"Good morning, this is Fortitude. How can I help you today?"

Nathan raised his eyebrows in greeting as he strolled past the receptionist as she juggled the phone to her ear. Further down the hall, he could see through the large, floor-to-ceiling windows into Clay's office as he paced up and down, talking animatedly on his Bluetooth earpiece. The two agents exchanged nods before Nathan entered his own office opposite Clay's, settling in his oversized black desk chair with a sigh.

It had been a long week, a difficult one, if Nathan was honest. He'd never really lived with anyone before, apart from Lucas, and he'd particularly never lived with anyone dealing with the situation Haley was in. He hadn't expected her to miraculously recover overnight, but it had been exhausting keeping up with her ever-changing emotions and deciphering the best way for him to react and behave. Not that it was exactly Haley's fault; he knew that she was just a victim of the darkness in her head, at mercy to the unpredictable emotions her brain was putting her through.

He remembered the feeling all too well from the long days in hospital and the recovery after his knee injury, wanting to live inside his own head and listen to the demons that were tying him down. He remembered the anger he felt when doctors, Clay, Lucas, his own mother tried to talk to him, to tease him out of the dark bubble he wanted to wallow in. Although he was now grateful for their efforts, he found himself self-consciously wanting to avoid similar confrontations with Haley. Not that sweet, quiet Haley James was drinking herself into stupors night after night, or throwing bottles at people who tried to help, like he had done, but Nathan was acutely aware of how their current living situation had rapidly and unnaturally escalated their relationship. Overnight, they had gone from acquaintances to Nathan being the person who saw and spoke to Haley the most, the most supportive figure in her fight to regain normalcy, her surrogate best friend. He knew that she hated to acknowledge the tears that frequently escaped her dark eyes, and while it didn't feel right to him to sit idly by and do nothing, he was never certain that he was doing or saying the right thing, if he was making things worse or better for her. Too many times he found himself wishing that Lucas was around for advice, but his editors had confiscated his phone until his book was done. So Nathan was on his own, second-guessing his actions but so desperately wanting to help his old tutor.

Despite the two having a nice meal and talk the week before, after Tim and Clay had left, it hadn't gone unnoticed by Nathan that he had led the conversation, with Haley happy to listen to his tales about college with Lucas and his life in the NBA, asking more questions any time Nathan tried to turn the conversation to her or get her to talk about how she was feeling. She had avoided joining him on his morning runs, saying she needed to get some proper shoes and running clothes first. She spent a lot of time in her room, and Nathan was hesitant, knowing there was a fine line between supporting someone and pushing them too hard.

It hadn't been a total disaster, though, and Nathan knew that there were moments when he hadn't totally screwed things up. On her second morning living with him, he had found her in her bedroom, sobbing over the small carry-on suitcase she had brought with her. Haley had been in tears because she had forgotten to pack shampoo, angrily declaring that she was pathetic and useless as she threw her meager possessions back into the bag. Through her tears, she had flatly refused Nathan's offer to go and buy her some, seemingly preferring to succumb to the dark mood she had been pulled into. Regardless, Nathan spent a bewildering 20 minutes at the supermarket, randomly sniffing bottles until he found one he thought Haley might like. The bottle he'd left outside her closed bedroom door had disappeared, her hair had been damp when he saw her next, and nothing further had been said. It still hadn't helped the feeling that Nathan was walking on eggshells around her, helplessly wanting to reach out and make everything better.

"Good morning, Mr Scott."

Nathan was pulled from his thoughts as his secretary entered his office.

"Hi, Rachel."

The tall redhead walked to his desk, handing over a stack of envelopes, which Nathan started to flick through as she spoke. "The Taylor contract just came through for you to look at, they said you should be happier with the new figures... you have a meeting with the Hornets at 10am and Troy Jameson called and wants to see you sometime today."

"Ok," Nathan nodded as he opened up his mail. "Can you call him back and schedule a meeting this afternoon? 2pm would be good."

"Sure thing," she agreed as she jotted the note on the pad of paper she held.

"How are you feeling?"

A beaming smile spread across his secretary's face at his question, and her hand went to her small, rounded stomach. "Great, really great. This trimester is so much easier than the first. My morning sickness has gone and I'm feeling much better."

Nathan smiled at her. Rachel Gatina was absolutely glowing. The two had become unlikely friends three years ago, when Nathan first joined the Bobcats. She had been a cheerleader, and the only one who had turned down the advances of the new star player, who simply assumed it was standard practice to sleep with as many cheerleaders as possible. Much to Nathan's surprise, Rachel had declared that she never slept with the players; she wasn't going to play to that stereotype, she was only after meaningful, long-term relationships. The sooner she could get married and settle down, the better.

