A/N: I apologize it took so long for me to update this story. Thank you for the reveiws I really appreciate it!

Chapter 3

Ghosts from the Past

It was Saturday morning and Haley was looking forward to sleeping in late. Instead of getting to sleep in late however, she was woken up at her usual time of six in the morning. Instead of the alarm clock going off it was her cell phone. On the last possible ring before voice mail, she answered the phone, not even checking to see who it was.

"Hello?" She answered, annoyed and tired.

"Haley, I am sorry to wake you up, but there is something I wanted to tell you,"

"Lucas? Where are you?!"

"Seattle,"

"WHAT? WHY?"

"Yeah, well Nathan got into an accident last night, so I flew in on the first flight out. He was in surgery, he had some internal bleeding, but they were able to stop it. He has a broken leg, which will end the season for him. They still have him in intensive care to monitor him for the next day, and he hasn't woken up since surgery, but that is still normal at this point,"

Haley wanted to cry. It sounded like Nathan was in pretty rough shape, and she felt sorry for him. For his basketball career being put in jeopardy. For his pain and suffering. Though maybe this was a bit selfish, she wanted to cry because of all the time she had wasted with him. These years that she could have shared with him and didn't. Was going to school in California and getting to preform live music really worth it to give up everything she had with Nathan? It sure didn't feel like it anymore. He could have died, and then there would be no hope of renewal.

Fighting back the tears, too proud to let her feelings show she replied, "Well, I hope he is okay. Call me as soon as you hear anything else. Miss you Luke,"

As soon as they hung up Haley started to let all the tears come, along with many memories of her and Nathan. She somehow fell back asleep and got a few more hours of rest in.

Brooke was also awaken by her own phone call a few hours now. She looked at the caller ID and walked into the other room to be alone.

"Hello? I am coming up to the city at the end of the week to get the rest of my stuff and sign some papers, so I will see you then. I miss you too. Bye,"

Brooke closed the phone and sighed. That phone call just brought her back to reality of the mess she had put herself in.

While Brooke was out of the room, Peyton had gotten her own phone call, from Lucas.

"Hey Luke, how is everything? How is Nathan?"

"Well he made it through surgery okay, they still have him in intensive care, but they seem confident that he is going to be just fine. He does have a broken leg though, so the season is done for him,"

"Oh no, if I know Nathan Scott, he won't see that was being fine at all,"

"Yeah, I know. I worry about that."

"Look, I know you are probably not in the mood to talk about this, but do you think we are making a huge mistake, you know what happened last night?"

"Peyton, the huge mistake I made was not giving you time when you said you weren't ready to get married yet. Last night was not a huge mistake, it was more like fixing a huge mistake,"

Peyton instantly smiled and Lucas could feel it over the phone.

"Thanks Luke. Well call me when Nathan wakes up and everything, and I hope you and Deb are doing okay during all of this,"

"Alright, I'll call you later,"

Haley came out of her room and walked into the kitchen. Brooke and Peyton were all ready in the kitchen at this point, and Peyton had just started telling Brooke about Nathan.

"Did you guys hear about Nathan?" Haley asked when she walked in.

Peyton nodded, "Yeah. I was just telling Brooke about it. Hopefully everything is okay,"

Haley agreed, "Yeah, I was upset all morning. I know this isn't the weekend we had planned on, but I think we should make the best of it. Maybe go out and have some drinks, just try to have a good time."

Then Haley looked at Brooke, "I am sorry, I forgot about the whole pregnancy thing,"

"Oh! No I want to go out. God, I would get so BORED staying in all the time! I can just have some mock-tails. Just because I am pregnant doesn't mean I can't dance and have a good time!"

"Okay! Then it's settled! How about we leave a 7, grab some dinner, then hit a club in the city or something," Peyton said.

"Yeah! Sounds good"

Lucas was on his third bad cup of coffee, but he needed something to help keep himself awake. As he sat in the chair of Nathan's hospital room, he began to nod of but was awoken quickly by Nathan's voice.

"Lucas?"

"Nathan, you're awake,"

"What happened?"

"You were in an accident."

"Are you serious? I remember being out to dinner, I had a couple of beers but I could drive,"

"Yeah, you weren't drunk. You were driving straight and someone went through a red light and smacked you. So hard that you had some internal bleeding and a broken leg,"

"A broken leg??" Nathan looked down and saw it. He didn't feel much pain though, they must have put him on some strong medication.

"Yeah,"

"So I guess I'm done for the season,"

"Yeah,"

"But I will probably be better for next season..."

Lucas agreed, "I don't see why not. I am sure you can get a great physical therapist, and you will get back into shape."

Nathan tried to believe that, but optimism was never something he possessed.

