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Quinn blinked, then blinked again. But the beautiful vision of Eliot Spencer standing in the middle of his crap-tastic job remained solid and unwavering.
“Quinn, You're a hard man to find,” Eliot quipped, smiling
“Eliot Spencer,” Quinn practically purred, completely unconcerned by the half dozen or so armed men standing around them. “You picked a hell of a time to settle scores there, pal.”
“Who are you?” The leader of the brainless group of thugs asked, irritated by the hitter’s sudden interruption.
“Heeey, I’m not settling any scores here,” Eliot said to Quinn as visions of his blond lover stealing all of the bacon during their last rendezvous danced through his head. “I came to offer you a job.”
That was new. And concerning. What kind of job could the leverage team have gotten that required two hitters? “As you can see,” Quinn said, keeping his cool and holding up his cuffed hands, “I am fairly unhappy in my current job situation. What terms did you have in mind?”
“One week,” Eliot said, pausing to knock out two of the goons and straighten his shirt. “Six figures”
“Not bad,” Quinn said, rising from his chair to knock out two more goons.
“And I’d owe you a favor,” Eliot added, smiling at the last two goons not being able to figure out who to point their guns at.
‘Keep that harness on in bed,’ Quinn thought before speaking, “Alright, I can deal with that.”
Both hitters moved to punch out the last two goons before shaking hands, the deal made.
“Now if only we could get the keys to these handcuffs,” Quinn said, giving an annoyed smile at the shaking leader of the unconscious goons.
“Whose got ‘em? You got ‘em? Do you have them?” Eliot growled at the leader stalking forward to grab the keys from the terrified man before sending him off to sleep with his friends.
“Useful little things,” Quinn purred, twirling the liberated cuffs around one finger and giving Eliot bedroom eyes.
“Damn it Quinn,” Eliot growled, stopping off and resigning himself to fighting while hard.
-
Safely tucked away in Hardison’s new ‘batcave’ Quinn stared up at the painting Eliot was hanging on a pillar.
“The hell is this?” He asked, both confused and impressed at the oil painting of old Nate.
“Don't ask,” Eliot grumbled as he carefully straightened the painting.
“I made that, me!” Hardison pointed out proudly, glaring at Chaos and daring him to make a snide remark after talking to Parker like that.
“Hmm,” Quinn mused, lowering his voice as Eliot ushered him over to the war room tables. “I wonder if he does nudes.”
“Do not give him ideas!” Eliot hissed, having the grace to blush as he correctly guessed the model Quinn had in mind.
"You really like it?" Hardison asked in a soft voice, lingering next to the hitters' table for a moment longer.
"You have a gift," Quinn responded with an honesty he didn't normally allow himself. He was rewarded with a beautiful grin from Eliot's packmate… no, his packmate.
As Nate gathered everyone around Quinn had to shake his head at the motley crew Nate had gathered to combat this new old enemy. The plan was just crazy enough to work but Quinn didn't like how close his pack was getting to a man with nothing to lose and a score to settle.
“Can I hit him?” Quinn asked after Chaos and Hardison finished explaining the plan.
“Which one?” Eliot grumbled, glaring his Damn it Hardison glare at the techno babbling hacker.
“That one,” Quinn said, nodding toward Chaos who was already getting on his last nerve.
“Ok,” Nate said standing up to finish addressing the congregation. “Here's our problem. Hardison signs on to any computer on Latimer's network, it triggers alarms. Parker goes anywhere near anything valuable, alarms. Eliot shows his face anywhere, a lot of alarms. Sophie talks to anyone Latimer knows, and I bet Dubenich will personally fall out of the sky. That is why we need you. But you are gonna follow my people's lead. And I want to make something very clear. Nobody goes near Victor Dubenich. He is mine. Understood?.”
Understood indeed, even without Nate’s target practicing, Quinn could tell exactly what was on the psychic’s mind. Revenge. And who was Quinn to stand in the way of such a good idea.
"He's falling," he murmured to Eliot as they watched the mastermind from the shadows.
"I know," Eliot whispered, a heaviness in his voice that worried Quinn.
The blond hitter had made peace with his relationship with guns and fangs long ago, but Eliot had a very different kind of peace, one Quinn worried he might abandon with that kind of tone.
