In the three weeks following Sam's birthday the team managed both to help Carl save the bakery and to find the money Marinjian stole and getting him arrested again. If the cons were going great, things couldn't be said the same for the emotions running in the team, or more precisely between the two senior members. Sophie's private life was interfering more and more with her job and Nate wasn't very happy about it.
"What do you mean you can't come to the client meeting tomorrow morning?"
"Sorry Nate, but I'm having breakfast with Brian and I might be late tomorrow"
"I thought the two of you were going out for dinner tonight and that's why you can't make it to movie night?"
Sophie just stared at him with an obvious look, hoping that his male brain would make the connection.
It finally hit Nate what she had meant and his eyes darkened. He was telling himself that it shouldn't bother him, it was none of his business who she slept with, but the battle in his head wasn't really working. "If you're not invested in the team I don't know why you bother coming!" He shouted to her. He immediately regretted his words, but in that moment he wanted to hurt her.
Sophie gasped, shocked. "I…" She didn't know what to say. "I… If you had," She started pacing, waving her hands in the air, "I don't know…A life beside Sam and the job, you would know I'm trying my best to make everything in my life work"
"I have."
She abruptly stopped pacing, her anger turned into shock again. "What?"
He sighed. "I am… kind of dating… someone"
"What? Who? Since when? How…" She stormed him with questions. She took a deep breath "How come you didn't tell us?"
He shrugged and waved her off. "It's nothing really. Nothing I want to talk about it. It's only been a couple of dates in the past couple of weeks."
"Does Sam know?"
"No, I would prefer if he didn't… he might be not too happy about it."
"Why?" She frowned. "He's the one who's always trying to push you towards dating someone."
"I don't think he would approve of her..."
Now that teased her curiosity. "Who is it?" She smiled and approached him, using her grifter techniques to get the truth.
"Lauren Nolan," He caved.
"Nolan? The one that asked us help for the Marinjain case?" Then it hit her. "Sam's teacher?" She gasped.
He nodded.
"Wow," She paused "Is it even professional?"
"I said it was nothing. We've just been out a couple of times. She asked me out for lunch to thank me for helping her friend and I guess then we decided to meet again."
"Nate, this could easily turn into a disaster. What if things don't work out and she takes it on Sam? What if Sam's finds out about it?"
"I said it's nothing," He told her firmly, ending that part of the conversation. "Let's get back to the point. You're missing a client meeting tomorrow. Again"
His words were making her feel guilty. She had a commitment with the team, but she owned to Brian to try and make things work between them. He was slipping away from her and now that Nate seemed to be moving on too, she didn't want to stay alone. "You have your private life, I have mine." She gathered her things and opened the door.
"What am I supposed to do tomorrow?" He shouted after her.
"Take Parker" She slammed the door behind her.
Parker wasn't the right person to take at the clients meetings and, as expected, it had been a disaster.
"I told you not to take her," Eliot pointed out at the mastermind, seeing the man emotionally spent after trying to avert disaster after disaster with Parker's lack of filter when it came to talking to people.
"Well, you were right, but Sophie…" He looked around him. "Where is Sophie?"
"Still not here." Hardison took his place besides the monitors.
"Well, we don't have time to wait for her. Let's start."
Hardison pulled the information they needed and explained the situation and what he had found during his research. By the end of the meeting they had figured out how to get their mark, Daniel Fowler, out of the his house so they could look for the money he had stashed away and help their client's clinic.
"Sophie is still not here," Parker commented as she ate her cereal.
"That's very unusual for her," Eliot noticed. He had a bad feeling about it, but he didn't want to alarm his friends.
Nate shrugged it off. "She might have taken the day off to stay with that boyfriend of hers. I've already told her not to let her private life interfere with our work, but apparently I'm not allowed to say anything," He ranted.
The others looked at each other, not knowing how to take care of the situation. They knew that the relationship between Nate and Sophie was complicated and things were a bit awkward since they all moved to Boston, especially in the last few weeks.
Parker's mobile phone suddenly beeped and she checked it. "She just sent me a text saying that she's not feeling very well today and that she'll come by tomorrow."
"Seriously?" Hardison exclaimed "How are you going to pull off the con without her?"
"You take care of the school principal. Send him… I don't know… somewhere. So we can steal the school and operate freely" Nate told the hacker and got up from the couch.
"What are you going to do?" Eliot asked as he watched the mastermind exit his apartment.
"I'm going to visit a sick friend."
Sophie was curled up in her bed. A loose white sweeter that reached down to her knees was covering her upper body, while her legs were wrapped in a pair of tight leggings. Her face was hidden in her pillow and she was snuggling her blanket.
She heard someone knocking at her front door. She already knew who it was and she tried her best to ignore the incessant banging; she really didn't want to see the others.
"Sophie!" She heard Nate shout. "Open the door, Sophie!"
Then it all stopped. She sighed in relief and dried the tears that were still silently falling. Suddenly she heard faint footsteps approaching her room.
