AN: Thanks for all the great comments! YES, this IS a Naley story. REALLY! A little taste of them here and lots more to come. I'm still writing the final chapter of the Brothers in Arms story, so don't worry - that'll be soon. Meanwhile, please me know what you think!
"What?" Lucas stepped out on the porch to better hear his lawyer on the phone.
"She's filed for an emergency temporary order, Luke."
"All right, uh, when and where? I'll get the doctors to give testimony, and…"
"It was ex parte, Luke. I'm sorry."
He could actually feel his blood run cold. "I didn't even get a chance? Is that what you're saying? That she waltzed into a courtroom and waltzed out with custody and no one asks me or his doctors or anyone?! How did she… I mean, how can that happen?"
"It's for a maximum of 10 days, Lucas. And she can't take him out of the county; plus you get liberal supervised visitation…"
"Supervised?! I'm his father! What the hell happened, Mike?"
"It's to allow her time to get him checked out by a second opinion, neutral doctors…"
"NEUTRAL?!" Luke exploded, grabbing one of the pillars and leaning his head against the wood. "I don't… I don't…" he could barely breathe. "You don't understand," he begged. "Jamie's still recovering. He doesn't KNOW Nikki. And he's scared of her, man!"
"And that's the problem," Mike responded crisply. "She got a doctor's report saying something along the lines that you've told him that another woman is his mother. A…" there was a pause as the lawyer hunted through the paperwork on his desk.
"Haley James," Luke supplied wearily. "She's an old friend; she helped me out with Jamie when he was a baby. Before Nikki remembered she was a mother and came barging back in our lives," he explained bitterly.
"Then there's something to it?"
"No. Haley went to college in California. She's still there," he growled, frustrated and furious. "How can this be happening?"
"Look, we're already filing an appeal. We're going to try and get in before the judge by Friday."
"When?"
"When what?"
"When can she take him?"
"Now, Lucas," Mike confessed. "I'm so sorry."
Nodding to himself, Luke hung up the phone. He punched the pillar with his fist once, hard. Resigned, he then headed into the house to prepare Jamie for the inevitable.
"NO!" Jamie screamed, trying to break free of Luke's hold after he explained what was about to happen.
He heard the doorbell and cringed. "No!! I won't go!" Jamie screamed again, diving for the closet.
Karen appeared in the doorway a moment later, with Nikki and a police officer by her side. "She says…" Karen began nervously.
"I know what she says, Mom," Luke cut her off. "Nikki, please. Can we at least work to calm him down first? He's frantic."
"What did you say to him?"
"Nothing, I swear," he gestured in surrender. "Since the fall, he's not himself, Nikki."
She grimaced and glanced at the officer. "I have the right, Lucas."
"He's a little boy," he reminded her. "Not a thing we're fighting over."
She snorted and shook her head. "Isn't that a line from your book? When you describe you righteous indignation over the battle for your son?"
"Nikki," he looked at her, helplessly.
"I'm taking him to my parents. Tomorrow, I have appointments for him with some specialists. Just…get him, Luke. You're making this much harder than it has to be," her eyes flashed with impatience.
He crawled into the closet and gathered Jamie close. "Hey buddy, you remember – a couple of months ago, when you entered the soap box derby?"
"I remember the soap box derby," Jamie's face scrunched as pictures bloomed in his head; his Momma, and Brooke. Shiny bright blue car and a dark blue jumpsuit. Skillz and Uncle Luke and the guys…And then, his dad…
"You do? Wow, that's great, buddy…maybe we're starting to get somewhere."
Jamie peeked out at the crazy lady and the police officer and then looked back at his Uncle. He shook his head.
"Right," Luke exhaled. "Do you remember the race day?"
"I didn't want to go down."
"Yes!" Luke hugged him. "You do remember."
"I remember that the wheel fell off and then you and Skillz broke the big doll," Jamie explained.
"OK, yes, there was some tinkering left to do," Luke smiled at his son. "You remember that night? When we went back – just you and me and no crowds?"
"It wasn't you, Uncle Lucas. It was my dad," Jamie felt really sad. "And he said that I'm gonna be afraid sometimes and that he gets that way sometimes, too. But that I shouldn't let being scared ever stop me. Because I would miss out on…on…" He could see his dad in his mind. Sitting in his wheelchair. And suddenly Jamie's lungs hurt too much to talk.
