First off, I blame the creation of this fic entirely on the fact that Leverage is on Netflix and my Christian Kane addiction. Who would've thought that after years of writing Puckleberry, then years of writing my own characters, I'd be back here in a totally different fandom? Well, not me. I can tell you that. I honestly don't expect this story to get much attention considering it's for a show no longer on air and a fandom that I don't really expect to be needing new members. I really just wrote this for me but I figure if anyone is still a fan of mine from my P/R days, maybe they'd give this a shot too. Let's see if I remember how to do this...I don't own Leverage. Yay I remembered! Anyway, hope whoever reads this will enjoy it. It's set after the end of the show. Thanks!

"Parker, I really don't understand why you need my help. You seemed to do just fine when you and Hardison were dating. What's the issue?"

Parker huffed in exasperation. Sophie had always been her go-to person with anything concerning her social shortcomings. She'd always been there to help, even after she and Nate had retired for good. Just a phone call away. But this phone call was proving to be a little more difficult than usual.

"The issue is that Eliot is different," she hissed a whisper into her cell phone. "He always has been. He…knows stuff. All sorts of stuff." She could hear Sophie's smile before the other woman even said another word.

"Darling, are you, are you intimidated by Eliot?" Parker made a low growl, refusing to give an answer. That's when Sophie's high, sophisticated laughter (how in the hell did she make her laugh sound like that?) rang out. "Parker, do you remember that fake psychic you all conned? If my memory serves correctly, I think Tara told me that Eliot offered to kill the man for you. For making you cry."

Parker remembered that job well. She also remembered how quickly Eliot had offered his services as hitter. She'd wanted to take him up on that offer more than anything even though she doubted Nate would've allowed it.

"Is that supposed to mean something?"

It was Sophie's turn to release a huff then.

"It means that, even then, he cared for you. I find it very hard to believe that he wouldn't be interested in you. You're a lovely girl Parker. It's quite possible that people besides Hardison are able to see that. Give yourself more credit than that."

"I give myself plenty of credit Soph. I stole the Hope Diamond because I was bored. But I can't exactly steal Eliot. He's not a vault I can just crack." Again, Sophie sounded a little bit annoyed. Parker was used to that sound from most people though.

"Parker, just ask him to go out with you. Being straightforward has always been a strong point with you. I'm sure you'll do fine." Before Parker had the chance to respond, the line clicked dead. It was annoying that instead of helping, Sophie had basically given her the whole 'just be yourself' cliché.

"Well then…"

For a split second, Parker wondered if Eliot had gotten the skylights installed just for her. They kind of felt like a present. They made slipping into his living room from the roof pretty fun. She'd only done it a few times since he'd had them put in and those times were when she'd been invited with the rest of the team for one of Eliot's cooking nights.

This time, no invitation had been extended but Parker refused to wait around for that. After thinking about what Sophie had said, she decided that going about it any other way would be stupid. She liked Eliot. She was going to tell him. Simple as that.

All she had to do was find him. His truck and car were in the driveway so she knew he was home. She could hear music coming from the kitchen, Eliot's voice singing a song she didn't recognize. It was a really pretty song though. Or maybe it was the man singing it that made it that way. Either way, Eliot's voice was gravelly and rough around the edges in a way that made her stomach do little flips. Parker had been experiencing those little flips for a while now, longer than she cared to think about. With any other guy, she would've just started making out with him. But, as she'd told Sophie, Eliot was different.

Parker made her way through the house, towards the kitchen and the sound of Eliot's voice. As she reached the entrance to his huge kitchen, she saw him standing at the island in the center chopping onions and celery. She got so caught up watching him chop that she didn't notice when he stopped singing.

"Parker," she was startled by the sound of her name coming from him. When had he noticed she was even there? "Been wondering when you'd use that skylight again."

"Um, today?" Eliot laughed at the lame answer she gave but it was hard to care. She didn't really get to hear him laugh often. It was a really nice sound. "So the fiddle still plays?" The reference to the studio job they'd all done made him shrug.

"Never really stopped, I just prefer the stage of my own kitchen to one in a bar full of people." He scooped the onions he'd finished chopping into a giant pan on the stove before he looked up again. "What's on your mind darlin'?"

