"The very next day Moreau sent reinforcements who would follow his orders no matter what. I barely made it out of there alive and that was only because I had a message to deliver. Henry was shot on sight and he defended her until the end. She gave me this to give to you," Jones explained. He pulled out a DVD and handed it to the mastermind, "I don't know what's on it but I know she left you a message. I'm sorry I couldn't save her."

"Your family," Nate posed as he stared at the disc in fascination, "What happened to them after you did this?"

"I left them," Jones stated with sadness, "I faked my own death and did several horrid things so my family would have no doubt I was dead and no need to search me out if they didn't believe. I am gone to them, Mr. Ford. I lost my family to Moreau in a way far less tragic than you did."

"Thank you," Nate stated as he stared at the man in wonder, "Thank you for switching when you did."

"Find your daughter," Jones ordered calmly, "and make certain her mother's death wasn't for nothing."

"You got it," Nate agreed as he took the DVD and left without another word.

%

"You did what?"

Parker's voice was reaching dog whistle levels it was so high at the moment. She was doing everything in her power not to flip out on the three thieves before her so close to a playground. Nobody needed to know they were there, but they were making it so hard.

"What Parker is trying to say is find him now or we will rip you to shreds!" Alec intervened. He even wore a sadistic smile to inform the group that he was being very serious.

"What's wrong?" Nate asked.

The three young thieves stared at him in complete shock. The mastermind and grifter just rolled their eyes. They were used to him just randomly strolling over towards them exactly when they realized he disappeared.

"I found him," Damien shrugged. It couldn't hurt.

"You were supposed to stay in sight of these three at all times!" Hardison yelled. He pointed his right index finger at his mentor and snarled ferociously.

"When have I ever followed the rules?" Nate asked. He even shrugged his shoulders and acted like what he did was no big deal. The sad part was that Parker was agreeing with him.

"You still have to at least keep your earbud in!" Hardison said. He was losing energy fast and the three thieves stared, open-mouthed. Their mastermind never ran out of steam when it came to a screaming match.

"I have a present," Nate said. He gently placed a DVD in the former hacker's hands and smiled. "Sophie left us a message."

"D-man, make certain this is safe," Hardison ordered. He handed over the disc without even looking. He knew his hacker would handle it with care.

"Oh," Nate added, "And I also attached a couple tracking bugs to the mark's car to ensure that we might actually find a place close by to where they are."

Parker shrugged. "It gave us a warning explaining that we should head for the hills because her boss is gonna kill us next time."

"Then we better get to it," Nate nodded.

%

"Okay," Damien reported when he entered the room, "It's clear! Just pop it in and you'll get to see whatever Sophie Devereaux left you!"

"Thanks, D-man," Hardison nodded as he stared at the disc in his hands in shock.

"Are we going to watch it?" Ashley commented quietly, "Or is it just a family thing?"

"You are family," Parker stated in a growl as she stared at the disc.

"But this is something that only the three of us can see," Nate explained as he took the disc from the new mastermind and stared at the others sadly, "Sorry, too much you guys wont' understand and Sophie's privacy…"

"We understand," Craig nodded as he directed the two siblings out of the room, "Call us when you're ready to rock!"

"What do we do now?" Parker questioned when she was certain the other members of their team were gone.

"We watch," Nate commented as he placed the disc inside the player.

"Are you sure you want us with you?" Hardison demanded of his mentor softly.

"Wouldn't want it any other way," Nate nodded as he pressed play.

The disc started out in blackness for a matter of seconds before a familiar face of beauty appeared on it. The brunette on the screen was practically radiating that pregnant glow as she smiled sadly into the camera she had been allowed.

"Hi," Sophie cried into the screen as tears started forming in her eyes, "Sorry if I'm a little emotional but I have a really good excuse, I promise! This is the second disc I'm making without their permission so I have to be quick before they get suspicious and decide that giving me this one privilege was a bad idea!"

The three surviving members of their once great team stared at the wonderful image in amazement of what they were being given. Sniffles and gasps were shared as they continued to watch their grifter in wonder.

