Disclaimer: All the standard disclaimers about these characters not belonging to me and this work not being for profit apply. All characters will be returned to their box in mint condition when I am done playing with them.

The first time the holidays rolled around after she and Nate retired from Leverage and Associates, Inc., Sophie tried to get the crew back together for a family Christmas. Her first mistake was recruiting Eliot to help. Her second was to start early. This gave Eliot plenty of time to drop hints to Hardison about the romantic opportunities inherent in Christmas in Europe – and to remind Parker of the many spires and towers there from which Hardison had not yet rappelled. In the end, Nate and Sophie had a quiet Christmas at home; Hardison and Parker started in Vienna on Christmas Eve and had made their way – via several tall buildings – to London by New Year's Day; and Eliot spent his holiday week pursuing unnamed activities in an undisclosed location. The second year, realising that the promise of free rein in her kitchen and all the exotic ingredients he could dream up was not enough to make Eliot her ally, Sophie planned better and ran it like a con.

She started with Parker, ready to sell her on a combination of Dickensian images of golden-cooked gooses and Hollywood's best portrayal of the happy family holiday reunion, complete with snowball fights and homemade popcorn balls. As it turned out, all she needed was the question "Why don't you, Hardison and Eliot spend Christmas at our house this year?" And when Parker's excited squeals brought Hardison into the room where they were video-chatting, nothing more than an explanation of their cause was needed to get Hardison on board. Nate was ready to indulge Sophie with her family Christmas fantasies, but not really taking an active role in the planning. That left Eliot. And given that, in the past year, Sophie had barely managed to keep him on the phone for more than the thirty seconds it took to ascertain that nobody at either end of the line was dead or dying, she needed Parker and Hardison to persuade him. First came a carefully-timed video call to the Leverage offices when all three of them were there and Eliot had no excuse for cutting it short. Sophie snuck in the suggestion for Christmas, Parker responded with a toned-down version of her original reaction with back-up from Hardison, and Eliot...

"Bad idea," he growled.

His comment was met with a chorus of protests. When they died down, Sophie heard a very pointed "We've talked about this before, Hardison," followed by "Bye, Soph," and the sound of a door opening and closing.

"I guess Eliot's playing the Grinch this Christmas," Parker said into the silence that followed.

Sophie smiled a little.

"Well, we still have three weeks to persuade him," she said. "What is it you've talked about before, Hardison?"

Hardison sighed.

"He thinks that maintaining contact with you and Nate makes you guys targets for anyone trying to get to us."

"And I don't suppose Nate and I get a say in whether we feel it's worth that risk?" Sophie was indignant. She had never particularly appreciated other people making decisions about her life for her.

Hardison shrugged.

"It's Eliot, Sophie," he said. "You look 'paranoia' up in the dictionary, and there's his picture, right there."

"Mmm," she replied, non-comitally.

"So what do we do?" Parker asked.

Sophie turned her attention to the blonde thief perched on the comms centre.

"I'll try calling him," she said. "In the meantime, Parker, you do whatever it is you do to get him to make you cookies – only this time work on getting him to come for Christmas, okay?"

"Okay," Parker said, hopping down to follow Eliot.

"Not right now, Parker," Sophie stopped her. "Just...when the opportunity presents itself."

"Oh," Parker stopped. "Okay. This is going to work, right? Because I really miss you guys."

"We miss you, too, Parker," Sophie told her. "You could come and visit again in the meantime if you have some downtime."

Parker brightened

"Thanks, Sophie," she said. "But I have to stay here and make Eliot want Christmas. Tell Nate hi from me!"

And before Hardison had a chance to do more than wave good-bye, she ended the call.