The Happily Ever After Job
Scene 1:
It's 3:00pm. The sun is shining on the runway, the ocean, and the warehouse-like building holding private planes that take wealthy people to exotic places off the Florida coast. A young black man in shorts and a button-down is leaning near the corner of the building. He is intent on his smart phone, but occasionally looks up and down the road and even, every once in a while, absently glances up toward the roof and the swaying palm trees.
From around the corner, a hand reaches out and grabs the young man's shoulder. Instantly, he reacts, shifting his weight and executing a perfect hip-toss while adjusting his upper body to start throwing blows. He locks eyes with his attacker and stiffens.
"Not bad," Eliot says from the ground. "You been practicing?"
"Every day. Just like you taught me," Hardison replies, face set. Eliot nods, and both men break into wide smiles as Hardison helps him up.
"Good to see you, brother," Eliot says gruffly, pulling Hardison into a hug. He pulls back and looks at Hardison in the face. "So, where is she and what time was she supposed to be here?"
The two men walk into the shade of the hangar. "You didn't answer me, man. Where is Parker and how late is she? No way you're standing out in the sun, letting me get the drop on you when I'm not even trying, if you're not worrying about her." Eliot is wearing his usual blue t-shirt and jeans. He's sporting a new scar over his eye and has gotten very tan in the six months since Hardison has seen him.
"Look, I don't know where she is. We got the text from Nate with the details of the flight and she got…weird." Hardison pauses at the look on Eliot's face. "Weird even for Parker, man. Couldn't keep still. Mind on something else. Stood up in the middle of dinner and said she was going out. And then, she just…went out. But she knows the flight's leaving so I figured she'd be here."
"She took off after you got the text from Nate? That was three days ago, man." Eliot's habitual wariness hardens into actual concern.
"That's Parker. She takes off sometimes. Needs some space. I don't think she even realizes that anyone would worry about that. What am I gonna do, try to stop her?" Hardison pauses. "And I wasn't worried until her GPS tracker turned off about an hour ago."
"Ahh."
"Nah, it's not like that. She knows it's on, and I showed her how to disable it. So if it's off, either she wants it off or…"
"Or we have reason to worry."
"Worry about what?" Parker chirps brightly, swinging lightly down from somewhere above the two. She's dressed in workout gear, black capris and a blue tank top that matches her sneakers. "Did you think I'd really miss this? Hey, Eliot."
Eliot raises an eyebrow but decides to just go with it. "Hey, Parker. Where you been? Hardison was worried."
"No, I wasn't, I – seriously, man?"
Parker frowns slightly. "I was shopping."
Hardison frowns and hold up a hand. "You went to Belgium for a wedding gift?"
Eliot interjects, "She was in Belgium? You were in Belgium?"
Parker smiles. "I remembered just the right thing. Is it almost time to leave?"
"Baby, I -" He looks helplessly at Eliot and shrugs. "Yeah. Let's go."
"Never change, Parker," Eliot mutters as the three of them grab their bags and head toward the small plane that is going to take them to Sophie's island.
Scene 2:
Nate Ford stands on a balcony looking over the ocean. His eyes are scanning the horizon restlessly, but his body language is relaxed as he leans on the railing. Sophie appears through the gauzy white curtains behind him and leans on his shoulder, her arm snaking under his and over his chest. "Hello, darling," she purrs at him with a content smile.
"Good morning. Did you sleep well?" Nate leans into her but keeps his eyes on the ocean.
"Not particularly. I was too excited to sleep. Today is a big day, you know."
"Really? What's today?" He finally turns to smile at her warmly, teasing.
"Hmmm, well, the team is finally coming to visit. I know how much you've missed them, Nate." She's kept the tone light but she's also serious.
"Nah, I wouldn't go that far…" he starts, but she places a hand lightly on his chest.
"I know how much you've missed them, Nate," she repeats. "And we can talk about what that means later. But first things first."
"Yes?"
Sophie's features soften and her voice gets both warmer and more serious. "Marry me."
"What, today?" Nate is joking again but he immediately turns serious. "Excellent idea. Today seems perfect." He kisses her intently.
When they pull apart, Sophie smiles at him. "Today will be perfect – once the others arrive. I'll leave you to watching for them while I start getting everything ready."
"What? I'm not watching for them, I'm just…enjoying the view." He turns back to the horizon as she laughs knowingly and turns back into the house.
Scene 3:
Another airstrip, this time smaller, with Sophie's impressive villa-style home in the background. A plane is approaching. Nate and Sophie, arms around one another, are watching it approach.
"Excited yet?" Sophie says, smiling. Nate smiles slightly, eyes still on the plane. Sophie squares her shoulders slightly and takes a deeper breath. "I should tell you, darling, that Eliot, Parker, and Hardison aren't the only guests I've invited to the wedding."