"I don't know how long it's been," Sophie admitted on the screen sadly, "but I know you are all probably aware of Tara's betrayal so I won't hesitate to spoil that for you. It was a setup from the very start. The whole job had been a setup. How they knew when to set us up is still a mystery and we'll probably never know but I figure you guys should know who to really blame. Our clients had no idea what was going on any more than we did. I want to make that very clear! …I'm sorry… I promised myself I wasn't going to cry…"

Nate chuckled at the grifter's words as his cheeks gleamed with tears of his own. Parker just sniffled along as she tried to fight her own emotions for the sake of the boys. Hardison was the only one who didn't seem to care who knew he was crying. They all just cried with their grifter and wished they could be with her right now.

"Well, where do I start?" Sophie demanded when her emotions were finally under some control again, "I guess I should start with the best news in the world, huh? Umm… Nate… this is very, very important. I don't know how to say this… but I'm pregnant! …Yeah… shocking isn't it? It's a girl by the way! In case you were wondering. Of course… if I'm actually alive you probably already know this… unless I'm unconscious, which is the only way I can see me actually being alive right now, so there's that. She's yours in case you were wondering. Oh, that was stupid, of course she's yours! Who else's could she be?"

Nate laughed at his grifter's comedic flare and might have even cried a little harder at the nervous way she was acting in telling him he was the father of her child.

"Well," Sophie smiled warmly into the camera, "I guess that's really no surprise to the others now. I think they've had a bet going around too but you can never tell with those three."

"How did she know?" Parker questioned in shock of everything.

"Oh, Parker," Sophie smiled sadly, "Haven't you learned by now that you can't outcon Sophie Devereaux?"

"You can just trick her into an early grave!" Hardison grumbled at the grifter's statement.

"Don't be so cross, Hardison!" Sophie ordered as if she had the image of what was going on in the back of her mind, "It will only make you bitter and miserable and I want you to be happy. I want you and Parker both to be oh so happy! I wish I could be there to see the day when you two finally stop beating around the bush and admit you love each other! That was always mine and Nate's problem. Too much bloody pride between the two of us… but you're different! You have so much ahead of you. Don't let pride and your past get in the way, and Eliot stop heckling them! You can be just as bad when it comes to that pride of yours! For other reasons yes, but still just as bad! I hope you know that this isn't your fault, Eliot Spencer. There was no possible way you could have known this would happen even if you were sleeping with the enemy."

"Of course," Hardison sighed at the grifter's statement, "She knew!"

"Why wouldn't she?" Parker asked as she took the former hacker's hand in her own and held on tight.

"This isn't any of your faults," Sophie pointed out cleverly, "I'm going to drill this into your heads just to be on the safe side because I strongly doubt I'll be there to do it when this all goes down! This is Tara, not you! So, please, don't do anything that's going to end with your lives! And Nate…."

The grifter breathed out a hesitant sigh as she started to bawl her eyes out again at the painful thoughts that were so obviously going through her mind. The former mastermind joined her because he had a pretty good idea what she was thinking at the time.

"I love you," Sophie admitted softly, "I just want to go on record and say it so we're both clear on the subject. I love you, Nathan Ford and I am so sorry this is happening to you again! I'm even more sorry that it's me who is causing you pain this time around and I hope that there's some good news to come from all of this. I don't want you to suffer, Nate. I never have. I'm sorry… I'm so sorry I can't be there with you and help you through this!"

"No," Nate ordered the screen in defeat, "Don't be sorry, Soph."

"I need you to do something for me, Nate," Sophie explained out of desperation into the camera that seemed to have become her salvation, "I need you to steal our daughter back! Our daughter, Nate! They are going to take our baby girl and manipulate her against you. I'm doing everything I can to make certain that doesn't happen but I need you to steal her back! I want my baby safe, Nate! I want our baby girl to be raised by you! Please, Nate, save our little girl! That's the only thing that's keeping me alive. Save the only piece of you and me there could ever be. Save our daughter!"

There were a few scuffling sounds in the distance making themselves known to the camera. Sophie Devereaux turned towards the source of the noise with a look of pure panic on her face. She then directed her attention back to the screen and cried harder at the cold fact those noises meant.

"I have to go," Sophie cried out in misery, "Save her, Nate! I love you! I love you all! I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry!"

