Thanks so much for the reviews and everyone who is reading!

Lucy - I love writing mini Brooke and mini Lucas! Writing little kids is a lot of fun.

So I'm really proud of this chapter, but at the same time it was my first time writing this type of scene between two people [you'll understand when you're done reading] so let me know how I did and what I should improve on so next time I know what to do!

Chapter Ten – Be Still My Heart

The August sky will then bare witness

To a brand new chapter with torn up pages

When the planets align, I can feel the gates opening

To my courage

As I proceed to run my fingers through her hair

And forget everyone who's jaded, 'cause they don't matter

And I don't care

"There's something wrong, Skills. Something fishy is going, really fishy, I tell you," Haley said as she poured a cup of coffee for a customer and handed him a piece of apple pie. Haley James was working today, and Skills Taylor was loitering at Karen's Café as he always was when Haley worked. As she was serving customers and taking orders and handling the café, Haley slowly but surely had relayed the story of her many encounters with Nathan Scott to Skills. She was hoping two brains on the subject would help her realize what in the world was going on. Ever since the night that Nathan had come over with his little brother to apologize to Brooke and make amends with the James' sisters, things were going absolutely haywire in Haley's head and surprisingly her heart. She had been replaying all of the meetings in her head, but the more she thought the more confused she got. This was always a problem for Haley James, her logic would get the best of her. Up until a few weeks ago, she had only heard stories about the Nathan Scott and the Scott family. Sure, she had some brief meetings with Karen, but they were only that, brief. All of the sudden, day after day, week after week, she was embarrassing herself in front of different members of the Scott family. It's was almost as if the world had decided to go all topsy turvy on her all the sudden.

Skills watched the internal battle going on in his friends' mind which was blatantly visible on her face. The entire time Haley had been relaying the story to him, Skills had noticed that she had repeatedly messed up several customers' orders, which was very much unlike the meticulous ways of Haley James. He could only cock his head at Haley's behavior; it was odd seeing her so unnerved by this Nathan Scott character. And there was only one conclusion Skills Taylor could come to as he thought about Nathan and Haley over and over again, "Haley, do you think he's…"

Haley turned to her friend, "What?" she asked eagerly wanting to know if Skills had the solution to all her problems.

"I think he's—" But Skills couldn't finish his sentence.

"Yes! That's exactly what I was thinking!" Haley said excitedly. Either Haley could read Skills' mind or she was definitely not thinking what he was. Skills could bet that it was most definitely not the former, but Skills decided to go with the flow.

"Really? You think that's it?" Skills asked hoping for once in their history Haley and Skills were on the same page.

"Absolutely!" Haley said confidently.

"So you agree with me don't you?" Skills said gaining a little confidence in the fact that maybe they did have the same thinking process. Great minds do think alike.

"Oh man Skills, you are totally on the right track," Haley said as she took a pecan pie out of the oven and placed it on the counter, "He's trying to get me fired from my job here!"

Skills put his head down the counter, there was no working with the girl. He was right, they were definitely not thinking the same thing.

"It all makes sense. The little rat wants to take my job away from me! But why would he want to do that? Do you think he wants to work here? Wait, why would he want to work here? He could probably work for his Dad right?" Haley rambled as she started cutting the pecan pie into slices.

"Haley!" Skills said finally interrupting Haley's monologue, "For the valedictorian of Tree Hill High, you're a moron."

"Wait, so he can't work for his father?" Haley asked confused.

"No!" Skills said frustrated with his best friend, "I'm saying that I think he might like you. You know like be attracted to you. You know like you like you!"

"What?!" Haley asked shocked at Skills' response.

"You know the thing that comes before love but after friendship. He LIKES you Haley James," Skills tried to explain.

"Like?" Haley asked actually taking the possibility into consideration before realizing what she was doing, "Mr. Taylor, what a MORONIC observation! Have all the girls in North Carolina died that he's thinking about liking me? I can't get a boyfriend in Tree Hill, and you think Dan Scott's son has a soft spot in his heart for me?"

"It could happen," Skills said whimsically.

"Yeah, alright. You keep drinking that fruit punch you're drinking," Haley said ignoring Skills' smirk and returning to her work.

