Okay this does answer some of y'alls questions, but I think the rest of them will be answered within the next chapter or two
Kait
Ep. 8
"Luke, did you ever hear of a UHF or Lucera?" She was asking him the next morning in the record store.
"Yeah, UHF. They're from Portland, right? They're good. Um, but with Lucera, they're great," he replied pulling another CD from the case of used ones they were looking through.
"Cool," she gave a small nod bending her back down, even though she caught Nathan out of the corner of her eye, Tommy in his arms once again.
"You okay?" Lucas asked, giving Nathan a hard stare in warning.
"Yeah, I can handle it," she smiled at Lucas, turning to Nathan knowing Lucas wouldn't be too far away if she needed him.
"I called your house. Your mom said I could find you here," he started warily.
"Guess I should lie to her next time," Haley mumbled, smiling at Tommy, who waved shyly at her.
"Look, I didn't know until Brooke read that note, okay? I didn't even know there was a note until later. I wouldn't do that to you," he pleaded, releasing Tommy into her arms as he reached for her.
"Okay," she responded softly, pulling her hair from Tommy's grasp.
"Okay, so we're cool?" he checked, smiling hoping she'd forgiven him that easily.
"No, were not cool," she replied, handing Tommy back to him, crossing her arms over her stomach, physically blocking him as well as emotionally.
"You believe me don't you?" he didn't really understand his own need for forgiveness and for her to have faith in him, lord knows he'd never given it to anyone else, but she was different she was special.
"I believe you're sorry," she nodded, "Look this whole tutoring, hanging out…thing, it's a bad idea and I'm done. I'm just done."
"Haley…" he pleaded as he watched her leave the record store.
"Leave it alone man," Lucas stopped him from following her.
"Don't touch me," Nathan warned, stalking down the street, holding his son closer.
"Dada, sad?" he asked pouting his lower lip.
"Where'd you learn that?" he smiled looking down, "I thought you just learned to talk?" Tommy gave him an odd look before lifting his shoulders and shrugging, "I'm not sad just disappointed." There was no way Tommy could understand how helpful his little arms wrapping around his father's next could reinstate Nathan's determination to win Haley.
"What do you want, Brooke?" he huffed placing the weight bar back on the rack in the afternoon sun.
"To apologize. For what I did to you. You and Haley," she added softly, bending down next to the blanket Tommy was lying on.
"You're apologizing?" he questioned in disbelief, turning to face her as he grabbed his water bottle.
"Yeah, I know. Kinda weird, right? But I'm trying to appease the gods so… I'm sorry," she added again, "he looks like you," she nodded toward the little boy, "he's not really your Dad's cousin's kid, is he?"
"You can't tell anyone," Nathan warned, squatting next to the two.
"I won't," she smiled at the pair, "never would've guessed it, though. Sorry, so what do you want to do on your date tonight?"
"What date?" he questioned wary of Brooke's intentions.
"Your date with Haley, I'm sending you two out…or three?"
"Three," he nodded, "but it's not gonna happen. She made that pretty clear this morning."
"Leave it to me," she was then off bounding across the yard.
"I'm sorry, for anything she makes us suffer through tonight," he frowned down at Tommy, who only laughed at the look on his father's face.
Brooke's impromptu drop-in had soured her mood for the day, but that was changing considering this was the first time she'd been off work before 9 in what had to be forever. But those thoughts were slowly growing dark as well when she found Nathan waiting for her outside the door with Tommy in a stroller.
"Brooke set up this serial date thing, one envelope leads to the next," he pleaded, showing her the first envelope.
"What's the first one say?" she asked cautiously, hugging herself after she got her jacket on.
"Convince Haley to go," he replied, "how am I doing so far?"
"That depends, what's the second one say?" she leaned toward him as he pulled out the second card.
"Go to 1423 River Street and find your next envelope. On the way, tell three things you like about each other," he read aloud.
"I don't know…"
"Look, I'll go first. You're the most patient person I know. You don't go postal on me during tutoring and you don't treat me like some kind of a moron. I really appreciate that. Look, I know I have no right to ask, but we never do anything just fun together. And plus, this is Brooke. I mean, you can bet it's not gonna be boring," he pleaded quietly.
