Title: Six times Maggie heard "You're adorable," and one time she said it

Author: ella_bee

Notes: In section 4, an idea was taken from the kung fu monkey blog. A partial story line in section 6 was taken from an episode of Covert Affairs, as was much information from the CIA World Factbook. Thank you to written in dreams for the beta.

1.

"Nate, you can't just make somebody do what you want them to do."

"Whoa."

"That's what we do."

"You're adorable."

She couldn't decide if the words coming out of Parker's mouth were supposed to be quite so condescending, but there they were; these five people (four of them she barely knew and one she knew too well) telling her that they could manipulate the director of the museum into moving a possibly priceless artefact, and into thinking it was his own idea.

Sceptical didn't even come close to describing her feeling, but these four people were all nodding earnestly and she couldn't help but be pulled to back four months ago when she believed that Sophie, Eliot, and Hardison were all completely different people than the ones sitting in front of her. She didn't even remember Parker.

But then, she wasn't looking for deceit. At least, not from them. She was looking to find out if the David statue was actually what it was claimed to be, not if the people were who they said they were. She was far too concerned with Nate, believing that he was living in his car.

Maybe it was misdirection. Maybe she was naive. Maybe she had cared too much about Nate, when she should have been concentrating on the job. Maybe they were just really good at what they did.

Whatever the reason, she wanted to know more.

"So, how does one make someone do something, exactly?"

The five of them smiled, and Maggie couldn't help but feeling her own lips tug as well.

Adorable. Right. She could make that work for her.

2.

Maggie looked around the plane flying back to Boston from Kiev with mild curiosity. Their group of six had been mysteriously upgraded to first class (and even then, first class was only half full), and they were settling in like people who had flown together many, many times. Parker situated herself between Eliot and Hardison, even though there were enough spots open that she could have stretched across two seats like Maggie did, and neither Eliot nor Hardison attempted to move like they already knew the attempts would be futile.

Nate distanced himself from the others as much as he could and Tara drifted between him and the other three, looking like she found pleasure in both the camaraderie of the younger ones, but at the same time purposefully separating herself.

Maggie wondered if she was getting better at reading people, or if it was just this particular group of people that she was able to figure out a bit better since they'd spent more time together. She watched Tara drift back over to Nate and force him to make room beside him as she pointed things out on the notebook he was writing in. More jobs?

Maggie shifted into the seat by the aisle and before she even knew it, Parker was in the seat between her and the window. "You are really fast, you know that?"

Parker made a face back at her that Maggie could only interpret as "obviously," and curled her legs up on her seat, all the while never looking away from Maggie.

"Parker?"

Parker raised her eyes but didn't adjust her stare, and Maggie felt like she was being studied.

"Parker," she tried, wondering what the girl was looking for, but deciding to go for honesty, "I wanted to thank you for the bag you put together for me. It was very helpful."

Parker smiled sadly. "You wouldn't have known how to use the things in the bag, would you?"

Maggie thought she sounded genuinely worried for her, and while she was prompted to say that she never would have actually used any of its contents, she settled on a slow shake of her head. "No, Parker. I wouldn't."

Parker grinned broadly, looking somehow satisfied. "Okay. We'll start lessons when we get back to Boston."

Maggie then felt Parker pet her on the head (not for the first time...was it a sign of affection? Or did Parker just really like her hair?) and before she had a chance to answer (lessons? Parker!), Maggie watched as she pulled out a blanket and pillow from Maggie's stash. She curled up a bit tighter on the chair and said matter-of-factly, "I'm going to take a nap now."

"I can go sit in your spot if you want to stretch out."

Parker shook her head with the "are you crazy?" look on her face that Maggie didn't quite know what to do with before responding, "But I like you."

Maggie hesitated before answering back softly and lightly touching her arm, "I like you too, Parker."

Parker had the "obviously" expression again, but she just pulled herself in closer and, leaning her head against the pillow on her knees, promptly fell asleep.

Maggie watched her for a few minutes before she became aware of the plane again. Hardison had also drifted off and Eliot was reading a very thick novel. A week ago, she never would have associated him with books, but her respect for Eliot was growing with each new layer he let her see. Especially because, even though his eyes travelled across the page, she knew he knew she was watching him.

