Fic: Life Unexpected Part 1
Fic: Life Unexpected Master Post
Sep. 22nd, 2013 at 12:54 AM
natesophie
Title: Life Unexpected
Author: acquariusgb
Characters: Sophie, Nate, Team, Original Character
Pairings: Nate/Sophie
Spoilers: none
Rating: PG-15
Word Count: in progress
Summary : Life suddenly changes when a surprising visitor comes knocking on Nate's door. Set at the beginning of Season 2.
Life Unexpected
Nate sighed as he watched Hardison trafficking in his living room. It was in those moment that he wished he were drinking again, instead, since he had been sober for eight months now, he went behind the kitchen counter and poured himself a cup of coffee. He had lost count of how many he already had that day.
"Hardison" he intervened once he heard hammering coming behind him "It's just a football game. There's no need to destroy my apartment in the process"
"Destroy? Destroy?" he shrieked "Do you have any idea what I'm doing to improve your home cinema system? It's going to be awesome, it will be like we're actually inside the game. You're going to love the all 3D experience" he smirked.
"3D?" Eliot had just walked through the front door. "I ain't going to wear ridiculous glasses, Hardison. No way!" he grunted as he put a carried bag on the counter and started taking the groceries out it.
"Hey, don't kill it until you've tried it!" Hardison shouted back at him
Nate watched as Eliot took out bottles of Hardison's favourite orange soda, packets of pop-corn, crisps and cans of coke which he presumed were for Eliot. Nate rolled his eyes and opened the fridge to grab a glass of his homemade cranberry soda that the mastermind had started drinking instead of alcohol before making his way to the couch.
"You could have bought some beer for you" he told the hitter. "it's not like I'm going to punch you for a sip"
"Yeah, right" he chuckled finding the all idea of Nate attacking him and having the best of him absurd. "It's fine" Eliot filled some bowls with popcorn and crisps and then joined the other on the couch after grabbing his coke. "we didn't want you to fall in temptation, especially tonight."
Nate frowned. "Why? What's happening tonight?"
Eliot and Hardison exchange a nervous look. "Well…" the hacker began "… you know, the all Sophie going out with her boyfriend."
"I'm okay with Sophie going out" it was he fast reply. "She can date whoever she wants" he took a sip of drink and turned towards the monitor making sure they understood that the conversation was over. He wasn't going to let them see how it bothered him that Sophie was with someone. When the team had come back into his life, he had hoped that he and Sophie would finally take a shot at starting a relationship. He had been really disappointed when she had turned him down after their first con and told him she had a girlfriend. In one second he saw all his chances blew up in flames.
"Of course" Eliot chuckled in amusement. "Like there's nothing going on between you two"
"There's never been anything going between me and Sophie and there never will be"
"You keep saying that" Hardison teased him like Eliot. "Like you ain't jealous about her man"
"Is it ready?" Nate said annoyed dropping the sore subject again. "Can we watch this match?"
"Yep, here's your 3D glasses" both Nate and Eliot eyed them doubtfully, but then they put them on "Hey, where's Parker?"
The hitter shrugged and grabbed some pop-corn from the bowl. "She said that she had something to do and that she was going to come by later"
"I bet she's stealing something" the hacker smirked.
"She'd better not be!" Nate groaned. When Parker went for one of her stealing adventures, they often had to clean up her mess. Not that she was sloppy. Parker was the best thief around. It was when she put the things she stole back that she could be very… creative.
The three men had been watching the football match for almost half an hour. Eliot and Nate had to admit that watching it in 3D wasn't so bad, actually it was fun. They were laughing and relaxing when they heard a knock on the door. The three looked at each other. Nobody usually knocked.
"Who could it be?" Hardison asked.
"Well, we ain't going to find out by sitting here" Eliot said while turning back to the match.
"Who's going?"
"You are" Nate and Eliot said at the same time.
The hacker sighed and reluctantly he went to open the front door. "Hmm… yeah?" he raised both his eyebrow in shock and the figure standing at the other side.
