AN: Wow. 2 almost 3 months without updating this story. I think I've hit my record and I'm really ashamed by it. I just was suffocating with my work in college and, to be honest, I couldn't seem to find inspiration to write this chapter. But I found it in the last few days and I think I'm back on track. Terribly sorry for what happened but I assure you it won't happen again. I'll never be taking all this time to update again. Thank you so much for your reviews and for being so kind, even when I take a long time to UD. I hope you all had an amazing Christmas and I wish you all an amazing 2011! And my own little celebration: here's the next chapter!

Nathan continued leaving soft kisses on her cheek, feeling the salty tears on his lips. He missed kissing her like this, he missed everything about her! Just like Haley did… She could only be dreaming, because there was no way she was feeling that much pleasure with her husband just kissing her cheek. And then the part where he'd said he loved her... He hadn't said that for more than four months and she missed it. She missed being loved, she missed being with her husband… But he was there. It was all there. His lips were doing miracles on her cheeks, but then reality struck her and she gently pulled him away. Nathan looked at her embarrassed and worried. He knew he shouldn't have done that, but he just couldn't control himself, from kissing her and tell her he loved her. It was the truth, how could he control it? He'd never been able to control his love for his wife…

"We should go. You're already late for your session." These were the only words Haley was able to release. She was running away from the big thing, she was running away from him and she knew it. She just needed to think about what had just happened. But was she doing the right thing? Had she hurt him with her choice of words? I mean, he just told her he loved her for the first time in God knows how long and she says… We should go….But Nathan knew she wasn't ready and he was immensely stupid for telling her he loved her. He had gotten too carried away with the moment and the moment he realized what he said, it was too late. Damn him and his stupid lack of control around her!

"I guess you're right." He calmly said after looking at his watch. Awkwardly, Haley tugged at his right arm, helping him walk over the front door and towards the car. His previous adventure to put some clothes on had scared her and made her see how much help he still needed. And like Nathan had just read her mind, a small smile tugged at his lips.

The car ride was silent. Neither knew what to say, really. Haley kept focused on the street and Nathan would take quick glances at her, admiring her like he always used to whenever she was so focused. He smiled when he noticed how her eyebrows were a little quirked, like they would always be… And her nose was perfect. He always swore Haley's nose was perfect, her nose (and Jamie's too) was actually the only nose he thought to be beautiful in this world. Jamie's was beautiful too, but it was different. Haley's was… he didn't know how to describe it but it fit her face amazingly. Then her lips... Those lips that were responsible for a great part of the pleasure and love he'd felt in his life. The way they would kiss them… The way they were such a turn on whenever she put that light red lipstick that he loved… The way they looked when she was singing… The way they framed her perfect smile… Suddenly, his daydream about her ended when he noticed the car stopping. They had arrived.

After entering the building and going to the locker room to change, Nathan arrived at the pool where the grumpy Mrs. Hockley grabbed his arm, as usual, to make sure he didn't fall. Mrs. Hockley was about 50 and she had to be the most unmanageable person walking on this world. She didn't even look like a nurse with her antipathy and her constant 'whatever' look. Nathan hated her. He just wanted to grab her and drown her on the pool so she could shut up that mouth of hers and that 'I wish you wouldn't be here so I could be home eating my ho-hos' look on her face. Okay, maybe that was a little harsh but he just didn't like the woman. And suddenly all his thoughts about Mrs. Hockley flew out of the window when he saw Haley talking to the man he knew way too well by now. Nick Campbell. His therapist. Suddenly, a rush of jealousy hit him. It was stupid though. He knew Haley and he knew Dr. Campbell. But that would happen to him every time Haley talked to a male human being.

"Hello, Nathan. I was just telling your wife how much you have evolved in these last couple of weeks." Dr. Campbell said as Nathan approached the two of them and Mrs. Hockley had left. Haley tried to control her breath at the sight of her husband in just swimming shorts. Today was definitely a day to make her blush... "Have you had any problems lately?"

"Yes, I still have some trouble kneeling..."

"He has pain in his back..." completed Haley, in a protective and worried wife mode.

