Angst Bingo - Stalkers
May. 21st, 2012 02:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
theroadhouseTitle: Father's Day x 2
Author:telaryn
Word Count: 1785
Fandom: Leverage/BTVS
Characters: Team + Faith
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: No ownership implied, no profit obtained.
Summary: Faith picks up a stalker, who turns out to be the last person she'd ever expected to see back in her life.
Author's Note: Written forangst_bingo's Round 3, for the prompt "stalkers". I was going to go with yeahlev's idea, but then I read a summary of "Daddy Issues", the current story arc in the Angel & Faith comic books. Like many I assumed that George Lehane had died in prison - but if the comics are now saying he didn't...how am I supposed to pass up the opportunity?
”This sucks,” Faith grumbled. ”How come I’ve gotta be the bait?” Even though she was keeping her voice down, she had a phone to her ear to explain away her mouth movements to anyone who might be watching.
And there is someone watching, Nate thought, struggling not to tip his hand by glancing around too obviously at the crowded street. Faith had picked up the tail on her own three weeks earlier, Eliot had confirmed it, and Hardison had provided the surveillance photos. As soon as he’d seen the stocky man in the battered leather jacket who was following his daughter, Nate had immediately begun formulating a plan.
“We didn’t fill out your dance card, Mama,” Hardison said, his fingers dancing across the surface of his tablet computer. “This one’s all on your secret admirer.”
”Yeah, you got an ID for us yet?” Eliot asked. True to form, he’d been the first to pick up on the fact that even though Hardison hadn’t been able to identify the man, Nate was unusually calm about the whole situation.
“How many times do I have to tell you…” Hardison began, but Nate cut him off with a hand on his arm.
“Less chatter, people,” he told them. “I want this guy today – second he shows his face, he’s done. Focus.”
Once the chatter had died away, Nate slipped out his own phone and called up one of Hardison’s pictures of their quarry. You were supposed to be dead, he thought, studying every inch of the figure, committing him to memory. You definitely weren’t supposed to give enough of a damn to come back looking for her. If he’d had even the slightest indication that the man they were hunting was still alive, Nate knew he would have gone looking for him long before now.
”Got him.” Parker’s voice was unexpected, sending a jolt of adrenaline through all of them. ”Southeast corner of the square. He’s at the bakery.”
”Is he watching Faith?” Eliot asked.
”Yep,” Parker confirmed. ”Can’t take his eyes off her.”
“Got a security feed,” Hardison said, leaning over so Nate could share his view. Their target was sitting exactly where Parker had said – Nate knew immediately that if he stood up and looked he would be able to see the man with his own eyes. And be seen by him.
“Faith, draw him towards Eliot,” he said, his mind spinning with all the possible ways this could go wrong. “Sophie, get ready to provide a distraction. Parker, you back Eliot up.”
For all his worry, Nate felt a stab of pride as he watched his team take down their target. Faith strolled casually towards the street, luring the man away from the bulk of the crowds and activity and towards the van, where Eliot waited in the shadows. Parker drafted in his wake, guaranteeing that if he tried to bolt he’d get more than a few surprises.
As he watched the group, Nate’s eyes tracked across Sophie’s position. ”Massachusetts has a stalker law,” he’d reminded them. ”If it comes down to it, I’ve got no problem involving the police.” Sophie was set up to do exactly that – if things went south for his fighters, she would start screaming and do her best to bring the police on the scene.
Hardison had found a fresh security feed to tap into – the two men watched as Eliot attacked. The stranger put up a respectable fight for his age and bulk, but was quickly subdued and bundled into the van. “All right,” Nate said, pushing to his feet. “That’s it – let’s get out of here.”
He and Hardison were halfway to the van when they heard the scuffle start. ”Who sent you?” Faith was asking. ”What the hell do you want from me?” The more indistinct noises of Eliot and Parker trying to reason with Faith also came through over the comms.
Heart sinking, Nate tried to pick up his pace. No, no, no… They’d only made it a couple of steps, however, when the voice of their prisoner was heard clearly over the network.
“Is that any way to greet your dear old Dad, Faith?”
******************
“I thought Nate was Faith’s father?”
Faith was grateful to Eliot for hustling Parker out of earshot and giving her a moment to process the reality of the man in front of her. My father? Now that he’d identified himself, her brain helpfully supplied an image of the one time she and George Lehane had ever been face to face. It was the same man.
“Faith…” Flinching at the sound of Nate’s voice in her head, Faith reached up and took out her comm – slipping the tiny earbud into a pocket.
