Author's Note: And, like all good things, this must come to an end. (lol) Seriously, this is the final chapter to this story. The Eliot/Lindsey universe is far from over though, I promise. Thanks to all of my silent stalkers and reviewers, I love you guys! Thanks so much for your support.

Disclaimer: If I owned Leverage, they would hold their Con-con in North Carolina so I could go to it!

Joseph Chester gave a crowd-dazzling smile as he made his way to the small podium located on the small raised stage. He tapped the microphone several times to test it to make sure it was on, then leaned forward to begin speaking. It was late at night, the auction having opened its doors almost two hours ago. It was time for the main event of the evening to start, and Chester was getting excited. All twelve paintings had been positioned around the room, each with their own certificate of authenticity. They had been open for those in the room to look at, but not touch. Champagne and little finger foods had been served throughout the entire ordeal, and everyone was ready for the actual auctioning to begin. Lindsey was standing near the side of the stage. She wanted to have a place near the back so she could slip out in case things got a little hairy, but Joseph had insisted on her being close to the stage. She saw Hardison and Eliot out of the corner of her eye. They were both dressed up in matching suits, Hardison standing off to the side speaking with some man about the supposed parallelism of one of the Van Gogh's with Star Trek, while Eliot was off in the other corner, chatting up some blonde as his eyes stayed constantly alert. In one point of his conversation his eyes fell on Lindsey's and he gave a small smirk. The blonde, thinking he was smiling at her, gave a small giggle and continued talking, causing Lindsey to roll her eyes before turning her attention back to Chester.

"First I would like to say thank you to everyone who made it here tonight. I hope you walk away with the masterpiece you came looking for." A small buzz of laughter floated around the room before falling quiet again. "And now, for the moment you have all been waiting for. Will the first painting be brought out, please?"

Two men in black suits came onto the stage, each of them holding the corners of one of the paintings that had been on display. Chester smiled, hearing 'oohs' of approval from the audience. "This is one of my favorites, and thought that it would be perfect to open with. This is a self-portrait by Picasso, starting off at 40 million."

There were several intakes of breath at the number was released, but bids were placed as soon as Joseph stopped talking. Soon the bidding hit 50 million, and a large grin was spreading across Joseph's face. Off to the side of the stage, Lindsey watched as Eliot's face hardened and turned toward the front door, and Lindsey gave a small smile.

Suddenly, the front doors burst opened, and a very angry-looking Sophie stormed in. She was wearing a very flattering dress, and was holding a pair of high heels in her hands, her bare feet making lots of noise as she ran into the hall.

"You bastard!" She shrieked at Chester, causing all the heads in the gallery to turn towards the angered woman. "Try to sell me a fake painting, then are cowardly enough to back out!"

Chester's eyes popped out of his head as Sophie started to walk through the crowd toward the stage. Everyone in the hall started murmuring. Was it true? Did the man who was trying to sell them these priceless paintings really try to sell a fake?

"I bet these aren't even real!" Sophie shrieked, chucking both of her shoes at Joseph, who had to duck to avoid them. Lindsey couldn't help herself from laughing. Sophie was playing her part extremely well, and had to be having a whole hell of a lot of fun playing it.

But she wasn't finished. "Check them! They're probably all faked!"

Joseph stood back up and made a quick motion to his bodyguards to grab Sophie. However, Hardison and Eliot had gotten there first and grabbed one arm each, more protecting her than restraining her. It could get really ugly. "These allegations are ridiculous. Please take your seats and we shall get back on track as soon as possible."

But the murmurs had already begun to spread, and the people were getting curious. There was a chance that the paintings could be faked, and there was millions of dollars at stake.

"Why not?" one voice form the crowd said, and agreement soon floated through the guests. Chester looked at Lindsey, who shrugged. "Let them, Joseph. Then all the question can be gone and you can get rich."

Joseph nodded and put on another smile, this one a bit smaller than his first one. "Any art inspectors in the crowd are welcome to come and inspect my paintings."

