First I'd like to say this chapter is dedicated to xTheDoctorsCompanion because she was my lone reviewer and on a secondary note to her i'd like to ask if i can take you to all my old English teachers for you to tell them that :P
Okay third I still don't own diddly
and Fourth ENJOY!
"Hullo Jimmy," A short blonde haired girl of about nineteen says in a British accent as a shadow falls over her sunbathing form. "I was wondering when you'd track me down."
"Is that because you stole the Van Ike?" Jim says through gritted teeth taking a seat in on lounge chair next to the girl, it might have been over a year and a half from the last time he's seen her but his memory has yet to fade.
"No, you're just an obsessive bastard that won't quit." The girl removes her sunglasses sitting up and looking at Sterling, he hasn't changed much in the gap of time since she last saw him but he does seem to be wearing a nicer suit.
Pulling a table over Jim places a chess board on top of it before holding out a king in each hand one black the other white. "Let's make a bet, you do know how to play?" there's a sneer in his voice, as the girl stares at his hands. "If you win, I will officially pass off all your open cases to another less intelligent IYS agent."
Tentatively she takes the black king cradling it in her hand as if it would break. "And if you win?"
James leans in grinning he was going to win this match, he could already tell by the wary look in her eyes that chess was not her game of choice which is why he offered her such a high prize for a very small trade off, or that's at least what he hoped it looked like. "Your name, I want to know what your name is."
The girl puffs up her cheeks as she thinks of her next move, Sterling has managed to take two rooks, a knight, several pawns and probably her queen in his next move, making the gamble that he was only a decent player was not a good idea. She took great pains to not distribute her name, not because she couldn't just make herself new documents but because that's how she stayed alive. She signed her work yes it was cocky but her masterpieces were just too good not to take credit for. Jimmy having her name made complications, he was too smart for her own good. "Screw it."
Swiping her hand across the board she goes to make a run for it. "No you don't." When Jim grabs her arm he really means to pull her to him not swing her into the pool, but that's what happens. Wiping his the water droplets off his jacket he stands around waiting for her to surface, it's not a large pool and she's going to have to at some point.
It's been a good minute and the bubbles from where she fell in are still coming up, Jim stands at the edge shifting foot to foot, she can swim can't she. Another thirty seconds go by and the bubbles are lessening by the second. Pulling off his belt, shoes, and jacket Jim jumps into the pool.
She's lying on the bottom when he gets to her, her eyes are closed and there's almost no bubbles coming from her mouth or nose, picking her up from under her arms he pushes off the bottom, even with her dead weight it's not hard to get her to the shallow end. Immediately after her head breaks the surface she starts chocking spitting up water. "AHH!" Her scream isn't what startles James, what does is her reaction pulling Jim closer and burying her face into his chest she literally starts shaking. "Sam Ronson." Sterling stares down at the girl clinging to him, she can stand in this water, both of her feet are on the ground but she's still clinging to him shaking with such a fear he's not really sure what to do. "My name is Samuel Ronson, now get me out of here." James still isn't sure what to do, last time they spoke she told him to look into a Samuel Ronson for the theft of the Monet, when he did the only Samuel Ronson's he found where men.
It's not until Sam starts humming that he snaps back out of his trance. Even though his shirt is soaked through from the pool he can feel her warm tears, Jim picks up her feet then, she's not going to make it out herself not with this fear. Her shaking stops, as he gets to the steps, though Sam still clings to him like her life depends on it.
"And he just let you go?" Sophie interject down memory lane, Nate shakes his head.
"I don't believe you" Elliot says both Parker and Hardison nod in agreement a discussion starts on how much of bastard Sterling really is.
"She hasn't finished the story yet." Nate finally says after letting
Sam pulls her head from Jim's chest than, her blue eyes glittering with tears and the look of appreciation almost makes him feel bad for what he does next. "Though you are under arrest for the theft of several works of art."
As they ride the elevator back up to Sterling's hotel room Sam starts humming, but she's a lot calmer and a lot happier then she was a few minutes ago. Jim gives her a side glance both of them are dripping wet, though he's slung his suit jacket over her shoulders because against popular belief he is a gentleman; she's standing there perfectly upright even with her hands handcuffed behind her back just counting the lurches each floor makes. Any remaining fear of the water has faded replaced by the normal calm that she usually has about her, the wheels in her head have already started turning and James can clearly see that.
