This chapter was going to be a serious ship chapter, but I changed my mind about the ending…so it ended up just a really close friendship chapter…I don't know if it'll change down the line, but this is what you've got for now.

Did I mention at any point that I don't own anything? Well I don't really.

Chapter 4 - Minu Ga Hana

Somehow, and neither of them knew how, after that, it sort of became a post-job ritual for them. Sophie would often end up at Eliot's comfortable second-home with his small family. She adored Takashi, which was strange seeing as normally young children got on her nerves. She adored them from afar, but getting up close and personal was a different matter. But Takashi was such a sweetheart. He had a younger, less refined version of Eliot's manners, and kept calling her things like 'Miss Sophie' or 'Auntie Sophie'. She just couldn't get annoyed at him.

The second time it happened was after the Genogrow Job, when they'd nearly been plunged to an early death by the plane. Sophie had been surprised at how matter-of-fact Eliot had been when he'd been talking about killing someone, and further more, a whole plane of people. Of course, this was the man who'd taken out eight yakuza hitmen in about four seconds. After they'd hit the ground, they'd debated spending a bit of time in the Caymans until Eliot had pointed out that they'd left Hardison on his own. That clinched it and they went back. Eliot left before Sophie, but after a bit of verbal fencing with Nate, Sophie had headed herself. Getting back to her apartment, she realized she didn't feel like being on her own and had headed over to Eliot's. Katsumi had opened the door and summoned her 'son-in-law', ushering Sophie inside. Eliot had invited her to stay for dinner and Sophie had loved it. Katsumi had done the same as she had done the first night and taken Takashi up to bed after he insisted on saying a proper goodnight to Sophie, kissing her cheek and hugging her, before leaving. Eliot and Sophie had then spent an enjoyable evening with half a bottle of wine between them (Eliot didn't drink much, and Sophie wasn't going to risk losing control and losing his respect), and exchanging stories of their previous heists. Sophie knew that Eliot was glossing over most of the violence he'd encountered – although the story about the bar full of gunmen in Serbia was hilarious. Still, slightly tipsy, and very comfortable at the house, she'd accepted the offer of a bed again.

The third time wasn't until two days after the job against the contractors. Eliot called her and asked if she wanted to go to a matinee movie with him and Takashi. She'd agreed and they'd ended up going to see Wall-E and Eliot had managed to get himself glared out of the cinema by other parents for laughing at the 'death' scene, and through most of the rest of it. Takashi seemed to have inherited his 'father's' sense of humour and had been laughing too, and Sophie could see why they'd found it funny. Afterwards, Eliot had taken them all for ice-cream and they'd spent an enjoyable afternoon in the park before Eliot drove them back to his place – a sleepy Takashi had latched onto Sophie and no matter what they did they couldn't quite get him free. Once they arrived back, Eliot had cooked a dinner for the two of them and they'd sat and watched the English rugby which Eliot had managed to get on his TV – he claimed that American football was a tad too safe for him, and Sophie could see why. She could imagine Eliot playing rugby. She noticed how much more relaxed he was than when they met up earlier. In the end, Eliot railroaded her into the guest room.

After the one where they'd put Nate and Parker in rehab, Sophie had again turned up on Eliot's doorstep, she hadn't meant to, she was suppose to end up at Nate's to railroad him, not Eliot's to break down. Katsumi had welcomed her in, explaining that Eliot wasn't in just then and Takashi was at a friend's house. Sophie had been close to tears, and Katsumi had given her a cup of tea and a few good words of advice – he's not worth the tears, whoever you're crying over, he's not worth it. Sophie had asked how Katsumi didn't know Sophie was crying over Eliot. "Cause that boy wouldn't do that to a lady like you," had been the calm response. Eliot had turned up with Takashi and a set of bruised knuckles shortly afterwards and Katsumi had taken his son with a frustrated sigh and a roll of her eyes. Eliot had simply hugged Sophie close and let her cry it out on her shoulder. She'd stayed the night again.