"That's natural. Your back was severally injured and although the surgery, the medicine, the physical therapy and the crutches are helping you recovering, nothing is as efficient as time. But there's no reason for worries. Remember the exams you ran last week? I talked to Dr. Gordon and he told me everything's stabilized right now. And as for the kneeling problem, don't worry. We'll do an exercise today that will relieve your pain. But you have walked well, haven't you?"

"Yes. While walking, I have no pain. Everything's fine."

"Great then. Kneeling hurts you because your back bends and there's more pressure made on the backbone. But don't worry, we'll work on that now. Are you ready?" Nathan nodded and smiled shyly at Haley. He was happy to hear the news that he was evolving in a great way. And it made him even happier that Haley was there by his side sharing the moment with him. Haley replied with her own smile of hers. To say that she was thrilled with the news was an understatement. She was proud of him. A few weeks ago he had been a mess and now... he was back on track.

"Let's go then. Mrs. Scott, you can go and sit on the bleachers if you want to." informed Dr. Campbell.

"Thank you." Haley said before smiling at both men and getting away from them to go and sit on the front bleachers. Haley looked around and thought the place looked nice. There were only about 10 people there and she noticed how the majority of them were children. It shocked her to be honest. Watching little kids in those situations was never easy, but she felt at ease when she noticed they were smiling and had no major injuries.

The session lasted for an hour and a half and Haley had a smile plastered on her face the entire time... except when Dr. Campbell and Nathan had done the kneeling exercise. Nathan didn't scream or anything but she knew by the look on his face that he was in pain. Luckily, his expression changed in a couple of minutes and he started doing the exercise with no killing pain. She noticed how he was so focused and committed to do everything and get better. That was who Nathan Scott was after all...

As soon as Haley saw Dr. Campbell and Nathan leaving the water, she went to them. The huge smile on her face left Nathan awestruck.

"You did so great!" she told him exploding of pride.

"Thanks, Hales." Her words had meant everything to him. Just to know that she had liked and that she was proud of him... That's what he had been wishing for months now... For her to feel proud of him again.

"You are certainly right, Mrs. Scott. Nathan did great."

"Now I can kneel without feeling like someone's stabbing me!" Nathan said with a goofy smile, causing Haley to do the same.

"Yes." Said Dr. Campbell while chuckling. "And now you can kneel all you want that you won't have any major pain since we already got you used to it. You still need to be careful, though. Remember, no rushed movements."

"Sure." Haley and Nathan nodded at the same time before looking at each other for their synchrony.

"Now go get dressed, but afterwards I want to talk to you in my office." Dr. Campbell stated as soon as he saw Mrs. Hockley approaching Nathan to take him back to the locker room. "Don't worry. I just want to talk to you two in a more formal and private way." He said with a smile before walking away from them. Mrs. Hockley grabbed Nathan's arm once again and turned her back at Haley who was just about to say 'hello'. But she quit it when she saw Nathan rolling his eyes.

"Wait for me at the reception." He said, before being dragged out by Mrs. Hockley. He just wanted Haley to be the one helping him get to the locker room, but rules were rules and no one, outside doctors, nurses and patients could access that area of the physical therapy clinic.

Haley watched her husband being dragged away by some really rude old nurse. The clinic overall was amazing, but maybe they should change some of the staff... She could tell Nathan couldn't stand the woman and just by the way she had ignored her, she didn't like her too. But those thoughts soon left her mind as she asked herself what could possibly Dr. Campbell have to say to them both in a 'more formal and private way' while she walked to the reception... He'd said not to worry so it would be pathetic for her to be concerned about it, but still... She couldn't take that terrible feeling out of her head...

Suddenly, her purse started vibrating and a familiar ringtone was heard.

"Hello?" she said after grabbing her cell phone and seeing Lucas as the caller ID.

"Hey. So, how did it go?"

"It went great. Nathan's doing really fine and the doctor said he's doing a really nice recovery! I'm so thrilled, Luke!" she couldn't hold the excitement, she just couldn't.

"That's so good to hear, Hales. I'm glad Nathan's doing great... and I'm glad you're happy."

"Thank you."

"So listen, why don't you come by the café? There's something I need to tell you." the tone of his voice didn't please Haley very much. Did something happen?

"Is Jamie okay?" she quickly asked, her mother instincts acting on full force.

"Yeah, Jamie's fine, don't worry. It's nothing to do with him."

