Fic: Defying Mortality (1/5), Crossover Leverage/A:tS, NC-17

[elebridith]

Title: Defying Mortality

Author: elebridith

Fandom: Leverage/Angel the Series crossover

Pairing: Lindsey/Eliot, mentions of Nate/Sophie and Parker/Hardison

Rating: NC-17

Genre: Slash, crossover

Be aware of: mentions of child abuse and murder (non-descriptive)

Words: About 19800

Disclaimer: Not mine, no one, nothing. Just playing.

A/N: Set in my Face Value!Verse, Eliot and Lindsey live together now for over a year.

Inspired by the X-Men Logan/Remy fic "Aftermath" (here) by the awesome enemyfrigate, who generously allowed me to play with that plot. If you like Logan/Remy, check her stuff out, it's great!

CCAC = http://www.chicagocac.org/

Beta'd by havenward, awesome as ever! Thanks strangecreature and wendyr for additional help!

Summary: The team escapes death - and it's been too close for their liking. And thinking Eliot is dead for five very long minutes? Lindsey takes that very personal.



"Get out! Floor's wired with explosives, it's a trap! Get out!"

Nate's voice sounded frantic through the team's ear buds. Lindsey froze for a second and then sprinted for the stairs. He had never heard Nate sound this panicked before, which could only mean that the shit had really hit the fan this time. He bolted out of the front door, almost running over Sophie on his way out. Barely registering the snapping sound of the door falling shut behind them, he grabbed her hand and yanked her forward, not wasting breath on talking. They ran for the trees where Nate and Hardison waited at the van. Both of them were pale. Nate yelled "Eliot?" and Lindsey closed his eyes with relief as he could hear Eliot's voice answer through the comm.

"On my way out."

Nate released his breath. "Good. Parker?" He frowned as he got no reply. "Parker?" he repeated, this time even more urgent.

"One second, I almost got it!"

Hardison made a squeaky panicked noise. "Parker, get out! Floor's gonna blow!"

Eliot's voice cut in. "I'll get her."

Hardison bit his lip. "Hurry, guys, come on! HURRY!"

There was no answer. Nate balled his fists. Sophie grabbed Nate's upper arm tightly, and her eyes were wide with fear. Hardison just mouthed the words "Come on, come on, come on..." over and over again and Lindsey just stood, eyes fixed on the building, repeating the words in his mind. Come on, Eliot, come on, COME ON...

The second floor exploded with a deafening noise. Huge balls of flame blasted out the windows, spitting out smoke, debris and shattered glass. Lindsey stumbled backwards, quickly bringing his arms up, reflexively shielding his face from the blast. He was vaguely aware of someone screaming and wondered idly who it was, and it took him a while to realize that the sound came from himself. He forcibly closed his mouth and could practically feel a part of himself shutting down in order not to lose his mind. He stared at the flames, could hear Sophie whispering "No, no dear God, no..." and heard Hardison's desperate yelling, although he couldn't understand his words.

Lindsey's next move made complete sense, at least to himself. Eliot. He started to run forwards, towards the burning building. A hand clamping around his wrist stopped him. He looked at it, puzzled, and then turned his head to find out that the hand belonged to Nate.

"Lindsey, stop! What do you think you're doing?"

Lindsey stared blankly at him. "Nate..." Obviously Nate didn't understand the urgency of the situation. "Eliot is in there." Lindsey explained, his voice calm and collected now. "I have to get him out." Nate looked at him with an expression that Lindsey couldn't quite place. Pity? Sorrow? He frowned. Eliot is in that burning building. And Parker. Why's Nate holdin' me back?

"Lindsey..." Nate shook himself and turned around, but didn't loosen his grip on Lindsey's wrist. Lindsey made an impatient noise and tried to wrestle himself free, but Nate just tightened his grip more while he looked at Hardison.

"Hardison? How long until police and fire department are here?"

Hardison's face was a mask of barely controlled grief. His voice shook. "Out... out here? Twenty minutes, maybe twenty-five, tops." He gestured weakly. "They, they have this water tank, y'know, it's supposed to hold out until they're here, I don't know why it's not..." His voice trailed off and he wiped his eyes with an angry movement. "Nate... we... Parker..." He looked pleadingly at Nate and visibly deflated at his unchanging expression, dropped his hands down and fell back on his chair.

