A/N – Umm, Leverage High School AU. That is all.

"So do you wanna come?"

Gabrielle's voice snaps Parker out of her daydream, pulling her back to the present. She blinks a few times before focusing on Gabrielle again.

"Huh?" Not her most witty reply, she knows, but she hadn't been paying attention.

Gabrielle sighs and rolls her eyes fondly at the blonde, "Dinner. My house. Tonight. Do you want to come?"

Parker smiles for a moment, all sunshine, before furrowing her brow in thought. "Are your parents even ok with the whole… lesbian thing?"

Gabrielle reaches out to take one of Parker's hands, rubbing small circles with her thumb. "They love me. I love you. So, if A equals B and B equals C, then A equals C."

"That's not really how that rule works," Parker laughs, but she's reassured all the same.

"You're the smart one in this relationship," Gabrielle grins, "I just stand here and look pretty."

Parker squeezes her hand as they make their way down the hall to Calculus, "You're very pretty. Now shut up and get your pretty ass into the classroom before Ms. Bitchface yells at us again."

"She's gonna kill you if she ever hears you say that!" Gabrielle warns, "It's Bauxfauss."

Parker snorts, "Close enough, come on!"

They make it to their seats as the bell rings, and Parker can't help the smug grin that appears on her face.

"There she is! Oh man, I just… she's so damn… ya know?"

Eliot sighs as his best friend rambles on for the millionth time about the pretty but kooky junior he's been nearly stalking for the better part of a year. "Dammit, Hardison, just go and TALK TO THE GIRL."

Hardison shakes his head furiously, the mere thought terrifying him. "I can't! And anyway, I'm pretty sure she's gay."

"Really?" Eliot's interest is officially piqued. "That little redhead she's always with is her lover?"

"I'm pretty sure they use the term girlfriend like everyone else, Eliot." Hardison is pouting and clearly not appreciating the lesbian-ness as much as Eliot.

"Whatever. Just talk to her. The worst that can happen is she doesn't like you."

"No," Hardison argues, "The worst that can happen is I make a goddamn fool out of myself and she points and laughs. And then kicks me."

Eliot just stares, wide eyed.

"We can't all be chick magnets with perfectly coiffed hair," Hardison sulks.

"Dude!" Eliot exclaims, hitting Hardison in the arm, "What have I said about you ragging on my hair? And dammit, it is not coiffed. I was just born this fucking awesome."

Hardison huffs, "If you say so. And I'm sure that flat iron and deep conditioning cream in your bathroom means absolutely nothing."

Eliot glares, "Why the hell am I friends with you, anyway?"

Hardison grins widely, "Cuz my mama and your mama have pictures of us in the bathtub together."

"Fuck."

Hardison just whoops in laugher, mood elevated, before grabbing Eliot by his backpack and pulling him towards English.

"Gabby, is that you?" A voice calls out from the other room as Parker follows Gabrielle into her house, following suit as she deposits her backpack and shoes in the bin by the front door.

"Yeah, it's me, mom. Parker's here too." Gabby calls back, making her way to meet her mother in the dining room, motioning for Parker to come along.

"Oh." Her mother's voice is neutral as can be, but Parker doesn't miss the slight tone of disdain.

"I just wish you had told me we were having company for dinner, Gabrielle, I would have set out another plate. Now I just look rude." She smiles graciously at Parker, but the iciness of it is practically visible.

"Oh, come on, Mother," Gabby sighs, "Erik brings home friends all the time without warning. And there's always plenty of food. I'll set the extra plate, ok?"

"Well you're brother's isn't…" She trails off, clearly stopping herself from saying any more. But the implied words ring out loud and clear. Your brother isn't gay. Isn't a disappointment. Isn't a sinner.

"You're brother isn't… here," She finishes instead, walking hurriedly back to the kitchen, "I'll just grab that other plate. Your father will be home soon. And dinner's almost ready."

"You do that," Gabby replies, grabbing Parker's hand slowly and pointedly, "We'll be here."

Parker turns to Gabby once her mother is gone, "I thought you said they were ok with this!"

Gabby hedges, looking away, "Ok, so maybe they didn't exactly take it so… great."

