A/N Who is still jumping after The Lonely Heart Job? That was a really nice treat for us Nate/Sophie fans. :)
Spoilers if you haven't seen the episode!
The Art of Dating.
"Shall We?"
They left the Marina and went straight to the hotel. The others took the cab with Parker driving while Nate and Sophie preferred taking a real taxi by themselves.
"I was a bit scared back there." Sophie interrupted the silence.
"What do you mean?" Nate inquired.
"Well, we didn't know if we could get to you in time. Your com was offline, they could have already killed you and threw you in the sea. And when I heard the shot, I think my heart stopped until Parker reassured me that you were fine" She tried to hide her eyes that we starting to fill with tears.
"Sophie you should know by now, that I'll be okay."
"Really Nate? Among the team you're the only one who got shot! Twice! You always make sure that we are all okay, but you don't care if you get hurt. You have start thinking that if you get hurt, we hurt too. Especially me"
"I'm sorry. I really tried to turn my com on, but when she dropped it in her wine glass, it was over."
"Just promise me that you'll start being more careful" she caressed his cheek
He brought her hand to his lips and kissed her palm " I promise"
The taxi arrived at the hotel and they both got out. Sophie waited for Nate to pay the driver then they made their way inside. The rest of the team was already waiting for them at the lobby.
"There's a flight for Boston leaving in two hours. I can book out tickets right now." Hardison was already working on his computer.
"Sophie," Nate called the grifter. "Could you get the key cards from the reception, please?"
Sophie looked at him curiously. "Why me?"
"Just, please" Nate sighed.
"I'll help you" Eliot got up from the seat he was sitting on.
When the two were far away Nate turned to Hardison."You three can go to Boston if you want, but I'd like to stay another day with Sophie"
Hardison grinned. "Oh man, I see you're still trying to work your charm, conquest the noble woman, trying to get lucky..."
"Hardison!"
"Wow, okay man. I can book you and Sophie on the flight leaving in two days, how does that sound?"
"Can you change our reservation for the suite too? Oh, and book a table at that restaurant, what was its name?"
"Okay, slow down." He worked on his computer. " Here, done. I hope you two have great sex. No wait, that's just weird,"
Parker finally realized. "Oh, you're hoping for some dinner" and she made quoting signs with her hands at the word dinner.
Nate looked at her confused "Wait! How do you know what dinner means?"
"Oh, please. We figured that out months ago after you two disappeared for dinner and we thought we could join you but then we could hear your moans from outside the front door" Hardison added. "That was a traumatizing experience"
Nate just blushed. "Well, is it done?"
"Yes, it's done."
Nate started leaving.
"Wait, where are you going?" the hacker called back.
"I need to take care of some other stuff!"
"What do I tell Sophie?"
Nate retraced his steps. "Just give her this" he took out a note from his jacket pocket "Don't read it! But wait, not straight away. I need her distracted for an hour" And he left.
"Distracted? How are we going to distract her?" Hardison gulped.
Sophie and Eliot came back from the reception.
"Where's Nate?" the grifter asked.
"He said he had some stuff to do. He told me that he would come back later. Parker, why don't you and Sophie do something while Eliot and I pack the bags"
"Oh yeah," Parker agreed. "Me and Sophie, go" and she pulled the grifter by her arm.
"Wait, what?" Sophie shouted confused.
"Why do I have to pack? You know I don't travel with bags." Eliot complained.
"Long story, man. Long story"
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
An hour later Parker and Sophie were back at the hotel where the other boys were already there with the bags ready.
"Parker, can you tell me why we went out for an hour doing absolutely nothing. I have my bag to prepare!" She saw the other bags ready. "Wait where's my suitcase?"
"Nate told me to give you this." Hardison handed her a piece of paper.
"Yes, where's that man?" Sophie furiously opened the note.
Sophie,
I will pick you up at 7 pm this evening. Your bags should have already been transferred in the suite room.
See you tonight
love Nate
Sophie soon smiled.
"Well," Parker tried to peak over her shoulder. "What does it say?"
"Apparently I have a date tonight." She couldn't contain her happiness.
Eliot just smiled at her, happy that Nate has finally put himself together "Have fun. Come on guys, let's go!"
Parker waved. "See you in Boston"
A bellboy showed Sophie to the room. She has stayed in suites before, but this was really magnificent. The balcony had a perfect view of the sea and she could feel a fresh breeze coming from the opened window.
"Thank you" she dismissed the bellboy.
She noticed that a parcel was waiting for her on the bed and a note was attached to it.
Please, wear it tonight. I hope you like it.
Nate
She opened the box and slowly discovered that inside there was a beautiful electric blue dress. She picked up and admired it. The fabric was soft and even if it was short it wasn't too inappropriate. The shoulders were bear and it was probably going to show more cleavage than she is used to. Well, the man deserved it after his surprised, plus she liked keeping him on his toes. Inside there were some matching shoes, in the same style she liked and there was also some matching lingerie.
