A/N: Naley in this and a big secret is revealed. Leave some words. Enjoy )

Let the Reconciliation Commence (Chapter 7)

2 months later…

Haley walked back into the ER after her lunch and headed to the board. "Anything?" she asked Mick, the guy at the admitting desk. He sighed.

"I'm not a doctor, but I think that guy needs someone," he said, pointing over to someone leaning against the wall. Haley turned around and sighed when she recognized Tim Smith.

"Come with me," she told Tim. He nodded and followed her past the desk and into a curtain area. She instructed him to sit down on the bed. "What seems to be the problem?"

"I was hit with a pipe by a suspect," he explained, pointing to his temple that was gushing blood. He still held a wad of tissues against it.

"Let me take a look," she said. He nodded and moved his hand. Haley moved his head up towards the light. She dabbed at it with a fresh tissue. He winced. "Sorry. It's pretty deep. You're going to need stitches." He groaned.

"I hate stitches," he commented. Haley looked at him in confusion. Stitches were not painful. "I mean, getting them done."

"Oh," Haley said, chuckling. She walked over to a corner and grabbed a stool and a tray with a suture kit. She threaded the needle and began sewing his wound closed.

"So, how have you been?" he asked, shrugging. Haley looked down at him in annoyance.

"Fine," she replied stiffly.

"Nathan told me that he ran into you a while back. He tried to talk to you but you wouldn't hear him out," Tim said. Haley laughed a little.

Nathan leaned against the counter. "Hey, Mitch. How have you been?" he asked.

"I've been fine. How about yourself?" Mitch, the clerk, replied. Nathan stopped to think for a minute. Should he really tell Mitch how he was? He shook his head. If he did that, then Mitch would want to have a heartfelt discussion about it.

"Can't complain," Nathan replied. Mitch laughed.

"I guess it must feel pretty good to coach an undefeated team," Mitch said.

"Yeah, it does," Nathan agreed.

"Is Chad doing well?" Mitch asked. Nathan smirked. Chad was Mitch's son and he was on the team.

"He's doing extremely well. He's improved a lot since last year," Nathan replied. He looked down at his watch and rolled his eyes. His brother was taking a long time "visiting" Brooke.

"Mitch, did the labs come back for the woman in three?" Haley asked, coming over to the desk. Nathan froze. It had been a month since he'd seen her. Mitch checked a rack. He picked a file out of it and handed it to Haley. "Thanks." She walked away and headed into a random room. Nathan followed her. When he walked into the room, Haley was just putting what appeared to be an x-ray onto the light. She stood back and studied it. "Damn it."

"Bad news?" he asked. Haley jumped and turned around. She scowled when she saw that it was him.

"What are you doing here?" she asked when her heart rate slowed down.

"I'm waiting for Lucas. He went to see Brooke," Nathan replied. A look of disgust crossed her face but it disappeared after a few seconds. Then, she took the x-ray off the screen and turned the light off.

"I need to talk to a patient," she said. When she walked past him, her arms brushed up against his. He closed his eyes at the touch. He had developed feelings for her after he got to know her. Brooke had warned him to stay away from her reminding him that she was Taylor's sister. He had listened to her for a while.

But he had figured out that Taylor and Haley were as different as day and night so he knew that she would never lie to him like Taylor did or leave him since she herself knew what it was like. Before she found out the truth about Taylor, he had been working up the nerve to ask her out.

"Wait a minute," he said. He reached out and grabbed her shoulder and turned her around. Haley looked at him and then at the door. It was as if she were desperate to get out of there and away from him. "We should talk."

"No," she said, dismissing the idea. "We don't."

"Yes, we do. Please just hear me out," Nathan said. Haley shook her head.

"No!" Haley exclaimed.

"I need to explain," he said.

"You lied to me, Nathan. You led me on," Haley said.

"What?" he asked. Haley closed her eyes when she realized what she had said. "What do you mean?" She took a deep breath.

"You let me think that you were interested in me," Haley said. Nathan froze as he realized what she was admitting. She liked him too. "But all your kindness was just your way of easing your guilt."

"That's not true," he insisted. "I do care about you, Haley."

"Then why didn't you just tell me what happened? Instead of making things worse," Haley said. He looked at her for a minute and then down at the ground. Haley sighed. "You're as bad as Taylor."

"I didn't want talk to him," Haley said.

"Maybe you should," Tim suggested.

"Why?" Haley asked.

"Because he feels terrible," Tim replied.

"He should," Haley said bitterly when she remembered where her sister was now. Just then, Brooke appeared.

"No, he shouldn't," Brooke said.

"What do you want?" Haley asked, ignoring her opinion.

"Some homeless guy is here for his check-up," Brooke said. That meant that they were here for a shower.

"That's a nurse's job," Haley reminded her. Brooke smiled.

"Haven't you heard? There's a nursing shortage," she said, handing Haley some shampoo and soap and started to leave the room. Haley chuckled.

"Oh, this is not over," Haley said, putting the needle down onto the tray and following Brooke. She was sitting next to Mitch at the desk. Lucas was on the other side of the desk leaning down and smiling at her in what Haley assumed was him being flirtatious. She had the shampoo and soap in her hands and dumped them on the counter between the two, startling them both.

"What the hell are you doing, Haley?" Brooke exclaimed.

"A nursing shortage is not my problem. Take it up with management," she said. Then she looked at the homeless man. "It's still your job, not mine." Then Haley returned to Tim. Brooke's face shrivelled in disgust. Then she turned to look at Lucas in misery. He looked at her sympathetically. Then she turned to Nathan. His eyes shone with amusement.

"What you think you see in her, I'll never understand," Brooke said.