"Does a Nathan Ford live here?"
"Ah… sure" Hardison let the figure inside.
"Who i…" Eliot stopped mid-sentence and stared at their visitor.
"She's looking for Nate" Hardison went back to sit on the couch figuring that she was just a possible client.
Nate stared at the little girl who was awkwardly standing in the hall. He got up and walked towards her curious about what had brought her there in the first place. "Hi, I'm Nathan Ford." He smiled. He could see that the girl was a bit frightened and he wanted to try to make her comfortable.
The girl eyed him from head to toes, like she was judging him for something "Hi." She gave him a small tempted smile "I'm Amy"
"And what brings you here, Amy?"
"Well… according to my birth certificate you're my father, so that would make me your daughter"
They heard choking sounds coming from the sitting area. Hardison had chosen that moment to take a sip of his drink and he was now coughing orange soda all over the place.
Nate stood there looking at the girl in disbelieve. "I… I …." He stammered.
"You're in shock" she shrugged "That's fine. But could I have something to eat, please? I haven't eating anything since last night"""
Nate took a good look at the child in front of him. He could see that she had taken this journey all alone and he wondered where her parents where. There was obviously some kind of mistake, he couldn't be the Nathan Ford she was looking for. But she looked tired and famish and there was something in her eyes, her deep blue eyes, that reminded him so much of his son.
"Sure" he nodded. "Eliot, could you…?"
"No problem" The hitter got up and went to cook something fast in the kitchen.
"You can have a seat" Nate nodded towards the chairs and then he went to sit on one of them, hoping she would join him.
Amy took off her backpack and jacket and laid them next to the kitchen stool. She sat on the chair opposite Nate's and she studied him.
"So…" Nate said awkwardly "Look kid, I don't know what you believe but I can't be your dad. You are, what? Seven years old?"
"Seven and a half" she paused "Nearly eight"
"That's what I'm saying. There's no way…"
Amy suddenly got up from the table and went to the get something from her bag. She then rushed back and gave Nate a piece of paper.
"Look! It says Nathan Ford born in Boston the 16th August 1965. I searched on Google and you're the only one that came up."
Eliot slid a plate in front of her and she quickly dig into her spaghetti with tomato sauce.
"Looks legit man" Hardison peaked from behind the mastermind shoulder who was still looking at the birth certificate stunned.
"How..?" He shook his head. His name. His name was actually printed. "There's no name listed under the mother"
Amy just shrugged and kept eating.
"How did you even get this?" Nate continued.
"I stole it from my social worker's office" she replied with her mouth full.
"Did you say "stole"?" Hardison smirked. "Oh, she's already in the family business."
"Hardison!" Nate snapped frustrated. He was still trying to figure everything. "I don't understand. Eight years ago I was still married to Maggie, how…"
Then the front door suddenly burst open. "So," a female voice shrieked. "what's this emergency that I had to come straight here for?"
Nate head snapped up and gasped. All the piece of the puzzle came together and he finally had a clear picture in his mind.
Hardison and Eliot noticed the realization hit the mastermind and looked between Nate, the woman and the girl.
"Nothing ever happened, huh?" Eliot muttered.
Paris 2002
"Freeze!" he shouted holding a gun in his hand.
Sophie acted on instinct, she grab the gun and shot the intruder. It happened all in a second and she hadn't recognized him, but the thief in her was telling her to carry on, so she quickly turned around and that's when she felt the sting on her back.
"You wanker" she snapped her head around and gave him a deadly glare.
Suddenly the lights outside the corridors came on and they heard French voice coming from downstairs followed by the sound of hurried footsteps.
"Let's go!" Nate hissed grimacing at the pain on his shoulder.
Sophie raised both her eyebrow in question, but she still ran away followed by Nate
"I get why I want to leave this place in a hurry, but why you?"
"Well, the people you were stealing from aren't exactly police friendly." The passed through the back door leading outside and then Nate pushed a garbage can in front of door blocking the way. "You know being mob and all" he replied sarcastically.
