Disclaimer; Characters, minor plot, and dialogue belong to CW/WB, Mark Schwahn, and OTH writers.

AN: This is a rotating feature by Kat0507 and me (inspired by Diamond Gothic) - with the possibility of occasional guest authors, but we'll let you know when and who, when it comes to that. This will basically be "one story", which, as of now will be composed on two different accounts.

We will try and keep this from getting too confusing by constantly reminding you what order to read things/from what author. If any of you get/are confused or have questions, please don't hesitate to ask us! We're also available on twitter (mAu0103& Katg0507). When we are done, we will probably compile everything together on both accounts for easy reading.

For now, in order to follow along, we suggest you get story alerts on stories on each of our accounts. Also refer back to the guide we are setting up for updated information. Here is what we have so far:

"Everything"-posted by Kat0507

Chapter 1-posted by mAu0103

Chapter 2-posted by Kat0507

Chapter 3-posted by mAu0103 (This chapter!)

Chapter 4-will be posted by Kat0507

*Happy birthday Gina!*

Chapter 3

Haley was sitting at the examination bench, which was located in the middle of the room they had been showed into minutes priorly by a nurse. Lydia was still in her arms, resting her uninjured side of her head on her shoulder. She kept rubbing her hand softly up and down Lydia's back, while whispering soothing words.

Lydia's crying had somewhat subsided, but every now and then, small, muffled, sobs would escape her because of the foreign, new sensations of pain that was shooting through her head.

Jamie was sitting in the chair at the corner of the room, his knee restlessly bouncing up and down with his eyes fixed at his sisters back.

"She's going to be okay, right?" He asked worriedly and moved his gaze over at Haley.

Haley breathed in deeply, when Nathan squeezed her tighter into his side and placed a kiss at the side of her head. The feeling of his body next to her, and the support of his strong arm around her and their daughter, was the only reason to why she hadn't broken down yet.

She hated this place. She hated the smell. She hated the sounds. She hated the colors of the walls. She hated the entire atmosphere. And most of all, she hated that her baby girl was hurting, and there was nothing she could do about it. This place held nothing but bad memories, with the exception of the two times she had been here, given birth to the two most precious, and dearest things in her life.

She looked over at Jamie, and was about to answer him, when the door opened and a tall, blonde, middle-aged man in white coat entered, followed by the same nurse that had shown them into the room earlier.

"Hi, Mr and Mrs Scott, was it? I'm Dr. Robinson." He greeted and extended his hand towards Nathan, as he got up on his feet.

"Yes, I'm Nathan and this is my wife, Haley." He said and shook his hand firmly.

Haley smiled at him and nodded her head, as she didn't want to let go of Lydia that had finally calmed herself down.

The doctor glanced down at the chart he was holding in his hand, and flipped the papers they had filled out by the reception desk, right after they first entered the ER.

"So, I see Lydia here, had an unpleasant meeting with the coffee table." He handed the chart to the nurse, before he went over to stand in front of Haley and Lydia.

Nathan took one step to the side, to give the doctor enough space, and watched carefully as he slowly approached Lydia, which had her head buried in the crook of Haley's neck.

"Yeah, it all happened so fast. One second she was running around, and the then the next one she tripped over one of her toys, and that was it." Haley said, feeling a sharp sting in her heart, as the horrifying sound of her daughters head hitting the table, rang in her ears.

"She has a pretty big bump along with a gash above her right eye, which is swollen shut." She added and inwardly cringed as she tried to give a good description of Lydia's injuries.

"I see. Well, let's take a look at it." He said and smiled at the worried mother. "Do you think you can get her to turn around and face me?" He asked placing his hand on Lydia's back.

"Hey, baby." Haley spoke softly to Lydia and patted her back. "Can you turn around for me, so the doctor can take a look at your head?" She continued, and started to move her in her arms.

"Mommy!" Lydia whined and threw her short arms around her neck, when Haley started to move her - refusing to let go of her.