“The O’Hares told me he figured out the truth.” With some effort, since Eliot had secured his wrists behind his back, George shifted himself around until he was sitting on the edge of the van’s floor – his feet resting on the pavement. “I guess you decided to forgive him?”
“Nothing to forgive,” Faith snapped. “He didn’t abandon my mother or me.”
George’s eyebrows shot up. “Really? That’s the story you got?” He snorted. “I guess history really is written by the victors.”
“You’re supposed to be dead,” Faith said. Her insides were in knots, and she could feel her emotional control starting to slip. “Why aren’t you dead?”
“Faith…” Startled, she saw that Eliot had come up beside her. Concern for her shadowed his blue eyes. “C’mon – let’s take a walk.” He started to reach for her, but Faith stumbled back from him, bumping into Nate. Her father gripped her shoulders, steadying her. Faith looked up at him, torn between wanting to run from him too and collapsing into his arms and trusting him to make it all better.
“Go with Eliot, sweetheart. Get yourself together first before dealing with this.”
“You knew.” Realization washed over her, leaving her cold inside. “That’s why you weren’t worried when Hardison couldn’t ID him – you knew!”
“I suspected,” Nate admitted. “But like you said…” He sighed, and she could see the regret in his eyes. “Go with Eliot. I promise, all your questions will be answered when you get back.”
*****************
In the end, she agreed – letting Eliot lead her away from the van and the group. “That was cold, Nate,” George said. “You knew I was back and you still let her be surprised?”
The familiar features were smirking at him when he finally trusted himself to turn and face his old friend. “Better she be surprised with her family around her and a support system in place than she go hunting for you on her own.”
“She is quite the little firecracker, that one,” George said, nodding. Nate barely managed to keep from rising to the bait. ‘Firecracker’ had been his own pet name for Faith’s mother – Faith had grown up believing it was something George called her before he’d been sent to prison. “The O’Hares have been telling some interesting tales.”
Nate glanced at Hardison, but the hacker was already working his magic. “Brigid O’Hare was a gossipy bitch when she was fifteen, and time hasn’t improved her,” he said, looking back at George. “Are you trying to claim her protection?” The O’Hares recognized Nate as an equal in South Boston, but he didn’t have an understanding with them per se. If George was under their protection, even holding him would come at a price.
“It’s not worth it,” Sophie said in a low voice.
“Actually,” Nate countered, not taking his eyes off George, “I’m not sure you’re right about that. I’ve got a lot of unfinished business with George here, starting with the moment he looked me in the eye and lied about Ellie being pregnant in the first place, going past his claiming my child as his own, and ending up somewhere around him not being man enough to take on the responsibility of raising her and protecting her the way a father should.” He could feel his temper getting the best of him and wondered how long they dared remain out in the open like this.
George’s features had hardened slightly – more of his true nature showing through at last. “Forgive me for not having been born to money like you were, Nate. It doesn’t mean I didn’t love Ellie, or that I didn’t do my best to try and provide for her and Faith.”
“Money’s got nothing to do with it.”
Nate turned to see that Faith and Eliot were back. “You were gone out of my life before I was two,” Faith said, hugging her arms across her chest. “Mom said you robbed that liquor store for food money, but if you’d given a damn about either of us you wouldn’t have risked it.”
“And how else was I supposed to feed you?” George asked. “You’d been crying for three days at that point – not enough to eat, running out of diapers…your mother said if I knew what was good for me I’d get my ass out and fix the situation.”
Faith’s laugh was hard and bitter. “Oh you fixed it all right. Left the path wide open for your good buddy Gable to come in and finish her off!”
“Faith,” Sophie interjected, “maybe this isn’t the time…”
Even Nate was tempted to take a step back from the growing hatred on his daughter’s face. “No,” she said finally. “It’s not the time. It’s never going to be the time. He doesn’t want a relationship with me.” George had actually opened his mouth to argue, but Faith shut him down cold. “You want something. I don’t know what it is, and I don’t care.” She drew a deep, shuddering breath, and Nate saw the hint or tears in her dark eyes. “I have my father now, and you’re not him.”
Silence fell over the group. “Well,” Nate said finally, looking across at Eliot, “you heard her. Cut him loose.”
“We’re just going to let him go?” Parker whined, sounding disappointed.
As soon as Eliot had cut the cord binding George’s wrists, Nate leaned in, grabbed him, and yanked him out of the van. “Not exactly,” he said, taking out his own comm and slipping it into a pocket. “I’m not going to push Faith to deal with George if she doesn’t want to, but that doesn’t mean he and I don’t have a few things to settle.” He looked across at Eliot. “I don’t suppose I can convince you to go with Faith?”
The two men shared a moment of silence full of more meaning than most people’s conversations. “All right,” Nate said finally. “We’ll see the rest of you back at the loft.”