Skills Taylor could only laugh at his friend's stubbornness and sarcastic nature. He watched as she turned her back to him and started taking the order of a new customer. Skills returned to his work as well. He looked at the piece of paper staring at him. In front of him sat a survey of sorts for Skills to fill out so the Virginia Tech could find the best roommate for him. This was one of the last forms Skills would have to fill out before him going to Virginia Tech was certain. As he tried to continue filling out the survey which asked him when he liked to sleep and what kind of music he listened to, his mind drifted off. Skills couldn't help but think about his best friend's last statement. It was true Haley had never had a boyfriend before. There were dates here and there, a few kisses, but nothing serious in her love life, if one could actually call it that. The only boys that were constant in Haley's life were himself, Fergie, and Junk. Skills knew that Haley's main priority was her academic work and taking care of her family, but for the first time he began to realize exactly how much his best friend had given up for the sake of those two things.

Skills stared at his best friend. In a completely platonic way, Skills thought about how beautiful the girl standing before him was. She wasn't a bombshell or a pin up of any sorts, Haley was more of a classic beauty. As his thoughts continued to drift he thought about how this Nathan character had taken such a liking to his best friend. Haley was wrong, it wasn't out of left field. It actually made a lot of sense. Haley was one of the most intelligent people he had met, and on top of that she had the biggest heart he had seen. She had her quirky habits and she was pretty silly and passionate about certain things, but there was a down to earth aura about his best friend which no one could ignore. The more Skills Taylor thought about it the more he wondered why Haley James hadn't gotten a guy sooner.

Skills was jolted out of his thoughts as the telephone rang. Haley quickly finished handing over a wrap to a customer as she made her way to the phone and picked it up.

"Karen's Café! We cater now! From birthdays to weddings, any occasion!" She said cheerfully into the phone.

"Don't you think we should get engaged before we talk about weddings?" Nathan Scott smirked into the telephone. He was the one calling Karen's Café and he sure was glad that Haley James was the one that picked up.

"Who is this?" Haley asked confused, not recognizing the voice through the telephone line. Skills became intrigued as he watched Haley's facial expression change into one of bewilderment.

"Who? It's me, who else?" Nathan wittily answered.

"Me who?" Haley asked getting quite frustrated with this man on the phone.

"What do you mean who? It's your new friend," Nathan finally gave in, enjoying the torture way too much for his own good.

"Oh!" Haley said realizing it was Nathan. She quickly signaled to Skills to get closer to her and the telephone. Skills did as he was told and leaned over the counter standing as close to Haley and the phone as possible so he could hear the conversation that was taking place.

"You see, the kids made some plans to go to a fair," Nathan began saying as he paced back and forth in his room. Lucas Scott was giggling in the background as he sat on Nathan's bed and watched his brother talk on the phone. "I was just thinking that you could join me and the kids, of course, at this fair," Nathan finished. Lucas laughed at his brother's antics.

Skills also couldn't help but laugh at the phone conversation. This Nathan Scott was quite the smooth operator.

"What fair?" Haley asked genuinely intrigued.

"The annual Tree Hill Fair by the harbor, of course!" Nathan replied.

"Oh wow!" Haley answered completely shocked, "This fair? If you come to this fair its reputation is going to skyrocket." Haley James knew that the likes of Nathan Scott wouldn't be found dead near the Tree Hill Fair. There was always some high society function to attend, so why would he want to skip out on those?

"Actually," Nathan began, his smirk growing ever bigger, "My reputation would skyrocket if you decided to accompany me to this fair." Lucas almost broke out into a fit of giggles at Nathan's line. His brother had quite the way with the ladies.

Haley was completely speechless at Nathan's response. Skills looked to his best friend with his own smirk. This was definitely an 'I told you so' type of moment.

"Tomorrow, four o'clock at the fair. I'll see you there," Nathan finished knowing he had gotten her, "Bye."

"Bye…" Haley whispered into the phone, not fully comprehending what had just happened.

Lucas Scott started outright laughing at older brother as Nathan hung up.

"Oye shut up!" Nathan said as he pushed his brother on the bed as he walked past him.

At Karen's Café, Haley was staring at the phone, trying to figure out what that phone conversation was about.

"So you've got a date tomorrow huh?" Skills said laughing.

"Shut up!" Haley said swatting his shoulder.

"I'm leaving before you leave any bruises!" Skill said as he grabbed his housing forms and walked out of Karen's Café, "Haley James has a daaaaaaaaaaaaate" he sang as he made his way onto the sidewalk.