"Meaning, what exactly?" Parker asks.

"They might have threatened to send me to a convent if I didn't knock off this 'dykey bullshit,' as my father put it." Gabby looks up at the taller girl, giving her the most pitiful face she can muster.

It doesn't work. Parker whispers harshly, trying to keep her voice down. "And you brought me here?! Knowing how they felt, how they would treat me?"

"I didn't…" Gabby pauses again, "It's not. I mean… this isn't about you." She cringes, knowing exactly how it sounded out loud.

"I guess not," Parker says, suddenly the epitome of calm as she makes her way to the door and collects her stuff.

"Wait!" Gabby calls out, rushing after her, "Come on baby; let's talk about this."

Parker shakes her head sadly, "No. No, we're not going to talk about this. I love you, but I'm not going to be some fucking point you prove to your mother."

"You're more than that!" Gabby protests, but Parker is already out the door. It hangs open after her, rain flying in, and Gabby finds herself wondering when the storm had started.

Parker ignore the phone calls the entire weekend. She ignores the doorbell when it rings. She ignores her mother when she asks what's wrong. And when Monday comes and Gabby doesn't show up for school, she breathes a sigh of relief. At least she has one day to adjust. It's lunchtime now, and she's outside, grateful the rain has moved on and left mild weather in its wake. She relishes the quiet in her favorite lunch spot and closes her eyes. And then she falls.

Her eyes fly open as she feels herself fall and she braces herself for the hard impact of the ground. It doesn't come. Instead she lands on something firm but squishy, something that's groaning in pain. She scuttles away, apologizing profusely for falling on the stranger.

The guy, she thinks she vaguely recognizes him from campus, is looking at her in shock.

"Why the hell were you in a tree?" he asks, but it's more curious than angry.

Parker smiles, at least she didn't break anything of his. "I like to eat lunch up there sometimes," she explains, shrugging her shoulders.

"You're a little strange, aren't you?" the guy says, not really a question.

Parker shrugs again, "Maybe it's you all who are strange. Maybe I'm perfectly normal."

The guy laughs, "Maybe. But you're the one who hangs out in trees."

"Trees are awesome," Parker says with a solemn expression, "Mother Nature is our greatest resource and we should never harm her."

He just stares in mute shock.

"Kidding!" Parker squeals, "It was too easy. I mean, I love the earth and all, but I also love cheeseburgers. And paper. And like… showering more than once a month."

"Oh, thank god," he laughs, stretching out his legs more comfortably in front of him.

"What's your name?" Parker asks, moving to sit cross-legged in front of him.

"Hardison," he replies. "Well, Alec really, but everyone calls me Hardison. Except my mama, she calls me midget. But you… probably didn't need to know that." He laughs awkwardly, preparing himself for her inevitable departure.

Instead, Parker just stares incredulously, "I can't believe anyone would call you midget. You're huge!"

He can't help it, he grins. It's in the male genetic code to love being called huge. "My brothers are both six foot seven," he explains, "I'm only like six two."

"Rental cars must suck." Parker says, trying to imagine them all cramming into a sedan.

Hardison laughs, the girl has the strangest train of thought.

"My mind… wanders sometimes," Parker says, "Most people get used to it."

Hardison shrugs, "I think it's cool. You like… think outside the box or whatever."

"Yeah, well," Parker sighs, "The box is a bitch."

"Huh?" Hardison looks understandably confused.

She shakes her head, "Nothing. Just ex-girlfriend issues."

"Oh," Hardison nudges one of her knees with his own, "You wanna talk about it?"

"You don't even know my name," Parker replies.

"Parker!" Hardison supplies, "Your name is Parker."

"Well, I know that," Parker laughs, "How do you?"

Hardison gulps, pushing down his nervousness, "I, umm, it's a small school. You get to know people's names."

"Cool," she nods, accepting the answer.

"Mr. Hardison, it's time to get back to class," the lunch monitor says, as he passes on his quest to gather the students. "The same goes for you Ms…"

"We're going, we're going!" Parker interrupts, jumping to her feet. Hardison gets up more slowly, watching the monitor walk away silently.

