When Tyler was almost six and a half months old Lucas announced – in the middle of a cemetery at night, no less – he was moving with Keith to Charleston.

"C'mon, Haley, it's not that far." Lucas insisted. "I'll still see you."

"Not like now! Who's going to go thrift-store hunting with me, Lucas? Who's going to go shopping for bad music with me or play with Ty with me or change his diapers so I don't always have to? Who's going to comfort him when he's crying uncontrollably and I can't make him stop? Who will be around to share it with when he starts crawling or says his first word?"

"Nathan." answered Lucas, smiling gently. "You're my best friend, Hales, and you always will be. And I'll always be there for you and for Ty. But I need to go."

Haley was still thinking about that conversation later on when Nathan told her he could love her forever. She realized that they made a family together, she and Nathan and Ty, and she never wanted that to change. So when Nathan asked her to marry him she laughed and protested but in the end she said yes. Because she knew that what they had found in each other was special and the love they shared could overcome anything.

It wasn't easy and no one thought that they could make it work. They didn't understand the love that Nathan and Haley had for each other and for their son, a love that made even the most impossible dream seem attainable and the most terrible situation okay. They went through hell, but they stuck together through it all, because they loved each other. The night Nathan and Haley got married Tyler said his first word – Dada. He learned to walk in the following months and Nathan finally introduced him to Grandma Deb on his first birthday. Karen and Keith were there to help celebrate, along with Lucas, who had returned, Peyton, Brooke and Coach Whitey. Dan still didn't know about Tyler and Nathan was happy to keep it that way. It wasn't easy to keep such a big secret in such a small town, but its inhabitants were good at keeping secrets and feared the consequences if it got out.

Tyler was almost sixteen months old when Hayley's sister, Taylor, came to town. Nathan recognized her quickly as the girl he lost his virginity to one drunken night at his parents' beach house. Lucas found the entire situation hysterical, while Haley knew nothing about it. Nathan didn't intend to change that. It wasn't until Taylor met Tyler that their world began to unravel bit by bit.

When Haley walked in the door to the apartment she was first shocked, then horrified, to see her older sister standing there.

"Tay, what are you doing here?" she demanded, less than thrilled. A thousand thoughts flew through her mind at once, first of panic, then of reason, and finally of annoyance. It was just like her sister to show up out of the blue and make herself at home.

Later that night, after Nathan had left the room, came the both expected and dreaded question.

"So, uh, where is he?" asked Taylor.

"Tay…" warned Haley.

"He's my son, Haley. I want to know where he is. Who adopted him? What were they like? Where is he now? Do you ever see him?" Haley's response to the barrage of questions was a quick glance to the nursery door, behind which Tyler lay sleeping soundly. Taylor didn't miss it.

"Haley? What's going on?"

"Tay…"

"Where's my son?" demanded Taylor loudly, so loudly that Nathan came back into the room, still toweling off his hair from his shower.

"Haley?" asked Nate. "What does she mean?"

"First of all, Taylor, he's not your son." Haley declared. "He's mine – ours. You abandoned him the day he was born and he's never known any parent but me and Nathan." Just then Tyler woke up and started to cry. All three adults rushed into the nursery where the baby had pulled himself up and was clinging to the bars of his crib. His light blue eyes were full of tears and his sweaty curls stuck to the back of his head.

"Mama," he sobbed. "Mama." He reached out for Haley who picked him up and rubbed his back soothingly. He wrapped his arms tightly around her neck and buried his teary face in her shoulder. Taylor's smile at finally seeing her son dimmed when she realized that she had truly lost him. Haley had been right. She wasn't his mother anymore. Haley was.

Nathan and Taylor went for a run the next day. They said it was for some in-law bonding, but it was mostly to clear their heads.

"If I don't run every day I go nuts." Admitted Taylor, panting. "Started when I left home. Been running ever since."

"Yeah, about that." Nathan spoke. "Why did you leave home? I mean, you left before your senior year ended and all. There were all those rumors, but I was never really sure…" He trailed off, waiting to hear her response.

"Nathan, it's complicated. I just couldn't deal with it anymore. All the drama, all the everything. So I split. But come on, let's go wash up." Taylor's idea of washing up was unlike Nathan's; she grabbed Nathan's hand ran into the icy ocean waters, laughing.

Now shivering and soaked, Nathan lead Taylor to his parents' beach house to dry off and warm up.

"Tell you what," he told her as they entered. "I'll turn on the fireplace if you grab the towels. They're –"

She cut him off. "I know where they are. Varsity basketball?"

Nathan bit his lip and nodded. Even if she hadn't recognized him immediately, he had known that she would figure it out eventually. He had been drunk that night, far too drunk, but that didn't change the fact that they had slept together. "Yeah. Um, I was pretty wasted that night," he said, acknowledging that he understood her comment.

"Oh what, you don't remember me?" she teased.