"Then what is it?"

"That's why I'm asking you to come by the café... I can't tell you this over the phone." why the hell was Lucas acting so weirdly? Before she could think more about it, she saw Nathan and Dr. Campbell walking towards her.

"Okay, I'll be there in half an hour, okay? I got to go now." And she hung up just before both men reached her.

"Are you okay?" Nathan asked looking at his wife's worried frown.

"I am. It was Lucas, he was acting weirdly..." she replied as they started walking to the elevator.

"And is that news?" Nathan asked teasingly before the elevator's doors closed.


"The reason why I wanted to talk to you two is because of this." Dr. Campbell stated as he handed Nathan a folder with a bunch of papers inside. Nathan looked questioningly at him. What was that for? "Open it." He said. With Haley's help, Nathan opened the folder and looked at the papers content. They looked like... "Examinations results." Nathan and Haley lifted their heads from the papers and kept looking at the doctor. They weren't getting what he was trying to say or do. "Those papers you have in your hand are the results of the examinations I've been making you since your first therapy session. In the end of each session, I would come in here and make some notes about what you did, how you reacted to certain exercises, how far you would go… among other important details. After talking to Dr. Gordon I joined all the notes I had made and analysed them. And according to my experience and seeing how much you have evolved, I want to tell you that you can stop wearing crutches." Nathan and Haley's eyes widen with Dr. Campbell's information. So he was getting rid of those awful things? "You said you had no problems walking and that's exactly what the crutches are for. I don't see the need of you continuing to use them. But you're still keeping those, just in case." He said pointing at the crutches Nathan had in his hands. Nathan looked at Haley and laughed as she softly hugged him, thrilled with the news. They both realized they stayed in each other's embrace a lot more time than they should have and Haley awkwardly pulled them away, running away from his eyes with her own. It seemed that there was only awkwardness between them nowadays... Trying to get that thought out of his head, Nathan looked at Dr. Campbell who had just started talking again. "And there's more. I want you to know that although you're making an excellent recovery, it doesn't mean that you're 100% healthy and can lead the life you had before the accident. There are still some limitations and you have to be tremendously cautious. Your back is still not entirely recovered and you should avoid intense physical activities... like sex." As soon as the words left his mouth, Haley's cheeks turned bright red. Didn't Dr. Campbell know that she and Nathan were going through a tough time, therefore there was no sex to avoid? And how could a 3 letter word send her back to amazing, freaking amazing moments from the past? Nathan didn't even know what to say. He knew sex wasn't even something to worry about, because there was no way he was going to have it anytime soon. He looked at Haley with an apologetic look and his inside all smiled at the redness of her face. She would always do that... and he loved it. "I know it can be hard to be celibate as my patients all seem to declare, but remember it's for your own good. And you can always make up for it when you're fully recovered." Said Dr. Campbell as he smiled.


"I'm sorry." Nathan blurted out for the hundredth time. "I never told Dr. Campbell that we were having some problems…"

"Don't worry about that, Nathan." Haley assured him, taking the eyes out of the road for a second to look at him. She didn't blame Nathan for what happened, that would be ridiculous. They were married, after all. And, obviously, married couples have sex. Dr. Campbell was doing his job warning them and Nathan wasn't the one responsible for her body reactions. Well… he was but it's not like he does it on purpose. Well… sometimes he does. But not this time.

But she wondered and she was afraid to ask but her curiosity took the best out of her. "But didn't he… like… ask for me… when I wasn't in the previous sessions?" she gagged a little, ashamed with herself. The guilt of not being there for Nathan still made her feel sick to the stomach. But she had choices to make and her son to consider…

"He did. But I told him you couldn't make it." Haley just nodded.

"I guess he must have a pretty good impression of me, huh?" she asked rhetorically, almost like beating herself up.

Nathan knew what she was doing. Knew way too well what she was doing.

"No! Haley, you were taking care of our son and you had students waiting for you. Besides, I didn't even tell you I was going in there..." Nathan tried to comfort her.

"And why didn't you?" she asked, not getting her eyes away from the road.

"Because I wanted to show you I could do this by myself."

"That's exactly what marriage isn't supposed to be! I know you're strong and that you can take care of yourself but I still want to be part of everything you do." her voice came out harsher than what she had intended. She was mad but knew she hadn't a right to be.

