I felt as though this episode was really holding back on some great moments between Nate and Sophie so I decided to write some of the moments I would've wanted to see. Oh, and I'm hoping I wrote them in order *cringe* I don't know. By the way I don't own Leverage :(

Missing Scenes

Nate greeted Sophie with a kiss when she came home from the con. She went upstairs and changed into her own clothes, shedding away the nerdy (and adorable in his eyes) professor persona. When she came downstairs she was in a pair of sleep shorts and a tank top with the fleece jacket he had worn when he got back from his boat trip overtop. "I think you love that jacket more then I do."

She wrapped her arms around his neck and laced her fingers together. "Maybe..." Sophie kissed him. Neither of them needed permission from the other and deepened the kiss. She played with the end of his hair and moaned softly. His kisses always took her breath away. When he pulled away she rested her forehead against his, her eyelids fluttering. "I love coming home to you."

"Me too."

There was that urge again. It pulled at the tip of her tongue but she bit it back. He would understand in time that the job wasn't about the money. The man wanted his reputation back. This was the lesson Nate would learn though. He would learn that he needed to listen, not only to clients but to the people around him and especially the one he was in a relationship with. Or at least that was what she hoped. Instead she nuzzled her head into his neck and focused on think about how nice it was to just be.

OoO

Once the three left Nate and Sophie were left at the Microbrewery. Nate looked at her, eyes tired but with a fire smoldering underneath it all. "You didn't tell me? Why?"

She looked at him, the same devious smile that had been playing across her lips since he realized that he was wrong. How should she respond? Say nothing and make him angry? Be vague and make him angry? Answer him and make him angry? There was a lot of angry here... "Well Nate how else would you have figured it out?"

"Stop answering my questions with questions."

"Look Nathan, we all have lessons we need to learn. Be thankful that he taught you how to listen."

Nate looked at her, blinking. She could see the thoughts swimming behind his eyes. "Do you remember what you said when I asked you why someone would spend so much time listening to nothing? You said 'for the hope of what they might hear.' Well..."

He took a deep breath and cut her off before she could say it. "You can't hear something if you're not listening..."

The deviousness slipped from her smile and she let it widen. Finally he was getting himself together. Things were finally going to start making sense to him! Or, as she thought before, so she hoped. She got out of her seat and went over and kissed him on the cheek. "When you listen Nate...you'll be surprised by all the things you'll hear." With that she left Nate alone to think.

OoO

Sophie fiddled with the mast on the model boat. She was just waiting for the call from Kanack and was busying herself by fiddling around with Nates things. Her free hand went up to the ribbon in her hair and she pulled it loose. Maybe a ribbon would make it look better...She started tying it on when she heard Nate walk into the room. Damn! How did she miss him? The ribbon fell into the deck of the boat in her surprise.

"Playing with my ship I see."

She looked over at him and smiled. Her free hand grabbed the ribbon from the deck and slipped it into her pocket. "Not playing. Just admiring."

He walked over behind her, brushing his fingertips across the back of her neck. She shivered and put her hand over the now sensitive spot. He smirked and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "You remember it don't you?"

"Of course I remember it," She said lightly, resting her hand on the crook of his elbow as her own sign of affection. "You were working on it the night after we stole that heart."

"You do remember."

Her eyes followed him as he slipped away from her touch and sat down in the seat across from her. Even though he wasn't touching her he was teasing her with his smile and his eyes. For a brief second - it felt like a shock - she felt his fingertips brushing over her neck again. "I always remember."

At her words his smile widened and his eyes brightened. She couldn't help but look at him the same way. Forgetting about the ship between them he leaned over to kiss her. The ship fell over causing him to jolt back. "Dammit!" Nate pushed it back up and checked the masts. The largest one made a small cracking noise and fell over onto the table. She cringed. He sighed. "It's alright. We-we can fix it."

"We?"

"I mean I can fix it. It's my fault it's broken."

She frowned a little bit. His agile hands went to trying to fix it, whisking out repair stuff from what seemed like thin air. Once it was all out he went to work on fixing the ship. She reached out and covered his hands with hers. "We can fix it together."