Lucas talked with Nathan for over an hour, but then checked into a near by hotel and just slept for hours. He was exhausted. As soon as he got up he called Haley and told her that Nathan was awake.

Next he called Peyton, "Hi beautiful,"

Peyton smiled again, "Wow, you sound like you're in a good mood."

"I am. Nathan woke up and is fine, I finally got some sleep, and when I get back to Tree Hill I get to kiss you again,"

"Okay, stop! You're totally making me blush Lucas,"

Brooke walked by the room and couldn't help but over hear the conversation. Not that she cared, she didn't, but they had only been back two days, and all ready her and Lucas were getting close? It didn't sound smart at all, and she figured maybe Peyton needed a reality check.

"Bye. Miss you too,"

Brooke walked back out into the hallway, and heard her phone beep alerting here there was a message from from "Boy3".

"I don't know how I will go a whole week without seeing you sexy," Brooke sighed and proceeded to go into the bathroom and get ready for the evening.

It was slightly after seven when Haley, Brooke and Peyton were ready to leave the house. They went to near by restaurant, and waited over an hour for a table. They had ordered both an appetizer and dessert in addition to their meal. Haley and Peyton had shared a bottle of wine and each had an additional drink on top of that and had started to feel the effects. They decided it would probably be best to go home, maybe have a few more, and call it a night instead of having pregnant Brooke drive all the way to the city and back. They stopped and got stuff to make strawberry daiquiris, so Brooke could have some without alcohol.

They got into the house and Haley got the blender out, while Peyton mixed all the stuff together, and made the two separate batches.

"Lets play some card games!" Haley suggested.

They played for a while, but the more Haley drank, the less sense the game made. Peyton was laughing a lot, but wasn't wasted.

Haley had another drink as they continued to laugh about the old times.

Peyton's phone rang, it was Lucas again. She decided not to answer, but Brooke had seen the caller screen and knew who it was.

"Peyton, I don't mean to be nosy, but I couldn't help but over hear a conversation you had today, is something going in with you and Lucas?"

"Look, Brooke. It really is none of your business, but I really have no idea,"

"I just don't think its smart to rush into something. Sure, there is a lot of history there, but last time you saw each other he ditched you in a hotel room after you turned down his proposal,"

"Brooke, look thanks for the advise, but no thanks. I think you have enough to worry about right now, like maybe you should track down the father of your baby,"

"Alright, lets just change the subject," Brooke was trying to avoid a fight. Back in high school, she would never have let something like that go, but things were different now. She had grown up.

Peyton nodded, "So Haley, anything exciting going on in your life in the male department?"

"Nothing. I still love Nathan okay. There is no one better out there. He is so sexy, so talented, and the only man I will ever love and have sex with. Let me just tell you, he is amazing at both," She started both laughing and crying at the same time, and then fell of the side of the couch. Peyton and Brooke both looked at each other, and started to laugh a little. Seeing Haley this way was a little humorous, and it didn't happen often. They both got up and helped her up.

"I think, I am going to be sick," Haley ran into the bathroom and began vomiting.

"This is going to be a long night," Peyton said.

Brooke went into the bathroom and wet a face cloth to put on Haley's head and pulled her hair back into a ponytail. Mean while Peyton had gone back into the other room to get Haley's pj's out, but Peyton went and looked at her phone and saw the one missed call from Lucas. Even though what Brooke had said had really pissed her off at first, the more she thought about it wasn't a bad point. Maybe they needed to slow down, A LOT. She thought about calling him right then and there and telling him it would be best to just be friends again for a while and sort of get to know each other all over again- but it wasn't an over the phone conversation. In person was the only way they could talk to each other about it.

Meanwhile Lucas was getting ready to leave the hospital and go back to his hotel for the night.

"Alright little brother, I think I am going to head back to the hotel and get some sleep, but I will be back tomorrow morning, and hopefully you will be moved in to the regular hospital room by then, and in a couple of days you get out completely," Lucas said to Nathan.

"Yeah, about that, I was sort of wondering if I could stay with you for a while. While I recover anyway. So two or three months,"

Lucas looked at him, he wanted Nathan to feel comfortable. When Lucas had his broken arm, and had to take some time off from HIGH SCHOOL basketball, it had been hard on him. Having friends and family around are what got him through it. He just knew if he told Nathan that Haley was back and that she was currently staying at his house, Nathan would feel uneasy about staying with him. He decided to not tell him about that just yet, besides Haley would be gone in a couple of days.

"Yeah, of course. I will book us both a ticket," Lucas assured him.

"Alright sounds good. Thanks for everything Lucas. See you tomorrow,"

As soon as Lucas left, Nathan took out his wallet from the draw next to him, and looked at a picture he had tucked into a hidden pocket. It was a picture of Haley. He ran his finger along her face and looked sad for a moment, then put the picture back and threw back in the draw. It was hard to think about her.

