The Cold Comfort Job, Leverage/Criminal Minds, PG-13

[phantisma]

Fandom: Leverage/Criminal Minds
Title: The Cold Comfort Job
Characters/Pairings: Eliot Spencer, Spencer Reid, Parker, Nate, mentions of Morgan and Hotch, very vague hint of previous Eliot/Spencer
Word Count: 4988
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Eliot and the Leverage team are after a corporate spy on the cusp of a huge winter storm. Spencer and the BAU are tracking a serial killer who uses the winter weather to hide his crimes. When the two cases collide, it brings Eliot and Spencer together for the first time in many years.

Summary: Written for ice_ziggee who bought me during dollars4dreams. No real warnings. Minor violence.






Eliot Spencer was not a man who owed debts lightly. The debt he owed to this particular man was a pretty heavy one. It was long gone history, but that didn't mean Eliot had forgotten.

He pulled up short, pressing Parker back out of sight.

"What?" she hissed at him and he shook his head lightly to keep her quiet. He needed to assess the situation before he let her do her part of this job.

He gestured back the way they had come, into the trees behind the lodge. "Nate, we got a problem."

"What problem?"

"The FBI." Eliot glanced over his shoulder to make sure they hadn't been spotted. "And not the morons we're used to dealing with either."

"What are you talking about?" Parker asked. "I didn't see—"

Eliot cut her off with a raised hand. "The kid in the chair, glasses, hair…hands handcuffed to the chair? FBI."

She frowned at him. "Yeah, I know. He doesn't look like a fed. But trust me he is. I know the man." He turned to look at the area around the lodge again. With all the snow it was going to be hard to get in and out without leaving tracks…which meant he was going to have to make sure they got a good enough head start before they were followed. "We can still do this. I just need a different exit."

"What are you thinking?" Nate's voice asked in his ear.

"Parker goes in after the chip. I'll clear the way and get the kid free. I'll let you know where to pick me up when I'm out."

He eyed the distance to the back door of the lodge. "Can you get in without me?"

Parker nodded. "Yeah, why?"

"I’m going in that way. I'm gonna cause a ruckus. You get it, get the chip and replace it with the fake, then get out just like we planned. If I do my job right you shouldn't have to worry about being followed. They'll come after us."

"Us?"

"Long story. Just pick the lock for me." They eased up to the door, Eliot standing watch while she picked the lock. "Give me five minutes before you move in." Eliot waited until she was around the corner of the house, then opened the door, slipping in quietly.

It only took him a second to get the lay of the land, his eyes skimming over the mud room he found himself in and figuring where the hallway would lead. In less than a minute he was in the room where the FBI agent was being held, sidling up beside one of the men.

Spencer's eyes widened as he spotted Eliot who grinned, winked and turned to the man beside him. "How you doing?" Eliot asked, seconds before he was grabbing the man's gun hand, stripping the weapon and dropping the clip before he punched the man in the gut and whirled him into one of the others.

He caught a glimpse of Parker through the window as he dodged a third guy and took his gun, then slammed an elbow into his nose, dropping him cold to the ground. He swiped the legs of the next guy and jumped him to slam the last of them in a sleeper hold, using his body to block the first guy who was coming back for more.

Eliot grinned at him and dropped the unconscious man, gesturing for the last man standing to bring it. Two seconds later, he was laying on top of the others, bleeding where the broken bone in his leg poked out through his pants.

He looked around to make sure there weren't anymore waiting to jump him, panting a little as he stepped over bodies to get to Spencer. "Parker, you're clear. Go."

He squatted next to the chair and untied the gag first. "You okay?"

"Eliot? What are you doing here?"

"Long story. Answer me. You okay?"

"Fine. I'm fine."

Eliot fished in the pocket of the guy who had been closest to Spencer, looking for the key to the cuffs. "So you're good to run?"

"Run? Where?"

Eliot found the key and unlocked the left wrist, then moved to the right. "Out of here."

"I…shoes…."

Eliot looked down as Spencer wriggled his toes in nothing more than a pair of socks. "Where?" Eliot asked and Spencer shook his head as he lifted his hands to rub life back into them.

