Leverage Bingo: The Top Hat Job
Title: Little Green Monster
Author: acquariusgb
Characters: Nate, Sophie, Team and Dr. Jameson
Pairings: Nate/Sophie; Nate/OFC; Sophie/OMC
Spoilers: The Top Hat Job
Rating: T
Word Count: 2500
Summary : What if Nate had gone on a date with Dr. Jameson in the Top Hat Job? What would Sophie reaction be?
Written for my leverage_bingo card forleverage_bingo. The prompt is: The Top Hat Job Entry # 9
Entry also for challenge 01:The Big one for heist #7 in leverageland
Little Green Monster
“Nate,” Sophie insisted “Why don’t you give Dr. Jameson a ring?”
Nate sighed frustrated with his head down, but then he quickly got up from the stool he was sitting. “You know what?” Everyone looked at him. “You’re right!”
“I am” Sophie looked at him surprised.
“She is” everyone else said at the same time.
“Yes,” he took his phone from his trousers pocket. “I’ve still got her number, I should ask her out”
The team observed him curiously as he went to his desk trying to have a private conversation.
“Dr. Jameson?” the woman had answered the phone. “This is Mister Ford… Nate” he stuttered. “I was wondering if you… are you okay?” he asked.
“I’m fine, thanks to you Nate”
“That’s good. If you need anything. You said your apartment was damaged, if you need some help or… I should quit stalling. I was wondering… and you are in no obligation, I mean it’s nothing serious, but… I was wondering if you wanted to go out for dinner… with me… and that’s it. That’s why I was calling” he finally finished rambling.
“I would love to” the woman smiled. “and my name is Diane”
Nate smiled. “That’s great, Diane. Is tomorrow night okay?”
“That’s perfect!”
“I will come on pick you up at 7.30 pm. See you tomorrow”
“I can’t wait!”
Nate hung up satisfied. “Well, it seems I’ve got a date.”
“I can’t believe it she said yes. That must have been the worst way to ask someone out ever.” Eliot complained while eating his kung pao.
Sophie put a brave smile on “I’m happy for you”
Nate smiled and went upstairs whistling a happy tune.
The following evening Sophie let herself inside Nate’s apartment. He had sent her a text asking her to come urgently.
“Nate?” she shouted when she couldn’t see him downstairs.
The mastermind came rushing down the stairs. “Oh good, you’re here!” he approached her with two ties in his hands. “Which one looks best? This one” He lifted a blue tie “or this” he showed her a red one.
“This was your emergency?” she looked at him upset.
“Sophie, my date is in twenty minutes and I need to get ready”
“Okay” she sighed exasperated. She took both the ties and examined them. “This one” she threw the red one on the couch and put the blue one around his shirt collar. Nate went to tie it, but she slapped his hands away. “The blue one emphasizes the colour of your eyes.” She added while finishing tying his tie. “Here” she admired her work and ran her hands down his chest.
“Thank you” he whispered. He cleared his voice. “Well, I’d better go” He went to the fridge and got a corsage out. He waved it to Sophie. “Too much?”
She smiled sadly. “It’s perfect. You go and have fun. Remember, try not to be such an arrogant ass!”
He smirked. “I’ll try. See you” he went out the door.
“Bye” she whispered. Why had she been so foolish to encourage him to go out with that woman? What did she want to prove?
Sophie looked around the empty apartment wondering what to do. She couldn’t possible stay there. What if he decides to bring her back here? Or what if they go to her place? He may not be back until the next morning. Nah, she shook her head, Nate wasn’t the type of guy who had sex with a woman on the first date. He was even too shy to ask her out without rambling.
She suddenly heard the door open and wondered if Nate forgot something.
“Hey,” Eliot greeted her.
She sighed disappointed. “Hi”
“What are you doing here?” Eliot asked curiously “Isn’t Nate out on his date?”
“I could ask you the same thing” she replied back, crossing her arms in front of her.
“I was hoping to watch the match on his TV while he’s out. Hardison and Parker will be here soon with some food.” He took a seat on the couch. “Why don’t you join us? You know how there’s always plenty of food”
Perfect- Sophie thought. Eliot had just given her the perfect excuse to be in Nate’s apartment and wait for him without any suspicions, even if that meant suffering through a football match.
