Title: Awake

Author: Katy

Rating: T

Disclaimer: All characters from One Tree Hill are property of Mark Schwahn and those at Tollin/Robbins Productions and Warner Bros. Television Production Inc. All stories, original plotlines and characters are property of their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.

Primary pairing: Nathan/Haley

Summary: After the terrible accident at Molina Bridge, Haley Scott awaits news of her husband's condition.

"Tree Hill is just a place somewhere in the world.

Maybe it's a lot like your world. Maybe it's nothing like it. But if you look a little closer, you might see someone like you or someone like my best friend Haley.

If you're married, a senior in high school and not sure if your husband's still alive.

Then I'd say your world is a lot like Haley's."

Lucas walked up to his best friend, Haley James Scott, who was standing in the middle of Tree Hill Hospital's waiting room in her dirt-stained wedding dress, her face awash with tears.

"Hales," he said gently, catching her attention fairly quickly as he offered her one of the two paper cups of water he held in his hand.

Haley looked at him through her tears and took the cup. She raised it to her mouth to take a sip but as she was about to slide the liquid down her throat, she seemed to have changed her mind and lowered her arm.

Lucas opened his arms to her in an offer for a hug. Haley looked at him in appreciation as she felt her best friend's arms wrap around her and she began crying harder because she wanted to feel Nathan's arms around her.

But Nathan wasn't available.

She closed her eyes as she thought back to the last time she had been in Nathan, sitting together in the car as they drove to the airport, chatting about the events that had transpired between his uncle Cooper and her fellow cheerleader, Rachel Gatina.

God, she wanted to kill that bitch.

"Luke," she sobbed into his shoulder and he tightened his arms around her soothingly. "He has to make it."

"He will," Lucas said reassuringly.

Haley pulled away and looked at him, his image blurred as tears still fell from her eyes. "How do you know?" she asked.

"Nathan loves you, he's going to fight to see you again," Lucas replied.

Haley attempted to smile at her his comforting words but failed when her cruel mind went somewhere else, digging up words long forgotten to her as she had dismissed her husband's words as ridiculous.

"If I die, if something happens to me, I want you to be okay and to know that you made me happy," he had told her that day as they sat in the middle of the football field awaiting the sprinklers.

Her face crumpled at the memory.

"I don't want to know that I made him happy," she said to Lucas, suddenly very angry. "I want to see him happy. I need him."

"What are you talking about?" Lucas asked in concern.

"He told me," Haley said.

"He told you what?" Lucas wondered.

"Nathan told me not to worry," Haley said, not realizing that her friend had no idea what she was talking about. "If something ever happened to him, he wanted me to know that he was happy with me."

Lucas, not sure what to say, put a soothing hand on her shoulder and tightened his grip in a reassuring manner. "He will make it through this," he said.

They decided to sit down on the couch in the waiting room to wait for news about Nathan and Haley, exhausted, had drifted off, resting her head against one Lucas' shoulder.

Lucas had been thinking of the people that would start to arrive, bombarding Haley with questions and then realized they had forgotten about one person.

"Someone should call Dan," he muttered and got up, waking Haley in the process and walking away. "I'll be back."

Haley took her husband's suit jacket that was over her body as a blanket and put it on, slipping her arms through the huge sleeves and pulling it closer against her, breathing in his scent.

She didn't like not being near him. She hated the fact that he was in a hospital room, fighting for his life and she was not there with him. And she despised the hospital staff for making her wait so long for information about his condition.

Waiting for news about Nathan seemed like she waiting for a judge to hand down a jury's sentence, whether her husband would live or die.

And each second that ticked by made her more frantic.

"Mrs Scott," someone called out her name and she searched for the owner of the voice.

A nurse with long black hair approached the waiting room slowly, looking for the some one in particular and when their gazes locked, her face brightened.

"Your husband is awake," she said, her mouth curving into a smile as she put an arm around her shoulder. "I'll take you to him."

Haley was so thrilled with the news that Nathan was awake; she was speechless for about ten seconds.

"Is he okay?" Haley asked as they headed down yet another hallway.

"He's awake and alert, but he was injured," the nurse said.

"His knee," Haley guessed brilliantly.

"How did you know?" the nurse inquired.

"He hurt it a while ago, it acts up every once in a while," Haley rambled happily.

Talking about Nathan was one of the things she did best and it seemed to calm her as they approached his room.

"I'll give you some privacy," the nurse said before they even reached the doorway.

"Thank you," Haley called after her.

She opened the door and crossed the threshold nervously. The door clicked shut behind her and she finally raised her gaze from the floor to find Nathan lying in the bed.

Nathan was awake indeed, his eyes lit up when he saw her. "Hales," he greeted her happily.

"Where you been?" he quipped.

Haley smiled as tears spilled from her eyes and she finally crossed the distance between them.

"Nathan," she exclaimed as she walked over to him and glanced down at him worriedly.

"C'mere," he said, opening his arms to her.

Haley needed no further encouragement as she gently went into his arms and buried her face in his neck, kissing him lightly there.

"Thank God," she kept whispering feverishly.

She pulled away momentarily to look at him seriously in the eyes. "I was so terrified you weren't going to come back to me," Haley confessed, blinking away more tears.

Nathan reached up and brushed them away slowly. "I'll always come back to you," he said, cupping her cheek and looking at her adoringly.

Haley smiled at him widely as she leaned down and kissed him. "I love you," she said against his lips.

Nathan kissed her. "I love you too."

Haley leaned her forehead against his and breathed in a deep breath. Her eyes were closed and she was smiling.

"What?" Nathan asked of her, aware that she was thinking.

"I'm just glad that you're," she said but her voice cracked.

"What?" he asked.

"Awake," she said and opened her eyes to look at him, relieved that he was actually still there.

Her husband was awake and alive.

This day just got a whole lot better.