"I don't know…They took them when they brought me in here."

"So you couldn't escape." Eliot nodded. "Roads are closed, blizzard coming in. Only way out is on foot or snow mobile, and only if we hurry." He looked around at the men he had knocked out. "We'll just have to borrow from one of these fine upstanding boys."

He chose the one that seemed the closest in size and pulled his boots off. "Here, try these." He tossed them in Spencer's general direction, then went to the front window. "Parker?"

"Almost."

"Get going, that storm is coming in."

"What about you?"

Eliot crossed to the front window. "We won't all fit on the snowmobile, get out now. I'll find another way." He turned back to Spencer. "How do they fit?"

"They're a little big."

"Gonna have to do, Einstein." Eliot threw him one of the big coats from the coat rack by the door. "How'd they get up here?"

"Truck, in the barn."

That wouldn't get them far. Unless… "Did it have a plow?"

"Not that I saw, but I was a little busy being tied up and threatened at the time."

Eliot smirked, if Spencer was being sarcastic with him, it meant the kid actually was okay. "All right. Let's move, before they start waking up, or more of their friends decide to join the party."

The skies were already getting dark. They didn't have a lot of time, but if they could get as far as ranger's station they could get inside and wait out the worst of it. He opened the door and stepped out on the porch. "Okay, walk ahead of me. We need to leave as small a trail as possible in case they wake up before the storm rolls in."

He made Spencer stop at the barn, just to check the truck, and since he was there, he pulled the spark plugs on it to make sure the bad guys couldn't use it to follow them.

"Is there a reason we're not taking the truck as far as it will get us?" Spencer asked as they headed out again.

"Too easy to track. We're safer if we keep to the woods and on foot." Eliot pointed him into the trees and followed, taking care to keep his footsteps mostly in Spencer's lighter ones, at least until they couldn't see the lodge anymore.

The snow was already falling, though the trees helped cut some of it. The wind was worse, cold and cutting. His ear bud crackled and he stopped. "Nate?"

There was no response. The storm must be playing interference. He pulled it out and put it in his pocket. "Well, I guess that means we're on our own. Lets keep moving."

"Where are we going, exactly?" Spencer asked a little while later.

"There's a ranger's station about two miles down the mountain."

"That's where they found me."

Eliot stopped and pulled Spencer to a stop. "What do you mean?"

"We're looking for a missing couple. I got separated from my team." Spencer looked ridiculously small in the big jacket, shivering as the wind got up under it.

"You weren't after Darvice?" Eliot asked.

"Unless Darvice is kidnapping vacationing couples and murdering them, no."

Their mark was a lot of things, but Eliot didn't think a serial killer was one of them. "Wrong place, wrong time." Eliot shook his head. "Great, so not only do we have to avoid Darvice and his minions, but a serial killer?"

"If it makes you feel any better, he only takes people every three or four months and he's only had the missing couple a few days."

"Somehow, that doesn't make me feel any better at all." Eliot said. He looked around them and sighed. "Our best bet is still the ranger station."

"Agreed."

Eliot nodded. "Okay, lets keep moving then."

The snow was getting thicker and the wind harder as they walked. Spencer shoved his hands into the pockets of his coat and Eliot couldn't blame him. His hands were freezing and he had gloves.

Finally he spotted the shape of the ranger's station ahead. He slowed them down, circling around it, checking to make sure they were alone. There were signs that men had been there, but no one seemed to be there now.

Cautiously, Eliot approached the door. The whole thing was boarded up for the winter, the rangers all moving down the mountain until the first thaw. The lodge they had just come from was one of only three places above the rangers station.

The door wasn't locked, in case of stragglers needing shelter. Eliot opened the door and stepped in, making sure no one was lying in wait. In the clearing outside the wind howled and the snow was heavier than it had been in the shelter of the trees. "Get in here." Eliot growled. The cabin was cold, not much warmer than the air outside, but at least it would shelter them from the wet and wind.

Spencer stepped inside and Eliot shut the door. "Can't light a fire unless it gets really bad." Eliot murmured. "Don't want to give ourselves away."

