Leverage/Heartwarming
- Say it with me now: "HÄAGEN DAZS!" If you don't think that's cute, you have no soul.
- Luka, who's looked utterly miserable (and with good reason) every single time he's appeared, sees the parents who've been trying so hard to adopt him, and smiles.
- The entirety of "The Stork Job" (indeed, the whole show, why hasn't it been mentioned here before?) is packed with heartwarming moments, but the Parker and Hardison scene in which Parker defends her position to not rescue the Serbian orphans, and we see her actually cry, grabs this troper's heart and squeezes every time.
Parker: No. You put these kids in the system and odds are they're gonna... they're gonna turn out like me.
[a pause, then Hardison smiles.]
Hardison: I like how you turned out.
- Sophie has several of these with Widmark in "The Fairy Godparents Job".
- When Parker's trapped in a high-security building. Her happiness when Hardison tells her that the entire team is there, as well as how quickly everyone banded together to save her were so adorable. Finally, she has a chance to escape, but doesn't, because people might get hurt if she doesn't stop the villain she's uncovered. "This is what I do now." And Eliot running into the building after her could make anyone smile.
- Not to mention the reason why she's able to go back and defeat a security system that's already beaten her once. The Power of Friendship.
Nate: Parker, last time you went to the vault-
Parker: No, I couldn't, but I was alone then. I'm not alone now, OK? Hardison, just clear me a path to the vault, I know what I did wrong before, I can do it!
- During the Double Blind Job as Parker is jealous of the client being close to Hardison, Sophie finally convinces her to confess her feelings.
Parker:So the thing is, I think I might be having feelings, like weird weird feelings for (beat) pretzels.
Hardison: Well, they are right here when you want them.
- This is later repeated by Parker during the Big Bang Job with her stating that she was in the mood for pretzels.
- Nate and Sophie in "The Reunion Job" at the end, dancing together.
- Also, Parker and Hardison's "floaty dance" at the end of the same episode.
- Parker and Archie's moment at the end of "The Inside Job." After the Give Me Back My Wallet, you can just see the "That's my girl" in his grin.
- Eliot finally relaxing and returning Corey's impromptu man-hug at the end of "The Underground Job."
- Hell, that entire scene, where Eliot was acting like a father figure to the kid.
- And Eliot's grin at Hardison's Gone Fishin' Job shout out...
Eliot: That'll give us enough time to find the bomb
Hardison: Oh, yeah. Plenty of time. Meanwhile, I'll be here. In the van. As far away as possible. My dude, go with God. (high fives and hugs Eliot)
Eliot: What are you doing, man?
Hardison: For morale, man!
- Overlaps with Tear Jerker, but at the end of the first season, when the team's forced to split up, and they all stop as they're walking away, because no matter what they say, they don't want to go.
- Don't forget, Eliot was the first one to stop.
- The little girl in "The King George Job". Eliot giving her a high five, Sophie worrying that her thieving may have hurt an innocent like her, Nate telling Sophie (repeatedly, sometimes at random intervals) that she never hurt anyone.
- Nate's words to the team at the end of "The Maltese Falcon Job," after having traded his freedom for theirs: "You guys are the most honorable people I have ever met in my life. You have become my family, my only family. I won't forget that."
- The "family gift exchange" at the end of "The Ho Ho Ho Job." It would have been incredibly cheesy if the gifts hadn't been so thoughtful and grown-up.
- And stolen, don't forget stolen. That was heartwarming and a little Fridge Briliance as well. They are all so rich from previous and current exploits that they can buy anything they want, (and they spend plenty of time stealing money from evil marks who do just that) but to acquire the perfect gift is a true test of worth to a group of thieves.
- Nate to Sterling and a bunch of FBI agents (Yes, when I heard it I cried a little) "My name is Nate Ford and I'm a thief."
- The little boy in "The Ho Ho Ho Job" asking Eliot, who's dressed up as Santa but with his customary gruffness, if he's mean of if he's nice. Eliot passes him a present then puts a finger to his lips, indicating that he is nice, but he doesn't want anyone to know.
- It's a bit dark for a Heartwarming Moment, but in "The Future Job" when the fake psychic does a read on Parker and makes her run away crying, she asks if they can kill him and Eliot almost says yes.
- In addition, the fact that the team took the time to explain to her exactly how the fake psychic managed to read her using visual aids and slow motion enhancement. It wasn't about getting Parker's head together so they could get back on the con. It was about making her feel better. Even Sixth Ranger Tara helps.
- Parker hugging Hardison at the end of "The Long Way Down Job."
- Also in "The Long Way Down Job", Parker and Elliot are trapped in a chasm where they found Alan's body. When figuring a way out, Parker is very insistent on taking the body with them, to Tear Jerker levels.
Parker: "No!"
Elliot: "Parker-"
Parker: "No!"
Elliot: "IT'S DONE!"
Parker: "NO! This is what we're supposed to do! We're supposed to get him back to his wife! Nate would do it, Sophie would do it, Hardison would do it... they would do the right thing! I want to do the right thing!"
