A/N: This is just a little AU where Nate and Sophie have a daughter. Hope you have fun reading this. I do no own Leverage, sadly!
The alarm clock started ringing taking Nate way from his dream. He lazily reached for it to shut it down. Looking to his left he saw the woman he loves still peacefully sleeping. He reached his hand and gently stroked her cheek. When she start to move a bit he started to place small kisses along her neck and jaw. That's how he always woke her up.
Sophie turned around and gave her husband a passionate kiss.
"Good morning darling."
"Good morning Mrs. Ford."
"You should go wake Gracie. You know how sleepy she is."
"Yeah, she takes it after her mom." He joked and kissed her cheek again "And we don't want her late for her first day of school."
"I'll go make us breakfast." Sophie said as Nate got up from the bed.
Nate gently open the door of Gracie's room and saw his little girl still sleeping. He sat on the edge of the bed, perfectly still, watching her sleep. He really should get her up. He didn't want her to be late for her first day of school, but she looked so peaceful and adorable...
He would give her five more minutes. If only he had more time. Where had all the time gone? Where had that entire summer gone? Her last summer before she started elementary school. He had known that this day would come eventually, for which he had tried to prepare himself, but he hadn't expected those last few days of summer to slip through his fingers quite so quickly.
Well, he might as well help Sophie make breakfast. He cautiously rose and tip-toed out of the room, taking one last long look at her as he left the door open.
Nate got to the kitchen and saw Sophie squeezing oranges to make orange juice, Grace's favorite.
"Oh Nate, can you make pancakes with that really yummy thing you put on top?"
"Of course."
"Where's Grace?"
"I decided to give 5 more minutes. She looked so peaceful that I bet it would be considered a crime waking her up."
"Yeah, and we hate breaking the law!" Sophie laughed and continued making the juice. As she went to the cupboard to grab glasses she, playfully, bumped her hip against Nate's and gave him an innocent smile. He laughed and shook his head. Five minutes had passed. Time for Gracie to get up.
"I'll go wake her." Sophie said after setting the table.
Sophie, too, gently opened Gracie's door and saw her little girl coming back from Wonderland, it was the name Gracie gave to the land where you have dreams.
"Hey baby girl."
"Mommy." Grace sat up straight on the bed as her mom stroked her dark curly hair.
Sophie smiled. She couldn't help it. Grace was the most precious masterpiece ever. She was gorgeous. Beautiful blue eyes like her father, chubby cheeks that were slightly blushed most of the time, dark curly hair like her mother, tiny nose. To Nate and Sophie, this tiny human was the definition of perfection.
"You know, we should hurry up. Daddy is making pancakes and we need to be ready before they get cold."
"Can I wear the new clothes we bought the other day?"
"Of course love"
So with the help of her mommy, Gracie got dressed. She wore a little linen dress with stripes and a denim jacket. Sophie combed her hair into a braid. She looked absolutely gorgeous.
"Are you girls coming or do I have to go there?" Sophie and Gracie heard Nate calling for them.
"Go show Daddy how beautiful you look!"
Gracie ran out of her room into the kitchen and found her Daddy making coffee.
"Daddy! Daddy!" She hugged her Daddy's leg, begging him to pick her up.
"Hey-y! Look at my princess!" Nate bent down and picked her up. "You're so beautiful!" He attacked the little girl's face with kisses. And she delightfully giggled.
That's how Sophie found them.
"Come on, let's eat."
They all sat at the table eating the pancakes and drinking the orange juice.
"I want a face!"
"A face it is!"
"So, are you excited baby?" Sophie asked as Nate made a face on Gracie's pancake with 'that yummy thing'.
Grace nodded and attacked the pancake. Her Daddy made the best pancakes in the world.
After they ate breakfast, Gracie sat on the couch watching the morning cartoons while her parents got dressed.
Nate noticed that Sophie was a bit nervous. More nervous than Grace. She looked like she was the one starting school. He came up behind her, embraced her waist and whispered on her ear.
"Hey, you know she is okay, right?"
"I know, I know." She turned around to face him. "It's just that she is growing so fast. It feels like it was only yesterday that we first brought her home."
"I know." He smiled sadly and kissed the tip of Sophie's nose "But she'll be alright, kids make friends really fast."
"Was it hard? You know, Sam's first day of school?" She was afraid of her own question, but she was curious, he had been there before, and also because she really thinks he needs to talk about Sam more often.