"Soph…" He whispered.
"What are you doing here?" She gulped, hoping he wouldn't notice her crying. "Did you pick my lock?"
"I'm a thief," He retorted back.
"Ah, funny hearing you say that since you keep reminding us how you're not a thief." She still hadn't turned around.
"Sophie, what's going on?" He walked over the other side of the bed and she hid further in the pillow.
"Nothing. I'm not feeling well. You should probably leave before you get it too."
"I know when you're lying to me." He sat down and shifted the blanket. What he saw made his blood boil inside his veins. He swallowed hard. "What happened?"
"Nate…" She tried to calm him down. "It's nothing."
"Nothing?" he got up "You've got a red cheek and a split lip. That's not nothing!" He noticed her jump when he raised his voice, so breathed deeply, hoping that his blood pressure would go down "Was it him? Did he do this to you?"
"It's… we had a fight this morning. He couldn't understand why I had to leave and what kind of job I did with you… I told him it was over and…" She kept sobbing. "One minute he was shouting and then I felt the sting on my cheek. It was only one slap, he apologized soon after, he was shocked too. He's not a violent guy."
"Evidence suggests otherwise. Sophie, this is not you. The Sophie I know, wouldn't have something like this happen. You knew things haven't been right for some time, but you still kept trying. Why?"
"I told you. I wanted things to work out." She defended herself.
"Why? Did you even love the guy?"
"I… I… wanted it to work out." She avoided answering and his eyes.
"But why?" He whispered as he gently lifted her face.
"I don't want to be alone anymore," She cried.
"You're not alone. There's the team, Sam, me. You're never going to be alone, Sophie."
She shook her head stepping back from him only to find the wall against her back. "That's not what I meant. After we all went our separate ways in Los Angeles, I noticed I had nobody to go to. I felt so alone, I didn't know who I was anymore without you all in my life. Then I met Brian and he was a breath of fresh air, someone new, but deep down I knew it wasn't going to work out, there was no future with him, but I still had to cling to the idea."
She suddenly felt his arms around her, which surprised both of them since he wasn't a person who liked to touch others. She resisted at first, but then feeling him pulling her closer she caved and soon they were embracing, her head on his shoulder.
"It's going to be okay," He whispered in her ear as he caressed her back in comfort.
"I don't know what to do." She confessed. "How do I find myself again?"
"I'm here to help, trust me."
She scoffed. "The irony in that."
"You helped me take care of Sam while I was working out my issues last year. Now it's my turn to be the friend you can lean on." He looked her in the eyes. "Trust me."
And for some insane reason she believed she could. She slowly nodded and then rested her head back down, taking some of his comfort.
After he had made sure that Sophie was going to be okay for the rest of the day, he slowly left her apartment after she had fallen asleep. There was another small thing he had to do.
He took his mobile phone from his pocket and called a number he had on speed dial. "Meet me at the corner of Sophie's place. There's something we've got to take care of."
Half an hour later, Brian found himself pinned down on a chair by two of Sophie's friends.
Eliot had a hand firmly on his shoulders. He tried to sit up, but even though it was only one hand, the long haired man was very strong and Brian began fearing for his life.
"I've got one rule." Eliot hissed in his ear. "One simple rule. You don't hit women."
"It was an accident." He babbled. "I didn't mean to."
Nate stepped out of the dark and stood over him. "You're going to stay as far away from Sophie as possible. If I see your face or if she even mentions your name…"
"I knew you two had a thing." Brian interrupted him. He might have been scared of Eliot, but he really hated Nate. "How long has it been going? Was she satisfying both of us? I mean, a woman like that…"
Angrily, Nate kicked Brian's chair right in the middle of his legs and the man fell backwards. Brian grunted in pain as his back hit the floor.
"If you know what's good for you, you will leave Sophie alone...if not…" Nate nodded his head towards Eliot.
The hitter shouted in anger and made a movement to punch the guy on the face. Brian shouted in fear and closed his eyes. He waited but he didn't feel any pain. He slowly opened his eyes only to see Eliot's fist inches from his face.
"Next time it's not going to stop," Nate said and walked away followed by the hitter.
"Why didn't you let me hit him?" Eliot asked, not sure what the mastermind had in mind. "He hurt Sophie. No one hurts any member of the team while I'm around."
"He's the kind of guy who would have gone to the police and pressed charges. We don't need that. I just wanted to scare him a bit, hoping he's not that stupid to try something else."
"It's just that." Eliot struck his fist against his other hand. "I've been meaning to punch him since Sophie introduced him to us. He has a very punchable face."
"Yeah, I know," Nate snorted back. And Eliot knew that if he had to control all his fighting instinct for not hitting the guy, for Nate it must have been even worse since he was in love with Sophie and it was not easy to see the woman you love in pain. He knew that first hand.
A/N So that took care of Brian. What did you think of that storyline? Please let me know. Thank you for your reviews. They are always appreciated : )
