Aftermath

An OTH Naley Short

By Alex B

1

"Haley! Haley!"

There was blood. It was coming out of her nose and her mouth, and she was looking at him, her eyes so solemn. Lying on the cold street, pain etched her features. She opened her mouth to talk, but she coughed up blood instead. A tortured sound ripped from Nathan's chest. She was dying. His life was slipping away and he has no one to blame but himself.

She touched his cheek with her hand. She knew. The look in her eyes said it all. She couldn't say the words so she mouthed them instead. Haley mouthed the words "I love you" over and over again until her eyes finally slid closed, a small sad smile on her lips.

He held her, rocking back and forth on the cold cobble stone, his face buried in his wife's hair. It still smelled like the shampoo that she had used just that morning. Then he heard a baby cry. His baby

Tears flowing freely, Nathan threw his head back and shouted. Goddammit, it should have been him. He would be dead.

Nathan's body jerked from its sleep. Slowly he sat up. He was at home. Sitting in his own chair, the lights were off all around him. He ran a hand over his face. He couldn't fall asleep when he lay next to her, and Nathan knew why. He didn't deserve to. His actions had set into motion a chain of event that he had never in a million years thought possible. His wife and his unborn son had nearly died because of him, and it wasn't over yet.

"Mm…Nathan?" The lights came on and he looked up. Haley stood in the arch way to the hall. Her hair was just the way that he liked it, sleepy and pillow tossed. He would have smiled if he hadn't taken in the healing cuts and scrapes and the crutches that held her up.

"Loose that game."

"Baby, what are you doing up?"

"Me," he stood. "You shouldn't be out of bed." He held her then because he needed to. The dream, no, that nightmare, was way too real. He needed to feel her. His breath sighed out of him when his wife laid her head on his chest.

What kind of man was he?

What did it say about him that he couldn't throw away a game the most important person in his world, and the result of how much they loved each other, safe? Did basketball really mean that much?

No.

Then why?

"What are you doing up, Hales?"

"You weren't lying next to me. Messed up my sleep." She smiled. "Not to mention that my feet are freezing and someone is supposed to keep them warm for me. And since the mailman is a chick now, that person is you."

"Well, gee, thanks." He smiled down at her. But the smile didn't reach his eyes.

"Had a nightmare again, didn't you?"

He would never lie to her again for as long as he lived. "They won't go away. I couldn't sleep so I came out here. Passed out in the chair and…"

"You're gonna be dead on your feet tomorrow if you don't get some rest."

Yeah. He had something he needed to do, and he was going to need al the help that he could get.

-

"Hey, man."

Lucas turned his head to look at his brother. Nathan came in the room, closing the door behind him. He was scared to death, Lucas saw, and he should be. If he could get out of the bed that he lay in, he would wrap his hands around his little brother's neck.

"How you feeling?" Lucas looked him over. Not only was Nathan scared, he looked like hell. Attack of conscience had a way of doing that. Not to mention that he was sure that karma was whooping Nathan's ass.

"Didn't take my meds. Pushed myself in that game. Best friend got ran down and my heart just couldn't take it. It was that Dante guy wasn't it?"

Nathan nodded and Lucas cursed, searing his brother with a look so angry Nathan had to fight the urge to take a step back. "Luke,"

"Save it." He spat.

"I didn't know that any of this was going to happen."

"But it did."

"I was just trying to take care of my family."

"You nearly got your family killed!" He shouted then groaned at the new pain in his chest. Nathan looked over his shoulder then back to his brother.

"If you don't calm down you're going to hurt something."

"You care now?" He didn't blame Nathan for his heart attack. Just like he could have found another way to take care of his money situation, Lucas could have found a better way of winning a state championship. "I wish that I could get out of this bed, because I would kick your ass!"

"And I would let you!" Nathan dropped into the seat next to the bed and put his head in his hands, a sob caught in his chest. Lucas stared at his ceiling, swallowing back his own fear and anger.

"I'm having a son." He heard Nathan say. "Haley told me that she was having a boy and I came out and played in that second half and played the way that I should have been playing all along. Why? Because I want my son to be proud of me the way that I have never been proud of Dan. I want to teach…" his voice broke. "I want to teach my son how to be a man. And I couldn't do that if I did what Dante wanted me to do. I couldn't throw that game. But I was going to pay back every dime that I took from that man. You have to believe that I would never trade the life of family for a ball game. It should have been me."

"I know." Lucas finally spoke. Nathan waited. He waited until his brother looked at him.

"You saying that because you're so mad at me you want to put me under a set of tires?"

"I'm said that because Haley saved you."

