A/N: Hey everybody, this your old pal Crashspike22 stopping by with a brand new story that was co-written by fellow Baley writer extraordinaire OMGOTH23. How did this happen, you ask? Well, I got stuck while writing You Found Me and OMGOTH23 well, I don't know right because I am the only one here for this intro, lol. So anyway, this story takes place during beginning of Season 3 and there will be some changes all along the way. Yes there are millions out there but this one is different from all the others, so take a look…Plus with the lack of Raley fics on FF, I figure we can corner the market! Enough with my babbling on with the show…

Disclaimer – All Praise to Mark and the CW….Season 7 better not suck…

Hello Stranger – Chapter One - Sometimes, the truth is stranger....

The sun crept into the window of the guest room at the Scott House. The light slowly made its way into the face of Haley James, which caused her to grumble. She reached for her phone and checked to see what time it was.

"7:30am…" Haley groaned and put the pillow back over her face. Famous rockstars never get up before noon. She sat from her place on the bed and the empty feeling returned to the pit of her stomach once again. She took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. She wasn't a rockstar anymore. She had given up that life to come back to Tree Hill and more importantly back to her estranged husband Nathan. She just couldn't take being without him anymore and she felt like she needed to be back where she always belonged.

"But things don't always go the way you plan them..." Haley tossed the comforter off of her and put her feet on the floor. She yawned and tried to stretch a little. The bed was a little stiff and she had spent the night tossing and turning. It felt like she had only been asleep for 20 minutes. And now here she was awake and alone. Waking in a quiet room inside of an even quieter house was a little strange to her. When she was on the tour there was always someone around. A manager, a roadie, make-up artist, hairstylist or even Chris Keller. Now it was just her and her thoughts. As she sat there with her thoughts the first thing that jumped into her head was Nathan and the look on his face when he opened the door a couple of nights ago, God he looked so disgusted …

Haley jumped out of the bed quickly and went into the bathroom that was attached to the guest room. She caught a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror and she felt her tears forming in her eyes. God, is this all she had left? All alone and wishing that she could take back the last 4 months? She turned on the cold water and splashed on her face, hoping to rinse the tears out of her eyes. She grabbed a towel from the rack and rubbed against her face. She held it there for a moment enjoying the darkness that covering her face brought. It almost felt like she was hiding from the rest of the world. She wiped her face off and put the towel back on the bar.

Her eyes looked into the mirror staring at the dark pools she used to recognize. The twinkle that used to fill her eyes was long gone, the last time she remembered seeing it was right before the tour, what I wouldn't do to take that back. She placed her hands on either side of the sink and took another deep breath in. She could do this. And maybe if she said it enough times, maybe she would start to believe it.

"Haley?"

She knew the voice that was calling her name before she even went back into the bedroom. It was too early in the morning for her to have to deal with seeing him. She looked in the mirror and ran her fingers through her hair. Haley walked into the bedroom and there was her husband, Nathan Scott.

"Morning," Nathan mumbled without even looking at her. He found it easier to deal with their current living situation if he avoided all eye contact, he knew it was harsh but he had to look out for himself.

"Hey, it's good to see you. Did you sleep okay?" Haley asked. He wouldn't even look at her. She was standing right in front of him and he wouldn't even acknowledge her. She crossed her arms and tried to muster up some of that rockstar swagger she used to have. It wasn't really working but she still was going to try it because quite frankly it was the last defense she had left.

"So look, I think you should find somewhere else to stay," Nathan said avoiding Haley's question, he couldn't deal with small talk there was too much racing through his head and he needed to get his point across without getting distracted. He started playing with his ring finger, it was like his tell or something. She always knew he was going to tell the truth when he did that.

"Nathan, I don't have anywhere else to go…I want to be here with you..." Haley tried to walk over to him but he took a step back and held up his hand to keep her from coming any closer. Her heart clenched as he pulled away from her, this is what she hated the most, when he was afraid to be close to her. When they first started dating Nathan would come to Haley for comfort, they would cuddle and it seemed that both of their problems would go away, she was his comfort. But now that he couldn't even be close to her, she knew things were drastically different. It killed her.

"That's not going to happen."

"Nathan, I never wanted this...if I could…" Haley stammered trying to find the right words but somehow she knew that it wouldn't matter. She could tell from the look in Nathan's eyes that nothing she could say was going to change his mind.

