Thanks to JamesLover23, Lorilozz, xSmile, DayDreamer323, naley-obsseshunz-xOx, Emily Carol, lilmonkeygirl31, SLUVER15 and haleyandnathan23 for replying. I'm glad you liked the first chapter. Leave some words and enjoy. Katy


2.

Two months later, Haley walked into her and Nathan's apartment after her last class of the day. "Nathan?" she called out.

There was no answer.

"Guess he's still at practice," Haley said to the empty kitchen. She knew Duke University ran extra long practices for the sports teams on Fridays and Nathan being their star freshman player, was expected to show up at every single one of them.

"No matter how many doctor appointments his pregnant wife has," she grumbled bitterly. Oh, but coming to the appointment would require Nathan coming to terms with her pregnancy and even after two months, that still didn't seem likely.

Okay, he had acknowledged that she was pregnant and she had told him that she was not going to have an abortion. It being her body, it was her decision and while she might not be sure if she wanted to raise their baby, she knew she didn't want to get rid of it. It certainly wasn't the baby's fault that the pregnancy was unplanned.

Two days after her no-abortion announcement, Nathan had told her that he supported her decision. The one thing they both agreed on was that they weren't going to terminate the pregnancy. Haley had tried to bring up adoption but Nathan had avoided it and everything else related to the pregnancy like the plague.

He would make up some excuse about homework, which being his tutor, she knew he had already done or sometimes he would leave to get in an extra practice with Skills. One time he had actually gotten up off the couch and left the apartment without a word.

That was when Haley had realized that she shouldn't press him anymore. If she put too much pressure on him, she feared he might leave her all together and she was not going to let that happen. Not to them.

She looked down at her stomach. "I'm not sure we'll be able to keep it a secret that much longer though." It was sort of an unspoken agreement between the two. The pregnancy was private. It was not to be public knowledge. Haley certainly didn't want the entire campus gossiping about how she had gotten knocked up.

Then the door to the apartment swung open. Haley turned around just in time to see Skills follow Nathan inside. "Are you sure Haley's going to be okay with us hanging out?" he was asking.

"Last time we were here, you never told her so she came out of the bathroom in that towel and yelled really loud," Tim commented as he came in right behind Skills and closed the door behind him.

Haley narrowed her eyes at the comment. It was embarrassing enough that they had seen her in a towel but to have it be brought up again was humiliating.

"I didn't know she was home then," Nathan replied.

Disappointment filled her stomach. Usually when a guy commented on how she looked or noticed what she was wearing or not wearing, Nathan would tell him to shut up and threaten him with bodily harm.

"Haley?" Skills called out.

Damn it, Haley thought to herself. He was checking whether or not she was home and she was in the mood to do some eavesdropping.

She looked around in a panic to find something to explain why she hadn't said something when they first walked in. Then she remembered her ROKR was in her pocket. "Please, do not have forgotten the headphones again," she pleaded and smiled triumphantly when she pulled the headphones out of her other pocket.

She quickly set the iTunes up and 'Til I Get Over You by Michelle Branch filled her ears. Then she slammed the refrigerator door shut.

Nathan's head snapped up at the noise. "Hales?" he called throughout the apartment as he walked towards the kitchen. He looked at his watch and shook his head. Didn't she have class right now?

He stopped at the doorway and smiled at the sight. Haley had headphones in her ears and she was humming in perfect key to the song she was listening to while she emptied a can of soup into a pot.

Haley tore the label off of the tin can and turned around to throw the can into the recycling bin when she caught sight of him standing in the doorway. Her cheeks reddened with embarrassment. "Hey, babe," she said sheepishly. "How long have you been standing there?"

Nathan grinned. "Not long but long enough. I just got in."

"Oh?" she said.

"Yeah. Skills and Tim came with me. Is it okay if they stick around to play some NBA Live?" Nathan asked.

Haley bit her lip as she nodded.

"Are you sure they won't bother you?" Nathan asked.

"I'm leaving in a few minutes," she replied.

"You are?" he asked.

"Yeah, Lucas wants me to come over so he and Peyton can't do anything," Haley said.

Confusion clouded his eyes. "Since when is there a Lucas and Peyton?"

Haley chuckled. "Since two weeks ago, my not so observant husband," she replied.

He rolled his eyes. "But what about Brooke?" Nathan asked.

Haley shrugged. "What about her?"

"Uh, Lucas has been in love with her for two years," Nathan replied.

"He's had a thing for Peyton since he was twelve," Haley pointed out.

"Yeah, but Brooke is the one he loves," Nathan argued.

Her face became serious. "And she's also the one that left."

"And Lucas has already forgotten about her," Nathan stated.

