Chapter Seventeen

Jimmy walked up and down his living room impatiently. Finally, he turned to his visitor and asked, "Well, what do you think?"

"It's a very good painting, Mr. James," Nathan said sincerely.

Jimmy nodded. "Better than the one you tried to steal from me?"

Nathan stared at the older man, speechless for a few moments. He started stuttering incoherently before Jimmy interrupted him.

"Haley didn't tell me anything about it. Well, she did tell me about the burglar in my house, but she neglected to mention who it was. But, it was you, wasn't it, Mr. Scott?"

Nathan again found himself unable to reply.

"It's of no importance to me," Jimmy continued. "I'm flattered, really. But, see, Haley seems to like you and well, I'm not sure how much I approve of my daughter seeing a man who steals things for the heck of it. I don't know you that well, but I have met your mother." Seeing the horrified look on Nathan's face, Jimmy added, "Don't worry, I'm not going to tell her. But she's a fine woman, which bodes well for my opinion of you. And, of course, you did help us with the Venus…"

"Mr. James," Nathan began, when Jimmy trailed off, "I already made a decision after we got the Venus that I wouldn't steal anymore."

"Really? Well, then, we have no need for this talk. Onto other matters. About this chap that you gave the Venus too…"

"Yes?"

"Well, how much is he going to pay for it?"

"Pay?" Nathan asked.

"Well, yes. We were very lucky to find someone who wanted it even when it was stolen property, and it will never bother us again, but he must be willing to pay a very high price for it. How much did you ask?"

"Oh," said Nathan, "I asked him how much I estimated the Venus to be worth."

"And what was your estimate?" Jimmy asked eagerly.

"Nothing."

Now, Jimmy was confused. "Nothing?"

"Nothing," Nathan repeated.

"B-but –" Jimmy began.

"As the sculpture isn't the real Chellini, its value is practically nothing."

"Yes, but he doesn't know that," Jimmy tried to reason. "This is no time for you to start being honest, Nathan."

Nathan smiled. "Mr. James, now that the Venus is gone all your troubles have gone away too. I think we should just be happy with that."

Jimmy frowned considerably, but grudgingly agreed.

"Of course, there is one thing…"

"What?"

"You know that you can no longer sell your paintings, don't you?"

"Well…" Jimmy tried to protest.

"Mr. James, I know this was the closest call you've ever had, but the threat hasn't disappeared. The next time you try to sell a painting there's no guarantee that the buyer won't have it authenticated, and then all your paintings will be tested," Nathan said sensibly. Jimmy looked only partially convinced. "It would put you and Haley," Nathan stressed, "in great danger. Again."

"I suppose you are right," Jimmy admitted. "But, I'm still going to paint in my study. I have too much talent to waste."

Nathan laughed. "I won't argue with that."

It was at this point that Haley came down the stairs and saw the two men conversing happily in the living room. "Hi…" she walked inside.

"Hello, dear," Jimmy came up to her. "Are you all packed?" She nodded. "I'll go get one of the servants to bring your bags down, then." Jimmy departed the room, leaving Haley and Nathan there alone.

"What were you talking about?" Haley asked.

"Just…stuff," Nathan answered.

"Stuff?" Haley raised her eyebrows.

Nathan smiled. "Your father agreed to stop selling his paintings."

Haley ran up to Nathan excitedly and kissed him. "That's so great! Are you sure you have him convinced?"

Nathan shrugged. "About 98. But he says he's still going to paint for himself."

Haley rolled her eyes. "Well, I'll see if I can try to persuade him to switch to originals when we get back."

Nathan laughed. "Yeah, okay. Hey…you look nice," he took in the pretty summer dress she was wearing.

"Thank you. This vacation thing was a really good idea."

"I thought so too, since the most quality time we've spent together was in a cupboard."

Haley giggled, and kissed Nathan again. They both started to get into the kiss, but were then rudely interrupted. "Can you please do that on your vacation? Or at least when I'm not nearby," Jimmy pleaded, covering his eyes with his hand.

Haley blushed. "Sorry," Nathan muttered.

"All your bags are in the car now," Jimmy informed them.

"I guess we should be leaving then," Nathan said.

Haley went over to her father and kissed him on the cheek. "Bye, Daddy. See you in a couple of days."

"Bye, sweetheart. Have fun – but not too much."

"See you, Mr. James."

"Bye, Nathan," the two shook hands before Nathan followed Haley out of the house and towards his car.

Haley took the brochure out of her handbag, and started flipping through it. "It says here that the place is supposed to be really romantic," Haley told Nathan as they walked down the long driveway.

"Yeah, I thought you might like that," Nathan opened the passenger side door for her.

"Why, Nathan, are you trying to seduce me?" Haley said, only half-teasing.

Nathan smirked. "Now, you know that's not what this vacation is about. But," he said as he kissed her cheek, "I packed the guard's uniform – just in case."

Jimmy waved goodbye to the couple as they got into the car. He was about to close the main door when he saw another car come inside the driveway. A man got out of it, and Jimmy recognized the man as his old acquaintance, Mr. Hammond. Jimmy smiled as John Hammond walked up the front steps.

"Hello, John."

"Jimmy! I'm so sorry about this terrible news regarding the Venus. You must be devastated."

"Yes, it's very sad. But, you didn't drive all the way out here just to give your condolences, did you John?"

"Why, Jimmy," John said, "you called me!"

"I did?"

"Have you forgotten? It was, let me see…only just after the Venus went on display at the museum. You said you had a new painting for me to look at."

"Oh, yes, I remember now," Jimmy said tentatively.

"I'll tell you now, Jimmy, that if it's a Van Gough, I'm interested in buying."

Jimmy cringed. It had been a Van Gough that he'd called him about. "Well, you see, John -"

"Someone else has already looked at it? I'll pay you triple!" John announced.

Jimmy thought carefully. He looked over at the driveway, where Haley and Nathan were reversing. He smiled at them, and Haley waved. Jimmy waited until their car had gone, before turning back to John. "Please, come inside. I think you'll like this painting."

"Splendid!"

The end.

A/N: Well, that's the end of this fic! I can't believe I've written my third OTH fic so soon! I hope you guys enjoyed it, and maybe it even inspired you to watch the movie! I had so much fun writing it, and I loved reading all your reviews. Just because this is the last chapter, don't forget to leave a message at the end of this one! As for the future, I've already started writing my next fic, which is just a short rewrite of season one's auction episode and is a Naley/Jeyton fluff-filled affair. After that, I have another AU fic in the line-up. So, this is good-bye from me then – until next time! (Maybe I'll 'see' you again.)