A/N: This is a futurefic, not sure how far in the future, but we're talking years, I guess. And yeah, I know, I really should be writing The Twin Souls Job, and Consequences, and my other Leverage fic for the LJ bigbang, but sometimes the plot bunny just won't go away, and we all know how much Parker loves bunnies, so what I am to do? lol

(Disclaimer: Characters from Leverage belong to John Rogers, Chris Downey, and other important people that aren't me.)

An Easy Out Clause

They should have noticed, the whole team, but they didn't. Once again it took the man on the edge, looking in at the others, to truly see what was going on. Eliot was used to being that guy, though he had hoped as time went on that somebody else might catch on to the fact that Parker had started getting twitchy again.

Over the years, she lost some of her awkwardness, not with people in general, but with her team, her family. She learnt to relax, to regulate herself by the way the others behaved. When she and Hardison started 'dating' for lack of a better term, they went at her pace and she seemed to like it well enough, but things had started changing these past six months, ever since that fateful night when the hacker presented his precious thief with a ring.

Eliot didn't blame Hardison. The kid wanted this perfect little life, not just for himself but for her too. Parker had a crappy childhood, they all knew it, and above all things Eliot was sure all his bro was really looking to do was give her a much happier future. He didn't seem to realise that his own ideas of perfect and happy were not hers, not even close.

The future scared Parker, almost as much as the past did. Nobody knew what was coming, but most people trusted that they could deal with whatever got thrown their way. You had family and friends to watch your back, faith in yourself to get through. Parker was so untrusting of life, seemed so small in the great big world that could swallow her whole. It took forever to convince her that he would always be there to catch her when she fell, to save her if she got caught, but Eliot had done it. Now it was starting to seem he was going to have to prove it one more time.

Planning a wedding was Sophie's dream, and it was because of that she didn't seem to notice Parker was entirely underwhelmed. The little thief wanted to please her Momma, that's what all the fake smiles and over-enthusiastic whooping and hollering over bridal magazines was about, Eliot was certain of it.

Hardison fell for the trickery. Bright as he was with technology and all, he didn't aways read people well. He bought the smiles and gratitude Parker tried to show him, fell hard and easy because he wanted it to be real. Sometimes Eliot thought about asking him if he was sure about all this, but he never actually got that far. He wasn't so sure bringing up anything about this wedding was a good idea. Despite that fact his job was protector of this team, he couldn't save all of them all of the time. The bigger tragedy would be her pain because she wouldn't know where to start in dealing with it.

In his head, Eliot had to side with Parker, even when Hardison asked him to be best man. Nate was not an option, since Sophie had quite decided he was giving the bride away, and everybody fell into line. The mastermind seemed as wary of this marriage as Eliot was, though he never said anything either. He saw his team getting messed up, a new dynamic throwing both work and family into turmoil if something went wrong, or went too right.

Eliot kept his eyes on Parker, always. Watched her fidget and flinch involuntarily as Sophie waxed lyrical on ivory trousseaus and honeymoon trips, as Hardison raved on the subject of happy ever after endings, as Nate knocked back another drink and nodded along with every decision without a word of protest. He didn't fear much, but the hitter feared her staying and going through with this, almost as much as he worried about her bolting.

Years ago, they all had places to run to. The team were smart, each and every one of them, but hadn't known each other well enough or cared enough to track one lost sheep if they wandered away. Now it was too late, they depended on each other too much, and knew the others too well. There was no real escape, no easy out clause. Well, there was damn well gonna be!

On the morning of his wedding, Hardison could not stop grinning. Stood at the front of the church, he was hopping around like a bug on a hot plate, every kind of excited and nervous all rolled into one. Nate and Sophie were trying to keep him calm, in the absence of the best man that seemed to be AWOL. Eliot had his reasons, and he didn't feel guilty about it. Sure, this was going to hurt his brother, and that wasn't exactly a great thing, but he'd be a lot more hurt in the future if he married a woman who couldn't commit the way he needed.

"Last chance, darlin'" he said from his place framed in the external door to the room where Parker waited alone.

The blonde stared in the full-length mirror, marvelling at the sight of herself in a froofy white dress that most girls dreamed of from the age of five. It was pretty, but it wasn't her, this whole thing just wasn't her. She loved Hardison, of course she did, but not the way he wanted. She wasn't cut out for being the wife and mother he needed in his life, and the more she thought on it these past few months, the more Parker realised she didn't even want to be that girl.

"I can't" she shook her head, reaching behind herself to unfasten her dress that dropped unceremoniously to the floor.

Eliot was only mildly surprised to realise she was fully dressed underneath, in her black cat-burglar type gear no less. This was Parker after all, she was ready for every and all eventualities, even today. It proved to the hitter that he had been right to make his offer, an easy way out if that was what she wanted. Never once did he encourage her to run out on her wedding day, never. He just told her that if she wanted to run, he'd be there, just like always.

Not ten minutes ago, Eliot had left Hardison at the alter, knowing Parker was alone because Nate and Sophie had come check on their hacker. It was now or never and honestly, he hadn't been sure which answer would make him happier. Hurting Hardison, it was collateral damage, much easier to stand than watching Parker become what she wasn't, just to be miserable for the rest of her life - she had too much of that already.

Eliot wasn't offering himself as an alternative, and was pretty sure he made that clear. He was purely an escape route to wherever and whatever Parker would rather be. When she grabbed his offered hand it was with a bright smile on her face the like of which he hadn't seen in months. Genuine was the word, a light in her eyes that had been gone too long.

The bike was parked around back, and nobody paid much mind to the two black clad figures atop it as they roared off down the street. Faces obscured by helmets and eyes fixed ahead to the future, the road could take them anywhere and probably would. Well, it wasn't the first time for either of them.

- The End -