"You really think they'll come after us?"

Eliot shrugged and made a show of checking all of the boarded up windows. "Hard to say."

"Who is this Darvice?" Spencer asked, blowing on his hands.

Eliot went to the most likely place for blankets and found two, pulling them out. He shook one out and crossed to Spencer, settling it around his shoulders before reaching for his hands. They were red and chapped, but seemed okay.

"He's bad guy involved in corporate espionage. My team and I were hired to retrieve something he stole."

Spencer raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Team?"

Eliot rolled his eyes. "Yeah, team."

"Last I knew Eliot Spencer worked alone."

Eliot shook out the other blanket and pulled it around himself. "Last I knew, Spencer Reid wasn't going to be allowed out into the field."

Spencer blushed a little and turned away. "Things change."

"I guess so."

He moved to the door, opening it enough to get a peek outside. "Damn, this is going to get ugly fast. I'm going to bring in some wood."

He dropped the blanket and moved out to the wood pile.

"Thought you said no fire." Spencer said as he came back with an arm load.

"I'm not sure we're going to have a choice." Eliot responded before heading out for more. The temperature was dropping fast and if they didn't have something for warmth, the little cabin would drop well below freezing before morning.

When he was sure they had enough wood to get them through the night, Eliot closed the door and dragged one of the chairs over to shove under the door knob. It wasn't much in the way of security, but it was better than nothing.

"Why don't you see if there's any food. I'll get a fire going." He bent to his task, listening as Spencer rummaged for food. It took a few minutes to get a small blaze going, but eventually he managed and he sat back, looking up at Spencer who was holding out a bottle of Scotch and a package of crackers.

"Isn't much."

"Better than nothing." Eliot countered, taking the bottle, then glancing at the floor near the fireplace. Spencer sat as Eliot opened the Scotch and took a sip. It was smooth, heating up his belly as he handed the bottle off.

"So…how did you end up handcuffed to a chair in the same lodge where our mark keeps his stolen data?" Eliot asked after they had both had a few nips off the bottle.

Spencer shrugged. "Told you, got separated from my team." Eliot waited and eventually Spencer rolled his eyes. "We're short on time. This unsub takes them somewhere in these woods. Uses the weather to keep people away, to give the luxury of taking his time. He tortures them slowly and kills them, then leaves their bodies near trails were they'll be found. Once the storm hits we knew we would have next to no chance to find them."

"That doesn't explain how you ended up caught by people not involved in your case." Eliot said.

Spencer was looking like the alcohol was hitting him, his eyes a little glassy, his cheeks rosy. "It was stupid. I got angry about Morgan implying I wasn't cut out for this part of the job. My geographical profile told me he would have a place further up the mountain, away from anyone that might stumble across him, and so I…went out on my own. They were going to call off the search until the storm had passed. I was sure the unsub had to be up here. Well, not here, exactly."

Eliot nodded. That made sense. That kind of predator was probably a long time native of the mountain, knew how to navigate it even in the deepest winter.

"They were here when I came out of the woods."

Eliot frowned and looked at him. "What? They were here? Already here?"

Spencer nodded as Eliot climbed to his feet. That wasn't good. "What were they doing?"

"I don't know. Does it matter?"

Eliot exhaled and shook his head. "I'm not sure." He could hear the wind howling around them. Even if Darvice's men had come after them, they wouldn't get far in this storm. "It just means we have to move as soon as we can. Get down the mountain." He turned to Spencer. "Where's the rest of your team?"

"We're staying at the resort at the base of the mountain. Working with the local police."

Which was where Nate and the others, including Darvice and his right hand man, were as well. "That should make for an interesting night." Eliot murmured. He leaned his forehead against the cold glass of the window and exhaled. He hated feeling like they were sitting ducks, and not knowing what Darvice's men were doing here only compounded the feeling.

Spencer was poking at the fire when Eliot turned back around, looking younger than Eliot knew him to be. "We'll just sit tight until the storm passes, then we'll head down the mountain."

"My team must be looking for me." Spencer mused, pulling his hand back inside the blanket.