After Nathan's accident and once he'd made the decision to join Clay as an agent himself, Nathan had heard that Rachel was also preparing for life away from the court. As well as being smart and organized, Rachel was strong and tenacious, and Nathan quickly discovered that he couldn't have found a better secretary to help him along his new career path. Within weeks of him hiring her, Rachel had fallen head over heels for Fortitude's accountant, Dean. Although Nathan had initially been surprised, their marriage after only one month of dating and subsequent pregnancy the month after that only seemed fitting.

"That's great to hear," Nathan enthused. "And how's Dean?"

"Well, you know Dean ... up to his eyeballs in numbers and books. But he's excited, he loves being a husband and he was born to be a father." Rachel paused, eyeing up her boss. "You know, you could have that life too, if you tried."

Nathan pressed his lips together. It had been Clay's idea for the new agency to go out and celebrate, which had led to Nathan drunkenly confessing to his secretary that he, too, longed to have a more settled life now that his basketball career had ended. The idea of marrying and having children no longer filled him with fear and dread, but now sounded appealing and almost necessary to completing the life he had been building for the past year.

"It's been a busy year, Rach. I'm only just back on my feet - literally and metaphorically. I don't have time for dating."

"Well maybe you should make time ... Clay says there's a girl visiting you at the moment..."

"Clay needs to keep his big mouth shut."

"... and he caught you guys having a cozy dinner last week." Rachel finished, ignoring Nathan's interruption.

"She's just a friend. And it was just a dinner."

"Mmm-hmm. Right."

"Can we not talk about my personal life, please? And stop gossiping with Clay. You work for me, not him."

"Nathan..."

He looked up at her soft tone. Rachel hardly ever called him that at work; it had been her preference to refer to him as "Mr Scott" in order to suit her professional role.

"I know you're not that guy anymore. You don't have to be afraid of every woman going after you because they think you're the big celebrity basketballer, or them running away because of a reputation you used to have. You have to let someone in, give them the chance to get to know the real Nathan Scott."

"I appreciate what you're saying, Rachel, but this isn't a discussion for work hours."

His secretary nodded, knowing that she couldn't push her generous boss any further with the personal conversation. "No problem. I'll get back to you once I've confirmed with Jameson."

"Thank you."

Nathan watched as she headed out of his office, and he tried to ignore her words that were reverberating around his head as he flicked the contract she had left on his desk. It was easier for him to shut out the latter part of their conversation, but he didn't like the thought of Clay talking about Haley with anyone. His business partner had sent several curious, probing texts after that night, and Nathan was glad that he'd been able to avoid replying, being grateful that Clay had to be out of the office all of last week for work. But he was back now, and clearly still curious if it had been mentioned to Rachel. Nathan felt strangely protective over Haley, knowing how vulnerable she must feel about staying with him, and how hyper-aware she was at the thought of people talking about her.

He'd barely read a word from the paper in front of him before his office door opened again and Clay's mischievous face was in his line of sight.

"Howdy, partner."

"Clay, you were in Texas for a week. You're not a cowboy."

"Someone's grumpy this morning... the girlfriend didn't wake you up with a..."

"Clay..." Nathan's tone was low and resembled a bear growling.

"... coffee? Why, what did you think I was going to say?"

Nathan gritted his teeth together, deciding to ignore the "girlfriend" comment in order to steer clear of conversation that wasn't work related. He'd only been in the office 20 minutes and he'd had enough of that.

"How was Texas? Anyone promising?"

"There were a couple, but, you know, I just thought I'd invite them over for an intimate dinner on a night when we'd made plans and not tell you about it ... and then not reply to your texts afterwards."

"Clay..."

"Ok, ok, I got it, you don't want to talk about Haley James. You know, that throbbing vein in your forehead is kinda sexy..."

Nathan took a deep breath. Clay was a great agent and business partner, and had become a good friend. He had been as supportive as Lucas when Nathan had been a grade-A asshole after his injury, but still Nathan didn't feel that it was his place to share Haley's situation with Clay. It was no one's business why she was staying with him.

"Look, Haley is an old friend of mine from school, she's staying in Charlotte for a while, that's it. We're not dating, our dinner wasn't romantic and I'm sorry I forgot about our guy's night. Now, can we please talk about work? What happened in Texas?"

He exhaled in relief as Clay, after a placating eyebrow raise, began to fill him in on his business trip last week, the potential players he had seen and the interest in the agency he had garnered. Nathan took another deep breath.

Just another day in the life of a sports agent.

I'm embarrassed at how long this update took me, considering it's such a boring, filler chapter! If you're still awake after reading this, I promise I will try and keep updating a little faster and things will pick up with our favorite couple. In case anyone was wondering, I'm using random character names for certain characters in this story, so there's no need to worry about trouble brewing ahead with my Rachel (anyone catch my reference to naming her husband Dean? Hehe). Anyway, your reviews and feedback have been amazingly kind and mean a lot to me, so thank you so much!