Sophie woke up with the smell of delicious pancakes invading her senses. She stirred from her sleep and slowly got up. She could hear the voices of her friends coming from downstairs. She subconsciously ran a hand up and down the empty place next to her. It had felt strange sleeping in that bed without Nate. She did still have her apartment, but now it felt so unfamiliar. She had left it for Tara and Maggie, so they didn't have to check in a hotel. This was now her home, with Nate.

After getting washed and dressed, she made her way downstairs. "Good morning, everyone"

Everybody else was already sitting at the table while Eliot was cooking.

"Hey, did you sleep well?" the hitter asked pouring her a glass of fresh orange juice. He was very looking after her during her pregnancy, making sure she was eating right.

"I tried, but I've missed Nate"

"Yuck," Hardison groaned. "To many details, mama"

She glared at him, but before she could make an appropriate reply, her phone rang.

"Hello?" a pause. "What do you mean he's gone? Where did he go? Yeah, yeah, I'm sure it's not your fault. No, there's no need to call the police. We'll take care of it." She hung up.

"What's wrong?"

"Nate has left the hospital!" she told them angrily. Really? That man!

"He what?" Eliot shouted. Nate was in no condition to start wondering about. "Hardison, I thought your job was to make sure to check the bugs we've planted in Latimer's office" he pointed angrily at the hacker. They all knew who was behind the mastermind's disappearance.

"We've bugged his office, not his house!" Hardison shouted back. "Let me see what I can find!" he started typing furiously on his computer.

"Wait?" Sophie shook her head in confusion. "When did you guys bug Latimer's office?"

"Yesterday when we went to bring food"

"Yesterday?" Sophie shouted. "Are you crazy? What were you thinking? What if something had happened?"

"I was thinking that I had to protect my family." Eliot shouted back.

"If you two have finished shouting, I can tell you where Nate is" Hardison stopped them.

"Well?" asked Eliot irritated when Hardison was taking too long to say something.

"He's in Alexandria, Virginia at the United States patent office."

"Why is he there?"

"I don't know, but apparently Latimer sent him the schematics a week ago. He tried to clear his browser, that's adorable."

"Hardison, we can't waste any time. We need to go there. Fast!" Sophie was already out of the door.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

It took Nate all night to get to Virginia. It certainly hadn't been easy since his body was about to collapse at any moment. With the little cash he had in his pockets, he bought some medicine at a pharmacy, but it wasn't much. He had studied the schematics that Latimer had sent him, so he knew how he could get in, the problem was getting there and then get out, of course after he had convinced his father to follow him. Sweat was dripping from his forehead and the pain killers he took weren't having any effect. With the last strength he had in his body, he got in the room. At the far end of the room he could see his father sitting at a desk surrounded by boxes while listening to the radio.

"Hi Dad!" he then collapse on the floor.

Jimmy Ford quickly turned on the chair and saw his son laying on the floor.

"Nate!" he quickly got to him. He brought a water bottle close to his lips and watched him take slow sips. "Are you hurt? You look like hell"

"Nice to see you too, Dad" Nate tried to get up, but the pain on his chest hit him hard.

"What happened to you?" his father asked concerned.

Nate shook his head. "It doesn't matter. Dad, we need to get out of here. Latimer is just using you to get to me and my crew"

Jimmy Ford got up irritated. "I'm not going until I have what I came here for so I can get my money"

"Dad, there's no money. They will just kill us both." Nate replied frustrated.

"How do you know this? I never left a job undone and I'm not going to start now" he walked back to the desk.

Nate finally managed to get up. A noise outside the door startled him. He moved as fast as he could to hide behind the door.

"Dad" he hissed, but his father was already too far away.

Soon the intruders were in. He was going to attack them but a hand stopped him. "Eliot?"

He soon noticed that the all team was there and they weren't very happy with him. Sophie closed the distance between them . He felt the slap before he had even seen her hand moving. The sound of her hand hitting his cheek echoed inside the room.

"You're an idiot." She shouted at him. "Have you got any idea how scared I was? You promised. You promised me you were going to keep yourself safe. I mean, seriously Nate? you had a heart surgery yesterday, why would you come here without telling anyone?"

"Yes, I know, but…" he tried to calm her.

"You had heart surgery?" a voice came from the back of the room.

The rest of the team noticed Jimmy Ford approaching them.

"Him?" Sophie turned towards Nate. "You came here to rescue him?"

"You said never again" pointed out Parker.

"He is my dad." Nate whispered. He looked into Sophie's eyes. "Our children's grandfather"

"I'm going to take a sweep around" Eliot informed them wanting also to get out of there.

"What are we going to do now?" Hardison asked. Since they had come here, he wanted to explore the room of misfit inventions.

Nate sighed knowing that the only way to get his father out of there was to help him.

"Okay. Parker, you help my father find this patent"

The thief groaned, but followed the older man.

"Sophie, you and Hardison try to find something helpful around here to narrow down the research."

Nate was still leaning against the wall and his eyes were unfocused. He was obviously in pain.

Sophie put a hand on the cheek she had hit. "Are you okay?" she could feel his fever at the touch.

"I don't know. I admit this hasn't really been one of my greatest ideas" he smirked.

"Just this one?" she smirked back. "Nate, please be careful" she told his seriously.

"You too." He put a hand on her womb, over their babies.

Sophie and Hardison soon found a way to narrow down the research and Parker went to look through the files. They were now looking at some of the inventions hoping to find something useful.

