Chapter 12. Here is Sophie's last chapter. I hope that you enjoy it. I went for humor and I am never really sure if that is a good idea or not. Please do enjoy it. One last note: I was a little tiered when I wrote this so…forgive me…enjoy.
Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: I do not own these two.
"Here we are again," Sophie said coolly looking across the dusty room at her captor.
Nate smiled looking extremely satisfied with himself. "Here we are again," he repeated.
"Me alone, trapped, and helpless," Sophie replied almost indifferently, "clutching desperately to a priceless painting in the hope that I can escape with it or use it to buy my freedom."
"And I, the brave and valiant hero, have come to bring the elusive, sneaky," Nate caught sight of Sophie's glaring expression and quickly added, "cleaver, and stunningly beautiful thief."
"But the valiant and," Sophie looked at Nate's raised eyebrow, and rolled her eyes as she continued, "moderately handsome hero, has forgotten one key thing."
"Fortunately the thief has also forgotten something," Nate interrupted keen to get his part in.
"And what would that be?" Sophie asked placing her hands on her hips.
"Our thief has been alone far to long and is over come with longing for human company," Nate paused before adding, "Especially if it comes from the valiant hero she has come to adore."
"Except out hero does not know two things," Sophie replied with the beginnings of a smirk starting to turn the corners of her mouth, "One, the thief is an accomplished actress and therefore very good at pretending adoration. Two, the thief has been seeing someone, which of course makes the hero very jealous."
"The thief forgets that the hero is married," Nate told her, and they began to circle each other.
"Of course the thief doesn't," Sophie said widening her eyes in an attempt to portray innocence, "She has been sleeping with the hero's wife."
There was a loud crash as Nate tripped over the coffee table they had been pacing around and fell to the floor. Sophie burst into laughter and had to sit down on the couch to keep from also collapsing onto the floor. Nate slowly rose to his feet and took a seat beside her on the sofa. Slowly her laughter subsided, and she looked up at him.
"We sound like a low budget Hollywood movie," she told him.
"Yes," he agreed with a laugh, "we do."
The reason for that was that they had been in the same position many times before. Then one time the two of them had been on a train for some reason Sophie no longer remembered. A string of conversations had led to one about how their meetings could almost be made into a Hollywood script, and the rest was almost inevitable. However the upshot was that by the time they got off the train, they had written the beginning of a rather cheesy script. A few months later, Nate had found the rest of it stuffed in his mailbox with a note, which had simply told him to read it. He had not yet had time to do this.
"You really should have read the script, " she told him as though reading his thoughts.
"I realize that now," he replied stilled a little surprised by the scripting. There was a pause, but he had to ask, "Did you really write that in the script?"
"Of course I did," she replied serenely, "After the thief needs an accomplice to help her take down the hero who had become more meddlesome than interesting."
"So the obvious solution is that the wife and the thief are lovers, and they come together to take down the hero, who is only trying to restore order in the world," Nate asked torn between incredulity and amazement.
"If it was the obvious solution I wouldn't have picked it," she chided him, "anyway the wife dies towards the end."
Nate shook his head. "You have no future as a Hollywood script writer," he told her.
"Why?' Sophie asked with a failed attempt to look hurt or at least offended by his comment.
"Because," he told her, "you go for the unexpected and the good guy doesn't win."
"That depends on who you think is the good guy," Sophie murmured quietly. That was one of the few great divides between her and Nate. They were on opposite sides of the same game. Nate saw himself as the good guy. Sophie, when she was on a job, saw him as a bad guy. They fell into silence for a few moments.
"What have you been doing?" she asked him after a while if only to break the silence.
"Um," he replied, "recovering paintings and valuable artifacts from those who steal them. And you?"
"Stealing paintings and valuable artifacts," she replied with a hint of humor on her tone, "What a pair we make."
"Quite a pair indeed," Nate agreed quietly, "but we could be an even better pair if you gave me that painting."
The two of them both turned to look the painting that had been leaning against the wall the entire time. It said something about their relationship that Nate had not grabbed it the first chance he had and run.
"But I like that one," Sophie told him with her nose wrinkled in distaste, "I gave you back the last three, and these people were jerks anyway."
"IRS doesn't care if their clients are jerks," Nate reminded him.
"Of course they don't," she replied, "They're jerks too."
"Except me of course," he teased her.
"No," she replied after a moment of consideration, "you can be a jerk too."
"Thanks,' he told her sarcastically.
"You're welcome," she said distractedly. Then she stood up. "Sorry," she told him, "I like this one too much to give it back," she walked over to it, "come and get it if you want it."
"You're cornered," he reminded her not moving from the couch. That was a mistake. He barely had time to register the gleam in her eye before she pulled out a gun and fired a single shot into the lights on the ceiling. Sparks flew from the light creating a wall of flickering light that Nate did not dare pass, and Sophie knew it.
"No," she replied calmly, "I'm not. If you had read the end of the script you would know that." Picking up the painting with one hand she pushed open a concealed door with the other. Then she looked back at Nate. "Have a good day," she told him with a cheery wave. Then she disappeared.
Did you like it? I figured since Sophie crossed over into Nate's chapters, he should get to visit hers. Please reviews.
Next Chapter: What exactly did Eliot do when he was liberating all those countries?
