Disclaimer: I don't own anything; it all belongs to TNT and the wonderful creators of Leverage and I'm only writing this for my own enjoyment.

Pairing: Nate/Sophie

A/N: The only episode that is referenced is the first episode. Also this is my first Nate/Sophie fic and my second story ever. I hope everyone enjoys this and I'm sorry if there are any mistakes. I hope you enjoy and please review.

She was beautiful and she loved him he knew that without a doubt and she put her life on hold for him but he just would never be able to give all that she needed and deserved , so what did he do, he made sure he did something that could never be forgiven. He told her that everything they have been through didn't mean anything to him and as soon as those venomous yet so untrue words left his mouth he saw the hurt and then the hate appear in those mesmerizing and beautiful eyes but he knew that he did the right thing. A life with Nathan Ford, a drunk and extremely broken man, is not the life that Sophie Devereaux, a wonderful and amazing woman, deserved. She deserved someone who could give their whole life to her and he could never get past what happened to his son, Sam, and would always hold that revenge in his heart and for that reason he decided to not be selfish and set her free the only way he knew how and that was to make sure she wouldn't feel any romantic feelings towards him anymore and if he lost her in his life it would be worth it knowing she could move on and find someone who could truly make her happy in ways that he just could not provide.

What Nate didn't know however was how Sophie has never wanted someone so much in her life as she wanted Nate and she didn't want anyone else because no one else would do no matter how hard she searched. Sophie was truly hurt at Nate's words and tried to get him to see reason and admit that he didn't meant what he just said, but Nate didn't say anything; he just turned around and walked away not knowing if he would ever see Sophie Devereaux, the only woman he truly loves with his whole heart, again. Sophie was left standing in her hotel room shocked and abandoned not knowing why Nate was doing this to her. How could he possibly do this to her? What did she do wrong? She sacrificed everything for Nate so they could be together, she waited for him to come to her when he was ready to take the next step and for what just to have everything thrown back in her face and to be left alone to believe that he never even cared for her, that he was just pretending and playing with her heart this whole time? Sophie Devereaux was always a strong woman but now found that her heart was breaking inside of her at Nate's harsh words, ripping all she knew and loved away from her leaving her in the dark; she couldn't think, couldn't breathe; everything was just spinning out of control and she didn't know what she was feeling or how to feel; she felt numb but most of all she felt betrayed and broken far beyond ever being able to be fixed again.

Nate hated what he had to say to Sophie but it had to be done for her own good, but God it hurt far worse than he ever thought it would. He never would have admitted this aloud but he needed Sophie in his life to keep the broken pieces of his life together just enough so he could live and breathe and now that he just basically kicked her out of his life, he didn't know how he was planning on living now. He would probably become a worse drunk than he already was and end up drinking himself to death but at least that way he could stop feeling the horrible pain that he was currently feeling. For a split second he thought maybe he made the wrong decision and almost turned around but he just shook his head and kept walking, to where he didn't know but more than likely he would end up in a bar to drown in all his sorrows.

Six or so years later found Sophie Devereaux in a rundown theatre which allowed her to perform every Friday night to the ten or eleven people that had nothing better to do. She missed Nate and thought about him every once in awhile and wondered what the man was up to; if he was still at IYS chasing down people like her and recovering stolen treasures or if he's drunk himself into a permanent stupor. Little did she know that Nathan Ford, the man she's never gotten over, would be in the audience that evening watching her performance and waiting for the chance to talk to her.

If someone told Nate Ford two days ago that he would be seeking out the woman he still loved asking for her help he would have called the psych ward to come put them away, but as life would have it here he was in the theatre where Sophie performed once a week waiting for the show to end so he and his little crew of thieves could talk to her. He had no idea what he would say to her or worse how she would react; he just hoped that he could convince her to join his crew so they could get their revenge on the man who tried to kill them.

After the show Sophie went out the back door that lead into a little alley way which she would follow to the street and head to her little apartment, but as she was digging in her purse for her phone she heard someone start to clap and at first grabbed her pepper spray thinking it may be some perv but received the shock of her life when she looked up and saw Nathan Ford walking towards her with a smile on his face that charming little smile that led her to fall in love with him. She couldn't help but smile back but warily and wanted to ask what the hell he thought he was playing at showing up after all these years but then saw three people behind him and began to wonder what was going on.