"Can I not leave either of you two alone together for ten minutes?" Nate throws up his hands shaking his head at the sight of both his partner and the girl Jim has been hunting down for the last four years, sure Nate had been chasing her for a good seven years but really Daisy was a better informant to him, too bad Sterling couldn't figure that if he just stopped getting agitated by her she'd stop stealing from IYS and actually might help him out more.
"Nathan!" Sam calls out happy to see the man, "I'd give you a hug but Jimmy here is a limey bastard."
"Samuel Ronson, her name is Samuel Ronson." Is the only thing James grumbles as he pushes her towards the bed.
"Really? That's a guy's name." Jim unlocks one of her hands before he wraps the chain around a bed post and relocking the hand back in place.
"Parents never quite got over wanting a boy. You can call me Sam." Sam pulls her hand up a bit, seeing exactly how sturdy the bed post is. "You never seemed like the kinky type to me Jimmy, you sure you don't want to handcuff me to a chair?"
Nathan laughs burying his head into his hands, as Jim glares daggers at the girl remembering the last time he handcuffed her to a chair "Regardless you can't just leave her like that Sterling." James just looks over at the older man clearly not getting it. Nate has managed to sneak a peak of Sam before placing his head firmly back in his hands his eyes cover, she's sitting on the bed is small black bikini legs out stretched in front of her with both hands handcuffed over her head kinky was right.
"What? We may not have enough to get her on theft but I'm sure we can get her on forgery there's no female Samuel Ronson's out there so her license and all her documents have to be fakes" James looks at Sam before looking back at Nate, who's doing all he can to not even look at the girl.
"I didn't mean you couldn't arrest her I meant you couldn't leave her like that." Nate gestures with one hand at Sam, she's lying there grinning Jim's jacket completely fallen from her shoulders.
"OHHH." Sam scooches up on the bed to get a better view when she sees the blush on Jimmy's cheeks, how could he miss handcuffing a scantily clad blonde girl to a bed, was he gay? "Well put some clothes on her."
Ford chokes on air, he tries to pat his chest to calm himself down, "She's your captive." Sterling does not look happy couldn't they just throw a blanket over her "Plus she'd fit better in your clothes, your about the same height."
"Can't we just throw a blanket over her?" that was a good compromise right.
"Seriously, you don't think the girl your about to send to jail deserves some pants, that's not very nice of you." Sam finally joins the conversation causing both the men to look at her, there was no worry or concern in her voice when she said the word jail, what did she know and they didn't.
"Fine give me the key to your room I'll go get you some clothes." Jim holds out his hand to the girl she just looks at it for a second before looking back up and him smiling very sweetly.
"What room? I don't have a room here, you have to show ID to check in" Sam is still smiling Nate lets out a laugh, the girl was smart enough to not travel with anything incriminating until it was absolutely necessary. "I'm serious you can even give me a pat down, there's a few hundred in by left bikini top but that's it." Jim grumbles something along the lines of bloody trollop before finally breaking down and throwing a button up shirt and pants at her. "Awesome I'll just put these on with my mind control powers."
"I'm going to grab lunch," Nate's laughter bursts from him before he even gets to the door, "Try not to kill each other." If he was working with any other person besides James Sterling Nate would not have left them alone with Sam. Yes Sam was a very smart and very resourceful girl but more importantly handcuffed to a bed, but he really didn't have to worry about that with Jim. He'd kill her first.
"Can I take a shower?" Jim gives her a look "I don't like the smell of chlorine."
"You don't like water in general it seems." Sam is the one to stay silent sending him a very dark look.
"If you let me shower I can dress myself and solve that little debacle."
James looks at her suspiciously, she does have a valid point and he himself could go for a shower but he did not trust her; she would have made a wonderful investigator if she wasn't such a crook after all. Grabbing a few articles of clothing himself and stepping into the bathroom doing a quick survey, there's a lock on the door and a vent over on the wall next to the toilet. Knocking out the grate he checks the inside of the air ducts, the initial squeeze might be a little tough for her but it opened up into a much larger vent Ronson would definitely be able to fit through. He changes quickly running his blonde hair under some warm water; he already hears the clinking of the hand cuffs as she pulls them against the bed post.
