Poker Face

I don't own Leverage.

First Leverage fic, so please be nice! Inspired by the Two Horse Job.

I don't know much about poker, just the really basics. So, forgive me if it isn't quite right!

It had been over two weeks since the team had gotten Willie and Amy their horse, Baltimore, and the team was between jobs. Nate hadn't found a new client yet and everyone was getting restless because they had so much free time.

While Hardison could be glued to his computer for days on end and Sophie never got tired of roaming the nearby cities and going shopping, there was only so much shopping and hacking you could do before it got a little old. Eliot worked out in the gym a lot during the week to keep in shape, but it couldn't take the place of actually having a mark. Even Parker felt that stealing jewelry wasn't as much fun when it wasn't meant to help someone in need. It didn't have the same thrill. She even went so far as to go back and return the gems just for the heck of it. I mean, once the store knew someone had gotten in, they tightened security. It could possibly be fun.

After a few days, the team got into a habit of heading into the office throughout the day, secretly hoping Nate had come up with a new job. They would play a card game, watch a movie, or just hang out.

On this particular evening, Parker walked in on the rest of the team gathered around the glass table. Nate, Eliot, and Hardison were playing poker while Sophie sat back with a bowl of popcorn and watched the show the men were putting on. Between Hardison's mathematical skills, Eliot's street smarts, and Nate's mastermind, none of them were really winning or losing. Playful batter was thrown around to unsettle each other as well as harmless threats. In Sophie's opinion, it was better than watching Project Runway.

Parker grabbed a seat and joined Sophie. "So, how long have they been at it?"

"For about an hour now." She passed the popcorn over and the thief nodded in thanks. "They could be at it for a while yet."

And she was right. But, in time, teams sprang up from the game. As it turned out, Nate and Eliot worked hard to get Hardison out. Soon, the hacker's chip piles dwindled until they were almost none existent. Even though they weren't playing with real money, Hardison was fuming.

"Hey! Hey, now! No cheating!"

"What are you talking about, Hardison?" Eliot smiled. "We aren't signaling each other. Remember, Nate's the 'honest' man and I respect the game to much too use a trick that dirty."

"You two are targeting me every round! Teams are not in the spirit of poker!" Hardison was getting frustrated and everyone was having fun at his expense. Sophie barely held back her laughter, making do with a huge smile. Parker didn't have her tack. Her high pitched giggles filled the room during each round. On top of that, Eliot and Nate were downright poking fun at him. The pour guy didn't have one person on his side and he was barely hanging on in the game, winning a small amount of money every couple of hands.

"All right, all right!" Nathan held up a hand, holding back another round of chuckles. "Eliot has a point."

The hitter turned to him as confusion filled both men's faces. "I did. What point was that?"

Nathan hoped he wouldn't be getting a bruise from his teammate. "I am an honest man, and so I'm going to even the playing field." He turned to Hardison, ignoring the scowl on the hitter's face. "You can have one of the girl's as your partner. That is, if they will join you?"

Hardison's hopeful expression slipped and Eliot silently forgave the mastermind. When Sophie had played earlier, she had been horrible. No one had seen Parker play, but none of them had high hopes.

"Any takers?" Nathan asked.

Silence ensued for a while and Hardison's face fell so hard, it was amazing it didn't hit the floor.

"I'll take a whack at it." Parker stood. "That is, if you want me to help you?" she asked Hardison.

The thief got a toothy grin in response and sat down across from her teammate with Eliot on her right and Nate on her left. She was passed her share of chips from the "bank," everyone anteed up, and the next hand was dealt.

After a round of bets, Nathan folded with a two, five, six, and two tens. Sadly, Hardison folded as well. Pour guy couldn't keep up with Eliot's aggressive bets. He was trying to make the new player feel intimidated. But, Parker matched him beat for beat.

She was a much different player than Hardison and it irritated Eliot. The hacker was easy to read. He had a tell and talked way too much. He responded to Eliot's spoken jibes. The only thing keeping him in the game was his ability to count.