"Life," Luke finished for him. He crossed his legs and pulled Jamie into his lap. "You would miss out on great things, Jamie. Now I know your mom looks like a stranger right now –"
"She is a stranger, Uncle Luke," Jamie corrected him.
"But Nikki loves you very, very much. She's fierce, like a lion – "
"Uh-huh," Jamie agreed emphatically.
"And yet, all that fierceness is for you, little man. She would go to the ends of the Earth for you. Trust me, I know," he ruffled his son's hair. "It's just for a few days, so she can have a few more doctors look at you."
Jamie groaned. "Can I bring Chester?"
"Of course," Luke agreed.
"Can I call you, if I want to talk to you?"
"Any time, day or night," Luke promised.
"Will the police put me in jail, if I don't go with her?"
"Oh, no," Luke held him close against his chest. "No, buddy. I promise. The police officer is just here to make sure your mom and I don't argue like we did this morning. That we follow all the rules."
"Then you should probably clean your room," Jamie advised sternly.
"Uh, OK," Luke tried to smile.
He could see that his Uncle Luke was trying to be brave, too, and it scared him that the grown-ups were all so upset. Jamie gave into his unhappiness and gripped his Uncle Luke tightly with his small hands as he cried. And Luke rocked him back and forth, and stroked his back.
For a moment, Jamie could almost believe it was like it was before he woke up. This was his Uncle, who had always been there. But when he opened his eyes, they were back in the closet. And the mean looking lady was still just outside the door.
"I don't wanna go," Jamie whispered into Luke's shoulder.
And Luke tried not to break in half at the pain of it all. "Can you be brave for me? Just for a few days?"
"I can try," Jamie told him.
"All right," Luke agreed. Together, they emerged from the closet. At first, it looked like Nikki might not agree to the rabbit accompanying them, but in the end she acquiesced. Karen carried his duffel bag and Luke carried Jamie and Nikki carried the bunny out to the car.
"Call me when you get him settled," he asked her.
"Yeah," she accepted, both of them wanting to lash out but keeping it civil for the blond boy buckled into the car seat and for the police officer who stood a few feet away, watching.
Luke waved as they pulled away, and then turned to his mother in agony. "I know," Karen said, her voice hoarse. "I know."
"Tigger," Haley answered her phone with a smile.
"Tutor girl," Brooke responded happily. "Your text was beyond cryptic. So tell me everything. You have 3 minutes before my date gets here: Go."
"Jamie's been in an accident," Haley told her. "He fell off Karen and Andy's boat and he's fine physically but he came out of the whole thing completely messed up in his head. He swears he doesn't know Nikki, that his life is all wrong, and Luke isn't his Dad."
"Oh. My. God." Brooke sat down with a thud on her bed back in New York. "You're serious?"
"As a heart attack," she confirmed.
"Get out!" Brooke exclaimed. "If he doesn't think Luke is his dad, then…"
"Nathan," Haley answered the unasked question.
"Oh, this is off the charts."
"Yeah," Haley agreed, sinking into an old wing chair that was tucked in the corner of her apartment.
"Nathan?" Brooke repeated, as though it was a foreign word she'd just learned. "Wow, I just saw him on TV."
"You watch basketball?"
"Sometimes," she admitted, her gravelly voice sincere. "When I'm homesick."
"You? Homesick? The girl who once told me that Tree Hill was nothing more than forgettable ex-boyfriends and a dead best friend?"
Brooke exhaled in a gust. "Will he be OK? The kid, I mean."
"Yeah. Uh, Luke says he'll be OK with therapy."
"Isn't he a little young for therapy?"
"There aren't any alternatives. And of course Nikki is being a bitch."
"That's like calling a tiger orange," Brooke huffed. "So, wait, who does Jamie think is his mom?"
Haley stayed quiet, unable to say the words out loud.
"Holy shit," Brooke laughed, guessing the obvious from Haley's reaction. "You're kidding me! That must send Nikki completely up a wall! But how the hell did Jamie put that one together? I mean, you and the boytoy had your 15 minutes of fame long before Jamie came along."