Nate looks at her, surprise showing in one raised eyebrow. "Oh?"
"Well, it didn't seem right. Just a few more people, though. I hope you'll be pleased."
"What have you done?" Nate's not angry, just scrambling to mentally prepare for whoever is landing next.
"You'll see!"
The small plane lands and the doors open. Hardison, Parker, and Eliot exit the first, followed by six additional people – five of whom Nate would never have expected to see here, on this occasion: Father Paul, his childhood friend; Peggy and Jack Hurley, Parker's friend and their former mark, respectively, who had recently been married themselves; Maureen, Nate's sister; and Maggie, Nate's ex-wife. The last person to exit the plane is a young, incredibly handsome blond man.
"Who is that?" Nate manages, trying not to gape in surprise at the ensemble heading toward them.
"Ah. Well, Maggie asked if she could bring a date. I didn't see why not. Come, dear, let's greet our guests. Welcome, all!" Sophie sings out, striding away from Nate, who is still baffled.
Maureen Ford breaks into a run as she sees them and launches herself at her brother, wrapping him in a hug that somehow seems aggressive as much as affectionate. "Surprise! How exactly, precisely like you not to call me when you're going to get married again." She pulls back and looks into his face. "How are you, anyway?"
"I'm good? How did-? When-? I mean, what are you doing here?"
Maureen's face goes carefully blank in a way that is eerily reminiscent of Nate's when he's irritated and trying not to show it. "I'm here to see you get married. Your bride-to-be contacted me and somehow convinced me to come. I'm not even sure how she talked me into it, honestly."
Nate glances over at Sophie, who is laughing with Maggie and her beau. "She can be persuasive."
"Hmm. Well, I said I'd come so I'm here – to see you, to meet her, and to see if you managed to catch lightning in a bottle twice. Speaking of which, Maggie seems to be doing great. I hadn't seen her since…" Maureen stops. Nate knows that Maureen hasn't seen Maggie since Sam's funeral.
"Yeah, I'm pretty surprised to see her here, too. Sophie is really…really persuasive."
"You didn't expect your ex-wife? Ha. I can't wait to get to know Sophie better."
Nate eyes her. "What do you mean?"
Maureen smiles, a shark-like expression that reminds Nate forcibly of their father Jimmy. "Well, anyone who can both surprise you and make you this uncomfortable is someone I need to be well acquainted with."
The party has moved inside to the large family room when Nate approaches Maggie and the young man with her. "Nate! Congratulations." She kisses him lightly. "This is Scott Wilson. Scott, Nathan Ford."
The attractive younger man ("Child," Nate thinks) offers a firm handshake and an appropriately brief reply of "Nice to meet you. Thanks for having me." After an awkward beat, he even shows the sense to offer to fetch Maggie a drink, and walks away toward the wet bar in the rear of the room.
"So…Scott?" Nate says dubiously.
"Look, Nate. I am thrilled for you and Sophie. I truly am. I think she's perfect for you…for who you are now." She puts her hand on Nate's arm. "I want you to be wonderfully happy with her – I think you have a great chance to be. I was even really touched that you invited me to be here." She cocks an eyebrow. "But a girl has her pride." Nate stares after her as she rejoins Scott at the bar.
Her departure provides the opening that the Hurleys have been waiting for. "Nate!" Hurley says happily, as Peggy beams behind him. "Congrats, man. Really, this is excellent. Being married is…yeah!"
Peggy laughs. "Thank you for having us. This place is really, really beautiful."
Nate is barely listening. "Oh? Yes, thank you. Um, thanks for coming. If you'll excuse me…" Nate heads over to where Sophie and Father Paul are talking near the window. He passes the rest of the team on the way.
Eliot smirks. "That look on your face will never stop being funny," he says as Nate passes.
"Truth," Hardison chimes in. Nate pauses.
"Did you three know about…all this? I thought it was just going to be the five of us."
Parker smiles. "Oh, Nate. You really still think you're the boss, don't you?" The three of them grin as he Nate shakes his head in wonder and finally intercepts his bride-to-be.
"A word, please?"
Sophie looks resigned but Father Paul holds up his hand. "What, not even a hello?"
Nate grins reluctantly. "Hello, Paul. What a, uh, pleasant surprise."
The priest grins back. "Still hate surprises, then? C'mon, Nate, don't give her a hard time."
"I wouldn't dream of it. Excuse us?" Nate steers Sophie away from the small crowd.
"You aren't really angry, are you?" Sophie begins, but Nate stops her.
"No, no, no, it's fine. Really, I'm fine – pleased, even, with everybody being here…ok, maybe you could have talked to me about Maggie and her date, but that's not it. We just need to have everybody but the team out of here in 24 hours."