Nate gave him a small sympathetic look and then nodded slowly. He took a deep shaky breath, but didn't release his grip on Lindsey's wrist. He looked at Lindsey and then at the others, expression hard now. "We have to be out of here before the police arrive. Maybe they..." His voice trembled for a moment until he balled his fist and regained control of it. "If Parker and Eliot are not out in the next... ten minutes, we have to leave. I'm sorry." He exhaled slowly and looked away, letting go of Lindsey's wrist.

Lindsey froze. Leave? You can't be serious. Leave them dying? He looked around to the others, hoping for some kind of argument coming in, some reasoning that would persuade Nate to go for a rescue. Apart from a punch to the face. Yeah, that would go well.

Hardison just stared blankly in front of him, but Sophie frantically shook her head, eyes wide. "Nate, no. Maybe they are just hurt. You... we... can't just leave..." She stared at him, and obviously didn't find what she was looking for in his face. She made a desperate sound and started pounding Nate's chest with fury. "No! They are our team, our... family, Nate, you can't..."

Nate caught her hands gently and looked at her, expression softening this time. "Soph..." His voice was strained with the effort to keep it from cracking. "If they aren't out by then... look." He pointed at the inferno that still raged on the second floor and was almost down to the first floor already, shattering windows and pouring out smoke. Nate touched Sophie's shoulder gently. "If they are alive, they'll either answer the comm or manage to get out. I'm not letting anyone else go in there. Look at it." He pointed at the burning building, but no one looked at it. He continued, voice a little choked but firm, even with a touch of impatience. "If they were in this... they're dead."

Nate continued to speak, to explain, but Lindsey didn't hear it anymore. Dead. Four letters, one word, like a quick punch to the stomach. And it cracked Lindsey's hastily assembled shell of denial as easily as a hammer breaks fine china. No. He stumbled backwards, barely hearing Hardison's outcry and Sophie's choked sobs. He somehow managed to catch his balance again, but his mind was racing. No. Eliot... Please God no. His vision began to blur, but then a sharp pain in his right hand brought it into focus again. He looked down on it, staring blankly at the tiny drops of blood that welled up from the halfmoon-shaped bruises where he had dug in his fingernails too deep.

Finally he remembered to breathe again, but he still felt completely numb. Words whirled in his brain, repeating themselves again and again. Eliot. Parker. Ten minutes. Dead. Then another thought hit him. I didn't apologize. I didn't... such a stupid fight, and now... His breath caught in his throat, causing a choking sound. He clenched his hands around the van's doorframe, trying to keep himself upright. Hardison looked at him with concern, despite his own fears.

"Lindsey? You know..." Hardison's voice was rough. "If anyone can get out there, it's those two, right? Now me, I'd already be lost, but Parker and Eliot... they can do it, right?" It was as much a reassurance as a desperate question, with Hardison's eyes begging Lindsey to agree.

Lindsey looked at him, trying to speak, but failing at first. Finally he managed a crooked smile and put his hand on Hardison's shoulder. "Right. Yeah, they... they can do it." He wanted to say something more, wanting somehow to give encouragement despite that he felt it was hollow, but Nate's hoarse voice interrupted them.

"Two minutes."

Lindsey bit his lower lip to prevent himself from screaming out Eliot's name. His hand still on Hardison's shoulder, he could feel Hardison's body stiffen at Nate's words. He heard Sophie making a pained whimpering sound, but kept his eyes on the building. Come on, come on...

"Three minutes."

Already? Feeling freezing cold, he wrapped his arms around himself and buried his hands in the sleeves of his jacket. He wanted the ticking time to Slow down, fuck, that clock's not right, no way the seconds really go by this fast, it's not fair, they just need a little more time to get out of there, I need to apologize, it just can't end like this...

"Four minutes."

Lindsey tore his eyes away from the building, looking at the others. Hardison was crying silently now, still staring at the burning house with tears flowing down his face. Sophie clung to Nate, her face buried at his neck, her shoulders shaking. Nate had an arm wrapped around her, his face was pale but showed no expression except the haunted look of his eyes. Lindsey closed his eyes. He thinks they're dead. He just waits here for our sake. To allow us a little hope. Or... to say goodbye. This time he didn't manage to suppress the sobbing sound that came from his throat. He looked at the building again, the word dead creeping closer and closer to his conscious mind.

He wanted to scream, all of a sudden wanted the waiting to be over. He wanted to be able to move, to just do something. Preferably hunting down the guy who did this and kill him slowly and painfully. He concentrated on that thought. Yes, that was better than thinking about Eliot. Who's dead. Like Parker. Better than watching the flames still blazing or the weirdly pretty way the smoke now curled out of the front door.

