A/N Hi, I haven't abandoned my fics, but this one-shot came buzzing in my head and I just had to write it. I hope you like it :D

Misunderstandings

"Good job everyone!" Sophie clapped her hands enthusiastically. "Zachary, fantastic character building" she complimented the shy young man.

They had just ended their rehearsal. It was one of the final one before their debut in the new theatre. The tickets were selling good and Sophie was hoping that her actors and actress were ready for opening night.

"Your sexy boyfriend is here" one of her young actress smirked while nodded towards the back of the room. Some of the other girls giggled.

Sophie quickly turned around and like the woman said, there was Nate awkwardly standing in the semi dark. He gave her a small nod and then he took one of his hands out of his trousers pocket to give her a small wave. Sophie smiled and waved back.

"Well, you've finished for today. Again, good work" she dismissed her class.

They all started gathering their belongings and exit the theatre while chatting and laughing with each other.

Sophie got her bag and walked towards Nate. "Hey" she kissed his cheek. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to pick you up and take you out for dinner" he smiled putting an arm out for her to take.

"What are you up to?" she eyed him suspiciously.

"Why do you have to think that something is up?" he asked a nit offended.

They walked outside and Nate helped her close the theatre behind them.

Sophie was still looking at him with suspicious sending him glares from time to time. "Did you cheat on me?" she suddenly accused him.

Nate stopped abruptly. "What?" he cried.

"Is that why you're acting so nice. Do you feel guilty for cheating on me?"

"Of course not." He told her rolling his eyes in annoyance. "Recently you've accused of liking another woman and now of cheating on you. When did I have you the impression that I'm a cheater?" he felt a bit bad that she would think that about him.

Seeing the sincerity in his eyes, she sighed with guilt. "Sorry," she laid a comforting hand on his arm. "I guess with my birthday coming up I'm feeling a bit insecure about my age and all…"

Nate looked at her frowning and she understood the implication. "What date is it today?"

"The 3rd" he answered "Your birthday"

Sophie groaned finally putting two and two together. "Gosh, I'm so sorry" she hid her face in his chest.

"It had been quite easy faking ignorance all day since you've actually forgotten about your birthday" he smirked running his hands up and down her back.

"Here you were surprising me and taking me out for dinner and I started yelling at you and accusing you of something you didn't do" she groaned "I really must be getting old"

"You're not getting old, you've jest been distracted with the play and the cons, that's all" he reassured her while putting an arm around her shoulder and started walking again towards the restaurant where he had booked a table.

"After all I went through last week to remind you about it."

"Yes, your not so subtle remarks" he laughed at her.

She put a hand on his chest and they stopped walking. "Well, thank you for taking the time to organize something " she tipped her head up so she could reward him with a kiss.

"No problem" he smiled at her. "The things I had to go through with the others. Hardison and Parker wanted to throw you a big party. It took me a while to convince them that you would have preferred a quiet dinner just the two of us."

"Hmm… you know me so well" she caressed his chest

"I did have to compromise for a lunch tomorrow. Just the five of us, though"

"That's okay"

They finally reached the restaurant and Nate held the door open for her.

"Hi" a cheery waitress greeted them.

"Hi, I've booked a table under Ford"

She check her list and nodded. "Yes, sure. Please follow me"

They followed the waitress to a quite table at the back. There was slow music playing in the background and candles lit around the room.

"I will come back shortly for your orders." She left the menus and walked away.

"This is nice" Sophie smiled at the romantic atmosphere surrounding them.

"Eliot told me about it. Apparently he took that girl we helped with that mega-store job"

"Are they dating?" she asked looking up from the menu.

Nate just shrugged. "I didn't asked"

Sophie rolled her eyes. Of course he didn't. Men are clueless. "Well, I hope they are. Eliot deserves someone nice in his life and a stable girlfriend."

"I'm actually surprise you haven't poked the truth out of him" he smirked.

"I know, I've been so busy lately. I'm missing things, it's not me" she was a bit pouting about it.

"You're just tired. Let's have a quite night. No theatre, no work. Just us"

Sophie grinned. He sometimes knew just the right the words to say to her. "Okay" she leaned over the table and kissed him.

"Have you decided what to have?"

