A/N: This is my first Leverage fic, so I hope I've gotten the characters right! Also, this is more angsty than I originally intended, but what can you do? Features Sophie and Eliot friendship/comfort and the messed up logic of over-protective Eliot.

Disclaimer: Neither Leverage nor its characters are mine.

Sophie's scream was short, easily cut off by the mark, but it was enough for Eliot. He was there within five minutes, barely even winded, although he'd taken out three or four men along the way. He didn't hesitate once he reached the mark's office, kicking the door open and striding in. Sophie, eyes wide, stared at him from where she lay on the floor. Her hands were tied behind her back, her blouse ripped slightly, a bruise forming on one cheekbone. The mark stood above her, two thugs by his side. The men turned when Eliot entered.

Eliot moved quickly, taking out the first thug before the guy knew what had hit him. A sharp kick to the knee then an elbow to the face was all it took for there to be only two men between him and Sophie. The second thug took Eliot only slightly more time. Eliot was furious—these men had touched Sophie, they had hurt her, and worse: he hadn't been there to protect her. It took more of Eliot's strength not to kill thug number two than it did to take him out.

Then it was just the mark. Eliot turned to him, only to freeze: the man had pulled a gun. It was pointed at Sophie. The mark just smiled at him. Eliot didn't have time to think, to doubt, to consider. Instead, Eliot took a step forward, grabbing the mark's shoulder and spinning him around so that he was facing him, not Sophie, as the gun fired. Eliot jerked as the bullet entered his arm, growling as he swiftly disarmed the mark one-handed. The mark just stared at him in shock, giving Eliot the split second he needed to throw an elbow that crunched the man's nose and rolled his eyes up into his head. Eliot gave the falling man a little shove so that he wouldn't land on Sophie.

Then Eliot knelt beside the grifter, carefully helping her to sit up, brushing her curled hair behind her ears, fumbling slightly with the knots on her wrists as he tried to untie her one handed. She was shaking, tears threatening to spill from her eyes, and as he tried to get her to stand, they did, and she was sobbing. Eliot paused for a moment, unsure, before pulling her close with his good arm, careful to shift the injured one away so that her body didn't put pressure on it. He held her like that as he reassured the others of her safety over the comms.

When the others arrived, they found Eliot kneeling on the floor, Sophie sobbing in his arms. Nate ran to them, pulling Sophie towards him, brushing up against Eliot's wound. Eliot couldn't hold in his grunt of pain, and when Sophie finally noticed the blood, he could see the horror on her face as she realized. It was alright, he tried to reassure her, it wasn't that bad. The bullet hadn't hit an artery or anything, once they got back to the van he could patch himself up. Sophie argued for a hospital but Eliot refused—he was used to handling his own wounds. Anyway, he reasoned as he dodged Parker's poke, the only reason he'd gotten shot was because he'd had to come to Sophie's rescue and the only reason he'd had to come to Sophie's rescue was because he hadn't been there to protect her in the first place. So, really, he deserved the wound.

Eliot watched as Nate pulled Sophie protectively against him as they walked, as Hardison guided Parker out of the office, and he followed them, letting the pain in his arm wash over him because he needed to learn, he needed to remember the lesson that only the pain could teach him: he needed to be there to protect them all, because things were a lot less messy when you didn't have to clean them up since you hadn't let them happen in the first place.

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