FIC: Why Do You Stay? (1/2)

[paulacas]

Title: Why Do You Stay?(1/2)
Author: YanzaDracan
Fandom: Leverage
Pairing: Nate/Eliot
Rating: FRM
Summary: Prompt fic – It’s Your Call.
 


http://yanzadracan.livejournal.com/13971.html

“Eliot?” Was the only word Nate’s addled brain would allow past kiss swollen lips. 

The younger man paused on the stairs. 

“It don’t have to mean anything, Nate, or maybe it could mean a lot.” Stormy eyes met his. “It’s your call.” 

Nate watched Eliot disappear up the stairs.

 

 

 

Chapter 2

 

Before Nate could give thought to how he felt about Eliot’s kiss, they were neck deep in their next job. 

Josiah (call me Jos) Holder is the owner, along with his children, Charles and Evelyn, of a mid-sized logging operation in Eugene, Oregon. Shortly after his wife died, Alllpoints Logging, a large corporate operation came to Jos with an offer to buy him out. When he refused, machinery was sabotaged, details of leases were leaked and they were undercut on bids. Events meant to force the Holders toward selling their company. 

Josiah had come to Leverage Consulting to find out who in his company was working for Allpoints and see if they could find anything that would make the corporate nuisance back off. 

Eliot, Hardison and Parker would be doing the heavy lifting on this job. They were going in as a team of corporate troubleshooters. Eliot would handle investigating the sabotage at the job sites and the wood yard, while Hardison and Parker would be IT and a forensic accountant, giving them legitimate reasons to be nosing around the offices and computers. 

Sophie and Nate would work in the background, trolling for rumors about Holder and Allpoints. They were not going to tell Jos’ children, Charles and Evelyn, or anyone at the company what they were doing. Nate told Jos it was a safety issue, that the fewer people who knew the better for his team. 

Not happy that he did not have an active role in the job was causing Nate to act surly. The morning the three youngest were to leave for Eugene, Eliot pulled Nate to the side.

 “What is it Eliot, we need to get on the road.” Nate snapped. 

He shut the ex-investigator up by simply grabbing the scruff of neck and engaging him in a breath stealing kiss. 

“Just because you don’t git to be in the thick of things don’t mean you gotta go ‘round like a stepped on rattler.” Eliot growled. “If one of us needs you as back up, I expect you to be functioning. If I’m out in the woods I can’t keep an eye on Hardison and Parker.” 

He laid callused fingertips against Nate’s lips. “I know Parker can handle herself, and probably protect Hardison too, but I’ll feel better if you’re on your A game, and not fightin’ with Sophie about your drinkin’.” 

Nate gave him a solemn nod and Eliot rewarded him with another kiss. 

“You know, Eliot, I’m on to what you’re doing with this giving me these pieces of yourself for good behavior.” Nate rambled smugly. 

A dark eyebrow arched as if to say ‘Oh yeah?’ “You think I’d whore myself to keep you off the booze?” Eliot growled. “Fuck you.” 

“I know how you…all of you think.” Nate chided. 

Eliot gave him a nasty smirk. “Sterling thought he knew me, too. Wonder what ever happened to Quinn?” 

The hitter’s eyes were empty. ”I don’t play. I need you in control. If you’re not in control you can’t watch out for Parker and Hardison. I’ll take care of them when I’m around the office.” He growled before climbing into his truck. 

“You’re not a nice man, Nathan Ford.” Nate jumped when Parker whispered in his ear then punched him in the arm. 

“Parker don’t do that.” He snapped. “I didn’t do anything.” 

“You hurt Eliot. That was Eliot’s ‘I’m gonna hurt somebody’ growly voice. That’s the first he’s used it since we moved.” The thief picked up her bag and yelled. “HARDISON, WE GOTTA GO!” 

Sophie sauntered up after the others left. “What was all that?” 

“I think I was threatened by Eliot and chastised by Parker.” Nate scrubbed a hand over his face. 

Sophie’s eyes got wide. “Why would Eliot threaten you? I thought he was courting you?” 

“I think he was having flashbacks of Miami,” Nate murmured, “and I might have said something stupid.” 

“But you’ve been doing so much better.” The grifter soothed. 

“Plans...he doesn’t trust us to back him so he’s running a parallel plan in his head, exit strategies if something goes wrong. That’s one of the reasons I could never catch him.” He’d wait ‘til I figured his game, then he’d change it.” He turned to look thoughtfully at Sophie. “You really don’t understand what it is Eliot does, do you?” 

