The morning after, Sophie woke up to an empty bed. She ran her hand down beside her and she felt the cold sheet underneath her fingers. Nate had left a long time ago, the only signs that the other night really happened were the familiar aches in her body and her state of nakedness. She quickly slipped into Nate's robe and went to the bathroom for a quick shower. After she got dressed she went down stairs. She could hear both Sam and Nate talking in the kitchen
"Good morning, Sophie," Sam smiled up at her when he saw her descend.
" G'morning!" She kissed the side of his head. Her eyes locked with Nate's. His face was turning all different shades of red. "Hello, Nate," She smirked at him.
"Hi," He managed to say embarrassed before continuing to finish Sam's packed lunch.
Sophie just smiled it was going to be fun to tease him the rest of the day. She got her breakfast and sat next to Sam. She could feel Nate's eyes on her so she seductively started licking the spoon before sinking it in her yoghurt again.
"Dad, we need to hurry or I'm going to be late for school," Sam told his father that was for some reason distracted.
Nate gulped. "Sure." And he continued his task trying to avoid, at all cost, to land his eyes on Sophie.
Soon father and son were out the door. When Nate got back from driving Sam to school, the rest of the team were already there. His eyes found Sophie's and they knew it was going to be a long time before they could find the privacy to talk about what happened the night before. Putting their emotions aside, they all worked at the con. As expected someone did show up at Sophie's funeral, someone she didn't think she was going to see again.
"That's Marcus Starke," She whispered in Nate's ear as she was blending with the others.
"You're not supposed to be here!" He hissed back. "What if someone recognizes you?"
"Nate," She rolled her eyes at him. "I'm acting. No one will see me."
He dragged her towards his car and they drove off. "So, who is Marcus Starke?"
"Are you jealous?" She teased him, recognizing the slight hint of anger in his voice. Nate just glared at her and she continued. "He's a brilliant grifter, even a better forger. We used to work together… Copenhagen job in '97, the Berlin Polytech job in '98. Oh, Nate," She laid a hand on his arm, "Do you remember that great run in Moscow?"
"Great run? You mean when I chased you for three months?"
"Technically you were chasing both of us."
"Exactly how close were you with this Starke guy?" He eyed her. "How come I never heard of him?"
"He knows how to keep a low profile and we only worked together. He's a firm believer in not mixing work with pleasure. Not that I was ever interested in him, but he likes to think I was." She paused. She finally found the courage to bring the forbidden subject up when a familiar voice came through the comms.
"I can't believe that you saw other teams before us!" Hardison exclaimed a bit offended.
"Is that like cheating?" Parker added. "Because it feels like it."
"Nate," They could hear the smirk in Eliot's voice. " Let me ask you a question: what bugs you more, is it the fact that he was with Sophie first or that he outsmarted you?"
By the time he had finished, Sophie and Nate entered the apartment. Nate just got there to send a scary look at the hitter's directions, not that it mattered, Eliot just kept smiling.
"Oh, look! Sophie's ghost is here. It's like she haunting us," Parker poked the grifter, checking if she was real or not.
"Parker, I'm not really dead!"
"Guys, we need to find Starke." Nate got their attention again. "I bet he's behind the mysterious disappearance of our client's painting."
"Starke doesn't keep a permanent crew. He specializes in whiz mobs. Usually they do one smaller job first just to work out the kinks in the team. That painting would have been perfect. He must have seen me in the building."
"But why would he want you dead?"
Sophie smiled at the hitter. "Because I know his scams. Because... I know his favorite scam: The Mona Lisa variant."
"Oh, oh." Parker waved her hand in the air like an eager school kid who knew the answer. "That was the first one I learned. In 1911 the Mona Lisa was stolen and the con man who did it made six identical copies. And then they put them on the black market, and each buyer thought that they had the original."
"Hardison," Sophie called the hacker, tossing him his remote. "Pull up all the auctions in Boston in the next two days. Starke never stays in a city more than two days."
So they discovered which painting Starke was after and they put up a plan for taking him and his team by surprise. At the end they managed to steal the Van Gogh painting and exchange it for their clients' one. They also discovered that another member of Starke's team, Cha0s, Hardison's longtime rival, was the one that tried to get rid of Sophie, so they made sure he was going to spend a good few years in prison.
After they gave the painting to the Mercers, Nate looked around hoping that he could finally have that conversation with Sophie.
"If you're looking for Sophie she said she had to take care of something," His son told him while he kept typing on his computer.
Nate tried to think where she could be and then an idea hit him. "I'll be back soon." He rushed outside the pub.
Just like he imagined, he found Sophie at cemetery kneeling down at her grave. Her fingers traced the name Sophie Devereaux. "How did you find me?" She asked without looking back.
He shrugged. "Just put two and two together."
"Starke was right. I'm not Sophie Devereaux anymore. I haven't been for ages." She confessed to him. " I... you killed her, you and your silly crusade."
"It's just a name… it doesn't define you."
"That's where you're wrong. They're not just names, not to me. All my aliases, every one of them, I know when their parents died. I know when they had their first kiss. I…"
"Sophie," He whispered as he put a hand on her back.
She quickly got up and turned in his arms. "You're the closest thing I've ever had to a special person in my life, and I've never heard you say my real name. How sad is that? Even the other night in the throws of passion, you never said my name."
"So tell me." He took a step closer to her, but she laid a hand on his chest to stop him.
"I can't, Nate. I can't open up to you until I finish burying Sophie first. Finish burying the rest of them, until all that's left is me. Just me."
"What does that mean?" He asked, afraid of her answer.
"I need to leave. I need to take some time off and search myself. It's something I needed to do a long time ago."
"Soph… don't… let me help you," He pleaded, almost begged.
"Nate," She smiled sadly and caressed his cheek affectionately. "I must do this alone."
He didn't want her to leave, not after what finally happened between them, but he understood her position and he slowly nodded, but that didn't mean he liked the idea of her leaving him for who knows how long.
"I'll come by later to say goodbye to the others." She placed a gentle kiss on the side of his mouth and left him all alone in the middle of the cemetery.
A/N Okay, don't hate me, but Sophie leaving was something I've always meant to keep, it fits in her transition period. You will all understand why in the next chapters. Thanks for your reviews, you guys are great. :D