The straightforward thing wasn't working. Maybe she was finally getting that brain-to-mouth filter everyone always said she was missing. It picked a hell of a time to show up.

"What do you mean?" Maybe if she avoided his questions long enough, she'd figure out how to answer them.

Eliot put the knife down on the cutting board and stepped around the island. For the first time since she'd entered the kitchen, she actually noticed what he was wearing. A bandana tied around his head kept his hair from getting in his eyes. A black muscle shirt did its job far too well for her sanity's sake while a pair of holey jeans completed the look. This was Eliot at home, relaxed, almost peaceful.

"What I mean is you've got that look on your face like you've just found a vault or a safe you can break in to. Like you're happy and scared at the same time. Is that why you're here? Do you need help with a vault or something?"

Parker shook her head and took a deep breath, willing her brain to just act normal for once.

"You're the vault, Eliot." His brows knit together in confusion.

"First I'm the hitter. Then I'm the fiddle. Now I'm the vault? The hell kind of job you got up your sleeve Parker?" She shifted on her feet, a move Eliot noticed. "Parker, what's going on? Are you in some kind of trouble?" He put his hands on her shoulders, close to her neck, giving her no options but to look him in the eye. "You can tell me. I'll take care of it, whatever it is. You know that, right? I won't let anything happen to you."

Looking back, it was the sincerity in his voice that made her do it. Well, that and the fact that she just really wanted to.

In the blink of an eye, Parker surged forward. Her lips met his with no resistance at all, almost like he'd been expecting her kiss. That was fine with her. It didn't take long until she felt his hands tangle in her hair. The sensation of that lust-filled tug at the base of her neck coupled with the ridiculously good things his tongue was doing all made her brain turn to mush. When he picked her up, her legs went around his waist on instinct. Parker suddenly found herself between two walls, one of pure sinew and muscle, the other of brick and mortar. It made her head swim in a rush she'd never felt before.

Far too soon, Eliot pulled away. Parker refused to unwrap her legs though so he just walked over to his dining table and sat her down on top of it.

"Parker," her name came out in a heated breath that fanned across her face. It sounded sexy when he said it. How did he do that?

"Eliot," she tried to make his name sound as sexy as he'd done with hers but his sudden chuckle told her it didn't exactly go the way she'd had in mind.

"You really are twenty pounds of crazy in a five pound bag."

The first time she'd ever heard him say that, she'd gotten the feeling that he didn't exactly mean it as a compliment. As he said it right then though, with that smirk on his face that probably could set fire to her underwear if she'd been wearing any in the first place, she'd never felt more pride over that description.

"I'm not really sure about how normal social interactions go but, shouldn't you invite me to stay for dinner? I mean, I'm totally cool if we skip straight to the sex but you might want food first. Since you've already started cooking, I might as well eat too." Eliot was obviously not expecting her to say that which was quite funny to Parker. I mean, come on. Who kissed someone like they'd just done if they weren't expecting sex later? She'd assumed Eliot would be a bit quicker on those types of things.

After a few seconds of what looked like mental war, Eliot sighed and grinned at her. "Parker, would you like to stay for dinner?" She couldn't have stopped the smile on her face if she'd wanted to.

"There you go Sparky. That wasn't so hard."

Dinner didn't exactly happen. If you asked Eliot, he'd say that it was all Parker's fault. If you asked Parker, she'd gladly take that blame.

Eliot had just turned the oven on to preheat when Parker jumped up on the counter behind him. The filter problem she'd had before seemed to be gone.

"Your ass looks really great in those jeans. You should wear them more often." Her sentence was punctuated by her using her foot to nudge at the ass in question which made Eliot threaten to send her back to the dining table to wait for dinner to be ready. The threat didn't work because the next thing Parker did was hop down from the counter and slip her hands into his back pockets. He didn't even notice until she squeezed his cheeks through the denim. "Did you know there's a hole in your left back pocket? Because I can feel that you're not wearing any underwear. I'm not either."

Eliot turned around faster than she'd anticipated and she, once more, was marveling at the muscles in his arms. A couple of seconds later, he muttered a soft "fuck it" and turned the oven back off.

