A/N: Lol I've been trying to post this for three days! The site outage did give me a chance to get the second chapter written, however, so that will be up soon. Anyway, thought I'd try some humour with this story. Hopefully others will find this scenario as amusing a prospect as I do. ;-) I also just wanted to say that there's a line in this where Sophie tells Nate he thinks too much, which is exactly what she says to him at one point in the most recent episode! But I wrote that line like a week before the episode aired, so it's not copied, I swear! (Haha probably nobody cares in the least, but it's so annoying when things like that happen!!)

Spoilers: None, doesn't really refer to any specific episodes.

Somewhere Between Dinner and an Early Lunch

by LillyPilly

Part One: Brunch

"So..." Nate said slowly, giving Sophie the impression he wasn't sure what he was going to say next, but felt like he needed to fill the silence.

"Don't worry," she said.

"Oh I'm not," he hurried to say. "I'm not worried, no."

"No?"

"Yeah, no. Nothing to worry about, right?"

"Of course not."

They smiled at each other briefly, then, as one, their gazes lifted to the digital display over the doors.

This was, Sophie decided as the numbers slowly climbed, the longest elevator ride in history. It wasn't even that tall a building.

Finally, though, they arrived, the doors parted, and beside her Nate gave a sigh that sounded suspiciously like heartfelt relief as he stepped out onto their floor. She followed more sedately, only to find him paused in the entrance to their offices. Through the open doorway, she could see the reception area beyond was empty as usual. Sophie took a few steps towards him, watching as he scratched his forehead, hesitating, before turning back to face her.

"Look," he sounded reluctant to be saying anything, "I know... we have things to... discuss but..."

She waited a few seconds to see if any more words would be forthcoming. "Nate?" she prompted.

"It's just that... things shouldn't be weird, you know, I mean, right? With the others and, you know, it could be..."

She took pity on him. He was trying, after all. "Well we wouldn't want things to be weird," she said.

"Right." He held out a hand gratefully. "Thank you. So we'll, I mean, we'll talk. Just... later. For now we'll keep things," he gestured vaguely, "Quiet." He looked at her hopefully.

"Keep what quiet?" she asked, giving him the bland, pleasant expression she usually reserved for service-people and Parker when she was talking about explosives.

It actually took him a second to catch on. That's how much this was affecting him, she realised, and it solidified her resolve to do what had to be done.

"Oh, right," he said, smiling genuinely after a beat. "Exactly."

She patted his arm as she moved past him through the door. "Come on, they're probably waiting."

Once inside, Nate made a beeline for his office, calling out, "Yeah, guys, be there in a second!"

Sophie went and poured herself a much-needed coffee in the kitchen, then went to join Hardison, Parker and Eliot at the conference table.

"Morning," she said as she took her seat, "Sorry, are we late?"

Nate came in then, moving to his usual place at the head of the table. "Yeah, we're late, so let's get started. Our next potential client, Emily Rosen, coming in tomorrow morning for a meeting, but before she does, how about a little prep work? Hardison --"

"Sorry," Sophie interrupted the flow of his words, holding up a hand, "Nate, do you mind?"

"Uh," he began.

"Thanks," she went on swiftly. "It's just that there's something I wanted to say with everyone here, before we get down to business." She glanced around the table to see she had everyone's attention. Nate was looking immediately wary, his mind clearly racing as he tried to figure out what she was doing. "The fact is," she said without further preamble, "Nate and I have started sleeping together." She paused. Nate made a strangled noise. So did Hardison, because he had just taken a sip of soda and was trying to breathe. "While it's not really anyone's business, of course, I just thought we should go for honesty first. You know, honesty is the best policy, and this is something that could affect us all, the way we function as a team."

"Sophie what the hell -- ?" Nate was staring at her through his hands, which were cradling his head. His jaw slack, he was almost speechless.

The others weren't much better. Sophie could hardly hold in the smile threatening. She did love an audience. "What?" she looked innocently back into Nate's increasingly thunderous eyes. "Isn't it better, having it all out in the open? Or are you upset because I implied this would be an ongoing thing? Look, just because last night was didn't go so well..."

There was another strangled sound, this time from Eliot, who was choking back a laugh.

"What!" Nate burst out. "What, what are you doing?"

"Well I mean it was awful, wasn't it, but that doesn't mean you and I aren't --"

"Stop talking! I don't... I... why are you even -- ?" He was on his feet now.

The others were frozen, swinging back and forth between the two of them like spectators at a tennis game.

"One night of bad sex," she said, "it's not the end of the world."

Nate actually gripped his hair, then, and for a moment Sophie thought they were going to be sweeping the entire lot off the floor after this was over. But then, staring blankly ahead, he turned and headed for his office.