For her birthday, Eliot surprised her. He took her out to a ranch some way out of town. First she'd thought he was mad, but he'd still taken her riding. She'd loved every minute of it. But that had only been the start of it. Up on the veranda of a small but cosy mountain hut, Eliot had set up dinner. It wasn't anything fancy, and it wasn't hot, but it was damn good, and Sophie found out just how good Eliot was at making birthday cakes – although Eliot had coughed to the fact that Katsumi had iced it for him. It had been a wonderful afternoon, and then they went back down the mountain and headed back to Eliot's – after he'd revealed that he owned the cabin and that any time she wanted to use it, it was hers. Takashi had been waiting when she got in, and very sincerely, the little boy had held up a small package. She'd made some show of opening it, and then been overwhelmed by a very real wish to cry. The little boy had made a sign that read 'Sophie's Room'. It was childish, and brightly coloured, but it was perfect. Needless to say, Takashi was very proud when Sophie dropped to her knees, pulled him into a tight hug and pressed a kiss to his forehead telling him just that. Eliot had made some show of pinning the sign to the door of the guest room.

After the job with the trial, they hadn't made it back to Eliot's. Eliot had called Katsumi and told her that he would be staying at the office late and not to wait up. In the end, they'd been lying out on the couch in his office, Sophie comfortable on Eliot's chest as they talked about the day's work. They'd joked about Parker, and smiled at the thought of the team nutjob going out for coffee with an incredibly normal person. Sophie tried to ignore how comfortable it was to just lie there, listening to Eliot's steady heart beat, while Eliot tried not to think about how right it felt to have Sophie in his arms. They were both in denial, but neither of them wanted to really think about it. Sophie propped herself up on her elbows to look down at Eliot. He frowned at her and his frown deepened as she leant down to press a spontaneous kiss to his nose. "Teach me to play chess?" she asked disarmingly. Eliot had said yes. A few minutes later the two of them were asleep on the sofa, not even thinking about chess.

Not long after that, Sophie had taken Eliot out for his birthday, claiming that he needed to celebrate it, that it was what Morioko would've wanted. She'd spent an instructive night shortly after she'd figured his birthday out with Donnie, the actor he'd brought in during the court job. Donnie it turned out, was also a retriever, and had a broad knowledge of the kind of things Eliot and his son would love – it surprised Sophie to learn that Donnie knew about Takashi. In the end, Sophie had settled on a set of cooking knives, and tickets for Takashi and Eliot to go to a motocross event. So after dinner in an upscale restaurant, Sophie had taken Eliot back to her apartment and handed him her gifts. Eliot had opened the envelope first and with a laugh had hugged Sophie, thanking her profusely. When he'd opened the knife-set, Sophie hadn't been so sure of his reaction. He'd run his hands over the handles, staring almost blankly at them. Then he looked up at her, and Sophie saw just how grateful they were. "They're perfect," he murmured. "I've never seen a set like them." Sophie had proceeded after that statement to explain that she'd had the set custom made, after some discreet hand measurements, to fit Eliot's grip exactly, even when being used for other pursuits than cooking. Eliot had pulled one out to experiment and found that that was true. Eliot had stayed at Sophie's that night.

Then came the mess with the First David Job. Eliot had been right behind her, backing her in their efforts to get Nate sober. After just over a year of working as part of the same team, and spending a lot of time with each other, Eliot and Sophie had formed a close bond, closer than the bond Sophie felt she'd had with Nate. The job was simple, and Sophie would've got the First David out of it. That was what she wanted. Of course everything got shot to hell. First Maggie turned up – unfortunately that ended up with Sophie finding herself dead jealous, and she wasn't quite sure who of, Nate or Eliot. Then Sterling showed up, and managed to catch Parker and Hardison. Eliot was almost caught, and had received quite a few injuries as the price for staying free, but the relief Sophie had felt when Eliot's gruff voice had snarled his threats over their earpieces was beyond anything. So they'd managed to get everyone out, and they'd split up. Sophie had been loathe to end things as were with Eliot, but didn't see any real choice in the matter. She missed their post-job ritual, but she wasn't about to go and see him just now.