"You had just walked out the door and told me to forget you existed! I thought you didn't care about me anymore…" he suddenly felt her stop the car in the side of the road. She put her hands on her hair, closed her eyes and breathed in.

"I know. I'm sorry." She calmly said, taking her hands out of her head and looking intently at him. "That whole day was a mistake… I should have never left, Nathan…" he looked at her and started seeing the tiny drops begin to form on her eyes. "I was just feeling trapped in there… There was nothing I could do to make you stop being like that and I was desperate… I thought leaving would make you realize what you were missing and-"

"And it did!" he said gripping her hair lightly and holding her face in both hands at the same time. "It did! It hurt like hell watching you walking out of that door, Haley. But I thank God every single day that you did it. I told you once and I'll tell you again: that day was my waking up call. So don't ever regret that!"

"But I shouldn't have been away from you all that time… I-"

"I needed you to do that. You needed to do that, for you and for Jamie."

"But I hurt you with that, didn't I?" Haley asked, the tears now streaming on her face. Nathan didn't answer her. He kept looking at her, trying to find an honest answer that wouldn't hurt her. "I knew it…" she said, closing her eyes again and crying even more.

"It hurt me, Haley. But, to be honest, I feel like I'm being selfish, you know? Because you were there for me for those four months. You were there whenever I needed you. And I feel selfish for being hurt with you leaving, because you did everything when I did nothing. You tried and I did nothing. So yes, it hurt me. It hurt me knowing I was the one responsible for that." She loved him. She loved how he had no problem admitting he had screwed up…

"I'm so sorry, Nathan…" she apologetically said, cupping his face with her right hand and caressing his face with her thumb. Nathan closed his hands, enjoying the feeling of her touch as he also caressed her face with his hands.

"I'm sorry too."


"Momma!" Jamie shrieked as he started running towards Haley and Nathan who had just walked in on Karen's Café. "Hi, daddy!" the little boy waved at his father as Haley grabbed his arms and pulled him up to her, leaving a soft kiss on his cheek.

"Hey, baby. How was your day?" she asked her son, taking a few steps back so Nathan could muffle the little boy's hair.

"Uncle Lucas and I made mud dolls!"

"Yeah, I believe... Uncle Lucas always had a thing for mud..." Haley let out sarcastically and saw Lucas coming out of the kitchen eying her in a pseudo angry look.

"How come?" Jamie asked, not understanding how someone could have a thing for mud...

"He was always falling in the mud when he was a kid..."

"Hey, watch it! It's not my fault that you were always attracting the bad guys..." Lucas warned her giving her a kiss on the cheek and then doing one of those manly hugs with Nathan. "I already know you did great, man! Wait..." Lucas paused, looking up and down his brother...

"I know I'm sexy, Luke but you don't need to be checking me out so bluntly..." Nathan told him with a smirk on his face causing Haley to laugh out loud.

"You're not using your crutches!" Lucas blurted out, astonished. Nathan and Haley looked at each other again as if they wanted to share their happiness together. 'As if' no... They really wanted to share their happiness together.

"No, I'm not. The doctor said I would be fine without them."

"That's great!" Lucas told him one more time, a huge smile on his face, happy for seeing his brother going back on track. Haley tried to find something strange on Lucas's expressions but she had noticed nothing until now.

"It is. But he still needs to be careful, though..." Haley reminded the two of them. She really didn't want people to think that Nathan was 100% okay. She wanted people to still be careful around him.

"Lucas! I don't know where..." Peyton's voice made everyone in the café turn the attention to the blonde coming out of the kitchen... with a really wary look on her face. "Oh thank God. Jamie's here..." she breathed out in relief before approaching her friends. They all talked for a while, the main theme of the conversation being Nathan's recovery and everyone congratulating him on the recovery, including Karen who, meanwhile, had arrived and joined them.

"So what do you kids want to eat? It's almost lunch time." asked the older woman.

"Oh, don't worry, mom. I'll get us something." Lucas assured her, getting up from his chair and making a quick and discrete sign to Haley.

"I'll help you!" she jumped off her seat instantly.

"Do you need help?" asked Peyton looking at Lucas and Haley who frantically shook their heads. "Okay..."

