Chapter Text
Nathan Drake broke through the wooden boards blocking the doorway, allowing Chloe Frazer, Elena Fisher, and Victor Sullivan to pile into the small room at the back of the abandoned building. Nate took one final glance behind them, checking they hadn’t been followed, and ducked in after them. Sully and Nate flicked on their torches, brightening the dark room.
“That was way too close,” Chloe said, as soon as she could see.
Nate rounded on her, “Yeah, you don’t say. Why the hell did you start shooting?”
“One of them found our hiding place, forgive me for not letting them kill us.”
“I was dangling thirty foot in the air without a weapon! You could’ve taken him down quietly.”
“And you could’ve stopped to come up with a plan instead of climbing up the side of a building, as usual!”
“Okay, okay,” Sully interrupted their argument before it could spiral, “We should all calm down. Maybe smoke a cigar or two, nurse our injuries.”
He nodded his head pointedly at Elena, who had sat down on an old wooden box, her injured wrist cradled to her chest. Chloe met Nate’s gaze, a silent truce passed between them. Nate wasn’t even mad at her, really. He just became overly sensitive whenever Elena hurt herself. Last year, he’d come so close to seeing her die, and now every injury she got made him terrified.
Nate left Chloe and Sully and pulled up a box next to Elena. He sat down, angling his torch between them so he could see her face.
“How is it?” he asked.
“It’s fine,” she lied.
“Can I?”
Nate held his hands out to her and for a moment it looked like she wasn’t going to hand her wrist over. Delicately, she placed her injured wrist in his hands. Her skin was hot, he could already feel the swell in her wrist. As he gently brought her wrist closer to look for bruising, she hissed in pain and he breathed out a quick apology.
“It’s just a sprain,” she said, ever the stubborn patient.
“We’ll get some ice.”
“Oh yeah, I’m sure this place has tons of ice just lying around.”
“Stranger things have happened.”
Nate relinquished her wrist back to her. She returned to cradling it tenderly in her other hand. A crash startled them both as Chloe pried off a board on the window, letting sunlight stream into the room. Nate left Elena, content that she was fine for now, and joined Chloe by the window, looking out onto the streets they’d just run through. She pulled out her binoculars and peered through the dirty glass.
“Elena’s good,” Nate spoke quietly so Elena couldn’t overhear.
“She’s a trooper,” Chloe said. She paused, binoculars to her face, and added, “I really didn’t mean to let her fall.”
Nate patted her shoulder, “I know. I just get...”
He shook his head. He didn’t want to admit that the thought of Elena getting hurt drove him crazy. Chloe probably already knew because she nodded her head slightly as he drifted into silence.
He cleared his throat, eager to break past the moment, “What do you see?”
Chloe handed him the binoculars, “There, right in the middle of town. That tall building with the huge pool.”
Nate surveyed the town. They were on the West side of São Miguel, having stowed away on a cargo ship yesterday. Nate had never been to the Azores before, but so far he was impressed. It was windy, but it was also beautiful, full of old architecture and beaches. Nate loved a beach.
Chloe eased his head into the right direction, “Over there.”
Nate spotted the place she was talking about. A beautiful white stone building almost directly in the middle of town.
“What about it?”
“That’s the most expensive hotel on the island. If my hunch is correct – and they usually are – Faustino will be there.”
Nate lowered the binoculars. They’d followed a man called Faustino all the way here from New Zealand. He had what they wanted. The Musgravite Twins, a pair of incredibly expensive earrings worth a whopping $70,000. They had been within Nate’s grasp in New Zealand, but Faustino had got there first.
“So… we break in?” Nate asked. It wasn’t the most thought out plan, but he was game.
“No, I have a better idea.” She took the binoculars back off Nate and tucked them into her bag. She turned away from the window, “Elena, can I have your phone?”
Elena struggled momentarily to get her good hand into the pocket of her shorts, before tossing her phone to Chloe. Nate returned to his boxseat next to Elena, and Sully leaned on the wall beside him. The three of them watched Chloe fiddle with Elena’s phone, before listening to a muttered one-sided conversation.
After a moment, she smiled triumphantly and tossed the phone back to Elena, “I’ve got a plan.”
Sully blew out a cloud of cigar smoke, “Feel free to share it anytime.”
“Cutter thinks Faustino came here with his Mistress, Priya.”
“And that helps us how?” Elena asked.
“Patience, my dear. If Faustino and Priya are anywhere it will be the Sol Grand Hotel, the most expensive hotel in town, and perfect for couples. Charlie just booked the honeymoon suite.”
“Wouldn’t four rooms make more sense?” Sully asked.
“No, because we’re not all going in. Only two of us are.” Chloe was met with blank faces, and she sighed like a misunderstood genius, “Two of us will go in, disguised as a married couple on their honeymoon, and scope out Faustino.”
“No, no, no,” Nate said, shaking his head, “I see where you’re going with this. Last time me and you were together I almost died in an icy train crash. Not again, I’m out.”
“I’m flattered, but I wasn’t talking you and me,” Chloe’s eyes slid over to Elena.
“Me and Nate?” Elena asked. She let out a laugh, “No way.”
“Bit defensive there,” Nate said.
“I just mean, I could fake marry Sully, surely?”
Nate spluttered, offended, “You’d rather marry Sully than me?”
Elena shrugged, but her answer was clear on her face. Nate, his mouth open in shock, looked to Chloe for support but she was trying – and failing – to hide her smirk.