"What's that?" Sophie pointed at the strange plastic belly.

Hardison smirked. "That's a Mr. Sympathy, a fake pregnant belly for expectant fathers so they can feel what their wives are feeling. Do you think we should steal it for Nate?" he chuckled.

"It looks gross" she looked disgusted.

"It works. Look" he put her hand on it. "Here you can hear the heartbeat and here it kicks"

"I don't think Nate would wear it"

"It would certainly make a nice pic, though"

Suddenly they heard Eliot's voice on com. "Nate, we've got company. I've just finished beating three ex-cons. Something is not right here"

"I know" they heard Nate's response.

Nate was trying to think about all the possible outcomes. He lifted his head when he saw his father approach him and sat next to him.

"So, heart surgery?" he finally told him.

"Yeah, it happens when you have a heart attack."

"You shouldn't be here. You should be in a hospital bed."

"Well, it's too late now"

Silence.

"That woman? The brunette woman, she looks nice"

"Her name is Sophie."

"When were you going to tell me I was going to be a grandfather again?"

"You weren't exactly a great grandfather the first time. You were in prison most of the time."

Jimmy sighed. "We never actually talked about Sam. You avoided me during the funeral"

"Dad, you were there just because they gave you a day pass. You didn't know him"

"He was your son and you are my son, so of course I loved him" he told him angrily. "Why do you think I'm here?"

"I don't know, dad. Why are you here? Just so the legendary Jimmy Ford could pull one more heist?"

"I did for you, dammit. Latimer was going to kill you if I didn't."

"I don't need you. I-I don't need you to help - help me with Latimer." Nate said softly.

" Hey, I don't care whether you need me or not. You're my son. This is what I have to do."

And Nate understood his statement. He did the same thing. He went there alone so he could protect his unborn children. It's why he still blames himself for not been able to save Sam all those years aback "They're a boy and a girl" he told him out of the blue.

"What?" he asked confused.

"The babies Sophie is carrying, they are a boy and a girl. Fraternal but not identical"

Jimmy nodded slowly. "Well, congratulation Nate. You're going to be a great father again"

Then they hear police sirens coming from outside. Nate got up and went to the window. "Eliot?"

"The thugs most have trigged the alarms after the followed us. Nate, it's you they are after. Dubenich is behind all this"

"What?" Nate asked confused.

"We've bugged Latimer's office and we heard him calling him"

"Dammit, guys. How do you expect me to work out a plan if I haven't got all the elements?" he hissed angrily. "Let me think. Sophie, I need someone outside. You will go outside as a liberated hostage"

"Hostage?"

"This what we're going to do!"

The plan, even if it was complicated and crazy, worked fine. They all managed to get outside with the patent. There was a big crowd outside and Nate looked around for his father.

"Where's my dad?"

Jimmy Ford had done it again and double crossed them and he took the patent with him.

"Did your father just con us with a radio and a phone?" Hardison looked impressed.

"That's my old dad. What does he have in mind?"

Sophie arrived with the van. "Guys, we have to get out of here" They all climbed at the back of the van and Sophie left the driving seat to Eliot.

Nate's phone started ringing. "Dad, where are you?" he nodded to Hardison to track the call.

"I'm going to put an end to this. I'm going to tell this Latimer or Dubenich guy to leave my son alone" Jimmy Ford walked towards a warehouse.

"Dad, listen to me. These people are dangerous, they're going to kill you"

"Don't worry, son. We'll be tossing a few in no time. No one messes with the Fords" and he hung up.

"Damn" Nate shouted frustrated. "Hardison, tell me you've track the call"

"I'm nearly there, man. Here."

"Okay, Eliot drives us there. Quickly."

Nate kept trying calling is father, but no one answered.

"Come on, dad. Pick-up" They were nearly approaching the warehouse when his father finally answered. "Dad," he shouted "Get out of there! We're nearly here"

Jimmy still had his vision blurred form the blow he received on the head. When he could finally make out something, he saw the explosive on top of the barrels with a timer going down. He had only twenty-four seconds to live and knew exactly what to do.

"No, no. you stay out. Don't come in here. I'm your father and I'm telling you to stay away"

"You have got to start walking out of the building."

"It's the first I've been able to do some of these things…. The father things."

Nate eyes started to tear up. "We're outside now. Dad get out" he jumped out of the van ignoring the cries of his team telling him to stop.

"You tell your children… tell them how much their grandfather loved their dad"

Nate stood still and watched petrified as the warehouse in front of him exploded. The force of the explosion throws him back and he can barely hear his team calling him. He struggled to sit up, covered with debris. He could feel a strong pain on his chest and blood his dripping from his month and ears.

"Nate" Eliot kneeled beside him to help and check his injuries.

Behind them Hardison was trying to stop Sophie and Parker from going any closer. He was scared of what they would find.

"I swear Hardison" Sophie grunted. "If you don't let me go, I'm going to punch you again"

Sophie managed to free herself from the hacker's grip and rushed to Nate.

"Nate?" she called him worried. Nate's eyes were unfocused and he seemed to have lot of injuries. She ran a hand over his face and it soon got covered with his blood.

"We need to take him to a hospital" Eliot told her. With Hardison help they managed to lift him up.

"Nate, can you hear me?" Sophie tried again.

"They're going to pay" he finally whispered. "Latimer and Dubenich are going to pay for what they did"