There was a stunned silence in his wake.

Then Parker said, "The sex was bad? Why, what was wrong with it?"

"What the... hell was that?" Hardison said.

"Erectile dysfunction?" Parker continued.

"Oh my god." The groan could be heard from the direction Nate had gone, and then there was the click of the door closing.

Sophie sighed and sat back in her chair. Three pairs of eyes watched her. "You really want the gory details?" she said.

"No," replied Hardison immediately. "No, we do not want the... any of the details."

But Eliot sat forward, looking almost gleeful. "Tell us about the bad sex!"

"Did one of you want to do weird stuff and the other one didn't? That's happened to me before." At Parker's words, both men turned to look at the young woman with sudden interest.

Sophie though just shook her head. "No, it wasn't anything like that. Well yes, it was a disaster, really, a big disaster. But it was just... well, I mean, I was nervous, all tensed up. And he was, well, you know how Nate tends to over-think things."

Eliot's face screwed up in sympathy. "Ooh, ouch."

"Yeah," she nodded. "It wasn't pretty. But," she went on brightly, "It's going to be okay. Thanks everyone, by the way."

"Uh, for what now?" Hardison said.

"Look I know I've dragged you all into the middle of it, but you were a big help." A set of blank looks was her reply. She went on to elaborate. "This morning, he could barely look at me. It was a big let down and if I let him think about that all day, well. Not good." She shrugged. "Now, though, he's not thinking about that, he just wants to kill me."

"And that's a good thing?" Hardison said. She just looked at him, giving him the chance to work it out for himself. "Oh. Oh wait. That's a good thing, isn't it? I did not want to know that."

"So Nate being mad at Sophie means good sex," Parker said, with an expression like she was trying to work out the logic and coming up with a few problems. "So why haven't they been having good sex more often?"

Sophie rolled her eyes. "You've got a good point there," she muttered, staring at Nate's closed door.

"The guy definitely won't be over-thinking things," Eliot offered.

"He might be in there drinking himself into a stupor, though," Hardison added.

"Another good point." She sighed. For a moment she had to wonder whether her plan hadn't worked a little too well.

"Guys, we're going to lunch," Eliot announced suddenly, standing, grabbing Hardison's arm and dragging him up out of his chair in one smooth motion.

"Hey, oh we are now? Oh, we are. Yes, lunch," the younger man agreed, straightening his shirt as Eliot glared at him.

"It's ten-fifteen," Parker said.

Hardison helped Eliot lever her up out of her chair. "We'll get muffins then. A bagel or something."

As they passed by her chair, Eliot leaned over and spoke out the side of his mouth. "What, like an hour?"

Her mouth twisted up in a smirk and she drew idly on the surface of the table as she replied, "Two."

Eliot straightened, and when she glanced up at him he looked a little impressed. "Damn," he muttered.

They left, and she sat there a while, giving them time to get on the lift and descend to the lobby, following their path out of the building in her mind. Though really, she was giving herself time, alone here in the quiet of the empty conference room.

Last night had been a disaster, and things were still so new between them, still tentative, and fragile... It was difficult not to find it all discouraging. But anyway, she reflected as she got to her feet, she'd have never got anywhere in life if she'd gone around leaving things to sort themselves out. And when in doubt, just stick to the plan. It was a strategy that had rarely let her down. Feeling confidence returning, and banishing all thoughts of the previous evening because they certainly weren't going to be of any use here and now, she went and let herself into Nate's office without pausing to knock.

"Honesty is the best policy?" he ground out when he saw her, his jaw clenched tight. He was standing by the window, hand gripping a glass tumbler so hard she suspected it might shatter at any moment. He looked, on the whole, very tense.

"Nate," she said, leaning back against the door and letting it click shut, "You think too much."

"Know what I'm thinking right now, Sophie?"

"No." She pushed away from the door, and began unbuttoning her blouse as she paced towards him. "Why don't you tell me?"

"I... ah..." was as far as he got as she shrugged out of the shirt, letting it fall to the floor. He had the look of a man who had suddenly lost his train of thought.

Finally.

"You," he pointed a finger at her as she came to stand before him. She easily plucked the glass from his now loose grip and set it down on the corner of the desk. He swallowed hard and went on, "You are in so much trouble."

"Good." She took hold of his lapels. "Sounds like a place to start."

end part one

Endnotes: This story is going to work backwards, so the next chapters will take us back through the disastrous events of the early morning and previous evening. I don't really write explicit stuff, but there will be some sexual content, just not enough to need an 'M' rating, I don't think. Hope you enjoyed, comments and criticism welcome!