His brain did a double take. Front door? His eyes widened as his mind replayed the moment of his flight out of the building. It... closed. I'm fuckin' sure it closed. So how can smoke come out of it? It was thick enough to not just break... A surge of renewed hope rushed through him. He heard Nate's sharp intake of breath and knew that he had come to the same conclusion. Lindsey fixed his eyes on the smoke cloud, not even daring to blink. Was that... movement? His eyes started to water and he wiped them almost angrily. And then, judging from the collective gasp he heard, they all saw it. A movement within the smoke cloud. A hunched figure, stumbling forwards. A hunched figure that was undeniably Eliot Spencer, face half-covered with a bandana, cradling Parker's limp body to his chest and staggering forwards, fighting his way out of the smoke.

Funny. Lindsey thought vaguely that he should do something, scream with relief, run towards Eliot, start to sob - anything, but he couldn't. The feeling of amazed relief that washed through him was so strong that it froze everything else including his ability to move his feet. Even regular breathing seemed not to run on reflex anymore. So he just stood, forcing himself to breathe, wide-eyed, not really daring to believe what he saw, too afraid that his own wishful thinking had brought on a vision. He saw Hardison jump up from his chair, making an inarticulate noise. Heard Nate exclaim a very colorful expletive. Saw Sophie laughing and crying at the same time. But it felt like watching a movie in fast forward with no remote, desperately trying to catch everything that was happening.

A voice inside Lindsey's head screamed at him to kick his ass into gear, but he still couldn't move. Doubt began to well up. It's a trick of my mind. If I blink, it's gone. He stared at Eliot staggering towards them, voice croaking impatiently "Could use... a little help here!" Hardison rushed forward and, with Sophie's help, gently took Parker's still limp body from from Eliot's arms.

Eliot pulled down the bandana, stumbled, and only Nate grabbing him by the arm prevented him from falling to his knees. Eliot regained his balance, but then a violent coughing fit began to shake his body. That finally broke the spell and the world snapped back into place.

"Eliot!" Lindsey rushed over to him and wrapped an arm around Eliot's shoulders. Together with Nate he steadied Eliot as his knees gave in and the coughs turned to dry heaves. Eliot clung to them for balance until the heaves ebbed away and he could finally breathe properly again.

"Nate?" Sophie's voice cut in. She had been helping Hardison carrying Parker to the van, but had heard the coughing. She grabbed the nearest bottle of liquid she could find - a bottle of Hardison's orange soda he'd dropped earlier. She threw it over to Nate.

Eliot managed to stand on his own again, but he still was shaking a little and leaned on Lindsey for support. Nate pressed the bottle into his hand. "Here, take a sip."

Eliot stared at the bottle in his hand like Nate was handing him gasoline to drink and shook his head. "You're kiddin', right?" But he opened it nevertheless and took a few gulps, spat to clean his mouth and then made a face. "How can someone drink shit like that?" he muttered.

Nate grinned widely with relief. "Addiction, I guess. To food coloring." For a moment he looked like he wanted to hug the other man, but then just settled for a pat on Eliot's shoulder. "Good to have you both back, Eliot."

Eliot still clung to Lindsey's arm, but he now looked up and grinned. "Yeah. That was fuckin' close." He straightened a bit. When he noticed the questioning look Nate gave him, he started to explain. "Parker was already half down the stairs when the thing blew above her. Got hit by a piece of plaster. I caught her and then, well..." He shrugged. His voice was a bit hoarse, and he coughed before he continued. "Everything fell apart around us. Rained rubble like hail. Luckily the worst fire came down a good bit away from us, but I lost my comm, all exits were blocked, an' I had to dig us out, literally. Barely managed before the fire caught up with us."

Eliot looked down at his hands and carefully flexed his fingers, and Lindsey winced as he saw the half-torn gloves that Eliot pulled off his hands. Deep dirty scrapes and a few small angry red burns covered the rest of Eliot's fingers and forearms. Eliot kept talking but Lindsey didn't really hear him. A wave of nausea hit him as Lindsey realized just how close it really had been, an image of Eliot dying under a pile of smoking rubble burning into his mind. Lindsey had to close his eyes for a moment to overcome it. When he opened them again, he saw Nate glancing at him worriedly despite still talking to Eliot. Lindsey gave him a quick reassuring smile and Nate gave him a relieved nod, quickly glanced at his watch and broke off the conversation.