"I was thinking about the salmon fillet with vegetables. What about you?"

"Pasta with shrimps sauce" he closed the menu and the waitress suddenly appeared again.

The place their orders including a small bottle of white wine. They talked about this and that, leaving all the troubles outside for one evening.

"Hmm… this is nice" Sophie groaned after taking a bite of her food. "May I try yours?" she eyed Nate's spaghetti.

Nate just rolled his eyes knowing that always wanted to try his food. "Here" he brought his fork to her lips.

"Yours is not bad too. This place is actually good, we should come again another time"

After they had finished their main course they ordered desserts too. A summer fruits tiramisù for Sophie and a piece of chocolate fudge cake for Nate. They knew they were going to share anyway.

"I suppose you would want your birthday present?" he teased her smiling.

Sophie sat up eagerly. "Presents!" she lightly clapped her hands like an exited kid.

"Well after your absurd accusations from early I don't know if you deserve a present" he kept teasing.

"Oh," she frowned annoyed. "I said I was sorry"

"Okay" he smiled. He took a small box from inside his jacket pocket and slide it on the table. "Happy birthday, Sophie"

Sophie gasped in surprise. Tiffany, that meant jewelry. She loved jewels. She actually a bit anxious about it. It was a small squared box, it could only mean one thing. She carefully tore the paper and open the box. Inside there was a beautiful pair of earring, definitely what she wasn't expecting.

She tried not to show the disappointment and swallowed. "They're beautiful, thank you" she smiled up at him. It was actually a gorgeous present, but for a moment there she had wished for something else. She didn't know why, her relationship with Nate wasn't like that.

Nate could see the small disappointment that she was trying to hide. Did he make a mistake? He was pretty sure he got the earrings that she had pointed out at him a month ago from a catalogue. He sometimes really couldn't understand women.

They ate dessert in silence and after they had finished Sophie excused herself to go to the bathroom. Nate gave the waitress his credit card to pay for their dinner and with a sigh he picked his phone to call the only person he could think of that could help him. He had a romantic second part of the evening planned at his apartment that included scented candles, oil massages and definitely lack of clothing but with the sudden awkward feelings between them he didn't know what to do.

"What's up man?" Eliot answered.

"Eliot," Nate hissed "I need your help."

"I thought you were out with Sophie, what's the problem?"

"That's the problem. It was all going perfectly until I gave her the birthday present. I don't know what went wrong. I'm sure they're the earrings she told me about, but she clearly didn't like them. I mean, she looked disappointed and now things are awkward and…"

Eliot sighed. "Nate, man, you're an idiot!" He exclaimed.

Nate glared even though he couldn't see him "What? Why?"

Sophie started pacing up and down the bathroom. She had recognized the earrings. They were the ones she had pointed out at him more than a month before and he obviously put a lot of effort in her present. Actually it was already a miracle that he had remembered about them. She groaned frustrated! She didn't know what to do. She suddenly stopped, knowing who she could talk with. She took her phone from her bag and dialed the number.

"Hey girl, happy birthday!" the blonde grifter answered. "I've been trying to reach you all day"

"Yeah, sorry about that. Tara, I need your help"

"What's wrong?"

"It's Nate"

She could see Tara rolling her eyes. "What did that man do? Did he forget your birthday?"

"Actually it was the other way round" she waved her hand in the air "That's not the point. He gave me a gift. Some gorgeous pair of earrings that I had my eyes on…"

"I can't see the problem"

"It wasn't a ring" Sophie suddenly said.

There was a long pause. "Okay…." She dragged the word. "Did you want it to be a ring?"

"I never thought about it until I saw the small box and I thought it was going to be that, but then I open it and it wasn't"

"Sorry, I'm still a bit in shock that you actually want to marry Nathan Ford."

"Tara!" she exclaimed irritated.

"Yeah, yeah… sorry… you kind of love him, but still Nate Ford?"

"If you're not going to help me…"

"Okay, stopping now. Did you two actually talk about it?"

