Chapter 3

Sophie was sprawled across the sofa attempting to relax. Her body clearly had other plans - everything pinched, ached, or throbbed no matter which way she reclined.

"This is fun," she hummed sarcastically to herself as she set down her book once again, and shifted her weight for the third time that page.

At 39 weeks + 2 days pregnant this was, without a doubt, the most uncomfortable she had ever been. Muscles she didn't know existed were suddenly screaming at her, she woke up multiple times a night with an arm or leg numb because the baby had decided to snuggle up on top of some nerve. It had gotten so bad, in fact, that she was actually thrilled she wasn't on today's job with the rest of the team. Up until now she had tried to sneak herself into the plans one way or the other, and once Eliot began threatening to tie her to the bed (and not in a fun way), she had still felt the pang of being left out of the con.

But not today! No, today she could barely manage a chapter of her book; she was beyond grateful she wasn't somewhere dangerous in heels with Nate's inebriated nagging in her ear.

They would be back in a couple hours anyway, Sophie mused as she adjusted her hips around the thirty or so pillows that now lived on the couch. She should ask Eliot to pick up some food on the way home.

Sophie's head dropped in defeat as the doorbell rang, followed by a series of knocks. She had just relieved the pressure on her lower back and nearly shouted 'go away!' Had she really forgotten another delivery this week? At least last week it was the painters and she had the excuse that Eliot made the appointment, but this week...this week was all her scheduled furniture drop offs, and she'd forgotten every single one. Apparently the dreaded 'pregnancy brain' was a very real thing, and for a grifter who's entire livelihood depended on the sharpness of her wits, Sophie had no patience for it.

"You had better be damn cute for draining all the blood from my brain," she muttered to the baby as she hauled herself up from the couch. Her back ached.

Again the doorbell, "Just a minute!" Annoyed, she waddled to the door while rubbing her belly as an attempt to pacify the persistent kicks; apparently her daughter was equally unhappy to have gotten off the couch. She contemplated how much she'd dock the delivery service's tip for being so impatient - a dollar per knock, perhaps? She opened the door - and based on who she found standing there, they wouldn't be getting a tip at all.

Across town…

Standing in the mark's office Nate watched as his brain tick-tick-ticked apart their plans into ruins. The tall, spindly man was a former financial advisor to some very well known politicians, and he had become so openly corrupt, even they refused to work with him. So, he had started his own "investment firm" where he'd intimidate thousands of unwitting citizens out of their life savings. Finding the evidence to take him down was easy, however they had apparently underestimated the mark's foresight.

"You've messed with the wrong man, Mr. Baker - I mean Mr. Ford," the mark said with a seething smile. His own name caught Nate by surprise,

"And why is that, Mr. Blaymore?" He tried to cover his concern.

"Because I knew you were coming."

At that the only exit to the room opened and shut, allowing six guards to enter the room. In matching combat boots, with matching handguns on their hips, they surrounded Nate, whose hands now pointed to the sky in appeasement.

"Now Mr. Blaymore - Todd, can I call you Todd?"

"No."

"Alright then Todd. See there's one thing you haven't taken into consideration,"

"It wouldn't happen to be Eliot Spencer, would it?" Blaymore smirked, eyes ablaze.

Nate's face fell in concern as Eliot dropped into the room from the air vent, just as Plan G dictated.

With a chop to the first guard's throat, it was on. Eliot incapacitated the second guard with a forward kick into the wall; three and four he roundhoused into the coffee table behind him; five was a headbutt, and six was a satisfying elbow blow to the base of the skull. But rather than his usual post-punching grin, Eliot's countenance was as perplexed as Nate's.

"Sumthin's not right," Eliot kept his guard up.

"You noticed that too, huh?" Nate replied.

"Clever, are we?" Blaymore taunted, his Cheshire Cat impression impeccable and aimed directly at Eliot. Nate was starting to worry.

"Parker, how many guards in Blaymore's inner circle from Tuesday's recon?"

"Eight," Parker breathed as she scrambled through the vents to her exit. "There were definitely eight."

"And we're two short..." Eliot mused under his breath.

Back in the van, Hardison typed away furiously: eyes wide and flipping through security camera feeds as fast as he could.

"I don't have two more guards anywhere Nate. They do not exist, I repeat they do NOT exist anywhere in the building. I think it's time to go!"

Eliot stepped his work boots onto the expensive rug in Blaymore's office, slowly, one at a time, until he was face to face with the mark who's eyes remained locked on him.

"Where are they?" Eliot growled. Unperturbed, the mark responded,

"Where's the last place you would want them to be?"

Back at the apartment…

The two gun wielding thugs had backed Sophie into the apartment, instructed her to keep her mouth shut, and were now attempting to tie her to a dining room chair.

