The Mom job

“So how do we play this?” Hardison asked after Darcy had gone to bed.

Nate looked up in surprise he thought he would have to sell the con to the team. He had underestimated his team and Darcy. Of course they cared about her she was Sophie’s daughter.

“That douche Mr. West the one that Darcy knocked the hell out of. He’s 34 degree in art history comes with a long line of assault charges mostly against young girls that his parents money has covered up. This guys a real piece of work but he fits in with the rest of the staff. It looks like every member of staff has a shady past, I mean everything from rape , embezzlement, battery, assault, tax evasion, poaching is that still a thing?” Hardison’s face scrunched up in confusion “poaching” shaking his head he faced the team.

“Why would an all girls school hire staff with these kinda backgrounds.” Parker asked the question that was on all their minds. Usually schools at least pretended at rigorous background checks.

“Because they have something to hide, they want staff that wont ask questions. We can work with that. Alec I want Eliot in that school I don’t want Darcy in there alone.”

“Darcy isn’t going in there at all! This is my daughter you’re talking about Nate! I will not allow you to put her risk.”

“Do you really think you can keep her away. She flew across the country for her friends Soph. If we try to keep her out of it she’ll just go off by her self at least we can keep her safe. Eliot’s not going to let anything happen to her.”

It was true none of the team would let anyone touch Darcy in one day she had become theirs. Someone they would love and protect, every one of them had a part to play in their team. Darcy coming had made Nate realize they were missing something, a common piece that would hold them together when things got too intense. Oh they cared about each other and Hardison had literal heart eyes for Parker but they were a group of loners learning to work together for their own reasons. Darcy was an innocent a reason for all of them to come together for a common purpose. The thing that banded a group of loners and criminals together. Nate huffed a laugh he may have been trying to think of arguments to keep her around but the truth was from the moment Darcy had showed up all big blue eyes he had been gone. His long forgotten fatherly instincts had resurfaced with a vengeance. He missed that part of himself being a father had been a calling the ultimate calling. Everything Nate had done after Sam had been born was to make Sam proud to make Sam’s life better. So Nate could be worthy of the gift of fatherhood. When he had lost Sam it wasn’t just his little boy he lost. He lost his calling until he had found his team he hadn’t known what to do with himself. Maybe if Maggie had stuck around if he hadn’t driven her away in his drunken grief but he had now Darcy was here. A fatherless child looking to him for help, the absolute trust in her gaze meant Nate was going to do anything to help her.

Nate understood Sophie’s choice he really did but he’d be lying to himself If he said he didn’t want the girl he was quickly viewing as his step daughter around. He also had a feeling Darcy needed a father figure in her life. It sounded like the Lewis’s were more interested in a comfy retirement than child rearing. Besides Parkers eyes had sparkled at the thought of all the things she could each Darcy and Hardison had beamed when he told Nate how well she seemed to relate to the sometimes difficult blonde. Eliot, Nate sighed Eliot was probably half in love with the younger woman, wasn’t that just a kick in the teeth. Normally any father even a step father would never let an 26 year old grizzled ex mercenary near their kid but he knew when Eliot made you his people he would tear the word down for them. He also knew he would never approach Darcy because she was so much younger than him but age was a funny thing. What seemed insurmountable at 17 and 26 was hardly anything at 37 and 46. And she would be at least 37 before anyone was allowed near her.

“Nate, Nate!” Hardison’s voice interrupted his thoughts. Nate snapped to attention at the urgency in the young hacker’s voice.

“Sophie were going to have to bring Darcy with, unless you have a another ex mercenary friend that could watch her while we find her friend and take this school down. Last night Gerald Lewis was murdered.”

“What!” Sophie rushed towards the monitors while Alec pulled up police reports autopsy reports and news coverage of her old friends death.

“He was shot to death in his home last night. Police think it was a robbery gone wrong the place was ransacked but Soph. They didn’t take anything. The room that was worst was Darcy’s. There isn’t at anything bigger than a matchstick left in her room.”

“Nate.” Sophie reached for Nate’s hand squeezing hard. What if it wasn’t the school that was searching for Darcy what if it was someone else. One of her old enemies or even Darcy’s father?

“Darcy goes with us. Hardison I want Eliot and Parker in that school. I want a tracker on Darcy and the best modified taser Parker come up with. Eliot!” Nate barked when the shorter man walked in the conference room. "You and Parker teach Darcy what you can. How to throw a punch, pick a lock, shoot a gun. We are not leaving her without a way out if she needs one.”

Eliot swallowed hard. He hated guns hated what they turned him into but he would make sure Darcy knew how to protect herself. “Nate just what the hell kind of school sends hired killers to find a 17 year old?”

At Nate’s raised brow Eliot answered “They have a very distinctive style, Lewis was shot execution style but look at his fingers they were broken first. He was tortured they wanted information, judging from Darcy’s room that information was on her.”