The most adorable smile lit up his face at her words and she resisted the urge to attack his face with kisses. Then she felt Nate tugging her bottom lip out from her teeth with his thumb. "You're going to draw blood if you bite it that hard."

She touched her lip and winced a little. It wasn't swelling but it definitely hurt. "It's your fault," She mumbled. Nate smirked. They went to working on fixing the broken piece together, talking a little along the way. Once it was finished Nate put the stuff away quickly and admired their work.

"Looks good."

She smiled. "Does it have a name?"

"Just S.S. I can't think of the rest of it."

Sophie held out her hand for the paint and Nate quickly got it for her. He asked her what she was going to call it but she shushed him. Carefully she opened the thing of paint and dipped the tiny paintbrush in a small amount of it. She proceeded to paint out the letters in white to match the S.S. he had written. Once she was done she turned the boat around so he could look at it.

"S.S..." He smirked, "Sate."

She cleaned the paintbrush and handed it back to him along with the paint. He put it away and them pushed the boat off to the side. "Well, I thought since we have some memories with it I could name it after us..."

Nate smiled and leaned over and kissed her. He could feel her smiling against his lips as she leaned in more to his touch.

OoO

Nate looked at the guy the he had knocked out lying on the ground. He wasn't quite sure if he should leave him there. Raindrops fell on his skin as the sky slowly became darker. Sophie walked over under the building for cover from the rain. He barked orders over comms and then turned his earbud down.

"If you're gonna leave him there can you hurry up!" She called over to him.

He looked over his shoulder and then fully turned around and went over to her. She had already taken her glasses off and put them in her purse, now running her hands together for warmth. He took her hand in his as they walked back to his car. She looked at him, a little surprised.

"Thanks for saving me back there."

He smiled a little. "No problem."

"Is it safe to talk?"

"Hm?"

She pointed to her ear, gesturing about the comms. He reached up and pulled it out of his ear and slipped it into his pocket. They could talk for a few minutes. And he was internally excited about what she might say, being that she knew he wouldn't want the team to hear. "I was just wondering if you wanted to go to Cannon Beach after the con was over."

Sure, they went out to dinner and movies and spent the nights and days with each other but rarely did they ever ask one another to go out on a date. He smiled, nodding a little. "Yeah. Yeah, I'd like that."

OoO

At a particularly loud crash of thunder Sophie jumped in her seat. She sighed as it subsided into a low rumble that weaned out into the silence of hailing raining. "So much for our date."

"We're pretty much stuck here until the rain blows over unless you're not afraid of getting a little wet running to the car."

She looked around at the busy bar full of people with the same dilemma as them. "There's no privacy in this place," she puffed.

"What about the backroom?"

"No, Hardison and Parker are back there."

"So?"

"Their having a special moment Nate. I don't want to barge in and ruin it."

He licked his lips and looked around. She saw that look in his eyes that he always had when he was thinking about something that was bothering him. "What's wrong?"

Normally Nate would've waved it off but then again he was trying to make changes. "It just seems like Hardison and Parker are better at being a couple then we are." He scratched his nose. "...seems like Hardisons just a better boyfriend then I am sometimes."

"And if Parker was into doing normal things she would most likely be a better girlfriend then me."

"Why do you say that?"

"Didn't you see her with the picnic basket? She was trying to make their date work but the rain got in the way. Look at us. We didn't even try."

Nate finished his coffee and stood up. "Come on."

Sophie stood, a little nervous. She didn't want her hair to get ruined. "Where are we going?"

"Home." Was all he answered. He took off his jacket and handed it to her. She held it over her head as they ran to his car. The water splashed up around her feet, soaking her jeans. Nate ran beside her with his hand on the small of her back. Once the made it to the car Nate stopped her. She tried to open the door but he just smiled kissed her. Butterflies filled her stomach at how romantic it was. A kiss in the rain. Nate felt the rain soaking through his shirt as he pressed himself close to her. At least in the darkness and rain no one could see them. He loved kissing her in the rain no matter what it was like. Now that they were here in Portland he had an excuse to do it a lot.

THE END

In case you didn't catch this, the one about the ship is a huge metaphor. Anyways, I hope you guys liked it.