Author:
telarynWord Count: 1785
Fandom: Leverage/BTVS
Characters: Team + Faith
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: No ownership implied, no profit obtained.
Summary: Faith picks up a stalker, who turns out to be the last person she'd ever expected to see back in her life.
Author's Note: Written for
angst_bingo's Round 3, for the prompt "stalkers". I was going to go with yeahlev's idea, but then I read a summary of "Daddy Issues", the current story arc in the Angel & Faith comic books. Like many I assumed that George Lehane had died in prison - but if the comics are now saying he didn't...how am I supposed to pass up the opportunity?”This sucks,” Faith grumbled. ”How come I’ve gotta be the bait?” Even though she was keeping her voice down, she had a phone to her ear to explain away her mouth movements to anyone who might be watching.
And there is someone watching, Nate thought, struggling not to tip his hand by glancing around too obviously at the crowded street. Faith had picked up the tail on her own three weeks earlier, Eliot had confirmed it, and Hardison had provided the surveillance photos. As soon as he’d seen the stocky man in the battered leather jacket who was following his daughter, Nate had immediately begun formulating a plan.
“We didn’t fill out your dance card, Mama,” Hardison said, his fingers dancing across the surface of his tablet computer. “This one’s all on your secret admirer.”
”Yeah, you got an ID for us yet?” Eliot asked. True to form, he’d been the first to pick up on the fact that even though Hardison hadn’t been able to identify the man, Nate was unusually calm about the whole situation.
“How many times do I have to tell you…” Hardison began, but Nate cut him off with a hand on his arm.
“Less chatter, people,” he told them. “I want this guy today – second he shows his face, he’s done. Focus.”
Once the chatter had died away, Nate slipped out his own phone and called up one of Hardison’s pictures of their quarry. You were supposed to be dead, he thought, studying every inch of the figure, committing him to memory. You definitely weren’t supposed to give enough of a damn to come back looking for her. If he’d had even the slightest indication that the man they were hunting was still alive, Nate knew he would have gone looking for him long before now.
”Got him.” Parker’s voice was unexpected, sending a jolt of adrenaline through all of them. ”Southeast corner of the square. He’s at the bakery.”
”Is he watching Faith?” Eliot asked.
”Yep,” Parker confirmed. ”Can’t take his eyes off her.”
“Got a security feed,” Hardison said, leaning over so Nate could share his view. Their target was sitting exactly where Parker had said – Nate knew immediately that if he stood up and looked he would be able to see the man with his own eyes. And be seen by him.
“Faith, draw him towards Eliot,” he said, his mind spinning with all the possible ways this could go wrong. “Sophie, get ready to provide a distraction. Parker, you back Eliot up.”
For all his worry, Nate felt a stab of pride as he watched his team take down their target. Faith strolled casually towards the street, luring the man away from the bulk of the crowds and activity and towards the van, where Eliot waited in the shadows. Parker drafted in his wake, guaranteeing that if he tried to bolt he’d get more than a few surprises.
As he watched the group, Nate’s eyes tracked across Sophie’s position. ”Massachusetts has a stalker law,” he’d reminded them. ”If it comes down to it, I’ve got no problem involving the police.” Sophie was set up to do exactly that – if things went south for his fighters, she would start screaming and do her best to bring the police on the scene.
Hardison had found a fresh security feed to tap into – the two men watched as Eliot attacked. The stranger put up a respectable fight for his age and bulk, but was quickly subdued and bundled into the van. “All right,” Nate said, pushing to his feet. “That’s it – let’s get out of here.”
He and Hardison were halfway to the van when they heard the scuffle start. ”Who sent you?” Faith was asking. ”What the hell do you want from me?” The more indistinct noises of Eliot and Parker trying to reason with Faith also came through over the comms.
Heart sinking, Nate tried to pick up his pace. No, no, no… They’d only made it a couple of steps, however, when the voice of their prisoner was heard clearly over the network.
“Is that any way to greet your dear old Dad, Faith?”
******************
“I thought Nate was Faith’s father?”
Faith was grateful to Eliot for hustling Parker out of earshot and giving her a moment to process the reality of the man in front of her. My father? Now that he’d identified himself, her brain helpfully supplied an image of the one time she and George Lehane had ever been face to face. It was the same man.
“Faith…” Flinching at the sound of Nate’s voice in her head, Faith reached up and took out her comm – slipping the tiny earbud into a pocket.
“The O’Hares told me he figured out the truth.” With some effort, since Eliot had secured his wrists behind his back, George shifted himself around until he was sitting on the edge of the van’s floor – his feet resting on the pavement. “I guess you decided to forgive him?”
