Haley sighed as she sat on the bed in her Portland hotel room. Dressed in black and white Adidas shorts and a simple white tank, she pulled her long hair on top of her head in a messy bun. The game against the Trailblazers had ended hours before and Haley was restless as her mind began to race. First of all, she was home. Just a few miles outside the city, Haley James had grown up with her parents, brothers and sisters. Her family wasn't far away but there was no way to contact them. Just like with Mouth, while undercover, the rules had been strict and laid out since day one. With the exception of the FBI, Haley was to have zero contact with any friends, family, or associates she had known prior to the investigation. She looked down knowing the wire, though not visible through her clothing, was nevertheless firmly attached to her body. It was a surreal feeling to know it was always there and that someone was always listening. The only time she was allowed to remove it, was when she was in the bathroom. Other than that, it was always hidden underneath her clothes and always on, even when she slept. Of course it was for the purpose of the case but it still was an unwelcome and uncomfortable invasion into Haley's life.
Standing up and walking over to the window, she stared at the magnificent view of the city she had lived in for most of her life. As a little girl, she never would have imagined she would be in a top floor suite in the Hotel Monaco as an undercover FBI agent secretly infiltrating the life of the world's most popular athlete. She closed her eyes as she thought about Nathan Scott. Lately he had been the center of her everything, something she hadn't quite realized when she had first agreed to take on the case. But he was and now it was her job to turn up the heat. She had been instructed by the powers that be to get "close" to him by any means necessary. Haley had exercised those instructions in New York City. They'd escaped Dan and had fun drinking beer and eating wings at a karaoke dive. And it had been wonderful. For a few happy, semi drunken hours, it was just two friends having a good time. Then it would hit Haley. She and Nathan were not friends. He didn't even know her. He had no idea Haley James even existed. He had gotten to know and like Haley Webb, a character made up by the federal government.
Nathan was a nice guy, there was no doubt about that. But it had nothing to do with how nice he was. It had everything in the world to do with guilt or innocence. The Scott's charming public images masked a seedy underworld of illegal activity. There were minor charges any agent could have indicted Nathan or Dan on at any given second. But the general suspicion was, there was more…a lot more. The FBI had a personal vendetta of taking down, hopefully, both father and son on a concrete case that would put them both away for life. Haley would play a large part in the outcome. For Dan, she had no sympathy. He was a dastardly man who lived to destroy and control. The world and especially his family, would be a lot better off if he were in prison. But when it came to his son, Haley harbored a barrage of mixed emotions.
A part of her felt horribly guilty about what she was doing, not that she could ever breathe a word to anyone else about it. It was obvious Nathan had trust issues, partly because people were always dicking him over, always wanting something in return from him. He had grown close to Haley because he felt she was not one of those people. But perhaps she was violating him in the biggest way. Guilty or innocent, she shuddered to think about his reaction when he found out her true identity. She was having a hard enough time dealing with her own feelings. On one hand, it was a job, her job. It was the case of a lifetime, an investigation that would make or break the pretty rookie's career. Her main goal was to uphold the law and ensure justice was served. But she was only human. She liked Nathan Scott. He was a cool person, which made the faux relationship that much worse. Besides, she didn't even know if that part of the plan would pan out. Undercover or not, girls like her did not get guys like Nathan. Who's to say if he would even be attracted to her? Still she couldn't help but wonder how far it actually would go? Would Nathan be prepared to deal with the aftermath? Would she?
She hadn't seen him since right after the game. It had been a tough loss in double overtime for the Celtics. He had seemed aggravated, as expected and in the hustle and bustle of post game activities, she had lost track of him. She wondered where he was and what he was doing. Obviously in recent weeks, there had been an undeniable element of chemistry between the two. Her bosses were expecting her to explore it but a part of her was still apprehensive, frightened even. She had opened up to Brooke and Peyton and the reactions had been as different as night and day. Brooke had been giddy and excited, assuring her to pursue her crush. Peyton, on the other hand, had been surly and concerned, fearful almost. And her response had set off Haley's investigative radar. She was an old friend and employee, what would make her so troubled about Nathan's love life? Was she just looking out for them in the interest of logic or was she just jealous perhaps? Or did she know something? Feeling the wire through her clothes, Haley grabbed her key and slipped out barefoot headed for Peyton Sawyer's room.