"I'm still here, sweetie. I'm just going to turn you around in my lap, so the nice doctor can take away your boo-boo, okay?" She felt Lydia release the tight grip around her neck, just enough so that she could turn her around in her lap.

The doctor raised her head with his hand under her chin and examined her with his naked eye. He gently and carefully pressed his fingers around her eye, which caused Lydia to arch her head back into Haley's shoulder, and wale out in pain.

"Sshh, it's okay, baby." Haley soothed and nuzzled her face into her head.

"Has she been conscious all the time?" He asked and pulled out the small flashlight from his chest pocket.

"Yes." Haley nodded.

"Okay, good. Lydia, can you look at me for a second?" He asked and lowered his head so it was level with hers.

Lydia turned her head slowly and opened her left eye, when she heard the sound of her name. Two of her fingers were stuck in her mouth as she focused in at him with her healthy eye. When she noticed the flashlight he held in his hand, her hand shot out and pointed at it. "Light!"

"Yes, that's right. Do you think you can sit still for a second, so I can take a look at your eye?" He asked her and smiled.

She tried to grab it when he held it up in front of her head, causing Haley to let out a tiny chuckle.

"I'm sorry." She muttered, and took a hold of Lydia's hand to let the doctor do his job.

"No, mine!" Lydia whined and tried to fight her hands out of Haley's grip.

"I'll tell you what. You can have this once I'm done, okay? It'll only take a second."

Lydia stopped squirming in Haley's lap and looked back at him with her big, blue-green eye, and softly nodded her head.

He swiped the light quickly once, from the side and into her eye, nodding his head in satisfaction, when he saw her pupillary reaction was normal.

He turned off the flashlight and held it out to her. "Here you go." He said and patted her head as Lydia grabbed the flashlight out of his hand with excitement.

"Is everything okay?" Nathan suddenly asked, after observing everything quietly from the side. He was shuffling his feet around, unable to stand still. The thought of anything worse than a bump, a swollen eye and a tiny gash, sent an uneasy feeling throughout his body, causing his chest to tighten.

"From what I can see, it doesn't look like it's anything worse than the external injuries. She seems to be responsive and alerted, but I'm going to order a head scan, just so we can rule out any fractures and internal bleedings. It's difficult to get a good enough look at her eye, because of the swelling. But I might be able to something about that. At least release some of the pressure." He reasoned and walked over to his desk.

"Why don't you clean her wound and get her ready, while I call down to radiology and order that scan." He directed to the nurse, that had already started to prepare the equipment he needed to stitch her up. "I'm also gonna need a syringe, so I can remove some of that exudate pressing over her eye." He added quickly.

Haley felt her heart start to pound hard against her chest when the doctor said internal bleedings. A million thoughts ran through her head, and none of them were of the good kind. She squeezed Lydia closer to her body and moved her gaze over at Nathan. She was sure that he mirrored her thoughts as she saw how restless and uneasy he looked. He had his hands in his pockets and kept swaying his body from side to side. Yet, he gave her a soft smile and a look that helped her breathe and slow down her heart rate with ten-fold, at least.

What would she ever do without him?

She quickly discarded that thought. There was no point of going down that road again. Not now. Instead she chose to focus on his eyes. The way he looked at her slowly pushed aside the horrifying thoughts and replaced them with an inner stillness. She started to feel safe and calm, knowing that he was here with them. Of course she knew he couldn't take away Lydia's pain, but simply to know that he was here with them, made it so much easier to sit here while they were waiting. The way he handled every situation so calmly really amazed her. She had no idea how he could do it. She was freaking out big time, on the inside, but he looked like he was able to keep his anxiety in check. Or at least he was very good at hiding it. Either way, she was glad that he was able to keep his cool, because it was more than enough having one of them freaking out.

She turned her attention back to Lydia, when the nurse came over to clean her wound and disinfect the skin around it. The contact of the cotton to her forehead caused Lydia to squirm uncontrollably and cry out in agonizing pain, which again sent an excruciating ache to fire through Haley's body.