Eliot crossed back to him and squatted next to him. "Hey, you know I'll get you through this, right?"

"I trust you." Spencer said with a nod.

Somehow that just made Eliot more on edge. Spencer had no right to trust him. Not after everything.

"I don't blame you for anything." Spencer said softly, as if he could see what Eliot was thinking.

Eliot snorted and stood, pacing to the small bed and back. "Right."

Spencer looked up at him. "It wasn't your fault."

"I certainly didn't help matters." Eliot paced away again and sat on the bed. "It was a long time ago."

Years in fact. Spencer shouldn't have been there.

The bed dipped and Eliot turned his head. Spencer sat beside him, looking at the floor. "I was surprised when I woke up and you were gone."

Eliot nodded. "You didn't need me there."

"Maybe I wanted you there." Spencer responded.

Eliot didn't know how to respond to that. He rubbed his hands down his legs and looked away. "Why? You had to lie for me. You could have lost your job."

Spencer snorted a hard laugh. "I didn't even have the job yet. I wasn't lying when I told you I couldn't pass the physical stuff at the academy. I was only in the field because they were short staffed and I knew the case." He shivered and pulled the blanket around him closer. "I knew that you didn't kill that kid."

"You also knew I wasn't who I said I was, and that I was not a cop." Eliot said.

"Yeah, okay I did. But, you saved that cop's life, and you didn't kill me when you had a chance."

"You went me one step further though. You kept that agent from killing me." Eliot remembered the moment. The man had him cold. Nowhere to go. No more moves. Just the gun pressed to the back of his neck and a sleep deprived, passionately motivated agent convinced Eliot was a child killer.

Spencer had kept the man from pulling the trigger, had lied to other agents about who Eliot was. Kept Eliot alive and out of jail at a time when Eliot was in over his head. He'd been sent in to get the kid. But that wasn't the whole story. He doubted Spencer even knew the whole story.

"You know I couldn't stay."

Spencer nodded. "I do now. I didn't then. I didn't realize who had hired you."

"Better for you." Eliot stood and went back to the fire, feeding it another log. The kid's grandfather had sent Eliot in, and normally he wasn't the kind of guy Eliot would take a job from. But Eliot had other reasons. "You got to keep your job, I found a way to keep off the radar until the kid's grandfather died. It worked out for both of us." It had worked out because Eliot had killed the son of a bitch Spencer had been after.

Eliot stood. "You should get some sleep. I'll stand watch."

For a minute he thought Spencer would argue, then he nodded and laid down, curling up under the blanket. Eliot couldn't be sure the profiler would actually sleep, but he didn't want to talk about their past anymore.

He didn't want Spencer to know that Eliot had followed his career, albeit discreetly and from great distances, that he had read every paper the brilliant man had published. He knew Spencer was smart enough to figure it out…why Eliot had taken the job, why Eliot had killed the man…why he had let Spencer take him home in the small hours of the morning afterward.

Eliot went back to the bottle of Scotch and took it to the small table in the kitchen area of the cabin. It was cold comfort compared to a warm bed, but the last time he had shared a bed with Spencer Reid they had both been very different men.




The storm died in the small hours of the night and Eliot killed the fire and closed the damper to keep the smoke from giving them away. He kicked the end of the bed. "Time to go, Sleeping Beauty."

Spencer sat up and blinked at him. "What time is it?"

"Not quite four am." Eliot said. "We need to move."

He pulled his earpiece from his pocket and slipped it into his ear while Spencer got up. "Nate?"

"Eliot, where have you been?"

"Storm knocked out the comm. We're holed up in the ranger's station, but we can't stay here. Darvice's men have been here and by now they're looking for us."

"Okay, tell me what you want us to do?"

Eliot sighed and eased the chair away from the door. "We're going to start down the mountain. Meet us at the logging road."

"How long?"

"It's going to take us about two hours to get there." Eliot nodded to Spencer who seemed ready to go and opened the door, scanning the area. "I'll keep in touch."