"I'll see you around!" Parker waves bye to Hardison as she realizes how late she's already running and sprints off toward the building.

Hardison watches her go too, but with decidedly more interest than the lunch monitor. It doesn't hit him until some time later that he survived a full conversation with the girl he's been afraid to even speak to. Sure, she didn't know who he was, but she didn't run off in creeped out fear either, so he's calling it a win.

"Did you bang her?"

"I only talked to her for five minutes, man!" Hardison protests, giving Eliot his best 'you're fucking ridiculous' look.

Eliot just glares back, "So, did you bang her?"

"Oh for the love of… No, Eliot, I did not bang the nice lesbian."

"Damn." But then he grins, "But you did manage to talk to her without coming in your pants, right?"

"Seriously?"

"It's a fair question with you."

"Once! It was once! And you saw how hot she was that day. No man can resist cheerleader tryouts."

Eliot snorts, "I can."

"No you can't!" Hardison argues, "You slept with Tawny Grey behind the bleachers after tryouts."

Eliot grins fondly at the memory, "Wasn't no sleeping going on there, boy."

"Dude, you're only two months older than me!" Hardison protests.

Eliot's grin widens, "I am your elder and you should respect me as such. Now come on, we gotta get you ready."

"Ready for what?"

Eliot looks at him as if it's obvious, "For operation bang-the-lesbian, of course."

"I don't want to…" Hardison pauses, "Ok, I do, but I mean, it's not just like that… and she just broke up with her girlfriend."

"And so now you're free and clear to move on in there, son!" Eliot is almost laughing he's so giddy.

Hardison frowns, "No. She… when she was thinking about her girlfriend… she just looked so sad. I can't take advantage of that."

"I am revoking your man badge," Eliot tells him with all seriousness.

"There's more to being a man than getting laid," Hardison counters.

Eliot shrugs, "Maybe. But I'll save that shit until after college. For now, it's about getting some and getting gone. And that's just the way I like it."

Hardison sighs, "how are we friends?"

"Bathtub pictures, remember?" Eliot whispers, glancing furtively around for eavesdroppers.

"Fuck."

"My point exactly," Eliot grins again, "Fine, we'll do this your way. Operation bang-the-lesbian is now Operation make-the lesbian-love you."

"That's slightly better," Hardison allows, "But she does have a name."

"Don't push it."

"Fine."

Parker gets home and immediately wants to smack her mother with all her might. She wants this because her mother is the only one who could have let Gabrielle in and seated her on the couch with a cup of hot chocolate.

Parker ignores Gabby and goes off in search of her mother, finding her in the kitchen.

"What is she doing here?" she hisses at her mother.

Her mother comes to wrap an arm around Parker, giving her a quick hug. "Just talk to the girl, honey, she's heartbroken."

"She broke my heart, mom! I shouldn't have to talk to her. It's only been a few days," Parker protests.

Her mother sighs, "Parker, sweetheart, I love you and you're a smart girl, but if you don't go in there and sort this thing out I will kick your ass."

"Moo-oom," Parker groans, feeling all of eleven years old again.

"Go!" the shorter woman gives her a little push of encouragement.

"Fine!" Parker pouts, stalking to the living room and the waiting Gabby.

"Hi," Gabby says from the couch meekly.

Parker sits across from her in a chair, "Hello."

Gabby stares at her for all of five seconds before she's sobbing, and Parker's moving before she can stop herself, wrapping the other girl in a hug as she sits beside her.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Gabby gasps out between sobs, "I'm so sorry."

"Shhh, it's ok," Parker soothes, even though it is most decidedly not ok. The whole situation is actually pretty damn fucked up, but here they are anyway.

Gabby clutches onto Parker like a child, crying into her shirt. Finally, she calms down enough to pull away and look at Parker again. She's lost her words though, and just stares, trying to figure out how to say what's running around her head.

"Do you love me?" Parker asks her, and she surprises them both by merely sounding curious, not angry.

"I do," Gabby replies, chancing a small smile.

Parker nods curtly, "But are you in love with me?"

"I…" Gabby falters, "No," she admits, "But I wanted to be. I tried."

Parker laughs dryly, "You shouldn't have to try to be in love."