Haley James stood, leaning on the counter, intently staring at the phone. A date? With Nathan Scott? No, that didn't sound right at all. She was thankful that no new customers had made their way inside the café because she couldn't bring herself to do anything except think about what was currently going awfully awry in her life. She let her mind wonder a little into unchartered territory. What if he did really like her? Haley felt herself smile just a little. She would never admit it out loud, but Nathan Scott had made quite an impression on her. He was nothing like she had heard or imagined. He wasn't a snob and he wasn't pretentious at all. He was actually quite a character. He annoyed her. God, he ANNOYED her, but she couldn't help but like the encounters she had recently had with him. Plus, he was extremely handsome. She couldn't help but be captivated by his eyes. She hadn't yet figured out what color they were. Sometimes they'd be green, sometimes blue, but they were beautiful nonetheless.

As the bell rang, signaling the entrance of a customer, Haley was knocked out of her deep thoughts about a certain raven haired boy. She scolded herself for thinking such stupid thoughts. He was after her job she kept on repeating to herself as she walked to the cash register and began taking an order. He was after her job. He was after her job. He was after her job. He was after her heart. He was after her heart. He had her heart. No! He. Was. After. Her. Job.

It was a beautiful day for a fair. What used to be Tree Hill's Harbor, was now grounds for the annual Tree Hill Fair. Within the first few days of summer, the fair would come to town and take over. All of Tree Hill's families would find themselves at the fair at least once. Kids would flock together in groups, planning out which rides to go on and when and what foods they were going to eat in what specific order. Summer romances would begin as boys took girls to the fair and on the ever romantic Ferris Wheel. Parents would spend a lot of money buying tickets to rides and the animal farm as well as the music performances. Everyone who was anyone would make an appearance at Tree Hill's Fair, except for those who lived on the outskirts of town. These were the wealthiest folks of Tree Hill who would not be seen dead at this fair. It was too beneath them.

But here was Nathan Scott, breaking convention and walking around the fairgrounds with Haley James. Nathan looked in front of him seeing his brother, Luke, walking with Brooke Davis and her friends as they chatted away about god knows what.

"Say it come on say it!" Brooke demanded. "Say 'How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? He would chuck, he would, as much as he could,
and chuck as much wood as a woodchuck would if a woodchuck could chuck wood.' Please!"

Lucas looked helplessly at Brooke who only giggled, "You know I can't!"

"You're no fun!" Brooke said as she looked around her and spotted the Ferris Wheel ride. "HALEY! Can we go on this one! Can we?" She asked excitedly.

Haley smiled wide at Brooke and nodded her approval as Brooke, Lucas, and the others ran off to get in line for the Ferris Wheel. Nathan and Haley found a bench to sit on as they waited for the kids to finish with the ride. So far both Nathan and Haley were having a good time. There were a lot of awkward moments, but overall their time together had been filled with laughter and teasing and an ongoing banter. Nathan would joke about there being no broken 'pots' making this outing a success for Haley, while Haley would bite back with a witty comment of her own.

"So you're not going to college next semester?" Haley asked offhandedly. Since they had spent the last two hours walking around talking, Haley and Nathan had gotten to know a lot about each other. Nathan discovered how Brooke became integrated into the James family, and Haley heard several stories about Asheville.

"Nah, I'm going to take the semester off, and start in the spring at Duke University," Nathan was supposed to be a freshman in college, but he had decided he would spend a semester at his father's side helping with the family business before he shipped off to school.

"Basketball scholarship?" Haley asked, assuming that's how he was going to Duke.

"Uh huh, no way I would have gotten in with my crap grades," Nathan joked. "Plus it's a family tradition. All Scotts go to Duke."

"You better do us Duke Fans proud, mister, you'll get a lot slack from me if you don't give your all on the court" Haley joked.

"Does this mean we'll be keeping in touch when I go to Duke? And does this mean you're going to be watching the games for me?" Nathan said raising his eyebrows at her.

All Haley could do as blush slightly in response, but she gained her composure and responded, "I'll only be talking to you if Duke wins!"

Nathan laughed at Haley's attempt to cover up the reactions he got out of her, "And you're not going to school either?"

"Yeah, I'm probably going to end up taking classes at a local community college or something while I work and make some more money. Who knows maybe I'll be able to actually afford Stanford at some point in the future," Haley mused.

"All the way in California huh?" Nathan questioned "I guess I'll have to invest in sleeping late so we'll still be able to talk." Nathan winked at Haley, loving the way her cheeks would turn the slightest shade of pink and how her eyes would grow wide and her eyebrows would raise higher and higher at each comment he made towards her. He had been doing it off and on the entire time, but he could never get tired of the effect he had on her.

