Challenge #1 - Begin: The Chase, general, pre-Nate/Sophie, PG
Author: alinaandalion
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairing: pre-Nate/Sophie
Genre: General
Summary: The game has to start somewhere.
Prompt: Begin
He doesn’t notice her at first. While she is a master at standing out, she can melt away just as easily, which is how she gets the head start. Well, that’s the story he’s going with. Just because he stops and stares when he finally gets a good look at her doesn’t mean that is the reason she gets away.
But, when he does see her, across the street on a stifling hot night in Prague, he can’t help and look for a moment. And, she stares back, a half-smirk on her face, before turning and taking off down an alley. He thinks later that she shouldn’t be able to move that fast in heels.
Two years later, in Damascus, he finds her again, this time during the spring right on the cusp of summer. He corners her on a back street in the late afternoon, and she turns to face him, the sudden shift throwing him off and making him step back.
“No one has ever gotten this close to catching me before, Nathan Ford.”
He tries very hard not to smile in triumph. “Well, I believe that I deserve to know your name, then, since you already have mine.”
That earns him an answering smile that warms him more than the golden afternoon’s sun. “Sophie Devereaux.”
There’s a moment when he sees the change in her eyes, but he’s still moving too slow to do anything about it; she takes off down the street, and it takes him a full three seconds to convince his body to go after her. The thrill of a new opponent settles over him.