-
Quinn was really starting to regret not cold cocking Chaos when he had the chance. But right now, listening to Chaos’s gloating while his packmates were getting shot at was not the time for punching. It was time for threatening. “How many fingers do you need to type? Round down.” He growled. At least Parker was safe.
Throwing Chaos into the water had been fun, hearing him objectify Parker was not. The clever little wind sprite deserves so much more than disgusting words said from vile lips. So with a snarl, Quinn slammed Chaos’s head into his keyboard.
The hacker only had a moment to sit up and open his mouth in shock before Archie tased him and sent Chaos crashing back down onto the keys.
Parker smiled at Quinn, one of her special smiles she reserved for Hardison and Eliot that warmed Quinn down to the tips of his toes. Not entirely sure what to do, Quinn quickly moved away but not before hearing Archie comment.
“I approve of your young men,”
That made Quinn even warmer, and he was practically grinning by the time he found Eliot. His smile was even larger as Eliot in turn grinned as he listened to Hardison talk about how he finally understood how Eliot felt, how he just wanted to hit something. But said smile was gone not long after as Quinn watched the gun in Eliot’s hand shake.
“I’m thinkin’ about savin’ my friend some trouble,” Eliot whispered, fighting himself to take the shot, to save Nate from himself and take the punishment instead. Quinn watched as Eliot slowly lowered and unloaded the gun.
And that was how they were different. Eliot would fight like hell to get them out in one piece, physically and mentally. Quinn made damn sure they would never be in danger again.
“Hell, Next time give me the gun, I’m your huckleberry.” Quinn said as they walked away, taking the unloaded gun with a sigh, “Little late now.”
“Love that movie,” Eliot chuckled, gently knocking into Quinn's side.
And that’s why they worked well together, each respecting the other’s way of facing the world.
“Who the hell doesn't? Date night?” Quinn asked, lowering his voice at that last part so only the two of them could hear.
It had been fun working with Leverage, getting to know the nastiest crew this side of the Atlantic. It had been even more fun getting to know the rest of Eliot's pack, getting to know Quinn's fellow packmates. It had been so very much fun getting a kiss on the cheek from both Hardison and Parker when Quinn had offered to teach them sword fighting as he watched them mock duel with the emperor's sword they had lifted for the con.
It was over now, the crew laughing and cheering as the dollar signs on the protection against the batcave’s wall went up and up. Eliot took Quinn's hand and shook it. "Money's being wired to your account right now, Quinn. Thank you."
"It's not about the money," Quinn purred, tugging Eliot close to murmur in his ear, "thanks for the chance to get closer to them."
Eliot hummed, feeling tears of happiness press against his eyes. "Thank you for wanted to know them."
But the job wasn't done yet, not for Eliot. Not as Dubenich's men stormed the batcave, chasing after Nate. The job wasn't done until Nate slowly set his gun down and walked back towards them, his crew, his family.
"Nate! Can we keep the cave!?" Hardison hollered over the sound of the crashing water.
Eliot rolled his eyes, "you can't have a batcave without a car! How are you going to get a car in there."
"Hey, hold it. Don't be so hasty." Hardison insisted, grinning, knowing he had the perfect hook for his hitter, "Look, hear me out. Two words: 'Eliot signal'."
Eliot blinked several times and stumbled as he followed the rest of the crew away across the rocks. "Hey, Hardison, man, what are you talking about? Like a light you would shine up in the air, huh? How does that work? And how would you see it during the day, first of all? And what would you put on it? Like a wolf?"
"Ooh, yeah!" Parker chimed in excitedly, already scheming on what she would need to steal to make it happen.
"Or a knife or a wolf? A wolf is cooler. See, I'm into that" Eliot continued, eyes bright and excited as he really got into the idea. "See cause I'm a wolf!"
"Hell yeah you are baby," Hardison murmured as they paused next to Lucille. He glanced to make sure that Nate and Sophie were too wrapped up with themselves before ducking down to press a kiss to Eliot's cheek that promised a signal and so very much more.
"You're The wolf," Parker said, contentedly settling between her boys.
Hardison and Parker smiled, exchanging looks and ideas. Ideas about caves and homes and new beginnings with the love of their lives who was finally within reach.