"Mob?" she shrieked. Her back where she has shot him was killing and she noticed that he was losing a lot of blood from his shoulder wound.
They needed to find repair and take care of their wounds.
"You didn't know? Don't you usually make some kind of research before doing an heist?" he followed her down the streets of Paris.
Sophie stopped suddenly and he gave her a confused look. She started looking around thinking about what to do. Could she take him to her apartment? Could she trust him? After making up her mind she took his right hand in hers and dragged him behind her. They couldn't take a taxi, the driver would certainly notice the blood, so they went down to the underground knowing people tend to keep for themselves and not noticing who is around them.
Twenty minutes later there were inside Sophie's apartment. Nate looked around trying to discover more about the woman that somehow intrigued him.
"We need to take care of our wounds" she told him coming back from the bathroom with a med kit and they sat next to each other on the bed.
"Ladies first" he smirked.
She rolled her eyes. "What a gentleman" but she started taking her shirt off anyway and turned around giving him her back.
"What happened to the woman that flirted with me all night in Venice?" he lightly touched her wound to examine it.
"You know getting shot tends to take the romanticism away" she winced when he touched a delicate spot.
"Well, there's no bullet. Actually it's more a graze you don't even need stitches, I'll just clean in and patch it up."
"Good job you're a lousy shot then" she smiled back at him.
"Or that I didn't want to hurt you. I didn't mean to shoot you. It was just a reflex shot." He tried to explain as he finished helping her.
"I'm sure" she told him still not convinced as she got up and went to the her closet to get a clean shirt. Nate tried not to stare too long at her bare back or at her black lacy bra. As soon as she came he averted his eyes trying to act like he wasn't doing anything wrong, but Sophie had caught him staring and smirked. "Now, let's work on you. Shirt off." She ordered as she prepared what she needed.
His wound was definitely different from hers and more serious. She went to get some extra towels while Nate was struggling taking his shirt and undershirt off. Sophie saw it and helped him taking his clothes off. She had certainly fantasized about having Nathan Ford on her bed
half naked, but those were certainly not the right circumstances.
He noticed her blush and he grinned. "What? Some fantasy coming true?"
Sophie looked down at him a bit shocked. He usually didn't flirt back. She knew he had a wife and small son waiting for him at home. She had always teased him and flirted because he was a safe bet. Someone she couldn't have and that couldn't hurt her. "You wished" she told him huskily.
Nate hissed in pain when she removed his undershirt. The blood had already dried and it had got stuck on his skin.
"Sorry" she whispered apologetically feeling his pain. "I'm going to give you a shot to numb the pain" she filled a syringe and the stuck the needle in skin.
"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" he bit his lower lip trying not to groan in pain.
"Not really , no"
"What?" he shrieked.
"Relax" she smiled. "You're not my first patient." She climbed on top of his lap and straddled him, making herself comfortable
She then sterilized the instruments and worked to extract the bullet she had put there in the first place from his shoulder. It took her awhile to find the piece of metal as she searched with the tweezers. Nate squirmed beneath her. She might be straddling his lap -which he was so trying to ignore at the moment - and of course it wasn't so distracting especially with the shooting pain. Not even her sweet citrus perfume that was invading his senses was distracting enough.
"God, are you nearly done?" he groaned.
"Almost…"and with one finally pull she got the bullet out. "There it is"
"Yes, and whose fault is that?"
"Are you ever going to forget about it?" she rolled her eyes at him and got ready to close the wound.
"Will you?" he raised his eyebrow in question referring to him shooting her back.
"No, probably not." She smiled.
He carefully watched her as she was concentrating while stitching his gash. He loved her small frown as she wiggled her nose, her deep dark eyes, her delicate touch on his skin. He had found her attractive from the moment he had seen her stealing a Degas in Prague just three years before. She was a beautiful, gorgeous woman, he couldn't deny that. But then they caught with each other, she had flirted with him, tempted him, almost letting him forget about his family that was waiting for him at the other side of the ocean, and he got to know her and the more he began falling in love. He wasn't sure if she was really showing him her true personality or just a character that she loved playing, but in some occasion he was sure she had dropped her walls and gave him a glimpse of the real her.
