Fic: "Not Now, or Not Ever?" (Leverage, PG-13)
Sophie only knew one person who would knock on her door rather than ring the doorbell. A certain person who really disliked the sound of bells going off when she was trying to get into a place…
I don’t know which is more depressing, Sophie thought with a sigh as she went to answer it. That she assumes I’ll be at home at eight on a Friday evening… or that I am home at eight on a Friday evening.
Standing on the other side of the door was a young woman in blonde hair and black leather. Pretty, but prone to the sort of steady, unreadable stare that could make even a beautiful woman seem just a bit… creepy, to those who didn’t know her. And a few of those who did.
“Missed you,” said the owner of the hair and the leather, her voice as flat as her gaze.
“I’ve missed you too, Parker.” Sophie hugged the other woman tight, pushing the door shut with her foot.
Parker reflexively went stiff and defensive, as she always did when Sophie hugged her, before relaxing over the course of a few seconds. Sophie might have found such a reaction hurtful, if she hadn’t seen firsthand Parker’s reaction to most non-Sophie people who went in for a hug. (Blindingly swift judo flip followed by awkward apology). Parker allowed this particular hug to continue for a full thirty seconds. Sophie thought that must be a record for the longest embrace the young thief had ever tolerated. With clothes on, at least.
“I’m surprised to see you,” Sophie said after they’d disentangled themselves.
“No you’re not,” Parker said. “You knew I’d come, after what you told Nate about whether you were coming back or not.”
“Oh, Parker,” Sophie said, shaking her head. “Do you really think I’m that much of a manipulator?”
Parker stared at her for a few seconds. Then she laughed… one of those Parker laughs that exploded out of her without warning, and ended just as abruptly.
“I’m sorry,” she said after a final hiccup. “You didn’t mean that as a serious question, did you? Because I don’t want to hurt your feelings.”
Sophie sighed. “I suppose I deserved that. Yes, I guess I’d hoped you’d come. I didn’t know when, or if you’d be looking to kiss me or punch me.”
“Can’t I do both?” Parker threw herself down on the sofa, making herself instantly at home. “I was thinking of putting on a mask and tights and swinging in through your window. But I’d have had to call you up and ask you to open the window first, and that would have ruined the effect, kinda.”
“And I’d have had to take a few minutes to take the screens out,” Sophie agreed. “But it does make a stimulating mental picture.”
“I’d have to have sex with you afterwards,” Parker clarified. “Because that’s what swashbucklers do.”
Sophie gulped. Parker. You should come with a warning label. “Well, that goes without saying.”
“I can see your nipples.”
Sophie glanced down at herself, braless and in a t-shirt for a stay-at-home Friday night. She immediately dismissed as silly her reflexive desire to cover up the pointy signs of her arousal. The fantasy of being tied up helpless, stripped naked, and ravished up one side and down the other by the Dread Pirate Parker was not new to her, oddly enough.
“They can see you, too,” she said. “They’ve missed you as much as the rest of me.”
“Were you planning on coming back, Sophie?”
She’d known that question would be coming… and this being Parker, she knew it would be coming sooner rather than later. But that didn’t mean she had an answer. Well, she always had an answer. Just not necessarily a good one. Or a true one.
“I don’t know, Parker. I just don’t know yet.”
In one fluid motion, Parker pulled her leather-clad legs up so that she was sitting cross-legged on the sofa.
“You know,” she said, “when the long con is over, you’re allowed to stop lying. If you want to.”
Sophie felt like crying. She didn’t, of course… real tears were worrisomely rare for her. Was it really any better this way? Before, she was miserable and confused. Now, she was miserable and confused and alone.
“It’s gone beyond what I want. You’re not a liar, Parker. You’re an honest thief. Someone else has something you want, so you take it. But my whole life runs on lies. If you’re not yourself when you do a job, you’ll fail. If I am myself, I’ll fail. And Sophie Devereaux has been a huge success at what she does. The problem is, she doesn’t really exist. And where does that leave me?”
