"So where are you heading?" he asked.

"Uhm, New York." Haley replied, looking at him funny since they were on a flight to New York.

"Really?" he said sarcastically making her chuckle "I mean like are you staying with parents or friends or cousins or your boyfriend or-"

"No"

"No?"

"Neither"

"Oh"

"I always spend Christmas alone, in New York most of the time"

"Hm, we have something in common then."

"You spending it alone as well?"

"Yep" that was the first true statement Nathan had give her. His boss had told him that this was his last job of the year and since Christmas was only two weeks away he decided he might as well do something different.

"So what's your excuse?" she laughed slightly.

"Just feel like doing something different. My mother died, my father…well he's not the one to spend Christmas with and my brother and his wife are visiting his mother, we're half brother sorry."

"I see." Haley said slightly taken aback that he hadn't mentioned a wife or at least a girlfriend.

"What about you?" he asked

"Well, I don't see my parents in fact I never have, and I don't have any siblings." Haley looked sad for a moment which Nathan noticed but she soon gave him a smile.

"Oh I'm sorry." he paused "orphan?"

"More like abandoned." she said quietly and his eyebrows raised.

"I was brought up by my aunt, she worked in a bar and by the time I hit eighteen I had a job as a singer."

"Really" he gasped slightly at this.

"Yep" she said looking down as if she was ashamed, clearly she didn't want to talk anymore about it so Nathan didn't pry.

Nathan had been watching the other passengers closely, trying to figure out if any of them followed a pattern or a routine to go to the toilet straight after each other so they could accidentally bump into each other. Everything seemed to be moving swiftly. They were an hour into the flight and nothing had captured his immediate attention. However there was a couple sitting two seats in front of him that kept getting a visit from a man coming from the back of the plane. Nathan noticed how whenever the man in the couple stood up to collect something from his hand luggage or when he pressed the assistance button, five minutes later their "friend" would appear and ask them "oh hey how's it going, not seen you in a while". This funnily enough happened twice. Nathan picked up the surprise expressions they played on their faces, twice, the"not seen you in a while" handshake that happened twice and the kiss on the cheek and a subtle whisper in the ear, which the woman received. Twice.

Nathan was aware of the fact that these events happened within an hour of each other and most of the passengers surrounding them were either asleep, caught up in a book, or watching the film that required headphones.

When their "friend" began walking towards them from the front of the plane, supposedly stretching his legs, he nodded to the couple. Nathan was becoming increasingly suspicious, the nod, he replayed it in his head and is almost sure that the man glanced at Nathan himself before nodding.

"Excuse me. I have to get something from my hand luggage." Nathan said to Haley as he started to shift.

"Okay" she smiled. She was ringing her hands and Nathan noticed she was still wearing her seatbelt.

"You know you can take that off." he chuckled.

"No, I'm good" she replied whilst he stood up and opened the overhead compartment. Leaning a little more to the left so he was relatively close to the man who was taking to his "friends", Nathan tried to listen in. He caught something that made him question everything. "She's on board"

"Excuse me sir but you are standing above ma and I do not like it." Nathan glanced down to see the older woman, who sat in front of them, with a cross look on her face.

"Sorry" he mumbled whilst taking a seat back down.

"Get what you were looking for?" Haley asked and Nathan had to think for a moment.

"No actually I had it here all along." he smiled and held up the first thing he found which was his cell. Haley nodded and returned back to her book.

The man started paying regular visits to the couple an Nathan became increasingly tense. The words "She's on board." replayed in his head and the nod. Could the nod really have been towards Haley? Why? Do they really want to hijack a plane just to endanger Haley? What are they going to try and do to Haley? Nathan wondered all of this at the same time. It was hard to piece together.

He relaxed his hand on this arm rest, he had to play casual. He glanced at Haley who was in the world of her book. Suddenly the plane shook. Haley's book dropped to the floor and her hand's instantly gripped the arm rest, one of which Nathan had his hand on.

"Its alright" he said trying to calm her, he slipped his hand out from beneath hers and placed it on top, he wasn't even sure if she realised what she had done.

"Sorry" Haley looked embarrassed by what happened.

"Its fine, lots of people are afraid of flying"

The turbulence reduced and the plane became steady again. Haley let out a breath of relief but was still a bit shocked.

"I have to go to the toilet" she said to Nathan who instant reaction was to tell her it may be dangerous but only Nathan could tell her that, James couldn't, and to Haley he was James.