"Is everything okay? What do you have to tell me, Luke?" asked Haley as soon as they got in the kitchen. Lucas looked around to make sure there was no one else in there.

"I went to visit someone today... at the prison."

"You went to see Dan?" asked a shocked Haley trying to control the level of her voice.

"No. Not Dan... Jet Streamer." Haley froze death in the spot... What... Why would Lucas go and talk to the men who had thrown her husband out of that damn window?

"And why would you do that, Lucas?"

"I wanted to talk to him. I wanted to know what actually happened that night..." she didn't even want to think about that awful night. It had been just something to forget for the rest of her life...

Haley didn't get to see them. She had taken off because of the babysitter, thinking Nathan would be okay without her. But she never got to see Greg and his group provoking Nathan. On the day after the accident, the police had called her saying one of the men in the group – and the one who had thrown Nathan out of the window – had been arrested for assault. She'd been relieved but Greg and the rest of the group was still out there and that scared her. What if they came back? What if they wanted to pick on him again?

"And what did you say?"

"It's more what did he say..." Haley looked at him with a pleading look on her face. What was he waiting for to tell her? "He said he was left by Greg and the group hence why he got arrested... And he said he wanted to revenge them for leaving him all by himself..."

"And?" Haley asked impatiently.

"He said Nathan's accident wasn't an accident." her eyes narrowed at the words her best friend had just spilled out. Did he just say that what happened to Nathan wasn't a random bar fight? "Greg and the rest of the guys worked for the Blazers."

"The jacket's company?" asked Haley confused causing Lucas to chuckle a bit even when they were talking about such a serious topic.

"No... The Portland Trail Blazers. It's a NBA team. Seattle Sonics' biggest rival to be precise... Greg and the rest of the gang were hired by Ebony Howl, Blazer's president. It seems that Howl and some Blazer's scouts had been watching Nathan in Maryland. They knew how valuable he was but the Sonics were faster and drafted him first. Knowing that Nathan was going to be tough competition to them, they acted on it and paid those guys to get a rise out of him so they could... injury him." Haley was shocked with the amount of information. So some idiot tycoon had planned all of this? Had planned everything to injury her husband? She felt rage taking control of her body and all she felt like doing was going to Portland and make the idiot pay for everything he did to her family... God! Just breathe, Haley. Just breathe. "At least this was what Jet told me..."

"Couldn't he be lying? What if this is some kind of sick plan, Luke?" Haley closed her eyes and shook her head for a moment. "I... I just can't believe that someone could do this!"

"It's the NBA, Hales. It's the world of sport. Everything can happen... And the rivalries can make people do crazy things like this... I don't know, Hales but he seemed to be honest about it..."

"Whether it's true or not, we have to do something. We can't ignore this... My God..." Haley said breathlessly, still not believing almost everything that had happened to her and her family in the last months could be part of some sick scheme... "We have to tell Nathan." There was just no way that he couldn't know. He deserved to know it.

"I know. I just wanted to talk to you first. I think you should be the one telling him."

"No. We should tell him. Both of us. Luke, you were the one talking to Jet and I don't know a thing about basketball..." she pleaded and Lucas just nodded, agreeing with her.

"How do you feel about this?" he asked, rubbing her back smoothly.

That was a really nice question... How did she feel about it?

"I just found out someone hurt my husband on purpose to destroy his career, his dream... How do you think I feel? I want to hurt the bastard!" she said, anger plastered in her face as she grabbed a knife on the counter. She needed to clench something to release her anger and the knife was what was at hand.

"Okay, maybe it's better we get out of the kitchen..." Lucas warned her with a goofy smile on his face as he took the knife out of her hands.

"Great... Now I look like a psycho..."

"Just relax. Let's wait until we tell Nathan and then we'll decide what to do."

"But one thing I assure you. If this story really is true, whoever did this is going to pay." Haley just didn't know what was going on with her, she was never a vindictive person but you mess with Nathan and Jamie, you mess with her. She wasn't going to go all psycho or anything, she just wanted those people to rot in jail for the rest of their lives. Have the punishment they deserved. What if something even more serious had happened to Nathan? What if he...? She didn't even want to think about it, she just knew she wasn't going to relax until she knew what truly had happened. But for now, the best thing to do was to try and forget it all. Her life, Nathan and Jamie's was, as always, the top priority.