"She's not afraid to stand up to you," Nathan said and laughed as Brooke shot him an evil glare.

"I'll be back soon," she said in annoyance. Then she put on a sweet smile and walked over to the man. "Come with me, sir."

"I don't understand what you see in Haley either," Lucas said. Nathan rolled his eyes.

"That doesn't surprise me," Nathan said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lucas asked.

"You didn't like it when I was with Taylor," Nathan reminded him.

"I was right about Taylor," Lucas said. Nathan shook his head.

"You thought she was beneath me because she wasn't rich. It had nothing to do with her lying," Nathan said.

"Well, Haley is Taylor's sister," Lucas argued. Nathan shrugged.

"But she's not Taylor," Nathan retorted.

There was a knock on Haley's door and she raced to it and opened it. She saw that it was Nathan, closed the door and walked away. But Nathan held his arm out to stop the door and followed her inside, swinging the door closed behind him. "Tim told me he saw you today," he said.

"He had a head lac and needed stitches. He came to the hospital. I work there so I sutured it. End of story. Good bye," Haley said.

"Haley, I was at the hospital with Tim. I drove him and Lucas there," Nathan said.

"I know. I saw you there," Haley said.

"You did?" he asked. She hadn't given any indication that she had seen him.

"It still doesn't explain why you're here. Uninvited, I might add," Haley said.

"I want to talk to you," Nathan said.

"I'm so tired of hearing that sentence," Haley said.

"I'm not here to ask for forgiveness," he said. Haley looked at him in surprise.

"Good. So what do you want?" she asked.

"I want to know what's going on with you," he replied. Haley looked at him in confusion.

"It's been two months and you're still mad. But it seems like there's something else that's really bothering you," Nathan said.

"It's people that keep bothering me. Present company included," Haley snapped. Nathan shook his head. Then he remembered something.

"What did Taylor do to you?" he asked. Haley froze for a second and then stared at him blankly.

"She died," Haley replied.

"No. That day in my parents' backyard you said that someday you'd be able to forgive Taylor for what she did to you. And then a month ago you said that I was as bad as Taylor. What happened?" Nathan said. Her mouth quivered as she fought hard not to start crying. He had hit it dead on.

"Leave it alone," she said.

"No, Haley. Tell me what happened," he said.

"It's nothing," she said.

"Right," he said sarcastically. "Nothing has you on the verge of tears? I don't think so. Tell me what she did." Haley just chuckled.

"Taylor did a lot of things," Haley replied cryptically.

"Yes, but what did she do that has made you so angry?" Nathan asked.

"It was what she didn't do," Haley replied.

"Haley, will you just tell me and stop dodging," he said.

"Why do you want to know so much?" she asked.

"Because you're upset and I care about you so I don't like to see you this way," he replied. Haley nodded and motioned for him to follow her into the living room. She sat down on her new couch and Nathan sat with her. They was a cushion between them.

"What you need to realize is that after Anne died, Taylor was never the same," Haley started. Nathan winced at the mention of his daughter's name. "A month after her death, Taylor and I got into a car accident."

"What happened?" he asked.

"Taylor was fine. I was the only one hurt. But I was hurt badly. The doctors worked on me for hours and medicated me for all of the minor injuries but there was something they couldn't fix. I had gone into renal failure. My kidneys were shutting down so I was put on dialysis," Haley said. Nathan looked up at her in shock.

"They tested all of my relatives. The only two that were a match was my mom and Taylor. So Taylor offered me one of her kidneys," Haley said. Nathan nodded, still not understanding why she was mad about that. Taylor had done a selfless thing by offering up one of her kidneys. "The day before the transplant was the day that Taylor skipped town again so my mom took Taylor's place."

"Well, it sucks that Taylor went back on her word and left again, but at least you survived," Nathan said. Tears welled up in Haley's eyes.

"But someone didn't," Haley replied.

"What are you talking about?" Nathan asked.

"My mom, Nathan. There were complications during her operation. She went into cardiac arrest and they weren't able to revive her. She died," Haley said. She started shaking as she cried. Nathan moved closer to her and put an arm around her and pulled her closer to him. Her head rested against his shoulder now.

"I'm sorry about your mom," Nathan said. Haley nodded.

"I was ready to kill Taylor after that. I kept her pregnancy a secret from our parents. After Taylor gave birth, I stayed with Anne in the NICU so she wouldn't be alone. I helped her with the funeral arrangements. I did everything she asked me to and when I needed her, she just didn't care," Haley said.

"No. I'm sure she cared, Haley. She was just messed up. Like you said, she was never the same when Anne died," Nathan said.

"She wasn't even there when Anne died! I was," Haley exclaimed.

"Anne was her daughter," Nathan reminded Haley.

"I was her sister. If my mom weren't a match, I would have died. But you know I put what happened behind me when she called and asked me to come see her. I figured something must have happened to make Taylor call me. So I pack my things, come here only to find her dead and buried," Haley said in fury.

"I'm sorry," he said. He wasn't apologizing for lying to her. He was expressing his sympathy over everything she'd been through.

"Why is it that every person I love just leaves?" Haley asked.

"Did your dad die?" Nathan asked. Haley shook her head.

"Worse. He's remarried to some pathetic gold digger whose IQ rivals her shoe size. He's more than half her age. She's actually Taylor's age," Haley replied. That would make her Nathan's age. Nathan shrivelled his face in disgust, which Haley noticed. "Exactly."

"Well, I'm here," he offered. Haley looked at him and for the first time in two months, she smiled at him. Not a sarcastic smile masquerading as a snarl. A real smile. "I'm not going anywhere."