"Right. If you don't mind, I'll see to Parker now. We have to leave before the police get here. I don't think you caught too much smoke, but you still need to get that checked. But... um..." Nate glanced pointedly back and forth between Eliot and Lindsey while a smile flashed across his face. "Catch your breath first, okay?" Without waiting for an answer, he took a few steps backwards, turned around and hurried over to the others where Parker had just begun to stir.

Eliot looked after him with a confused expression, but shrugged it off and turned to Lindsey. "Hey." His voice was still a little rough, but his face lit up with a genuine smile. He reached out and brushed his fingertips over Lindsey's lower lip. The familiarity of that gesture made Lindsey's breath catch in his throat. The urge to touch back, the sheer need to feel Eliot was now almost overwhelming, but one thing he needed to do before that.

"I'm sorry," he blurted out, and Eliot looked a little more confused.

"Sorry? For what?"

Lindsey closed his eyes for a moment to clear his head. Then he took out his ear bud, squared his shoulders and looked into Eliot's eyes. "For... this morning. The fight we had. I was wrong and I'm sorry." He bit his lower lip and gave Eliot an apologetic look.

Eliot tilted his head, looking as if he had trouble remembering what the fight had been about. Then he laughed fondly. "I'd already forgotten it. But yeah, you were a dick." He cupped Lindsey's face and quickly kissed him on the cheek. "'S okay. Forget it."

Lindsey closed his eyes and shivered at the touch, a further proof that Eliot had made it out alive. But then he shook his head fiercely, almost angry. "You don't get it. On our way here? I wanted to apologize, but I didn't. And then..." He gestured wildly in direction of the still burning building. "I... we thought..." His voice trailed off and he looked at Eliot, unable to speak further, willing him to understand.

Eliot shook his head, frowning, still confused. "Linds... we’ve had bigger fights. Apology accepted, but..."

Lindsey threw his hands up in frustration. He made an impatient sound and grabbed Eliot's shoulders, shaking him a little. "The last thing I said to you this morning was 'Fuck it, Spencer, get your head out of your ass'! And then this thing blew up and... fuck, Eliot, for almost five minutes I thought you were dead!"

He saw Eliot's face pale a bit, which made the dirt stains and small cuts on his face stand out even more. It hit him that Eliot really hadn't thought about this, that close calls like this were something he dealt with constantly. And that he simply still wasn't used to someone worrying about him like this. Lindsey exhaled sharply, threw a quick glance at his watch and then decided on a whim that this time they really could talk about it later.

With a small desperate sound he dug his fingers in the tangled dirty mess of Eliot's hair, pulled him closer and crushed their mouths together. He heard the surprised noise that Eliot made, but didn't let go. He kissed him hungrily, almost angry, catching Eliot's lower lip with his teeth and worrying it gently until Eliot finally shook off his surprise and kissed back. Lindsey felt Eliot's hands come up to his neck, cradling it. He held on, not wanting to break the contact, but finally he had to pull back a little for the unfortunate need to breathe. He was panting harshly, but didn't want to let go completely. Lindsey slowly leaned his forehead to Eliot's, closing his eyes. He didn't even realize that tears were running down his cheeks until Eliot pulled his head back a little, and his hands cradled Lindsey's face. His thumbs brushed the wet traces away, but Lindsey kept his eyes closed. He could hear Eliot's fast breathing and felt his fingers around his nape again, pulling him closer. Then Eliot whispered shakily in his ear.

"I'm alive."

Lindsey's eyes flew open. The mixture of the relief he felt, the adrenaline still surging through him, and those words caused a wave of arousal rushing through him, so intense that was almost dizzying. Kissing Eliot wasn't enough anymore, and judging by the sharp intake of breath that came from Eliot, he had seen it on his face. Fingers still tangled roughly in Eliot's hair, he leaned forward again. Pressing closer, he brushed his lips over Eliot's earlobe. His voice was barely audible now. "We have ten minutes. Prove it."

***

Sophie smiled as she looked up and saw Nate hurry towards the van. Nate stopped at the open door without getting inside and smiled back, but his worry was clearly visible. "How is she?"

Sophie nodded. "She's coming around. I guess she's got a concussion and maybe a bit of a smoke poisoning, but she'll be all right if she gets to a doctor now." She held up a bag. “Looks like she got something. I'll give it to Hardison once he's got a clear head again. And he can check it out while Parker's being examined."

Nate sighed with relief. "Good to hear." He leaned into the van to kiss her softly and then turned to Hardison who was holding a bottle of soda to Parker's lips, letting her sip carefully. "How are you?"