"If you could what?" Nathan asked the agitation evident. He had heard it all, numerous times in fact. She would tell him how sorry she was for leaving him, for hurting him, for never intending to hurt him but the bottom line was that she didn't come home when he asked her to. No matter how many times she apologized for the tour he still couldn't let it go.

"Take back the tour?"

"Yes, I would take back the tour, Nathan. I would give anything to take back the choices that I made. Then we wouldn't be like this…" Haley knew that she wasn't going to change his mind but she had to try. She still loved him and she could tell that underneath his anger, love for her was still there. She gently touched Nathan's shoulder but he quickly pulled away from her touch.

"I don't want you to take back the goddamn tour, Haley! You can't honestly think that I want you to do that!" Nathan practically screamed. Through all the heartache he was proud of Haley for going after her dream.

When they first met she was the quiet confident type, one of the things he admired about her the most. When she had left for the tour he was devastated, swearing to himself that he was going to be mad at her forever but he simply couldn't. He pushed her into making a choice and at the end of the day; Haley chose her dream over him. Haley had gone after her dream. He didn't want her to take that back, if the tables were turned he wouldn't take it back.

But he couldn't forgive her for not choosing him.

"The tour was your dream, Haley and you did it because you wanted a chance to live it. I don't want you to have to take that back but don't think that I am going to just pretend that you didn't leave me here…I can't be here with you ...It's not fair…"

"So it is fair to ask me to leave? Nathan my home is here. You are my home and now you're telling me that I can't stay here with you?" Haley tried to get as mad as Nathan was but she couldn't. She didn't want to fight with him anymore and as soon as the words left her mouth she wished for them back. She took another step closer to him and tried to look into his eyes. When she finally caught them she saw the man that she had married. The man that she had given her virginity to, the man that she loved and she knew that she couldn't just let him go.

"I never stopped loving you, Nathan. I know that you didn't stop loving me." She whispered hoping that he could see that her going on the tour didn't mean that she didn't love him. Nathan stood there looking at her and for a moment Haley thought that maybe she had gotten through the wall that he built up over the last few months.

"You're right Haley I never stopped loving you but I did stop caring about you. The minute you decided that going on a tour was more important than our life is the very second that I stopped caring about what you did with your life. Because that minute is the minute you stopped being my wife. You left me and didn't even think of how this would affect me. All you cared about was you and that's not what a marriage is about. A marriage is about two people creating a life together, not separately," Nathan let out a frustrated sigh from seeing how much his words were hurting Haley. He saw the hurt and regret pouring from her eyes but he knew he had to do this so he took a deep breath and continued.

"You are my first love and no matter what you will always be a part of me. But after all that I've seen I know what happens when you try to make something that is broken work. Look at my mom and Dan! I know that I can't do 'us' anymore, not after everything that we've been through, not after everything I went through when you left. I won't be like Dan, I won't let 'us' become my parents," he paused taking a couple deep breaths, everything he was saying was hitting a new nerve. Never before had he thought that his and Haley's relationship could come even close to what his parents went through. His relationship with Haley was supposed to prove to them that he could do better than they had.

"I finally opened my heart to someone and now I have nothing but this pain that I cannot describe... I will always love you but I can't be with you and that's why you have to find someplace else to stay, so you can start living your life… without me…" Nathan turned around and walked out of the bedroom leaving Haley just standing there.

Haley waited until she heard Nathan's car pulled out of the driveway and then she picked up her guitar case from the floor putting it on the bed. She used the back of her hand to wipe a tear from her eye, damn tears. She opened the case and took out her wedding ring from underneath the guitar. She held it in the palm of her hand tightly and closed her eyes. She didn't know how to feel right now.

Happy?

Sad?

"Lost…" Haley sat the ring on the nightstand, picked up her stuff and walked out of the bedroom feeling more alone than ever before.

About two hours later…

Haley had been walking around town still in shock from what had happened at Nathan's house. Was she divorced? Was she going to be the only 17 year old divorcee in Tree Hill? That's highly likely. What was everyone else going to say when they found out? I bet they wouldn't be surprised. Where the hell was she going to stay?

