Chapter 2

Nathan voiceover:

Sometimes when you lose someone you cannot just give in to pain. You have to ignore the pain to be strong for the people you love. Helping them heal so that you can be sure they will be fine. This comes at a price. As much as it helps the people you love to heal it also damages yourself even more. You can only hope that by the time your loved ones have healed that your soul hasn't been scarred so much that it may not be healed anymore.

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There they were. Hayley James-Scott and Nathan Scott were sitting in a room in Tree Hill Memorial Hospital. Just a few hours ago they were the two happiest people in the world. They had been gifted with a healthy and beautiful baby boy. James Lucas Scott was more than they had ever expected to receive and they loved him greatly.

On this day that was supposed to be the happiest day of their life suddenly everything changed. A life ended and their world was suddenly thrown off balance.

Nathan sat in a chair while Haley was sitting on Nathan's lap and leaning against his shoulder. She was crying. She had been crying for a while now. Nathan didn't cry but the way he felt he couldn't say if he could keep the tears back for long. He needed to be strong for Haley so he tried his best to keep his composure.

"She is gone Nathan." said Haley quietly among the tears.

"I know Hales." He sighed.

"Is that all you have to say?" Haley replied with a hint of anger in her voice.

"What should I say? Are there any words that I could say to make you feel better? Because if there were any such words, I would. Hales this is not something that any words in the world are going to make better. I really don't know what to do. Right now the best thing I have to offer is being there for you. To give you all that I have to give, so you may heal." He answered. He pulled her closer. He rested his arm on her back and caressed the back of her head with his hand.

"Sorry Nathan. You are right there really isn't anything you could say. Thank you for being here for me." She said. Her heart was aching but with him by his side the pain was a little bit more bearable.

"Hales I will always be there for you. Always and forever." He kissed her on her head.

In that moment Deb entered the room.

"Has Lucas returned yet?" she asked in a worried voice. You could see that she was still in shock about the news but she was holding up so that the kids had an adult that they could come to when they needed it.

"No we haven't seen him since the Doctor brought the news." Nathan replied. He seemed worried now. They had all been together in this room when the Doctor had arrived with the news.

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Flashback: A few hours earlier

The doctor entered the room. Everybody stood up. The doctor had a sad look on his face.

"What, what is going on doctor? Is she alright?" Lucas said in a weak voice.

"I am sorry Mr. Scott. We tried everything we could. But her condition was too severe. We couldn't do anything to save her." He replied.

"NOOOOO! This can't be true she can't be dead. She must be alive. How can I live without her?" Lucas screamed. Tears began to fall. And then he just ran out of the room.

Everybody was still in shock. Nobody could react and stop Lucas. Nor did anybody have the will to do that. They knew he needed some space so they let him go. Everybody sat down and looked inside busy with his own thoughts. Most of them began to cry. After half an hour it was Deb who stood up first.

"We need to find Lucas. You have seen how he reacted to the news. We need to find him. He shouldn't be alone right now." Deb said.

They all agreed to that and Lucas' friends and family stood up to go look for him.

"Nathan and Haley you better stay here together in case he comes back. Don't let him leave if he does return or at least go with him." Deb said.

Nathan and Haley agreed. Everybody except these two left the room to find Lucas.

End of Flashback

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Haley stood up and wiped away her tears. She had decided she needed to be strong for her best friend.

"I might have an idea where he could be." She said. She was about to leave the room when she noticed that Nathan was following.

"Nathan you can't come with me." She said.

"Hales why not? He is my brother and you shouldn't be alone either." He said in a hurt voice.

"Nathan the place I'm going is where Lucas goes when he's really hurting. He only goes there when he doesn't want to be found. If I told you where he was or took you with me he would be really upset with me. I don't know what he would do. I only know about it by pure luck and he made me promise to never tell what happened there that day or where that place was to anybody." She said.

"Nathan I know you want to be there for him. He is your brother after all. I promise you I will bring him back from there and then you can spend some time with him." She smiled and kissed him on the cheek before leaving.

Outside the doors she turned to Deb who had left the room with her.

"Deb, would you mind staying with Nathan? I know he's trying not to lose his composure and give in to his feelings. But I also know that he is in pain like everyone else. He wants to be there for me so I let him play the strong man. But bottling up his feelings like that is not good. Please get him to open up so that he can start healing." Haley turned and walked down a corridor.

After a few steps she turned and looked back at Deb who was turning around and looking at the door of the room they had just left. She was trying to pull herself together before entering the room.

"Deb I know you are trying to be strong for all of us. But like Nathan you cannot bottle your feelings up. You have lost someone just like us. You need to let those feelings out and nobody will judge you because of that." Haley said in an empathetic tone.

Deb nodded. She opened the door and while she walked through the door Haley could see the first tear running down her cheek.

Haley turned back towards the corridor she was walking along a minute ago.After 15 minutes she ended up in a little lit corridor. When she turned into this corridor she could already see a man sitting leaning against a wall from afar.

She feigned a smile as she walked up to Lucas.

"Hello there stranger." she said as she sat down next to him.