Her stomach did backflips as he led her down a hallway to what she could only assume was his bedroom. It had a bed at least. That was the important part. She choked on a giggle when he yanked his shirt over his head. It'd been a while since she'd seen him without a shirt and the sight alone was enough to quiet anything she might've quipped. In the back of her mind, she remembered what she'd said to Sophie, about how Eliot knew things. What if her own limited knowledge (pretty much limited to the things she'd done with Hardison but she wasn't going to bring that up) didn't excite Eliot the way other women could?

He must have seen the worry on her face because he had her shirt almost off when he paused.

"Havin' second thoughts sugar?" Again, with that freaking sincerity in his voice. How did he ever manage to lie to anyone? She shook her head, both in answer and in attempt to clear her mind.

"What if I don't know enough sex stuff and you get bored?" The question clearly took Eliot by surprise, which seemed to be a theme of the evening, but made him smile.

"I don't think you could bore me if you tried."

The butterflies in her stomach calmed with his promise. Quickly, she pulled her top up the rest of the way and flung it somewhere to the side of the bed. Parker could practically feel Eliot's gaze on her, everywhere. Her neck, chest, shoulders, stomach, everywhere she'd just uncovered. His blue eyes, so much like ice any other time, were as warm as any sunny day. And they were all for her.

Confidence flowed through her body as her hands went to the zipper on his jeans. As soon as the jeans hit the floor, Eliot was on top of her, covering her body with his own. The feel of him pressed so close was strong. Using one of his arms to support himself, he leaned down and caught her mouth with his own. Parker vaguely felt his other hand slipping beneath the waistband the leggings she wore. There was nothing vague about the way he made her feel when his hand reached its destination.

His lips brushed against her jaw which sent a shiver that met its twin beneath the workings of his fingers. "Eliot Eliot Eliot," his name came out in a rush between clenched teeth, "this isn't fair." If he was going to drive her mad with lust, she could do the same to him.

She wrapped her hand around him and began to stroke him in time to the beat his fingers were plucking out on her body. It didn't take long to devolve into a battle of who would give in first. Parker lost that one happily with a squeak of surprise as her first orgasm of the night blindsided her. Eliot didn't bother giving her time to come down. A whoosh of fabric as he tore her leggings up and off her body was her only warning before he slammed into her with a force that made another precipice easily visible from the start. He sank in deep before pulling one of her legs up to his shoulder and holding her tight. With a kiss to her ankle, Eliot began a slow, punishing, pace that had her breath catching in her throat.

"I've been wanting to do this for years. Honey, you don't even know." Her leg still held securely to his shoulder, he leaned down, never breaking the rhythm he'd set, and began to kiss her again. In her excitement over his revelation, Parker bit his lip. The action only seemed to spur Eliot on so, of course, she did it again. His hips snapped a little quicker, she felt him go unbelievably deeper, stretching her to a point she didn't know was possible. He growled against her neck before licking the spot just below her ear. Nothing had ever felt as good as he did inside her. Picking her first lock, driving her first getaway car, even cracking her first safe didn't even hold a lit stick of dynamite to the completely full feeling that Eliot gave her when he sank balls deep into her.

"Can you," her words stopped as Eliot sped up, pushed harder and deeper all over again, completing the thought she hadn't been able to voice out loud. Knowing he could read her body so well sent her plummeting towards the ground without a rope. Eliot would catch her at the bottom, of that she had no doubt. She let out a strangled cry as he touched her again, the heel of his palm pressed tightly between their bodies to draw out her pleasure. Flashes of light went off behind her eyelids while she held on tight to him for fear of spinning out of control.

Parker's nails dug into his back when he released another primal growl with his own release. He continued to pump into her until she was sure he had nothing left to give because he'd given everything to her. The thought made her smile up at him.

When the hitter collapsed on the bed beside her, Parker felt more sated than she had in a long time. Propping herself up on one arm, she rolled on her side to face him.

"You still haven't fed me yet," she reminded him. Eliot started to chuckle and blew his hair out of his face. Idly, she wondered where his bandana had gone.

"If you remember, I was trying to feed you. You kept grabbing my ass and talking about how you weren't wearing underwear. Was I supposed to keep cooking after that?" He gave her a pointed look before laughing again. "Come on, I've probably got some of your cereal stashed somewhere. I'll make you a real breakfast in the morning."

She watched as Eliot got up from the bed and walked, still completely naked, out of the room.

It seemed like the Eliot vault was the best one of all.