That wasn't Parker at all. She didn't move. She didn't speak. She barely even gave his batter a thought and even when she did, she only narrowed her eyes. And it wasn't because he was pissing her off like he had Hardison. It was in a way that said, "I know your trick and it won't work." Instead, Eliot was the one who was starting to get upset.

The team watched the two as they battled the round out, taking in Eliot's words and reading Parker's unspoken response. It was great!

Eliot slapped down two sevens, and three jacks. A smile lit his face as Hardison hissed in disgust and Nate gave a nod of approval. "Full house!"

Without so much as a smirk, Parker calmly laid down four queens and an ace.

"Wait, what?!" Eliot stared in shock. She hadn't hinted at anything and was hadn't known she could play poker.

Hardison laughed and pointed at Eliot. "Oh! Burned!"

A slow smile finally graced the thief's face as she raked in her win. Eliot had lost quite a bit of money on that round.

Sophie was laughing in the background. "You had better watch out, Eliot. I think you've met you're match!"

And in this rhythm, the game continued. Soon, Hardison was out of chips and Nathan himself was losing a lot of his. But, it was barely noticed. Eliot had silently waged war against Parker and she had accepted. For a few rounds, Parker would be winning. Then, Eliot would throw in a comment and fake tell that would throw her off her game. He would win a few rounds before she was able to get a good hand and throw him off by actually talking. Each would pull an new trick out of their bag and turn the odds to their favor.

After a while, even Nate, for all his brains, was out off the game. By this time, the game had been running for a total of two hours and twenty minutes. Sophie had discarded the popcorn bowl and she and Nate were now eating sandwiches they had gotten delivered to the office. Hardison was working on his second bottle of orange soda and had actually given the game his total attention instead of grabbing his compute like he normally would have.

Slowly, Eliot started winning more than Parker and her chips went down.

They both put their ante in the middle and Nate dealt.

Eliot hid a smile from his face and decided this was the hand he had been looking for. He was going to hit Parker hard this round. She had been faltering the past few hands. She slipped ever once in a while as she went under pressure and had given away her cards.

In a strategic move, Eliot backed off a little from pressuring her, giving a silent signal saying, "Look at me! In not aggressive, meaning I'm nervous and don't want to push it. I don't have as good a hand this time!"

Parker showed the same signs of distress as before. She was more distracted this hand, he could tell even as she tried to hide it by raising Eliot to twice his bet. And his tactic changed. He wasn't only going to hurt her hard this hand but shut her down!

"All in." Eliot stated, pushing in every chip he had. The small audience gasped and Sophie's mouth dropped open.

Eliot's eyes narrowed. Now was the moment. Was she going to be brave and meet his bet or was she going to fold?

Parker slowly leaned forward and, with a steady push, put every chip she had in the center of the table. Eliot hesitated for a second. Had he miss read her? But, he let it go. No way she beat him with this hand.

"Straight flush!" Eliot announced, laying down five through nine in hearts. Parker's face fell just the slightest bit and he let loose a grin. Hardison's head lowered and Nathan laughed with pleasure. Eliot turned and Nate congratulated him.

Suddenly, Sophie burst out laughing. The two turned to see her pointing at the table and Hardison smiling.

Eliot spun around to find Parker's cards on the table. She had laid down a ten through ace in spades. He looked up at her in disbelief.

She shrugged. "Royal flush. Too bad you went all in. You probably would have beaten me if we had kept going."

Hardison let out a whooping yell and jumped up to hug her. "Wow, girl! Where'd those skills come from? And that poker face!! You were great!"

He and Sophie congratulated her as Nathan and Eliot slowly stood.

"Good game." Nathan held out his hand to both Parker and Hardison who responded with their own 'Good game.'

Eliot hung back, a scowl on his face. Nate elbowed him in the ribs and finally he held out his hand. "Good game."

Parker smiled. "We'll have to play again sometime."

His grip grew stronger on her hand. "You're on!"

TBC

I hope you enjoyed the fic! If you liked, please review! If you just want to point out my mistakes with the poker game, go ahead. I don't mind constructive criticism!