She smiled and she saw Tara drift towards her for the first time this flight, and she sat herself in the chair that had been vacated across the aisle from her. Maggie waited for her to say something, but all she did was stare. "It's a lot creepier when you do it than when Parker does it."

Tara grinned, but still didn't say anything.

Maggie changed tactics. "All the others had fake names coming onto the plane, but you used the same one you introduced yourself with when we first met at the embassy. So do you not care if people know where you are? Or is Tara not what you go by?"

She raised her eyebrows and maybe even looked a little impressed, but again didn't say anything.

Maggie grew impatient and glanced around the plane. Maybe she should go talk to Nate. Maybe on a plane with lots of witnesses they would be able to have a discussion without it turning into an argument. She moved to get up, but she felt Tara's hand on her forearm and she paused, raising her eyebrows.

"Parker's napping beside you."

"I don't..." Maggie shook her head, waiting for Tara to elaborate.

"I've seen Parker take a lot of catnaps in a lot of interesting places, but she's never taken one with just me around. Understand?"

Maggie shook her head again, and tried employing Tara's tactic of not answering.

Tara raised a single eyebrow as if she caught on to Maggie's mimicking, and was again impressed. "She trusts you to watch her back while she's sleeping. If she didn't she'd still be beside Eliot. And if she didn't trust Eliot or Hardison, she never would have fallen asleep, or she'd have found her way down into the cargo hold by now."

"Not Nate?"

Tara gave him a sidelong glance before returning back to Maggie. "If we were in the middle of the job, we'd all trust him with our lives. But when we're not?" She let Maggie finish the thought on her own. "Just be there when she wakes up."

Tara moved to get up and this time the roles were reversed with Maggie's hand on her forearm. "Nate, he's...he's still under control right?"

Tara smiled wistfully as she pulled out of Maggie's reach as if the physical contact was too much familiarity for her. "Sophie was right," she started, and this time when the words were said it wasn't quite so condescending so much as it was disappointed. "You are adorable."

3.

When Maggie picked up the phone to the restricted number, it wasn't the voice she expected to hear. "He's gone absolutely mad!"

"Sophie?"

"He took the fall for all of us. And we could have gotten him away, but he got himself shot!"

Maggie could feel the blood draining from her face and she sat down heavily, clutching the phone with both hands. "Sophie, is Nate okay?"

"No, he's bloody well not! He's in jail, and won't listen to reason!"

The laughter tumbled out before she could stop it and she didn't want to – for a second she believed that he was hurt, dead or dying and this was her final call, the one that let her know that the man she once knew was gone forever.

However, maybe he already was. She barely knew the man he had become after Sam died. That was a somewhat sobering thought.

The laughter subsided but she was startled to find that she was happy, albeit surprised, that Sophie had called her. "Sophie, what happened?"

The tale that was woven was almost too much for her to believe, and it seemed that even Sophie didn't know all of it, or even how it got to the point where they were all standing in the middle of a showdown on a ship with Sterling at the helm. "And we could have all gotten away, but no. He had go and be honourable."

She said the word with such distaste that Maggie smiled, and could almost imagine the whole scene going down perfectly. "Yeah, that definitely sounds like Nate."

"Well you have to get him to listen to reason! He didn't need to protect us; we can take care of ourselves. I had an escape route for all of us."

Maggie sighed. "Sophie, he was out of control these past few months, without you there. They could all see it. I could see it, and I was only with him for a week. And to understand him now, you have to see where he came from. Him taking the fall for you...it's his penance."

"He's punishing himself, then, yeah?"

Maggie sighed. "At his heart, he's still carrying around his Catholic guilt. I bet he believes that he deserved to get shot and put in jail. You had to see that when he finally went over the edge, he was going to have some identity problems. If he now thinks of himself as a criminal, then he believes he belongs in jail."

Sophie was silent as if thinking about it. "But that's not what he believes either. Even in the rare instances he caught me, he never turned me over to the police. He just took back the stolen art and…let me go. Same with Eliot and Hardison."

"And Parker?"

"Please. You don't catch Parker."

