Author's Note: Hey guys! Okay, so I know I already have two stories out already, ITPOAA and The Sweetest Sin, but I was really having some tough writer's block on the next chapters for both stories and usually when this happens, I work on something else like a songfic or a one-parter, but I came up with this story. I've only got a few chapters written and a very brief outline in my head of where I want this to go, but I'm going to give it try. I know I have enough trouble updating my other two stories, but I'm going to use this story as sort of a 'get out of writer's block' story and may not be as frequent as the other two because it will be pretty much be a backburner story until TSS is done, which is nearly half over, I think. As I said before, I don't have a really detailed, set plot like I do for TSS and ITPOAA so I'm just going to let my hands do the typing and see what comes out. Anyways, I hope you guys like it! As always, please read and review!

Disclaimer: I own nothing. One Tree Hill and it's characters are property of the WB.

Rating: K+ to T (PG to PG-13)

Finding Our Way Back

Chapter 1 – Moving and Memories

Haley James surveyed her empty apartment in New York, now devoid of the furniture and boxes she'd packed weeks before. She was moving back to Tree Hill, the small town in North Carolina where she grew up; it would be her first time back in nearly six months. Haley was a fairly new actress, her being in the business for a little over two years, but she had made a name for herself quickly. With a few box office hits under her belt, she had soared to stardom.

Haley had gone to Duke and her acting abilities had been discovered by the drama teacher and soon after taking some acting classes, she auditioned for a small role in a movie. However, the director had had bigger and better ideas for her. He cast her as the leading character and her role propelled her career to the top.

A few months ago, Haley had decided that the life of a famous actress was not for her. Sure, the pay was great and you got to mix and mingle with the other celebrities, but the hours and days were long, grueling a lot of the time, and she always came home exhausted. For days after the announcement of her leaving, she had been hounded by reporters and photographers so much that she'd had to go stay with her friend Kyla for a week and a half.

Since she was leaving show business, Haley had decided to fall back on to her dream of teaching, which had been her minor in college. With her hard work and dedication, she had graduated with honors two years early and had a degree in acting as well as secondary education in History and English. While she loved acting and was good at it, that life just wasn't for her anymore. She had responsibilities, two of them the most important, and those came before anything else, even herself. Here came one of them now.

A little girl came up to Haley with a red and blotchy tear-stained face, rubbing her eyes with her small fists. She had auburn hair and brown eyes just like Haley; she wore little jean shorts, a yellow shirt with butterflies on it, and small pink jelly sandals. "Mommy, I can't find Daisy," the little girl sniffled. Daisy was her brown stuffed dog that she always had with her, except for the few times where she'd left it somewhere and forgot about it. "Katie, sweetie, I put Daisy in your backpack for the trip," Haley told her daughter, ruffling her wavy locks of hair. Katie's eyes widened in alarm, "You didn't zip it all the way up did you? She'll die from no air!" She smiled at her daughter's childish innocence and naivety. Haley led her near the front door where their bags were laid against the wall and bent down to unzip a small purple backpack. She pulled out the brown little dog and handed it to her, "See, she's fine. If you want to play with Daisy, make sure you hang on to her, we don't want to forget Daisy when we leave." Katie nodded vehemently and hugged the dog tighter to her chest as she jogged off to play somewhere.

Haley sighed and looked around her apartment once again before heading to her bedroom to take a quick nap before they started on the drive to Tree Hill. She laid on her bed and closed her eyes, trying hard to fight the nostalgia rising in her throat. She hadn't even left yet and already she was homesick for this apartment. She'd lived here for five years and it held so many memories, but now she had to leave it all behind. Two months ago, Haley had gotten a call from the very high school in which she'd spent four of her best years and had been offered a job to teach both English and History. After some deliberation, she'd called back and accepted the offer.

Haley heard footsteps and a soft, "Mommy" came from somewhere in the room. She opened her eyes to find her son standing at the edge of her bed with tears in his eyes. She sat up and pulled the little boy onto her lap, "What's wrong baby?" He buried his head into her chest, "I don't want to move." Haley rubbed his back as she tried to soothe him, "I know honey, but Mommy got a job in Tree Hill. Want to know something really cool though?" He nodded and she replied, "You'll get to see Grandma Karen and Grandma Deb almost every day! You will have so much fun with them!"