Almost like he had no control, his right hand sneaked upwards delicately tracing her tight. A small movement from her eyes told him that she had felt him, but didn't stop him so his hand continued to travel up until it found her curvy behind.
"Hey there, mister" she was finally acknowledging him.
"Yes?" he smirked but he still kept his hand on her body.
"Aren't you grabby tonight?" she cut the thread and put a bandage around his shoulder and torso. "What's got into you?"
"Maybe getting shot turns me on" he told her hoarsely as he leaned forward so she could roll his bandage around. His face was a few inches from hers and he heard her quick gasp and fast heart beating.
"Nate…" she breathed feeling the air tense between them. Just an hour before she was angry at him for shooting her and now she just couldn't stop thinking about kissing those inviting lips and feels his hands all over her. "You're married." She tried to reason with him. This was a bad idea, such a bad idea. She couldn't sleep with an IYS agent.
"Actually at the moment I'm separated"
"What?" she cried surprised. If there was thing she knew for sure about Nathan Ford it was that he was firm Catholic and valued his vows.
"but… but you have a little son and…"
"Maggie filed it a couple of months ago. She said is she fed up of me being away for so long and other things…" he cut off. "So there's nothing stopping me from doing this." He nipped at the side of her neck. Then his lips found her collarbone, her cheek, the nose, the corner of her mouth leaving her craving for more until she finally caught his face with both of her hands and trapped him. Their eyes were firmly locked, communicating, challenging, begging and then they couldn't remember who made the first move and it wasn't really that important.
Their lips found each other, devouring each other, tongues dueling, stealing each other breaths. Nate pushed her shirt up, his hands caressing her back until they found the rough material of the patch he had placed moments before. His shoulder was killing him, but he ignored it. All he wanted was this moment, that night of passion. All he needed was her.
Sophie gently pushed his upper body down. She was already straddling his lap, so she already had where she wanted him. Once their kiss broke, her lips descended. She kissed his new injury, a small careless above the bandage, almost an apology for hurting him. Then she kissed his chest, his hair tickling her check, abdomen, his stomach. Her lips went back to claim his. This kiss was more intense, more lovingly. They didn't know if this was going to be an isolated incident or the first of many nights together, but they were going to enjoy and cherish every second of it.
Present Day
"Who sent you a text?" Eliot asked curiously knowing that all three of them have been too busy to send anything.
Sophie walked further inside the apartment and threw her jacket and bag on the couch. "Parker. She sent me a text about ten minutes ago saying it was urgent. I came as fast as I could."
"Parker?"
"Hi guys" Parker suddenly appeared in the room. She had just dropped down from the stairs leading to Nate's bedroom.
"You were in my bedroom. Why were you in my bedroom?"
"Were you spying on us?"
Parker ignored Nate's complaint and answered Hardison's question instead. "I wasn't spying. I was studying. Sophie said I needed to study people's behavior so, I've been observing you for almost an hour now"
"You were lurking" Eliot grunted.
"Guys, can we get back on track here?" Sophie sighed exasperated. "What's the emergency?" Her eyes landed on the girl who had just finished eating. "Who's the girl?"
"You and I need to talk!" Sophie soon noticed his dark expression and the angry tone in his voice. What was going on?
Nate silently went upstairs and Sophie soon followed after exchanging worried and questioning looks with the others who just shrugged.
"This is not going be good" Hardison muttered.
"Yeah, we should probably take the kid outside" Eliot nodded at the girl. "How about going for an ice-cream?"
Amy didn't know if she could trust these people, but something inside her told her it was okay, so she nodded and followed the others out.
Nate was waiting for Sophie at the entrance of his bedroom and as soon as she walked inside the room he slammed the door behind them.
"Nate!" she shouted startled and annoyed. "What's going on?"
"Why didn't you tell me?" he shouted back.
"Tell you what?"