When they got back together with Nate's plan to get back at Sterling and Blackpoole, Sophie didn't know what to expect from Eliot. She realized instantly that she'd made a big mistake, he was all prickly words and hard responses. Of all of them, he was the one she most wanted forgiveness from, and the one she was most afraid to beg it from. So, she foolishly went to the other two first. When she went to apologize to Eliot, he'd reacted scornfully, his words cutting her. He'd just been getting used to working as part of a team, to trusting people to watch his back and she'd torn that away from him. More than the others – more even than Nate – Sophie knew what it cost Eliot to give trust, and how warily he gave it. In the end he'd said they were OK, but Sophie knew they weren't, but she didn't have time to talk about it. What startled her were the Japanese words Eliot murmured 'Neko ni katsuobushi'. She wondered what he meant by that. The job went as planned, yet still they had to split up and go to ground. Sophie knew she couldn't leave it like it had ended with Eliot.

So with a little help from Donnie, she'd proposed a job to Eliot, in an attempt to get a face-to-face meeting. She succeeded. So here she was three weeks later.

Eliot walked into the restaurant and stared at her, before fixing his shirt and crossing to the table.

"Sophie," he stated tensely.

"Eliot," she replied, chewing her lip slightly. Here she was, expert in reading people, nervous around a man she knew would never hurt her.

"What're you doing here?"

"I came to apologize properly. You deserve a proper apology."

"Thanks, that all?"

"Is that all you're going to say Eliot? 'Thanks, that all?'?"

"What do you want me to say Soph?" It was unconscious, Eliot didn't even realize he was calling her it. "I welcomed you into my life. I introduced you to Taka and Kat. I can think offhand of three people I've done that with, and one's you. The other's Donnie. The third…never mind. The point stands that you just threw that back in my face! You don't con your own team!"

"You've said that over and over again!"

"Because it's the truth Soph. Thanks for apologizing properly. Is there a job? Or was that all you wanted to say?"

"I wanted to ask if I'd be thrown out if I came to visit Taka and Kat," Sophie admitted quietly, blinking back tears. She looked up and saw that Eliot's eyes, that had been ice-cold before, had softened slightly.

"I think if I tried to throw you out Kat would evict me."

"Can she do that?"

"I'll put it this way Soph. I wouldn't want to try it. Darlin'…it hurt like hell, what you did, I can't deny it. But…but you came back, you tried to make things right. Besides Taka adores you, he's been asking after you, wonderin' where you were. He wants to see you, I ain't denying my son anything."

Sophie looked at Eliot, wondering quietly if their friendship was back on track, and if there was a chance of anything more. If there wasn't, she'd settle for the friendship, it was a comforting thing knowing that she had one of the toughest men around caring for her and as her friend. She smiled at him, and he returned it, although it didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Saru mo ki kara ochiru, Soph," Eliot quoted softly.

"What does that mean?" she asked quietly.

"Even monkeys fall from trees. We all make mistakes."

Sophie bit her lip slightly and managed to not burst out into laughter at his comment. Eliot's eyes lit up with the smile, and Sophie realized for the first time since Hardison and Parker had been captured and Eliot had been beaten up, that her and the hitter really were OK.

I think I want to follow this on into the next series. Thoughts?

PS I know Wall-E has been out for ages, but it's the only kids film I could think of that I knew the plot to that had been in the cinema recently. And the laughing thing is for real, me and two of my friends honestly did get glared at for laughing at 'inappropriate' places that we thought were hilarious.

Minu Ga Hana: not seeing is a flower. Metaphorically: Things will never be as you imagin, so you're better off not seeing them/Reality can't compete with imagination

Neko ni katsuobushi literally means fish to a cat, and this basically means a situation where one can not let their guard down – as I believe Eliot would feel after the First David Job.

Again, Aoitori if any of these are wrong, please correct me!