A/N: This is my first crossover fic ever, but I really have been wanting to write it and plan to write more with the same characters eventually after this WIP is finished. Please let me know what you think!

She had never been more grateful to get out of New York City. For such a large, thriving metropolis, it had become tiny and suffocating for her. She hadn't taken a vacation day since being hired by Atlantic Cable News, so she'd spoken with Charlie and Mac who quickly arranged for one of the daytime correspondents to fill her slot and she took off without a word to anyone else.

If anyone had told Sloan Sabbith that she'd be happily leaving New York to return to Oklahoma, she would have looked at them as though they'd lost their minds.

There had been a time where she'd hated Oklahoma – a time where she'd wanted absolutely nothing to do with it or the people there. But she needed it – needed the small town where she'd spent summers with her aunt and uncle – needed the slower pace. She needed comfort and to forget about everything that had forced her away.

The Senior Financial reporter for News Night was exhausted as she stepped off of her plane and onto the tarmac but grateful the moment she saw her Aunt Kim. She quickly through her arms around the woman who'd been like a second mother to her all of her life and sighed contently, "It's so good to see you," Sloan breathed. "Thank you for letting me come stay on such short notice."

When she pulled back, she realized that her aunt seemed more gaunt and pale than usual. She was worrying away at her lower lip and even though she stopped to flash her niece a smile, it didn't reach her eyes.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, dear. I suppose it's just been a very long week." She reached and cupped her niece's face in her hands. "You've grown so much, look at you. We try to stay up to watch you on the news every night, Sloan. We're so proud of you."

Sloan smiled at her aunt and allowed the older woman to lead her to the car lot so that they could head into town.

As they drove from the airport, Sloan couldn't help but notice that the small town she'd spent summers in as a child had changed dramatically. Familiar storefronts were boarded up and closed, lots of still-open stores were empty. Her brow crumpled as they passed a park she'd ride her bicycle in with other children, only to find one or two people there.

"What happened?" she asked, sitting up straighter to peer around.

"Hmmm?" responded Kim, as though there was no significant change.

Frowning, Sloan tore her eyes away from her view and turned to her aunt. "Will Uncle Sam be home?"

There was another deliberate pause. "No, your uncle had to take care of some work at the shop, but he'll be back in time for dinner. Just enough time for you to settle in."

The rest of the drive was taken in silence and, by the time that they parked in the driveway of the ranch home that her aunt and uncle inhabited, Sloan had a knot in her stomach. The comforts of Oklahoma she'd been expecting had vanished. Her aunt moved to pop the trunk so that she could retrieve her bags and Sloan forced it closed again. "It's okay, I'll bring them in later. If you don't mind, I'm going to go for a walk. The plane gave me a migraine and the fresh air will help."

Her aunt offered to join her, but Sloan convinced her it was for the best she go alone and, once Kim was tucked in the house, she made her way back towards town to her uncle's general store. Sam was related by marriage only, but had always been Sloan's favorite relative. Even though she didn't understand much of the appeal of living in a small town or any of the wide-open space, she liked the way he looked at the world. He was always honest with her and she hoped he'd give her better answers than Kim had.

The walk was longer than she remembered and she regretted not changing from her heels into more comfortable shoes, but she'd braved worse in Manhattan and pressed on. The rows of abandoned shops and stores was broken up only by Sam's store, but she was surprised to find the sign on the door announcing it was closed. Not one to give up, she ducked around the back and found the old side door and was grateful to find it unlocked. When she pulled it open, she opened her mouth to call out for him but was cut off by the distinct sound of someone howling in pain.

Creeping closer, past the shelves of inventory in the backroom, she peered around the corner just in time to see her uncle on the ground, surrounded by three men in dark suits.

"When are you going to give up old man?" one of them sneered.

"Hey!" Sloan shouted, stepping out of her hiding spot.

"Sloan," Sam mumbled hoarsely before a look of panic came over him. "GO!"

Her eyes went wide as she realized all three men were slowly moving closer, leering at her. She took off as quickly as she could, well aware that there were still three sets of footsteps behind her as she slammed out the side door to make her way to the streets.

She took off as if the devil were on her tail and ran with everything she had, grateful that she kept a regimented daily exercise routine in her schedule. But she'd never run on the tredmill in heels and as she rounded the corner, one snapped beneath her.

Sloan had been glancing behind her to see how far away her pursuers were when she'd smacked into the hard body in front of her.

She looked up in time to see the man she'd collided with. He had long hair and piercing blue eyes and he didn't seem at all happy to have been knocked into so unceremoniously. Behind him were two others, a man and a woman.

The woman let out a low whistle. "Never a good idea to bump into a grumpy Eliot," she commented with a sing-song tone in her voice but then snapped her mouth shut when all three members of her team saw the three goons rounding the corner after her.

