I'm only mildly satisfied with this chapter but I decided it was time for an update. I hope you enjoy it. :)
-Allissa
Parker, Eliot, Hardison and Nate all stood in the empty foyer wondering what came next and none of them wanting to ask.
"So," Hardison began slowly, directing his attention towards the disgruntled looking leader. "She didn't say anything because she figured you'd fall apart the second you knew a kid was involved?"
Eliot jabbed his elbow into Hardison's ribs and the younger man yelped. "Seriously, dude? Was that necessary?"
Parker wasn't paying attention, as usual. She was playing with something in the pocket of the grey hoodie she was wearing over the emerald gown.
Parker, I told you to return the jewels." Nate snapped. "You were only supposed to steal their IDs, anyway."
Parker scowled. "She had it coming."
"Who?"
"The lady at the table with Sophie. She's weird."
"That was Sophie's sister," Eliot turned towards the blonde. "Have you been paying attention to anything the past two days?"
"Sure. The important stuff like picking locks, picking pockets, and tasing the guy in the sound room."
"There's something the matter…"
"Oh leave her alone," Hardison piped up.
"Leave her alone with you?" Eliot snapped back.
"Hey! C'mon, man there's no need…"
"Has anyone seen Sophie?" Nate interrupted once again. The group ignored his question and continued bickering. It didn't really matter; Nate had a good idea of where the grifter was anyway.
"I'll see everybody back at the hotel." He mumbled as he walked away from the squabbling group.
XXXXXXXXX
Nate looked at his watch; almost three o'clock. He sighed, "Almost 48 hours since this crap started." He rubbed his hands together for warmth, gave up, and tucked them under his arms. "I wish she'd hurry up." His head was pounding worse than ever and he was starting to feel nauseous. "Great, I probably have a concussion and I'm going to wind up…" His negative train of thought was cut off as policeman approached him.
"Can I help you, sir?" the officer asked suspiciously, surveying Nate's formal dress wear and bruised face.
"Just waiting." Nate replied, inclining his head towards the pub he was standing in front of. "They're closing in a few minutes and I'm escorting my friend home."
"You're slurring your words, have you been drinking?"
"Not much sleep in the past two days." Nate growled, shoving his hands deep into the pockets of his coat.
The officer flashed a light in Nate's face and he winced at the brightness. "Do you mind pointing out your friend to me?"
"There are only three people left in the bar," Nate snapped. "Which one do you think I'm waiting for?"
There was a clear view of the interior of the pub from the large window on Nate's right. Sophie was seated at the far end of the bar away from the two rough looking men who both appeared to be half-asleep.
The officer looked from the beautiful woman inside to the battered man before him and he frowned. "Can I see your ID?"
"I don't have any!" Nate barked before slumping against the wall. "Look," Nate sighed trying to control his frustration. "She's angry at the entire world right now and I'm staying clear of her because I can't stand any more hits to the head tonight but I'm fully prepared to follow her, for the rest of the night if necessary, to make sure she gets back to our hotel alright."
The officer nodded, inclining his head in a gesture of apology. "Alright, just don't stay out here too long. The temperature is supposed to drop another ten degrees before the night is through."
XXXXXXXXXX
Nate stamped his feet on the concrete, trying to push the blood into his feet. "Lousy dress shoes, uncomfortable as hell and now I'll probably have frostbite."
The door to his right opened and out stumbled Sophie, still in her evening gown and high heels, mumbling angrily to herself. Nate wisely said nothing and stayed a good ten feet behind her as she stumbled down the sidewalk.
"If you were a gentleman you'd offer me your coat." She called back to him without breaking her awkward stride.
"If you were a lady you wouldn't be out in the cold at three in the morning." He pulled the coat closer to his body. "You've been outside for two minutes and it's less than a mile to the hotel. You'll be fine."
"I'm not going to the hotel."
Nate quickened his step, the effort rather painful, to catch up with Sophie. He said nothing, only matched his stride to hers for several minutes until her pace gradually slowed.
"I'm not going to the hotel." She repeated firmly. Nate said nothing. "I want to forget today. I mean gone, wiped clean." His lack of response was beginning to infuriate her. "I hate people," she stated firmly, looking over at his impassive face. "I mean all of them. They draw you in and you get attached and then…" she ended the sentence with a growl.
"And me?" he smiled but Sophie could see he already knew what her answer would be.
"Especially you. If it wasn't for you…" she stopped talking and frowned disapprovingly. "Forget it… I just want to forget all of it, Nate." She looked long and hard at her friend; his eyes were glazed and bloodshot, the right side of his head was swelling tremendously, and his face had taken on a dark, husky color from being too long in the cold. Her eyes pleaded with his to understand, to let her be angry and miserable and tomorrow they could go on pretending that nothing had ever been amiss.
Sophie rubbed her face wearily and started walking again. "Let him follow if he wants to." She challenged inwardly. "Let him freeze to death to save his bloody conscience…no," she corrected herself, "He's trying to save me. Well isn't that a switch? Not really. Oh damn him and his bloody white knight routine."
XXXXXXXXXX
Sophie unlocked the hotel room and left the door open behind her, still never saying a word to Nate. He followed her, a familiar pattern at this point, and sat down wearily on the couch.
The hotel room was divided into two separate chambers. The back room had the large bathroom and the two queen sized beds. The entrance contained a fireplace, two small settees, a coffee table and a flat screen television mounted on the wall.