The nearly full moon shined off the fresh snow and reflected back at them, making a psuedo-daylight. Which would make it easier to find their way, but would also make them easier to spot.

"Lets go." Eliot gestured into the trees.

They were quiet for a long time, trudging through snow that in places came to their knees. Within the first ten minutes Eliot was soaked through from the waist down. He could tell Spencer was too, but he wasn't complaining.

"Do you smell that?" Spencer asked, stopping and turning east.

"Smoke." Eliot agreed. They stood still, listening to the sounds of ice breaking and trees shifting.

"It could be the unsub."

"Spencer, our first priority is to get off this mountain."

He turned to look at Eliot, his eyes narrowing. "He could be cutting those people up, right now, just for fun."

Eliot rolled his eyes. "Okay, we check it out, but only if it's not too far out of our way."

They changed course and moved stealthily through the trees, following the scent of smoke. What they found was a small vent sticking up out of the ground with smoke curling up out of it. Eliot held a finger to his lips and Spencer nodded.

Spencer pointed down at the ground. "No, please…leave him alone."

The sound was faint, a woman's voice floating through the vent. "Damnit." Eliot growled through his teeth. He couldn't walk away now. "We have to find a way in." Eliot mouthed at Spencer. They moved away from one another, walking slowly around the area.

Spencer spotted it first, snapping his fingers to get Eliot's attention and pointing. There were no footsteps in the snow leading up to it, and snow covered bushes that partially blocked it, but there was an opening, a natural looking cave. Eliot moved closer, in under the overhang where he found a door that was anything but natural. He laid a hand against it, finding it warm. He nodded to Spencer and tested the door.

It opened slowly, and they both froze when the hinges squeaked loudly. Eliot let go of the door and gestured Spencer back. There was no way the people inside hadn't heard that. "Go." They got clear of the immediate danger and Eliot stood where he'd have an advantage if the bastard actually came out far enough.

The door squeaked again. Eliot saw the gun first, hand extended outward. He gave it a few seconds, until he could see a shoulder and head. He jumped, grabbing the gun hand as they rolled into the snow, squeezing the wrist until the gun dropped.

The man was hefty, taller than Eliot by a good four or five inches and out weighing him by a lot more. He got a foot up between them and shoved, sending Eliot flying into a nearby tree. His back yelled out in pain, but Eliot charged back at the big guy, tackling him even as he was trying to get up.

"Get them out." Eliot yelled at Spencer who was stuck staring at the fight. He didn't look to see if the kid heard him, he was too busy trying to keep from getting smothered in the snow.

The bigger man was laughing and Eliot was bleeding. He needed to end this. He fought his way closer to the tree with the man's arm wrapped around his throat. If he didn't get out of the hold he'd be unconscious very quickly.

Eliot pressed back and kicked his feet up, using the tree to spring board back over the man's head, making him let go. Eliot grabbed his opponent in a similar hold and yanked backward, taking them both down and holding on as the man fought the impending darkness.

"Eliot?"

He lifted a hand so Spencer knew where he was, then pushed the big guy off of him. Spencer was there instantly, looking concerned as he lifted a hand to Eliot's bruised face.

"I am not dragging his ass down this mountain." Eliot said when he'd caught his breath.

Spencer's lip quirked up. "He's got cages. We can lock him up and come back for him."

"The victims?" Eliot asked, glancing over his shoulder.

"They're putting clothes on. Give them a minute." Spencer's thumb brushed Eliot's cheek and he hissed. "He really got you good."

Eliot didn't tell him that wasn't the worst of it. He'd cracked a rib taking the bastard's full weight on him when they went down, and he'd gotten jabbed in the back with something when he hit the tree. The only thing that kept it from bleeding all over was the fact that the branch had broken off and was stuck in his skin.

"Help me haul him back up to the cave." Eliot said, getting up slowly. Together they dragged the man back and inside, binding him up and locking him in his own cages.

The man and the woman looked traumatized, but functional. They were both bruised and the man was favoring one arm, but Eliot really didn't want to know the details.

"Lets move. My team is going to be waiting for us."