Maggie smiled, another piece of the never-ending puzzle of Nate's team falling into place. "Look. Nate has a mind of his own, and we just have to wait until he has figured things out for himself. Nothing you say will change his mind. He has to do it in his own time."

Sophie sighed. "I knew I should have come back sooner."

"For what it's worth, I'm glad you came back for him." There was a weird moment of silence between the two women, and as much as Maggie liked Sophie and knew that she was good for this new version of Nate (even though she did still miss him), the old question threatened to bubble out...

"Sophie—"

"No," Sophie interrupted, knowing exactly what Maggie was thinking. "We flirted across three continents and dozens of countries, conning each other and playing the best mind games we could. He was the only worthy adversary I'd possibly ever had, but he's always been an honest man."

Maggie smiled sadly, and even though she had always known it to be the truth, it helped hearing it out loud. "He really always has, hasn't he." She said it as a statement not a question, and there was another moment of silence. This one was comfortable, though, and Maggie wondered again where she stood with the other woman. Maybe they could never be friends, but they were at least friendly. And they did both care for him. "Look, what would like me to do? Nate's in jail. Even if he did see reason, what could any of us do?"

"Maggie," Sophie said, exasperated. "We want to get him out! And he won't listen to any of us!"

"Sophie, you can't just break someone out of jail!"

"They got you out, didn't they?"

Maggie laughed. Indeed they did. "I was in a holding cell, awaiting trial. He's been convicted, and is in a privately run, maximum security prison. You can't do it!"

She could hear the laughter in Sophie's voice again, and a split second before she heard the words, she knew what Sophie was going to say. "Oh Maggie." Sophie paused, and over the phone Maggie could imagine her shaking her head. "You're adorable."

4.

It had been a long few weeks, and after struggling with jet lag and the time zone differences, she felt like she had only just fallen asleep. Yet, Maggie struggled between the dream world and consciousness when the reason that she had woken in the first place came apparent: she heard a crunching sound.

With her eyes still closed she tried assess her surroundings. There was no light in the room so it still must be the middle of the night, but the crunching was clearer. She could feel someone shift on her bed, and she could hold out any longer. Keeping as still as she could she peeked her eyes open as little as she could...

And saw the small blonde girl sitting crossed legged over her covers eating a bowl of cereal. "Parker?" she asked wearily.

"Oh good, you're awake."

Maggie rubbed her eyes sleepily. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, Parker, but what are you doing here?"

"We had a job nearby and then some time off, so I stayed."

Well she had answered a question, though it wasn't really the one that she wanted. Maggie pushed herself into a sitting position against her bed's many pillows. "That's great, but what are you doing here in my room at...four AM?"

Parker shrugged and continued to crunch at her cereal.

"I have a spare bed in the other room if you need to sleep, and you're obviously welcome to my kitchen." She glanced at the bowl in Parker's hand but she didn't even acknowledge the not-so-veiled comment. "Or bathroom, whatever you need, Parker."

Parker continued crunching but her eyes portrayed her "obviously" look that she had perfected.

"Was there something you wanted to talk about?"

Silence.

"Well then I think maybe I'll try to get some more sleep—"

"We got Nate out of jail."

Maggie smiled. "I know. Sophie called me. And I saw the corrupt warden thing on the news. You guys did a good job."

Parker smiled.

"Is...is that all you wanted to tell me?"

Parker shrugged.

"All right. You know, Parker, if you ever just want to talk, you can call me, okay?"

Parker nodded slowly, but then smiled. "You should go back to sleep. I'm going to put better locks on your windows."

Maggie nodded slowly and was overcome with a yawn as she snuggled back down under her covers. If she fell asleep right now she could still get two more hours of sleep before she had to go to work...

Parker put down the bowl on the bedside table and then laid her head down on the bed beside Maggie and smoothed down Maggie's hair on the pillow. "You can go to back to sleep. Don't worry, I'll keep you safe."

Maggie again had no idea what Parker was talking about, but it didn't take long before she had drifted off with Parker's hand still trailing though her hair.

