Day 9

After staying up and drinking all night with her siblings, Haley woke up late the next morning with a massive hangover. As she went down the stairs she was greeted by her mother, "I was just on my way to get you. You look like shit, honey"

"Thanks, Mom. These visits are always good for my self-esteem."

"Well, hurry up and get to the kitchen, we've got something for you."

"Really? A present? For me?" Haley bounded towards the kitchen leaving her mother behind. "Where's my present Daddy?" she asked when she saw her father sitting at the kitchen table sipping coffee.

"What present, dear?"

From behind the fridge she heard a familiar voice, "I think she's talking about me."

Haley stared in the direction of the voice as she watched the refrigerator door close. "Nathan?"

"I hope you're not mad, I just…" Nathan was cut off when Haley literally jumped into his arms and wrapped her legs around him. He stumbled back a little bit taken off guard by her enthusiasm as she covered his face in kisses.

"I'm glad you came," she finally said when she pulled her face away from him, but immediately went back to kissing him.

"Still here," Jimmy said as he watched the display.

Haley slowly lowered herself off of Nathan. "You always were the best at ruining a moment, Dad."

"Some say it's a gift. Now, why don't you give him a tour of our little town. I'm kind of tired of listening to him whine. I think y'all have things to discuss and you know if you stay around here there will be several women standing outside doors eavesdropping. Your mother should have lunch ready by the time you get back."

Haley didn't need to be told twice. She grabbed Nathan and pulled him outside with her, "It's a small town. How does a walk sound?"

"Perfect."

They started down the street hand-in-hand in silence, but soon Haley's curiosity got the better of her, "Not that I'm not happy to see you, but what are you doing here Nathan?"

"You left your toothbrush in my car. I couldn't bare the thought of you having bad breath or getting a cavity or gingivitis on my account."

"And that's what you told my parents?"

"Yeah, your mother thought it was quite considerate of me, but then she told me that you already had one here and that she wasn't buying that bullshit."

"She never was one to beat around the bush. So what'd you tell her then?"

"I missed you like crazy. I told them that in two weeks I have to leave you and that I couldn't waste any of those days being away from you. I couldn't sleep thinking about how we left things. I just had to see you because even though I knew we were going to be okay, I had still been a jerk when you left. And even if you sent me right back to Tree Hill, it'd be okay as long as I got to see your smiling face. But it was crazy. When I mentioned the fight, they seemed to have no idea what I was talking about."

"Yeah, I didn't exactly tell them about the fight. I didn't want them to hate you before they even met you."

"Well, thanks. I just had to spend four hours this morning explaining it all to them. They are nosy people. Don't worry though, I made you an angel and me the devil.

"You know how to work parents better than you give yourself credit for."

"I really do. I think they've already fallen in love with me."

"Well, who could resist a face like that?" said grabbing his chin with her fingers and playfully shaking his head. By now they had made it to the high school that Haley pointed out to him. "So, how'd you find me, anyways?"

"Peyton. I stormed your apartment at one in the morning and said that I wouldn't leave until she gave me your address."

"I'm surprised you lived to tell about it. She doesn't take well to people waking her up. Oh crap, that reminds me, I need to get flowers."

"What?"

"I promised Peyton that I'd take flowers to her mother's grave for her. Her father doesn't live here anymore so no one ever gets out there. She just really wanted me to do it for her."

"You're a good friend Haley James, you know that?"

"I try," she grinned up at him.

"You are so beautiful Hales, inside and out. I'm so lucky to have found you." He pulled her in for a kiss which was greeted with a car horn.

"Woo hoo! Go Hales," was screamed from the passenger side window.

"What was that?"

"That," Haley pointed to the car driving out of view, "is what you have to look forward to at lunch."

"What have I gotten myself into?" he wondered aloud.

"Oh, you have no idea," Haley warned. Today was definitely going to be eventful.


Haley and Nathan walked back into the house just as lunch was being served.

"Well, if it isn't the little floozy herself," her brother teased.

"Very funny, Nicholas."