When the nurse finished up, tears were streaming down Lydia's face, and all Haley could do was to hold her close and try to soothe her the best she could. It was a terrible feeling. The way it felt when her children were in pain. This was every mothers worst nightmare. The helplessness she felt was almost tearing her apart.

"Okay. Let's see if we can get her stitched up, before we send her down to radiology." Dr. Robinson said as he returned from his desk. "Do you think you can get her to lay still on the bench here, Mrs. Scott?"

"I don't know" Haley sighed and turned her eyes at Nathan, silently asking him to come and help her. It was probably going to be difficult to keep her still, and she hated the idea of having to hold her down, but what other choice did they have if it came to that?

"Don't worry, I'll give her a local anesthetic, so she won't feel anything once I start to stitch." He reasoned, trying to console the worried parents.

Nathan walked over and hunched down in front of Lydia.

"Hey baby girl, do you think you can be brave for daddy, and lay down at the table? Then the doctor's gonna fix your boo-boo above your eye." Nathan spoke softly to his daughter.

Nathan got up and took one step back as Haley slid down off of the table with Lydia in her arms. She turned around and put Lydia down on her back.

"Daddy." Lydia held out her hand, as her lower lip started to quiver.

"Daddy's here." Nathan soothed and placed his hand on her tiny belly. "It's gonna be okay." He said quietly, trying to assure himself just as much as he needed to assure his little girl.

He felt Haley next to him, leaning into his side and take a hold of his hand. She gave it a gentle squeeze, making him relax and let out the breath he didn't know he had been holding in. This is how it would always be like. He would always have her by his side, to help make him calm when he felt like he was about to burst on the inside. He let the gentle and soothing touch of her hand, transfer through his hand and into his body, and slowly but surely push aside the uneasy thoughts. The thoughts that always had their way of crawling into the back of his mind, every time his children, or Haley was hurting.

Haley was standing in the kitchen, wiping spilled lemonade off the kitchen counter. She was lost in her own thoughts, and didn't hear Nathan walk up behind her. She jumped slightly when he snaked his arms around her, and placed a kiss at the top of her head.

When the initial scare wore off, she relaxed herself back into his chest and closed her eyes.

"She's out as a light." Nathan spoke softly and smiled into her hair, resting his hands on her stomach.

They'd just arrived back home from the hospital, and Lydia had fallen asleep in the car, so Nathan had carried her upstairs to put her down.

The doctor had told them that the painkillers would probably make her tired, and the fact that she had been going through a scary and a painful experience, would of course also contribute to her exhaustion.

"Are you okay?" Nathan asked when he heard a quiet sigh escaping Haley.

She had been silent in the car ride back from the hospital, and with the exception of a few words to Lydia before he'd carried her upstairs, she hadn't said anything. He'd also noticed how deep in thoughts she'd been when he came into the kitchen, and couldn't help but feeling a little worried.

Haley sighed again, this time louder and deeper. There was just so much going on inside of her head right now, and she didn't know how to sort out the thoughts, or even where to start.

"I don't know. I guess I'm just - " She felt a myriad of emotions rush through her, which caused her to choke back on her words. A single tear escaped the corner of her eye, and slowly rolled down across her cheekbone. She quickly wiped it away and tried to compose herself.

"Haley…" Nathan sighed and moved his hands to her upper arms, gently rubbing them up and down.

Haley sniffled, and shook her head. "I'm sorry, I know I'm just being silly, but I can't stand the thought of how much pain she's in. And what if…"

"Hales." Nathan turned her around and raised her chin so he could look into her eyes. "She's going to be fine. Stop worrying about all the what ifs. The scan was negative. No fractures, no bleeding. And right now, she's sound asleep in her room. No pain, no worries whatsoever. Don't forget that she's a Scott. Scott's are tough, you know." He gave her a tiny smirk at the end, trying to ease the mood a little.

