Haley rubbed her sweaty face with a towel as she watched Nathan on the leg machine. Dressed in his Celtics workout gear, she looked on as he pushed against the weights, using them to help strengthen his knee. Sweat stained his shirt and beaded on his forehead as he made a face and grunted, giving his all despite pain and exhaustion. Training for the FBI she had found herself in the gym with the guys plenty of times. But there was something different about being there with Nathan Scott.

"Okay, that was 50. Time to move on."

"Huh?" Haley shook herself from the trance that had been staring at her workout partner's butt.

"We're done with this machine. Just one more," he pointed.

Haley looked over and let out a groan. It was the dreaded leg press and hack squat. She had seen that machine one too many times as she tried to condition her legs to be a better runner. You would sit on the seat with your legs extended straight and up against the weights. Then begin repetitions by bringing your knees and the weight closer to your body and pushing it back again. It was her least favorite piece of gym equipment and the only exercise she despised more than running.

"Not this one," she whined. "Anyone but this one."

Nathan chuckled.

"What's wrong with this one?"

"It sucks."

He shook his head.

"Well, what do you know? Looks like Haley Webb can't hang."

"Oh whatever. I have been kicking ass so far. I can totally hang."

He threw down his towel and hopped on the machine, looking at the identical one beside him.

"Prove it."

"Fine," she huffed, plopping down. "I will."

He smirked as they began their workout. They were quiet but he couldn't help but watch her from the corner of his eye. She kept a slow and steady pace with the small weights as her long, tanned legs pushed them back and forth. It was a machine he was used to and could do all day long with his eyes closed but after a few minutes or so, he could tell Haley was struggling. But he had to give it to her. The girl had heart. Grunting and bearing down with trembling legs, she made it all the way to the end.

"I'm impressed."

She gave him a mean look.

"You mean surprised?"

"That too," he grinned. "But it's cool. Besides, you did pretty good today. Looks like you're in pretty good shape."

"Well, this isn't exactly the first time I've seen the inside of a gym, you know."

"You work out a lot?"

"Nah. I avoid it when I can. Usually, only when I'm in training."

She caught herself the moment she said it but it was too late. The words had already been blurted out.

"What kind of training?" Nathan asked.

"Huh? Oh, um, marathons."

"Really? I didn't know you were a runner."

Neither did she. Haley wanted to die. She had managed to come up with a decent and quick cover up but there was no room for error and slip ups when it came to maintaining the integrity of her case and undercover status. If Nathan were to find out, it would ruin everything and she could only imagine the angry looks on her supervisors' faces as they were listening on.

"Yeah, uh, nothing too serious. I just kind of um, you know, dabbled with it back in the day."

He nodded.

"You're from Florida, right?"

"Tampa."

"Florida is pretty cool. We used to vacation there a lot when I was little. I like it. I wish we had more time to do stuff when we play the away games in Orlando and Miami and stuff but usually I get to make up for it on the off season when I party in South Beach."

"Great area," Haley reiterated.

Or so she'd heard.

"Did you like it there growing up?"

"Um, sure. It was nice. It's a beautiful area and there's a lot of water, if you like that sort of thing and it's always plenty to do."

"What do your parents do?"

"They're both school teachers."

"Teachers, huh? That must have sucked sometimes. I bet they were always on your ass about good grades and stuff."

"Yeah…"

"So you like being a nurse?"

"I love it. It has its moments like everything else but it's okay."

"I don't know if I could do it," Nathan shook his head.

"Why not?"

"It can get gross. I mean, I have a pretty strong stomach and all but a person can only take so much blood and guts, you know?"

Haley nodded. Interesting words coming from a man suspected of beating another man to death.

"It's not so bad. You get used to it."

"Besides, when it comes down to it, it's really all about helping people, right?"

"That's right."

"But if you couldn't have done it, like if the whole nursing thing hadn't worked out, what would you have been?"

She smiled.

"You really want to know?"

"I asked."

"A singer."

"A singer?"

"Go ahead and laugh, Nathan. Talk about your pipe dreams."

He shrugged.

"It doesn't have to be a pipe dream. I mean, anything is possible."