"Oooo, she's pulling out the full name. You've really pissed her off now."

"Don't think I didn't see you in the car too Jim Junior."

"Man, she really is pissed. Come on Hales, it's just harmless fun. We've got to pick on the boy some way."

"It's not too smart calling someone a boy who is half a foot taller than you and could bench press you with one arm."

"Umm, Hales, I think you overestimate me." Nathan said from the sidelines. He really didn't want to put himself in the crossfire, but he also didn't want to have her brothers hating him already. Men can be very touchy about these things.

"Get over it Hales. I would have paid good money to see you macking on a boy on a public street. So not like you. I already like you Natey. Opening up my little sister, bringing out her inner skank. I always knew you had it in you," Taylor added putting herself in the middle of the conversation as always.

"How much did that prescription to your trashy magazine cost?" Haley asked seemingly out of nowhere.

"Eighty-six dollars for twelve months."

"Then you already paid good money to see it," Haley bit back at her.

"What magazine?" Nick asked.

"You haven't seen it? Our little Haley is famous. Let me go get it, it's in my room."

"Tay, you have got to be kidding me."

"Explain," Jim demanded as Taylor ran out of the room.

Sometimes Haley really hated her family. "There was just some stupid article about us."

"Hales, I would hardly say it was stupid. For one, you had a hissy fit when you saw it and nearly clawed my eyes out."

"I did not!"

"You did too. But I would also like to point out that we have been called the next Tom and Gisele."

"Gisele? No offense Hales, but you are so not Gisele. I mean, my pants get tight just looking at her," Nick said.

"Eww! You perv! I'll be sure to tell your wife that next time I see her." Her family really did suck. She turned to Nathan, "Do you see what I have to put up with?"

"He doesn't know what he's talking about, baby. Gisele has nothing on you."

As if on cue, Haley raised up to kiss him, "Thank you."

"Aww, how cute," Taylor said as she came back into the kitchen with the magazine in hand. "Now I am sure that I will get a show by the time you go home."

Haley just rolled her eyes at her sister. After all, she was used to getting comments like that from Taylor.

'"Let me see that," Nick dove to get to the magazine before Jim could. It was obvious when he found the right page. "Hales, you dirty whore. Sleeping with a patient."

"I am not sleeping with anyone!" Haley blurted out before she even knew what she was saying. Crap. That was too much information. She looked over at Nathan to see if he was embarrassed by her outburst, but he seemed unphased. At least that was one crisis diverted.

"Really? Natey, I'm disappointed."

"You know what, I've suddenly lost my appetite. Come on Nathan," Haley lead him out of the room needing a serious breather from her siblings.


"So… this is my room."

When Nathan walked into Haley's childhood room he noticed all of the pictures that covered the furniture. He saw pictures of her with her siblings, her with Peyton, and her with a lot of other friends. Then he saw a picture of her and Clay. His previously relaxed body immediately went rigid.

Haley noticed the change in Nathan's demeanor and followed his eyes to the picture of Clay. She went right over to it and threw it in the trash. "Nathan, it's an old picture. He means nothing to me anymore."

"I know. It just bothers me that you turned to him instead of me yesterday."

"I'm sorry. I really am. I made a mistake doing that. I was just mad."

"I'm just worried that when I'm not there, you'll turn to him. He's going to be there all the time. It's not like you can avoid him, you work together. And I'm going to be hundreds of miles away."

"Nathan, I know you're upset about all of this, I am too, but can we talk about this later? I really need to just escape the world right now and all the craziness of my family. It's just getting to me."

"Okay. Is there anything I can do?"

"Yeah," Haley pushed Nathan down to the bed and slowly climbed on top of him. She nuzzled her head into his chest and whispered, "Just hold me."

Nathan dutifully wrapped his arms around her and held her as tight as he could trying to give her as much comfort as possible. They laid in silence for a while before Nathan noticed a growing dampness on his shirt. He looked down to see tears silently falling down Haley's face. "Baby, what's wrong?"

Haley tried to hide her face, "Nothing. I'm fine. I'm just tired."