Sophie scoffed once they had holstered their guns, presumably identifying her as a non-threat. She shifted in her seat, beyond annoyed at this development. Turns out she was part of the job, and she would gladly trade her slippers for heels right now if it meant she had her fucking com in her ear.

"You're going to regret this," she growled.

The tall thug chuckled condescendingly to his shorter companion.

"All the hostages say that."

"Are you going to wipe my ass when I have to pee?"

"Uh..." The shorter thug was beginning to look worried.

"Or shall I just pee right here? It's my chair, I think that's my right." Sophie had always found it easy to terrorize men, and since becoming visibly pregnant she was delighted to find that it had become even easier. She stared down the already unnerved shorter gentleman.

"It's not like she can run away..." Short Thug implored, "she's too...round."

Sophie snorted. She had been called many things, but that was a new one.

"Our instructions were to tie her up!" Tall Thug was getting annoyed. "So we have to tie her up! Boss trusted us with this special assignment." That last part he tried to keep hushed, to no avail.

"How about we make a deal?" Sophie began, "Tie me to the couch!"

"Yeah, we can tie her to the..." Unfortunately for Sophie, Short Thug caught on a bit quicker than she hoped. "Hey! The couch is comfy, you're not supposed to be comfy when you're a hostage!" Maybe he hadn't caught on quite so quickly.

"You moron," the one brain cell between them was clearly in Tall Thug's possession, "there's nothin' to tie her to on the couch!"

"Yeah, that too." Short Thug glared at Sophie.

"Oo, I'm terrified." She stated, dripping with sarcasm.

Tall Thug stepped forward and finally tied Sophie's hands to the chair behind her back. Sophie tried to ignore how vulnerable she felt without her arms protectively over her stomach.

"Well you should be terrified!" Tall Thug, pleased with himself, continued, "Cuz we could shoot you and kill you!"

"Both?!" Again, sarcasm. Sophie's patience had been nowhere to be found for weeks; but combined with a hint of fear and her throbbing back, she was done. "Alright listen up, fuckers!"

"I think we made her mad," Short Thug whispered. Tall Thug just shook his head.

"You have two choices, get the fuck out of my house immediately, and you maintain a tiny chance to live. Or, you can get the fuck out somewhere between 5-60 minutes from now, and instantly die."

"What are you gonna do? You gonna put us in time out?" Both thugs laughed at Tall Thug's joke.

"I'm not going to do anything."

"Of course she's not!" Short Thug punched his companion a little too hard in the arm.

"But I have no doubt my rescue team is on its way, and when they arrive...well there are three possible options for your demise. Care to hear them?" If anyone could distract and stall for an undetermined amount of time, it was Sophie Devereaux.

"Sure, sure let's hear them!" Short Thug chortled as he over-punched his partner once again.

"You see it all depends on who comes through that door first," she nodded toward the front door, willing them to appear. She again tried to get her hips and back comfortable on the wooden chair, "Option one is Parker, in which case you'll be tased out of your shoddy little minds, and Hardison will have the police here before you regain feeling in your legs."

Tall Thug let out a guffaw, "like we haven't been tased before." He smacked his companions arm who once again returned the gesture harder than necessary. Having had enough, Tall Thug shoved him across the room into the coffee table. Short Thug tripped backwards and crushed it. Sophie groaned.

"Option two! Is Nate. Now Nate may not be very strong, but make him angry and he'll either shoot you or strangle you pretty damn quick."

Short Thug slowly stood and dusted himself off. The more details Sophie shared, the less confident the thugs became. Short Thug rejoined his friend, head hanging in apology.

"And finally, option three! Ooh option three is my favorite..." She drew out the last word just enough to get them to unconsciously lean forward in antici...pation. "Option three is Eliot Spencer." She watched as that name dilated the thugs' pupils in fear. "If Eliot Spencer comes through that door first, well...you'll be wishing Nate had shot you."

At that moment (because something had to go Sophie's way today) the door burst open and the two thugs' gaze was met with Eliot's fist, as promised. Superman punching across the length of the living room, Eliot landed with a POUND - knocking Short Thug's head into Tall Thug's chest, sending them both into the floor. In the same swift motion Eliot turned and was on his knees at Sophie's lap in an instant.

"Are you okay?" He begged. She could see the tears he held back. He cupped her cheek, "are you hurt?" His voice shook. Sophie's eyes began to sting as she took in the fear in his,

"I'm fine. I'm alright."

"You're sure?" Eliot's head was still spinning; the fear and the fury swirled together with the sound of his blood boiling until he lost his peripheral vision.

"They didn't lay a hand on me."

In the background the sound of Parker's taser could be heard completing the incapacitation of their foes while Hardison cheered her on. But Eliot couldn't hear anything, he saw only Sophie.