"Are you in love with me?"

"I thought I was," Parker answers thoughtfully, as if it's just occurring to her to really think about it. "I guess I don't know anymore."

"I just don't want you to hate me," Gabby says, and Parker can see she means it.

"I don't hate you," Parker relies automatically, but it's the truth. "I'm angry, and sad, and a little confused. But I don't hate you. I just need some time and space to breathe before we can like be friends or whatever you do after a break up."

Gabby laughs, "According to my mother, you eat pints and pints of ice cream and watch movies that make you cry."

"Won't that just make you feel worse?"

Gabby shrugs, "I don't know. I guess it's just the normal thing to do."

"And you say I'm the crazy one of us," Parker says before she can stop herself. There is no 'us' anymore.

To her credit, Gabby barely flinches.

"You should go," Parker says, firm but kind.

Gabby nods, getting up, "Ok. Just…I'm sorry, ok?"

"I know," Parker nods, allowing herself to be pulled into a quick hug.

Gabby waves halfheartedly as she lets herself out.

Parker watches her through the window until she hears her mother come up behind her. She turns into the hug she knows is waiting and lets herself fall apart.

When the tears are gone, her mother pats her on the head gently, "I wish I could fix you up as easy as I could when all it took was a kiss."

Parker chokes out a laugh, "Me too."

"Come on baby, we'll make some cookies," her mother offers.

"Can't we just play some duckhunt and take out my aggression on the early 90's?"

Her mother grins, "That's my girl."

Eliot and Hardison are well on the way to prepare for phase one of Operation Make-the lesbian-love-Hardison when they were distracted by the muffled sounds of sobbing. Curious, they wander around the field house they'd been walking by until they found the source of the crying.

Curled up into a tight ball under the shade of the awning is a tiny pre-teen girl, sobbing her eyes out.

The boys exchange surprised looks, and then looks of 'no, you talk to her.' Finally Eliot glares one last time at Hardison before moving to crouch down by the girl.

"Hey, hey are you ok?" he asks gently. He has sisters, he knows how quickly they can turn crazy.

The girl looks up in surprise, immediately pushing herself farther away from Eliot.

"Whoa," he says, "I'm not gonna hurt you. We just want to help. Why are you crying, sweetheart?"

The girl looks between Eliot and Hardison for a long moment before apparently deciding she could trust them.

"They locked my dog in the field house, and I can't get him out. And at first he was barking and whining but now he's not making any noise and I…" she stops suddenly as fresh sobs break out and Eliot finds himself awkwardly patting the girl on the head. He's at a loss.

Hardison rolls his eyes at Eliot's helplessness before coming to sit down beside them. "Hey, when I was little, we had this dog, Sparky. Sparky liked to run away, ya know? And then one time he ran too far and fell down an open sewer gate. He was down there for days before we found him. And man, he smelled to high heaven, but the point it, he was fine. A little hungry, but fine. I'm sure your dog is just napping."

The girl looks up and gives him a small smile, "Really?"

"Really truly," Hardison smiles back.

They all stand and Eliot surveys the building. "Well, we're gonna have to break in."

"Oh goody, breaking and entering. I always wanted to go to jail," Hardison mutters just loud enough for Eliot but not the girl to hear him.

"Well check for a window or something we can hoist her up into then," Eliot replies.

"On it," Hardison replies, walking around the other side of the building to look, and coming face to face with Parker.

"Hey," he says, surprised to see her there.

"Hey," she says back, "What are you doing here?"

"What are you doing here?" Hardison shoots back.

"I was walking down the street to the gym. What are you doing here?" she asks again.

"Ummm," Hardison hedges, trying to keep Parker from turning the corner of the building. Which of course makes her immediately do exactly that, where she finds Eliot and a small girl kicking at the door of the locked field house.

"What the hell, guys?" she asks.

Eliot looks over in surprise but the girl merely explains the situation. To everyone's surprise, Parker grins widely.

"Move aside," she says, reaching in her purse. She pulls out a fancy looking kit set in leather, and sets about picking the lock on the field house door. After only a minute, they hear a satisfying click and Parker pulls the door open triumphantly.

