The following morning Nate woke up with his head pounding. He groaned as he slowly lifted his head up from the pillow. He had slept in his clothes and he smelt of alcohol. He turned his head round, but the space next to his was empty. Sophie had really left and he sighed realizing that he had really acted like a complete ass the night before. He ran a hand over his face. Yes, he was angry, but now that he was beginning to remember how they had left each other, he wished he had told her something more, kissed her and told her that she loved her. That was going to be a problem that he needed to resolve later, hoping that he wasn't going to be too late. He felt like his whole world was getting out of control, first Sam then his job, and now maybe Sophie. He so wanted to drown his fears and problems in a bottle of whiskey, he realized why his father was always drunk, but he needed to step up and start getting control of his life.

After a long cold shower, Nate felt a bit more awake and presentable and went to the hospital needing to see his son. He had found him in bed playing cards with Maggie.

"Hey Dad!" he smiled up at him.

Nate gave him his best smile and leaned down to kiss his forehead. He was happy to see that the fever had gone down, so he will be soon going to start his treatment. "Hey buddy, how are you feeling?"

"Okay" the boy shrugged.

"Nate, can we talk outside?" Maggie nodded towards the door, her tone telling him that he didn't really have an choice.

He nodded and they both made their way outside.

"Where have you been?" she demanded once the door was closed behind them. "You like disappeared. Sophie was looking for you too, I hope you saw her."

"Yes, well" he nervously scratched the back of his head. "I had some things to take care of"

"Whatever it was, it worked. The doctor and the administrator came to say that everything is okay and that Sam can start the treatment today. I guess IYS approved the claim"

Nate didn't want to tell her how things really were so he let her assume that was how things had gone.

They soon took Sam for his first round of treatment, the boy return exhausted even after the first dose.

"How many days will the treatment last?" asked Nate watching Maggie comforting their son.

"We will see how it goes. At least five days."

"And to know if it worked?"

"After five days of treatments you can take him back home and then we'll take some tests after a week. We will soon know if the treatment is working and if he'll need a second round"

Nate nodded as the doctor walked away. He then saw Sterling with two agents at the end of the corridor walking towards him.

"Sterling" he greeted them coldly.

"You're twenty four hours are up, Nate. You need to come with us"

Just then Maggie walked outside the room curious about what was happening. "Nate," she looking at him frowning. "what's going on?"

"Nothing. Nothing if you have to worry about."

"I wouldn't say so Nate, since we will have to bring her to questioning too at some point"

Nate turned menacingly towards his rival, his face inches from his. "Leave her out of it!"

"Nate," there was an edge of panic in Maggie's voice. "Please, tell me what's going on? Where's Sophie?"

Sterling smirked. "Yes Nate, where's Sophie?"

Half an hour later, Nate was sitting in an interrogation room at IYS. Sterling was sitting opposite to him and it was clearly frustrated since he still hadn't gotten the answers he wanted.

"You're telling me you have no idea where she's gone!" he shouted again.

"You should really relax James, all this shouting is not good for your blood pressure."

Sterling slapped his hand of the hard table hoping to scare him but all those interrogation techniques weren't working with an expert in the field like Nate.

"Where is she?"

"I don't know. She played me, she used me, made me believe she was in love with me so that she could I don't know, steal secrets from me or infiltrate IYS." It was hurting him saying those words, undermining their love, but it was for the best.

"Come on Nate, just yesterday you were telling me how much you love that woman"

"I'm not denying that, I'm just saying that I had no idea who she really was."

"I don't believe you" Sterling retorted back

"Well, until you can prove otherwise you will have to take my word for it" he told him, but in his eyes there was a glint. Nathan Ford was winning that game. "Now, if you're not charging me with anything and if you don't have evidence, I would like to go back to my son if that's okay" he got up from his chair making his point clear.

Sterling kept staring at him, but at the end he had to admit he had nothing. He reluctantly nodded at the guard standing by the door and the blue dressed man then opened it. Nate gave a small wave and left the room.

Sterling needed evidence and he was going to do everything in his power to find some.

London

Eleanor knocked at the bedroom door, but she didn't receive any answer. She slowly pushed the door opened and peaked inside. Her sister was curled up on the bed looking outside the window. She could see the dried traces of tears on her face and her eyes were red from the lack of sleep.

"Oh Sophie," she whispered as she curled up next to her and hugged her from behind.

"I've ruined everything, Eleanor" Sophie started sobbing again.

"Oh dear, I'm sure you haven't" she ran her hand through her hair trying to comfort her little sister.

"Will he ever forgive me?"

"From what you've told, I think he already has. He needed you to leave so he could protect you and his little boy. His kid is sick, he's feeling out of control and he needs to make things better. I could only imagine what he is going through, if Karen…" she shook her head not wanting to think about her daughter that way.

"He needs someone to rely on. He needed me and I've ruined everything by chasing a stupid dream."

"You've helped him by giving him hope. If the treatments works, he will have his son back. Give him time" Eleanor reassured her. "As soon as he can, when things are safe, he will contact you"

Sophie nodded but she still wasn't convinced that things between her and Nate will ever be the same.

A/N: Will things be ever the same between Nate and Sophie? This story is quickly coming to an end. Thanks for reading and please keep reviewing :D