"Thank you for watching Jamie." thanked Haley to Lucas and Peyton when her and Jamie were about to leave the café. It was almost 4 o'clock in the afternoon and they still had some things to deal with.

"Yeah, thank you for that." added Nathan. Lucas and Peyton smiled at each other, knowing exactly what the other was thinking. They hadn't seen Nathan and Haley behaving like a couple in a little while, but today certainly had been different. Maybe something had happened between them while they were at the physical therapy session? "And thank you for the lunch, Karen. I missed being around here."

"I'm sure now you'll be spending a lot more time here." Karen replied to him with a smile on her face while looking at Haley at the same time. Nathan returned the smile. He hadn't quite understood what Karen had meant with that, though. He'd never frequented Karen's Café very much, except when Haley worked there as a waitress. But maybe Karen was just being nice and telling him he could go there a lot more times now? He shrugged, thinking how silly he was being for giving importance to such little thing. He watched as Haley waved and said goodbye to everyone before opening the door and stopped, looking at him.

"Come on." She quietly said, leaving him shocked and happy all at the same time. He had been convinced the entire time that he would have to ask Lucas for a ride home, but seeing his wife offering him to come with her was just surprising and amazing. I mean, not exactly surprising, because he knew who Haley was and knew way too well the size of her heart. He suddenly looked like a little dog, nodding his head... and he could swear he was about to let his tongue hang out of his mouth. He quickly said goodbye to everyone and took everyone's congratulations once again, before he walked to the car with his wife and his son.


"Thank you. You didn't need to do that." Nathan confessed, looking once again at her eyes focused on the road.

"It's alright. Actually, I was thinking… if you wanted to go to the apartment. Jamie misses you." And so do I. Haley knew Jamie had to spend time with his father, it was only good for his health so she invited him over. Maybe they could talk a little more and he could fool around a little with Jamie.

And, just like that, Nathan's mouth was broad open again. He could only be dreaming, because this was certainly his lucky day. Everything was turning out perfect…

"Yeah! Daddy, you and I can play Wii!" Jamie shrieked in the backseat, only happy to hear his daddy was coming home with them.

"Sure!" Nathan almost yelled of happiness, answering both Jamie and Haley's questions. Haley turned to look at him and gave him a shy smile. It was good to be like this.


"This is not fair! I don't play this in a long time. I'm rusty…"

"No, daddy. It's not your fault. I'm just too good for you…" as soon as Jamie had said that, Nathan looked at him with an amused expression on his face. Haley who was reading a magazine on the couch, next to them, also lifted her head from the item and after a few seconds, she busted out laughing. Like father, like son… Jamie had just looked like a mini-Nathan saying those teasing words, just like his father would do whenever he got the chance. Nathan thought exactly the same and suddenly he started tickling Jamie.

"Oh you're too good for me, huh?" he said, continuing tickling his son's stomach, making him squeal and twist in his arms."Let's see just how good you are!"

"Ahh! No tickle! Momma, help me!" Haley quickly put the magazine aside and tried to push Nathan out of Jamie, joining their laughter in between. Somehow Nathan managed to push Jamie and Haley under him and started tickling both of them, having them both shrieking in laughter.

"I'll only stop when you both say 'Nathan, my lord, you are the best.'" He said with a smirk plastered on his face, not stopping his assault on them. Haley and Jamie looked at each other but decided to resist but when Nathan increased the tickles, they surrendered.

"Nathan, my lord, you are the best." Haley and Jamie said at the same and Nathan raised his arms to celebrate his victory. It was only then that he noticed how Haley's body was completely under his, like it had been so many times in the past… He stopped celebrating as he looked intently at her. She was smiling and fooling around with their son. It was like everything else around him didn't matter and every single movement Haley made he'd see it in slow motion.

"Daddy, why don't you have dinner with us?" Jamie's question interrupted his thoughts about Haley that were making him feel a little too hot. He noticed Haley looking at him and when a smile appeared on her lips, as if saying to him it was okay, he nodded at his son.

"Of course I will." He calmly stated, locking eyes with Haley. Her eyes had now a familiar shade of black to them and he wondered if the same thoughts had gone through her mind.

