Title: Sad Song
Author: Rebekah
Pairing: Nathan/Haley, Jake/Haley
Rating: PG, character death
Disclaimer: I don't own One Tree Hill or any of its characters.
Summary: This story is AU from what has been happening on the show. Jake
and Haley move to California while Nathan stays in North Carolina. Now it's
three years later, will a fatal illness divide Nathan and Haley forever?
**
Sad Song
The stage of the small Los Angeles club is bare except for the performers and their equipment. They have enough stage presence to bring down any audience without extravagant lighting and a million costume changes. The two singers have been playing religiously at this venue for almost two years now, and have recruited a very dedicated following.
It's Saturday night and the stage is set for another sold-old show. The club is packed and the energy is high. Word of mouth has spread amazing sentiments about the two singers from Tree Hill, North Carolina.
Haley sits on one of the two stools propped on stage, acoustic guitar in her hand. Her band-mate Jake is crouched next to an amp, adjusting the settings on his new electric guitar. Madison, Jake's five-year old daughter, was twirling around the stage and as usual getting in the way of the technicians but looking adorable while she did it, which had become her custom before each show.
Haley twisted the cap off her water bottle and gulped down the cool liquid. Jake watched her while he was tuning the strings. He walked over to her and touched her damp forehead gently.
"You're burning up, Haley," he said, concerned. "Are you sure you want to go on tonight?"
"I'm just a little dehydrated," she assured him. "Besides, we've been looking forward to this show all week. I can't wait to hear you play electric."
She offered him a soft smile.
"It's going to be an experience," Jake said, returning her smile with a tight smile of his own.
"Don't look at me like that, Jake. My blood count wasn't too good this week, I know that; but I'm fine. I can still play, I can still sing and I'm not letting a little fever stop me."
"I don't think it's a little fever," he said gently. "I rushed you to the hospital the last time you were like this."
Haley took another swig of her water.
"Please, Jake. I need to play this show tonight," she pleaded.
"Okay," he relented. "If you feel sick though, we bail, even in the middle of a set."
Haley smiled weakly. She picked up her guitar and started to tune it when Ray the owner of the club, who had become a close friend of both Haley and Jake's, walked over.
"Showtime in five," Ray explained. "C'mon rock stars, the clock is ticking."
"We're almost ready," Jake said. "Is it packed?"
"Completely. The best part is the crowd is full of familiar faces. It's like you guys seriously have one hundred roadies," he said with a laugh.
Haley and Jake had formed their band "James" during senior year of high school. They had jammed one afternoon after school, both were avid yet secret musicians, and their style and vocal harmonies clicked right away. They copied the one name persona of bands like "Travis" and "Saliva" and went with the easy moniker of Haley's last name.
Jake and his daughter left for California after graduation, and Haley went with them. That was when their band really took off, playing at as many clubs as they could fit into a weekend and practicing for these shows as much as they could during the weekdays. They perfected their Fiona Apple meets John Mayer sound and caught the attention of many club owners who were thrilled to book them for their shows.
In fact, they had just finished putting together an EP album with a local scout agency known for producing the next 'new big thing.'
Jake rushed Madison off the stage so she could watch the show with the waitresses who were taking their breaks. He asked Haley one more time if she was feeling up to playing, who answered with a sarcastic "yes Daddy, I'm fine," before signaling over to Ray that it was time to announce the beginning of their set.
Haley waited for the applause to die down before she began her usual opening monologue. Ray was right, there were many familiar faces in the audience. There was the freshman Lily from UCLA who never missed a show and Joe who worked around the corner at the Lowe's movie theater who bought ten of their debut EP to distribute to his friends, as well as countless other fans that connected so deeply with their music. She revved the audience up as much as she could and then the band plunged into their first song, surprising the audience with the new sound of Jake's electric guitar. There was a pleasant burst of applause and screams as the usually calm song became slightly more frenzied. They had played at this venue so often that Jake had decided it was time to kick it up a notch, if only on one or two songs, and use an electric guitar as well as their acoustic ones.
The crowd seemed to like their innovation. The rest of the set was received the same way, and Haley was more than inspired to sing her heart out. The show ended and the band did their usual meet and greet with the fans. Haley and Jake helped pack up their instruments and load them into the van they bought the summer they left Tree Hill. They drove the instruments to their drummer Gary's garage and then drove home.
Jack carried a sleeping Madison from the van up the three flights of stairs and into the small two-bedroom apartment they shared. He noticed that Haley was pretty out of breath by the time she crossed the threshold and sat down on the couch.