When Maggie woke up two hours later, it took a few minutes for her to even remember that Parker was there...and the memory was hazy at best. There wasn't a cereal bowl in her room, nor was there anything out of place in the kitchen and she was almost beginning to believe it was a dream when she noticed all the new locks on her windows and doors.

She stared at them for almost a full minute before reaching for her phone. Was this Parker just being protective? Or could she actually be in trouble?

Maggie reached for her phone and scrolled through the numbers, not even sure who she should call before settling on the one she knew would give her a straight answer.

The gravelly voice answering the phone sounded not at all pleased to be doing so, and the greeting came out more like a growl. "Yeah?"

"Eliot? It's Maggie."

"Maggie?" She could hear the change in his voice immediately. "Are you okay? Is something wrong?"

"That's kind of what I was calling you for. I don't know."

"Huh?"

"I woke up last night to Parker in my room, staring at me. And when I woke up this morning, she was gone, but she had replaced all the locks in my house."

She could hear Eliot chuckle. "Yeah, she does that."

"Sneak into other people's houses and watch them sleep?"

"Sneak into your house and watch you sleep." Maggie was startled for a moment and didn't know how to respond. Before she could decided if she should she be flattered or freaked out, Eliot began again. "For whatever reason, Maggie, you fascinate her. She thinks you're this rare, pure creature that she needs to protect, like some endangered animal."

Maggie paused. "But, I'm not in danger, right? Parker was just being...Parker."

Eliot chuckled again. "'fraid so. And if she does it again…" She could hear him hesitate, as if he was unsure how much to tell her. "Parker…for possibly the first time is learning what the word 'family' means, and you are part of Nate's family, and therefore a part of hers. Keep that mind if she does it again."

Maggie considered this, but a more pressing question came out. "Eliot, you'd tell me I was in some kind of danger, right?"

"And I'd come protect you."

She was flattered with how didn't even pause to consider that statement. There was no hesitation. She had been collected by him into one of the people that he wouldn't let get hurt. But she was fine. She didn't need it. "Thank you, Eliot, but I think I can handle myself."

As soon as she said, she knew what was coming: that word that to everyone else meant cute, sweet and charming, but to them was an insult.

Eliot snorted. "Maggie?" he started and she cringed. "You're adorable."

5.

The entire team of people that she had just been working for had been invited to the large dinner party. Since she mostly just worked on contract now (leaving IYS permanently, thank-you-very-much) these dinner parties were her bread and butter. She was an art expert, and her name needed to be in the front of everyone's mind.

Plus, she had spent the past four days in the basement of a museum, so getting out at noon to be ready for an early cocktail hour, and having some good food and wine was appreciated even if the conversation was a bit dull.

She gracefully excused herself from her current conversation and went to refill her wine glass when she felt a moment of panic and she couldn't understand why. She let her eyes scan back over the crowd to find what may have caused it, and she saw a few of the men crowded around the large mounted TV muttering excitedly.

Her wine glass almost dropped to the floor when her hand started shaking and her breath caught in her throat, but her grip on the table saved her. She shakily put down the full wine glass and made her way to the group of men, almost faint with tunnel vision, but she had to know.

"What's...what's going on here?"

"Have you heard about this election in San Lorenzo? It's all over the news," one of the men she worked with, Dan, asked. He was young and inexperienced, but cute with large glasses and a habit to get a little too excited about little things. Yet, if she wanted info, he was definitely the one that would speak the fastest.

She had been to the tiny island once many years ago to visit the museum there, but it was largely uneventful. Most people didn't know that country even existed, never mind where it was or that there was an election going on. "Just that there was an election. I know about the country..."

"The government is completely corrupt but they're trying to show legitimacy so they held open elections, but the opposition kept mysteriously dying, or disappearing. So the UN inspectors came, and then there's like, the last guy not to be put in jail and everything thought he was a joke but when they met his fiancée his popularity skyrocketed. The citizens were celebrating this guy's win, and then in the middle of a crowd of people the government tried to take a shot at him, and his fiancée jumped in front of him. There are riots in the street—"

A very small portion of her brain marvelled that it seemed that Dan had gotten that all out while not taking a breath, but the rest was focused on the story. "The fiancée, is she dead?"

