A/N: I'm not quite sure what to say about this, except I imagine that there was money involved. This whole chapter had me cackling madly.


They met in a small café. Nate wasn't sure why Will's friends wanted the meet, but Will had said it was a requirement of helping them get the gift. He arrived early with Sophie, trying to hide a yawn as they took a seat at a table. Nate checked the café, noting an Asian man on a laptop sitting towards the back. The man barely glanced up as the door's bells rang cheerfully.

"We're early," Sophie said.

Nate smiled, "Do you want to order something other than coffee?"

"Breakfast would be nice," Sophie said as a server came by. "I'll have scrambled egg whites, turkey bacon and an English muffin with coffee."

"All right," the server said with a smile, "and for you sir?"

"I'll have the trucker's breakfast," Nate said, "and a coffee."

"I'll have that right out for you," the server said and hurried away.

"Nate, are you sure this is a good idea?" Sophie asked, "I mean what if they want something from us that we can't afford."

"I don't think Will would do that," Nate said. "He was a good man at IYS, and he's a Ranger now."

The door jingled and Nate turned to watch as two men stepped inside. The first was Will Aston, and with him was a stocky man with short, black hair, wearing black pants and a dark green button down. Nate noticed the man looked worried, but he wasn't focused on the room the way will was.

"Nathan Ford," Will said as he approached.

"William Aston," Nate replied as he stood and shook Will's hand.

"You can call me Will," Will said, "this is Adam Park, one of my friends."

Adam shook Nate's hand with a tight smile. "I should apologize for Justin. I wanted to make sure we weren't getting duped."

"It's all right," Nate said, "I mean, there for a moment, I thought Eliot would have gotten involved, but Justin left on his own."

Adam nodded, "Justin probably thought he was being subtle." He tilted his head a little, "It's not his strong point."

Nate had no doubt that if this man had wanted it, they would never have noticed him.

"Cam was supposed meet us here," Will said.

Adam glanced over at Will, "You've never met Cam in person, have you?"

"No," Will said, "just stories."

Adam smiled slowly, "We'll just wait until he gets here then, shall we." He turned slightly, "I'm Adam Park."

"Sophie Devereaux," Sophie said, "I'm sure Nate would have remembered me in a moment."

"Right," Nate said, "Will, this is Ms. Sophie Devereaux."

Will nodded, "It's nice to finally meet you. I've heard quite a bit about you."

"Really?" Sophie asked.

Nate shook his head slightly, "Will," he murmured.

"Yes, you're in IYS's Book of Thieves," Will said. "The list of people who are considered major players and are only to be pursued by senior IYS agents."

"Really," Sophie said, giving Nate a look, "I've never heard of the Book of Thieves before."

"That's… surprising," Will said, "the Book was originally put together by a pair of senior agents. The version I heard said it started while they were drunk."

"Do I even want to know who wrote it?" Sophie asked with another look at Nate. It was the sort of look that suggested that she already knew the answer, and he was going to pay for it.

"Nate wrote it with, uh, Jim Sterling?" Will glanced at Nate uncertainly.

"First of all, we were not drunk," Nate said, "and it started as a way to keep track of who stole what. Sterling brought in the other Senior Agents and it kind of spiraled out of control. It's not an official book either way."

"Would you gentlemen care for something to eat?" The server asked suddenly.

"Just coffee," Adam said, "I'm not ready to order food just yet."

"Can I get some chocolate milk?" Will asked, "I'll order something to eat when our other guest gets here."

"Not a problem, I'll be right back," the server said.

Adam slid into the seat across from Nate. "Mister Ford, why did you decide to ask Will for help?"

"Well," Nate said, "first of all, call me Nate. Second of all, Sophie vetoed almost anything I could have legally obtained."

"It was all boring," Sophie said, "no sense of imagination at all. Eliot deserves something with more history to it than just a knife."

"I thought the gourmet cooking knives would be useful to him," Nate said, "Considering what happened to his last set."

"What happened?" Will asked.

"He might have used them to deal with a group of thugs that tried to kill him," Sophie said, "but he won't admit it."

"He just moped for weeks and complained about my knives instead," Nate muttered into his coffee cup.

"So you thought you'd ask Will here to track down something with more meaning to it," Adam said with a nod.

"Yes," Sophie said, "we don't have the four months to put into acquiring something on our own, or we would have simply done that. If we had the time, we would have done it. It's just that our clients take priority over a single Christmas gift."

Adam nodded his thanks as the server appeared with his coffee and Will's milk. "Do either of you wish to order?"

"No thank you," Adam said with a smile. "I'm not hungry yet."

"No," Will said, "I don't think I will. Thanks for the milk though."

"You're both welcome," the server replied.

Adam watched the server leave, and then turned to Nate and Sophie. "Maybe next year you can arrange for me to meet with Eliot in person," he said, "but I feel better about helping Will help you." A phone rang and Adam straightened up, "That's my wife, excuse me." He stood up and walked away with his phone to his ear.

"Nate," Will said, "are you actually happy now?"

"Yes," Nate said, "I'm very happy. Why?"

Will toyed with his glass, "You helped me get an incredible opportunity, Nate. I would never have become a Ranger if you hadn't of recommended me to Hartford. I owe you a debt that I will never feel that I've paid off. If you need my help for anything, and I do mean anything, do not hesitate to call me, okay? I don't care if I'm bailing you out of jail or helping to rob the President blind, just call me and I'll be there."

Nate eyed the man in front of him, wondering what to say to that.

"Look," Adam said, "I have to get back to Angel Grove. Apparently, my daughter decided to kickoff Intergalactic Prank Week and caused a lot of trouble at the school. My wife is demanding I do damage control. Thank you for meeting me, but I have to go. I'll tell Cam I think this is a good thing."

"Thank you," Nate said.

"Bye Adam," Will called as Adam left the café. Then he stopped and stared at Nate and Sophie. "Was that me?" He asked, sounding like he was a chipmunk. He stared at his half-empty glass of chocolate milk, and then looked over his shoulder, "He said Intergalactic Prank Week, didn't he?"

"Excuse me." An older woman approached the table, "But the man who was serving you asked me to give you this," she handed Nate a long wooden box. "He asked me to say that 'A meeting with Mister Spencer in the future would be appreciated,' and also to say, 'Happy Intergalactic Prank Week from Cam Watanabe.'"