"I'll tuck the little princess in tonight. You need to rest," he said, before crossing the living room and into the hallway, which led to the child's bedroom.
He made sure Madison was sleeping soundly before going into their room and retrieving Haley's pajamas for her. Walking back into the living room, Jake positioned himself on the edge of the couch, by Haley's feet.
"You're going to be fast asleep in your club clothes unless you let me help," he said sweetly.
Jake took off her sock and waited for her to yell at him that she was more than capable of undressing herself. There was no response.
"Haley honey, are you okay?" he asked, voice slightly panicked.
Her heard her murmuring softly: "I loved you Nathan. I'm sorry. No, Nathan."
He moved away from the edge of the couch so he hovered over her. She had stopped talking completely now, and was turning a light shade of blue. He cursed under his breath and instantly began CPR.
Her breathing returned but it was staggered. Jake took her pulse and found it was slow and thready. He reached into his pocket and dialed 911.
"My girlfriend is a stage three lymphoma patient. She wasn't breathing but I gave her CPR and she responded but she has a fever, her pulse is weak and she is struggling to breathe. I need an ambulance right now," he said to the operator.
Jake made two more phone calls that day. The first call was to the babysitter, to come and watch Madison while he went with Haley to the hospital and the second was to her parents in Tree Hill. The next day he made a third phone call, this one a million times worse than the previous one's. He had to call Lucas Scott, his old basketball teammate and Haley's childhood best friend, and inform him of her passing.
***
Lucas Scott cradled the phone in his hand. He had sat in his chair for an hour after Jake called, the tears falling unbridled and unashamed from his eyes like waterfalls. He had dialed his brother Nathan's familiar number about twenty times but each time he went to press send the tears would turn to sobs and Lucas would have to put the phone down and try to compose himself before he could muster up the strength to dial his brother again. He remembered the last time he had seen Nathan and Haley together with painful accuracy.
It had been during the summer after they had graduated from high school. Both Nathan and Lucas had been accepted to Duke University with a basketball scholarship. Haley had applied there to appease her best friend and boyfriend, but unknown to them she had no intention of going there with them.
The gang was gathered around Brooke's parent's pool. Haley was lying on a lounge chair and Nathan was sitting next to her, applying lotion to her back. Lucas, Brooke, Peyton, Tim and a few others were standing next to the BBQ, cooking up hotdogs, hamburgers and corn on the cob. Jake was in the shallow end of the pool with his daughter Madison in his arms. The three year old was smiling and giggling and everyone was enjoying watching her play in the pool.
"Haley, we are going to have so much fun teaching Madison how to swim in the ocean. I want to buy her a little surfboard," he had said absentmindedly to his friend.
Haley had visibly tensed up under Nathan's touch. She sat up, and noticed that the entire group was looking at her funny.
"What is he talking about?" Nathan had asked. "This isn't about California, is it? James, we decided you weren't going."
"You decided I wasn't going Nathan," she had said softly, not wanting this to be a public argument but already knowing it was going to be.
"I don't believe this. You have to be kidding me. We're going to Duke: you, me and Lucas."
"I can't afford Duke, you know that. Besides, that's not even the point. I want to focus on my music and I can't do that in North Carolina," she had tried to plead with him. "We'll still be together. We can do the long- distance thing for a while or you can move out to California with us. Didn't you get into USC? It will work Nathan."
Jake had gotten out of the pool and had ushered one of the cheerleaders to take Madison inside the house.
"I thought she talked about all this with you man. I figured you were cool with it. You said you were going to tell him," Jake had said, turning to Haley.
"Don't talk to her," Nathan had said, pushing his way in between Jake and Haley. "You want to know what I'm really curious about. How long have you been screwing my girlfriend Jake? This music stuff is bullshit and you two and your stupid band are never going to make it big so this has to be about something else. Have you been cheating on me behind my back?"
Lucas had tried to step in then but Nathan was too riled up, as was Haley.
"You jerk. I have never cheated on you!" Haley had cried out.
"So then why are you leaving me, huh? We were supposed to go to college together and get our teaching degrees together then get married and what, you are going to give all that up to pursue some fantasy you have about being the next Pink?"
"You never understood my music."
"No, but I'm sure Jake does."
"He does, but you're the one I love Nathan. We can both have our dreams but we just need to do it separately for a while. I need to do this."
