Title: A Walt Disney Christmas
Author: happier_here
Rating: PG
Show: Leverage
Pairing: Sophie/Parker, friendship
Spoilers: Set in season one, when they still have the Leverage office building.
Summary: The aftermath of the Leverage Christmas Office party.
Author's Notes: Our local station is playing the first season of Leverage. When I saw this picture, I immediatly thought of Parker. So I wrote a fluffy little Christmas story.

A Walt Disney Christmas

Sophie was dozing in her chair, with her feet up on her desk and the blinds hermitically shut. Last night she had overindulged at an Ambassadors party that she had crashed. Not to look for a mark (though Alexandros, the son of the Greek ambassador seemed ripe for the picking), but just to test if she still had it in her to improvise her way through security. She was only as good as her skills, after all.

If not for Nate's insistence they tried to keep normal office hours, as not to arouse the suspicion of their neighbours, she'd still be in bed, sleeping her way through this blasted hangover. Out of spite she had already raided his medical cabinet, but apparently a semi-alcoholic like him didn't rely on painkillers. He probably nursed his headaches with more booze.

She'd tried to rehydrate herself with the vile orange lemonade Hardison kept stocking the office fridges with. So when he crashed into her office, she assumed she hadn't been allowed to. She had been very close to a fake apology (just to make him go away), when she had cracked open her other eye and had seen Elliott. He too, looked furious, but he didn't care about the lemonade, did he? And she knew better than to touch his organically grown fruit.

"What?" She wanted to asked, but it came out like a croak.

"Parker stole our remote."

"Get out." Honestly, two grown men against a petite woman? Did they have to bother her for that?

"But Sophiiee." Hardison wined. "It's Parker, she could have climbed through the air vents and hid it anywhere."

"Then ask her." Honestly, did everyone needed her to fake normal behaviour?

"She won't tell. And I promised Nate I wouldn't hit her."

Sophie shot Elliott a particularly nasty look. He was probably kidding, but that didn't mean he was allowed to get away with it. When she saw he got the message, she turned back to Hardison.

"Then bribe her."

"We did. She still said no." Elliott explained.

That made Sophie sit up straight and pay attention. "Parker, our Parker, saying no to money?"

Where pigs flying? She would jump of a building for money. Well… Parker would jump anyway. But the young woman would do anything for money…

"So you'll go in and tell her to give the remote to us?" Honestly, boys.

"No, I'm going in to see if she's alright." If she didn't want money, maybe she was ill.

"But the remote?" She could hear Hardison say when she was already on her way to the conference room. "Yeah, she's gonna get us the remote."

When she walked in to the conference room, she got quite the shock. Parker was sitting in one of the chairs, staring intently at what seemed to be pre-movie trailers, with an enormous tub of popcorn on her lap. When the salty smell reached her nose, her stomach turned inside out. She must have groaned, because Parker suddenly noticed she was there. The girl jumped up, spilling popcorn everywhere, and gestured wildly for Sophie to join her.

"C'mon Sophie. I rented Aladdin, the Disney movie. I even paid for it." The latter part came out so honestly and proud, that Sophie couldn't bite back a laugh. She had been working on Parker's social skills lately and the girl was improving.

"Why a Disney movie?" She asked, a bit confused about the choice for a children's' film.

"Because I liked the DVD with Ducktales you got me so much. They're from Disney too, right?"

She nodded. She could kick herself, obviously alcohol did really destroy brain cells, because how could she have forgotten their office Christmas party (Hardison had insisted) only a few weeks ago.

She felt horrible. Looking around the Secret Santa's of this year really had delivered. Hardison was all but making out with his new what-you-call it for his pc, Sophie herself had a new Hermès-scarf wrapped around her neck, Elliott was playing with his new knifeset and Nate was enjoying the smell of his special brand of Bolivian coffee beans.

Sophie however had drawn Parker. And she had spent days pondering what to buy for the girl. Thieving gear was out, she was sure Parker designed most rigs herself anyway and she didn't think Parker had any more hobbies than that. She had decided on just gift-wrapping a briefcase full of money, when she had seen the print in a window shop.

Parker tore open the paper. "Oh my god!" She yelled excitedly. "It's ducks, playing with money. A whole lot of money! This is so cool, thank you, Sophie." Parker had wrapped herself around Sophie, crushing her in a bear hug. She could hardly breath.

Nate mouthed: 'Scrooge McDuck?' at her and she waved his concerns away. She'd like to see what he would have gotten her. Next year she was going to rig this entire Secret Santa system.

One thing led to another and it became clear that Parker didn't know who Scrooge McDuck was. "You never saw or read Donald Duck?" Elliott asked with disbelief in his voice. Parker quickly mumbled something about her orphanage having a strict no-tv policy. Luckily Nate changed the subject (Who wants pudding?) before the mood could turn sour. Each and every of them had an unhappy past, but Parker's probably had had it worst.

Sophie vowed to set right their faux-pas and had braved the last minute Christmas shoppers (the party had been on the 23th) to buy Parker every Disney Duck DVD she could find. It hadn't been that big of a sacrifice, she had found the most adorable set of Prada boots.

Meanwhile in the present Parker was still rambling on about Disney movies and how she had seen everything Sophie had brought her and how she went to the rental place. "..And I chose Aladdin, because of the summary on the back."

Sophie smiled, off course Parker would chose the movie about a thief that found a magic lamp. Only Robin Hood would have fit her better.

"You want to watch?" Parker suddenly asked, looking very hopeful. "The guys refused, they wanted to watch 70's wrestling or something like that."

"So you stole their remote." It all made sense. And she could see Parker's point, the men did hog the tv-set. Parker shrugged unabashed. "It's my turn now."

Yes, yes it was. The boys would just have to learn to share. "I'd love to join you, Parker." Sophie said and settled into the chair next to her.

The trailers ended and the movie started, but Sophie became aware that Parker was staring at her instead of at the screen.

"You look awful." Parker said. Sophie spluttered at the harsh assessment. Perhaps her lessons in social conduct had gone to waste. But then Parker surprised her yet again.

"Are you sick?" She asked worriedly. "Do you want some tea?"

Sophie's stomach lurched in answer. "Yes, I'd love some tea."

Parker stood up, opened one of the drawers of the desk they were sitting at and paused the movie. She handed her the remote, "Guard this", before she hurried away.

A knock on the glass wall startled her. Hardison was giving her thumbs up and Elliot gestured for her to bring the remote to them.

She lazily replied with a two-fingered gesture (sorry boys, girls afternoon in) and used the control to close the blinds around the glass walls. If they were going to watch a movie they were going to do it properly. She then saw the box of popcorn and thought, well yes, as properly as possible when hung-over. Maybe next time.

She wondered if Parker would want to see Anastasia with her. It wasn't a Disney movie, but it was animated. And the story was about a classic identity con… perfect for the two of them. She'd have to suggest it sometime. For now she settled for Aladdin.