"That I have a daughter!" He was angry, furious. The situation had finally hit him. He had a daughter and she had kept her from him. He had another child, someone else after Sam. He ran his hands through his hair and paced.
Sophie stood motionless in shock. Millions of question were running through her head. "That was…" she whispered turning her head around to the direction of the door like she could see through walls and look where the girl had been sitting. Her baby girl. "How…" she gulped. "How did she find us?"
"We'll get to that later" Nate said in a more quiet tone. He was wondering too how the girl had find them and why then. "First, tell me everything"
She sighed. "What is there to tell?" she sat on the edge of Nate's bed and hid her face in her hands before looking back up to him. "It happened… that day in Paris"
"Yeah, I've figured that out. What I want to know is why you never told you were pregnant?" he hissed.
"When Nate? When was I supposed to tell you? We hadn't seen each other for over two months after that day…"
Nate slowly woke up with the annoying ringing of his mobile phone. He groaned and reached out for the disturbing sound with his left hand. That had been a bad idea as a shot of pain ran through all his body. He was gradually remembering the events of the previous day and he opened his eyes.
"Shut it off!" came a mumble from his right side.
The woman next to him rolled to her other side giving him her back. Finally the ringing had stopped, bringing back the quiet. Nate turned to his right side and ran his left hand up and down her naked skin, before planting delicate kisses on her shoulder.
"Hmm…" she moaned.
"Good morning" he smiled, face buried against her neck inhaling her perfume and that sweet scent that was strictly hers which always drove him crazy.
" 'morning" she turned around and captured his lips for a passionate kiss.
"How are you feeling?" he asked once they broke the kiss.
"Better. You were the one who had lost a lot of blood" Sophie traced his wound through the white bandage.
"I'm fine" he chuckled. "I guess you know how to make an impression."
"Well, you'll think of me every time you see the scar" She went to kiss him again, but his phone started ringing again.
He groaned in frustration. "I'd better get that"
He got up from the bed and retrieved the phone from his trousers which were laying on the floor.
"Hello" he answered sitting on the edge of the bed. Sophie crawled towards him and wrapped her arms around him trying to distract him from the call. She ran her hands up his chest and softly blew air in his ear before gently nipping on his lobe.
"Yes sir, I understand. I can at least have…" he bend his head down and ran a hand over his face. He closed the phone call and sighed.
"Bad news" she could fell his tension on the muscle of his back.
"Yeah" he slightly turned his head to look at her. "I have to go. My orders are to leave on the first plane for L.A."
She gulped trying not to cry in front of him. "I see" she turned around and got up from the bed and quickly grabbed a robe from the chair.
"I know this looks bad…" he tried to apologize. Leaving so soon after the night they spend together felt so wrong, but he didn't have any choice.
"It's not your fault" she hid her disappointment behind her smile.
He quickly got up and tried to get dressed. He needed to go back to his hotel to get his thing and then a ticket was waiting for him at the airport. Once he was ready he pause, knowing it was time for them to say goodbye. "When will we see each other again?"
"I don't know. I need to lay low for a while. Maybe I'll go on holiday somewhere. Some place exotic. You could always join me" she flirted.
With the look she was giving him, Nate would have followed her anywhere and he really wished he could. "I…"
"Work. I know"
He smiled sadly. "I'll call you. I promise."
He gave her one last kiss, something for them to keep until they would see each other again, and he left.
"… and when I found out about it I was going to tell you."
Sophie was waiting patiently in the doctor's office. Lately she had been having a lot of headaches, dizziness and vomiting. After nearly two weeks, she had finally decided to go to the doctor's to have everything check. They had visited her and taken her blood. Two hours later they had their results.
She turned around hearing the door open behind her. Her doctor, Diane Scott, walked behind her desk, a file in her hand.
"Did you find out what's wrong with me?" Sophie asked once she had sat down.
"Yes," she gave her a cryptic smile. "Don't worry, it's nothing serious. They are going to be a lot of changes in your life"
Sophie shook her head in confusion. "What is it?"