It pained him to see Haley like this. He knew she would always worry when it concerned their children, it was just the way she was, and he loved that about her. Her endless love and care for them, and how she would sacrifice herself and do anything for them warmed his heart to no end. But the doctor had told them that everything would be fine, and they didn't have to worry. All they needed to do, was to pay extra attention to the swelling around her eye, and keep the bandaid over her stitches dry - and she'd be as good as new.

Haley chuckled lightly and wiped her eyes again, to prevent another set of tears from springing out.

"I know." She sighed. "And I'm sure she's handling this so much better than I am. I'm a total wuss." She laughed weakly. "But I can't help it, you know. She's my baby. I can't stand seeing her like this."

"I know baby, I know. But I promise you, she's fine." Nathan lowered his head so he was level with Haley, and looked intently, yet softly, into her deep brown eyes. He gave her a smile. "What do you say we go out and join the others and get something to eat? I'm sure the guys have the steaks ready by now."

Haley nodded her head softly and smiled back at him. "Okay." She sighed. "But why don't you go ahead, I just want to go upstairs and check on her first." She added.

It was not like she didn't believe or trusted Nathan, but she couldn't relax herself until she saw her little girl one more time, just to make sure she really was fine.

Nathan leaned in and kissed her gently on the cheek before embracing her in a hug. "Take your time. You know where to find us." He spoke low into her hair.

"Lydia, honey, please don't touch that. I don't want you to rip out your stitches so we have to go back to the hospital and redo them." Haley told her for the millionth time.

Lydia was sitting on the floor in the living room, her toys spread around, but she was more interested in the bandaid above her eye than anything else.

It was late, and after the others had left earlier, the family of four had spent most of their time keeping Lydia busy so that she would keep her hands away from her face.

Lydia looked up at her mother with questioning eyes and kept fiddling with the soft, white material that covered most of her tiny forehead.

Haley sighed and hunched down next to her. "What do you say we go and find Jamie instead? Maybe he can read to you before you go to bed?" Haley asked in a light tone, trying to keep her hand away from her face.

Lydia broke into a huge smile by the sound of her brothers name, and immediately placed her hands on the floor and pushed herself up in a standing position. Her tiny body was swaying for a few seconds, before she found her balance and started to walk wobbingly towards the stairs, focusing hard with every step she took.

Haley watched as she stopped in front of the baby gate at the bottom of the stairs and turned around to her.

"Mommy, come!" She said and held out her small hand at Haley.

Haley smiled and walked over to her. She opened the gate and picked her up.

Lydia grinned and pressed her head against Haley's forehead. It was one of the things she had started to do when she wanted to cuddle. But this time she'd completely forgotten about her bump as she did, so when her head touched Haley's, she winced and quickly retracted her head, and her lip started to quiver.

"Aww, sweetie, you forgot about your boo, huh?" She said and rubbed her hand up and down her back, trying to soothe her before she broke out in another cry.

"Daddy…" She whined and carefully placed her cheek on Haley's shoulder.

"Daddy will be up in a minute. Let's see if we can find Jamie first, okay?" She said and started to climb the stairs.

Lydia's soft sobs made her heart ache. She wished more than anything that she could transfer her pain to herself, or make it go away. Or she wished that she could've gone back in time and prevented this from happening in the first place. But she knew very well, that there was nothing she could do, except give her comfort and care the best she could. It had already happened, and to Haley's much dismay, she would probably get injured again at some point - it was unfortunately inevitable.

It was quiet in the the house. Lydia had finally fallen asleep. It had taken some time to get her down. She'd been restless after her extra naps due to the injury, and of course due to the pain she still had. After Jamie had read to her, both Nathan and Haley had to take their turns in trying to get her to sleep, as she'd been fuzzing and whining and refusing to go bed. Eventually, Nathan had brought her into their bedroom and read to her in their bed, while Haley had finished up cleaning and tidying after their gathering. When she'd came back upstairs, she'd found Nathan asleep on his back with Lydia on top of him, her head snuggled into his neck and his hand flat on top of her back. Her heart had swelled by the sight, they looked so adorable, and she just couldn't get herself to wake him up right away. Instead she'd watched them for a couple of minutes with adoration and a content smile across her face.

