Second Leverage Fic. ^_^ I'm certainly proud of myself, I've been doing a good job at updating lately. I hope you enjoy this. It's kind of sad and not the norm. Read it and see, you may like it.

Disclaimer: Ownership goes to the rightful owners.

She hadn't planned the job. It had been need to go, right at that moment, and he hadn't liked that.

-X-

They just got back from a job and were surprised to see a man waiting for Parker. They had all sort of scattered through the apartment as they walked in, not expecting at all for him to be her boyfriend. They had just been talking when their voices started getting louder. The man was yelling by the time Eliot walked in, and as soon as he did he saw the guy backhand Parker.

She stumbled back towards the wall. The guy shoved her against the wall. She hit it with force and she slid down it. He was about to kick her. The whole team was there by now and Eliot grabbed him and yanked him away. Parker was shaking on the floor. Sophie rushed over to her and wrapped her arms around her and held her.

Eliot beat into him, yelling and shouting. Nate tried to grab onto him, scared that he might kill him. Hardison jumped in and grabbed one of his arms, as Nate grabbed the other.

"Eliot, Eliot, stop." what Nate was saying wasn't registering with Eliot. This guy had hit Parker and that wasn't okay with him. The red tinting his vision was starting to fade as he started to calm down, slowly. The guy was unconscious and bleeding. Nate and Hardison got him far enough away that they thought safe to let go of his arms. It was almost scary how pissed he was, then he calmly walked over to Parker and kneeled down beside her.

He was perfectly calm with her. He turned her face to see the damage that had done to the side of her face.

She was shaking badly and flinched at his touch. She hadn't been this jumpy around him before this had happend. He needed to know, "Parker, has he hit you before?" he asked softly.

She looked down at the floor. "Parker, talk to me. Has he ever hit you before?"

"Eliot," she said quietly, "let it go. Please."

"I won't let it go. If he's been hitting you he deserves way worse then what I did to him already. Now tell me, has he hit you before?" he asked with some force."

"Yes," she said almost quiet enough that he hadn't heard her.

"Parker," he paused, "what has he done to you?" he asked, the red coming back into his view.

Nate could tell he was getting angry again. Trying to avoid something that Eliot might regret he butted in. "How about you take Parker upstairs and get her calmed down, Eliot. I'll clean up down here." He paused to look over to the still unnamed man laying unconscious on the floor.

"Fine," he said grufly and stood up. He looked as if he was just going to help Parker up but as soon as she was on her feet he lifted her up bridal style and carried her up the stairs, with her protesting the whole time.

She must have realized that he wasn't giving up and crossed her arms over her chest with a slight pout on her face as he carried her upstairs.

-X-

Nate looked around and realized that it was going to be harder to fix than it had looked five minutes ago. This guy was big . Not Hardison tall or Eliot built but he was big none the less. He had Hardison help drag him up on to the couch.

After they had that manged he looked around and almost wanted to hurt Eliot for the mess before he remembered why it was there was a mess in the first place.

He hated to think that anyone had hurt Parker like that. It wasn't right in his mind, probably because of how innocent she seemed. She was child like and it didn't sit well with him that someone could hurt her. He looked at the man on the couch. He was just lucky he wasn't dead.

-X-

Upstairs, Eliot had got Parker to stop shaking, but he could tell that she was still upset.

"Parker, look at me," she looked up, "he can't hurt you anymore, I promise." She looked a little comforted by the fact that Eliot was there if Zander tried anything else. She realized that Eliot didnt even know his name yet.

"Do you wanna know who he is?" she asked quietly. He looked at her for a moment, almost analyzing her.

"If you want to tell me Parker, I'm listening."

She slowly looked up at him, "His name is Zander Jones," she took a steadying breath, "A powerful, well known, criminal defense lawyer. He was really good to me at first. I've never felt like I was wanted before except on the team, and I had myself convinced it was just because you guys needed me." she paused.

"It was different and then he started getting mad when I couldn't go out, yelling and throwing stuff. It was usually because of a job but he doesn't know what we do so I'm sure he assumed I was cheating." she finished quietly.

He looked at her, trying to figure out what was going on inside her head. He noticed a light colored bruise starting to form on her cheek, and that didn't make him to happy. He closed his eyes and started breathing, trying to calm himself.

She looked at him and could tell he was getting mad at assumed answers to the questions he wanted to ask. He closed his eyes and she knew he was trying to calm down so he didn't blow up. She stared at him for a few seconds.

"If your wondering," she said quietly and he opened his eyes, "he never raped me." She could see him visibly relax slightly at that statement. She was kind of surprised that that was what he was worried about. He should know she can take care of herself. She looked at him as he slowly paced the room, still looking a little antsy.

"Calm down, Eliot," she said quietly. She could tell that irritated him. His face was all red and his eyes made him looked deadly, which she knew he could be.

He took a calming breath, "I sorry but I can't. Thinking of what he could've done to you. I just-I don't want to think of what could've happened and-" He stopped at the look on her face.

"I can take care of myself, I've been doing it my whole life. And you should know that I would've came to you before it got really bad or if he took it to far. He hasn't ever acted like this before. It's not normally how he is. He just throws stuff and every now and again it gets really bad.."

He was quiet and didn't really have anything to say to that. She looked so small, practically flinching away from him, looking like she's waiting for him to do something and he doesn't like that. She has never been scared of him before and now, it didn't seem right.

"How bad Parker?" Now he was kind of scared of what he had done to her and really wanted to hurt something.

"Never as bad as today." That made the feeling to kill something less severe in him but still. He punched the wall. Hard. He heard a crack but the pain didn't even register in his brain at the moment. He knew it would later but not then.

He looked over at Parker and realized he had really scared her. She was on the other side of the room shaking and eying him like she needed to protect herself from him. 'Dammit,' he thought, knowing he had screwed up. He sat down on the bed.

"Parker," he said super quietly, "Come on over here, I'm sorry. You know I could never hurt you." Still she eyed him nervously. "Please Parker," his voice was strained, wanting to help but knowing better then to go any closer.

She slowly crawled on to the bed and over to him. He pulled her into his side and held her, knowing that was what she needed.

OK, so, I know I put a lot of detail in this for it to be just a one shot but it could end like this and still make sense so, if you want more tell me. Reviews are welcome and make me smile.

PS: the review button is lonely and wants you to click it. ^_^

~Maia Willow~