The screen went blank the moment the grifter's hand reached towards the camera. All three stared at the blank screen in shock. Parker continued to make sniffling noises as she buried her nose into the former hacker's arm for comfort. Hardison grabbed the former thief and held her tight against his chest as his tears were starting to dry. Nate stared at the image with a new sense of purpose on his face. He stood up, took the disc out of the player and gently placed it somewhere safe.

"Well," Nate croaked when the silence had stretched on for a bit, "I guess that settles it."

"Yep," Hardison agreed with the wise old man's words, "Looks like we're kidnapping."

"Sophie says so," Parker nodded from her perch beside the former hacker.

"Hardison," Nate sighed, "I'm going to have to ask you to dial an old friend."

"Please tell me it isn't who I know it is!" Even as he said it, the new mastermind was already typing away in search of the number.

"I hate that guy!" Parker grumbled.

%

"It took you long enough," Nate commented when he heard the familiar footsteps making their way even closer to him.

"I just…" Sterling began as he hesitantly stood before the former mastermind in wonder, "I didn't believe it."

"Why do you think I had Hardison call you?" Nate stared up at his former friend sternly.

"He said you were looking for information," Sterling started the conversation in a firm business tone.

"I want the man who did this," Nate agreed as the Interpol agent sat down beside him, "I want the address, Jim."

"I'm afraid you're going to have to be more specific," Sterling dodged the question like the seasoned pro he was.

"Damien Moreau!" Nate hissed the vulgar name with sinister intentions, "I want everything you have on his current whereabouts and leave nothing out."

"How did you know it was Moreau?" Sterling demanded of his former friend as a stall tactic.

"I've had six and a half years to figure it out," Nate glared at his old friend's tricks, "Why do you think I was catatonic?"

"I knew you were figuring out the solution to the problem," Sterling conceded with a smirk. "I'm sorry about Spencer."

"Then help me bring the man responsible down," Nate suggested boldly, "Prove to me that you're sorry."

"I did everything I could to help you find her!" Sterling argued in a fit, "I nearly lost my job trying to help you save her!"

"I know, Jim," Nate agreed sadly, "That's why I'm here now."

"I was at the funeral," Sterling huffed at their conversation piece, "Do you remember?"

"I'm afraid you're going to have to be more specific," Nate quipped back with a bowed head.

"All of them," Sterling replied sternly, "Sam's… Spencer's… hers."

"You still can't say it, can you?" Nate smirked at the Interpol agent's weakness, "Even after all this time you still can't say her name."

"Jenny had a better ring to it," Sterling snapped cattily.

"I still prefer Sophie," Nate dismissed easily enough.

"Why are you doing this?" Sterling demanded of his former friend sadly, "Why are you putting yourself through this torture again?"

"They stole my child," Nate interrupted the tirade before it could go any further. "You of all people know what that's like."

"Your child?" Sterling stared at the former mastermind completely perplexed by the new information.

"Sophie's daughter," Nate continued bitterly.

Sterling allowed the statement to sink in for a moment before he went into action. He pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and a pen. He jotted down a number and some words before he carefully placed the pen back where it belonged. James Sterling: Interpol handed over the address to Nathan Ford: Criminal Mastermind without a moment of hesitation.

"Call me if you need anything more," Sterling commented as he stood to go.

"Jim," Nate called out before his greatest opponent could leave.

The Interpol agent stopped, turned around and stared the mastermind in the eyes.

"Thank you," Nate ground out with a light smile and a wave of the paper in his hand.

Sterling smiled and gave a tiny bow before he slumped off from wherever he came from.

%

"Alright," D-man handed over the clicker to his boss, "Everything you need is on there."

"Thanks, D-man," Hardison mussed the hacker's hair and smiled.

"Remember to meet us at the rendezvous in three days," Parker advised the three, "This plan is only going to work if it looks like we gave up."

"We understand," Craig nodded. He was holding Ashley's hand tightly in his own.

"Be careful," Ashley warned.

"You too," Parker smiled at the hitter. She pounded each thief on the back of the shoulder and watched as they went off.

The kids were on their way to safety. There was only one matter left to resolve. The mastermind's smile grew darker at this. He knew exactly what was needed in order for vengeance to be theirs.

"I get dibs on her killers!"