"Of course, when can anyone have a serious talk about relationship and emotions with Nate?" she replied sarcastically "I didn't want to get married again either, but…" she hesitated. "I mean, technically we've been together for two years now and I'm not planning on leaving him anytime soon, so it's not bad to actually think about it…"

"But you've never told Nate that you've thought about it. You can't blame the man for not been able to read your thoughts. You're no exactly the stable marrying type of girl either. How is he supposed to know?" She couldn't believe it that she was actually taking Nathan Ford's side.

She sighed "I know, but now there's his awkward feeling between us, I'm sure he had plans for later…"

"If I were I would forget about the all thing and just have amazing sex. From what you've told me, he may have a lot flaws, but at least he's good at that"

"Tara!"

"Hey, you wanted my opinion!"

"I guess I'll just have to talk to him and clear the air. I just hope I'll not scare him away by mention the 'm' word" She knew it was a conversation they need to have now, but she just could shrug off the idea.

"It's your call. Let me know how it goes. And if he makes you cry I'll be on the first plane ready to kick his ass"

She laughed. "Thanks Tara"

She hang up and after taking a big breath she exit the bathroom to join Nate again. He was waiting for her by the restaurant door.

"Everything okay?" he asked helping her with her coat.

"Yeah" she nodded while opening the door that led to the street.

The uncomfortable silence between them was getting ridiculous.

"Nate, we…"

"I should…"

They both said at the same time. They let out a nervous chuckle.

"You go first" Nate nodded at her as the slowly began walking again. Even though they hadn't decided yet, they were subconsciously walking towards Nate's apartment.

Sophie took a long deep breath trying to prepare herself for their conversation. "I think we should talk about something."

"You were expecting a ring" he interrupted her.

She turned to him surprised. "How…?"

"I've talked to Eliot. I'm sorry if the box was misleading, I didn't mean to…" he tried to apologize. He didn't really know what he was apologizing for, the box or for not getting a ring.

"It's my fault!" she quickly added. "I don't know why I thought there was going to be a ring inside, we've never talked about it and the earrings were lovely, they were the ones I wanted. It was just me being silly" she waved him off.

"Do you?" he put his hands in his pockets as a defense mechanism.

"What?" she frowned in question.

"Do you want to talk about…" he waved his hand trying to make her understand "you know…"
"Nate" she rolled her eyes frustrated. "You can't even say the word, how do you expect to have a serious conversation? Let's forget about the all thing"

"But now I can't get out of my head the fact that you're not happy with our arrangement. I didn't think you wanted to get marry, least of all with me"

" I didn't either, until this evening. But yeah, in a possible future I wouldn't mind us getting married and maybe retire in a nice beach house. I'm not under the illusion that we'll be doing this forever."

"Okay" he nodded. They had arrived in front of his apartment building and he took the key out to open the main door.

"That's it? Just okay?" she put her hand on her hips.

"What do you want me to say?" he shrugged "I've already told you that moving on with or without you it matters. I want to move forward with you, so yeah in a possible future I can see us spending retirement together. I just didn't imagine you wanted to label us as husband and wife, now that I do I'm okay with it"

"So… no running away… no panicking"

He chuckled "I've been married before, Sophie." They went inside the lift. "And I know you have to. The difference is that you're friends with my ex-wife and I on the contrary know nothing about your former husband or old boyfriends."

"How can you always manage to bring that subject up?" she smiled mischievously.

"I'm just saying…" he put his hands up in defense.

She laced her arms around his neck as she walked backwards exiting the lift when it arrived at his floor. "So, does this mean I will have that ring one day?"

He automatically put his arms around her waist. "If I don't get fed up with you before. You're getting older and I might want someone younger" he smirked still teasing her about the all cheating thing.

She lifter her leg and lightly kneeled him between his legs making him groan in pain. "Don't even joke about it. Not on my birthday"

"Okay, sensitive issue" he lightly kissed her to ask for forgiveness. "But yes, I promise that one day I'll ask you to marry me, is that okay?"

She nodded smiling. "Okay, just don't make me wait too long. I mean, our relationship hasn't really being going at a fast pace."

He laughed. " I promise. Now," he opened his front door. "Can we enjoy the second part of the evening I had planned?"

"Does it involve us being naked?" she started unbuttoning his shirt. "Because I'm all for it"

He stopped her hands "Eventually" He kissed her passionately and pushed her towards his bedroom.