"Haley," Peyton, surprised at the visit, answered after a few knocks.
"Hey. Sorry to bother you so late. I hope you weren't sleeping or anything," she noted the grey sweats and black tank.
"No. It's fine. I'm up, actually. Is everything okay?"
"Do you mind if we talk?" Haley asked.
The blonde nodded and invited her inside.
"What's going on?"
Haley took a deep breath.
"This is about Nathan."
"So I figured."
She chewed at her lip, hoping she sounded convincing, hoping that it was the right thing to do.
"I really like him, Peyton. I know you don't want to hear that. I know you don't want approve…"
"It's just not a good idea. I'm being honest with you, Haley. I hope you appreciate that."
"But Brooke…"
"Brooke is a nice person and she means well but she tends to look at situations through rose colored glasses. And she also doesn't think things through. I see the big picture. So you have a crush that may or may not turn into a harmless fling…for now. But what happens when something goes wrong? I'm not trying to be a pessimist, but realistically, it will. Look, I've known Nathan for a very long time. I'm trying to look out for everyone involved."
"So it's not, if I can ask, jealousy?"
Peyton laughed out loud.
"No. I am definitely not jealous. I work for Nathan and because of our friendship, I do have his best interests at heart but there is nothing romantic going on between us."
"Then do you know something I don't? I mean, is there something I need to know?"
"You're an adult and you're a smart woman, Haley. I don't have to tell you anything. Open your eyes and you'll see everything for yourself and that's all I want you to do. I'm not trying to be the relationship nazi here and rain on your parade. I just want you to be smart about it."
"I understand where you're coming from and you're probably right but you don't get to control how your heart feels about someone. Whatever this is, it's getting stronger every day. I mean, we really connect. Like in New York…"
Peyton raised an eyebrow.
"You mean when you kidnapped Nathan."
"Excuse me?"
She smiled.
"At least that's the way Dan put it."
Haley couldn't help but chuckle at the memory.
"He was pretty pissed off, wasn't he?"
Peyton shrugged.
"He wasn't happy."
"I kind of got that part. The bus ride the next day to Philadelphia? Let's just say it was a silent, white knuckle ride. Dan rode with us on the team's bus and he spent the entire trip giving me and Nathan a death scare. I swear, if looks could kill, we would have been pushing up daisies. It was…intense, to say the least."
"Why'd you do it?"
"Because it was fun," Haley answered. "And he needed to get away. Nathan has the weight of the world on his shoulders. Sometimes he just needs to be Nate and not have to worry about being the Nathan Scott. It was just one night, a few hours and I wanted to give him that."
"I see."
"Look, I don't want to cause problems, especially between you and I, Peyton. We have a good working relationship. I really like you. I respect you as well."
"Likewise."
"So, uh…"
"If you came down here to get my permission or approval, you're wasting your time, Haley. You don't need it."
"I, I just don't know what to do."
Peyton looked on in silence as Haley walked around the room, several times, deep in thought.
"You can quit pacing now," Peyton said after a few minutes. "You're starting to make me dizzy."
"I'm not pacing…am I?"
"Yes, you are."
"I'm sorry. I guess I pace when I'm nervous and when I have a lot of crap on my mind."
"You have a decision to make. That's all on you, Haley. It has to be about what you want and what you think is best. I've already told you how I feel and you know how Brooke feels but that doesn't matter. In the end, it only matters how you feel."
"Do you, do you know where he is right now? I mean, did he go out with the guys tonight?"
"No. He had dinner right after the game but he's in his suite now."