Hardison looked up and grinned happily, even if his voice was still shaky. "Me? Right now, I'm good again. Parker's still a bit out of it, but we'll get there." He fondly patted Parker's shoulder which earned him a dazed smile. Hardison looked up at Nate again, now frowning worriedly again. "How's Eliot?"

Nate nodded. "He's okay." He waved his hand vaguely in the direction where he had come from. "Lindsey just needed a moment with him." He grinned, only a tad suggestive, but got serious again quickly. "We gotta leave. Eliot's gonna drive with Lindsey. You wanna stay in the back with Parker?"

Hardison's attention was still focused on Parker. "Yeah. Gonna make sure she doesn't doze off. You drive."

Sophie's gaze had involuntarily followed Nate's hand wave and her eyebrows shot up as she caught sight of the two men still standing next to the trees. Oh. Oh my. Of course she had seen them kiss before. And, as Nate had pointed out a few times when both Lindsey and Eliot had been living at his place, the guest room walls were not exactly soundproof. But this? She felt herself blush a little as she realized that both men had obviously completely forgotten the presence of the rest of the Leverage team. Their kissing grew more and more passionate every second and Sophie suddenly knew exactly where this was leading.

I... should break this up, but... hell, they are old enough. She forced herself to look away with an embarrassed little laugh as she reached out to Nate and tapped him on the shoulder. "Uh, Nate? We should... um, we really should bring Parker to a hospital. Check for smoke poisoning and, and that is probably a concussion." She gave Nate that dazzling smile of hers that was just a little too bright.

Nate frowned in confusion. "Sure, we should, but... Sophie, what's wrong?"

Sophie climbed out of the van's back and moved towards the passenger door, trying to keep Nate's eyes away from the kissing couple behind her. She smiled reassuringly. "Nothing. I'm just... worried, that's all. We... shouldn't wait any longer."

Nate narrowed his eyes, but then simply shrugged. "You're right, of course. Eliot should go too, to make sure he hasn't breathed in too much of the smoke. Doesn't sound like it, but better safe than sorry." He made a move as if he wanted to turn around.

Sophie quickly caught his arm. "Um, I'm sure that, that Lindsey will take care of Eliot. They'll take his car." She nodded emphatically and tried to push Nate towards the driver's seat.

Nate stopped and looked at her, shaking his head. "Sophie." He narrowed his eyes and his voice took on slight touch of impatience. "I'm not sure what you're up to. It's better we bring them both in at once. It’s easier for the cover story. Lindsey can kiss Eliot some more later, when we're sure that they are all right." He gave her a placating smile and started to turn around again to move towards the two men.

Sophie threw her hands up and made an impatient sound. "Nate!" You idiot, she added silently as she grabbed his arm and forced him to look at her. "You really are kind of daft, aren't you?" She suppressed a laugh at the shocked expression on Nate's face and continued. "Look, I'm going spell it out. Are you listening?" Nate just nodded, stunned, and Sophie grinned, pointing at the couple behind them. "You see them? Good. Now, in about... let's say ten seconds Lindsey will have torn off all Eliot's clothes and they're going to fuck against the next available surface. If it's your thing to watch..." She shrugged and smirked. "Feel free to stay. But give me the keys."

Nate's jaw dropped. Sophie wasn't even sure if it was because of her deliberately crude choice of words or because of the image they painted in his head. He made a weak sound. "Well... huh." He peeked again carefully at the kissing couple, cheeks blushing just a tiny bit.

This time Sophie followed his gaze and found that Eliot's shirt indeed was already half ripped open. And that it didn't look like they were going to stop at that. She smiled seductively. "As for the losing clothes thing..." She lowered her voice and whispered in Nate's ear. "I have to confess I have something similar in mind when we get home."

Nate's eyes widened almost comically at her words and a faint blush appeared on his face. He swallowed twice before he finally managed to speak. "But... um, they're gonna... eh, get caught. We can't..."

Sophie chuckled. "Nate, the police will show up here with sirens blaring. That will be enough to warn the two of them, I should think. And..." She arched an eyebrow. "Do you want to go over there and interrupt them?"

Nate scratched the back of his head and scrunched his nose. "Right. I... think you're right. They’ll, uh, watch out for the police. And yeah, sirens. Right? They have Lindsey's car. Um... keys. You drive. And... yeah. Yeah, definitely." He fumbled the key ring out of his pocket and pressed it into Sophie's hand before striding over to Parker and Hardison, almost tripping over his feet on the way.

"Good." Sophie looked down at the keys in her hand and chuckled. It was good to know that there were still things that could throw Nathan Ford off track.

Part Two is here.