"I don't like you being in here." Sam says standing in the shower with the curtain drawn; Sterling sits on the toilet with the news paper open in front of him. "What if you look?"
"I'm not going to look." He doesn't bother looking up from the article, "Besides in nothing I haven't seen before."
There's a huff from the other side of the curtain, but two black articles of clothing are tossed over the side landing in the sink before the water is turned on. "I never got why people say that."
"Hm?" Jim doesn't really care but as long as she keeps talking he won't have to worry what she's doing.
"Well say it's nothing they haven't seen before." Jim turns the page in his news paper, why did he always have to be the one stuck chasing this girl? "You've seen some chick naked, that doesn't mean you stop looking at women as a whole. Unless you're gay, which is A- okay!"
Sterling drums his fingers on the counter of the sink, debating if he should dignify her with an answer, though for some strange reason it seemed important to him for her to know. "I'm not gay."
"See so how can you honestly tell me you're not going to look?" he should have just let her think he was gay.
"Because I'm not going to look."
"Bullocks," Sam semi cries imitating his British accent once again, Sterling grunts in detest, she just ignores it. "You mean to tell me if I was standing in front of you butt naked you wouldn't look."
"Technically you are standing in front of me butt naked and I'm not looking." Jim flips another page in his news paper wondering slightly if he chose the right career.
"There's a curtain in the way."
"Wait let me get this straight," He runs a hand through his hair, this girl was going to drive him to drink. "You're asking me if you happened to be standing in front of me with nothing between us in not even your skivvies would I look."
"Yes."
"What?" Jim folds his paper and puts it down on the sink before rubbing his temples this girl was absolutely absurd "how would that situation even arise." He makes the mistake of opening his eyes and looking up.
Sam is standing there in all her glory with a look of triumph on her face. "You looked!" when he makes a grab for her the water still falling in droplets off her body greases his hands. "Til next time Jimmy!"
She throws his shirt on as she runs out the hotel room, pulling on the pants as she throws her upper body into the door to the stairwell. Sterling is hot on her trail, she is not getting away again. "Bye Nate!" A small blonde flash says running by Nathan Ford he just has enough time to back up as Jim also goes racing past him after Sam.
"Run Sam, Run!" he truly can't help himself.
Nate slides his arm around Sophie; they both share a quiet look before looking back at the table with a slight blush gracing their cheeks both of them remembering a very similar encounter. "Yeah those weren't a fun next couple of weeks." Nate shakes his head before picking up Sophie's alcoholic drink and taking a healthy sip. "Well besides the fact that he was being normal Sterling, out of nowhere he'd be talking to himself about how that little trollop had a tattoo of Metallica on her ass." He picks up Sophie's drink and take another sip she hits him lightly on the chest. "I'm sorry that might have been fine for anyone of you to have to listen to, but I still see her as a seventy pound thirteen year old that used to tell people the bonds she was cashing was so her and her mommy could eat." Andi lets out a laugh scratching the back of her head.
"Does that mean you blocked the memory of the fourteen year old firebombing her hotel room so you wouldn't have any evidence?" Parker's eyes light up in excitement maybe they could exchange their explosion recipies.
"That was you? Luckily Sterling became your primary investigator at fifteen."
"Nate, you just gave up like that?" Sophie looks a bit outraged, how many other people did he just toss aside. "You we're only chasing her for two years!"
"Hey I'm sorry," Nate holds his hands up in surrender; his whole team has started to gang up on him. "She had way more fun tormenting Sterling anyway."
Andi stirs the drink in her glass, at thirteen she was telling that story because he mother used to send her to beg for money at eleven and it worked at eleven it could work at thirteen, she was still young enough after all. At fourteen all she knew was someone was getting close and she was not going to prison, gasoline and a match were the quickest prep. Then again that how she still thinks, "Eh I've always been a burn my evidence type of girl, it's not my fault you tracked my ID too quick for me to have a controlled burning."
"You never stayed at another place that asked for ID again." Nate takes a drink of his own club soda,
"No, there was one other place."