Nathan sat up forcing Haley to do so as well, "Bullshit. Talk to me."

"I just hate coming home. It's so stressful and just unpleasant. I love my family most days, I just hate spending time with them."

"Lay down.," Nathan ordered.

"What?"

"Just do what I say."

"Okay…"

"Take off your shirt."

Haley jumped right back up, "What the hell, Nathan? Are you kidding me? Sex is not the kind of stress relief I am looking for right now."

"That's good, because that isn't what I was planning," he said as he pushed her to lie back down. He rolled her over onto her stomach and situated himself so he was sitting on the back of her thighs. He slowly started to massage her back. "I figured it would feel better without a shirt on, but since you're so insistent I guess you can leave it on."

Haley didn't know what to say. Even if she did she could speak with Nathan's hands working her back the way they were.

"Is me being here making it worse?"

"No, this is definitely helping, but maybe you were right. I think I should lose the shirt."

Nathan just smiled and slowly slid the shirt off of her as she stayed laying down on the bed. "Okay, I get that you like the massage, but other than that do you really want me here?"

"Yes, I want you here," Haley answered sounding offended. "I wouldn't be able to survive this alone. You have no idea how glad I am you came."

"Good. I don't get it though, they all seem to love you. What's so bad about that?"

"It's not fun to be picked on. What you just saw was only a small taste of family time. A true meal doesn't end until Haley is in tears."

"What are you talking about Hales?"

"It's a game they play. They have ever since I was little. It's 'Let's See Who Can Make Haley Cry First'. Even my parents are in on it. Will is usually the winner, which is why I'm extremely glad he's not here."

"I know that's hard, but I guess I just don't get it. They love you, isn't that enough?" Nathan asked confused. Sure he had been picked on by his parents, but his parents never loved him, it was different with Haley. She had to know her family loved her.

Haley was slowly falling asleep between Nathan's soothing voice and his hands on her back. She unknowingly reached behind her and undid her own bra clasp so that he could massage her back better. "If they love me, they should act like it. They should say it. They shouldn't insult me constantly, it's not right."

Nathan stopped all movement when he saw Haley undo her bra. He knew it didn't mean anything considering their current conversation but it still took him by surprise. "Do they know that you feel that way?"

"How could they not? I mean, who laughs at someone else's misery? Who tells their sister that they are fat or ugly?"

"They do not say that!"

"They do. They hate me. They don't care. Growing up they always told me I was fat. So one day I quit eating. They never noticed. They didn't care. I almost died. The day I got out of the hospital they were still calling me fat. Still saying I was ugly. That no one would ever love me. Who does that?" By now Haley was full out bawling.

Nathan couldn't believe what she was telling him. He couldn't understand how someone could act that way to someone they loved. It seemed obvious to him that her family loved her, Haley just couldn't see it. Looking down at the girl in front of him all he saw was beauty. He didn't know how she couldn't see it as well. He didn't know what he could do to make her see that. "Haley…"

"I don't know why I even came. It's like I miss them, but the second I see them, I remember why I left."

Nathan leaned forward putting his chest on her back as he moved his mouth towards her ear. "You are perfect Haley," he said as he traced his hands up and down her naked sides. "Your family is crazy if they can't see that. That is all I see every time I look at you. You are pure beauty and strength and knowledge. How can you not know that?"

Haley tried to turn to face Nathan but couldn't fully turn around because all of his weight was on her. Her answer for him was simple, "Because no one's ever told me."

He lifted his body from hers just enough to make it so that her body was now facing his. "Well now someone has. Do you believe me?"

Haley looked deep into his eyes and could tell that he meant what he was saying, "I do."

He pressed their foreheads together as a smile came across his face, "Good. Because I love you."

She smiled back at him, "Prove it."

"What?"

Haley raised her eyebrow and gave a sneaky smile, "Prove it."

"What… what does that mean?"

"What do you think it means?"

"I… uh… um… I… thought…"

"Nathan Scott… speechless. I never thought I'd see the day." She grinned at him as she bit down on her lip. She loved teasing him like this but even a speechless Nathan made her nervous.