Haley turned her head away, praying her ears would stop burning from all the blushing she was doing, "Oh I love this song!" She said as she tried to change the subject. Regina Spektor's On The Radio had just started playing on the loudspeakers. Haley began singing softly along, something she did out of habit.

"You have a beautiful voice," Nathan whispered to her.

Haley immediately stopped singing, tucking her hair behind her ear out of nervous habit, "Thanks," she replied softly.

"I heard you sing that one time; you were singing that song about my Mom's café. Did you write that yourself?" Nathan inquired.

Haley turned her head to him in shock. She hadn't known anyone had actually heard her singing, "You…you….you were there? You heard that?" She asked shakily as deep ocean eyes stared at her.

"Yeah, I guess I was being a creeper, but it was a beautiful song and you really have a voice," Nathan said genuinely.

Haley nodded her head, accepting the compliment quietly, she didn't know how else to react to it. Actually, she didn't know how to react to anything that Nathan was doing today. The compliments the one liners, everything was throwing her completely off. And try as she might, she couldn't contain the beating of her heart as his arm would brush up against hers or as he would turn and look at her directly as if he was looking straight into her soul. She couldn't stop the butterflies when he would blatantly flirt with her.

"You know what I find funny," Haley said trying to stop her thoughts from going wild and trying to get the subject off of her, "That both of our father's birthdays are on the same day!"

Nathan could only grin at Haley's excitement over the littlest of matters, "Kind of like they're twins huh?"

"Yeah, except, one has a really big heart and the other has a big wallet!" Haley laughed loudly at her own joke, "Ahahaha, it was a joke, get it?"

"Very funny." Nathan deadpanned.

Haley looked down at her feet feeling an awkwardness take over their conversation. She went to put up her hair into a pony tail, but was stopped by a hand holding onto her wrist.

"Don't do that," Nathan said as he sat closer to her, "You look really pretty with your hair down like this," he said slowly putting her hands down for her and running his hands through her hair "Leave it."

Haley was looking straight at Nathan now and they were closer than ever before on that bench. She could feel his hand running through the length of her hair. She felt tingles go up and down her spine at the contact, and she couldn't help but like the feelings he ignited in her. She continued to stare at him as he continued to stare at her. As Nathan slowly moved his hand away from her hair, Haley was immediately aware of the situation she found herself in. She turned around frantically, looking for any reason to get away from him.

"Bracelets!" Haley yelled relieved as she quickly got up from the bench and Nathan's staring eyes and ran towards a stand which was selling bracelets.

Nathan sat there for a second watching her as she left, "Bracelets?" he said grinning to himself as he too made his way over to the jewelry stand Haley was occupying herself with.

Haley quickly started perusing the jewelry stand, desperately trying to calm down her heart which was beating a million miles per second. She was afraid if Nathan got any closer to her he would hear how hard her heart was pounding out of her chest. She pretended to be semi interested in the vast assortment of jewelry that was currently staring at her, but all she could think of was Nathan Scott and his gorgeous smile. Damn him for being good looking. Damn him! She could hear him sauntering up behind her as she feigned being interested in some green bangles.

"So are we picking out a bracelet for you? For Brooke?" Nathan asked as he too started looking at the variety of merchandise that was being displayed.

"WE, aren't doing anything," Haley said sharply, trying to stop from stuttering and giving away her nervousness.

"I personally like this one," Nathan said as he picked a funky looking bracelet one. It looked like it had come out of cracker jacks box. It had all these cute multi-colored charms on it. There was a blue heart, a red teddy bear, a red umbrella, and a yellow airplane, among other things. It was all held together with small white beads and then bigger purple beads. He fingered it and played around with it as he asked the vendor how much it was.

"Okay this is getting way too weird!" Haley said suddenly, "Now listen to me Mr. Scott, I need to tell you something," she said as she tried to stand straight and confident in front of him.

Nathan turned to her slowly holding the cute bracelet in his hand and smiling, "I'm listening." He leaned in closer to her and down to her level.

Haley pushed him away from her slightly, not wanting him to be too close, "You see, the thing is that, well, okay, look!" Haley was getting way too frustrated, "I can't give you what you want!"

Nathan's playfulness turned serious, "Why not?" he asked genuinely wanting to know why.