Several men and woman stood up from the crowd and walked onto the stage, taking several minutes to look at the paintings. Several whispered among themselves; one opened his briefcase and pulled out a few tools before going back to the paintings. One other checked the documents of authentication. Then, they turned around to face the crowd. "They're fake! Both the painting and the documents."

Joseph opened his mouth, then closed it again, the cycle repeating. He could get a grasp on any words, and shot a look at Lindsey for encouragement. She just shrugged, pointing out how helpless she was in the situation.

"Let me see that!" Joseph snarled, snatching the documents of authentication away from one of the inspectors. He stared at it for a while, squinting. Then, his eyes widened in realization. As a fellow forger, he could tell when things were forged, especially when he realized the work. However, since that morning, he hadn't had enough time to give everything a proper look. The piece he was holding was pretty poor work, no wonder the inspectors were able to figure out it was fake. However, the underlying signature was clear. This forgery was a piece of Minerva, or, now known, Lindsey. He turned his head toward the woman, forgetting all about everyone else in the room.

"You bitch." He hissed, running off the stage. Lindsey saw this coming and turned to run. However, the dress she was wearing wasn't exactly loose, and she found herself falling. Joseph grabbed her arm and pulled her into a chokehold as he reached into his suit pocket, pulling out a small revolver. At the sight of a gun, the guests in the building panicked, making their way out of the building. However, the guards at the doors stopped them.

"This was the plan the whole time, wasn't it!" Joseph screamed, thoroughly loosing it. He let one bullet into the ceiling, causing Lindsey to wince as the people in the building screamed. Off to the side, Eliot slowly let go of Sophie and started to make his way around the room, inching closer to Joseph as his hands grew white from clenching them so hard. "You wanted to rip me off, get all my money, payback for all those years ago!"

Another shot into the ceiling. Lindsey started to struggle, Joseph now squeezing her neck. "Who's working with you! I know she is!" He pointed his gun toward Sophie. The woman looked behind Joseph and saw Eliot shake his head. He wasn't close enough yet. Sophie, buying more time, ripped her arm from Hardison's loose grasp and took a step forward. "You caught me."

Her voice was sly, as if he hadn't truly caught her. Joseph hesitated, and loosened his grip a bit on Lindsey. Then, he pushed her forward, aiming the gun in between her eyes. "I want the rest of her crew to show themselves, or I'll kill her!"

Hardison realized that Eliot wasn't in place yet, and took a step forward. "Calm down, man. Don't hurt her."

Joseph smirked. "Mr. Smith. Knew there was something off about you. Where's that caveman of a partner of yours? He in it too?"

Suddenly an arm shot forward from the side of Joseph's vision and snapped the gun out of his hand, quickly unloading it before tossing it aside. Joseph turned his head, his eyes growing wide as he stared at Eliot, who was standing next to him, an unsettling smirk on his face. Chester had no time to react. Eliot lashed out, bringing his fist into the man's face. Chester's head snapped back and he grunted out in pain. Eliot quickly followed up with another punch and a knee to the groin for good measure. This left Chester huddled on the ground, moaning in pain. Eliot smirked and leaned down, whispering into the man's ear. "For the record, she is taken."

Then he stood up, feeling so much better with himself, and stepped over the disgraceful man on the floor, holding out a hand to Lindsey. The woman giggled and took the hand.

Police sirens could be heard from outside, and a policewoman with a blonde pigtail and an unusual bounce to her step entered the room, followed by an older looking man with brown hair. He stepped forward. "If everyone will remain calm! We will have everything sorted out soon."

Parker, the policewoman in disguise, went and handcuffed both Hardison and Eliot, who were still wearing their guard uniforms, and walked them out the front door. Nate soon followed with Sophie and Lindsey. As soon as they got clear of the front door, they made straight for a large unmarked van off to the side of the road. As soon as everyone was inside Nate jumped in the drivers seat and roared off, the parking space soon filled with police cars. Parker watched from the back window giggling. "This was so exciting!"

Eliot just grumbled, shaking the handcuffs. "Will you take these damn things off?"