"You're pregnant. Congratulations" Diane Scott smiled.
"What…" she gasped. "How did…" Sophie was in shock. She wasn't expecting that. People like her, grifters, thieves, they don't get pregnant; it's too dangerous.
"Do you know how far along are you?" the doctor wrote some notes.
"Yeah…" Sophie remember exactly when it happened.
"Well, we can schedule a visit for next week. There are some more tests I would like you to take. For now here's a prescription for some pre-natal vitamins."
Sophie took the piece of paper without thinking about it.
"Is the father in the picture?"
That was a really good question.
"I came to L.A. but you were already back with Maggie and I couldn't just do that to you" she started crying.
When the news that she was expecting a baby finally sunk in, Sophie next decision to take was what she was going to do about it. She knew she could really make any definitive decision without telling Nate first. She had heard he was in L.A. There was going to be an important art exhibition, most paintings were insured by IYS, and he was going to be one of the agents in charge of their security.
She had called his office, telling she was a potential client. His secretary didn't hesitate to give her his current location. So that day she went to the park where he was spending his lunch break. She saw him in the distance and she could help but smile. She had missed him.
She was making her way towards him, but stopped suddenly when she saw the woman and small child with him. Nate was throwing a ball to the boy and his wife was chasing both of them. They looked happy, laughing while playing on the grass. They were a family. She laid a hand on her still flat abdomen. She knew that she couldn't have that. Nate and her could never been that picture. Silently tears began streaming down her face. She quickly dried her eyes and walked away.
He shook his head in frustration. "We weren't back together. Sam was having trouble with our separation, so we decided to move in together for his sake. We were sleeping in different bedrooms. Then Sam got sick and everything moved so fast…"
"I wasn't going to ruin your family just for a one time fling"
He kneeled in front of her. "It wasn't like that, you know it was more than that" he tried catching her eyes with his. "I thought it was you who didn't want anything to do with me. I tried to contact but you disappeared. I hadn't seen you for over a year and then that time in Tuscany you've acted like nothing had happened, so…"
"I struggled so much with my decision." She suddenly changed subject.
"What are you going to do about it?" her friend Tara asked from across the room.
Sophie had called her the week before telling her that she need a friend, someone to talk to. Tara had told that she was in the middle of a con but that she was going to meet her in London as soon as she was free.
"I don't know"
"You could always…"
"No" she shook her head. "I'm not having an abortion, I can't"
"Okay" the blonde thief but her hands up in surrender. "I still can't believe it with slept with IYS agent. What were you thinking?"
"It's not like that…"
"Oh my God" Tara gasped "You're in love with him"
"I…"
"Why haven't you told him about the baby?"
"It's complicated."
"Well, are you going to keep it? You know how hard it's too raise a child with what we do. It would mean leaving everything."
"I know. This child deserves better. It deserves a family."
"You have no idea what I went through and then I knew that the right choice was to give her away for adoption. I wasn't fit to be a mother, not at that time."
"Why did you tell me when we I came to you in Chicago? Why never mentioned it?" he pleaded.
She gave a small sad laugh. "For what Nate? So you couldn't think about a kid you were never going to meet. I made the right decision. You can stay there, judge me and hate me as much as you like, but I know it was the right thing"
"Well, sorry it I don't agree with you" he got up angrily. He paused. He was angry, yes. But he was also sad and mourning for the life they could have had. "If only… if only you would have told me all those years ago, things… things would have been a lot different"
"What? An IYS agent and a grifter playing happy family? Keep thinking that. Keep living the illusion" He wasn't going to do it, he wasn't going to make her regret her choice.
"So what now?"
"I don't know" she sighed. "I guess we try to find out why she's here. Last I've heard, she had been adopted by a nice family."
"Well she mention a social worker, so something must have wrong"
"You don't think…" she panicked. The one thing that kept her sane all those years was the thought that her baby girl was in a loving a family, having the life she would never have been able to give to her. But what if something had gone wrong?
"Let's go talk to our daughter" he exclaimed.
Continue to Part 2