- And while they aren't able to retrieve Alan's body, Parker is able to slip his cell phone into the pocket of The Dragon, which starts transmitting the frozen hiker's final message for everyone, including his widow, to hear once it gets in range. His last words to his wife are incredibly sweet, made all the better when Eliot tells Parker, "You did it. You brought him back to her."
- Every. Single. Moment. that Charlie!Hardison and Dorothy!Parker are on-screen together during "The Van Gogh Job," except for their last moment, which is a real Tear Jerker.
- Actually, just that ENTIRE EPISODE, barring bits where Eliot is beating people up and the Tearjerker bits. From Real!Hardison and Real!Parker's handholding cuteness and Sheriff!Nate's dedication to the right thing and also his warbride (Sophie, who else?) and of course, "Don't waste time."
- In "The Carnival Job," the instant that it's revealed the mark's daughter was kidnapped, they immediately drop the con and devote everything to rescuing her. It isn't even a question.
- The last thirty minutes of "The Grave Digger Job" Everyone is hell-bent on getting Hardison out of that coffin. They don't care about the con anymore. The phone call from Parker to Hardison, the hug the he and Eliot have...all of it just...damn.
- It's a small moment, but as time starts to run out, Parker calls Hardison "Alec" while begging him not to leave her. Because he's her friend, and she needs him.
- Jim Frakkin' Sterling of all people gets one in "The Queen's Gambit Job" when he reunites with his daughter, explaining that he knew Nate could pull off the job he asked of him, even though that job was a secondary objective to distract from the real goal of re-obtaining his daughter. He tells Nate as much.
- Specifically, in a nice reference back to the season two finale, he calls Nate the best thief he's ever known.
- In "The Queen's Gambit Job" Parker has to wear weighted boots to mimic the gait of the mark to access his vault. She has a breakdown when she gets frustrated practicing on Hardison's DDR pads with the voice taunting her:
Parker: Hardison! This limp, and these boots, I don't like them. They're weighing me down. Quick and light. That's how I survive. You slow me down, you kill me.
Hardison: Hey, hey, hey. Parker. Listen. You had to be quick cause you were alone. If you get caught that's it. I get it. But you're not alone anymore. Look. Look at me. You're not alone. You're not. You have a team. You have me. And I got you - I got you girl.
Then he goes through the steps with her humming the song that played during their first dance.
- Later in the episode, there is a Call Back to that scene. When Parker is feeling nervous about entering the vault:
Parker: (deep breath) Um, Do you think maybe you could, uh - Well it was just easier before when there was, um, music.
Beat.
Parker steels herself to make her attempt. Hardison's humming is heard over the coms. Parker gains renewed confidence and starts walking, Nate looks confused, and Sophie looks delighted.
- When Parker is on the roof at the end, with no available escape options:
Parker: Hardison! I'm on the roof with no way down.
Hardison: Stairway and elevator?
Parker: No they're both blocked. I think I'm trapped up here.
Hardison: There's a third way down.
Parker: No, I don't have a chute
Hardison: Uh, check again.
Parker: (Checks her backpack, finds a chute.) Did you do this?
Flash Back to the earlier scene of Hardison telling Parker she's not alone.
- In the Experimental Job: When Parker rescues Hardison from the Secret Society by beating up the entire group, normally Elliot's Job.
Member: You'll never be one of us! You're a geek!
Parker: Should I tell him it's the age of the geek?
Hardison: He'll figure it out eventually.
- Also in the Experimental Job: Parker's hilariously horrible pep talk and Hardison surprising reaction to the entire speech is so sweet and it shows how far they've actually come as a couple. The kiss wasn't bad either.
Parker: Remember the other night when you were playing with your pretend friends?
Hardison: They're real peo... Look, they're, they're not pretend. They're just not in the same room with me.
Parker: They're an elf, a dwarf, and a thing with a tail...pretty sure they're pretend. Remember when you took the thingy with the glowing thingy and then you used it to kill the guy who was on the shiny stuff and then also there was all this magic?
Hardison: I, I think so...
Parker: That was so cool. I mean, how many people here are cool enough to kill the guy with the thing?
Hardison: You know what, you're right, that was pretty cool.
- Later...
Sophie (on comms): That actually worked?!?!
Hardison: No, but the fact that she thought it would work? That worked.
- In "The Boys Night Out Job", Hardison's reason for telling Hurley (the addict from the Rehab/(12-Step) Job) how to find Nate.
Hardison: It seemed like you've been focusing so much on the part of the job where we wreck people, I wanted you to see we've done some good in the world.
- "The Lonely Hearts Job": Eliot delivering gifts to Sophie and Parker in Nate's and Hardison's names.
- Jimmy Ford finally admitting that he loves his son and is proud of him. Too bad it happens right before he gets blown up right in front of Nate.
- This troper's heart melted a little when Archie introduced Parker as his daughter to his biological daughter that was trying to get him to go to assisted living at that moment and then promptly left with her. Parker's face just sells it.
- Watching Hardison get all respectful and polite around Archie is kind of precious.
- And Archie does mention to Parker that he "approves of her young man".
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