"Yeah, man." Hardison remarked. Parker, however, seemed quite content with only taking Eliot's off. The thief shot the hacker a look that caused him to turn beet red. Sophie coughed and frowned. "Those were a pair of my favorite shoes…"

"Nice planning." Hardison remarked, earning a playful slap from the grifter.

Lindsey laughed, then sank back against the van wall, leaning onto Eliot, who unconsciously slung his arm around her. "That was fun, but not something I would want to repeat."

Eliot smirked. "I kinda liked beatin' the shit outa that guy."

Lindsey smiled. "That was fun to watch."

Sophie smiled; glad to see that Eliot and Lindsey had patched things up. Nate decided it was his turn to speak up, having just finished listening to the police radios. "They're going to take Chester into custody, and hopefully lock him away for life. "

"And the real paintings?" Lindsey asked, suddenly curious as to what happened with them.

"Some museums are going to have an early Christmas." Hardison stated, while Parker just pouted. "Can't understand why we couldn't have kept just one…"

"Now that this is all wrapped up, I expect for everyone to come to Skye tomorrow night for Eliot and Lindsey's engagement/wedding party."

Eliot groaned, but Lindsey jabbed him in the ribs. "We'll be there."

Hardison chuckled. "Whipped."

Eliot growled and narrowed his eyes at Hardison. "Cherry."

Sophie and Lindsey giggled, Parker snorted, and Hardison just glared at the hitter. In the front seat, Nate shook his head, but couldn't stop the smile from drifted onto his face.

Lindsey yawned as she sat stretched out on the small two-seater couch in Eliot's little apartment. Her legs dangled over the edge, her toes almost touching the floor. The compact laptop sitting on the coffee table continued to play the DVD, unfazed by the fact that its audience was no longer engaged. There was an empty soda bottle sitting next to the laptop, along with several DVD cases. The popcorn bowl was long past empty, sitting neglected on the floor. Lindsey was wearing only a large dress-shirt of Eliot's along with her undergarments, seeing that she had nothing too important to do. In fact, all she was doing was waiting. Eliot and the team had been gone for three days, off in LA for some job. Lindsey had stayed home, not being invited to go, and not wanting to be in the way. She still hadn't started back with her business yet, and truly had nothing of value to do other than shop and hang out around the gym downstairs. Before the team had left, Hardison let Lindsey borrow one of his laptops, along with seasons 1-5 of an old television show that Hardison loved. The hacker said that it would keep her busy while Eliot was gone. She had thanked the man, not really planning on watching it. However, the small apartment soon grew lonely, and with nothing to do, Lindsey had resorted to watching it. The show as actually pretty good, and not even twenty minutes into the show she had picked out her favorite character.

Lindsey started to fall back asleep, only to be started out of her haze by a key entering the lock for the apartment door. She looked up over the couch as Eliot entered the place, silently closing and locking the door behind him. Lindsey smiled and stood up, unable to keep another large yawn from coming to the surface. Eliot smirked at the site, placing his bag down by the entrance. "What're you doin' up so late, darlin? It's almost three in the mornin'."

Lindsey shrugged and embraced Eliot in a large, long hug before pulling back enough to peck him on the lips, her arms moving around his waist. "I was waiting for you."

Eliot gave a cocky grin and leaned into her lips once more, this time lingering a bit longer, his arms coming up to cup the sides of her face. The sound of fighting came from the small laptop, which was still running in the small living room. Eliot frowned, breaking away from the kiss. "What the hell was that?"

Lindsey gave a guilty smirk. "Hardison gave me some TV show to watch while you guys were gone."

Eliot groaned. "Please tell me you aren't goin' ta start talkin' like him."

Lindsey rolled her eyes and laughed. "Seriously? You think I'd do that? I got bored, and it's actually kind of good."

"Dare I ask?"

She shrugged, walking over to the coffee table, running her hand from his waist up his chest then down his arm, her fingers finally linking with his as she pulled him forward with her. Eliot dutifully followed.

"It's called Angel. He's a vampire with a soul living in LA trying to atone for his past sins."

