This is a small add on to the previous chapter. Enjoy :)
"Please tell me you had nothing to do with this!" Eleanor shoved the newspaper under her sister's nose as soon as her and Nate sat at the table for breakfast.
Surprised, Sophie quickly looked at the article in the front page. She smirked knowingly and nudged Nate with her elbow nodding at the paper.
He smiled too. "Don't worry" he replied to Eleanor. "She had nothing to do with this, but we saw who did" He scanned the article reading about a Degas stolen from the British Museum the night before. No evidence or trace had been left behind. "Oh she's good." He muttered. "Her technique reminds of Archie Leach"
Sophie soon recognized the admiration in his voice. "Should I be jealous?" she eyed him not so playfully with her eyebrow raised.
"Hmm… what?" Nate lifted his head up from reading the article. "Of course not" he said once his brain registered what she had said. "I just admire her work"
"Yes well… you said the same about me, remember? I fell in love with you even before we actually met" she quoted him. She quickly grabbed a fresh muffin from the basket on the table and took a big bite of it annoyed.
He grinned "I love it when you're jealous" he exclaimed and planted a kiss on her cheek while she munched on her muffin. He got up and went to fill a mug with the freshly made coffee.
Eleanor observed them strangely and shook her head. "You two are weird and you…" she turned around and pointed at Nate "…are definitely a strange insurance investigator"
Nate just smiled and shrugged.
"I keep telling him that he could be a great con-artist if he wanted to" Sophie backed up her sister. "Except that he is too much of an honest man" she looked up at the man in question, her eyes filled with love. "My white knight"
"Did Karen woke up alright this morning?" Nate suddenly asked. "She was up until late finishing her research"
Sophie smiled at the memory of seeing Nate and Karen finally getting along and working at the project.
"She was grumpy like always." Eleanor sighed wondering how she had ended up raising a teenager by herself. "That girl will be the death of me"
"She's a good young woman" Nate told her sincerely. "Once she actually opens up to you"
Eleanor raised her eyebrow in astonishment "Are we going to see a truce at the cold front?"
He smiled. "I may have an opening for an armistice"
Sophie slowly walked up to him and to his surprise she gave him a sudden kiss. "What was that for?"
She shrugged. "For being you. For being an amazing man"
"Okay then" he leaned down and returned the small peck. "And we ready to play tourists then"
"Sure," she patted his arm affectionately "Just let me finish get ready and then we can go"
The next few days in London were spent vising the famous tourist attraction, Sophie spending time with her family and Nate learning more about her and her past. Eleanor was a great story teller and she definitely had a lot of stories about young Sophie Devereaux. He was disappointed that he still hadn't learned her real name.
"Will you ever tell me?" he asked one night as they laid in bed together.
She propped her head in her hand and looked at him mischievously. "When the time is right" she cryptically told him.
"And when is that?"
"You will know when you ask the right question" she answered even more mysteriously and she distracted him with a passionate kiss.
He had known what she was doing, but he easily followed her lead dropping the subject for now.
It then came the time for them to leave.
"Call us when you get there" Eleanor said into Sophie's ear holding her in a tight hug.
"I will" she promised as they separated. Her eyes were teary.
"Nate" Eleanor gave a quick hug to the man. "It was nice meeting you. I can see that my sister has found the right man" she smiled at him
Nate blushed and gave an awkward cough. "Thanks"
Karen had stayed behind leaning against the hall wall. Tears filled her eyes, but she hid them by leaning her head forward, her dark hair covering her face.
"Karen?" Sophie called her encouraging. "It's time for me to go, baby"
The girl finally looked up. "I don't want you to go"
"Oh, I'll be back soon." Sophie put her arms around her niece holding her close to her. "Your birthday is in three weeks and I've already got a ticket booked."
"Really?" the teenager girl looked up hopeful.
"Yep, we will have an all-girls pajamas party and so much fun" she stroked Karen's cheeks caressing away the hair that had stick to her face because of her wet tears. "And we will Skype each other every week"
"Okay" Karen finally let go of her aunt. She turned towards Nate, it was time for the dreadful goodbye to the man. "I got an A for that research, so thank you" she whispered to him.
"No problem" he gave her a smile.
"You know, for a weirdo you're not so bad"
"Thank you" he said uncertain "I think"
She gave him a small smile and that's all Nate needed to understand that she had slowly lighten up to him.
Nate and Sophie got in to the taxi that was going to take them to the airport. They waved goodbye at the mother and daughter until the car had turned the corner. Sophie whimpered and dried her eyes with the tip of her fingers.
"Are you okay?" Nate asked her laying a comforting hand on top of hers.
"Yeah" she squeezed her hand. "It's never easy saying goodbye"
Nate looked worriedly at her wondering if she was only talking about saying goodbye to her family or if something else was bothering her. Sophie sensed his uneasiness and she gave him a small reassuring smile. She turned around and looked out of the car window. This all experience made her realized something, something she didn't even realized she missed and a plan was already starting forming in her head. She swiftly eyed Nate sitting next to her and wondered how he was going to react about it.
A/N And another mystery is up. What's going on with Sophie? What is her plan? Thanks for all your reviews :D