"Well… I mean… what…"

Haley couldn't help laugh at how nervous he was himself, "Just kiss me."

A good thirty minutes later of kissing Haley's door swung open to show both of Haley's parents outside. "I'm out of here," Jimmy said as he turned and walked away from his shirtless daughter with a boy on top of her.

"Well, this is awkward," Lydia added still standing outside the door.

"What's awkward?" Taylor questioned as she came up behind her. She took in the sight and couldn't help but laugh. "No, this is not awkward, this is amazing. Nick is going to eat this up. I knew I'd get a good show before you left."

"Would you get out of here?" Haley begged.

"Taylor, shoo. I need to talk to your sister."

"Mind turning away?"

"Oh honey, it's not anything I haven't seen."

Nathan looked at Haley to make sure it was okay for him to remove himself from her and have her obviously more exposed than she was comfortable with. She gave him a face that showed it was okay. Haley did her best to keep herself covered with her own arms, but Nathan, being the gentleman he was, averted his eyes.

"I guess, I'll find something to do," he said awkwardly getting up to leave and give Haley mother-daughter time.

"You don't have to leave Nathan. I'm sure as soon as I leave she'll tell you everything I say. This way, you'll know the truth instead of her one-sided 'my mother is evil' manipulation."

"Ha ha. Very funny mother," Haley said to her mother as she put her shirt back on.

"Oh, honey, you know it's the truth. Now come talk to me." Lydia went and sat down on Haley's bed, patting the spot next to her so that Haley would return top the bed and join her.

"What do you want?"

"I heard there was a little spat earlier."

"There was no spat."

"Then why are you hiding out in your room?"

"Wasn't that obvious when you walked in here?"

"How quickly you forget I am your mother. I know you. You're not going to run off and have sex when you know anyone else is in the house. You're far too loud for that."

"Mother!" Haley screamed in complete horror. Nathan couldn't help but laugh.

"Oh Haley, it's nothing he doesn't already know," Lydia said motioning her head to Nathan.

"What is with this family? Does everyone here think I'm a whore?"

"You're meaning to tell me that you bring a boy home that you haven't slept with?"

"Yes! Is that so hard to believe?"

"Not hard to believe, just not very smart. Who's to know if he's any good in the sack. Have I taught you nothing?"

"Mother!"

"Hey, I'm just looking out for you."

"Mother. What do you want?"

"First, I want you to quit calling me mother, but what I came in here for was to make sure that you, my dear, are alright. I know when everyone gets together it's easy for them to gang up on you."

"No kidding."

"You're an easy target, sweetie. They know they can get to you. You've just gotta toughen up. After all these years, you should be used to it."

"I don't wanna get used to it. It's not right Mom and you know it."

"I know it's not right, but there is nothing I can do about it. Boys will be boys."

"Great Mom. The exact same advice I got the first time a boy cheated on me. You've raised nine kids and you still can't come up with anything better."

"Ten, honey, you forget that I've raised your father."

A slight smile crept across Haley's face for the first time since her mother had entered her room. "Mom, I'm just tired of 'boys being boys'. Why can't they just grow up? Jim's forty!"

"Are you trying to make me feel old? I do not need reminding of how old my children are. I'm sorry honey, but boys don't grow up, look at your father. No offense Nathan."

"None taken."

"Well Nathan is a lot better than any of them downstairs. He is nice to me and here with me right now. He is not the one that sent me up here crying."

"Honey," Lydia shook her head at how little her daughter really knew, "that's because he can't. He has to be nice to you or you can leave him. You can't leave family. Sure, you can be pissed at them for a while, but sooner or later, you have to come back."

"Like hell I do."

"You would really never see your brothers again just because they made you cry?"

"That's what they deserve for the way they treat me!"

"Just because they deserve it, doesn't mean you should do it. You love them and you know it. it could be a lot worse. You should just be glad they've never hit you."