Eliot snorted. "Vampire with a soul? Sounds like a coward."

Lindsey frowned, sitting down on the couch as she paused the DVD. "Why d'you say that?"

"He's too scared to face what he's done. Instead of dealin' with it, he runs around doin' good, claiming to be makin' up for the bad. That ain't how it works. What done is done, and no fixin' will ever bring it back."

Lindsey gave a sad smile. Everything that Eliot had said was true, it was the way the world worked. "Is that your philosophy?"

"Honey, my philosophy is a bit darker than that." Eliot remarked, sitting down on the couch next to his fiancé, placing his arm around her. Lindsey snuggled into his side, enjoying the warmth that radiated off his body. "Well, the vampire isn't my favorite character anyway."

"Really." Eliot said, making conversation.

She nodded into his chest. "I like the lawyer. Even though he is working for the evil side, he still has some resemblance of pride and honor and knows what is right. Plus, he's hot."

Eliot gave Lindsey a glance before reaching forward, grabbing one of the DVD covers. He finds a picture of the guy that Lindsey was talking about and pointed at him. "That guy?"

"Uh huh."

Eliot snorted. "Look how scrawny he is. And his hair is a mess. Plus, he's really short."

Lindsey gave a sleepy laugh. "Jealous."

Eliot crossed his arms. "Is not!"

Lindsey sat up, smacking Eliot playfully in the chest. "Sure, whatever. Now, carry me to bed? I'm too tired."

Eliot smirked and stood up before scooping Lindsey up bridal style and carrying her into the bedroom. He laid her in the bed and pulled the covers over her before going into the bathroom to take a quick shower. He barely heard her question before shutting the door.

"You see any vampires in LA?"

Sophie hadn't gone all out, like Eliot was scared that she would have. In fact, it was really enjoyable. She had gotten them into this really high-class nightclub, where the cover charge could buy several bottles of very expensive wines. She also managed to get them a semi-private booth in one of the corners that could hold all of them comfortably, plus a few more. She also was going to buy everyone's drinks, and told them to drink as much as they wanted, especially since Nate promised them a few days off before he went in search of a new client.

And so, there they were. Sophie had, as always, decided to be fashionable, wearing a beautiful light blue dress that was complimented by a black suede jacket and high heels. Parker was wearing something simple, black skinny jeans and a t-shirt, while Hardison had gone for one of his eye-popping 'wow' looks. Nate had on a pair of jeans and a collared button up shirt. Eliot had on his normal ensemble; a plaid button up shirt left open with a t-shirt underneath, with jeans and his cow bow boots and ever-present belt buckle. Lindsey was wearing a pair of faded jeans with several layers of tank tops. The whole group was having a fun time, a drink sitting in front of each one of them, none of them being their last. Nate was the only one not drinking, he had settled for water and the occasional cranberry juice.

Lindsey smiled and leaned back into Eliot's arm, which was resting across the top of the back of the booth seats. "You guys want to hear about this one time in Davenport, when Eliot thought it would be a good idea to-"

"Another drink." Eliot hailed the waitress, causing the team to laugh.

Hardison shook his head. "Oh man, this one time, Eliot was flirtin' with this nurse when we had a job to do, right? So I pretended like I was gay…"

Lindsey laughed, and Eliot growled. "pretendin' is a stretch."

Hardison pouted, taking another sip of his orange drink. Parker wrinkled her nose. "What is that?"

Hardison smirked. "That is the best drink ever. Orange soda and vodka."

Parker gave him a weird glance, but took a cautious sip. She thought about it for a moment as the alcohol made it's way down her throat. Then, a smile broke out across her face, and she ordered one for herself.

Eliot rolled his eyes. "Stop pollutin' her." He picked up his glass of whiskey and took a sip. "Now that is real alcohol."