Nate was waiting, with the rest of the team and four snowmobiles to take them all the rest of the way down the mountain. As they entered the lodge, people rushed at them, and Eliot fell back to let Spencer take point.

"I'm fine." Spencer said as his people started asking questions. "Cold, but fine."

Eliot stepped back, glancing at Nate. "You might want to disappear."

Nate nodded. "We're done here anyway. Heading home."

Eliot watched Spencer as local police tended the two victims. "I'll catch up."

Nate smiled. "See you in a few days." He patted Eliot's back and Eliot gasped as his hand brushed the wound. It made Nate freeze. "Eliot?"

Eliot grimaced and turned to look at him. "Yeah, okay. Maybe you can help me deal with that before you go."

He and Nate slipped away, to the elevators that would take them to Eliot's room. Spencer would be looking for him, but Eliot didn't want him to know. He'd find Spencer later.

"So, you going to tell me how you know this guy?" Nate asked as he cleaned up around the wound.

"No." Eliot responded.

Nate leaned in to get a better look at the wound now that the stick was removed and the blood flow had lessened. "I don't think it needs stitches."

"It's fine. Just bandage it up." Eliot responded, glancing back at him.

"Anything else I should look at while I'm here?"

Eliot shook his head. "I'm good."

Nate taped down the bandage and cleaned up the remnants of his care. "I'll just get to the airport then, before more snow gets us stuck here."

"You do that." Eliot responded, standing. He pulled the ear piece from his pocket and handed it to Nate. "Like I said, I'll catch up."

When Nate was gone, Eliot went into the bathroom to clean up his face, then pulled on a clean shirt. He headed down to the lobby then, figuring Spencer would have taken his team up to retrieve their bad guy. He didn't have long to wait.

Spencer came in with one of the others, who was clearly escorting Spencer to his room. Eliot followed them into the elevator. Spencer glanced at him nervously, but Eliot just smiled and reached for the button at the same time the dark skinned man with Spencer did. "Oh, sorry. That's my floor too."

Eliot stepped to the back of the elevator and the man with Spencer smirked at him. "You surprised me out there."

"Surprised myself." Spencer said, glancing at Eliot.

"Don't worry about Hotch. He'll cool off. Get some rest. I'll come get you when we're ready to leave."

The elevator doors opened and the two FBI agents stepped out. Eliot walked past them as Spencer stopped at a door. He stopped just around the corner and waited until the other man was in his own room, then Eliot went back and knocked on Spencer's door.

It opened and Eliot stepped in past Spencer. "Everything okay?"

"It will be." Spencer said, closing the door. "The victims are going to be okay and the unsub is in custody."

"I meant you." Eliot said, catching his arm as he tried to pass Eliot.

Spencer nodded. "Thanks to you."

Eliot smiled. "We'll call it even."

"My boss wants to talk to you."

"I imagine he does."

Spencer went to sit on the bed, drawing his legs up and crossing them. "You're just going to disappear again, aren't you?"

Eliot inhaled deeply and came to sit next to him. "Do you need me to stay?"

"Need?" Spencer's voice was a little shaky and he pressed his lips together tightly. "No. It's probably better for you if you don't."

"Didn't ask about me." Eliot countered, rubbing their shoulders together.

Spencer didn't look at him and didn't answer. After a long silence, Eliot stood. Spencer looked up at him, regret on his face. Eliot pulled a business card from his pocket and put it down on the desk. "If you ever need me."

He was almost to the door when Spencer's voice stopped him. "What if…I just want to see you?"

Eliot turned, an eyebrow raised and looked from Spencer to the card and back again. Spencer nodded, a tight smile on his face. "Take care of yourself, Eliot."

"You too, Dr. Reid."

Eliot closed the door behind him and headed for the elevator. He stopped in his room to get his things, and left the resort in the bright sunlight of a winter afternoon. He wasn't quite ready to head back to Boston with Nate and the others, but Spencer was going to be okay.

He stopped to look back, wondering for just a moment what it would be like to stay…but Spencer wasn't wrong. He was FBI and Eliot was…well, a wanted man.

He slipped his sunglasses on and nodded to himself, walking away. Again.