"Are you kidding me? You seriously believed that they never touched me? You believed them when they said I dislocated my shoulder running into the door? You are more blind than I ever imagined. They were practicing pro wrestling moves on me mother. You left them to babysit me and all they ever did was beat me up. All the damn time. I was too afraid to tell you because they said you wouldn't believe just me against all of them. And the one time I did tell you that they hit me, you just said I was lying. Well, I wasn't and they were right about you. You raised assholes. Good job," Haley said completely defeated. She couldn't believe her mother actually believed her sons were still angels. "Just get out of my room."

Lydia slowly got up and left the room remembering all the times she had found her daughter hurt and had blamed her klutziness. A mother never wants to think her child is capable of hurting someone else, especially another one of her children. She didn't know what to do with herself. She just left the room like Haley asked and went to find her sons.

"Haley…" Nathan said as he rushed to her to take her in his arms. She sobbed into his chest and he just held her tighter. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know."

"No one did. I never told anyone before, but I just couldn't take it anymore. I can't stand them. I want to leave." She pulled away from him and started packing her bag.

"Haley, you can't leave like this. You need to work it out. Why don't we go stay at a hotel for the night. We can get away and you can clear your head without actually leaving. They're your family."

"They're not my family," she responded with tears freely flowing.

He walked behind her and stilled her hands that were packing her suitcase. "They are your family." He turned her around to face him. He repeated himself, "They are your family. And you love them. Whether you want to or not. Am I right?"

Haley let out a sigh, "Yes, you're right."

"So, we will pack our bags and go to the fanciest hotel in town. Make them all insanely jealous that you have a rich boyfriend. We will sleep in amazing beds and wake up relaxed and ready to take on the world. Or at least ready to take on your family. Okay?"

Haley softly nodded her head, "Okay."

"Okay," Nathan smiled at her and gave her a kiss. He knew that if it was him, he'd never be strong enough to stay, so the fact that she was going to amazed him. She was amazing and she was his.

"Thank you," she said kissing him again.

"For what?" he asked confused.

"For everything," she pulled back to look in his eyes. "For following me out here. For listening to me whine. For wanting to help. Just for being you. Thank you."

"You are very welcome."

"I couldn't do this without you."

"You could. But I won't let you."


An hour later they found themselves unpacking their things in the penthouse suite of the only high rise hotel in Watertown. "I could get used to this," Haley said as she plopped herself down on the king size bed.

"Used to what? Being spoiled out of your mind?"

"Yeah… pretty much," Haley said with a grin. "This bed is amazing, but where exactly do you plan on sleeping?" she teased.

"Oh, the bed is mine. The couch in there is yours," Nathan joked as he laid down next to her. "So, where do you want to go for dinner?"*

"Can we just eat at the restaurant downstairs? I really don't feel like seeing anyone I know."

"I've got an even better idea then," he said reaching over her and grabbing the room service menu. "Order us whatever you want. I'm gonna take a shower."

She really could get used to this.


The knock on the door signaled the arrival of their food. Nathan answered the door in his towel and directed the waitress where to take the food. "Do I know you?" Nathan questioned as he gave her the tip. He knew he had seen her before, but he couldn't place her.

"Don't think so," the woman shook her head. "Thank you," she said as she took the tip from him and tried to rush back out of the room before Haley came out.

"Lisa?"

"Shit," the woman said knowing she had been caught. She stopped, but didn't turn around.

"What are you doing here?" Haley asked.

The woman slowly turned around to face Haley, "I work here."

"Since when?"

"Since Nick lost his job last month."

"What? Nick lost his job? Why didn't I know?"

"Nobody knows."

"So why did you tell me?"

"He told me to. He figures he can trust you not to tell. He's pretty embarrassed by it."

"Typical Nick… Wait, he knows I'm here?"

"No, he just called me. He said that your mother had just chewed him out for something he did to you and you had left the house. He asked me to see if Nathan Scott had checked into the hotel. I said, 'who the hell is Nathan Scott?'"

"Oh, right, sorry, Lisa, this is my boyfriend Nathan Scott. Nathan, this is Nick's wife, Lisa."