"Yeah, there's footage of it. Did you want me to go back?" he asked as he waved the remote around.

Maggie nodded still shell-shocked, and when the footage came across the screen she could see exactly why she almost dropped her wine glass. Shown perfectly in frame was Sophie spreading her arms out to protect this Vittori guy, and two bright red circles growing on her chest. "Sophie..." she whispered, no longer aware of the people around her.

"Uh, I think her name is Rebecca."

Maggie got him to rewind it again, and again, and again as she watched for any clue of life, that this was a con, that this was the plan. Another news camera caught the two guards on the balcony that took the shot, but the one with the gun was too tall for Eliot, too short for Nate. She had him rewind the piece a dozen times looking for clues, for other members of the team in the crowd, anything, but there was nothing. No clues. No hope.

"Maggie, are you okay? Is there someone I can call for you?"

Call! Of course! She just had to call...who? She pulled out her phone and scrolled through the numbers. Sophie had no answer. Nate went straight to voicemail. Nothing from Eliot, Parker, or Hardison. She scrolled through every phone number she had for them, including a number of old ones from old aliases. She called their landlines and the official office phone in Boston as well to no avail. She even called the bar, but there was no forwarding number.

Maggie covered her eyes with her hand in desperation. Of course they weren't answering their phones. They were probably using burner phones, trying to hide who and where they were. The news said that the assassination likely also had something to do with that terrorist Moreau that the world was trying to arrest since they found evidence last week in Boston...

Dammit. Boston.

A new round of panic emerged. If they were able to publicly assassinate Sophie, who knew what they would do to the others behind the camera. She collapsed onto the couch clutching her phone like a lifeline, and Dan sat beside her. "Maggie, are you okay? Is there anything I can get you?"

"Just a glass of water, please." She took a deep breath in, wondering how she was going to survive the rest of the night with no answers, when her phone rang with a restricted number.

The phone was answered quickly and she closed her eyes, praying that it was one of people that she desperately wanted to hear from. "Hello?"

"Maggie, girl, what is going on? Are you okay? I've got alerts on all our phone numbers, including a half dozen that we haven't used in months.

"Yeah, Hardison, I'm fine, but—"

"And I'm going to get you a new phone. Are you still using that one I got you after Kiev? That thing is old school. I'll get you better encryption, a new OS, updates..."

She breathed out a sigh of relief and her voice shook, and she didn't even know where to start. "Hardison, I'm watching CNN and—"

"Oh, crap, we're on CNN?" He sounded both dismayed and excited and she could only take that for good news, but she needed to know for sure.

He was rambling about news outlets and she didn't even hear it when she cut him off. "Hardison, Sophie? She's alive, right? You guys are all okay?"

She heard a chuckle and the phone being pulled away from his ear and his voice calling out, "Hey, Parker, Eliot! Maggie wants to know if Sophie's alive."

She could hear Parker's sharp laugh over the background din and Hardison come back onto the line. "Oh, Maggie," he said, and then she heard the two of the most glorious words that could be said. "You're adorable."

6.

She had been just finishing up work for a museum in Italy when she had gotten the call from Dan. He was supposed to be going to Spain for a job, but he had a sinus infection and couldn't fly. "Please," he had begged, after he had finally taken a breath during the conversation. "I know it's way, way beneath your level of expertise and pay grade, but I'm desperate. I'm supposed to be there tomorrow, and you're already at least on the same continent. Please?"

So she boarded a plane and expected a four day job looking at a bunch of pieces from the Spanish museum that were to be brought to the States for a private exhibit, and a previous shipment was being returned. Apparently this museum and the private individual had done business in the past without problem. Yes, definitely below her expertise level, but maybe it would help open up new things for her in the future.

She called ahead to meet the museum director, and she was brought to the reception area outside his office. "He's just in a meeting," the receptionist said and Maggie waited patiently until the door opened and the director walked out.

"Ah," he started, coming towards Maggie to shake her hand. "You come very highly recommended by Daniel. I am Leon Caldero. Please, do excuse me for being late. I had a new investor come in, Mr. Gibson, also from America. Perhaps you could help while you are here. Very interesting opportunities, but of course, the art would need to be verified. Do you think I could interest you in an extension of the contract? It would only be for a few more days."