"Well, well Nate, you have really took care of everything" she smiled.
She looked at the time and decided it was time to start and get ready for the night. So she went to the bathroom to take a long relaxing bath and pamper herself.
It was soon 7 pm and there was a knock on the door. With the final touches she went to open it perfectly knowing that she was going to knock Nate dead.
And there he was, at the other side of the door gasping when he saw the beauty in front of him.
"Wow, you look... you look magnificent!" he could barely get the words out of his mouth,
"Why, thank you." She grinned. "You're not bad yourself."
And he wasn't. He really cleaned up for their "date". Not that he wasn't always nice, but tonight he had a... a sparkle in his eyes that made him even sexier!
He lean over to give her a small peck on her lips and she gracefully accepted making the kiss slightly longer. Of course Nate being the overachiever deepen the kiss but after so long Sophie stopped him even through the taste of his lips was very addictive.
"Not so fast, mister. You are going to ruin my makeup. Plus I really want to go out. I didn't spent hours making myself beautiful just so you could enjoy it for a few minutes."
"I really don't think it took you hours, since you are already beautiful" he smiled.
She blushed "Okay, you know the con is finished right? There's no need to be so charming."
"I'm just telling the truth " and he told her seriously. "Come on, let's go before they give away our reservation."
"Where are we going?" Sophie put her arm around his and walked with him.
"You'll see!"
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
They were now seated at the Dolce Vita waiting for their orders.
"How did you manage to get a reservation?" Sophie asked. Nate just arched his eyebrow and grinned. "Of course, Hardison. Well, you really thought of everything."
"I try" he shrugged and took a sip from his wine glass.
"What made you think of doing this? I'm not complaining, but why now?" she asked looking him directly in his eyes.
"I know we are not those kind of people who go to real dates. I mean, even if I now asked you your name, you job, your family, you'll have to lie to me. That's not who we are. So even if we missed the courting phase, and we went straight to whatever we are right now, you deserved a nice real date, and I'm sorry I didn't think about it before."
She smiled. "Well, I'm glad we are doing this now."
"Me too." He smiled back. "And it's not just you. I'm not a dating person either. I would probably start closing up the moment you mention my past."
She looked down and slowly traced her finger over the patter on the table cloth. "That's why I don't know if I should ask you my next question or not"
Nate stiffed on his chair. "What's up?"
"I was just curious. You finally opened up a bit this afternoon. The girl with the ball didn't just remind you of your father, did she?"
Nate looked down, his shoulder tense.
"You don't have to talk about it..." Sophie soon realized her mistake.
"I used to take Sam at the games too. He liked it so much. He had finally learned how to catch properly before he got sick."
"Nate" she put her hand on top of his.
"I don't really talk about him not only because the bad memories hurt, but also the good ones. Thinking that I could have done so much more with him. My dad wasn't really a good father and I wanted to be better. Sometimes I wonder..." he took a swing of his drink.
"No, Nate, you were an excellent father. I could tell from every time your eyes lit up when you talked about him while you were chasing me around Europe. You were a good father, don't ever doubt that"
He slowly nodded and gave her a sad smile. "Well, this is turning out to be a depressing date."
She gave a small chuckle. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up, but you have to start talking about him, remembering the happy memories, because if you keep everything to yourself it's going to end badly."
"One step at the time, Sophie. Okay?"
She just nodded letting the discussion drop.
Finally the waiter came with their orders.
"Here you are. Enjoy your meal."
Sophie took a bite of her order. "Hmm this is nice. Yours seems interesting too." She eyed Nate's pasta dish.
"Want to try it?"
She slowly nodded.
Nate took some pasta with his fork and softly blow on it he then brought it to her lips.
"Hmmm" she moaned. "Yours tastes divine" she licked her lips.
Nate gulped, enjoying the view. Then he noticed her look. "You want to swap, don't you?"
She just grinned and Nate reluctantly swap their plates.
"Thank you" and she started eating.
Nate looked at her and smiled. "You're welcome!"
They soon finished their meal and got out of the restaurant.
"You want to go for a walk by the shore?" Nate asked once outside.
"No, it's a bit chilly. Why don't we go back to our hotel?" she smiled seductively and put a hand on his chest running it along his jacket lapels.
Nate soon understood and called a taxi. When they got to the hotel they soon went inside a took the lift.
"Thank you for this evening. I really had a nice time" Sophie wrapped her arms around his neck.
"You are mostly welcome" and they shared a quick but passionate kiss.
The lift stooped at their floor and they went to their suite. Once inside they eyed each other but no one really made the first move.
"You are not going to tease me and leave me like last night, are you?" Nate asked coming closer to her.
"No, I think you earned your reward." she teased him. "I just hope this isn't the last time you show me that you can actually be charming."
"I think I've got something else up my sleeve." he grinned.
But now the time of teasing was over and they kissed passionately, their night only at the beginning .
THE END