She opened her mouth to give a flip answer, but when she saw the expression on Nate’s face she reconsidered. When she shook her head, no, the ex-investigator gave her a smile. 

“Let’s get going and I’ll give you a crash course on retrieval specialists. Mind you Eliot is not your typical hitter--Eliot isn’t your typical anything.” 

At her confused look, he heaved a sigh. “Never mind, get the door.” 

They locked the office and followed the rest of the team to Eugene. 

They’d been in and around Holder’s operations for a week before another incident took place. Jos, Evelyn and Eliot were at one of the remote sites for a routine inspection. 

Eliot hung back from the father and daughter so as to not interfere with the loggers’ regular operations, but was able to watch the whole field of play looking for anything out of the ordinary. 

The rest of the Leverage team was gathered around the table in the hotel suite, going over the information, Alec and Parker had gathered at Holder’s offices. Nate had stood to refill his coffee cup when they heard Eliot yell. 

“Son of a…EVERYONE GET DOWN!” 

There was a woman’s scream, the sounds of bodies hitting the ground and a moan of pain from Eliot. 

Silence. 

Silence. 

Sounds of running and yelling. 

Silence. 

Then Jos yelling for medics, Eliot’s trying to calm everyone down while gritting his teeth against the burn across his back. 

The team sat silent waiting for Eliot to give them an update, but the retrievalist remained silent. Nathan opened his mouth to demand a report when he heard a voice over Eliot’s com. 

“It’s not deep enough for stitches, but you really should have that looked at, Mr. Baker. The jaw off that knuckle boom did a number on your back. Might wanta update your tetanus.” 

“My shots are fine. Kinda need ‘em in my line of work. Call me Mark.” Eliot growled. “Clean it, butterfly the edges together, cover it so my shirt won’t catch—it’ll be fine.” Breathing in shallow pants, he sent Evelyn to the truck for a shirt out of his duffel. 

The medic didn’t seem put off by the brusque attitude. “Ted Andrews. Jos and Evie’s right lucky you were paying attention. That boom probably’d killed ‘em if you hadn’t pushed ‘em down like that.” 

“Eliot? What’s going on?” Nathan tried to sound calm. 

Eliot ignored the voice in his ear. “Sounds like you know the bosses pretty well?” He sucked in a breath as antiseptic hit abraded flesh. 

”Went to school with Evie. Jos gave me a job straight out of school. Worked my way up to bossin’ these guys.” 

“You’re close to the family?” Eliot practically purred at the man. 

Four sets of eyes turned to Nate as he slammed his coffee cup on the table. “Damn it, Spencer! We don’t have time for you to get laid.” 

The rest of Nate’s tirade was cut off as the medic answered. “Me and Evie dated a couple years. Thought it was gettin’ serious.” He pulled the edges of the nasty gash together and applied butterfly bandages. Andrews covered as many of the abrasions as he could. “I was getting’ ready to pop the question when her mom died. Evie cut everyone off and put everything into the company and her dad and brother.” 

“That’s harsh, man.” Eliot sympathized. 

“I tried backin’ off, you know, givin’ her space, all she said was she didn’t have time for anything outside her family. They needed her, and that she hoped I understood, and that she hoped we could still work together.” The voice turned sour. 

“I can relate,” Eliot dropped his voice as though sharing a secret, “came home from workin’ overseas to find my girl marryin’ another guy. Gave her a ring and all before I left.” He let bitterness shade his voice to draw the man in. “Her daddy had the sweetest little thoroughbred operation. It’da been a sweet deal.” 

“Here’s your shirt, Mark. You sure you don’t need a hospital? Is there anything I can do for you? We owe you so much.” Evelyn asked, rambling. Her demeanor still shaky after Eliot shoved her from the path of the out of control knuckle boom. 

“I’m sorry about your back. If you hadn’t covered me, it could have taken my head off.” Her eyes started to well with tears. “Thank you for saving me and my dad.” 

“I’ll be fine Ms. Evelyn. I’m sure your daddy could probably use a hand workin’ up an incident report.” He crooned in his best southern gentlemen style. 

Parker and Hardison snickered as they watched Nate grind his teeth to keep quiet while Eliot worked. Sophie was in awe. Even though Nate had explained the variety of skills that a good retrieval specialist needed to be successful, she’d never associated them with the prickly Eliot Spencer. 

The hacker had started a search on Ted Andrews as soon as he’d given Eliot his name. He was hoping to have something before Nate popped a vessel. 