Hardison rolled his eyes. Sophie smiled, looking out to the dance floor as the song switched to a slow, melodious one. The couples on the dance floor all quickly found each other. The grifter sighed and gave quick glance towards Nate before turning her attention back to her drink. Eliot rolled his eyes and sank a bit down in his chair, reaching far enough down to give Nate a good kick in the shin. The older man glared at the hitter, who started to motion with his head toward Sophie. This silent battle waged for several more seconds before the ex-insurance investigator gave in, turning in the booth to face Sophie. "Would you like to dance, Miss Devereaux?"

Sophie suddenly became all smiles as she slide out of the booth. "I'd be delighted, Mr. Ford."

They left the table, arm in arm, trying to find a spot far away from the table of thieves. Eliot just rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "Finally."

"Hey, give the man a break. It took you over seven years." Lindsey remarked.

"Ooh, she got you there, man!" Hardison remarked, high-fiving Parker, who was trying to sneak a sip of Hardison's drink.

Eliot growled. "Don't see you with a lady on your arm." Lindsey hooked her arm around his in order to make the point. Hardison just rolled his eyes. "Don't hate the playeh."

Parker giggled and scooted a little away from the hacker, and Eliot chuckled. Lindsey smiled and unraveled her arm from Eliot, content at the moment to stare at her drink. Eliot frowned and leaned forward. "What?"

She shrugged. "Oh nothing…just wanting to dance, that's all."

Eliot just sat back in the seat. "Sorry darlin."

Hardison snickered. "Yeah, cause he can't dance."

Eliot raised his eyebrows at Hardison. "Wanna bet?"

The hacker nodded. "Twenty bucks."

Parker smirked. "I'm with Eliot on this one."

"What! Girl, that's just cruel. I introduce you to the world of vodka soda, and you betray me?"

Parker just shrugged. "I don't want to loose my money."

Eliot just chuckled, standing up from the booth. "Can't turn that down." He held out a hand to Lindsey, who took it with a grin as he pulled her onto the dance floor, finding a spot close to the table to that Hardison could watch. The song was still slow and sweet. Eliot pulled Lindsey close to his body, both of his hands resting on her waist, while Lindsey rested her arms over his shoulders. The couple swayed to the music, their foreheads connecting while they danced. From the booth, Hardison just rolled his eyes, while Parker let out a long 'aaaw' before successfully stealing the rest of the hacker's drink.

The song that had been playing just ended, and was replaced with another, this new song more upbeat and frantic. Eliot gave a smirk toward the table before taking a short step back from his date, starting to move with the music, trying to find the beat. Lindsey turned around, her back to the hitter as she started to move with the music, her arms in the air as she shook with the tempo. Eliot placed his hands lightly on either side of her waist and moved with Lindsey, her back molding to his front as they started to grind. Eliot's hand started to slid lower down Lindsey's legs, his fingers running up and down her thighs. She moved her hands to cover his, but didn't restrict his movement. They continued like this for about half of the song before Lindsey turned around to face Eliot, running her hands down his chest as he kissed her, the two still somehow managing to keep up with the beat.

The song soon ended and Eliot led Lindsey back to the table. Both of them were out of breath, and Eliot was a bit red in the face. However, that didn't stop him from shooting a triumphant look at Hardison. "And that, son, is how you do it."

Hardison wrinkled his nose. "Thanks for that, I'm going to go and have nightmares now."

Lindsey smirked, sitting down in the booth and scooting over so Eliot could sit next to her. "Come on, you know you liked it."

Hardison shook his head, his eyes growing wide. Then, Parker spoke up. "I wanna dance like that!"

Hardison choked, pounding himself in the chest. Parker just frowned, tilting her head to one side. "Did I say something?"

Eliot chuckled. It had been fun on the dance floor, especially after seeing the look on Hardison's face. Eliot turned his head sideways and caught Lindsey's lips in another kiss, this one more gentle than the one on the dance floor, less for show and more to convey a message. She returned his kiss, her arms snaking around his neck as he pulled her in closer. They broke apart and he kissed her top lip, then up to her nose, and again to her forehead before pulling back. Hardison made a noise in the back of his throat, and then turned to Parker. "I'm gonna go get another drink to erase that from my memory. Come on."

