Disclaimer: I don't own anything, everything belongs to Naghty Dog, Sony and other respective owners.

I am not an English-speaker, so if there are mistakes, forgive me, I'm doing my best to avoid them.

"Y'know, kid, it always bothered me."

"Shoot."

"How many girls you've been with?"

Nathan Drake gagged on the beer he was drinking.

"Holy crap, Sully," he choked out when he caught his breath anew after a few coughs, "what that supposed to mean?"

"You heard me," Sully answered poker-faced, blowing out a cloud of gray cigar smoke into the cabin air. "Want me to repeat?"

"No, spare me," Nate waved his hand, "but why on earth so unexpectedly?"

"Oh, you know," Sully shrugged, not letting go of the aircraft's control column, "you're pretty much a son for me and I guess a father should have this kind of a talk with his grown-up boy once in a lifetime. Besides," he gave Nate a mischievous gaze, "it's pure curiosity."

"Ah, curiosity," Nate rolled his eyes. "I bet you just wanna check who was the greater playboy."

"Maybe," Sully chuckled. "So, will you tell me or you need a hand in counting?"

Nate sighed heavily and leaned against the seat, taking a quick look through the airplane window. There was no use killing the clock; they were somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. Nate was coming home after paying a quick visit at the Mongolian ministry of culture and because of protracted negotiations he missed his flight. As it turned out, Sully was at that time in China, trading some (probably illegal) stuff together with Samuel. Sully willingly offered Nate a free ride home, while Sam decided to stay a couple of days longer, "sightseeing" old temples.

"Well, let's see…" he sighed again, tapping on a bottle with his fingers and scanning through his memory, then gave Sullivan a mischievous gaze. "Repeat: you wanna know, how many girls I've been in love with, or how many girls I only slept with?"

"Ha!" Sullivan chuckled, "I knew there was a distinction. Let's say those you loved, first."

"One." Nate answered quickly and firmly, without a second of hesitation. Sullivan snorted like a horse - they both knew whom Nate had in mind.

"You mean… one hundred?" asked Sullivan, and both laughed loudly. "Okay, kid, I'm buying this," Victor lied. "How 'bout those you only slept with?"

"Like a nine…?" answered Nate after a short pause, that he probably spent on counting.

"Well," Sullivan made a little smack, "nice score. Yet mine's better."

"Congrats, Sully," Nate chuckled, "so I guess we may drop this subject already."

"Why are you so nervous about that, kid? I could understand if I'd asked you with how many guys you've slept with…"

Nate laughed sarcastically, "Sully, you're sooo close to push your luck. I don't see any need to talk about my ex's…"

"Think 'bout that for a second, kid," Sullivan continued fearlessly, "did you ever wonder, what kind of man you'd be now, if you hadn't met on your path any of these girls?"

"What do you mean?" asked Nate. Victor glanced at him, finally catching his full attention.

"Each of them had an influence on you. Taught you something new, comforted you, showed you things you didn't know… and I don't exactly mean just these things, kid," Sullivan stressed, noticing Nate's goofy gaze. "Some of your decisions might have been different if you never met them. Besides, there's nothing bad in reminiscing good, old times, is it?"

Nate took a sip of beer then gazed through the window; he unexpectedly felt ashamed of himself for automatically categorizing every relationship except with Elena as a 'sex-only' relationship. The old man probably was right; come to think of it, that was way too superficial.

"Well, guess it's nothing," he answered. "But I surely made both good and bad choices when it comes to women. Do you remember…"

…Marisa? Marisa, Marisa what? Chase - we searched together the lost city of Quivira… Ah, yeah, now I remember - that was that little girl, who talked only about her grandfather's work? The same. She was… strange. Nice and strange in the same time, but very smart.. and brave. Well, to be honest, this thing actually ended quicker than it began. Like… most of my relationships. But you remained friends? Yeah, actually last year I sent her some stuff I found 'bout her grandfather. Thought she'd like to keep it. Y'know kid, I also somehow knew that it won't click.

And then was that girl from Indonesia… Which one? There was more than one? No, but… I meant Eddy Raja's sister… Ah, Rika! Oh, sure. Well, I guess that one counts as a 'bad choice'. Definitely. Gosh, it seemed sooo gross when I learned that she was his sister… Oh, I get it, I had the same feeling when I messed around with those two beautiful waitresses in Mexico and it turned out that they're twins… Yeah, yeah, I get it, Sully. The truth is, I never saw her again after the events with Pinkerton… fortunately for her. By the way… I learned then that double-crossing is not sexy. Not at all.

Then goes my goddamn favorite… Chloe. Yeah, 'atta girl. Definitely 'good' and sexy choice, kid - that's my boy! Well, we have a history… Every time I met her she surprised me with something new… she was super-clever. And had a gorgeous ass… Can't argue with that, Sully. Cutter is a lucky guy. But to be honest, kid, I guess she could have loved you then, in Nepal. …she sure could. I suppose this one last time it was me to broke her heart. Kid… this sounds terribly absurdly in your mouth.

"On the other hand…" Nate started after getting a final sip of his beer, "if I didn't run on Elena in Nepal, I would surely be with Chloe now..."

"Maybe…" answered Sullivan, breathing out another cloud of cigar smoke. "Who knows, what would life be like now…"

"Yeah…" Nate sighed, gazing at the flushed moon on the night sky. "But I like the hand I've been dealt," he quickly added, just in case to prevent the old man's further sentimental talk. "I don't regret anything. Really."

Sully watched Nate for an instance. The kid has gone a really long way. There wasn't a hint of that little devil he met decades ago. He didn't waste his life, although many times Sullivan was sure he will. Suddenly, for the first time, Sully felt that sense of well-fulfilled, paternal duty.

"So…" Victor raised his eyebrows, "now that I know how many of them were, would you tell me who was your first?"

Nate snorted, throwing an empty bottle to a shopping bag between his feet.

"No way," he replied, chuckling. "Forget it."

"Oh, come on," Sullivan continued, "wasn't that girl in Ipswich? What was her name… Georgina?"

Nate frowned at the old man, shocked.

"How the hell you know her name?"

"You have a memory like a sieve, kid," laughed Sullivan, entertained by the view of ridiculously disconcerted Nate. "Thanks to her I got you out of a jug after you got caught breaking into the Augustinian priory's main building! The lock-up warden turned out to be her father! You had to be… fifteen at that time?"

"Sixteen," Nate answered, rubbing his eyes. This is a nightmare, he thought to himself.

"Oh boy… what did you do to her?" Sullivan sighed, still unable to stop smiling, as he watched Nate running his fingers through his hair. "I've never seen any girl so hopelessly and completely infatuated… She fought like a lion for you! By the way… wasn't she a bit older than you?"

"Sully, seriously…" Nate muttered. If looks could kill…

"You were this privy to these things already at the age of sixteen?"

"Sully," Nate frowned at the old man, who was already laughing his lungs out, "stop it, or I'm gonna jump out of this goddamn plane!"

"Unfortunately, I don't have parachutes, kid…"

"To hell with parachutes! Been in worse trouble than that."

Ending of the fanfiction in next chapter.

Just a short note: in Nate's journal there's a mention about a girl named "Georgina", then comes a phone number and a short note "Ipswich, Feb 1992". It's the earliest info about a girl in his journal. As Nathan Drake is said to be born around 1975/1976, by the year 1992 he had to be at least sixteen (btw, he met Sully in Colombia in 1991, so everything clicks).

I got the dates from Uncharted Wikia.