"Then you're doing it without me. If you leave North Carolina, then you leave us in the dust. It's you're choice," he had given her an ultimatum and then left the house.
Haley had made her choice and moved with Jake and Madison the following week to California. Nathan and Lucas had gone to Duke as planned but Nathan dropped out during the second semester of his freshman year, and has been working at his father's company ever since.
Lucas put down the phone and reached for his car keys. This was a conversation he had to have with his brother in person. He drove the twenty- five minute ride in fifteen and pulled up in front of his brother's apartment building. He let himself in with the spare key Nathan had given him in case he needed an emergency crashing pad.
"Nate?" he called, walking deeper into the room. "Bro? It's Lucas. I have to talk to you about something."
The television was on in the bedroom and Lucas walked towards the sound. He heard the talking of a familiar MTV video jockey.
"Haley James, lead singer of underground sensation "James" succumbed yesterday to a two year battle with cancer. Our thoughts go out to her friends, family and band mates. She was 21 years old, and is survived by her boyfriend and band mate Jake Greenberg and their young child."
Lucas winced as he realized the clip Nathan was watching was on tape. Nathan rewound the commentary on Haley three times before turning to Lucas and acknowledging his presence.
"Did you know she was sick?" Nathan asked in a broken voice.
"No," Lucas said sadly, lowering himself onto the floor next to Nathan. "She never said anything."
"That guy talks about her like he knows her. Madison isn't even her child. She wasn't dating Jake."
Lucas didn't want to say what he was going to say but he felt he had to.
"Haley adopted Madison after her mother disappeared. She and Jake were getting serious."
Nathan held up his hand, not wanting to hear the rest.
"I get it Luke. I don't need to know more. I just, I can't believe she didn't tell me anything when I went out there to see her."
Lucas's eyes opened wide.
"Wait, when did you go see her? Why didn't I know about this?"
Nathan sighed.
"Nothing came of it, so I figured there was no point in talking to you about it. I went to one of her shows, a few choice words were spoken, and then I left."
Nathan put his hands in his face.
"I'm never going to see her again," he said, starting to sob.
Lucas started to tear up as well.
"The funeral is on Sunday. You should go."
Nathan sobered up at this. His glassy eyes refused to return Lucas's gaze. He stared again at the television screen and pressed rewind, watching it move backwards in slow-mo before pressing play again.
It started to play in the middle of the news segment: "Our thoughts go out to her friends, family and band mates. She was 21 years old."
**
Sad Song
The stage of the small Los Angeles club is bare except for the performers and their equipment. They have enough stage presence to bring down any audience without extravagant lighting and a million costume changes. The two singers have been playing religiously at this venue for almost two years now, and have recruited a very dedicated following.
It's Saturday night and the stage is set for another sold-old show. The club is packed and the energy is high. Word of mouth has spread amazing sentiments about the two singers from Tree Hill, North Carolina.
Haley sits on one of the two stools propped on stage, acoustic guitar in her hand. Her band-mate Jake is crouched next to an amp, adjusting the settings on his new electric guitar. Madison, Jake's five-year old daughter, was twirling around the stage and as usual getting in the way of the technicians but looking adorable while she did it, which had become her custom before each show.
Haley twisted the cap off her water bottle and gulped down the cool liquid. Jake watched her while he was tuning the strings. He walked over to her and touched her damp forehead gently.
"You're burning up, Haley," he said, concerned. "Are you sure you want to go on tonight?"
"I'm just a little dehydrated," she assured him. "Besides, we've been looking forward to this show all week. I can't wait to hear you play electric."
She offered him a soft smile.
"It's going to be an experience," Jake said, returning her smile with a tight smile of his own.
"Don't look at me like that, Jake. My blood count wasn't too good this week, I know that; but I'm fine. I can still play, I can still sing and I'm not letting a little fever stop me."
"I don't think it's a little fever," he said gently. "I rushed you to the hospital the last time you were like this."
Haley took another swig of her water.
"Please, Jake. I need to play this show tonight," she pleaded.
"Okay," he relented. "If you feel sick though, we bail, even in the middle of a set."
Haley smiled weakly. She picked up her guitar and started to tune it when Ray the owner of the club, who had become a close friend of both Haley and Jake's, walked over.
"Showtime in five," Ray explained. "C'mon rock stars, the clock is ticking."
"We're almost ready," Jake said. "Is it packed?"
"Completely. The best part is the crowd is full of familiar faces. It's like you guys seriously have one hundred roadies," he said with a laugh.