At ten the next morning Lucas was on his way back to the hospital and decided to call Haley and give her a heads up on what was going to happen in the next couple of days.

Haley heard the phone ringing and her head started to ache. She had drank way way way too much last night.

"Hello?"

"Haley, it's me,"

"Must you call me so early everyday?"

"Haley, it's ten in the morning, you alright?"

"Yeah, I guess I just drank a little to much last night. . ."

"Well then maybe this isn't the best time for me to tell you this,"

"Tell me what?"

"Nathan is going to be staying with me for a few months, while his leg heals and everything. I know it might be weird or even hard on you, but he really needs to be around family and friends,"

"Yeah, I mean I understand. I just, wow, I haven't seen him in so so long, its shocking to think about seeing him again. So, when do you two get back?"

"Our flight is on Thursday morning,"

"I will take the day off from work and pick you two up, I will see if Brooke and Peyton can come as well,"

"Wow, thanks. Are you sure you are cool with this?"

Haley nodded, "Yes, I am. Talk to you later Luke. Love ya,"

Haley groaned. She needed coffee badly. Though she was nervous it kind of her made her happy that Nathan was coming back. Maybe everything does happen for a reason and maybe somehow this accident was going to be just the thing to get them back together. She would love to try to get it all back in a heart beat, but she had a feeling Nathan would feel differently.

Peyton walked into the kitchen where she found Brooke having some yogurt and reading the new Cosmo.

"Brooke, I am sorry last night for being so bitchy. You were right to say what you said about Lucas and me. I guess I sort of never fully got over him after all these years, but that doesn't mean I should jump right back into things. It might just lead to me getting hurt over and over again,"

"I was out of line. I shouldn't have just blurted it out like that. In front of Haley and everything, and I know I have been secretive about it,"

Haley walked into the kitchen, "Oh don't worry about saying anything in front of Haley, because Haley doesn't remember anything from last night. I apologize for getting so out of hand. The last time I threw up from drinking was when I was 16 on Dan Scott's lap," Haley laughed.

Then Peyton and Brooke looked at each other and without any words decided not to mention her announcement about still being in love with Nathan. It was cute and everything but would cause her pain.

"Well, I am going to go to the store. Then I am seeing that band I told you about, I will be back later on tonight," Peyton said, getting up from the chair.

"Okay, I will make dinner, it should be ready around six," Haley offered.

Peyton left and Haley and Brooke continued to sit in the kitchen and talk for a while. They talked a little bit about Brooke's pregnancy, weather she wanted to find out if it was a girl or boy and things like that.

Brooke's phone started to ring and she answered.

"Next Saturday? Another week? Why? Oh, okay. Yeah, it's fine," She hung up the phone.

"That was my mother, the house won't be ready until next Saturday now, the people living there requested another week because their other home won't be ready,"

"Well I guess we will all be really cozy next week, the five of us,"Haley said.

"Five?" Brooke asked.

"I talked to Lucas this morning, and Nathan is coming back to stay with him for a few months. They are flying in Thursday. I said I would take the day off and pick them up. If you and Peyton could make it, that would be great,"

"Yeah, I am sure we can. Wow, um, Nathan? Are you cool with that?"

Haley looked at her, "Yeah, I guess so. I mean he needs family and friends around him right now, so it makes sense,"

"You said something last night Haley, about still being in love with Nathan, and how he was your only love and everything. I don't mean to embarrass you and I know you had too much to drink,"

"Well I haven't exactly moved on since him, I don't know Brooke. I just don't know how to get over something like that, like what we had. I seriously feel like he is the love of my life. Problem is, I am sure he doesn't see me that way anymore. I hurt him badly,"

Before Brooke could respond, there was a knock on the door.

"I'll go get it," Haley said.

"Hi," Haley was trying to place his name. He had gone to high school with them, and dated Brooke.

"Hi Haley, is Brooke staying with you?"

Brooke got up and went over to the door.

"Chase? Why are you here?" Brooke asked him.

"I couldn't wait until you got to New York City to see you. I thought we could fly back together,"

"Chase, we need to talk. I have no plans to move back to New York City,"

Peyton reached Tric and went into her office and went on her laptop. She had a few more e-mails from some bands, she quickly wrote back then went into the other room where the stage was. She heard the door open downstairs.

"Come right up," Peyton called down.

"Peyton?" She looked up to see a familiar face.

"Jake! What are you doing here!?"

"I live here! I have been back for a couple of years now. This is my band,"

He reached out to hug her, and she hugged him back. No wonder the song had sounded so familiar to her now.