"No, of – of course I remember you. I just didn't think you would come back to bite me in the ass."

"Well this time I'll only nibble."

Nathan tensed although he realized she was only joking. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I was having too much fun watching you squirm." Admitted Taylor with a chuckle. That statement earned her a clenched jaw and a glare. "Does that make me bad?" She flirted with him, knowing he wouldn't reciprocate but having fun all the same. He ignored the comment, keeping his jaw clenched and giving her a look that wasn't angry but nevertheless warned her to watch it. Neither spoke again until they were seated with hard drinks before the fire.

"So, are you going to tell me why you're really in town?" Nathan asked.

"I wondered what he was really like. Tyler, I mean. I thought that Haley would have kept pictures, might even have an address where I could see him, you know? I never dreamed that she would have kept him. I mean, she's still in high school. But then again, Haley never did things the normal way. I guess you two got married, huh?"

"Yeah." He rubbed the ring on his finger, something he had developed as a nervous habit. "I really love her. And Ty is our lives."

"So you've been there all along?" Taylor asked curiously.

"Since he was a newborn. His first word was dada." They smiled at the precious memory Nathan had just shared. To Taylor, Nathan and Haley had created the perfect family for Ty. They were better parents than she ever could have been, but it made her sad to know that she wasn't a part of her son's life, that he didn't even know her.

As Nathan finished off the last of his drink he stood up, impatient to return to Haley and to his son. "Taylor," he began. "Could you maybe, well, could you not tell Haley about…us? It would just upset her, and it's all in the past now, so…" Taylor agreed, understanding her sister's fiery disposition when she received bad or shocking news and not wanting to bring World War III down upon the household.

"Hey. So, uh, I was thinking about asking Karen if we can live here until Taylor's gone. Maybe, like, put a mattress behind the counter or something. Lucas' old crib is still back there too." Haley announced when Nathan walked into Karen's Café the next day while Haley was working.

"Yeah, um, we need to talk about her." Nathan said uncomfortably.

"Huh, yeah. I warned you about her. Give her an inch and she'll take whatever the hell she wants. I know her a lot better than you do." She walked over to a booth and sat down.

"All right, Haley, we got married so quickly we never really had the talk that most people have when they get engaged. About, you know, past relationships…" Nathan paused, staring down at his hands and playing with his wedding ring, "sexual history."

"Ah. That's probably because I can give you mine in under ten seconds while yours is catalogued in the Library of Congress." Haley joked, knowing that the Nathan who had slept with half the cheerleading squad in one night was not the man who was sitting in front of her now. "What's going on?"

"All right." Continued Nathan quietly. "My first time was at this party at my parents' beach house. I was pretty wasted and I never really saw the girl again…until now."

"Until now…" Her emphasis on his last words begged him to explain a situation far different from the one she was suddenly realizing he meant.

"Haley, listen. I swear I hadn't even heard of you when this happened, okay?" He begged her to understand.

"Taylor?" She accused, and the second he glanced up at her she could see the awful truth in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, I just, look. I thought it might come out, and I just thought you should hear it from me."

"You slept with my sister."

"This was like two years ago! I – look, I didn't know you, I didn't even know there was going to be a you." He protested, not caring about anything but her understanding and forgiveness.

"Nathan. When was it?" Haley questioned, suddenly fearful. Even the story she had just learned wasn't as horrifying as the thought that had just hit her.

"Like two years ago. Just after I made Varsity. It was the middle of the season; they bumped me up from the freshman team." Nathan repeated, rambling, unsure of why she was asking but still waiting for her to tell him it was okay, they were okay.

"Nathan, do you remember when Taylor left town? All the rumors that circulated around school?"

"Yeah…but Taylor said…" Nathan trailed off, trying to remember just what Taylor had said and trying to make sense of what his wife was telling him.

"Nathan, those rumors were true. Taylor was pregnant. With Ty. That's why she left."

"Does that mean…"

"Yeah. Ty could be yours. Really yours." Haley held his gaze, wondering what could be going through his head right now.

"No." Said Nathan, more sharply than he meant to. "The numbers are wrong. His birthday is in the beginning of October. We – we got together in February. It doesn't – that doesn't make sense. And besides, this is Taylor. I mean, it could have been anybody."

"Nathan…when my parents asked Taylor who the father was, she refused to tell them. She'd just gotten out of a serious relationship and she hadn't been with anyone for weeks. She said she knew which night it had happened and who the father was, but she wouldn't tell us."

"So maybe she lied! Maybe –"

"Nate, do you remember how small Tyler was as a newborn? How your hand could support his entire back and how it was a long time before he caught up in size with the other babies his age? He was a preemie, Nathan. He was born a month early. There's not really any alternative. You're his father, Nate."

"Oh." Whispered Nathan and he didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. "I should go talk to Taylor."

"Yeah. Maybe you should."