Haley and Jake had formed their band "James" during senior year of high school. They had jammed one afternoon after school, both were avid yet secret musicians, and their style and vocal harmonies clicked right away. They copied the one name persona of bands like "Travis" and "Saliva" and went with the easy moniker of Haley's last name.
Jake and his daughter left for California after graduation, and Haley went with them. That was when their band really took off, playing at as many clubs as they could fit into a weekend and practicing for these shows as much as they could during the weekdays. They perfected their Fiona Apple meets John Mayer sound and caught the attention of many club owners who were thrilled to book them for their shows.
In fact, they had just finished putting together an EP album with a local scout agency known for producing the next 'new big thing.'
Jake rushed Madison off the stage so she could watch the show with the waitresses who were taking their breaks. He asked Haley one more time if she was feeling up to playing, who answered with a sarcastic "yes Daddy, I'm fine," before signaling over to Ray that it was time to announce the beginning of their set.
Haley waited for the applause to die down before she began her usual opening monologue. Ray was right, there were many familiar faces in the audience. There was the freshman Lily from UCLA who never missed a show and Joe who worked around the corner at the Lowe's movie theater who bought ten of their debut EP to distribute to his friends, as well as countless other fans that connected so deeply with their music. She revved the audience up as much as she could and then the band plunged into their first song, surprising the audience with the new sound of Jake's electric guitar. There was a pleasant burst of applause and screams as the usually calm song became slightly more frenzied. They had played at this venue so often that Jake had decided it was time to kick it up a notch, if only on one or two songs, and use an electric guitar as well as their acoustic ones.
The crowd seemed to like their innovation. The rest of the set was received the same way, and Haley was more than inspired to sing her heart out. The show ended and the band did their usual meet and greet with the fans. Haley and Jake helped pack up their instruments and load them into the van they bought the summer they left Tree Hill. They drove the instruments to their drummer Gary's garage and then drove home.
Jack carried a sleeping Madison from the van up the three flights of stairs and into the small two-bedroom apartment they shared. He noticed that Haley was pretty out of breath by the time she crossed the threshold and sat down on the couch.
"I'll tuck the little princess in tonight. You need to rest," he said, before crossing the living room and into the hallway, which led to the child's bedroom.
He made sure Madison was sleeping soundly before going into their room and retrieving Haley's pajamas for her. Walking back into the living room, Jake positioned himself on the edge of the couch, by Haley's feet.
"You're going to be fast asleep in your club clothes unless you let me help," he said sweetly.
Jake took off her sock and waited for her to yell at him that she was more than capable of undressing herself. There was no response.
"Haley honey, are you okay?" he asked, voice slightly panicked.
Her heard her murmuring softly: "I loved you Nathan. I'm sorry. No, Nathan."
He moved away from the edge of the couch so he hovered over her. She had stopped talking completely now, and was turning a light shade of blue. He cursed under his breath and instantly began CPR.
Her breathing returned but it was staggered. Jake took her pulse and found it was slow and thready. He reached into his pocket and dialed 911.
"My girlfriend is a stage three lymphoma patient. She wasn't breathing but I gave her CPR and she responded but she has a fever, her pulse is weak and she is struggling to breathe. I need an ambulance right now," he said to the operator.
Jake made two more phone calls that day. The first call was to the babysitter, to come and watch Madison while he went with Haley to the hospital and the second was to her parents in Tree Hill. The next day he made a third phone call, this one a million times worse than the previous one's. He had to call Lucas Scott, his old basketball teammate and Haley's childhood best friend, and inform him of her passing.
***
Lucas Scott cradled the phone in his hand. He had sat in his chair for an hour after Jake called, the tears falling unbridled and unashamed from his eyes like waterfalls. He had dialed his brother Nathan's familiar number about twenty times but each time he went to press send the tears would turn to sobs and Lucas would have to put the phone down and try to compose himself before he could muster up the strength to dial his brother again. He remembered the last time he had seen Nathan and Haley together with painful accuracy.
It had been during the summer after they had graduated from high school. Both Nathan and Lucas had been accepted to Duke University with a basketball scholarship. Haley had applied there to appease her best friend and boyfriend, but unknown to them she had no intention of going there with them.
The gang was gathered around Brooke's parent's pool. Haley was lying on a lounge chair and Nathan was sitting next to her, applying lotion to her back. Lucas, Brooke, Peyton, Tim and a few others were standing next to the BBQ, cooking up hotdogs, hamburgers and corn on the cob. Jake was in the shallow end of the pool with his daughter Madison in his arms. The three year old was smiling and giggling and everyone was enjoying watching her play in the pool.
