Chapter 37

The weeks passed and Nate was recovering well, he grew stronger by the day and the doctor was happy with his progress. Sophie had not reopened her theatre and the others spent their time with them as well Michael to the zoo, the park, and some museums or just being at home, none of them wanted to leave and Sophie knew why, they were all waiting for her to take Nate away from them, take the largest part of their family away and she could see that Nate, although usually irritated with them for hanging around all of the time said nothing and just let them be.

Nate watched them all closely and could see that although they were all happy the underlying concern for what they thought was coming. They had not gone back to work, and Nate knew it was because they were afraid that this was the last times they would spend together as a family. Eliot cooked every night, Parker babysat for them allowing them time together and Hardison made sure that Sophie understood that he had his eyes and ears open all the time for anything that might happen. They were trying to make Sophie understand that she was safe here with them, that he and Michael were safe and that they did not want them to leave. They had not spoken about it again since that night, he would not push her and he would honour his agreement, if she ultimately decided it was what she wanted to do he would go with her.

One afternoon he was alone with the three in the house as Sophie had gone shopping taking Michael with her. He was sitting in his study reading some online articles and they were in the living room watching something on TV. Then he heard a soft voice and looked up to see all three of them standing at the door of the study.

"She wants to leave."

"I know Parker, she is scared that's all."

"I don't want you to leave."

"We don't want you to leave, none of you." Hardison said.

"Look guys, I know this is hard and I know that you don't want us to go, I don't want to go, I don't think it would make a difference if somebody wanted to come after me, but I told her that if that was her decision I would go along with it. I owe that to her."

"Nate what happened…I have our backs man I have eyes on all our ex-marks and…and I won't let what happened…I…" He stuttered to a halt, how did he make Nate see that he would do anything in his power to protect him, but it had happened, Moreau had almost killed him and that is why they were now where they were.

"Hardison none of what happened was your fault, not any of yours, it wasn't even about what we did, yes Moreau came after me but that was because of Sadiski and nothing else and she knows that." Nate told him.

"Then why does she want to leave?" Parker asked her eyes big and questioning. Nate could see she was struggling to contain her emotions at the thought of losing him, and his wife and son, of them going out of her life forever.

"We could still visit right. I mean if you leave we…I mean she doesn't want…" Hardison said trying to put into words his fear that Sophie would take them somewhere and that she wanted to separate from them for always.

"Of course you will always be welcome. Parker, guys we are not leaving you understand, Sophie just wants to…to feel safe that's all. She is worried for Michael…"

"And you."

"And me Hardison, but that does not mean she doesn't want to be part of this family anymore."

"She left us before." Eliot said.

"But she came back Eliot." Nate said suddenly realising how much this was hurting them, how much it was scaring them, even Eliot.

"She doesn't trust us, does she think we would put you in danger on purpose, surely she knows we would always take care of each other? What if somebody did come after you Nate, what if you are alone wherever you decide to go and we can't get to you, has she thought about that? Has she thought about the fact that we also need to make sure our family, our whole family are always safe, has she thought that we need you, need her, has she even considered what this would do to us?"

Nate looked at her and then at the other two who nodded in agreement with what he was saying. Nate smiled at them, he knew this was not just about somebody coming after him to Sophie, it was about him getting involved in any of their jobs, it was about him putting himself in danger again, it was mostly about her keeping him out of trouble. But he would always be involved in one way or another, even though he was not involved in their jobs he kept up with what they were doing and was always ready to step in if they needed help, no matter the danger and that scared Sophie, especially now that they had a son. He thought she had decided if they lived far away from them that he would concentrate on just being with her and his son and that he would never get involved in anything dangerous again.

"I don't think it is just about what happened guys."

"No it's about you and your habit of getting into trouble." Eliot said locking eyes with him.