“Nothing to forgive,” Faith snapped. “He didn’t abandon my mother or me.”
George’s eyebrows shot up. “Really? That’s the story you got?” He snorted. “I guess history really is written by the victors.”
“You’re supposed to be dead,” Faith said. Her insides were in knots, and she could feel her emotional control starting to slip. “Why aren’t you dead?”
“Faith…” Startled, she saw that Eliot had come up beside her. Concern for her shadowed his blue eyes. “C’mon – let’s take a walk.” He started to reach for her, but Faith stumbled back from him, bumping into Nate. Her father gripped her shoulders, steadying her. Faith looked up at him, torn between wanting to run from him too and collapsing into his arms and trusting him to make it all better.
“Go with Eliot, sweetheart. Get yourself together first before dealing with this.”
“You knew.” Realization washed over her, leaving her cold inside. “That’s why you weren’t worried when Hardison couldn’t ID him – you knew!”
“I suspected,” Nate admitted. “But like you said…” He sighed, and she could see the regret in his eyes. “Go with Eliot. I promise, all your questions will be answered when you get back.”
*****************
In the end, she agreed – letting Eliot lead her away from the van and the group. “That was cold, Nate,” George said. “You knew I was back and you still let her be surprised?”
The familiar features were smirking at him when he finally trusted himself to turn and face his old friend. “Better she be surprised with her family around her and a support system in place than she go hunting for you on her own.”
“She is quite the little firecracker, that one,” George said, nodding. Nate barely managed to keep from rising to the bait. ‘Firecracker’ had been his own pet name for Faith’s mother – Faith had grown up believing it was something George called her before he’d been sent to prison. “The O’Hares have been telling some interesting tales.”
Nate glanced at Hardison, but the hacker was already working his magic. “Brigid O’Hare was a gossipy bitch when she was fifteen, and time hasn’t improved her,” he said, looking back at George. “Are you trying to claim her protection?” The O’Hares recognized Nate as an equal in South Boston, but he didn’t have an understanding with them per se. If George was under their protection, even holding him would come at a price.
“It’s not worth it,” Sophie said in a low voice.
“Actually,” Nate countered, not taking his eyes off George, “I’m not sure you’re right about that. I’ve got a lot of unfinished business with George here, starting with the moment he looked me in the eye and lied about Ellie being pregnant in the first place, going past his claiming my child as his own, and ending up somewhere around him not being man enough to take on the responsibility of raising her and protecting her the way a father should.” He could feel his temper getting the best of him and wondered how long they dared remain out in the open like this.
George’s features had hardened slightly – more of his true nature showing through at last. “Forgive me for not having been born to money like you were, Nate. It doesn’t mean I didn’t love Ellie, or that I didn’t do my best to try and provide for her and Faith.”
“Money’s got nothing to do with it.”
Nate turned to see that Faith and Eliot were back. “You were gone out of my life before I was two,” Faith said, hugging her arms across her chest. “Mom said you robbed that liquor store for food money, but if you’d given a damn about either of us you wouldn’t have risked it.”
“And how else was I supposed to feed you?” George asked. “You’d been crying for three days at that point – not enough to eat, running out of diapers…your mother said if I knew what was good for me I’d get my ass out and fix the situation.”
Faith’s laugh was hard and bitter. “Oh you fixed it all right. Left the path wide open for your good buddy Gable to come in and finish her off!”
“Faith,” Sophie interjected, “maybe this isn’t the time…”
Even Nate was tempted to take a step back from the growing hatred on his daughter’s face. “No,” she said finally. “It’s not the time. It’s never going to be the time. He doesn’t want a relationship with me.” George had actually opened his mouth to argue, but Faith shut him down cold. “You want something. I don’t know what it is, and I don’t care.” She drew a deep, shuddering breath, and Nate saw the hint or tears in her dark eyes. “I have my father now, and you’re not him.”
Silence fell over the group. “Well,” Nate said finally, looking across at Eliot, “you heard her. Cut him loose.”
“We’re just going to let him go?” Parker whined, sounding disappointed.
As soon as Eliot had cut the cord binding George’s wrists, Nate leaned in, grabbed him, and yanked him out of the van. “Not exactly,” he said, taking out his own comm and slipping it into a pocket. “I’m not going to push Faith to deal with George if she doesn’t want to, but that doesn’t mean he and I don’t have a few things to settle.” He looked across at Eliot. “I don’t suppose I can convince you to go with Faith?”
The two men shared a moment of silence full of more meaning than most people’s conversations. “All right,” Nate said finally. “We’ll see the rest of you back at the loft.”