Nate's skin felt as if it was on fire as the heated air washed over him. He closed his eyes as they seared the backs of his eyelids and he gasped for air. Slowly the feeling returned to his fingertips and toes and the numbness was replaced with sizzling pain.
He heard the clink of glass on glass and he opened his eyes. Sophie was kneeling in front of him, two glasses on the coffee table, struggling to open a bottle of whiskey she had purchased en route to the hotel.
She looked beautiful, her curvaceous body silhouetted by the glow of the fireplace. Nate chided himself for such a thought. She poured a glass for him as well as for herself. An improvement, Nate thought. At least she was acknowledging his presence.
He slid off the couch and onto the floor with a groan and reached for the glass.
"First…" Sophie blocked his hand from its object. "First tell me why you're here."
He looked her squarely in the eye though he wasn't sure he understood the question. "Because you needed me."
Sophie moved her arm, picked up her glass and downed the potent drink in three gulps. "I don't need you." She spat at him, anger flashing in her eyes. "I've never needed you."
Nate let the bitter comment pass with a heavy heart. Sophie glared at him one more time and then lay down on her side in front of the fireplace, her head resting on her right arm.
"You should have told me." Nate mumbled after a few moments, unsure if Sophie was asleep or awake.
Her lying form didn't move. "You should have told me you had a kid, Sophie. You lied to me for eight years." Nate's tone wasn't angry or bitter. He only sounded tired as he stared at the floor.
"No." her voice was only a whisper.
"Yeah, you did." He rubbed his forehead and winced at the movement.
"It was none of your business!" she pulled herself back to a sitting position, her voice gaining force once more.
"No?" Nate boldly challenged her. "Wasn't it?"
Sophie's eyes widened and her face paled. Nate stopped himself from going any further. "Don't ask a question if you don't want to hear the answer." He cautioned himself. "Let it go."
"Why would I tell you?" her expression was as cold as stone. "You've never been an important part of my life."
Nate swung at the whiskey bottle, knocking it and his full glass onto the floor with a crash. Sophie jumped back in shock and was suddenly filled with remorse.
"But what can I say?" she asked herself. "I've already said too much." So she said nothing as she pulled herself to her feet, suddenly feeling very sober.
"Sophie." His voice was hollow and empty. She stopped her progression to the bedroom but refused to turn and look at him.
"Sophie, you've always been an important part of my life." He admitted it as freely as if he were telling her that he liked vanilla better than chocolate.
XXXXXXXXXX
Eliot heard the announcer's voice and the crowd's cheers through the hotel walls and deduced that Nate was back and watching television. Still dressed in his suit, he crossed the hallway and slid his card through the lock, gaining admittance to the next room.
"You look terrible." He commented, surveying Nate's slouched form on the floor. "You could either really use a drink or you have already had too many." He sat down on the couch, grabbed the remote off the coffee table, and turned up the volume.
"Sophie's sleeping." Nate cautioned, ignoring the comment about his appearance.
Eliot complied; turning the sound back down as he realized that Nate was indeed sober although the smell of alcohol hung strongly in the air.
"Is she okay?"
"No." Nate half laughed and half sighed. "I don't know what I can do to fix it."
"You probably can't." Eliot crossed his arms over his chest, believing the matter settled.
"Did you know Rebecca was Sophie's daughter?" Nate interjected quietly.
"That explains a lot." Eliot seemed surprised but uninterested.
"She didn't tell me." A hint of Nate's frustration crept out in the statement and Eliot looked long and hard at his friend.
"She didn't tell any of us." Eliot was unsympathetic.
"But back then we…" Nate wasn't sure how to explain. "We were…it was different."
"How old is the kid?" Eliot asked after a few moments of gloomy silence. "Like seven?"
Nate nodded, skeptical of any reason Eliot could possibly come up with.
"How long ago did Sam die?"
Nate abruptly swung around, a vicious expression on his face.
"How long ago, Nate?" Eliot's tone contained just a whisper of sympathy and it fueled Nate's rage making it difficult for the older man to refrain from saying (or doing) anything stupid."What was it? Eight years ago, maybe? More like seven and a half?"
Eliot's expression seemed to say "duh" as Nate realized why he had been kept in the dark.
"Seven years and eight months." Nate thought solemnly. "Shit." Nate's head began swimming. "She couldn't tell me." Nate's mind briefly drifted to a time and place when he could barely breathe, barely see anything in the world but his own pain and suffering. He had been completely and utterly inaccessible…even to her.
"Damn it."
Eliot leaned back into the cushions, closing his eyes. "I'd be pissed off too if I was her."
"Glad to know I've got your support." Nate replied sarcastically but he was grateful for the dose of reality his friend had given him.
"What now?" Nate thoughts pounded in his head. "There has to be something I can do…anything. No. Not now. Sleep right now. I'll think of something later. I'll come up with a plan later."
Nate closed his eyes, accepting the companionship of his friend, and prayed for sleep to claim him.
XXXXXXXXXX
Nate was drifting between worlds when a soft buzzing jerked him awake and he groggily started patting his jacket and pants to locate the cell phone.
"Hello?" he was wide awake in an instant when he heard the voice on the other end. "Yeah… yeah. " He slapped Eliot's knee to awaken him. "I'm on my way…yeah, just a few minutes." Even though Eliot was now awake, Nate hit him again for good measure. "Don't go anywhere." He hung up the phone and turned to face a very disgruntled looking Eliot and then looked to the clock; almost six am.
"Come with me." Nate stood. "I'll explain in the car."