“There’s something else going on at that school besides extreme discipline. Alec I want financial records for all employees. I want a list of every girl that went to that school and her current whereabouts, I want it now. Soph were going to have to tell Darcy that Lewis is dead. You don’t want her to find that out from somewhere else. “

Sophie shook her head sadly, How had things gone so wrong. She had worked so hard to be sure that Darcy was safe. That none of her past mistakes touched her beautiful girl but somehow in trying to keep her safe she had left her exposed to some unknown danger. Her face hardened she had been Sophie Devereaux for a long time had loved being her. Sophie had money, friends and a man that she could count on. She would become Galina again if it meant protecting Darcy. She had worked too long and too hard to keep her little girl safe to let some unknown threat hurt her only child. Sophie would burn that school to the ground! It wouldn’t be the first time she had smoked out an unknown enemy out.

Sophie and Nate walked in the spare room hand in hand, neither could stop the smile from gracing their faces. Darcy had managed to make the spare bedroom hers in a short time she had been there. Sophie knew by the amount of bags Alec and Eliot had been holding that the team had spoiled her but she hadn’t really expected this. The room had been painted a soft blue grey, there was a white vanity and matching dresser that Sophie was sure was Victorian. It looked remarkably like a set she had seen in Buckingham Palace. A computer was already set up on a desk in the corner. On the walls were galaxy and space prints that looked like they had come straight from satellite footage. Her team had been busy ensuring Darcy’s comfort. It almost looked like she had always been here and Sophies heart ached because she wished that was true. That she had kept Darcy with her.

“This looks lovely sweetheart.”

Thanks mom, Alec got these amazing prints off NASA’s satellite and Eliot had them framed don’t they look amazing. Parker had this really beautiful vanity in storage and she gave it to me for my makeup and also lock picks.”

“It’s perfect darling I’m glad you’re settling in but I’m afraid I have some bad news. May we come in?”

Darcy nodded fear tightening her chest, she looked to Nate for comfort. He had such a solid presence that Darcy had automatically pegged him as someone she could count on. It had been something of a hobby studying people’s characters and Darcy was right nine times out of ten. Nathan Ford was a good person. He seemed to do the impossible and tie her flighty mother down.

“Darcy, Gerald was killed last night. We think it had something to do with you, with that school. It cant be a coincidence that they day you disappear he was killed. I think, we all think that for the time being you should stay with us.”

Darcy’s world seemed to shrink Mr. Lewis was a good guy, sure he was old and cranky. He never really had much use for her but he was all Darcy knew. From the time she was seven years old Darcy had lived in that house with Mr. and Mrs. Lewis. He had taught her to ride a bike, bait a hook and throw an uppercut. He was the one who had decided to send Darcy to that school but she understood. Not that Darcy had caused tons of trouble, sure there were a few isolated incidents mostly Darcy thought it was because he missed his wife. He hadn’t known how to handle a teenage girl. As Darcy got older visits from Sophie got father and farther apart he probably felt like he didn't have to watch her as much. It was probably easier for him to sit in that house alone thinking about the glory days as a husband and wife grifter team. She had ruined things for them like she ruined everything. Darcy let her tears fall Mr. Lewis had died because of her. She was the reason Jesse was missing and now Mr. Lewis was dead. Maybe she shouldn’t have come because now she had put her mom and her team at risk.

“I should go back mom. If they’re looking for me they might have followed me here. You guys could be in danger! I won’t let someone else die for me. I can go back, I’ll find Jesse and Sky and in a year I’ll go to college. No one will have to worry about me anymore, I’ll be an adult.”

“Darcy Lewis you are not goin back alone! You are my daughter its my job to worry about you . I know you think I haven’t worried for you. That Ive been living a jet setting life and haven’t thought about you. It’s just not true, Darcy I love you! everything I’ve done has been for you. I made mistakes I can admit that. I will not let you out of that door alone. We are family and my team is going to get your friends back! We will keep you safe and if anyone at that school or anywhere else thinks for one second that they can hurt you then they will see just how far I will go to protect the ones I love!”

Darcy opened her mouth a defiant look on her face that Nate had seen a thousand times aimed at him on Sophie’s face. He held up his hand stalling the many argument he was sure were coming Sophies’ way. He loved the woman but Gods she could be harsh sometimes.

“Darcy, this is a dangerous situation beyond a school that is a little too harsh in their discipline. You are to important to your mother, to me to put you at risk. Let us help you, my team is the best there is. Let us do what we do best and take down this school. We can find your friends and make sure no one else is hurt by these people. We’ll need your help though. You know the players better than us can give us. You can give us insights that a dry file and bank records can’t. We’re sending you back in but Eliot will be there and so will Parker. If we let you go back in, there are some ground rule and these are non negotiable. We put a passive tracker on you. You learn to shoot, you have a taser on you at all times and a coms in your ear. We’ll keep you in the loop but you have to keep your head down and not take stupid risks. Not just for you for you but for the safety of the team.”

Sophie looked at Nate with gratitude. Darcy would have never agreed to a tracker for her own safety. Her daughter had remarkably little self preservation instincts, even as a child. She would listen for the safety of the team. She would never allow anyone to get hurt for her. How she had the kindest most selfless daughter in the world Sophie would never know. Perhaps she got it from her father. He was remarkably good at taking guilt for things he had no control over.