A/N So, this is the final chapter. Thank you all for reading this story and for the great reviews. I really appreciate them.
Stay tuned for the second season :)
Nate walked inside the briefing room. The team stopped working and looked at him. His eyes were cold and distant and for the first time they were scared of him, or in Sophie's case, afraid of what he was going to do.
"What have you got?" he asked them firmly.
Nobody moved.
"Guys!" he shouted, making them jump.
"Huh… I was able to track Balckpoole's phone call, but not to locate its exact position" Hardison typed on his computer and a map appeared on the monitor.
Nate looked carefully at it. "The museum… he was calling from there"
"It's going to be heavily guard, Nate. After the stunt we played on him, I don't think he won't shoot us, mostly you"
"I don't care what happens to me" he stopped him. "Getting Sam out of there safe it's our mainly concern"
"Here are the statues" Sophie let the briefcase slid on the table.
He looked at her and nodded. "Okay, this is how it's going to work…" he was interrupted by his phone ringing.
"Yeah?"
"Nate?"
"Sterling, kidnapping a child? Really? I didn't think you could have been capable of it"
"Listen Nate, I had nothing to do with Sam. Blackpoole just called me to make sure the statue were safe, that's went we discovered they were fake. Nice trick you played there, by the way"
"What do you want?" He shouted.
"Blackpoole has completely lost it. IYS wants him gone, especially after he lost so much money, but he still has got some influence. I know where he is keeping Sam"
"At the museum"
"Yeah, I can let you in but I need you to do something for me"
"Sterling, if this is one of your tricks…" he threatened.
"No tricks" he promised.
Nate thought about it. "Okay, what do you need?"
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
An hour later, Nate was standing in front of Ian Blackpoole with a gun pointed at his face.
"Why would you con me likes this, Nate? After everything I've done for you"
Nate let out a sarcastic chuckle. "I think you and I remember things in a different way"
"Where are my statues?" the man shouted.
"Well, technically only one is yours" Nate pointed out. "They're safe"
"You might have forgotten that I have your son" Ian smirked.
"Actually, I think you've better check with your men about that" he knew that by then Eliot would have gone in thanks to Sterling and got Sam out.
Blackpoole looked at him surprised with the hand not holding the gun he got his phone out and dialled the number.
"I'm coming to get you next, Blackpoole" Eliot answered the phone.
Ian Blackpolle saw Nate gloating. "No!"
"To think that all you had to do was to consent for IYS to pay for my son's treatment two years ago"
Ian Blackpoole was about to pull the trigger when he got slammed down the floor and then someone punched him. Eliot got up grinning. "I love to do that!"
Sterling arrived with a couple of agents who were ready to arrest Blackpoole.
"With all the evidence you and your team gathered, we won't be hearing about Blackpoole for a long time"
"As for my team?" Nate asked.
"Let's say that for now we're even…. If you get the two Davids back to where they belong"
"Here they are Sterling" Sophie entered the room followed by Sam, Parker and hardison.
"Dad!" sam ran to his father straight into his arms safety.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, it wasn't that bad, really"
Sterling opened the briefcase and smiled. "With these I'll get a good promotion! Nice doing business with you" and he left.
"I'm starting to hate that man!" Eliot grumbled.
"Let's go home!" Nate put an arm around his son and they walked away.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
They were all standing in circle in the airplane hangar. Sophie's airplane was already ready and waiting for her. Nate didn't know where the others were going to go.
"Thank you, all of you. You surprised me." Nate broke the silence. "I wouldn't have got Sam back without your help"
"We had a great run in these months" said Eliot looking sad for leaving the crew, his crew.
"It's a good time to move on." Hardison said not entirely convinced. What was he going to do now all alone?
"I'm going somewhere... else." Parker added. She shouldn't be feeling like this. No emotional attachment that had been her motto and it had worked well, until now.
"Fresh start" Sophie wasn't ready to say goodbye. She could feel tears forming in her eyes. She looked at Nate. They had said their private goodbyes the night before.
"So this is it!" Sophie leaned against the doorframe of his office. He hadn't told the team yet, but she already knew; the team was done.
Nate was sitting on his chair watching his son sleeping on the couch. He could have lost him that day. He promised himself that he was going to protect him no matter what, and he broke that promise.
"This is it" he told her without looking up.
"You blame him for what happened to Sam, don't you?" her voice was shaking.
"Yeah…" he whispered. "But not only you. I'm the one mostly to blame. I had been so blinded by my need of revenge and Sam was the one who paid the price. I need to protect him."
"I know… I know…" she was silently crying. "What about us?" she finally asked.
" Sam is and will always be my first priority." And we that answer he told her everything she need to know. With the a small nod she left the room.
"We made a difference. Remember that." Those were Nate's last words before turning around and leaving them.
Nate was staring at the horizon. He could just see in the distance where the seas met the blue sky. The refreshing sea breeze was messing his hair and the sun reflecting on the calm water gave him a sense of call.
"Why did you let her go?" Sam asked him. He was leaning on the railing next to him. "Why did you let them go?"
For the first time Nate didn't have an answer to give his son. Why did he let her get on that plane?
"It's time to move on, son" he finally whispered. He slowly took the chain from around his neck. He gave the rings laying on his hand one last lingering look, before forming a fist around them and throwing them in the sea beneath them.
Yes, it was time to move on. Time to leave this life behind. Time to leave L.A.
THE END (of season 1)