"I'd better go and make dinner then." Haley said, quickly getting of the couch and under Nathan.

"Can we order pizza, momma? It's pizza day, remember?" yeah… It was pizza Friday. She'd forgotten about that…

"Okay, we'll order pizza." She said, giving in to her son's pleading look. Maybe it was also because she couldn't stop thinking about everything that had gone through her mind just a little while ago. She didn't know why, but seeing Nathan on top of her like that had made her feel and think about certain things she shouldn't be thinking right now… And she could swear the same thing had gone through his mind judging by the way he was looking at her. That look she knew so well. The same look we would always do to make her know he wanted to make love to her. But Haley was happy he was staying for dinner. It had felt right after the three of them had shared their first real family moment in months. She didn't want to ruin that. Plus, she still wanted to tell him about working again at Karen's.

The pizza arrived not much later and the three of them had started eating. As a family. Nathan and Haley would share looks and he and Jamie would make fun of Haley when she didn't notice the bit of tomato on the corner of her mouth, the situation ending with the three of them laughing like crazy.

After dinner, they went to watch Jamie's favourite cartoons but it wasn't long until the little boy fell asleep on his father's arms.

"I better get going. He's already out like a stone." Nathan whispered to Haley, gently getting up from the couch, trying not to wake Jamie up and placing him carefully on the cushions.

"I'll take you there. I'll put Jamie in the backseat."

"Don't. The boy's already sleeping, he would wake up. I'll walk home."

"Absolutely not! Nathan, you have to be careful, you only stopped wearing crutches today… Why don't you take the car? It's yours too." She offered, placing the keys on his hand. "You're okay to drive, right?"

"Yeah. I could drive with crutches so I must be able to drive without them too." He said goofily. "Thank you. I'll bring it back to you first thing in the morning."

"Okay." She replied, putting a trail of hair behind her ear. "Can we go outside? I have something I have to tell you." She whispered. Nathan nodded and couldn't help wondering if everything was okay as he started following her to the balcony. That balcony… He had so many good memories there… When they'd made love in the rain, watched the meteor shower together, when she told him her life wouldn't have been the same without him when she came back from the tour… It wasn't very cold outside and the sky framed the full moon in a perfect way. He watched as Haley rested her arms on the railing, looking at the sky. She would always do that… He joined her and positioned himself exactly like her.

"I got a part-time job." She blurted out as she faced him. "I'm working at Karen's Café again as a waitress." He was surprised. He had no idea she had gotten another job… Now what Karen had told him made sense…

"Okay." He calmly said.

"It's just to help and pay the bills." Of course it would because of that. Because his ass had been thrown out of a window and now he couldn't even work and be paid a salary to sustain his family. His face fell and Haley guessed what he had been thinking. "Don't do it. This isn't your fault, Nathan. And we still have money. I just want to prevent us for whatever the future brings."

"But if I hadn't-"

"Yeah and if I hadn't leave you, we'd be better."

"Haley…"

"Nathan." She grabbed his face in her hands and looked intently at him, the moon lightning up his face in a way that she just wanted to throw herself on his arms. "We both made mistakes. We're both guilty for what's happening to us. But it's not going to take us anywhere if we keep fighting about who has more fault. We're in this together. We're a team and I think it would be better for us to just admit we're both equally guilty in this and make peace with that. Don't you agree with me?"

"I do."

"Good. So you admit we're both guilty?" Nathan nodded. "I'm sorry for leaving you."

"I'm sorry to treat you like I did." Haley smiled and rested her head against his, looking him in the eyes after spending some seconds with her eyes closed. "What do we do now?" Nathan asked as she placed her right hand over his heart, noticing its hard beating.

"Now we heal together."

AN2: First of all, let me clarify that I'm not a doctor and I don't understand a thing about medical procedures or anything. I always try to write my stories as realistic as possible but considering I'm not an expert on the area, forgive me for any inaccurate thing related to medicine. Also about "Ebony Howl", Blazer's president, it's a fictional character. I did my research and I know who Blazer's real president is, but I didn't want to take a real person into my story when being responsible for such a terrible thing. That's why this name and this character is fictional, just to make it clear. Tell me what you think and expect an update a lot sooner than this one. Thank you and be happy! Rita :)