"Yeah right."

"Did you ever try?"

"Well, not actually but…"

"There you go. You'll never know because you didn't try."

"It would have been nice, I suppose but like anything worth having, it would have been a lot of hard work. I don't know if I could have taken it…long hours auditioning, trying to score a record deal…all that rejection."

"You just have to believe in yourself. Know you're the best, even if you aren't and always work harder to be better. Maybe you could have made it. Who knows? Maybe you still can."

"I doubt it. Plus, you have shown me the light."

"What do you mean?"

"There's a lot of crap that comes with fame and fortune. It's not what it's cracked up to be all the time. I see how hard you work, I see the toll it takes on you…all the travel, the expectations. I tell you, you're a strong guy. I'd be nuts by now. But it doesn't matter now anyway. It's not like I'm that good."

"I thought you sounded pretty okay."

Haley laughed out loud.

"When? Don't tell me during my drunken Pussycat Dolls imitation."

"Hey, so you sounded good even though you were wasted out of your mind. That's gotta say something, right?"

"Yeah it says that I need to leave the Southern Comfort alone."

"Well, now's your chance."

"Excuse me?"

"Go for it. You look pretty sober to me. Sing."

"Sing. Right now, right here for you?"

Nathan thought for a minute.

"Not right here. Follow me."

He stood and beckoned her to come with him before she could even protest. Together they left the Celtics' gym and moved to the grand main arena in the front.

"Are you kidding me?" Haley asked, as she looked around wide eyed.

"I'm serious. It's a pretty big stage. Some of the best performers in the world have been right where you stand. Actors, singers, musicians, athletes. This is where I come with my team to play in front of thousands of people. That's a pretty cool feeling. Even here now with it just being you and me, it doesn't matter. Because just standing here is the biggest rush. I get to feel it all the time and it's a pretty amazing feeling. So even after you're done with me and you go back to a hospital nursing or whatever, you can always look back on today and remember what it felt like."

Haley looked away.

"Nathan, stop it. You're being silly. I can't."

He walked away, taking a seat on the first row.

"Who's stopping you?"

She looked around, taking in all her surroundings and it nearly took her breath away. It was her job to lie to Nathan but the part about her childhood dream had been the truth. And the moment along with his words had been surreal. It gave her a chill throughout her body and she wanted to cry. Instead she closed her eyes, swallowed hard and opened her mouth to sing. The first few notes of Amazing Grace were sung slightly pitchy and perhaps a little too softly. But by the third line, she had it. Loud, on perfect key, confident and beautiful. She sang her little heart out, belting out the words like the whole world was watching her. And when it was over, the last a capella note finished, she opened her eyes and a single tear fell as Nathan was still watching her.

"Oh my God," she said softly, wiping at her cheek.

He stood and walked over to her.

"How did that feel?"

"Incredible."

"I told you so. That's all that matters."

"How…how did it sound? Gosh, I feel like such a tool for even asking…"

"It sounded good," he shoved his hands in the deep pockets. "It sounded real good."

"Why did you just do that?"

"Because I wanted you to have this. No matter what happens, you'll always have the few minutes you sang in the middle of the Banknorth Garden."

It was a quite an experience and Nathan was right. She'd always have it.

"Thank you," she whispered, shaking that he was standing so close to her.

He nodded.

"You ready to get back?"

"Huh?"

"The workout. We're not finished."

She shook it off, trying to snap back into reality.

"Oh. Right."

"Hope you didn't think I'd let you off the hook that easily. We've got one more thing to do. I admit, you kept up today so the next part should be no problem since you ran marathons before."

"Great. We're running. How fun," she rolled her eyes playfully.

"I'm the one with the bum knee. Hope I can keep up."

Haley gave him a smile as they headed for the exit.

"I'm sure you'll be fine but let me warn you now to keep your distance when we're done. I haven't run in a long time and uh, in case you forgot about what happened with your dad, I am a puker," she winked.

She cleared her throat and tried to focus as they left the arena together, telling herself over and over again, that it was just a job, that it was all part of the investigation. But truth be told, it had just went a little further. Whether she would ever admit to it or not, Nathan Scott was starting to get to her.