A/N - As before, Sophie, Duncan and now Sean are my inventions; everything else was created by the brilliant Ed McCardie and owned by the folks at Tandem Communications and Canal+.

Chapter 7

It was Friday night and Sophie was anxious to close the shop. Friday nights were always quiet; most people went out to dinner rather than coming by for a sandwich. There was no delivery to St. Peter's tonight, so she didn't have to worry about getting the leftover food set up. Instead, she was working on her computer waiting for the clock to tick down to 7:00 p.m. so she could leave.

The minute the clock hit the mark, she locked the front door and ran back to the office to change. She was meeting her best friend Sean tonight at Royal Albert Hall to see the Proms. She was excited to go out for a fancy night and he never disappointed. Sophie and Sean had met at university; he had been one of her math tutors. It was one of the few subjects where she struggled in school. He immediately recognized that she was personally out of her depth adjusting to university life, that the experience was totally overwhelming for her. Sean remembered how difficult it had been for him to adjust as well so he immediately felt sympathy for the girl. He discovered that although she was shy, she had a wicked sense of humor. They quickly became friends and he soon realized that she had no family to speak of, no one in her life really at all. She was truly on her own. As their friendship deepened, he became her family.

Sean had earned his master's degree in economics and had returned back to London to work for an old, established UK bank. He had worked his way up to become a senior financial analyst and was in charge of running one of its largest investment funds. He was never comfortable discussing his lifestyle or his partner, Michael, with his work colleagues though. As he moved up the ladder, he would make appearances at functions with Sophie and introduce her as his girlfriend to keep up his charade. She never minded although she never really understood why he was afraid of coming out; she adored him and was always happy to help him. And it helped her. She ended up getting a few commissions out of all of the networking which was always nice.

Sophie changed into her favorite long black dress and put on her velvet wedge sandals. It had been a great find at one of her regular thrift shop haunts. The dress had long sleeves and a belt that went around the hips, with a slit up the right side to show a bit of leg. It was plain but elegant and sexy, and showed everything off in just the right places without being too revealing. It was perfect to wear to the Proms and for an evening out with Sean. She wore her hair down for once, letting the natural waviness of it come out. He always liked it when she had her hair down.

She let herself out of the shop and locked the door. She started walking up the street towards the taxi stand when a BMW pulled up next to her. "Hello, Sophie. Where are you headed this evening?" It was Nelson. He always turned up, like a bad penny.

"Hello." She looked straight ahead and kept walking. "Just off to catch a cab."

The car sped up a little ways and stopped. Joey stepped out and stood in front of her to block her way. She stopped.

"Why don't you let me give you a ride," Nelson said from the car.

"No thanks," she said. "I just need to catch a cab. I'm off to meet someone."

"I insist."

Joey looked at her and motioned towards the car with his head. "Get in, Sophie."

She didn't have time to argue with them and was starting to get frustrated. "Really, I don't have time. I must catch a cab. I'm already running late."

"Which is why I insist you let me take you," Nelson said. "The clock is ticking."

She stood there in silence for a moment. She did not want to pull up in front of the Royal Albert in a car full of men and she did not want them to know about her life. But it might not hurt to have them see her with Sean. Maybe they would leave her alone if they thought she had a boyfriend.

Her mind raced through all of her options. Running was out of the picture because of the shoes she had chosen to wear. Going back to the shop might work but they'd only wait outside for her. Shit. She should have had Sean pick her up. Oh, God, why didn't she have him pick her up? She quickly glanced around to see if any taxis were coming up the road. Nothing. Finally, she realized that she wasn't going to get out of this.

"Fine."

Joey opened the passenger side door and she slid into the backseat with Nelson. He immediately noticed her dress and saw her legs peeking out through the slit. She looked beautiful. Sophie caught him staring at her legs and quickly covered herself up with her coat. He cleared his throat and looked straight ahead. "Where to?"

"Royal Albert Hall, please."

"Royal Albert Hall? Fuckin' hell, that's some fancy shit," Denny said. "You know where that is, Joey?"

"Do you think if I knew how to get there I would be fucking programming it into the fucking Sat Nav right now?" Joey answered.

Sophie turned to the window and smiled to herself. As dangerous as these boys were, she had to admit there was something funny about them.

"Hey, language," chided Nelson.

"Sorry, boss," Denny said. "Sorry Soph. Didn't mean to cause offense."

"None taken." She smiled and chuckled to herself.

"You are looking very nice tonight, Sophie," Nelson continued.

"Yeah, Soph," Denny added. "Looking very fine tonight."

"Denny!" Joey smacked him upside the head and Nelson had an unhappy look on his face at the moment.

Sophie smiled. "It's okay, really. Thank you both. I'm going to the Proms." She really was beginning to have a soft spot for Denny.

"You meeting someone?" Nelson asked.

She hesitated. Should she tell them about Sean? "Yes, I am as a matter of fact. My boyfriend." There, it was out.

Nelson looked at Joey. This didn't come back on the information they had for him. He was not pleased. Joey was furious. How the hell did that stupid cop miss this fact?

"I didn't realize you had a boyfriend. What does he do?" Nelson probed.

Sophie just said, "Yes I do," and that was it. She wasn't giving Nelson any additional information tonight. She continued to look out the window watching the city go by.

He looked over at her. He had never seen her all dressed up before. She was a vision, lovely. He wanted to reach out and touch her, to put his hands in those gorgeous waves in her hair. To run his fingers ever so slightly down the side of her neck and along her face. To caress her cheek and touch her lips. To slide his hand into that slit in her dress and run it up the inside of her thigh. It had been a long time since he had wanted a woman this badly. The boyfriend was a bump in the road, a distraction that he would dispose of shortly. For now, he just wanted to focus on the beautiful woman that sat next to him and fantasize about when she would be his.

Just then the car pulled in front of the Royal Albert and knocked him out of his reverie. Sophie quickly unbuckled herself and opened the door before any of the boys could do it for her. She turned and grabbed her coat and said, "Thank you for the ride."

She stepped behind the back of the car and started across the road. She saw Sean on the stairs and waved to him. They met and embraced. Sophie turned around to make sure the car was still there and that Nelson saw her in Sean's arms. As she caught Nelson's eye she leaned into Sean and then turned to walk away with him. That should do it, she thought.

In the car, Denny had his phone out. "Did you get a picture of that guy?" Nelson asked him.

"Yep, got it boss. Crystal clear."

"Send it to Squire. I want to know who the fuck that is."