75 Godiva Street, Sunday evening

[vdistinctive]

Eliot wasn't sure who had first started using the term for the occasions when the whole team got together for a friendly meal, instead of eating during a meeting for a job, but somewhere along the lines, "family dinner" had become official. With Nate and Sophie on the island, that was just what the team was doing now, with Eliot putting the

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[vdistinctive]

While they were on a photo sharing kick, Eliot made sure to pull Sophie aside and bring up a few well-worn pictures of a certain little brunette girl with her daddy's eyes and her mama's refusal to give her real name.

Well, they'd be well-worn if they were in physical form, anyway. Hardison assured him that digital code couldn't actually wear out.

"We told ya about the kids that showed up one weekend, right?"

[thenameislara]

"Of course! My hypothetical nieces and nephews called us. They sounded adorable." Not grandchildren yet, not exactly, please. A grand-puppy was one thing, but children? "Show me!"

[vdistinctive]

Eliot wasn't about to say anything that implied Nate and Sophie were his 'parents', so she'd get none of that from him. "Ahhhh, yeah," he said, calling up a shot of Joey with a heaping cup of ice cream, beaming at the camera. He handed Sophie the phone so she could take a nice look. "One of 'em wasn't a niece."

[thenameislara]

"She has your eyes!" Oh, what a little heart-breaker she'd be. Sophie tilted her head. "What did you name her?" And a bit of curiosity on that 'not a niece' comment. "And how so?"

[vdistinctive]

"She gave us at least four different first names before I finally worked out that her father calls her Joey. By the end of the weekend I finally dragged her full name out of her." Eliot kept an eye on Sophie's expression out of the corner of his eye. "Miriam Josephina. Devereaux-Spencer."

[thenameislara]

"Miranda-- ack." My, what big eyes you have, Sophie. "What?" And another look at that photo, in time to realize: "She really is an extraordinarily attractive child..."

[vdistinctive]

"Miriam Josephina Devereaux-Spencer," Eliot said again, grinning. "And of course she is. That's what happens when you've got such pretty parents."

[thenameislara]

"But how on Earth did that happen!?" Sophie burst out with, then lowered her voice so as not to draw Nate's attention. "And don't say the usual way, I'd rather not have that particular train of thought in my head."

[vdistinctive]

Eliot shrugged. "Gather there's a world out there where you got tired of waitin' for Nate to get his act together."

[thenameislara]

"I'm... overwhelmed." Sophie traced the edges of Josie's face in the photo with the tip of one fingernail. "What was she like?" And after a pause, "Was she happy?" Safe? Smart?

[vdistinctive]

"She was amazing," Eliot said, clearly very fond. "Swapped accents like breathin'. Confident and strong, and I gather has her daddy wrapped pretty firmly around her finger."

[thenameislara]

Sophie laughed softly. "Like that's any surprise." She shot him an amused glance, some of her confusion settling down. "A child. I can't imagine it. I've never planned that, expected it." She was quiet. "What did she say about us?"

[vdistinctive]

"Not a lot. She spent most of the weekend thick as thieves with the other two who showed up -- none of 'em from the same world, mind you. But she knew about a couple of the jobs we've pulled, and she absolutely couldn't fathom you endin' up with 'Uncle Nate'." Eliot flipped to a shot of the three kids in their triumph at Chilly Boulder. "Near as I could tell her versions of us were still together. Can't say as I ever put much thought into it myself, what with you and Nate doin' your dance and all, but I could see it, I suppose."

[thenameislara]

"Well. If things had gone differently, six years ago, maybe...." It wasn't like Eliot hadn't been attractive; she'd just still been mesmerized by Nate. But if Nate had been worse off, if he'd drunk more, if he hadn't forgiven her for the mess of the second David job-- who knew? "At least the crew is intact, then, if she still knows Nate, even as her 'uncle', not something else." She tilted her head and studied the photo of three smug young faces wearing ice cream shop visors. "They do look very, very pleased with themselves there."

[vdistinctive]

Eliot grinned. "The manager was an embezzler. The three of 'em had just 'liberated' the store from him. Pretty sure he was tied up in the freezer when this was taken." He pointed to the young hispanic boy. "Spike there handled the thievin'. Joey was the grifter and the muscle, of course. And Gracie here was the mastermind and tech genius. They'd sorted themselves out as a team by about an hour after they met."

[age_of_the_geek]

"Yo, you gonna tell her about Gracie's parentage?" Hardison asked from behind his laptop.