"Not for the first time." Nathan replied. "When she pushed me out of the way," he shook his head. "The car hit her and my heart stopped. She was lying on the ground and I couldn't…I didn't know how to fix it." He stood, pushing a hand through his hair. Lucas followed him with his eyes.

"She doesn't know."

"And I can't tell her."

"Figures."

"You think I want this?" Nathan whirled shooting dagger at the guy lying in the bed. "I can't sleep at night, Lucas." He told him. "I keep having these nightmares about the accident-"

"This wasn't an accident."

"What do you want me to call it?" Nathan demanded. "Haley dies, Lucas. She dies in every one. Then I hear my son crying just before God has mercy on me and lets me wake up."

"You came to the wrong place for sympathy, Nate." Lucas told him. "Because I'm fresh out."

"That's not why I came here."

"Then why did you?"

"Because you're my brother, dammit. You're seventeen and your had a damn heart attack."

"That HCM ain't a joke."

"Guess the Phoenix Syndrome skips a generation."

"Guess so."

"I can't tell her Lucas. Not right now. She's already been through too much. I've already put her through too much. I've done enough and she isn't well enough to hear this just yet. But I will tell her."

"Thank you so much for letting me in on your plan of action. I feel privileged." Nathan nodded then silently walked toward the door. Lucas stopped him.

"You've done some really stupid things, and you only get so many chances, Nathan." Lucas said to him. "And this may be your last one. Don't blow it."

"I think I already have."

-

"I didn't hear you leave this morning." Her back was to him as she rummaged in through the refrigerator. Her hair fell in curly, dark gold waves past her shoulders. She looked over her shoulder and smiled at the way that her husband was looking father.

When she had first opened her eyes, Nathan's dark hair had been the first thing she'd seen. He had fallen asleep with his head near her hip. He'd been holing one of her hands in both of his. Until the day that he died, Haley would never forget the way Nathan had looked at her when he woke up to her touching her fingers to her hair. She had never seen Nathan cry before.

"Hungry?"

He shook his head. "No." He stepped into the kitchen and Haley breathed him in. She loved that smell. Nathan didn't wear cologne, he didn't use deodorant. Her husband was one of those guys who smelled good even when they were sweaty. "Sit." He told her. "Tell me what you want and I'll make it for you?"

"Hmm? You give sponge baths, too?" Haley fought a smile when Nathan's hands froze. He looked over at her and she raised a single brow. "I can't take a decent bath with this thing on even if I do wrap it in a plastic bag. I'd rather you help me out anyway. Can you handle it?"

Haley had wanted to feel normal since the day she had gotten to come home. She was fine, Nathan was fine, and their baby was fine. They had gotten to hear his heartbeat…

When she issued her challenge, Haley had the pleasure of seeing that Scott smirk cross her husband's lips. He closed the fridge and poured her a glass of milk. He slid the glass across the island with a single finger never taking his eyes off her. "Tell you what,"

Haley tilted her head to the side and smiled. "I'm listening."

He laughed softly. "Good. You drink your milk and choke down whatever I throw together for you to eat, and we'll see about that sponge bath. And hey, if you're a good girl, I'll even read you a story at naptime."

"Oh, goody." His kiss was soft and sweet. It had the potential to get deliciously out of hand, but Nathan stopped it. She was disappointed, but Haley understood. And she was tired to being treated like an invalid. That wouldn't last for too much longer.

"Finished my ham and cheese like a good girl." She yawned later. Pain pills kicked in fast, not to mention that she was still getting really tired. "Better hurry if I'm going to get that sponge bath. I'm fading fast."

Nathan barely touched his food. She wasn't going to push just yet. He cleared their plates then left her sitting at the kitchen island. Laughter bubbled in her throat. "Nathan!" She stopped laughing when he heard the water running in the bathroom. When Nathan came back around the corner he was sans shirt. "Yeah, baby!" Fingers in her mouth, Haley let out a shrill whistle. "Now that's what I'm talking about!" She laughed when she got an honest to God smile out of him that lit up his gorgeous face.

He pulled a plastic grocery store bag out from under the kitchen sink. Kneeling, he wrapped it around as much of the cast the bag would cover. When he stood up, his eyes were dark. "How about a real bath?" Nathan picked Haley up as if she weighed nothing and carried her down the hall.

She didn't need help washing her person, but she took it anyway. When she felt his hands in her hair, massaging her scalp as he washed her hair, Haley found it hard to keep her eyes open.

"Bed time for baby." She heard him murmur.

She smiled. "He's been sleeping for the last twenty minutes." Nathan's hand stopped in her hair.

"You can feel that?"

"I can."

"How?"

She lifted a shoulder. "I can just feel it I guess."

"What's it like?"

"Utterly amazing."