"I'm free to bail whenever?" she checked.
"Absolutely. Trust me," he smiled. She gave a non-committal shrug before following him down the street towards their destination, "Number two I love the fact that you don't think it's weird that I'm spending more time taking care of Tommy than hanging with the guys these days."
"I think it's cool actually, not many people would give up their night life at 16 to hang out with a one year old," she smiled up at him, "All of my siblings are older and none of them did or would if given the chance, stay home on a Friday night to hang out with me. I think that's part of the reason I latched on to Lucas and hung out with him and Karen most days. And number three?"
"Your loyalty…to Lucas. I know I'm not always wild about how it plays out, but it's cool," he decided as they continued their stroll.
"Okay, uh, three things I like about you," she trailed off giving it some serious thought almost forgetting she had to respond to him.
"My good looks," he offered, grinning at his own ability to make her giggle.
"I like the way you let me in, past all the bluster you give everybody else. And I like your smile when you solve a problem. And…" she had to give it a little more thought, "you're not horrible to look at." They both stopped when they saw the numbers on the building next to them, "THIS is where we're going?"
"Nice work, Brooke," he grinned over at Haley before pushing Tommy's stroller through the door to the lingerie store.
"I can't believe you're taking a baby into a lingerie store," Haley laughed following him and taking over the stroller as Nathan started looking through the racks for their next envelope.
"This would go a lot faster if you helped," he reminded her, "plus it's not like he'll ever remember being in here."
"He might remember," she countered, "remind me to kill Brooke the next time I see her too."
"Okay," Nathan nodded, before pulling a hanger from the rack, "here it is. Congratulations. Now, buy each other a gift and exchange them on the way to… there's another address here."
"This is so wrong," Haley blushed spinning a little.
'You want to quit?" he asked raising his eyebrows.
"I didn't say that… lets shop," she held up a finger in his direction before pushing Tommy in his stroller off towards the men's department, "Okay Tommy, what would your big brother like?"
"Dada," it seemed as if he was trying to tell her, only Haley didn't seem to get his message, through baby chatter.
"We'll go with socks," she decided holding up a white pair and a black pair for his inspection, "white or black?" He slapped at the black pair with his chubby little hand, grinning at Haley showing off his collection of three or four teeth, "yeah I like the black ones too."
"Did you see what that saleswoman was wearing?" Nathan laughed as they spilled out of the store about 10 minutes later.
"Or not wearing," she added, pulling her bag off the handle of the stroller before handing it to him, "you go first."
"Okay," he agreed easily pulling the item from the back, "socks?"
"Tommy picked them," she accused, "Seriously, I was playing it safe. What did you get me?"
"Open it and see," he urged, excited to see her reaction, he handed her the bag.
"Oh my gosh. This is really nice. Thanks," she blushed running the cream colored silk, of her first negligee through her fingers.
"Okay. If we go to this next place and we hate it, we can just get some pizza, alright?" he questioned, taking over pushing the stroller, handing her the card so she could direct them down the street. She directed them past a few more stores before pointing toward the riverside restaurant.
"Mr. Scott? Miss James?" the hostess asked when they stepped up to his podium.
"Yes," Nathan answered, smiling softly as he then handed him an envelope, "Take a seat and enjoy your meal."
"Here you go, Miss… Sir," he directed them to a table, "will you need a high chair?"
"Yes, thank you," Nathan pulled Tommy from his stroller, and for the first time, Haley noticed that he and Nathan were matching all the way down to the little letter jacket he wore. Haley held up the envelope from the table as Nathan accepted the high chair, "Thanks," he nodded before turning back to Haley, "to be honest, I'm a little afraid."
"Order your favorite dish for the other person," she grinned, knowing he would think she was childish.
"Any chance your favorite dish is… prime rib?" he asked hopefully, there was nothing like a big chunk of meat, in his mind.
"We have a lot of that at my house," she replied a little embarrassed.
"I'm not very experienced with this so, uh…" he trailed off looking a little flustered.
"Ordering food?" she asked, holding in her laugh.
"No," he laughed, "I mean, with Peyton, it was all just parties and games and drama. I never really did anything like this. This is different," he amended his earlier statement smiling softly.
