paulacas | FIC: It Was Always You

Title: It Was Always You
Author: YanzaDracan
Fandom: Leverage
Pairing: Nate/Eliot
Rating: FRM
Summary: Prompt – Long lost love

Nathan Ford loved beautiful things. It was one of the reasons he’d gone into the recovery end of the insurance business.

Navigating the tree-lined drive of the stud farm to appraise an asset, Ford came to a screeching stop at what he was seeing. He stepped out of the car to get a better look.

Coming toward him was the most breathtaking thing Nate had ever seen. A beautiful young man melded with a tall black horse like they were a single entity. Never slowing from the full run, the horse moved between the car and the fence heading toward the main road.

He stopped in the middle of a whirlwind of chaos at the barn office. It was discovered the black horse was the asset Nate was to appraise. Turned out the beautiful young man was retrieving the horse for the original owner, who couldn’t remember a thing about him, from whom the horse had been stolen six months before—also a client of IYS. Nate loved the irony.

Over the years, the mental picture of the beautiful man on the beautiful horse became a touchstone when he needed an escape. The feelings the image invoked became a source of guilt and relief when he turned inward for comfort during Sam’s illness instead of turning to Maggie.

The divorce wasn’t really a surprise as Nate had become lost in the fog of alcohol and Kentucky bluegrass. Reality was not a place he wanted to live anymore.

Waiting for Eliot and company to get back to the track with Kentucky Thunder, it was a good thing Nate was already sitting down when he saw the video coming from Hardison’s phone.

As he watched, Eliot Spencer melded with the sorrel stallion and raced down the line of cars waiting behind the accident.

The image of the beautiful dark haired man on the black horse from fifteen years ago merges with the ruggedly handsome retrieval specialist on the back of Kentucky Thunder, and Nate has uncovered a long lost love.