"Haley, we are going to have so much fun teaching Madison how to swim in the ocean. I want to buy her a little surfboard," he had said absentmindedly to his friend.
Haley had visibly tensed up under Nathan's touch. She sat up, and noticed that the entire group was looking at her funny.
"What is he talking about?" Nathan had asked. "This isn't about California, is it? James, we decided you weren't going."
"You decided I wasn't going Nathan," she had said softly, not wanting this to be a public argument but already knowing it was going to be.
"I don't believe this. You have to be kidding me. We're going to Duke: you, me and Lucas."
"I can't afford Duke, you know that. Besides, that's not even the point. I want to focus on my music and I can't do that in North Carolina," she had tried to plead with him. "We'll still be together. We can do the long- distance thing for a while or you can move out to California with us. Didn't you get into USC? It will work Nathan."
Jake had gotten out of the pool and had ushered one of the cheerleaders to take Madison inside the house.
"I thought she talked about all this with you man. I figured you were cool with it. You said you were going to tell him," Jake had said, turning to Haley.
"Don't talk to her," Nathan had said, pushing his way in between Jake and Haley. "You want to know what I'm really curious about. How long have you been screwing my girlfriend Jake? This music stuff is bullshit and you two and your stupid band are never going to make it big so this has to be about something else. Have you been cheating on me behind my back?"
Lucas had tried to step in then but Nathan was too riled up, as was Haley.
"You jerk. I have never cheated on you!" Haley had cried out.
"So then why are you leaving me, huh? We were supposed to go to college together and get our teaching degrees together then get married and what, you are going to give all that up to pursue some fantasy you have about being the next Pink?"
"You never understood my music."
"No, but I'm sure Jake does."
"He does, but you're the one I love Nathan. We can both have our dreams but we just need to do it separately for a while. I need to do this."
"Then you're doing it without me. If you leave North Carolina, then you leave us in the dust. It's you're choice," he had given her an ultimatum and then left the house.
Haley had made her choice and moved with Jake and Madison the following week to California. Nathan and Lucas had gone to Duke as planned but Nathan dropped out during the second semester of his freshman year, and has been working at his father's company ever since.
Lucas put down the phone and reached for his car keys. This was a conversation he had to have with his brother in person. He drove the twenty- five minute ride in fifteen and pulled up in front of his brother's apartment building. He let himself in with the spare key Nathan had given him in case he needed an emergency crashing pad.
"Nate?" he called, walking deeper into the room. "Bro? It's Lucas. I have to talk to you about something."
The television was on in the bedroom and Lucas walked towards the sound. He heard the talking of a familiar MTV video jockey.
"Haley James, lead singer of underground sensation "James" succumbed yesterday to a two year battle with cancer. Our thoughts go out to her friends, family and band mates. She was 21 years old, and is survived by her boyfriend and band mate Jake Greenberg and their young child."
Lucas winced as he realized the clip Nathan was watching was on tape. Nathan rewound the commentary on Haley three times before turning to Lucas and acknowledging his presence.
"Did you know she was sick?" Nathan asked in a broken voice.
"No," Lucas said sadly, lowering himself onto the floor next to Nathan. "She never said anything."
"That guy talks about her like he knows her. Madison isn't even her child. She wasn't dating Jake."
Lucas didn't want to say what he was going to say but he felt he had to.
"Haley adopted Madison after her mother disappeared. She and Jake were getting serious."
Nathan held up his hand, not wanting to hear the rest.
"I get it Luke. I don't need to know more. I just, I can't believe she didn't tell me anything when I went out there to see her."
Lucas's eyes opened wide.
"Wait, when did you go see her? Why didn't I know about this?"
Nathan sighed.
"Nothing came of it, so I figured there was no point in talking to you about it. I went to one of her shows, a few choice words were spoken, and then I left."
Nathan put his hands in his face.
"I'm never going to see her again," he said, starting to sob.
Lucas started to tear up as well.
"The funeral is on Sunday. You should go."
Nathan sobered up at this. His glassy eyes refused to return Lucas's gaze. He stared again at the television screen and pressed rewind, watching it move backwards in slow-mo before pressing play again.
It started to play in the middle of the news segment: "Our thoughts go out to her friends, family and band mates. She was 21 years old."