Chapter Twelve

"Locked in! How can we be locked in?" Haley exclaimed.

"We both heard someone open the door and check in here while we were hiding over there, they must have locked it then," Nathan said reasonably

"B-but –"

"Don't talk so loud," Nathan told her, "and try to calm down."

"Don't tell me to calm down!" Haley proceeded to hit Nathan on his shoulder. "This is all your fault!"

"My fault? You're the one who wanted to steal your own statue in the first place!"

"You should have come up with a plan that could get us out if we got locked in!"

"I did!" Nathan said angrily.

"And you should have – did you just say that you did?"

"Yes! If you'd stop hitting me and listen to me instead then I could tell you that I can get us out of this."

"Oh. Sorry," Haley said sheepishly.

Nathan rolled his eyes and stood up. Haley watched him take a tape measure out of his jacket and start measuring some distance on the wall. She wanted to ask him what he was doing, but she had the feeling that after her outburst – and her hitting him – he wasn't in the best of moods with her. So she watched him silently, until he asked her, "Can you hold this?"

She stood up and held the tape measure in place as Nathan took out a pen and marked the spot he wanted on the wall. Then he gave her the tape measure and pen to hold and took out a magnet from his inner jacket pocket. "So, what else do you have hidden there?" Haley said jokingly. Nathan didn't reply. 'So…he's pissed. Note to self: shut up.'

Nathan placed the magnet over the spot he had marked with the pen. Haley heard a clicking sound as something attached itself to the magnet. Keeping the magnet attached to the wall, Nathan proceeded to push it slightly upwards and then move it to his right, towards the door. He kept doing this, moving in the path he was directing the magnet, Haley following him as she watched over his shoulder. Soon the magnet was on part of the door; Nathan gently lowered it, both Haley and himself bending down as he did. When the magnet was just above the very bottom of the door Nathan took it off the door and Haley heard a small noise, of something falling on the floor. Nathan put his hand under the small crack below the door and when he brought it out again, he was holding a key in his hand.

"Wow," Haley breathed.

Nathan smiled at her briefly, before putting the key in the lock and turning it. To his irritation, the lock didn't budge.

"Is it the wrong key?" Haley worried.

"No," Nathan shook his head, knowing his measurements were correct. He had measured the distance of the door to this key on the board of keys more than once. He turned the key again, but it didn't open. "It doesn't unlock from the inside. Luckily, I brought this."

From his trouser pocket Nathan pulled out a long white cord. Haley only saw the strange-looking silver thing on its end for a second before Nathan pushed it through the keyhole, having already taken the key out. Nathan slowly pushed more of the cord out the keyhole until Haley heard the silver bit at the end touch the concrete floor, and then she saw it emerge from underneath the door. Nathan stopped pushing the cord, and put the end of the key in the silver part at the end of the cord. He then started pulling the cord back up, the bottom of it going out through the door and coming back in through the key hole. Soon, the key was in the hole; Nathan turned the cord sideways – careful not to lose the key – and this time was successful. The lock turned and the door swung open.

Nathan took the key out of the lock and looked at Haley with a triumphant smile. She was looking at him like she could kiss him. This reminded him of the one time they had kissed, and he fought to brush the thought out of his mind. It wasn't easy when she was so close to him that she was practically breathing down his neck (and not in an irritating way, either).

Nathan jerkily concentrated on putting his things back in his pockets, and then stood up to put distance between himself and Haley. This was hard since she stood up after him.

"I'm sorry I started yelling at you. And for hitting you."

"It's okay," Nathan shrugged.

"No, it's not. You have no reason to help me, and yet you are. If something does go wrong then it's my fault, not yours, since I was the one who started this," Haley said quickly. "I was just so worried that we wouldn't get the statue and then on Friday –" Haley immediately stopped as she realized what she had almost revealed.

"Yes?"

"Nothing," Haley shook her head hurriedly. "It's nothing."

Nathan shifted a bit, as if contemplating something, and then put his hands into his pockets. "But if we hadn't got the statue then on Friday what would you do about Professor Bauer?"

"Well, we – What?" Haley exclaimed. She stared wide-eyed at Nathan, who seemed more certain of himself by her reaction.

"The statue's a fake, isn't it?" He said it more as a statement than a question. Haley opened her mouth to protest, but Nathan interrupted her, "Don't say anything; just nod or shake your head."

Haley nodded her head sadly, and he smiled.

"Who made it?"

"My grandfather."

"Who posed for it?"

"My grandmother." It was Haley's turn to ask the questions now and a thousand began to whirl through her head. The first which popped out of her mouth was, "Since when have you known?"

"The day you asked me to help you."

She knew that her next question should be, 'How did you know?', but there was another question which was louder in her head. "But – then why did you help me?"

Nathan paused for moment, seeming more unsure of himself than he had before; but then he looked at Haley again and moved forward and kissed her.

This kiss was much softer than their first; his lips barely brushing against hers, gently tugging on her upper lip before he moved away, but for Haley it was just as powerful. The only reason she didn't faint this time was because her back was leaning against the cupboard wall.

Her eyes fluttered open and she met Nathan's gaze, almost unbelievingly. "Oh," she whispered. Nathan kept looking at her and she realized her was waiting for her to speak. How he expected her to form words, let alone sentences, she didn't know. "Will you explain it to me again?"

Nathan grinned and happily complied.