A couple of hours later there was still no sign of Nate. Sophie must have looked at the door at least a hundred of times. This didn’t go unnoticed by the hitter.
“Everything okay?” he whispered to her.
“Sure” she turned her head to look at him. “Everything is peachy”
Eliot chuckled. “I will never understand women.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Why did you insist on Nate having this date if you’re not happy about it?”
Their conversation had now attracted the attention of the thief and hacker who watched them curiously.
“I’m perfectly happy with Nate going out” she lied. “I’m just worried. Isn’t it a bit late for a first date?”
“Maybe he finally got laid.” Hardison grinned. “He certainly needs it!” Sophie glared at him. “Or maybe not. I’m sure he’ll be back in a minute.”
The door behind them opened.
“See”
“Hey, what are you all doing here?” Nate asked annoyed that his apartment got invaded again.
“Watching a game on TV” Parker answered while munching some pop-corn.
“So, how did your date go?” Sophie tried not to seem too eager to know the details.
He shrugged. “Okay, I guess”
“Did you kiss her?” Eliot smirked.
“That’s none of your business.”
“That means no” Hardison played along.
“Are you going to see her again?” Sophie finally asked.
Nate untied his tie and went to get something to drink from the fridge. “We’re having brunch on Sunday.”
Sophie swallowed the lump in her throat. “That’s good.” She got up and picked up her jacket and bag. “Well, I need to go. Call me when you find a new client” she went out the door.
Nate looked at the others. “What’s up with her?”
Parker shrugged. “Eliot thinks that…” but the hacker covered her mouth with his hand.
“It’s nothing.” He waved him off. “She was probably bored. It was a boring match.”
Eliot glared at the both of them. “We need to go too” He shoved them both off the couch and they quickly left the apartment.
Nate shook his head. “What’s with everyone being so strange this evening?”
Nate spent the last days of the week looking through some files in search of a new client. Sophie usually helped him, but every time he called her she was strangely busy with something else. Sunday arrived and Nate was waiting for Diane outside the café.
“Hi, Nate” Diane approached him and kissed his cheek.
“Hi,” he smiled. “Would you like to go inside?” he put a hand on the small of her back and led her inside. They were soon seated and waited for the waiter to take their orders.
“Nate, fancy meeting you here?”
Nate looked up startled. “Sophie?”
The grifter wasn’t alone. Next to her was a nice tall man with curly brown hair and a distinguish beard.
“This is Jack!” Sophie introduced him.
“Ah, the boyfriend” Nate exclaimed. “Last I’ve heard you two were no longer together”
“We’ve met the other day and decide to give it another try” Sophie explained. “Hi, Dr. Jameson” she smiled at the woman sitting next to Nate. She notice how her hand was on his arm and it irritated her. Fortunately she was a great grifter and it didn’t show.
“Miss. Devereaux, why don’t you join us? All the other tables are full”
“That’s very generous, thank you!” Sophie sat on the chair next to Nate and Jack took the last one.
The waiter came for they orders and after he left they started making small talk.
“So Nate,” Jack looked at the man. He noticed that Sophie was sitting suspiciously too close to him “How do you know Katherine?”
“Katherine?” Diane asked surprised. “I thought your name was Sophie.”
Sophie cleared her throat embarrassed. “Yes,” she turned towards Jack. “ Actually Katherine Clive is a stage name. My name is Sophie Devereaux.”
Jack was upset. “You could have told me that when we met four months ago!”
Nate didn’t want things to get heated. “I’ve met Sophie more than 10 years ago.”
“I see you got it right this time!” Sophie smirked.
“I was right last time too.” Nate smiled back looking into her eyes.
Diane felt the tension between them and tried to get Nate’s attention back as she leaned towards him “Sophie, you’ve talked about stage name, are you also an actress?”
“Also?” Jack raised an eyebrow. “What else do you do?”
“Sophie and Nate helped me take my job back and arrest the man who ruined my life and tried to kill innocent people.”
“Are you lawyers?”
Nate cleared his throat “We are some sort of independent group who help people in need”
They food finally arrived.
“They’re good” Diane rubbed her hand up and down his arm.
Sophie tried to control herself. “Nate is good, the best in the business” she smiled at him “What about you, Diane? Tell us something about yourself.”