She smiled softly to herself when the image of the two of them snuggled up with each other like that, entered her mind again. She glanced up from her book as she heard footsteps approaching her.

"Hey, I was just thinking about you." She smiled, and followed him with her eyes as he walked over and sat down next to her, lifting her legs so they were resting in his lap.

"Were you now?" He reciprocated her smile with a smirk, and handed her a glass of wine, as she closed her book and placed it down on the coffee table.

She accepted the glass from him and playfully narrowed her eyes at him. "Nothing of that sorts…" She started, but then stopped herself when she thought about how he had that sexy daddy glow radiating whenever he interacted with or simply held Lydia, or even Jamie for that matter. She grazed her teeth over her lower lip and swiped her eyes over his chest before they landed on his face. She felt her cheeks heat up as they always did, when he looked at her like that. His clear, blue eyes were piercing her own eyes, sending a jolt of tingles down her spine.

She cleared her throat and took a sip of her wine, her eyes still firmly attached to his. "What have you been up to?" She asked and placed the glass down onto the table.

Nathan chuckled lightly by her sudden change of topic. " I just had to kick our sons ass in a game of Gears of War." He said as one of his boyish, victory grins swept across his face. Clearly satisfied that he'd managed to beat Jamie at one of their many encounters of those violent video games.

"Oh, I'm sure you did. And you probably rubbed it in his face too." She chuckled and shook her head softly at his childish behavior. When it came to stuff like this, he would never grow up, but that was just one of the many things that made him a great father.

"What? Like he doesn't let me know when he beats me, which by the way, rarely or never happens." He smirked and squeezed her leg with his hand.

"Sometimes I feel like I live with three children, that I'm the only grown up around here." She smiled teasingly at him and let out a surprised squeal when he suddenly pulled her legs so she was laying flat on her back. He shifted in his seat and hovered his body over hers, his hands resting at both sides of her head.

She felt her body heat up in an instant by the husky look in his eyes and the way he leaned his upper body into hers, their chests almost touching.

"Trust me, with the things that's going through my mind right now, I'm definitely a grown up." He spoke low and raised his eyebrow at her. "I can prove it if you want."

The sultry whisper made her entire body shiver and she had to bite her tongue from letting out a moan. She grasped around his wrists and traced her hands up and down his bare forearms.

"Nathan, what if Jamie comes down here, while you're acting all grown up?" She tried to keep herself in check, as she was fully aware of where they were at the moment, even though her body was already screaming for attention from her husband.

"You don't have to worry about the boy. He went straight to bed, sulking like I've never seen before, after I totally wiped his ass in that video game. I'm pretty sure he's not going to come down here right now." He moved one of his hands to the hem of the shirt she had changed into earlier, and started to play with it.

Haley sucked in her breath when she felt his fingers snake under the material and graze the skin on her stomach.

"Nathan…" She halfway moaned and moved her hands to his broad shoulders and around to the back of his neck, when he leaned down and started to place feather light kisses along the exposed skin of her neck. He slowly moved his way to her ear and groaned in frustration when they suddenly heard weary cries coming from upstairs.

Haley let out a small giggle and ran her hands up and down his back as he buried his face into the crook of her neck.

"I guess we forgot about the possibility of this one waking up, huh?" She said and ran her hand though his short hair.

Nathan reluctantly got up in a sitting position and held out his hand to help Haley up.

Haley cupped his cheek when she got up and laughed at his pouting face. "I'm sorry, baby. But our baby needs us." She kissed the corner of his mouth and got up on her feet.