"She's been gone for over four months, Nathan. He tried to explain his side of the story but she refused to listen to him," Haley replied.

"And now he's back to Peyton," Nathan smirked.

Haley narrowed her eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, her tone of voice daring him to insult Peyton in any way.

"Those two should have admitted their feelings a long time ago; it would've saved us all a lot of drama, that's all," he replied.

"Okay," Haley said, unsure if that was what he really meant or not.

"When will you be back?" he asked.

Haley shook her head. "I'm not coming home tonight."

"Why?" he sputtered.

Haley smirked because even with the way things were between them; Nathan hated being away from her at night. "I have another appointment tomorrow so Luke is going to drive me," she said.

Nathan froze. "Since when does Luke know?" he asked, his voice dangerously on edge.

"He doesn't. He thinks it's a gynaecologist appointment," she replied.

"Oh," Nathan said.

"I wouldn't do that to you," Haley pointed out.

"I don't think it's a good idea for everyone to know about it when we're not sure what we want to do," he said.

Haley was shocked. That was the closest to talking about the pregnancy he had come to in weeks. "I agree," she said, nodding. And she really did. She wanted them to figure things out themselves first before the pregnancy became public knowledge.

Nathan came over and gave her a chaste kiss on the top of her head. She usually loved that because he would pull her close to him and hug her but now she hated it. Lately, that was the only kind of kiss she ever got from him and it was usually his way of saying goodbye.

And she was right as he turned around and headed out the door. A few seconds passed and he returned. "Wait, didn't you just have an appointment?" he asked.

She nodded. "Last week."

"Why are you having one so soon?" he asked.

"Dr. Shaw is just prescribing me more vitamins," she replied.

Nathan studied her carefully. "But you're okay, right?"

Her heart flopped at his concern. "I'm fine," she assured him. And she felt reassured that he still loved her.

His face relaxed and he let out a relieved sigh. "Good," he said and then he was gone.

--

The next day, Haley was sitting in class listening to her professor Andy Hargrove who had returned to the U.S. four months prior to the start of the year prattle on about his latest business venture.

Andy had learned of Keith and Karen's engagement through an email Karen had sent him a few weeks after the engagement became official. Expecting Karen to be a married woman, he had approached her café wearily one Monday afternoon in July.

Their reunion was awkward at first and when he had asked Karen how married life was, she had frozen and her skin had drained of all colour. Before either Andy or Haley could stop her, Karen had run into the back room to regain her control of her emotions. That's when Haley had informed him of Keith's passing and that Karen was now pregnant with his child.

Andy had strayed away from the topic the next few days until Karen told him she was aware that he knew everything and that's when the two had formed a bond once again. They started dating again and within four months became engaged.

Karen was due to give birth in five months and Andy was going to be a stepfather to the baby but they would be married before it was born.

"And I urge any of you in the future to ask for help whenever it is offered because you never know when disaster will strike," Andy finished saying.

Haley chuckled along with the rest of her fellow classmates as Andy put the overhead sheet he had prepared on the projector backwards. "It needs to be turned over," she told him kindly.

He turned around and his eyes widened in shock at the mistake he had made. "Sorry about that," he said as he quickly flipped the page over so they could start copying the note.

Haley took out her pen and when she was almost done writing down the note, she dropped her pen onto the floor. "Damn it," she blew out as she leaned down to pick it up. At the same moment her fingers grasped the pen, she felt a sharp twinge from her stomach and let out a painful scream.

All of the students' heads darted in the direction the scream came from and a few nearby leaned over to offer her assistance but were unable to decipher what was behind her pain.

Now on the floor writhing in pain, Haley looked to them in a panic. "I think I need an ambulance," she said.

Within seconds, people were getting out their cell phones, dialling 911. There was an ambulance three minutes away.

A female student named Marianne Webber crouched down beside Haley and began looking her over. "I'm a medical student here. I'm going to look you over to see if I can see what's wrong," she explained to soothe Haley's fearful gaze.

"The paramedics are coming down the hall," one of the other students announced.

"Are you pregnant?" Marianne asked.

Haley's eyes widened slightly at the personal nature of the question and instinctively shook her head at the question.

"Okay," Marianne nodded.

The paramedics came over and strapped her to a stretcher, spewing all sorts of medical jargon and in the midst of all the chaos, it dawned on Haley that Marianne was not being nosy at all. There must be a medical reason behind Marianne's question because she was almost certain that none of her classmates were even aware that she was married.

"Yes!" she exclaimed loudly.

One of the paramedics looked down at her questioningly. "What?"

"I'm pregnant," she replied.

The paramedics looked at each other and exchanged worried glances.

"We better hurry," one of them said.