Sophie studied the carpet. She could feel Parker’s eyes on her. Could hear the slight crackling of her leather.
“I love you, Sophie,” Parker said. “Or whoever. Insert real name here. I’ve never been in love with anybody before, ever. I didn’t think I could be, but now I am. And now you left, and it sucks. You’re right. I’m a thief, and I take what I want. But now there’s something I need, not just want, and I can’t just take it.
“Last time I needed help I called you up, and you put me in a sexy dress. But this time I can’t ask you for help, and I don’t know what to do. Should I wear a sexy dress?”
And now Sophie was fighting back tears… real ones. No lies to disappear into this time, grifter.
“I love you too, Parker,” she said softly. “I know I’ve tried to tell you that with words, and show you with my body, but… I guess that’s not enough, is it? Because my words and my body are just things I use to tell lies.”
“Your words are beautiful,” Parker said. “I got lightheaded the first time you said you loved me. And your body is incredible. I mean, the softness and the nakedness and the licking and the orgasms… wow.”
Sophie slumped back in her chair. “But how do you know it’s not all manipulation?” She sighed. “How can I really show you I love you?”
Parker shrugged. “By not running away. You know, it’s not really a lie until you run away.”
Sophie smiled wistfully. “Not running away. Now there’s an idea. You know, Parker, for somebody who doesn’t like people, you sure seem to understand them.”
“I think weird. Everybody says so.”
“Well… here’s to weird thinking, then.”
“So you’ll come back?”
Sophie took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. “I’ll come back.” She giggled at Parker’s radiant smile. “Not right away, but soon. There are still some things I have to… untangle. Isn’t Tara working out, for the moment?”
“Tara,” Parker declared, “is very good at what she does, and very cocky, and very sexy, and very not you.”
“I suppose she isn’t. So… um… you think she’s sexy?”
“Don’t you?” Parker fixed her with a merciless stare.
Sophie blushed.
Parker grinned. “You and her have totally taken tongue baths together, haven’t you?”
“I… we… uh… might have done, yes. In the past. The past that isn’t now.”
“I don’t like her much,” Parker mused. “But she is a hottie.”
“I just have a thing for exciting blondes, I guess.”
Sophie bit her tongue as soon as those words came out. Telling your current lover that your former playmate was “exciting” wasn’t a recipe for a happy outcome.
But Parker was beaming at her. “You think I’m an exciting blonde?”
Sophie sighed with relief. “And then some.”
“We should do a threesome. Me, you, and her.”
Sophie goggled at her. “I… I wish I had a drink right now, so I could do a proper spit take.”
Parker suddenly put on her reproachful face. “You told her I was adorable.”
“No, I told her I adored you. Tara tends to… put her own particular spin on things.”
“Oh. That’s OK then.”
One of these days, Sophie supposed, she’d have to get used to these sudden transitions.
“Have you eaten yet, Parker?”
“Nope. Just had a bag of peanuts on the plane, and wished I hadn’t.”
“There’s a very nice little Italian place just around the corner. How’s your appetite?”
“Good,” the blonde thief replied, and her stomach gurgled as if on cue. “Especially if they have anything with alfredo in the name. I like alfredo.”
Sophie laughed. “And as for afters… dessert, I mean… how’s your other appetite?”
Parker licked her lips. “Even better. I haven’t had a nice helping of Sophie Sauce in a long time. I’m gonna show you how much I’ve missed it.”
Sophie shivered at the thought. “Mmmm. You know, Parker, it would be nice if I could scream out your real name when the times comes tonight. Your other name, I mean. Are you ever going to tell it to me?”
“Right at the same time you tell me your real name,” Parker countered. “Although Sophie is a good name for whimpering into your ear while I’m nibbling it. It sounds right.”
“Well. Apparently we both have some secrets to whisper tonight, don’t we?”