"Eliot," Nate's voice broke through Eliot's fog from behind Sophie as he untied her wrists, "she's okay." Sophie could hear the relief in Nate's voice, too. Whatever had been on the other end of this job had apparently been more intense than the two idiots she spent the afternoon manipulating. As soon as her wrists were free she grabbed Eliot's face and kissed him, hard.

"I'm alright." She repeated. "We're just fine, my love." Her voice was slowly bringing Eliot back to earth. He leaned forward and planted a kiss on her belly.

"Okay." Eliot finally conceded with an exhale.

"And don't you worry about the revenge - oh, we got you Ms. Devereaux!" Hardison celebrated as Parker tossed him a flash drive. "Revenge with a capital R!"

"No one messes with Sophie." Parker's voice was still twinged with anger. Sophie smiled, she was well loved.

"So," she exhaled as she turned to Eliot and shifted her weight. She moved to finally get up, but he held tight to her instead.

"You're sure you're alright, if they so much as -"

"Yes, Eliot, but-"

"We'll up our surveillance and - hey, Hardison! I want emergency coms in every room of the house."

"You got it!"

"ELIOT!"

"Yes darlin, whaddya need?"

"A ride to the hospital."

Eliot's eyes got dark once again,

"You said they didn't touch you."

"They didn't." Sophie was growing impatient. "But my contractions are four and a half minutes apart."

A pause.

"What?!" Eliot growled. He was trying not to lose it.

"They started after you left this morning, just off and on -"

"Sophie -" Eliot was incredulous.

"You were going to be home in a few hours anyway! But then they got more consistent, and then I was held hostage for a while, so..."

"You've been in labor this whole time?"

"Yeah."

"And they had no idea or else they would've told-"

"I'm a pretty great grifter, what can I say?"

"You're - you're fucking incredible!"

"Truly - now if we can go, I'm going to continue being incredible -"

"- I mean wow - " Eliot interrupted.

" - and go have a baby..." She stared at a dumbfounded Eliot for a moment, "preferably at the hospital."

Nate had never before seen Eliot the type of distracted he was when fawning over Sophie. He gave Eliot the nudge he needed,

"Uh, Eliot?"

Eliot glanced up at Nate before really taking in Sophie's face. She was...concerned.

"Shit...yeah, okay, we're going - we're going! I gotchu, darlin'," his voice became more intimate as he became more grounded in what was happening. He helped Sophie up. She took a moment to gratefully stretch at finally being out of that chair.

"Hey," Eliot stopped and grabbed Sophie's face, "I love you so much." He kissed her. As he completed the kiss, he pressed his forehead against hers.

"I love you too," she hummed in return, her eyes drifting shut. Both pairs of eyes suddenly shot open and looked down at both pairs of suddenly damp feet.

"Did your water..."

"...just break? Uh huh..." They slowly looked back up at each other as their teammates stood stunned around them. "Ooh," she winced.

"What's the matter with you two?!" The only one of the group with experience in this area yelled, "Hospital! Go!" Nate ushered both parents-to-be out the door. "This should not be my job," he muttered to himself as Parker hopped excitedly over the thugs to close the door.

Onto the hospital…

"Those assholes better not be in our house when we come back with the BABY!" Eliot screamed at Hardison as he pushed Sophie's wheelchair down the hall of the maternity ward, the team jogging alongside.

"I am offended you would even say such a thing!" Hardison gasped in mock offense, "Boston PD is picking them up as we speak, and your cleaning service is scheduled to arrive at 4."

"The one that uses the soap Sophie likes, not the one that broke the vase." Parker chimed in, from Eliot's other side.

"Thank you Parker," Sophie forced from her mouth as she struggled to focus on anything but the pain of the current contraction. Pretending she wasn't in labor had somewhat worked - or perhaps it was the distraction of the goons - but either way she had not fully realized how much this hurt until just now. "Eliot," Sophie breathed out as she held tightly to his hand behind her.

"I know darlin', I know."

A nurse stepped into their rushed path.

"I'm sorry ma'am, you're only allowed one guest in the room -"

"Do not call me ma'am!" Sophie yelled.

"I'm her husband," Eliot asserted, and they were quickly escorted down the hall.

"You got this, momma!" Hardison called after them.

"Don't like the baby more than me, even if she's cuter!" Parker shouted. Hardison dropped his head,

"Babe we talked about this..."

"Don't like the baby MUCH more than me!" Parker corrected with an 'I got it' pat to her boyfriend's back.

Left behind in the triage area Nate turned to respond to Parker's childish claims, then suddenly stopped and swiveled his head back towards the hall "did he just say he was her husband?"