The hitter pulled the clean shirt on over his bandaged back. “You git down ‘round the wood yard before the week’s out, the beer’s on me for patchin’ me up, man. I appreciate it.” Eliot offered the foreman his hand. 

“I’ll be down that way end of the week with the time sheets. I might just take you up on the offer, Mark. You take care of that back keep it clean and dry.” 

Eliot wandered over and looked at the mangled piece of equipment. He studied all the hydraulics, hoses, and ran his fingers through the fluids. He looked at Jos with a frown. 

The older man shook his head, told the head mechanic to salvage what he could. When he and Evelyn went in the office with Andrews, Eliot finally turned his attention to his teammates. 

“Hardison, you find anything on Andrews?” 

“Not so far, I haven’t gotten his financials back yet, so far no trouble with the law, certified EMT, worked for Holder for 15 years.” Alec reported. 

Before anyone could say anything else the Holders were back at the truck ready for the return trip to the city. 

Eliot hoped that everyone had gone to their own rooms by the time he got back to the hotel so he could grab some supper, a shower, and sleep. He didn’t have the patience to sooth skittish teammates because he got a little beat up. 

He sighed inwardly when he entered the suite and saw them sitting like monkeys on a log staring at the door. The blue laser beam glare he gave them sent Hardison and Sophie skittering to their rooms. He winced as Parker gave him a hug and told him Nate was practicing his growly voice all afternoon before chasing after Alec. And then there was Nathan Ford. 

Nate had been silently observing Eliot – watching how he moved – trying to determine how badly he was injured. Eliot was smooth. His only tell was when Parker had hugged him. The slight winces hadn’t been noticed by the others, but he was motivated to ferret out all the hidden aspects to the man he had begun to care about. 

“How bad?” Nate clenched his hands to keep from pulling the shirt off Eliot to check his back. 

“Not bad. Bruises, scrapes, shallow gash. I’m fine. Nothing a shower and sleep won’t cure.” 

“I’ll put clean bandages on it after you shower.” Nate stated. 

Eliot studied their ringleader for a minute. “Can’t talk you out of it?” 

“Humor me. I’ll have Hardison get you some dinner while you shower.” Nate’s tone was firm. 

The specialist started to protest until the older man reached and cupped his cheek. “The silence on your com was the longest in my life since…well…awhile.” Nate whispered as he pulled Eliot into his arms. 

Taking care not to touch the injured back, they stood taking comfort in each other. Eliot was the first to pull away. He turned to head for the shower.

“Eliot?” 

He stopped at the tentative note in Nate’s voice. 

“About what I said back at the office…” He ducked his head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply…” He shuffled his feet a bit. “I’m sorry.” 

“S’okay.” He started to turn away then stopped. “I’ll be the first to admit I’ve used the honey trap to get what I want, but I’ve never been anything but honest with this crew.” 

When he came back into the common area sans shirt, with his first aid kit, Nate had dinner waiting. 

“When you’re finished, we need to get an update from Hardison and decide where we’re going from here.” 

With the information Alec and Parker had gleaned from the offices at the wood yard and Ted Andrews’ records, they came up with a plan. 

Andrews and Eliot had gotten together when he came into town. The foreman had been impressed with how the retrievalist had handled himself, and tried to recruit him to help drive Holder into selling to Allpoints. Hardison had captured the conversation off the com, Eliot had taken it and their other evidence to Holder who went to the police. 

A week later, Allpoints Logging was under investigation, Ted Andrews and his cohorts were in jail, and the Holders were getting their company back on track. 

If the Leverage coffers were better lined than before--Allpoints couldn’t admit that their cash slush fund had come up missing. They even let Parker play with the cash until they got back to the office. 

Eliot, Hardison and Parker’s part in the game had ended when they turned the evidence over to Josiah, so they had left Eugene several hours before the Nate and Sophie. They had stayed behind to wrap things up with the Holders and to monitor the situation with Allpoints. 

It was after dark by the time Nate dropped Sophie at her place. A smile lit his face when he stepped into the foyer and noticed several table lamps burning so Nate wouldn’t trip and break his neck. It gave him one of those warm fuzzies caused by Eliot. Who would have thought that a man who could be so violent could be so domesticated. 

He’d gone to his room, showered and put on his sweats. He poured a couple of fingers of scotch and wandered downstairs in search of the book he was reading before they’d left. A sound from the back of the house caught his attention. 

Wondering why whatever was in the back hadn’t set off Hardison’s alarms, Nate walked to the kitchen door. He paused, letting his eyes adjust to the dark when the soft sounds of a guitar carried across the porch. 