"Yeah! I love their food and they make great coffee," he responded enthusiastically. Haley narrowed her eyes at her son, "Is Grandma Karen giving you coffee again?" "No, Grandma Deb is, but she makes bad coffee, it tastes yucky. I like it when Grandma Karen makes it, she puts cocoa in it to make it taste better." Haley responded while starting to tickle him, "Well I guess I'll have to have a little chat with Grandma Karen when we get down there." "No Mommy, then she'll know I told! She won't give me coffee anymore!" Haley smirked, "That's sort of the point. Coffee's bad for you anyway, it stunts your growth." "But Mommy, you drink coffee," he replied. "That's different D, I'm a grown up, I won't get any taller. But you, little man, still have to grow way tall." "Like Shaq," Derek, her son, asked excitedly, then got a mad look on his face, "hey, I'm not little." Haley chuckled as she kissed his cheek, "You'll always be my little boy." "When are we leaving," Derek inquired. "In about two hours. Mommy needs to take a nap before we get going so you and Katie play quietly okay?" He nodded and Haley watched as her son retreated from the room.

He looked more and more like his father every day; the only thing different about him were his eyes; they were more green like his grandmother's. Haley sighed and shut her eyes tightly; she didn't want to go down that road right now. However, it was as if some unseen force began to pull her back to five years ago, back to her last year of high school. It was the year her best friend, the man she loved more than anything, had left her to move to Charleston with his Uncle Keith supposedly to 'find and fix himself'. In her mind, she was transported back to the night of the final playoff game for the Ravens at the end of their junior year. That was the game they had lost, ruining any chances of going to state playoffs, and Lucas had hurt his shoulder by a player from the opposing team ramming into him.

Flashback

Haley waited outside the locker room for Lucas to see if he was okay. She saw him come out and rushed over to him, "Hey, I just wanted to make sure you were alright." "Yeah, I'll be okay," Lucas responded. There was silence for a few seconds before Lucas broke it, "I'm leaving tomorrow, Haley." She looked up at him, tears forming in her eyes, "Already?" He nodded then saw the tears and raised his hands to cup her face, wiping them away with his thumbs, "Hey, it's okay." Haley looked down at the floor then back up at him, "No it's not. I really wanted to spend your last night with you, but Nathan is waiting…" "Really, it's okay. I need to get my shoulder checked out anyway. Go," he nodded his head towards the doors. She hugged him tightly to her body, careful not to hurt his shoulder further and he whispered in her ear, "I am sure gonna miss you." "Come find me before you leave tomorrow," Haley asked of him and he nodded in response. She quickly spun on her heel and raced out of the school, fighting the tears threatening to fall down her face.

She got into Nathan's car and he noticed her red eyes and wet cheeks. "Hales, you're crying," he stated as if she already didn't know. She wiped her eyes then turned to him, "Nathan, I know you had something special planned tonight, but can you just take me home? I want to be alone tonight." "Sure, but can you first tell me what's wrong," he coaxed gently, taking her hand in his. "Lucas is leaving for Charleston tomorrow," she said softly. He lifted her hand up and kissed it, "I'm sorry." "Me too," she murmured under her breath.

Hours after Nathan had dropped her off, Haley was making her way to Lucas' house in the middle of the night. She'd had a startling nightmare that had shocked some sense into her, however crazy that sense seemed. She knocked lightly at the door that led directly into his room, trying not to wake Karen in the process. Lucas groggily answered the door a few minutes later, "Hales, what are you doing here? It's almost midnight." "We need to talk," she said seriously before brushing past him and entering his room. She sat on his bed and he closed the door then sat beside her. "What do we need to talk about," he inquired curiously. She turned to him with tears welling in her eyes, "Do you really have to leave? I mean, Tree Hill is your home and you're leaving everything behind." "Haley, there's nothing left for me here. I've messed up my life so much and only I can fix it. I just need to get away for a while to sort things out, get my life back on track. Things will just get worse if I stay. I need to go, Haley," he looked at her with desperation in his eyes, begging her to understand. More tears began to flow down her cheeks as she stood on her knees and wrapped her arms tightly around him, never wanting to let him go. "I am going to miss you so much… you don't know how much…" she managed to get out through her choked sobs.