“Nothing much to say. My work is practically my life.” She chuckled.
“Nate is the same. Work, always work. He can become so obsessed with it.” Sophie took a bite of her food.
“What are you doing?” Nate whispered to her.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about” she replied innocently.
The rest of the brunch went like this, with Sophie making innocent but hurtful remarks; Nate trying to do damage repair and Jack and Diane not knowing what was going on.
“… of course then there’s his alcohol problem too.”
Nate had enough. “Sophie, could I talk to you, please? In private.” With his head he made her a sigh to follow him towards the back of the café.
“What are you doing?” he hissed angrily to her once they were alone.
“I’m just making conversation” she shrugged.
“By telling my date how awful I am!”
Sophie could see in his eyes that he was more hurt than angry and she started to feel a bit guilty. “I didn’t mean it like that…”
“What exactly are you trying to prove?”
“I… I don’t know…” for the first time in her life she was without words.
“Well, once you have figure it out, send me a memo” Nate walked away.
“Diane, if you’ve finish, we can leave now” Nate said annoyed making sure that the woman understood he wanted to leave.
“Yes, sure” she grabbed her bag and started walking towards the door.
Nate threw some bills on the table enough to cover the bill. “It was nice meeting you, Jack” his voice clearly told him he wasn’t.
Sophie returned to the table.
“What happened?” Jack was still confused about the all event.
Nate walked Diane home. “I’m sorry for the all thing. I don’t know what was going on with Sophie”
Diane smiled knowingly. “I know. She was jealous”
Nate turned shocked. “Of course not. I mean, she was the one who insisted that I had to call you, why would she be jealous?”
“Men” she chuckled. “You will never understand women!”
They stopped in front of her door. “Look, I get that you two have quite a history and you probably have feelings for her that you’re not ready to admit yet.”
“No, she is just…”
“Nate, please. I saw the way you are with her. It’s like nothing else exist. I think you two need to have a long conversation.” She sighed. “I like you, but I can’t be with you until you’ve cleared your feelings.” She brushed her lips lightly against his. “Call me when you do”
Nate watched her disappear into the apartment’s lobby. He needed to clear his head so he walked back to McRory’s. When he got inside apartment 2A. Everyone was inside, including Sophie. She looked at him nervously.
“Could you give us the room?” Nate told the others never taking his eyes of the grifter.
Eliot sensed the tension between the two and with a nod he told the others to following him outside.
“Nate, I’m sorry about earlier. I don’t know what…”
“Why did you insist about me going on a date if you didn’t want me to?” he interrupted her.
“I don’t know…”
He snickered “You know, Diane told me that you acted like that at the café because you were jealous and I told her it was nonsense. Why tell me to go out with other women if she had feelings for me?”
Sophie looked away uncomfortable about where their conversation was going. “I don’t know okay. I don’t know!” she shouted.
“That’s not an answer Sophie and you now it!”
Sophie was making her way out of the apartment. “I can’t do this”
“No, we are going to do this now. We’ve been avoiding the issue long enough” Nate stopped her shouting. He sighed. “Is it true, Sophie? Were you jealous? Have you got feelings for me?”
Sophie slowly turned around. Tears were now running down her face. “You know I do. How can you not know? I’ve been pretty obvious in the past.”
“I sometimes didn’t know if you were just enjoying the flirting or…”
“I mean, Nate, I’ve told in the office in L.A. not to take too long. What did you think I meant?”
“I…”
“And then we went our separate ways and I tried to move on…”
“And when I was finally ready a couple of months ago, you had a boyfriend.”
“Yeah…”
“And now?” he stepped closer to her.
“I don’t know” she whispered. “Do you think we’re ready?”
“We could always try” he leaned down and captured her lips with his. Sophie didn’t resist she dropped her bag on the floor and ran her hands through his hair.
Nate broke the kiss and started nibbling her ear lobe. She moaned, these new sensations were invading her mind.
“You stop there, mister.” She finally regained control and pushed him away “I want a date, a real date now that I finally know you are capable of organizing one”
“But…”
“No buts! I’m not that easy. I want to be seduced, charmed, wooed…”
“Okay, okay. You win. How does tomorrow night sound?”
“Perfect!” And she sealed the deal with a mind blowing kiss.