Nate sighed deeply and rubbed the tip of his nose. "It was a bit hard. He was really excited though." When he felt his eyes getting wet he looked away. "I remember that he got his clothe dirty at breakfast and we only had 5 minutes to get him to school." He smiled sadly.
"Oh no. How did you work that out?"
"Well, he ended up changing his clothe in the car. I remember he had his hair out of place and all." He sighed deeply again. "Now let's get our daughter to school, okay?"
Sophie nodded and grabbed his hand when he started walking away. "I love you!"
Nate looked down at their hands and then looked Sophie in the eye and kissed her lips passionately "I love you too, darling!"
Sophie and Gracie were already in the car. While they waited for Nate, who was closing the door of the house, Sophie could see Gracie wringing her hands and looking slightly nauseous.
"Are you okay there baby?" Sophie asked her baby girl.
"I'm scared to go to school, what if the other kids don't like me?" her sweet little girl replied.
Nate got in the car in time to listen to his daughter's question.
"That's crazy sweetheart, why wouldn't they like you, you're awesome," He tried to assuage Gracie's fears, he was a long way off from his first day of school, he had forgotten how scary it was to go to a building full of strangers.
"Besides, Alex will be there." Sophie said, hoping this would calm her a little bit. Alex was Grace's best friend from the park.
They rode was not made in silence at all. They were all singing happy songs and laughing. It was the shortest car ride of Nate and Sophie's lives. Funny, they hadn't remembered the school being quite so close when they had done the test-run last night. It was almost right around the corner. Against the school rules and clearly posted warnings, Nate shut off the car in the drop-off/pick-up zone in front of the school. Outside, kids were shooting out of cars and buses, chasing each other, laughing, jumping.
Gracie sat there, looking out the window watching all the other kids interact with each other.
After a few minutes, Sophie handed her a brown bag.
"You don't want to forget your lunch." The night before, being able only to toss and turn, she had made her lunch.
"Thanks Mommy."
"Look! Alex is over there!" Nate said pointing at the little blond girl.
Gracie was almost flying out of the car when her father's voice stopped her.
"Where's my kiss?" Gracie leaned over and kissed his cheek "And Mommy's?" The little girl turned her head and kissed her mother's cheek.
"You're going to have a great day. We'll be right here when you get out – We'll even be early."
Grace nodded and waved her parents goodbye "Bye Mommy! Bye Daddy!" She gave them both a hug.
As soon as they reluctantly let her go, before they realized what was happening, she was out of the car, across the schoolyard, into the school. The school door hung open in the wind for a few moments, then slowly closed.
They just sat, in car, for a while, squinting through the window, at the school door.
It remained closed.
Nate looked at Sophie and saw her that her eyes were glossy. He reached his hand and place it on top of hers, intertwining their fingers. He felt the cold metal of her ring against his palm, it had become one of his favorite feelings.
"Home?"
"Home." Sophie answered. "Let's go wait for our baby."
He drove away below the school zone speed limit.
They spent their day at home, lazily laying on the couch, watching TV. They kissed, caressed each other and talked about their little, precious girl. Sophie decided to make scones (she was secretly trying to implant British habits on her daughter) to surprise her daughter. Nate helped by stealing the chocolate chips that she was putting on the scones.
Once the scones were done, Sophie looked at the clock and saw that it was time to go pick Gracie up. Once again Nate was driving to school.
They got to the school and Nate parked the car in the same place he had parked it in the morning.
Most of the kids had left but there was no sign of Gracie. Alex had already left., they saw her leave with her parents. Sophie was really starting to freak out. So was Nate, but he didn't let it show. He knew that if Sophie saw him worried it means that something is deeply wrong.
Just as he was about to get out of the car, the school door swung open, she was out of the school, across the yard, in the car.
"So how was your first day?" he asked, mentally forcing himself to calm down. His girl is okay.
Nate and Sophie didn't need to have asked: her face was an open book.
"It was so cool!" She squealed "And I didn't cry as I thought I would. And there were other kids from the park, like Matt and James and Zoey and Bailey! And the teacher is really nice, her name is Ms. Mills – Mill – Mil, I don't know, it was a weird name! And the other kids like me! And… I did a draw of me, Mommy and Daddy! And we're gonna hang it on the fri- frige- fridge! And…"
Nate and Sophie smiled proudly to each other as their daughter continued telling them about her day.
A/N2: I know the end isn't the best, but I didn't really know how to finish this. Maybe we'll see Gracie again soon! All the grammar mistakes are given to the fact that I'm not British or American! xD Hope you liked this little fic and please let me know what you thought by reviweing! I'm very insecure about my fics!