75 Godiva, Monday

[vdistinctive]

The Leverage team had been in Fandom more than long enough to know exactly what came after the school prom. Eliot's anticipation of seeing Spike and Gracie again had been tempered by his dread over whatever fresh hell of a revelation of his alternate selves' sex lives. He'd already met a daughter some version of him had had with Sterling, for chrissake, but he knew better to think the island couldn't somehow top that.

But Saturday morning had come and gone, and no "you don't get to be with your partners in my universe" child arrived to taunt him. And it turned out, spending time with a couple kids who belonged to all three of them was really nice.

He leaned back on the couch with his coffee, a giant spread of brunch foods arranged on the coffee table, the end tables, and pretty much every other flat surface not currently occupied by a piece of Hardison's tech (yeah, Eliot lost that battle before it ever began), and watched as Hardison finished setting up a video link to Kathy. Parker was perched on the back of the couch next to him, her knee touching his shoulder, looking about as happy and relaxed as he'd ever seen her, and not just because her mouth was full of chocolate cereal. The kids were sprawled on either side of them, teasing and poking each other in a way that reminded Eliot so much of himself and Trudy as kids it almost hurt. Somehow, after everything, he'd still managed to end up with a family. A large one, even. He could get used to this.

He bit his lip thoughtfully, and took a long sip of his coffee.

Maybe he should start taking steps to make sure he got the chance.

[for the fam, and slow play. AU KIDS!]

Comments

[stoleafamily]

"That's cool."Spike relaxed back into the couch, gifting Hardison with a small grin. "We should go visit her, when I get back. Maybe I should check out NYU. Graduation's only a year off."

And don't think that's not freaking him out, Hardison.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"It's a good school," Hardison said, taking the idea seriously. Because he had an idea how much the thought of looming graduation was probably weighing on him. "And you know Kathy'd be glad to have you close."

Sure, this Kathy had only met Spike a handful of times, but that girl was about as hungry for family as he'd been, once upon a time. And that kind of thing didn't go away.

"They still livin' near there in your time? Limbo City?"

They'd seemed like they were settling in for the long haul.

"Bunch of good culinary school up that way, too, if you were still thinkin' about that."

[stoleafamily]

Spike turned a little pinker, color creeping up his face in a wave. "Yeah. Near there. And..." He paused, then said in a rush, "Do you think it's better to do your dream when you're young, or, you know, save it until you have a back-up plan? Like a business degree?" He paused and added, "And does it make me a chicken if I'm this worried about it?"

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Better to do it when you're young," Hardison said without pausing. "Man, you know what life is like. Tomorrow ain't a given, not for anyone. The longer you go without pursuin' your dreams, the easier it'll be not to. Suddenly it'll be too risky, can't afford it with the mortgage an' the kids an' the credit cards. You'll be throwin' away your whole career, people - not us, not your family, but other folks - will say, better to stay a little longer, work a little harder, you can explore it when you're older, when you've retired."

Hardison shook his head. "Nah, you're young. Live a lot. Explore. Experiment. Take time to figure out what you love, not what you can stand. I get why you worry, Spike, I do, but...I'd rather see you try an' fail miserably, than to never try at all and just be miserable."

[stoleafamily]

"How'd you guys get to be such good dads?" Eliot didn't get along with his dad, and Hardison had Nana, but that wasn't a dad. Spike lowered his head and butted it into Hardison's shoulder, the kind of thing he and Parker would do to each other, and sighed. "Yeah. I just... keep thinking of stuff. And some of it sounds cool, like, what if I got to apprentice somewhere outside the country? And then it sounds scary." He tilted his head up, studying Hardison, then frowned, thinking.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Cause we know the kinda dads we needed when we were your age," Hardison said, giving Spike a hug. "But, c'mon, so what if you do apprentice somewhere international? What's the scariest thing you can imagine about it?"