The girl runs in immediately to find her dog and Eliot follows a minute later in case the damn thing needs to be carried or something. Or so he tells himself.

"That was amazing," Hardison says in awe, "Completely illegal, but amazing."

Parker shrugs, "It's just a hobby I got good at."

"You have awesome hobbies," Hardison laughs.

She laughs too, blushing slightly, "It doesn't do me much good usually, but it's cool to know."

"It's definitely cool," Hardison agrees. "Man, you, me and El should like team up and form an awesome crime fighting crew."

"And commit crimes in order to fight them?" Parker asks, waving her lock pick kit slightly.

"I never said it was perfect," Hardison defends, "But it would be cool."

"Yeah," she smiles, "It would be."

"You…" Hardison begins but is cut off by the sounds of happy barking as the Eliot, the girl, and one happy golden retriever make their way out of the building.

They turn in time to hear Eliot finish his sentence to the girl, "….if those bitch ass punks ever try something like that again, you call me. I'll kick their asses. I promise."

Parker and Hardison 'awww' in sync as the girl hugs Eliot's waist tightly before taking the dog and running off towards home.

"Not. A. God-damn. Word." Eliot growls in warning before he stalks ahead.

Parker falls into step beside Hardison as he follows a few feet behind Eliot, "He's adorable."

"I heard that!" Eliot calls out without turning back, causing Parker and Hardison to giggle even more.

They walk until they reach the gym and Parker waves goodbye as she goes in.

"She totally likes you," Eliot says once they're on their way again.

"She's still gay," Hardison reminds him, for the millionth time.

Eliot shrugs, "Maybe she's bi. It's all the rage nowadays."

"How do you ever get laid?" Hardison asks incredulously.

"I told you," Eliot replies, "I'm fucking awesome."

"And you rescue puppies."

"Fuck off."

Hardison laughs. Point, him.

It's nearly two weeks later when Parker sees Gabby with another girl. It hurts, but not as much as she thought it would. She doesn't want to die, or jump off a cliff, or drown in a river of whiskey or any other ridiculous cliché from a country song. Mostly, she just wants Gabby to be happy, even if it hurts. She reminds herself that she loved Gabby first, and Gabby loved her. And maybe they weren't really in love, maybe they weren't meant to last, but whatever they had, it was real, and she refuses to regret that. Even a little bit.

Of course all of this thinking tilts a little sideways as the new girl kisses her Gabby, right there in the hallway. Parker's stomach clenches and her eyes tear a little, but she braces herself against it. She forces herself to look away from the display, away from how damn happy Gabby looks.

Then the bell rings, and the crowd moves around her, and it's time to move on.

"I had all these plans," Hardison startles Parker out of her lunchtime reverie.

She looks up, shocked to see him standing under her tree, looking up at her.

"What?"

Hardison smiles shyly up at her, "I had all these plans."

She jumps down and lands like a cat before moving to stand against the tree, waiting for an explanation.

"We, me and El, we had all these plans. There were charts and everything. Blueprints, risk analysis, contingency plans, even. But in the end, none of it mattered."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Parker asks, still lost.

"I like you," Hardison says, simply. "And I want to ask you out. And if you tell me no, I'll live. But I really hope you say yes."

"Oh," Parker replies.

The silence stretches out until Hardison can't take it anymore. "Well?" he asks, anxious as anything.

"I was thinking," Parker defends.

"I'm so hard to think about?" Hardison asks, only half joking.

"No," Parker reassures him, "I was thinking about me."

Hardison is confused. It's becoming a thing with the girl.

"I'm gay," she says, but it comes out funny, like she's trying to convince herself.

"Maybe only part gay?" Hardison offers.

Parker breaks out in laughter, "Yeah, maybe only part gay."

"So is that a yes?" Hardison ventures, looking at her hopefully.

She looks up at him seriously, "We should kiss first. Just to make sure I'm part straight too."

"It's a good plan," Hardison agrees before leaning down.

She meets him halfway, curling one hand around his neck.

"Yes," she says when they pull away, "Definitely part straight, too."

Hardison grins blindingly at her. "Maybe we should try it one more time, just to be sure."

"If you insist," Parker grins back before pulling him back down.

The End.