Nathan reached out and grabbed her hand as she was about to walk away. "I'll get her." He said and got up.

"Are you sure?" Haley asked. "Cause I don't mind, really." She added.

"I want to." He smiled genuinely.

Haley smiled softly at him. "Okay." She felt her heart swell again by how loving and caring her husband was. He was truly one of a kind. And he was all hers. He was theirs.

"Nathan." She called after him, suddenly feeling a little overwhelmed by the emotions running through her, and made him turn around at the bottom of the stairs.

"Yeah, baby?"

"I love you."

It was three words. So simple, so easy to say. Yet they held so much. The meaning and the depth of those three words, was so far beyond simple - they were everything. They were always and forever.

Nathan felt his heart thump hard against his chest by the strong emotions in her voice. The sincerity. The vulnerability.

"I love you too, Hales." He held her gaze for a moment and smiled tenderly, before he turned and walked upstairs.

Haley kept looking after him as he ascended the stairs. Her heart was beating wildly in her chest. It was like she had fallen in love with him all over again. This time, it was stronger, more powerful and deeper - if that was even possible. Whenever he was around, the butterflies were constantly swirling around in her stomach, her pulse was rapid, and the tingles that spread under her skin from whenever he touched her, made her feel more than alive. He was constantly on her mind.

She started to move slowly around the living room, blowing out the candles she had lit, and switching off the lights. A soft smile tugged at the corner of her mouth when she heard Lydia's cries stop. If only she would sleep through the night, so she would get enough rest after the day she'd had.

Hell, even she could use a good nights sleep after this day. But somehow she doubted that that would be the case. Lydia was not known for sleeping peacefully. They always found her in the most amazing positions in her bed, either upside down or with her head almost lodged into the headboard of the bed. This was a quality she'd definitely gotten from her. She remembered her mother always complaining about how she tossed and turned in her sleep when she was younger, and how it was a miracle that she hadn't fallen off of her bed more often. It was only after she'd started sharing a bed with Nathan, that she'd actually started to sleep the night through, without tossing around like a maniac.

She smiled softly to herself as she walked over to the sliding doors that lead out to the patio to make sure it was closed and locked. She had gotten more thorough by checking the doors and windows every night, after Nathan had been kidnapped. A tiny chill ran down her spine and made her body shiver by the simple thought.

She raised her gaze and looked out into the distance. Trying to will those horrible memories away. Trying not to think if someone could still be out there, that wanted to come back and get their revenge. There was still so much she felt like she didn't have any control over, and she hated that. But the police, at least the ones they knew they could trust, had told them that they had gotten all of them - or rather Dan and Chris had gotten all of them.

She closed her eyes for a second and took a deep breath. She had to trust what they told them, for Nathan's sake, and for her own sake. If not, she would eventually go insane by the constant worry and anxiety she carried around. And she had to stay strong for herself, and for the three most important people in her life.

She opened her eyes again and noticed a storm appearing in the horizon, slowly crawling towards them. It didn't look like it was a big one, so she figured this would pass relatively quiet without causing too big of a mess, like the one last year did. They could always try and make it into something nice with the kids, if it turned out that they had to stay cooped up inside. And if they were lucky enough, maybe they could even get another walk in the rain. She bit her lip and checked the handle of the door one more time, before she smilingly turned around, and walked back towards the stairs, with a very vivid memory of their latest rain experience.

AN; First of all I want to apologize for not getting this out sooner, but school is starting to kick my ass now, which unfortunately caused a minor writers block. I know this was a pretty uneventful chapter, but this "wrap" from Kat's last chapter, was all I managed to do right now. However, I plan to redeem myself and maybe use one of the suggestions I got from you in my next chapter - which I think is something many of you would appreciate.

With that said, I hope you'll still keep reading and reviewing. Even though real life is trying to keep me down, I won't stop writing, as long as you still want this to continue. I truly appreciate all the support and the wonderful feedback, it keeps me going - thank you guys!