Disclaimer: I do not own Lucky Charms or the slogan. They belong to General Mills.


Author note: I hope you like Naley. There will also be Chris in this chapter, I promise.


-2-

While driving into the garage, Haley read the clock as 8:30 PM. Glad that for once she would be home early and Nathan was home that day, she anticipated going inside, but hoped that Nathan wouldn't be too tired out from his practice and drive home earlier in the day. Jamie had already gotten out of the car and was walking into the house already. Haley quickly followed and was expecting a warm greeting from her husband, but the first glance she got of him was him sleeping on the couch with his NBA Live game paused on the screen. Haley loved waking up to see him sleeping every morning, but since he was often gone in Charleston, she rarely got to see him sleep any more. She smiled at her husband sleeping innocently on the couch while her son grabbed a cookie from the counter.

"Hey, it's late. You shouldn't be eating those so close to your bedtime!" Haley whispered to her son, but quickly gave in because he was too cute when he pouted, especially with chocolate all over his face (even if she knew she'd have to clean it up later). Not to mention, he looked strikingly similar to her when he did it. "Okay, just don't let Daddy know I let you have one."

"Okay, Mamma." He was now staring at his father who was completely oblivious to both Jamie and his wife being home and in the kitchen. "Can I jump on him, Mamma?" Jamie asked with an excited smile.

"Um, not tonight, baby. You should head upstairs while I talk to him, okay? Maybe you could practice guitar in your room?"

"Okay, Mamma." Jamie agreed to his mother, but wasn't completely in the mood to be practicing guitar. He'd rather find a way to play basketball with the laundry that was left in the hall outside of his room.

As Jamie headed upstairs, Haley quietly walked over to her peacefully sleeping husband and sat on the edge of the couch. The sudden movement of the couch was enough to make Nathan stir, but Haley knew him too well not to be surprised that he wasn't completely awake yet. She bent over to whisper in his ear to wake up like she often did, but on the way down she was pulled down even faster by Nathan's arms.

Nathan never opened his eyes, but mumbled happily to his wife, "Hey baby, I was missing you." While his voice was still raspy and lazy from his sleep moments before.

Smiling from their current, and much exercised position of her in his arms with her head lying on his chest, she responded with giving him a quick kiss on his chin and saying "Mmm, you too. I've been thinking of you all day."

"Mhmm, I was trying to stay up to see you when you came home, but c'mon, I can never make it past 9:30 and you only ever come home around 10:30. How late is it anyway?"

"Baby, it's only 8:35. Was practice real tough today?"

A little upset with himself that he couldn't find enough energy to stay awake for his wife that for once came home early, but happy that she was changing the subject replied, "Mhmm, but not as tough as not seeing you and-" he stopped talking and opened his eyes to find half of a giggling Haley that wasn't surrounded by him to have just fallen off of the couch. "Oh yea, I didn't realize we were on the couch. I could move over if-"

"No, babe. That's okay. I have some things to do tomorrow morning and I think I'll need a bed to get a good rest and I don't want to fall asleep here by accident. You going to come with me?" Asked Haley, now yawning as she stood up.

"Mmm, I thought I was good enough to sleep on for a good night's rest."

She rolled her eyes at her husband playfully and then offered, "Would you like me to carry you with me, sir?"

Smiling, Nathan pulled her down on the couch again while sitting up as he held her in his arms. "I think I can handle that job."

He picked her up with much giggling from Haley and carried her up to their bedroom only to find a chocolate covered Jamie playing with dirty laundry in the hallway. He had rolled up some of the clothes into balls and was throwing them in the basket like he was playing basketball. When Haley turned her head around to see him, she noticed him playing with a clothing piece of hers that she'd rather he never knew existed. "Uhh, Jimmie-Jam, I thought you were going to practice guitar!"

"Haley, you really thought it was a good idea to keep the laundry, especially that laundry in the hallway?" Nathan whispered in his wife's ear.

"How am I supposed to know that he'd want to play with dirty laundry? When I was a kid I'd never go near my parents' dirty clothing." She whispered back.

"Well, I wouldn't want to go through your parents' laundry, dirty or clean, either, babe." He shuddered at the thought, especially knowing of James and Lydia's wild habits. "But he's my son and so I guess he's going to want to find a way play ball with anything."

Jamie, confused as to why his mother looked like she was just about to scold him, but was now whispering to his daddy, asked, "What are you talking about?"

"Jamie, why don't you get ready for bed and wash your face and I'll come say goodnight to you?" asked Nathan. His son reminded him of the articles of clothing his wife possessed and was more interested in seeing her in them that night than punishing his son for playing with them, especially since he had no idea what they were. He continued, "I just have to put your mother to bed first, then I'll come tuck you in. Does that sound good?"

"Okay, dad." Jamie replied and he quickly went off into his room.

"And why would he have chocolate all over his face?" asked Nathan knowingly, but amused to his wife who just smiled innocently in response.