Parker nodded, sliding out of the booth after Hardison. "Then can we dance?"

"Sure, when I finish getting drunk."

Eliot snorted, digging around in his pocket before pulling out a small key, which he placed on the table next to his drink. Lindsey gave him a sideways look, and he shrugged. "Thought I should get you somethin."

"I already have a key to your place, Eliot."

Eliot smirked. "This is our place, sweetheart."

Lindsey's eyes widened as she realized what he meant. "You bought the apartment!?"

He nodded, giving her one of his cowboy smiles. Lindsey squealed and attacked him, kissing his passionately. Eliot wasn't expecting that, and fell backwards onto the seat. Lindsey climbed on top of him, and for a moment, they forget where they were. Eliot groaned as Lindsey's lips strayed from his, and he slowly moved his hands up her shirt. She gasped as his warm fingers came in contact with her hot and sweaty skin before leaning in to his touch.

"Eliot, I wondered–oh!" Sophie exclaimed, taking a step back from the booth, giving the couple time to stop what they were doing and sit up. Lindsey's face turned beat red as she smoothed down her shirt and sat up straight in the seat. Eliot came up shortly after, running his hand through his hair as he scooted out of the seat, catching his breath. "If you will excuse me, ladies."

He made off toward the restrooms. Lindsey giggled and slid over to allow Sophie entrance. The grifter accepted the seat, sitting next to the forger.

"Where'd Nate go?" Lindsey asked, fiddling with the key to the apartment.

Sophie sighed. "Phone call. Had to leave."

Lindsey nodded, sitting back in the booth. She picked up Eliot's drink and swirled it around in the glass before taking a sip, closing her eyes as the alcohol burned down her throat. "The man sure knows how to order a drink."

Sophie smiled. "How are you two? Back to normal, I'm willing to guess after seeing that little dance you displayed."

Lindsey reddened slightly at that. "What? Engaged people aren't allowed to have some fun?"

"So, is that your official title for now? Thought you were married."

Lindsey sighed, turning serious. "I don't know. He calls me his fiancé, and I still can't get used to calling him husband. So, I guess." She paused. "I want to think everything is patched up, it's just that I seem to be doing most of the talking."

Sophie nodded in understanding. "If there is one thing I learned about Eliot Spencer it is that he is a man of few words. Instead, he speaks with actions." Sophie continued. "He may not literally come out and say what you want him to say, but he'll 'say' it in his own way, if you understand what I'm trying to get out."

Lindsey snorted. "Yeah, trying to figure guys out is kind of hard to do."

The woman toasted to that, Sophie drinking from her own glass as Lindsey drank from Eliot's. Soon, the topic of the conversation came back, looking much more composed. "I just saw Parker steal some stranger's drink because it was orange."

Sophie's eyes widened and stood up. "I think that's my cue. I'll go take care of that. You two have fun."

The grifter ran off, intent on finding the thief before she got too carried away, leaving Eliot and Lindsey at the booth. Lindsey forced back a yawn as Eliot sat down, smirking as he saw her holding his drink. "I know what I'm stocking the liquor cabinet with."

Lindsey smirked and buried herself into Eliot's chest. "M' ready to go home."

Eliot nodded, kissing her forehead before standing up, allowing Lindsey to get out of the booth. "You aren't falling asleep on me, are you?"

Lindsey raised an eyebrow. "Give me a reason to stay awake."

Eliot took the key from Lindsey's hand and waved it in front of her face. "I think this place needs broken in."

Another happy ending. I couldn't resist using Angel, so please don't attack me! That scene did have some symbolism in it if you read close enough though, it wasn't all for fun. Hope you liked the orange vodka and dirty dancing, sure was fun to write. Had so much fun. However, I do have several other fics that I desperately need to work on, so I must retire this, if only for right now.

I do have a question. If I do another fic in the future, what do you want? Fluffy? Angst? Whumpage? Humor? Little of it all? Please let me know, I have several ideas, and your input would help greatly. Thanks again so much, and I hope you enjoyed!

Reviews would make my day!