They remained in each other's tight embrace until Haley reluctantly pulled away slightly. She stared into his blue eyes for several moments before she brought her lips crashing hard down onto his. Lucas was shocked for a few seconds but immediately began to respond to her heated kiss. Hands began to roam bodies and kisses became more passionate. Haley's fingers found the hem of his shirt and slipped them under, running them across his toned muscles and down his torso and back. She lifted the bottom of his shirt up and brought it slowly towards his head, leaving his lips only long enough to pull it off and toss it to the floor. Lucas repeated the same actions to Haley's pale pink tank top as he rubbed along her shoulders and back then moved his hands to caress the sides of her breasts. He dipped his head and brushed his lips against the column of her neck then across her collarbone, sending shivers down her spine. As he continued to do this, Lucas fingered the drawstrings on Haley's pajama pants then untied them. He gripped the waistband of her pants and slowly slipped them down until they rested in a pool at her feet. She stepped out of them and kicked them to the side then stood in front of Lucas, biting her bottom lip self-consciously in nervousness.

His gaze trailed down her from head to toe as he stared, mesmerized by her body. Lucas' eyes drifted down to the small curve of her lips, now swollen from their heated kisses, to her shoulders and then her breasts. His gaze moved further down to her stomach then to her legs where he saw that she was wearing a pair of lacy silk underwear the same color as her tank top. While he stared over her body, an index finger followed his eyes. He pressed it lightly to her lips then trailed it down her chin and neck, between the valley of her breasts then her stomach where his hand caressed the soft skin there before coming to rest his hands on the curve of her hips. "You're beautiful," he said huskily, almost so softly that she was certain she hadn't heard him say it, before capturing her lips with his again. One of his index fingers traced light circles on her lower back and his other hand at the back of her head, running it through her soft auburn tresses. Slowly, they made their way to his bed through closed eyes and never leaving the other's embrace. Lucas gently laid Haley down then climbed on top of her and pulled the covers over them as Lucas bent his head to kiss her again and Haley smiled, giggling quietly…

End Flashback

A tear trickled down Haley's cheek as she remembered that night and smiled. More tears began to fall as she recalled the morning after that night. She covered her face with her hands and began to sob at the memory.

Flashback

Haley woke the next morning still wrapped in Lucas' warm embrace. She smiled as she remembered last night but then frowned as tears began to well in her eyes as she thought about what the day might bring. She carefully slipped from his grasp and dressed then stared at his sleeping form. He had a smile on his face, his hair in more disarray than it usually was, and his innocent boyish good looks made him look so peaceful. Just the sight of him made her fall in love with him all over again.

She was brought back to the reality that even after last night, Lucas still might leave. Lucas might think that her sleeping with him had been a mistake because she was with Nathan, but she didn't regret it one bit. Well, a small part of her did, because she didn't want to hurt Nathan. Even though she had loved Lucas for years, she knew he could never love her the way she wanted him to, as more than friends. So when Nathan showed an interest in her, she jumped in with both feet. Some part of her had wanted to hurt Lucas for not wanting to be with her, and she had one some level, because Nathan was not only his arch enemy, but also his half brother. Sure, Nathan was a nice guy, but he had a tough exterior and a temper that sometimes scared her.

She realized that she had gone to Lucas' house last night in a desperate attempt to keep him from leaving Tree Hill, from leaving her. She didn't want to be alone without him; he was so much more a part of her life than he knew. When going to his house the night before she had never imagined that it would escalate to such heavenly heights. She had gone there to tell Lucas that she didn't want him to leave and that she loved him, but somewhere in the midst of things, the latter part had never been said.

Even as she lay beneath him the night before while their breathing returned to normal, somewhere deep inside her, she knew he would still go. So wanted so badly to tell him that she loved him, but knew it would be so much harder to tell him and watch him leave than to not say it at all. So the next morning before she left his room, she wrote him a note and placed it on his nightstand then kissed him softly on his lips and quietly exited out his bedroom door. It read:

Lucas,

I hope with all my heart that you find the answers you're searching for, but just remember that there is only one Tree Hill and it is your home. I'll miss you. Goodbye Luke.

Haley

End Flashback

Haley never saw him after that night; she hadn't seen him in five years, at least not in person. Very rarely she would catch a late televised game of college or pro basketball after a long day on set and she'd see him. He always looked so happy and carefree when he played basketball, whether it was by himself, with the guys at the river court, or up against another team. He was following his dreams and it was those times that Haley knew she had made the right choice.