Nathan carried Haley into their room and set her down on their bed, quite aware she didn't need to get ready to sleep on it just yet.

***

When Haley awoke the next morning, Nathan was gone and the alarm clock did not go off to wake her up. She looked over to the clock on her side of the bed and read 10:48. Shit! she thought. She had many things to do that day and Nathan, whom she told that she needed to wake up early so that she could to errands, had the nerve not to wake her up when he woke up later than she was planning on. She no longer had a job to go to because she was fired from her teaching position at Tree Hill High, but she still needed to wake up early enough to accomplish everything she planned on that day. She quickly searched the room for her purse and found her cell phone, but before she had a chance to dial Nathan's number, the phone rang and it was Nathan's picture that showed up on the screen.

"Nathan! Where are you? Why didn't you wake me?" Haley said unpleasantly.

"Hi, Mamma. It's me, Jamie. Daddy told me not to wake you when we left this morning. We're going grocery shopping!" Jamie wasn't really comfortable talking to his angry mother, but knew that he couldn't get out of talking to her now.

"Hey, babe. Could you maybe give the phone to your father for a sec?" Asked Haley, who was now calmer. Jamie gladly gave it to his father.

"Hey, Haley. I thought you'd need the extra sleep and I found your list of things to do so I thought I'd let you sleep in. Is that okay?" Said Nathan pleasantly.

"Oh, um… yea. Thanks, babe!" Haley now exposed her wide and beautiful smile to the room. She loved having her husband around to spoil her. "Are you sure that's okay? I thought maybe you'd be waking up to work out this morning-"

"You really think I need to work out after everything that went on yesterday?" he said, also with a smile from the memory of the day, but mostly the night before. "Listen though, I have to go because I see Lucas shopping in the produce section, probably for Peyton again, and I should talk to him seeing as it's been awhile."

Both Nathan and Haley laughed at the Peyton comment. "Okay, I'll see you when you're finished." Said Haley. They both exchanged an "I love you" and then Nathan and Jamie went off to speak to Lucas.

Haley wondered what she was going to do with herself for the day. She could go see Peyton, but she knew that she would be at the studio and after seeing Chris- "Chris!" she thought. How could she be so stupid but to let her husband, who she forgot to tell of Chris' return last night, and her son, who probably had had enough of Chris's bad influence already, be outside of the house when there was another occurrence of Chris Keller running around Tree Hill freely messing with people's business? Haley was going to have to tell Nathan somehow, but it would have to be when he came home. For now, she was just going to have to pray Nathan didn't have a run-in with Chris.

In the produce section of the grocery store, you could find two brothers and a very bored Jamie talking about "baby stuff".

"Dad, could I go pick out some cereal?" asked Jamie, looking up at his dad and Uncle Lucas.

Nathan, being protective, was a little unsure about letting his six-year-old be alone in a grocery store. "We'll get there when I'm done talking to Lucas, son."

"Aww, but Daddy! I'm bored." Replied Jamie.

"Yea 'Daddy' why not let him go? He could even bring me back some Lucky Charms!" said Lucas.

"Lucky Charms man? That stuff is all sugar… and it's kid's food!" said Nathan.

"Whatever, man. It still has some nutrition I think. Jamie you go right ahead and bring me back some kid food. Get yourself some while you're at it!"

"Okay, fine, Jamie, but come right back." Nathan said with an unsure smile.

"Awesome! Don't worry dad, I'll get you some Lucky Charms too!" Jamie ran off and Nathan smiled both at his son and the fact that he also was a fan of the "sugary kid food" he'd be bringing back. After all, didn't most twenty-three year olds, and people period, still enjoy a nice, unhealthy and unbalanced breakfast?

Jamie knew exactly where to find the cereal aisle and where to find the Lucky Charms. When he got to the aisle, he could see a certain someone was looking right at the Lucky Charms trying to decide whether to buy the regular sized box or the jumbo one. Jamie remembered what his mamma had told him about speaking to this person, but he also knew that he needed to get to those Lucky Charms. He couldn't have convinced his daddy that he could get them by himself just to fail to bring them back. He took a little too much time deciding what to do, however, because Chris had just looked up to see the little Lucas looking at him.

"Well, well, if it isn't the adorable son of Haley James!" Chris said with a big smile on his face, and then continued in baby talk, "I just want to grab those cheeks and-"

"My mamma says I'm not aloud to talk to you!" Jamie quickly interrupted out of fear from what the strange man would do to him if he didn't change the subject.

"What? I can't see why not. I mean, look at me. I am a handsome fellow, like yourself, with talent!"

"Did you ever shoot anybody? My grandpa Dan shot my uncle and my momma and daddy didn't want him to talk to me!"

"No, no. Ain't nothing but love coming from Chris Kell-"

"What about go to jail? Did you ever do that? My grandpa Dan went to jail for four years!"

"Um, yes, actually, but around here I'm pretty sure going to jail is something people do regularly."

"Not my mamma or my dad. They wouldn't do anything to get into jail!"

