."
"Have you seen the Memorial Hall?" Nate asked pleasantly, hands in his pockets.
"Nothing to steal, lots of candles," replied Parker, remembering slipping through it earlier. She'd almost run one of their pilots over, the woman small and dark with angry eyes. If Parker had had the time, she might have stopped to talk to her. Sometimes, Parker thought Alice still needed a friend.
"Yes, there are candles. There's also a photograph of the five of us."
Parker frowned, "I didn't see it."
"Well, we did sort of hide it," Sophie admitted. She smiled and hugged Parker again absently, hand brushing against the arrow. "Nate," she turned and looked at him, "Are you sure we can't keep it?"
"Sophie." Glaring at the both of them, Nathan Ford crossed his arms, "No, we cannot keep the Arrow of Apollo. I don't care if you two will pine away without it. It goes back to the Galactica, hopefully with no one the wiser as to who took it, and then we return to obscurity."
"I don't like obscurity."
"Of course you do," Eliot retorted to Sophie. "You want the marines to come haul all of us away?"
"Hey, now, I don't know about the rest of you, but I've seen those marines. They are not nice dudes. Now," Hardison held up the small palm pilot that seemed to be working for the moment, "If I'm right, there's another transport to the big G in an hour. We can get you on and then you can come back on the next one."
"What if I decide to enlist?"
There was silence for a moment before Eliot, Hardison and Sophie chuckled. Nate just gave Parker that Look again. She sighed.
"All right. I'll take it back."
-
Parker was taking her time wandering the halls of the Galactica. She hadn't exactly promised to return the arrow, but she was going to. Otherwise the rest would probably never speak to her again and that would be even more boring than not having anything to steal.
"Can I help you?"
She turned to face the man who'd spoken. One glance told her he was military, another labeled him 'attractive'. A third caught the stick up his ass. "No, no, I'm good. Thank you." She put on her best Alice smile, sort of shy and uncertain. "Are you a pilot?"
"Apollo--Lee Adama," he smiled and held out his hand to her. "And you're sure you're not lost?"
"Alice," shaking his hand was easy, extricating it was a little more difficult. She hitched the duffel on her shoulder a little higher, "And actually, I was trying to get back to the maintenance bay and then I got all turned around, and--"
He nodded, "If you'll follow me, I can take you there." He took her elbow, but let her pull free when a group of marines jogged by. "It's not really that far," he called over his shoulder, then stopped and blinked.
Alice was gone.
-
The worst part was having to lock the case again. Parker patted it and whispered a promise to the arrow to steal it another time, maybe when there was profit involved.
Getting off the Galactica was just as easy as getting on had been, and she had no more encounters with pilots, male or female. Briefly, she wondered what it would be like to throw herself into danger every time she got in a plane. That, of course, made her grin a little too much and she made certain no one was watching her.
Maybe she should ask Nate if going in for viper training was a good idea.
It would sure beat the boredom of laundry and Eliot and conversations that went nowhere. Parker highly doubted that the addition of Sophie, Hardison and Nate to their small circle would change the conversation problem. Not that she was much for talking, but Eliot was, and she apparently couldn't ever say the right thing.
Whatever the frak the right thing was.
-f-