"I knew I'd seen you before," Nathan shouted as if having a revelation, "There was a picture of you in Haley's room. It's nice to meet you," he said offering his hand to shake.

"You too." She shhok his head and immediately turned back to Haley, "Anyways, he said, 'Nathan Scott is some hotshot millionaire that's screwing my sister, and I need to fucking find her.'" Haley couldn't help but laugh at Lisa's imitation of her brother. It was right on. Lisa continued, "So I told him I'd keep an eye out, then I saw your order and knew. Hales, you are so predictable. I have never met anyone in the penthouse suite that ordered a cheeseburger with mac and cheese."

Haley was used to being made fun of for her food choices so she just shrugged it off. "So is he on his way over here?"

"Nope. I didn't tell him yet. What do you want me to do?"

"Why don't you just tell him that I'm safe, but that I hate him."

"You don't hate him."

"Right now after rehashing the past, I do. Once the kids are in bed, you should ask him why. Thank you for checking on me though."

"Of course. I love you Haley. You know you're my favorite sister-in-law." Lisa pulled Haley into a hug. "You have to see the kids before you leave. You're their favorite aunt. The boys will go crazy if you bring an NBA star into the house. Promise you'll come by?"

"I promise," Haley said with a smile.

Lisa kissed her sister-in-law on the cheek, "Good. Nick loves you too. I hope you two come to lunch tomorrow."

"We'll probably be there. Love you Lisa. Tell the kids I love them too."

"Glad you stayed?" Nathan asked after Lisa had left the suite.

"I guess. It really wouldn't be right for me to drive four hours and not go see all my little nieces and nephews. I haven't even been able to see Vivian yet."

"How many kids are there?"

"Well Nick and Lisa have an 8 year old girl and two boys that are 10 and 12. Jim has all girls, ages 17, 16, 14, and 12. Those girls are all trouble. They are drop dead gorgeous, just like their mom and are all about boysthese days. Quinn has twin 8 year old boys. They are absolutely obsessed with basketball. I bought them a football last Christmas and they were so mad they didn't talk to me for a week. If I brought you to them, I think they might actually forgive me for that one. Then there's Viv. She has a 14 year old boy, a 6 year old girl, and now another 3 month old boy. That's all that's in Watertown at least. So twelve here. Well, really thirteen, because Quinny's pregnant again, but I'm the only one who knows about it, other than David of course."

Nathan loved watching how Haley's face lit up as she talked about all of her nieces and nephews. "That's a lot of kids."

"You don't even know. Amy and Sarah each have six. I guess they figured they needed to make up for both Tay and Will not having kids."

"Why are you so sure they won't have kids?"

"Tay is way too selfish. She doesn't even want to try for the happily ever after. She says she enjoys sex too much and once you're with the same person more than a few times, it gets boring. Like she'd even know what it's like to be with someone more than once."

"That's so mean Hales."

"It's the truth. She's a total whore."

"What about Will?"

"Well, I think Will would love to have kids honestly. He'd be a great dad, but when he married Roger, he gave that up. Roger doesn't want kids. Even if he did, they wouldn't necessarily be approved for adoption. They both work constantly and barely have enough time for each other let alone a kid. Add on them being gay, it definitely goes against them. It's getting better and more accepted these days, but I don't know, I think it's just too much for them to go through. They've had a hard enough time being together. They do have a dog though."

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"How many are you expected to have?"

"I don't know."

"Well, let me do the math. Since you're the baby, you're not in the mix yet, so they count eight kids. So there are thirteen in Watertown, and twelve that aren't. That makes twenty-five grandchildren. So divide it by eight and you've got just over four each. So do your parents have four children planned for you?"

"Why do you think my parents have children planned for me?"

"Because I have spent a lot of time with Karen and Brooke planning Lucas's children. I know the man doesn't really decide. So, how many are they expecting?"

"They said that they expect a total of at least thirty grandchildren. So there's five to go. Jim's been snipped, so he's out, so is Lisa. Quinn's still going though. No telling with Viv, this last one wasn't planned, but once she gets on a streak, you can't stop her. They're still holding out on Tay. They figure she'll slip up somewhere along the way and get knocked up. So who knows, maybe they'll meet the quota all on their own."