"Actually…"
"Oh, right," Brooke nodded, even though Haley couldn't see her. "I forgot about that whole drama."
"It seems like so long ago. Brooke, Luke wants me to come out. He thinks it might be good for Jamie. I mean, if Nikki will even let me see him."
"Fly out here? To the East Coast?" Brooke practically chirped with excitement.
"Yeah, well, Lucas offered to pay, but it just didn't feel right, you know? So I went looking online and the cheapest flight I could find was into New York. What do you think?"
"I think you have to come here. One of my boyfriends has a car we can borrow, and we'll road trip it the rest of the way; it will be awesome, Tutor Girl."
"I wasn't thinking in terms of it being a big deal, Brooke."
"No, no, I totally get it. Just us."
"Thanks," she responded, relieved. "My assistant offered to take over the Tutoring Center for me, but I can't actually be gone long because he's a flake and I don't even want to imagine the chaos he's gonna create."
"Is he a cute flake?"
"He is," Haley laughed. "I think the director has the hots for him – because she couldn't have hired him for his mind."
"Oh, you totally dated him!" Brooke squealed.
"How do you do that?" Haley protested. "OK, yes. Twice. It was excruciating. We had nothing in common except out jobs."
"Was he a good kisser?"
"Brooke! I just told you…"
"Spoilsport," Brooke growled. "You have got to learn that kissing standards are very different from smart standards."
"For some of us, that means higher," Haley pointed out good-naturedly. "I was thinking the other day, that it was almost four years ago that we left Tree Hill. Most of the kids we graduated with are about to finish college…"
"Unless they're overachieving freaks like some people we know," Brooke interrupted.
"True," Haley conceded, having received her Bachelor's degree from Stanford before Christmas. "It all seemed so clear back then - didn't it? Provehito in Altum."
"In English, Tutor Girl," Brooke challenged.
"It's from my speech, remember? Go forth and reach new heights?"
"I thought it was something from Shakespeare, that Luke gave you."
"Technically, I gave it to Luke. Yeah, I started with that one - 'There is a tide in the affairs of men' … 'and we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures'."
"That's what I was thinking of," Brooke agreed, looking out at the New York skyline and absently stroking the texture of her bedspread with her fingertips. "Take the current," she repeated, distractedly.
"Let me ask you something, Brooke. Are you happy?"
"Am I what?"
"Happy."
"Why wouldn't I be? I have fabulous boys, fabulous clothes, fabulous clubs, and a great internship at a fabulous designer."
"Huh, me too. Except, none of that," she gave a small laugh, the melancholy creeping in even as she tried to fight it.
"OK, boy's here. Tell me - when are you coming in?"
"Tomorrow."
"I'll meet you at the airport," Brooke promised. "And we'll head straight home from there."
"It's a plan, Tigger," Haley grinned.
"Totally."
Nathan Scott stretched out his long arms as he exited the private jet and jogged down the steps. He walked swiftly through the chilly New York spring evening towards the executive buses waiting on the tarmac.
In a choreography they'd adopted since the beginning of the season, Kurt Thomas, the Sonic's power forward, joined him. The two kept pace as they crossed the asphalt and climbed the steps of the transport. Wordlessly, Nathan took a window seat and Kurt took the aisle, stretching out his impossibly long legs. Nathan kept the music playing in his ears as the rest of the team and staff joined them.
There was a wait as workers transferred their equipment and bags off the plane. Then it was done, and the air brakes were released with a hiss as the buses began heading towards the hotel. One after the other, they exited off the tarmac, past security, and merged onto the regular terminal lanes.
Nathan watched the stream of cabs and people drift past his eyes out the window. It was the end of his second year in the NBA and by now, it was all familiar. People hugging, cops blowing their whistles at cars to move along, redcaps pushing carts of luggage. The same in every airport, in every city.
Nothing new, nowhere.
The bus ground to a halt as traffic snarled. Too many vehicles clogged in too little space. Under one of the floodlights, a tiny woman wearing a bright green scarf wrestled with her wheeled bag. With a hand, she pulled the hair away from her face and looked into the river of cars.
Nathan felt his heart clutch in his chest. He sat up, disbelieving.
Haley.