The man she'd collided frowned and quickly and roughly pushed Sloan into his companions They quickly dragged her to the sidewalk for safekeeping.

"Hardison," the blonde said quickly, "Make sure she's alright."

The blonde insisted as she kept an eye on the man she'd called Eliot. There were grunts and shouts of pain but Sloan's back was to the fight.

"You alright?" the man named Hardison asked, concern etched on his face before looking away. "Parker, what are you doing – get away from them," he ordered as the blonde huffed and moved back to stare at Sloan expectantly.

Sloan was panting; her hair clung to her face with sweat. She shook her head and opened her mouth to reply when she heard someone behind her scream in pain. She glanced over her shoulder just in time to see the man she'd collided with standing over the unconscious bodies of the three men that had been chasing her. She swallowed thickly, not sure if she should be apprehensive or grateful.

"Let's get her out of here," Eliot said gruffly, looking her over to see if she was okay.

"Wait!" she gasped.

"Oh, good, she's not mute," Parker remarked without a hint of sarcasm.

"My Uncle Sam, he's…" she frowned and quickly toed from her shoes.

"Where is he?" Eliot asked roughly and, even though Sloan wasn't sure who this stranger was, she felt the need to trust him. She beckoned and led them around the corner and down the block towards the general store. Leading the three of them down the alley to the side entrance, she rushed inside to help her uncle who was still on the ground.

"Uncle Sam, are you okay?"

The older man coughed and sputtered a bit before looking up at his niece, grateful she seemed to be okay after the men had left in pursuit of her. "I'm sorry you had to see that."

"Don't be silly," Sloan insisted, hugging him gently in case he was more injured than he appeared.

"Who is this?" Sam asked suddenly, stiffening at the presence of three more strangers.

"I ran into them, they protected me."

"The question is, protected you from who?" Parker asked suddenly while Eliot peered out the door again, making sure they weren't going to receive more unpleasant company.

"I don't know," Sloan frowned. "Probably just some thugs trying to rob the place."

She didn't notice that Eliot had knelt down less than a foot from her, he was focused on the look on her uncle's face. She'd originally taken it to be pain but as she followed her protector's gaze, she realized that wasn't the case. It was guilt. "Uncle Sam?" she asked uncertainly.

"Can we get home, I'll explain there."

Eliot Spencer was distracted as he stood in the modest ranch home owned by Sam and Kim Davies. Even as Kim Davies offered him a hot cup of tea before scolding her husband for landing himself in such serious trouble and her niece for foolishly confronting three clearly violent men.

Parker was seated in an armchair in the living room, Hardison stood against the wall opposite him. This was just their luck – finding a client even when they weren't looking for one.

Still, Eliot normally kept his gaze fixed on the client, trying to impose the idea that he could protect them and set them at ease. But he couldn't tear his eyes away from the hallway that led to the rest of the house.

Sam sighed as his wife berated him and frowned before continuing to answer Parker's questions. "The general store used to be one of the best places in town. It was more than a shop; it was a place we'd gather where we got to know our neighbor. The kids could come in for candy, the women for groceries, and the men to flip through the paper and browse the small hardware selection."

"Did you run into financial trouble?" Eliot blinked. Parker hadn't asked the question. Instead it was the niece who was walking down the steps, she had changed from her original expensive looking pantsuit and into a pair of jeans and a baggy plaid shirt and also wore thick-rimmed glasses with rectangular frames. "If it was money, you could have called me, I would have tried-"

Sam shook his head. "No, Sloan, sweetie. It wasn't financial. At least not really. There's a real estate man, or at least that's what he calls himself. Clayton Monderine. He's a real piece of work. Started putting a strong arm on the town, forced a lot of businesses to sell and then somehow drove businesses away for others. People are saying he wants to clear the whole town out to level it down. Only a few of us won't go."

Kim Davies began muttering something distraught in Japanese that made everyone else's ears perk up.

"What did she say?" Parker asked calmly.

"She said –" Eliot began.

"She said that the rest of the few were talking about leaving, one is in the hospital and another had their store vandalized the other day," Sloan said softly before crossing the room to hug her aunt.

"I keep telling him to just sell, we'll go anywhere else and be happy and safer," Kim wailed.

"And I told you, my own granddaddy built this house with his two hands and my old man built that store. I'll be damned if I'm going to give it up to a bully just because he's in a three-piece suit," Sam insisted.

"What if I told you we could help you keep your store and your home, Mr. Davies?" Parker asked, causing the man and his family to look up with concern.

"How can you do that?" Sloan asked, her voice full of doubt.

"By providing something we like to call – leverage."

AN: This is my first crossover fic ever. I really like the idea of creating a backstory for Sloan and wanted to explore her compatibility with Eliot. I have a few other Eliot/Sloan fics to start writing too but this is the one I'm starting with. Hope you like it!