"Maybe a nice box on the roof of the café?" Haley smirked to herself as she continued walking. Her parents had sold the house and had been AWOL since her and Nathan's party last year. She thought about going to stay with Lucas but she didn't feel like having him preach to her over and over again. Haley looked up from the ground and saw that her feet had taken her to the old apartment that she used to share with Nathan. She had forgotten what Nathan had told her about the lease so she figured that maybe she could stay there. As she walked up to the apartment she couldn't help but notice the black Denali in Nathan's old parking space.

"What the hell…" Haley mumbled as she walked into her former apartment. When she first noticed the front door was wide open she found it completely strange. Even stranger were all of the boxes and garment bags all over the place. None of her things were there and neither was Nathan's. She continued looking around for any signs of her stuff.

"Holy shit, you're her."

Haley turned and saw where the voice had come from. Standing in the apartment was this tall, thin redhead woman. She couldn't help but think that with a different face she could have been Brooke's redheaded twin. Haley could already tell that she had an air of confidence about her if her appearance was any hint, definitely a Brooke-alike. The girl looked like she was just lounging around but at the same time she looked like she had just came from a photo shoot despite the fact that she was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a white baby doll t-shirt.

"Who am I?" Haley still amazed the beauty of the girl standing in front of her, beauty? Since when do I notice other girls' beauty?

"Your face is on the wall," Brooke-a-like answered.

"Oh yeah…"Haley sighed bowing her head at the memory of what that wall used to mean. Instead of the love and hope the wall used to represent, the heartbreak and loss were the only emotions evident. She walked over to where the picture of her and Nathan's faces used to be. It had been covered with pink paint, she cringed at the sight, only being able to see her eyes and smile coming through the wretched color. She took a deep breath and ran her fingers through her hair desperately hoping that this guilt building up in her gut would go away. She looked around the room and the memories of her past echoing from every wall.

"And why are you loitering in my apartment?" Brooke-a-like asked as she came back from the bedroom.

"Just remembering," Haley sighed once again. It seemed to be a pattern lately, looking around the quaint town remembering everything that used to be but only seeing all that had changed. Remembering what her life used to be liked before the tour, how simple it was, but now everything was just complicated and blurred.

"Whatever, you're in my way…" Brooke-a-like just rolled her eyes and continued moving her things from the living room.

"I am sorry, I used to live here and I just…I don't know what I was looking for..." Haley continued staring at the wall. I never thought I would be the one to screw up this relationship. Yet here she was standing in her and Nathan's apartment only it wasn't her and Nathan's apartment anymore. It was this redhead's and there was nothing she could do about it.

"Well, maybe you can look for whatever you're looking for somewhere else. Like the parking lot you know the one outside of MY apartment..." The redhead snapped.

"I know this is a weird situation for the both of us but you don't have to be so mean. This place meant a lot to me…" Haley started to say but she was cut off by the redhead.

"Couldn't have meant that much…if it did you would still be living here. You must have done something really screwed up to lose a place like this…"

"You don't know me so don't judge me," Haley bit back hating that this stranger was right. How in the hell does Brooke-alike know that I screwed up? Jeez I really did screw up if a complete stranger can tell I royally fucked up.

"Look if you don't want anything else I really have a lot to do…so…" The redhead's tone had softened some but still Haley could tell that it was time for her to leave.

How did it go so wrong, Haley's silent tears fell from her eyes as she made her way towards the door. She swiped at the tears, the last thing she needed was some strange girl seeing her cry over something that she possibly couldn't understand. As she neared the door taking one last glance at the apartment suddenly feeling like a stranger in her home, that couldn't be truer. Ever since her return to Tree Hill she had felt like a stranger in her own skin, she was no longer comfortable when someone would glance at her from afar. Before everything, before Lucas joined the basketball team, before she and Nathan started dating she was able to walk proud not caring what others thought of her, she wasn't afraid to express her thoughts and feelings but now well now she wanted to hide who she was, who she had become. She couldn't act the way she wanted to, talk to who she wanted to, and she couldn't say the things she wanted to.

"I guess I'll just find a hotel room, I think I have enough money," Haley sighed and slung her bag back over her shoulder once more.

"Thanks for letting me look around. It was nice meeting you…" She looked back once more at her place and gave the Brooke-alike a sad smile as she exited her old home and her past.

A/N: That's the end of the first chapter. Reviews are amazingly nice, hint hint ;D