She grimaced and tugged her suitcase. Then looked over - almost like she was looking right into the darkened windows of the bus.
Without thinking, Nathan put his hand on the glass. Reaching.
"I made a lot of mistakes, Haley. Sometimes because of my dad, sometimes by choice. I just can't do it anymore."
"It's OK…"
"No. No, it's not OK. I'm not OK. When I fell to the floor tonight, I was so scared, I was so terrified. Then I saw you and I promised myself that if I could just get up, I'd walk over to you and tell you: how much I need you and how much I want you... and how nothing else matters."
She was pressing numbers on her cell phone now, looking exasperated. The corner of Nathan's mouth tugged – he knew that look.
He could never forget it.
"Hey you, wake up."
"Hey. Am I still dreaming, or is this my actual girlfriend? I didn't even hear you come in."
"You didn't hear your alarm clock, either," she had teased, kissing him. "Want me to start your shower?"
"Not yet. Tell me where've you been the last few days. I've missed you."
And then she'd given him that look. Worked up to saying the words out loud; "Luke is… uh… got a girl pregnant."
"What?!"
"After the blowup with Brooke and Peyton? He had a one-night stand with some woman he met at a bar. She's pregnant. And she says it's his. She says she's gonna have it."
"Whoa…"
"Yeah," Haley had sagged with the enormity of it all.
"Tell me what you're thinking?"
"That we're going to be late for school. That…"
He'd waited.
"That this only reminds me of another reason I made my original decision – not to have sex until I'm married."
He'd felt the tingle of ice through his body, like he should have said something. Quickly. But his mouth wouldn't move.
"I know it's not fair to you," her voice had dropped an octave with emotion. "How I feel about you, how guilty I always feel – you know, when we stop? How I keep wondering when your patience will run out and you'll end up with some random hook-up, like Lucas did…"
Inside his mind, Nathan screamed at himself to stop her. But his body was paralyzed, frozen on the edge of his bed.
"I think, maybe, we need a break…"
And there it was.
"What is it?" Kurt asked.
"Huh?" Nathan tugged one of the buds out of his ears.
"Someone you know?" He indicated the crowd on the sidewalk with his eyes.
"Uh… no," Nathan inhaled deeply and shook his head. "Just wishing we were there already."
"True that," Kurt leaned back against the seat and closed his eyes.
Nathan tucked the music back, and cranked it a little bit. Then he glanced back at Haley.
She was gone.
Jamie tossed and turned; there was no way he could get comfortable in this cot that was tucked at the end of the big bed. Just a few feet away, he could hear her sleeping. Nikki. The woman everyone said was his mother.
But he knew who his mother was. He knew who his father was. And no one could make him believe different.
Jamie hated to leave Chester. It felt wrong. But Nikki had said that she would be very nice to him while they were visiting. So Jamie just asked God really quietly if maybe it would be all right - this once - to leave Chester behind. Because the bunny got really heavy and sometimes tried to hop away and Jamie wasn't sure how far he'd have to go to get help.
He slipped out from between the sheets as silently as he could. He found his shoes and his sweatshirt on the floor and crept out to the hallway. The house smelled funny, like food he didn't like. But they had nightlights in lots of places, so he found the front door pretty easily.
Jamie wondered if the police officer was on the other side of the door. He wondered if he'd go to jail if he got caught.
At St. James school, they had had a special day for Martin Luther King, Jr. And the quote Jamie had memorized for the assembly was; "The time is always right to do what is right." In his heart, Jamie figured that he had to be doing right thing.
As carefully as he could, he twisted the knob on the brass lock. It turned with loud click that Jamie jump. He panted for a few seconds, ready for Nikki or her parents to come running and yelling. But no one did
Jamie put his hand on the doorknob and slowly opened the door. It was really dark outside. And spooky. And maybe there were monsters out there. The streets looked strange, the houses looked strange. He stepped out onto the front porch, his heart thudding BOOM BOOM BOOM in his ears.
Up on the hill to the left was a familiar sight. Tree Hill High School. But Jamie closed his eyes for a moment, unsure if he could do it.
"Are you afraid Daddy?
"Sometimes. You?"
"Sometimes."
"Well, we'll do this together. On the count of three: One, Two, three..."
With a determined expression, Jamie began walking.