"Are you sure about that? I remember hearing Haley, Brooke and Peyton were in jail right around the time Nathan had me jumping off a boat and swimming to shore in a lake. And, dude, apparently Nathan and Lucas were in jail after being caught drunk driving. That I learned from Brooke while she was drunk."

Jamie stood there, stunned and soaking in all of the information about the people in his life and wanting more information. "What about my Uncle Skills? … or my Uncle Mouth? Uncle Fergie?"

"Well, your Uncle Mouth I remember being in a jail in this small town in Texas called Honeygrove that your folks made me drive to to pick him up, but Skills and Fergie? I don't know." He looked at Jamie and then realized all that he was telling the six year old. Remembering how Nathan often threatened him in the past, he quickly changed the subject to avoid more to be guilty of. "What are you doing in a grocery store by yourself anyways? Do your parents ever watch you or did you just sneak off because you wanted to see Chris Keller again? Yes, I know Chris Keller is a very fascinating human being. That must be it, right? I don't know if it's a good idea considering your age and the fact that it's mostly only hot chicks that follow me around...." He said with a cocky smile, but once again stopped talking because he was afraid of giving Jamie too much information he didn't understand.

"My dad told me to get us some Lucky Charms. My Uncle Lucas too!"

"Oh, well in that case," Chris said, now in fear of meeting Nathan and Lucas at the same time, "why don't I get that for you." He grabbed the box and quickly gave it to him. "There you go! … 'they're magically delicious!' … uh, hey, little man listen, I gotta go, but I'll see you around. Try not to tell your folks you saw me okay? Okay… bye."

"Where are you going?" Asked Jamie, who never got an answer because Chris had already abandoned his grocery basket and was quickly making his way outside of the store. "That guy's weird." Jamie thought out loud. His dad must have been expecting him back already, so Jamie quickly grabbed another box of Lucky Charms to add to the other he was already carrying and headed back to his daddy and his uncle.

Jamie sat in between bags of groceries in the backseat of the SUV while his father drove them home. His Uncle Lucas had left a lot earlier than the two of them and had his own car to drive home in, so Jamie was left alone with his daddy with a car full of groceries and the new information about his parents in his head. "Daddy, is it cold in jail?" he asked his father.

"What? Well, I suppose it would be, why?" Asked Nathan, very confused by his son's random question.

"I'm just wondering. What do you sleep on?"

"Jamie, you'd sleep on beds. Uncomfortable ones. Where is this coming from?"

"Did you have to pee in front of Uncle Lucas? Because I heard that there is no bathroom, only a toilet and-"

"Jamie! What are you talking about? Where did you get this information from? Wait, ugh!" Nathan was now annoyed at the jackass who just cut him off by turning into his lane without signaling and was now speeding, and also at the fact that he assumed his son in some form knew that he had been in jail. "Jamie, cover your ears." As they pulled up to a red light, an agitated Nathan stopped beside the car that cut him off and Nathan looked over to see someone familiar. "No" he thought. "It can't be…" He rolled down his window and yelled at him to roll his down too.

When the man in the car saw Nathan gesturing and yelling at him to roll down his windows, he reluctantly did as he was told and looked at Nathan in fear.

"Chris? Is that you?" Asked Nathan, squinting his eyes to be fully confident that it was indeed Chris he was planning on cussing out.

Relieved that he did not appear angry, Chris replied, "Nathan! Dude, it's good to see you! Listen man, no hard feelings about my driv-"

"Y'know what man?" Nathan's tone was now angrier than it was before. "You're lucky I have Jamie in the back seat, because if I didn't, I'd have gotten out and started beating your ass for cutting me off and for just being in town period!"

"Hey, relax man, just chill… remember I am from here and my family is here… but uh, I was just in a rush to be getting somewhere so I guess that's why my driving was a little-"

"In a rush, huh? Yeah, I bet you were running from someone else you've pissed off lately. I-" Nathan stopped because there were now numerous honks coming from behind them and he realized the light had already turned green. "… you know what? This isn't finished-" Just then Chris drove away so fast that Nathan couldn't finish his sentence. After remembering Jamie was in the backseat, he turned around and asked, "How much did you hear of that?"

"Um, all of it." Replied Jamie, who was once again confused, but not intimidated by seeing his daddy like this. He had seen him much worse after his accident and he knew how to handle his daddy when he was angry in this way.

"Don't tell your mother." Said Nathan, frustrated as ever as he started to drive again. He soon took a right to avoid running into Chris again, even if it meant taking the long way home.

Taking the long way home did have its advantages, however. Mostly because it gave him more time to avoid going home and having the conversations that he knew were going to happen. He did not want to tell his wife about seeing Chris, especially since he knew that telling her would also mean an explanation of how and what happened. However, he had learned from his past mistakes that, in their relationship, nothing got past Haley. She had always been the smarter between the two and keeping secrets from her always had a way of coming back to bite him in the ass. Why did Chris Keller have to keep coming back into their lives? It was not fair.