She gave a little nod at his statement, "Different… good? Different weird?" she questioned worried.
"No, no," he smiled, "good, definitely good."
"Good," she smiled, looking back down at her menu.
"I'm…well, we're really glad you decided to come," he smiled going back to his own menu.
"I thought you'd be into lobster," Nathan laughed later during their meal, after watching Haley take a bite and promptly make a sour face at the aforementioned food.
"Dude, macaroni and cheese is food of the gods," she giggled, pointing to Tommy, "he likes it."
"He likes anything gooey," Nathan laughed, wiping the drool from Tommy chin as the yellow-y drool spilled from his mouth, "and just so we're clear, those gods would have to be five." She rewarded him with a laugh, before he picked up the next card, "Ready for this next envelope?" At her nod he ripped the seal pulling the card from within, "Reveal a secret that nobody else knows about you." This was his chance.
"Okay. When I was in second grade, I stole some candy," she leaned forward, her face glowing in the soft candle light as she whispered her words.
"Come on, that's not a secret," he laughed, "Tell me for something to real."
"Okay," she thought quietly for a moment before answering, "I cheated on a Geometry test last year."
"Haley James cheated?" he asked shocked, he never would've guessed that one.
"Yeah. My dad was out of town and um, my mom was sick and I had to take care of her so I didn't really have time to study," she explained pulling her lower lip between her teeth.
"Did you get caught?" he wondered aloud.
"No. That wasn't the point," she replied, "I mean, I knew what I had done and that didn't sit right for me."
"So you started tutoring?" he questioned in conclusion.
"Yeah. I guess I thought it would be like, penance, or something. But it turns out I really liked it," she revealed quietly.
"I thought it was just to get to me," he flirted with a wink.
"Oh you figured me out," she mocked, before leaning forward again, "so what about you? What's your secret?"
"Well…I can't believe I'm about to tell you this because I promised myself a long time ago that I wasn't going to tell anyone but…Tommy's not…well he's not my brother…he's actually--" his last few words were mumbled and Haley didn't quite catch them.
"He's what?" she asked glancing at the little boy, who grinned broadly at the attention.
"Dada," he squealed, holding out a handful of macaroni in Nathan's direction.
"I guess it was easier for him to say," Nathan smiled ruefully, with a slight blush as Tommy grinned at him.
"Wow, so he's yours," she breathed deeply, "of course he yours, no one spends that much time with a younger sibling, god how dense am I? Didn't see that one coming at all," she rambled, and on her next deep breath, Nathan stood, leaned over the table and attached his lips to hers, "wow," she muttered blinking her eyes open slowly.
"Good wow?" He asked sitting back into his seat.
"Yeah," she whispered, licking her lower lip, glancing at him sheepishly. They both broke their stare laughing when Tommy interrupted with his own shrieking laughter.
"So…I had a great time tonight," Haley smiled standing in front of him in front of her parents' front door. Tommy had fallen asleep as soon as they'd left the restaurant and they'd taken a walk along the dock, just enjoying each other's company, before he walked her home.
"Me too," he grinned, wrapping an arm around her waist, pulling her towards him, "I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Yeah," she grinned pushing onto her toes, placing a chaste kiss on his lips, "Goodnight Nathan."
"Goodnight Haley," he grinned, watching her close the door before turning back to Tommy and slowly made his way home thinking the whole time how grateful he was for whoever put Brooke Davis in his life.
"Trying to wake up my parents? That's their room," Haley giggled, walking up behind Nathan the next morning startling him as he released another rock toward apparently her parents' bedroom.
"Actually I was looking for you," he grinned, leaning down to drop a kiss on her nose, "I was hoping you'd want to hang out with me today."
"Um…" she trailed off playfully in thought, before the front door opened and a crazy-haired lady poked her head through.
"Are you coming to breakfast Haley-bop?" the woman asked, "your friend is welcome too."
"Mom," Haley reluctantly turning to Nathan, "my mom," she whispered.
"I love to join you for breakfast Mrs. James," he grinned broadly bounding up the front steps and through the door, leaving Haley looking after him. She knew then and there that this was going to be an interesting relationship. Now all she had to do was gather enough courage to ask Nathan about Tommy's mother.