Maggie thought to her calendar. She was going take some time off between jobs to recharge, but she was fooling herself. She wouldn't stop moving. "I'm sure we can arrange something."

"Excellent. Let me introduce you to him now." He called back into his office. "Mr. Gibson? Please come meet your new co-worker." She could hear some shuffling around and when he arrived at the door the look of surprise on his face almost made her laugh out loud. Yet as surprising as it was for both of them, he shook his head an almost imperceptible amount and she composed herself almost as well as the professional in front of her.

"Yes, please let me introduce Dr. Maggie Collins, and Mr. Bob Gibson."

Nate came towards her with his hand extended. "Pleasure to meet you, Dr. Collins. I'm sure we'll do great work together."

"Yes," she said, allowing a certain amount of sarcasm to set in, and marvelling at the Texan accent. "I'm sure we will."

Leon took control again. "Now, if you two will come to the security office, I will hand you off to our head of security and we will issue you badges and security passes. Please come with me."

They followed him through a labyrinth of halls and each time Maggie tried to lag behind to get a word in with Nate he gave her that same head shake, and brought something up new with the director. She was starting to get frustrated when she was bumped from behind and almost tripped, but Nate was there to steady her.

Maggie turned her head quickly and just saw a blonde ponytail disappear around the corner, and when she had her balance back she cocked her head and smirked at Nate, raising her eyebrows at him. She hoped her entire expression read, "really?" and she got the desired reaction when he kind of glanced off to the aside, somewhat embarrassed, but then he gave a pointed look to Maggie's right pocket.

He distracted the director again as she reached inside and found an earbud, and when she was sure the director wasn't looking she popped it in.

"Heeeeey, Maggie, what's up?" Hardison's abashed voice came through her intercom and she glared at Nate, who very staunchly ignored her.

She scanned the crease between the ceiling and the walls for the security cameras and for good measure, glared at one of those too.

"All right, all right," Hardison spoke again, and as quietly as she could to not alert the director she growled, satisfied when Nate looked back at her, and Hardison sounded appropriately apologetic. "Look, Maggie, we didn't know you were going to be here and we're just going to have to change the plan because you are a very, very good art expert, and, well, we were kind of counting on someone who was not."

Maggie hesitated for a moment trying to decide on an appropriate response, but before she could Hardison jumped back in taking her silence for agreement. "Okay, no growling, this is a good sign. Let's get the two of you your security clearances, and we'll regroup at the hotel. Maggie, you've just been upgraded, and your bags are being moved as we speak."

Finally she smiled and gave a half-shrug at the security camera when she heard Hardison chuckle over her earbud. "Okay, we've found your weakness, we can work with that…oh, growling again, okay I'll be quiet now."

They rendezvoused at the hotel and she was startled by how warm a welcome she got from these people (with the exception of Parker whom she had found in her room twice more, though she was sure that she had been in her house many more times than that) that she hadn't seen in…two years now, even though she had spoken to them all on the phone.

It was Nate who led the briefing for her, though she could see Hardison getting antsy at not having control of the temporary war room. "Our client works at the US Embassy, and has gotten herself into some trouble. A few months ago, someone kidnapped her sister and got her to arrange to have some crates of art pre-cleared at the US customs. She did it, and got her sister back…mostly back in one piece. The problem is that now—"

"Let me guess," Maggie interjected. "Now they are blackmailing her with the first time she did it into…continuing."

Nate raised his eyebrows at her, and Maggie read it as unsure if he should be startled or impressed, but continued. "Yes. When they returned her sister, it was with a broken arm. They promised our client that her sister would get a lot more if she ever stopped, and also they had records of all the other times that it happened. So, yes, they are blackmailing her, and threatening her family."

Maggie rolled her eyes. That's basically what she just said. "So, is it a smuggling plot? What are they shipping, if it's not art? Drugs?"

Nate jumped in again, unwilling for someone else to be the one to explain things to his ex-wife, as he done with their first job together at the Blackpoole exhibit, and Maggie found herself getting a little exasperated with him. "Well, we're not really sure. Drugs seem the most likely with the with the close proximity to Morocco—"

"So it's a transit point for cocaine and hashish."