The hacker and thief's eyes went wide. They looked at each other, and then back at Nate who's jaw dropped slightly in shock.

"Oh hey, an overview of gonorrhea!" Parker invested her attention in the tower of pamphlets on the desk,

"Would ya look at that, my phone is ringing even though it's on silent!" Hardison answered the very fake phone call and stepped out to the waiting area.

Meanwhile, in the delivery room…

"Is it too late for drugs? Please tell me it's not too late for drugs."

"Ma'a-ah-miss," the nurse corrected herself, "your contractions are too close together, I'm afraid we won't be able to give you the epidural."

"Oh piss off!" Sophie moaned from where she sat forward on the bed, knees bent. Eliot held her upright, his hand clasped in hers.

"Keep breathin' darlin', you got this, you got this."

With Eliot's forehead pressed to her temple, she tried to take a full breath. Her body was on fire. Things were moving faster than she thought.

"You're doing great. I'll go get the doctor and we'll be right back to check you out."

"No." Sophie blurted out as her clamped-closed eyes tried to bolster her through this new wave of pain. "No, don't go -"

The nurse stopped, confused but polite,

"I'll be right back,"

"Soph, whaddya need?" Eliot's lips brushed her sweat coated forehead.

With a whimper Sophie answered,

"I can feel her head."

Elliot's eyes exploded. He tried to lock eyes with Sophie, but she was focused as hell -

"Miss, you're not that far along, just relax." The nurse tried to leave again,

"No, she's coming now!" Sophie threw her head back with a yell.

"But-"

"SHE KNOWS HER BODY! FUCKING LISTEN TO HER!"

Eliot's voice shook the plaster in the walls. In the waiting area their three companions jumped to their feet at the sound.

"Alright, alright, I'm happy to check, but - oh my there's a head!" It became immediately clear to the nurse that Sophie did, in fact, know her body. "Not to worry, everything is fine, she's just a bit impatient."

The nurse snapped into action and Eliot was beyond grateful - he'd had nine months of recurring nightmares where he'd had to deliver this baby.

"Dad, I'm gonna need you to hold onto mom's other knee, okay?"

Eliot almost missed the assignment in the time it took him to realize who she was talking to - he was dad. He grabbed Sophie's knee and awaited the next instruction.

"Sophie, when your next contraction starts I want you to take a big breath and then push, okay?" The nurse's confidence filled the room.

"Okay," Sophie gasped. Moments later the tensing muscles released a cry from her lips. She took a breath and beared down.

"Alright, that's it, that's it - push push push. Good, good! And we have a head!"

"Oh my god," Sophie panted. Eliot glanced down the bed for a moment before returning his nose to her temple.

"Come on Soph, almost there!"

"Hold on one moment...okay, there we go, one more good one! Push!"

Sophie snarled through gritted teeth as she pushed again. She felt Eliot's breath on her skin,

"That's my girl."

And with a howl, Sophie finally had a moment to catch her breath.

"Here she is mama!" The nurse placed the newborn onto Sophie's chest. As the baby announced her arrival with her first cry, Sophie scooped her up and lay back in exhausted bliss. "Everything looks great, I'll grab the doctor and be right back." She hustled out of the room, smiling.

"Oh my goodness, hello beautiful!" Sophie cooed to the baby. Eliot wrapped a hand around their baby girl; she fit inside his palm.

"Hi there darlin'. You're the most gorgeous thing I've ever seen." Eliot's accent thickened as his adoration grew. The baby's tongue peeked out of her mouth with a gurgle. "Well aren't you just spectacular." Tears began to fall. He leaned over and kissed Sophie. "And you are spectacular," he murmured into her lips. He felt her smile.

"Damn right."

He kissed her again. Their collective gaze fell to their daughter, and for a moment they just drank her in.

"Eliot, we need your name list."

"Me?"

"Yes."

"After what I just watched you do, you've more than earned the right to name her anything you want, darlin."

"Tell me."

"Well...my favorite is Sage."

"Sage?"

"Yeah."

They stared at the infant in their arms for a loud, silent moment, until Sophie started to cry.

"Sage. My love. Hello."

Eliot's mouth went dry.

"Are ya sure?"

"I love it."

He pressed a long kiss into her hair, then asked,

"Do you have a middle name for her?"

"Believe it or not I do." She chuckled. "Minerva - after the Roman goddess of wisdom and-"

"-and war." Eliot finished with a smile.

"Mmm," she agreed with a sleepy smirk, "wisdom and war; what a pair." She smiled brightly at her best friend before dropping her gaze gently to the baby once more,

"Sage Minerva."

"Devereaux." Eliot added with conviction.

"Sage Minerva Devereaux." Sophie trilled in amazement, "We're so glad you're here."