1. DIFFERENT PEOPLE, DIFFERENT WORLDS

Nathan Scott groaned as he woke up and then panicked when he realized that he was in a hospital. He turned his head and was shocked to see his brother Lucas and old friend Peyton Sawyer. "Am I hallucinating?" Nathan asked. Lucas smirked as he shook his head.

"No, Nate. Apparently you were in a car accident," he replied. Nathan remembered that. He even remembered the ambulance ride over to the hospital.

"Yeah, I remember that. I'm just wondering what you're doing here," he said. Peyton looked to Lucas.

"Dan called me and told me to come visit with you for a while," Lucas said. Nathan remembered briefly speaking to his father on the phone.

"Apparently, you need your family with you," Peyton said rather snarky. Nathan looked at her in confusion.

"Hey, Peyton, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"I'm here because Lucas is," she said. Then her face softened. "And because I wanted to make sure you were okay," Peyton added.

"I appreciate that, but why would you be here if Lucas is? Where's Brooke?" Nathan asked. Lucas and Peyton looked at each other and laughed.

"Nate, Brooke and I broke up three years ago. Peyton and I have been dating for a little over two years," Lucas said. Nathan looked at them incredulously.

"Well, it's about time," he said, smiling. They looked at him quizzically. "Come on, tortured artist meets tortured athlete. Talk about your obvious attraction and you two always had chemistry," Nathan said. They laughed. Now Nathan was confused.

"You know, its funny, but Hales said something like that," Lucas said. Nathan went rigid. He hadn't thought of her in a long time mostly because it was too painful to remember all of the things that had happened. He could still see her smiling face sometimes that he loved so much at the beginning of their marriage.

"You guys still see her?" Nathan asked.

"See her?" Peyton said, "We live with her." Nathan widened his eyes in surprise.

"Me, Peyton, Brooke, Sam, and Haley all share an apartment," Lucas explained. Nathan nodded.

"Who's Sam?" he asked.

"Sam Harris is Brooke's boyfriend," Lucas replied.

"So, how have things been for you, Nate?" Peyton asked.

"They're good, except for this, of course," he said.

"What have you been up to?" Lucas asked.

"Well, I go to California State College. I'm, uh, majoring in sports," he said.

"Still playing basketball?" Lucas asked. Nathan nodded.

"State champion last year," he replied. Lucas widened his eyes in surprise as he smiled and nodded.

"That's great," he said.

"Are you still playing?" Nathan asked.

"No," Lucas replied. Nathan looked at him.

"He gave it up because he has HCM," Peyton explained.

"I thought you refused to stop playing basketball," Nathan said, looking at him for an explanation.

"I was forced to give it up. Someone told the coach that I had HCM. I wasn't happy about it at first, but I'm glad that they did that. I'm majoring in journalism, believe it or not. The coach gave me a choice: Either I quit the team and choose another major or I get kicked off the team and kicked out of school," Lucas said.

"Who told the coach?" Nathan demanded. They looked at each other.

"Haley did," Peyton replied.

"Wow. I never would have guessed that she had it in her to betray someone like that," Nathan said. Lucas laughed.

"She didn't betray me, Nate. When we were in our senior year of high school, Haley knew that I had HCM and warned me to tell Whitey why I wasn't doing such a good job during practices. The pills that I was taking were designed to inhibit my performance so that I wouldn't have a heart attack. A while later, I decided to stop taking them. Haley had no idea and she figured that since I was doing fine in basketball, I wouldn't die. Then, during our second year in college, she saved my life," Lucas said.

"What are you talking about?" Nathan asked.

"I came very close to dying one time when I was practicing at a court off campus. If Haley hadn't been there to give me CPR, you wouldn't be talking to me right now. When that happened, she warned me to tell the coach that I had HCM before something really serious happened. I refused, so she told him," Lucas replied. Nathan nodded. "What else are you doing in college?" Lucas asked. Nathan sighed.

"I'm taking some business courses," he replied.

"That's smart. Something to fall back on," Peyton said. Nathan shook his head.

"No, something for when I retire," he corrected her.

"How long do you think you're going to be playing basketball?" Lucas asked.

"Well, after this year, I'm going pro," he replied. They both nodded.

Haley yawned as she put some charts back on the shelves. "Haley, if you don't mind, a patient of mine needs some medicine," her friend and fellow RN (registered nurse), Natalie Crane said. Haley smiled.

"Sure. I'm on for another five hours while you're off in five minutes and then going on vacation for a month. What's another patient to me?" Haley replied sarcastically.

"Thanks, you're a gem," Natalie said, laughing.

"Where's the chart?" Haley asked, looking for it.

"Oh, check in the room on the bed. Steve was using it to look over the patient when I left," Natalie replied. Haley sighed.

"You really need to teach your husband to put charts back where they belong," Haley commented.

"Hey, he is a brilliant and busy doctor, Hales. He can't always remember every little detail," Natalie said.

"He's a first-year, egotistical resident who can't be bothered to do what he considers 'a nurse's job'," Haley said. Natalie frowned and looked at her in surprise.

"Look, I know you've never liked him," she said.

"Understatement," Haley interrupted. The first time Haley had ever met Dr. Steve Crane was during her first year working at the hospital on her very first day in fact. She had disagreed with the way he talked to and treated a young female patient who had just come into the ER after being brutally raped and beat up. He talked to her like it was her fault and told her that next time she went to a party; she shouldn't dress in an outfit that basically told any guy to "come and get it".

They had gotten into a major blow-out right at the admitting desk where Haley had followed him. She almost reported him to an attending, but her friendship with Natalie, who was only dating him at the time, compelled her not to. "But we're married now and if you want our friendship to continue, you're going to need to put the past behind you," Natalie said.

"Haley!" Dr. Shane yelled from one of the trauma rooms.

"I've got to go. We'll talk about this some other time. Have a good honeymoon," Haley called as she made her way to the trauma room.

TEN MINUTES LATER

Haley yawned as she walked out of the room and went to the admitting desk to return a chart of a patient. She checked her watch and realized she still had to give Natalie's patient their medications. "Haley, can you run a tox screen on the patient in curtain five?" a random doctor asked. Haley smiled.

"I'll be there as soon as I'm done giving the meds to this patient," she said. She was wearing navy blue scrubs and put her stethoscope around her neck again and walked into the patient's room. She looked up at him and shook her head in disbelief and recognition.

"You've got to be kidding me," she said abrasively.