God she was still so beautiful after six years of not seeing her. She looked absolutely shocked to see him there and knew it was because she never would have expected to see him ever again. He just smiled at her because he was just so incredibly ecstatic that he was standing there in front of her, it brought back so many memories of their times together playing cat and mouse all around Europe.

"What are you doing here Nate and who are they?" Sophie asked and how amazing it was to hear her voice again speaking to him.

"They are my crew and I'm here because I, we, need your help with a job," Nate replied.

"Job? You haven't crossed over to my side have you Nathan?"

"No…yes…maybe…it's complicated but if you agree to help I'll explain on the way back to my house," he offered.

Sophie knew she probably shouldn't agree because it would just leave her even more hurt this time than when he left her the first time, but she just couldn't ever say no to Nate and never wanted to, so she agreed to go along with the job.

"Great. Well come on and I'll explain everything. This is Hardison by the way," he said pointing to the tall black man with a netbook in hand, "this is Parker," and pointed to the blonde girl leaning against the car who looked rather bored, "and this is Eliot," and pointed to the quite built and very tough looking white guy with long hair standing next to Parker.

"Hi," Sophie greeted.

"Sup," Hardison replied and Parker and Eliot just raised their hands in acknowledgement.

After they arrived at Nate's place and everyone knew what was going on, Sophie managed to get Nate away from the team to talk to him. He may not have realized it but Sophie definitely realized him glancing at her from time to time as he explained what they were basically going to be doing. She wondered if he never felt anything for her when he left her then why did he keep looking at her, brushing up against her and why did he come to her for help.

"Did you lie to me six years ago when you said you never felt anything for me?"

"Wow you really just open up with the big stuff don't you Sophie?" Nate said with whiskey in hand.

"What else am I supposed to say Nate? Hi how have you been? Oh me I've been absolutely wonderful after the man I loved just left me out of nowhere."

"You loved me?"

"Of course I did and I know you knew that. Why did you leave Nate?"

"I couldn't bring you down Sophie. I knew if you stayed with me I would have ruined your life. My son had just died and I..I..I still haven't gotten over it and you deserved someone better than me."

"So you thought it best to break my heart and abandon me then to just tell me to wait and help you heal?"

"I was hoping you would move on and find someone who would make you happy and give you what you need Sophie."

"Nate the only person I need and have ever needed was you and you make me happy more than anyone else ever has but then you went and left and broke me; you broke me like you were broken Nate. And I only stole things that I knew would have you chasing me ever since the first time we met just so I could see you and then I heard the wonderful news that you left your wife only then I didn't know why but I was happy that maybe we could take what we had to more than just looks and clever comments towards each other."

Nate sat down on the chair setting his glass on the table beside him and just put his head in his hands knowing now that he screwed everything up that he just should have told her everything six years ago. "I'm so sorry Sophie. I thought I was making the right decision but now I just realize I've screwed everything up. Can you ever forgive me?"

Sophie looked over at Nate and saw that he had tears in his eyes and she felt her heart tense a bit. She didn't know if she could ever forgive what he did to her but she knew she would try because even though he did break her heart she still found that she loved him and always would. "What do you feel for me Nate?"

"I..I..I..huuh..I love you Sophie and I will never stop because no amount of time will ever allow me to stop loving you and I realize that now."

"I love you too Nate but I think we should just take things slow and see where things go from here and help heal each other's hearts and then maybe we can move on from there because just jumping back to where we were when you left won't help either one of us."

Nate nodded. "So you're asking me to wait for you?"

"Well you said yourself you still aren't over the hurt of losing your son and I know it will always hurt but maybe you just need a friend right now to get you through this. We're waiting for each other to become ready for the next step I suppose."

"Thank you Sophie."

"For what?"

"For making the effort to forgive what I did to you and I promise to you that I will try everything within my power to make sure that I never do that to you again. I love you," and for the first time in awhile Nate truly smiled and how Sophie missed that smile of his.

"I love you too Nate," and with that she walked over to him, tilted his head up, and reached down to give him a chaste kiss on the lips. "And now we wait for each other," she told him smiling down at him. He just wrapped his arms around her loving the feel of her in his arms and would wait to the end of time for the women he loved and so stupidly cast out of his life six long years ago.

END

A/N: I don't know the timeline from when Nate and Sophie knew each other when he was with IYS and to when they meet again in the first episode so I just put six years. If you have any comments please review because I would love to see how everyone thought of my story. Also I was going to make it a not so happy ending but I just can't do that.