"24 hours? But why?"
"Because we have a case."
Scene 4:
Eliot, Parker, and Hardison are sitting side-by-side along one side of a conference-style table facing a state-of-the-art display wall, much like the one in their former headquarters. Sophie and Nate are standing at the opposite ends of the table. The others watch back and forth like spectators at a tennis match, confused, alarmed, and amused in equal measure.
"A case! It's our wedding day, we have a house full of guests, and We. Are. Retired!" Sophie sounds less enraged than one might expect- instead sounding more incredulous. "Also, today is our wedding day!"
Nate is clearly uncomfortable having this conversation in front of the others but he is standing his ground. "Yes. Yes, today is our wedding day. And I am so happy – happy to be here, proud to be marrying you, shocked that you agreed to it – but it is also time to get back to work." He walks around the table toward her. She turns her back to him but doesn't walk away. "Look. We've had a beautiful 6-month honeymoon but I need to be doing something more than staring out at the beach. And I hate to see your gifts going to waste, too." He doesn't touch her – he's being sincere and doesn't want to apply any of the manipulative tricks she's more than aware of.
"I was going to talk to you – to all of you – " he acknowledges the others now – "about all of this tomorrow. After the wedding. But the job I've come across is time-sensitive and we've got to have time to plan, so we can't have all the others here. I'm sorry about the timing but I wanted to discuss it as a team, all together, and since you were going to be here…"
Eliot breaks in. "What's the job?"
"You got a briefing ready?" asks Hardison.
"I'm in!" says Parker.
Sophie looks at all of them in turn, finally looking at the pained, eager expression on Nate's face. "Fine. Fine, all of you. But no briefing, no planning, nothing today. It's our wedding!" She can't even help laughing. She had known full well that Nate was itching to get back in the game, of course, and had even expected him to broach the topic with the team while they were together. She shook her head lightly.
Nate could still surprise her.
Scene 5:
The white pavilion is set up on a rocky cliff at the edge of the island. Surrounded by friends and family, Nate is waiting. He's uncomfortable being the center of attention in this way (although Hardison, in his role as officiant, is standing close by). He is therefore doubly impatient for Sophie to appear. Finally, the string quartet (set to fly off the island that evening after the ceremony) starts to play. From around the corner, Parker, in a floaty sky blue dress, appears. She smiles at Nate, who smiles back.
And then, escorted by Eliot, Sophie appears. Her dress is simple, draped and long with a slit to show off her legs (at Nate's specific - and explicit - request). Her hair is long and loose and she looks incredibly happy and inexplicably young.
She approaches and he takes her hand. They are ringed by their loved ones but they are also alone, totally together in each other's eyes. It is almost startling, then, when Hardison begins to speak.
"Friends and family, we are gathered here to witness and experience the love of this man and this woman as they join in marriage. Nate and Sophie have pursued each other, back and forth, in, ah, a number of senses, for many years. May they find happiness finally being caught." He grins. Eliot rolls his eyes.
Hardison continues, "Nate and Sophie have elected to create their own vows. Sophie?"
Sophie beams. Nate has a moment of anxiety – will this be a horrible performance? But he can't help but smile back as she begins to speak. "Nathan Ford, nothing about this has ever been, or will ever be, conventional. But where you go, I will go. When I run, I know you'll find me. Whoever you need me to be, I'll be. I love you and will be faithful to you. This is my vow."
"And you, Nate?"
Nate breathes in deeply. "The last time we were at a wedding, I said that marriage was hard – like pushing a shopping cart. But I also said that when I look at you, I know you've made me a better man. And now that I've known you, I can never go back. So whatever we're trying to accomplish, pushing shopping carts or building empires or tearing them down, I need you with me. I'll never leave you or forsake you. I love you and will be faithful to you. This is my vow."
"Do you, Sophie, take Nate to be your husband?"
"I do."
"Do you, Nate, take Sophie to be your wife?"
"I do."
"Then by the power vested in me by…the internet, basically…I now pronounce you husband and wife. Now, please, man, kiss the bride."
And so he does.
Scene 6:
The guests have gone. The team is sipping champagne while the curtains blow into the briefing room. Sophie's edict notwithstanding, they've already started discussing the specifics of the case they'll be leaving for. Nate looks around the room. These are his people – his family. He'd seen Maureen off without a tear (and the rest of them with a degree of relief), but he knew he couldn't lose these four people as easily.
He slips up behind Sophie and kisses her neck gently. She exhales softly as he releases her and lets her go. "Well, everyone," he says in a ringing tone. "Let's go steal us a Happily Ever After."
"No!" It is Parker, and they all look at her expectantly. "You don't have to steal that. I think you've earned it this time."
The End.