"Or it could be—"

"With Algeria it could be arms. Or it could be any number of other things coming from North and West Africa, including diamonds."

"Well, that, or—"

"Or it could even be the art itself, coming from any number of places. The mid-east through northern Africa, or anywhere in Europe, really. And with Spain's long coastline, it's an ideal location to export, well, just about anything…humans included."

Maggie looked around the room and studied the team. Nate looked stunned. Eliot was leaning forward, and looked like he was considering everything she said with equal weight as if Nate had said it. Hardison was sitting back, looking thoughtful. Sophie's eyes sparkled like she was thinking of all the possibilities and Parker looked…well, she could never really tell with Parker, but she was smiling, so she guessed it was a good thing.

Hardison kind of whooped. "When did you take a level, woman? Right there!" he said as he put up his fist and she bumped it awkwardly.

Eliot shook his head at Hardison. "What does that even…?" He trailed off and turned back to Maggie alone. "You know, we never really considered which drugs could be coming through. I mean, we talked about cocaine, and even heroin, but never hashish."

"Oh, I hope it's diamonds," Sophie added.

Nate spoke up again. "Whatever they're smuggling, we need to change the plan to keep Maggie out of it. We can't jeopardize you or your reputation. So if we can't fool the art expert—"

"Then we can use the art expert, Nate!" Sophie chimed in, sounding exasperated. "Maggie's helped us out before, and it would be good to have another person inside."

"She didn't blow your cover in the museum," Parker added, sounding almost a little bit jealous.

Hardison joined in. "She has higher security clearance than you, and she might see things we don't. She is already here."

"It's true, Nate," Eliot said, joining the argument. "She's already in this. What's the point in trying to hide her from it? If anything, she'll be in more danger if she doesn't know what's going on."

They all turned to Nate as he stumbled over his words. "Nah, she can't help, it's too dangerous, and she's…not like us, she's…she's…adorable." He said it with a shrug as if it explained everything, and he expected everyone to agree with him.

Hardison, Eliot, and Sophie all chuckled and laughed and Parker inched closer to Maggie. "No, Nate, no she's not." She smiled and pet Maggie's head in the same way she had the first time she had heard those words, from the girl currently doing the petting. "She's not adorable anymore."

7.

Dan had just picked her up from the airport for this job, and while she genuinely liked his enthusiasm for art, museums, and also, often, the security measures that protect them, he could be very, very tiring.

This job was his. He put in most of the work and effort, and she came in at the last moment to check his work. (And was getting paid the same amount as him for it...it was wonderful being the expert.)

She actually didn't want this particular job. The collection belonged to a private collector that had been rumoured to have taken more than he bought, and bought what he did through…unofficial channels, though nothing had ever been proven.

Still, the money was good and she hated the down time between jobs, so she indulged Dan. "His collection is amazing," Dan gushed about the collector, who had recently bought a gallery downtown to showcase his art. "There are contractors there 24 hours a day to get the showcase area ready for the opening. The entire gallery gets shut down tight at night, and there's a secondary vault in the basement for the bigger pieces."

Dan then turned to speaking about the art itself for the remainder of the car ride, but when they entered the museum he went back to pointing out the security measures with the paintings and sculptures, as they made their way down the stairs. "They know we're coming," he continued. "The pieces that I've been working with have already been brought down for the night but I couldn't wait to show you."

He smiled and noticed Maggie checking out the vault and the contractors working around it. "They're still installing even more counter measures. A pressure sensitive floor, seismic sensors, heat sensors, motion detectors, an RBG keypad…this vault," Dan paused for a rare moment to take it all in. "This vault is impenetrable."

Maggie turned around in a slow circle, taking in the vault and the personnel, finally noticing a short stocky man with long hair in construction coveralls and a hardhat, and a blonde ponytail disappearing around the corner.

"Oh, Dan," she said, and paused to enjoy the moment, and checked her right pocket for the earbud she knew was already there. "You're adorable."

So there ends my first Leverage fic. Please review. I love constructive criticism, and any way I can do better in the future. Thank you for reading!