“That doesn’t make sense. It’s unbelievable, Faustino will see right through it. A girl like you with someone like him?” Nate glanced to Sully, “No offence.”
“Oh, of course not. Why would that possibly offend me?” Sully muttered.
Elena stood up, “But it makes sense for me to be with someone like you?”
Nate stood up to meet her, “What do you mean someone like me?”
“You know, your whole...” Elena gestured to him with her good hand, encompassing the whole of him, “thing.”
“My thing? I have a thing?”
“Oh jesus, you even bicker like a married couple,” Chloe complained.
“Chloe, do I have a thing?”
“She’s got a point, Nate. You’re a bit...” Chloe pulled a face as she struggled for the right word, “pretty.”
“Pretty!” Elena exclaimed happily, “That’s it. You’re pretty.”
“Pretty?” Nate repeated, “I am not pretty. I’m… Handsome!”
Chloe and Elena burst into laughter. Nate glowered at them but it only made them laugh harder.
“Stop laughing.” He turned to Sully, who was pretending to mind his own business and smoke his cigar, “Sully, am I pretty?”
“I’m not getting involved,” Sully mimed washing his hands of the conversation.
Chloe and Elena were still laughing. Nate dropped onto his wooden box as they relished in his annoyance. He wasn’t pretty. He was handsome, and rugged, and other manly words. He barely even styled his hair. He could climb a rock cliff without gloves. He’d been in two fist fights just this morning. That wasn’t pretty!
“I hate you two being friends,” Nate sulked.
Slowly, giggles still occasionally overcoming them, Chloe and Elena stopped laughing. Elena’s cheeks were rosy, Chloe was clutching her stomach. Nate waited, his jaw set, still insulted.
“All right,” Sully said, when they’d finally stopped, “Pretty face aside. Elena and Nate go into the hotel disguised as a newly married couple, then what?”
“They get information on Faustino, which room he’s in, where we can find him day-to-day, where the Twins might be,” Chloe explained. “Meanwhile, we keep an eye on them from a distance, make sure they stay out of trouble.”
“That’s a full time job with these two,” Sully said.
“But won’t Faustino recognise us?” Elena asked.
“No. He only knows me, and all the guards who saw us are dead.”
Chloe was studying Nate and Elena with concentration. She narrowed her eyes as she surveyed the two of them. Nate felt like a display in a museum as she searched for anything that might give their act away.
“We need rings,” she said, finally.
“I have a ring,” Nate said.
“Yes, dear, you have a ring,” she flicked Francis Drake’s ring hanging from his neck, “We need one for Elena.”
“No, I mean, I have a ring for Elena,” Nate explained.
Silence followed his words. Chloe, Elena, and Sully were staring at him, shocked. It took a few seconds for Nate to realise what he’d just said, and he felt heat creep up his neck. He backtracked hastily.
“Not for Elena. I didn’t buy a ring for Elena, I just have a ring for her. Wait, it’s not for her. Never mind, just give me a minute.” Nate slid his satchel around his body and began to rummage through it with shaking hands. He pushed past two notebooks, spare bullets, a pack of mints.
“Uh, Nate?” Chloe prompted.
“It’s fine, I know it’s here somewhere.” Nate’s fingers closed around the small silver band, “Aha!”
He held his hand out, the ring tiny in his palm. Everyone was still staring at him. Elena flicked a look at the ring like it was a coiled snake waiting to strike. He rolled his eyes, and brought the ring between his thumb and forefinger. He got down on one knee in front of Elena. The almost fearful look on her face disappeared and she let out a relieved laugh.
He held the ring up to her, “Elena Fisher, will you be my fake wife?”
“I’d love to.”
Luckily her left hand was the uninjured one, and he carefully slipped the band around her ring finger. No one pointed out that it fit perfectly. No one noticed that Nate’s throat had closed up. She lifted her hand and studied the ring as it glinted in the sunlight.
“Why do you have that?” Chloe asked.
Nate stood up, “What? You haven’t found thousands of rings? And you call yourself a thief.”
Nate deflected easily. He met Sully’s eyes and quickly looked away. Nate did find rings all the time, and necklaces, earrings, bracelets. But this ring hadn’t been found, it had been bought.
“We’ll need cleaner clothes, some luggage. What else do honeymooners need?” Chloe asked.
“Lingerie,” Sully said, far too quickly.
Elena and Nate groaned in disgust.
“You’re a dirty old man, Sully,” Nate said.
“Elena and I will go shopping then. Nate, get cleaned up, you smell like a cargo ship.”
“Thank you,” Nate rolled his eyes.
“The honeymoon starts in an hour,” Chloe said, leading Elena back out of the abandoned building.
When they were alone, Sully gestured at Nate with his cigar, “You sure that was a good idea, kid?”
“What’s the worst that could happen?”
“She could find out who that ring was really for,” Sully said.
Nate waved his hand dismissively, “How? It’s fine. We’ll do this plan, find the Twins, and be relaxing on the beach with a few beers in no time.”
“Or you could just tell her you bought the ring for her.”
“No,” Nate said, firmly.
“Why not? Kid, I’ve never seen two people more-”
“No, Sully,” Nate interrupted, “The ring’s for the plan and then I’ll get it back. Just let it go.”
Sully lifted his hands in surrender and clamped his cigar between his teeth, “Whatever you say.”