"I, I need to see him. I want to see him. I mean, I should. We should definitely talk, you know, get things in the open. I don't necessarily have to tell him that I like him but hopefully I can bring up how we've been hanging out and stuff, and see how he feels about it. I do value my job and I want to continue to work here. It's bad enough with Dan hating my guts for no reason but the last thing I want is for it to be awkward between Nathan and me. He is my boss…I get that and I respect it, which is why I think we should talk."
"Fine. If that will make you feel better and you think it's the right thing to do, then by all means, go for it."
"Go for it? Really? I know you think the whole crush on Nathan is bad and that's fine but if I could have an unbiased opinion just for one moment, do you think it would be totally awful to go try to talk to him now?"
"Like I said, that's your decision, Haley."
Haley looked around. It was her decision, but truthfully, it had already been made for her.
"Okay, I'm gonna go. Right now. I'm just gonna do it."
She gave a nervous smile and Peyton nodded at her as she left. She closed the door behind her and exhaled. She knew what Haley would do and she hadn't bothered to stop her. After all, it was Haley's decision. Peyton knew she would run right up to Nathan's room. Peyton also knew what she would find. And hopefully it would be the eye opening wake up call she needed.
"Good luck," Peyton whispered to no one in particular.
With her heart pounding, Haley rushed out into the hall and onto the elevator. The short ride seemed like an eternity and when the elevator stopped on Nathan's floor, she practically jumped out. She pounded excitedly on his door, waiting impatiently for the few minutes it took him to open up. When he did, he was wearing a pair of baggy jeans that sagged on his hips blatantly exposing the fact that he wasn't wearing any underwear. Haley gulped and had to quickly regroup and focus on the task at hand.
"Um, Nathan, hi. What's going on?"
"Nothing much," he inched closed to the entrance, closing the door's gap as much as possible. "What's up? What are you doing here?"
"I, I need to talk to you. Um, I just have a few things to tell you, Nathan, stuff that has been on my mind about you and...well, about us. Listen, I know we got off on the wrong foot and now, lately, things have been different, better. I…I like it that way and I hope you do too. We're friends, I guess, I mean, I think of you that way and I hope you think of me that way too. But I feel like we kind of have this thing now. God, I hope I'm not rambling or whatever, it's just that I'm nervous and this is important to me and I was hoping we could talk. Want to go have a drink or something downstairs?"
Nathan, hair rumpled, shuffled his weight as he looked around uncomfortably.
"Um, yeah. Yeah, I guess. That sounds cool or whatever. I'll just catch up with you later, if that's okay. I'm kind of busy at the moment."
Haley tried to hide her disappointment.
"Oh. Okay. That's cool. If you're busy, I can totally come back or you could stop by my room later on. I, I'm just two floors down and I'll be up pretty late so…"
Haley's voice trailed off as she noticed the buxom blonde appear at the door behind Nathan clad in only an oversized shirt that was unbuttoned and barely covering her enormous breasts.
"Nathan," she giggled, rubbing his muscular arms.
Haley froze, open mouthed, not knowing what to do or say while Nathan just shrugged.
"Told you I was busy."
Stunned and feeling humiliated, she stammered an unintelligible reply and got the hell out of dodge, praying their eyes weren't still upon her as she pounded on the elevator's button. When it finally opened, she summoned her floor and ran to the room where her hands shook so badly she could barely get the key in the door. Once inside, she closed the door and collapsed on the bed trying to take it all in. She had gathered the courage to go up to his penthouse and set the plan in motion. At best, she figured it would surprise Nathan. Instead, she had been the one thrown completely off guard. He'd had a woman in his room. A scantily clad woman he was probably doing God knows what with, when Haley had interrupted them.
So what did it all mean? Had that been part of the warnings Peyton had tried to give her? Was Nathan the player on and off the court like everyone said he was? And what would happen to the investigation now? Haley tried to catch her breath as she had been thrown for a loop. She'd just have to see what her bosses would say. The integrity and direction of her case troubled her deeply but it was something else as well. She would never admit it and she tried desperately to shake it off but it was impossible. After all the time they had been spending together, seeing Nathan with another woman bothered her. Splashing cold water on her face, Haley took a deeper breath. It bothered her a lot more than it should have.