Two weeks later Nate was fourteen days sober. It took him awhile to get all the alcohol out of his system, but thankfully this time he hadn't been alone. Eliot had helped him to get through the bad moments where he would have done anything for a drop of alcohol.

He was preparing breakfast for him and Sam. Since he was sober again things between them were slightly better. There was still the Sophie-is-missing question, but that was something he still couldn't resolve. He put on the TV to listen to the news.

"The shooting took place early this morning and the circumstances are still unclear. The victim, Lieutenant Bonanno of State Police, is still in surgery because of his injuries."

Nate stopped flipping the pancakes and listened carefully at the news.

"That's Tommy's Dad!" Sam sat at the his usual place at the kitchen table. Tommy was one of his class mates. He was actually one of the few he liked.

"Yeah," Nate whispered, concerned. In different occasion they had worked with Patrick Bonanno. They gave him the evidence and he made sure the right people got arrested and stay behind bars.

They ate breakfast in silence. "Let's get going. I'll take you to school and then I'll go see what's going on at the hospital." Nate got up and took the car keys from the counter and they both made their way out of the apartment.

"Mrs. Bonanno" Nate carefully approached the woman standing in the hall watching her husband laying on the hospital bed through a window. It was such a familiar image in his mind. For a moment he saw Maggie looking at their son years before.

"Yes?" She turned her head and recognized him. "Sam's father, Nathan Ford."

"Yeah, I've occasionally worked with your husband too… I'm in the private sector."

"Yeah, he sometimes mentioned you. He didn't know if he should have invite you for a drink or arrest you"

He smirked. "Yeah, I have that effect on people. I'd really like to help… Uh, can you tell me if there are any leads?"

"No, it was his day off. He said he was going run an errand and come right home."

"Was he working on a case?"

"He didn't really talk about his job," She shook her head. "Sorry, I can't…"

"Yeah," He looked at Bonanno's son, Tommy, sitting on a bench and looking straight ahead of him. "If you and Tommy need anything, Sam and I are just a call away."

"Thanks"

Nate made his way out of the hospital and called the team. He sat in the car and sighed deeply. He stared at his phone in his hand and after a minute of pondering his decision he finally made the call. He waited as the line kept ringing.

"Come on, Sophie, pick up," He murmured. "I need you."

The call went to voice mail and he closed the phone in frustration and drove off.

Back at the apartment, the mastermind had trouble to convince the team to take the job.

"Well, you know what?! I don't care! I don't care about that! This guy dedicated his life to doing the right thing! And this is his payback? I mean, his family's pain is what he deserves? If we don't settle the score on this, why do we do this? Do you understand?" He shouted at them.

"Bonanno was looking into government corruption," Eliot hissed. "You know how dangerous that is. The guys who shot Bonanno used military grade weaponry."

"Guys, we can do this!"

Hardison looked skeptical. "We need to find the evidence that Bonanno collected."

"Okay. You, Parker and Eliot work on that while Tara and I bring our mark on the hook"

"Who's that?"

"Mayor Brad Culpepper III"

They worked on the con and got the mayor attention with his dream of creating a stadium and bringing a team into his town. The team was watching Eliot having fun as a baseball player. Since he's a great baseball fan, Nate brought Sam too for an afternoon at the stadium. Thanks to Eliot, he went to the field a threw a couple of balls with the players and he also went in the changing rooms and took many souvenirs home.

Culpepper III called Nate, telling the details of the time and place to meet for the money exchange. The team was going to bring him down for that corruption, also thanks to Bonanno's evidence they've found.

Nate was setting the last minute details in the pub when the door opened.

"Hello Nate."

"Sterling? You've got some nerve to show up here after what you did to us in Kiev. How's life as an Interpol agent going?"

"Nate, I know about your meeting with Culpeper. It's not going to work. There's someone else behind this."

"What are you talking about?"

Sterling threw him a file, which Nate caught and opened. "Who's Tony Kadjic?"

"He's an arms dealer. His specialty is buying cheap guns from Third World countries and reselling them."

"And he's connected to Belbridge how?"

"The fact that the mayor is scamming on all those 9/11 funds and makes his ports a perfect place for Kadjic to run his guns in and out of the country. The mayor gives you to the FBI and he keeps them away from Kadjic. The moment you show up in that warehouse, FBI agents will have the place surrounded."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because you're the person I need to bring Kadjic to justice."

"The last time we helped you, things didn't really go according to plan."

"Why? You've got Sophie free and I got the Egg. A win-win for all of us."

Nate still wasn't convinced.

"He's being following you."

"Kadjic?"

"Yes, and he knows about Sam." He told him. "He's not going to stop at anything."

"I need to keep Sam safe."

"We can do that. I can have agents keeping an eye on him at all time. What I need from you is to take the job."

Reluctantly Nate nodded.

"Okay, you continue with your plan and I'll take care of the FBI." He smiled satisfied." And Nate?" He turned around. "No games or I'm going to arrest the rest of your so called Robin Hood crew."

Nate just glared at him as the agent walked out of the pub the same way he came in.

He didn't know what to do. Should he tell the team about Sterling's threat? Eliot will certainly notice the agents following Sam around. There was only one person who could point him into the right direction. He tried calling her again. This time she picked up.

"Nate?"

"Sophie?"

She could hear the distress in his voice. "What's wrong Nate?" She asked worriedly.

"It's all a mess here Sophie, I don't know what to do." He ran his hand through his hair and looked at the bottles of alcohol standing behind the bar.

"Are you in the pub right now?"

He nodded even though she couldn't see him. "Yes," He whispered hoarsely

"You need to get out of there. Walk out Nate, I'll be here the whole time."

He slowly walked towards the back of the pub and took the elevator going up his apartment floor. "Thanks."

"Anytime," She smiled

"I… I need…" he gulped "I need you, okay" he finally let out. "I need you to come back, Sophie."

"Nate…"

"I understand why you had to leave, but you can't find yourself traveling around the world or hiding in London. You find yourself with the people that love you."

"It still hurts. Losing our…"

"I know. You don't think it affected me too." He sighed. "As much as you're feeling lost right now, I'm feeling that too… without you. With you I've always known who I was, what I was doing, but… I just don't know what to do… And you've always been my compass." He was sitting on the floor of the elevator. He had reached the floor a long time ago, but he couldn't move. He heard her sobbing on the other end. "Maybe we can find each other together. I…" He took a deep breath. "I love you Sophie, please come back home."

"Okay," She managed to say in between her cries. "I'll be on the first plane out."

"Thanks."

"And Nate…" there was a pause "I love you too."

A/N Sophie and Nate finally had a sincere talk. What do you think? It's all coming to an end. Thank you all for your reviews and your kind words. I really appreciate them :D