“Ya gonna stand there and gawk or come sit down?” The honeyed growl flowed through the dark. 

Nate shivered in reaction as he crossed the porch and sat. Had he really had the thought that the enforcer was domesticated. 

“I heard something and came to check.” He took a small sip to settle his nerves. “I thought you’d turned in by now.” 

With a shrug Eliot went back to quietly strumming. “Couldn’t. Old friends and new, thought I buy ‘em a beer.” 

He took a pull off the beer sitting at his feet then went back to playing while humming under his breath. 

“Wanna talk about it?” Nate asked quietly, not wanting to break the mood. 

“Do you?” Blue/grey eyes seemed to glow in the reflection of the house lights. 

Nate huffed at the reversal Eliot had thrown him. 

“Didn’t think so.” A bitter chuckle wafted through the shadows. 

He gathered up the bottle and his guitar and walked past Nate into the house. He was almost clear when Nate reached out and snagged his wrist. 

His first reaction was to twist out of the hold and bring the bottle around and drop whoever was foolish enough to grab him. He paused for a heartbeat as his senses recalled where he was and who he was with. He stilled -- he waited another heartbeat before trying to speak. 

The older man froze, still holding Eliot’s wrist. He didn’t so much as twitch as he waited for the hitter’s reaction to being grabbed. He mentally chided himself as an idiot while bracing himself. 

He opened his hand and his eyes at the same time watching the younger man. He watched Eliot draw a breath – then another trying to quell his natural reaction. 

“Not the smartest move you ever made.” He hissed. 

“Got that. Sorry.” He mumbled when he finally got enough saliva back to make his tongue work. 

He turned to continue into the house. 

“Eliot?” The words are spoken quietly. 

“Yeah, Nate.” He replied wearily. 

“Why did you stay?” Nate cringed at the question. That wasn’t what he meant to ask. “It’s obvious you don’t trust us.” *In for a penny.* Nate thought. He knows he’s pushing Eliot hard. He mentally crosses his fingers the specialist won’t bolt. 

Steeling himself, Eliot turns back to the first person he’s totally trusted since he’d left Kentucky. 

“I want it back.” He says simply as though that explained everything. 

Seeing Nate’s confusion, he dredged up some more words. 

“Sophie wasn’t the only one that conned us. You had your part in that little charade.” He watched Ford squirm under the accusation. “You knew what she was doing and you didn’t warn us. Just left us out there like a Judas goat while Sophie screwed us.” The angry growl was back. 

“So I’m willing to stay, and try to rebuild what we had. I was just getting used to being part of a crew. But now – now it’s gonna take time. You make your plans I make mine. I won’t be blindsided again. I won’t let you and Sophie put the three of us in that position again.” 

“What about us? Where are you going with that?” Nate moved to stand in front of the younger man. 

“I already told you, it’s your call, Nate.” Eliot turned to throw his bottle in the trash. 

When he turned back, Nate slid his fingers through the thick fall of hair at his nape and pulled. Eliot met him halfway. When they broke the kiss both men were panting lightly. 

Foreheads resting together, the retrievalist ran gentle fingers along Nate’s cheek. 

“Be sure Nate. My bullshit threshold’s real low and I keep what’s mine. I have to have trust. This won’t work otherwise.” The gravel voice dropped to a purr. 

They parted briefly to lock the mansion down for the night. Nate was surprised when he got to his room. No Eliot. Where the—he entered the attic room to see his new lover setting the guitar gently on its stand. 

A hand reached for Nate, who moved readily into the muscular arms. A kiss, long and slow left his lips ripe and mouth thoroughly explored. Taking a breath, Eliot dove back in, and when Nate came back to his senses, he was stretched across Eliot’s big bed without his clothes. He looked up to see tanned skin that seemed to go on forever, and it might take him that long to explore it all. 

The End

 

Comments

[elebridith]

Yay, sequel! *hops*
My bullshit threshold’s real low I can so see him saying that! Even when he loves, he won't take shit. Willing to make compromises, yes. But not taking shit. *nods* And I loved Parker chiding Nate. That was perfect!

[yanzadracan.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Eliot was in 2nd David mode "as much as you people annoy me..." Eliot and Parker have this weird sibling vibe for me. The way they're always making faces at each other.

[chaotic-heart66.livejournal.com]

I like your Eliot and Nate so much. And your writing style as well.
Must say I'm jealousy of your mood theme too.
;)

[yanzadracan.livejournal.com]

So glad you're enjoying my stories. I combined 3 different mood themes together.