"Of you getting involved with Leverage again, of being in danger again." Hardison added. "But you are the one that pulled you two out of the game and we have not involved you in any of our jobs, we would never ask…"

"That does not matter Hardison because she knows that if you need help I would be there, because she knows if you were in trouble I would step in whether I was asked or not because you are my family." Nate stated and he could see they all knew what he was saying was right.

"It scared her. Coming so close to losing you it scared her."

"Yes it did Eliot."

"We would never…you are our family Nate, you made this family, you gave us this family, doesn't she know that losing you and her and Michael…Doesn't she know that I can't…we can't…" Parker stammered not quite knowing how to say what she wanted to. "We are a family." Parker said softly, the only real family she could remember having and she did not want to lose that.

"Yes we are Parker and no matter where we go we will always be a family. Now I know you guys are scared that if we leave you will never see us again but that will not happen. You are my family as much as she and Michael are, and nothing will change that."

"No nothing will change that." Sophie's said and they all turned to look at her. She had come in and had stood silently listening to them tears forming in her eyes. "You are our family always."

"But…but you want to leave." Parker said as Sophie walked over to Nate and gave him a kiss.

Sophie stared at her for a minute then looked at Eliot and Hardison. She could read people and these people were scared, they were scared that she was taking the man who meant so much to them away from them, that she was splitting up their family and she felt guilt rise in her. She had reacted emotionally to what had happened, coming so close to losing the man she loved, so close to losing everything and it had scared her, so much so that her instinct to run had kicked in but over the last weeks she had been reminded of how much these three people meant to her and especially to Nate, he would leave if that were what she wanted but he would not be happy about it. He had not said anything more about it and she was sure that if that is what she wanted he would go with her, but she no longer thought it was what she wanted. They were right, no matter where they were, if one of their marks decided to come after her or Nate, it would not matter where they lived.

"I was wrong." Sophie said softly and Nate smiled at the words. "I was wrong, and you were right, all of you. You are family and no matter where we go, danger will follow us because that was our lives and being here would probably be safer that anywhere else in the world." She continued. "I just…well I just was scared, and I reacted, running has always been the safest course for me but I was wrong, and I am sorry."

Parker stared at her and then threw herself at her wrapping her in her arms and squeezing tightly. Eliot smiled broadly and Hardison's face lit up.

"Ok well I am going to finish up with dinner." Eliot said. There was nothing more to say, Sophie had come to her senses and his family were going to stay together her in Portland and life could now go on.

"I'll help." Parker said looking from Nate to Sophie a large smile on her face.

"Yeah me too." Hardison said and quickly followed them both out of the room.

"Thank you." Nate said softly as Sophie turned to look at him.

"I'm sorry Nate I just.."

"No Sophie you have nothing to be sorry about." He said as he stood and pulled her into a hug and then gave her a passionate kiss. "I love you, they love you and now we can get on with our lives."

"I do love you Nate and I meant what I said, I never want to go through that again so you…you have to promise me that you will be more careful, that you will not do stupid things, you have a son to think of and you need to think of us before going off and doing things that could get you killed."

"I promise Soph…" He said softly. "Now where is my son."

She pulled back and looked at him. Then she sighed, this was the man she had married, even before Leverage he had taken risks, risks to get IYS merchandise back and risks to help out friends, he would always be the same and if any of them, Eliot, Hardison, Parker or herself was in any kind of trouble, he would be there and he would take whatever action was needed to get them out of the trouble. That was Nate and it was why she loved him, and why she sometimes hated him.

"Sophie…?"

"Oh sorry, Michael is sleeping, turns out he likes shopping about as much as you do." She smiled at him then took a seat at her desk and started to go through some papers. "I think I will reopen the theatre next week, so you are going to have to take care of Michael, be a stay-at-home dad." She said as she opened her post.

"Sounds good to me." He smiled as he went back to his article.

That night dinner was more jovial than it had been since before Sadiski had made his reappearance, there was no tension, no fear, only a family enjoying each other's company and celebrating the fact that they were together and alive and happy to be so.

Thanks for reading and I hope you all enjoyed the story.