"So you don't plan on contributing?"

"Did I say that?"

"No, you're simply avoiding the answer."

"Maybe. What about your number? Did your parents plan how many kids you're having?"

"I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours."

"Five."

"Five!" Nathan's eyes nearly flew out of his head.

"That's my parent's number. I didn't say it was mine. What's yours?"

"My mom always wanted three. My father says to go until there's a boy."

"So I guess that means four girls and a boy for us to make three out of four parents happy."

"I'd rather not make Dan happy, so maybe just five girls."

"Eww. Okay, let's not talk about this. It's getting to be too much and turning my brain to goo. I can't even imagine one seven pounder coming out of my cooch, let alone five."

"We run nine pounds in my family," Nathan teased with a smirk.

"Double eww. Nathan. Now I'm never going to have sex with you."

"Don't even joke about that, Haley," he said now completely serious.

Haley couldn't help but laugh at his complete change of mood. "How about we eat? The food is getting cold with all this baby talk. We have a while before we need to even be thinking about that anyways. While you're at it, put on some clothes."

"Sounds good, I'm starved… and a bit chilly."

As they were finishing their cheeseburgers and macaroni, Haley couldn't help but ask the question that was hounding her. "You're not really going to make me sleep on the couch are you?"

Nathan couldn't help but laugh, "It shouldn't be a problem for you since we're never going to have sex."

"Okay, maybe I was exaggerating a little. We can just use multiple forms of birth control to be safe."

"Well, in that case," Nathan said walking over to Haley. Slipping one arm under her knees and the other behind back, he lifted her up and carried her over to the bed.

"Nathan," she giggled as he threw her on the bed. He climbed on top of her and started kissing down her neck. She wanted to just get lost in him and forget all about the world around them, but after all the baby talk, she seriously couldn't bring herself to go that far. She grabbed his head between her hands and reluctantly pulled it back to her face. The look in his eyes sent chills throughout her body. "God, I love you Nathan Scott," she said as she pulled him back in for another deep kiss.

"I love you too Haley James," he didn't say anything for a moment, "but we should probably stop." He rolled off of her and onto his back and just stared at the ceiling. He didn't want to stop, but knew that Haley wasn't ready. He figured if he kept pushing her she would either break down and do something that she didn't want to or just kick him out. He didn't like either option.

Even though Haley was about to say the same thing, she couldn't help but wonder why Nathan had stopped. "Wait, why?"

"Because I'm pretty sure we've got enough to deal with tomorrow without your entire family seeing our 'I just had sex' faces."

"And you think you are just that good that tomorrow I would still have a stupid grin on my face?"

"Well, yes, but even if you don't, I sure as hell know I would still have the grin."

"Oh, Nathan, you are so romantic. You must make all of the girls swoon," she said sarcastically.

"Hales, you know I want to be with you, but I know that you don't want it to be like this. I want it to be perfect, just like you."

Haley rolled her eyes at how corny he could be, "That statement was pretty perfect too. I love you." God, why did she keep saying that? It's not like he doesn't already know, but it just kept slipping out.

Even though he had just heard her say it, every time he heard her say those three words, it sent chills down his spine. "We should probably get some sleep, it's going to be a long day tomorrow." He placed a kiss on her forehead and pulled her in to him, needed to feel close to her.

"You're right. Good night Nathan." She laid a quick kiss upon his lips and let him hold her as they fell asleep, pretending to not notice that he didn't say it back. He was right. Tomorrow was going to suck and she definitely needed a good night's sleep.

He could sense a slight rigidness in her body and knew why she wasn't fully comfortable. He leaned into her ear and whispered. "By the way, I love you. Sweet dreams baby." He immediately felt her relax and smiled knowing how much power those three sweet words had over her. And just like everything else, it just made him love her even more.


I figured Nathan's family had some drama, so why not give Haley some of her own. I hope you liked it.