"I…I just can't!" She said indignantly.

"Well, can't you try?" Nathan asked hopefully.

"No no, I can't. My family…I need to take care of my Dad and Brooke…" Haley said looking down at the ground and shuffling her feet awkwardly.

"I can talk to your Dad about it!" Nathan said firmly, thinking he had found a loophole, "Plus I think Brooke likes the idea."

"Why would Brooke like the idea of you stealing my job from me?!" Haley screamed. "Why would she want you to get me fired?!"

"Job? What job?" Nathan asked taken aback. They were obviously not thinking or talking about the same thing.

"My job at Karen's Café!" Haley said as if it was the most obvious thing ever, which it was to her, but not to Nathan Scott.

"But, I wasn't even talking---" Nathan tried to figure out exactly where the confusion had set in, but was having a hard time figuring it out himself.

"Look, the friendship thing was all nice and stuff, but if this is only a ploy to get me out of a job well then no!" Haley said putting her hands on her hips and standing firmly in front of a very tall and a very perplexed Nathan Scott.

"Shhh!" Nathan said suddenly grabbing her arm and pulling her closer to him. All Haley could do was get lost in Nathan's stare. She was transfixed in that position. Nathan was looking down at Haley as she was looking up at him. Her left arm was being held by Nathan's right hand as he placed a finger on Haley's lips to quiet her down.

"Friendship isn't everything, Haley," Nathan said barely above a whisper, "There a lot of other relationships formed between people." He picked the bracelet up from its spot on table, replacing it with the money amount the vendor had previously told him. He picked up the bracelet, still grabbing onto Haley's arm and started to slowly put the bracelet on her. "Other relationships, other bonds, that we don't understand, that we shouldn't understand," he said looking deeply into her eyes. The bracelet had barely passed her fingers, and was on its way down to her knuckles. "I hope I'm not hurting you," he said smirking slightly as he continued to role the bracelet down Haley's hand. "Bonds that are never given a name, bonds that are only to be experienced not to be described because usually it's indescribable." Nathan had now rolled the bracelet down to her palm, "Am I hurting you?" he asked not removing his stare from hers. Haley shook her head slowly, barely moving as he got closer and closer.

"It has no limits, no boundaries, no walls," Nathan continued as the bracelet was reaching Haley's wrist, "Am I hurting you?" he asked again. This time his lips were mere inches away from Haley's and this time Nathan's proximity was causing her to not move at all.

"These relationships, Haley James, they deal with the heart, they deal with love," he said this as he let the bracelet fall into place around Haley's small wrist. Haley gasped; the bracelet had pinched her skin a little and her only reaction was to gasp.

"Did I hurt you?" he asked bending down even closer to her, his lips only centimeters away from hers.

All Haley could do was shake her head yes, completely immobilized by him.

"Me too," he said smirking, "Don't say I never gave you anything." He finished leaning in close to her ear and whispering so only she could here.

Nathan's breath tickled Haley's ear and neck as she shrugged her shoulder turning away from him and attempting to leave his grasp, but Nathan would have none of it. He had Haley James right where he wanted her, and this was going to be his only chance to get everything out, "And one more thing, I'm going steal your job Haley James."

Haley turned to him slightly shocked, slightly unable to do anything as everything that had just happened to her and with her felt like a dream. She stared at him searching his face with her own eyes, trying to read an expression off of him.

"But that's not going to be the only thing I end up stealing," he said finally letting her go and smirking.

Haley giggled slightly, looking at him one last time and then looking down at the bracelet that adorned her wrist. Suddenly, Haley felt raindrops falling on her head and all around. She looked up at the sky to see the heavens opening up and the clouds pouring rain all around. Her gaze landed on Nathan who was getting wet very quickly as the rain was coming down fast and hard. She locked her eyes with his, both of them entranced and both of them forgetting that the rain was pouring hard all around them.

Nathan stepped closer to her, as she had stepped back a little when he had let her go, "And I think," he said as he moved even closer, closing the gap between them. Their bodies were touching completely, Nathan's face closer to hers than it ever as before, "I'll work on stealing that heart of yours….now."

And as soon as Nathan finished his sentence, his arms went instinctively around Haley's waist as he picked her up slightly and his lips met hers. All around them people were running for cover and trying to get out of the rain, but Nathan Scott and Haley James were the only two people who were barely moving. Nathan's wet lips met Haley's soft ones as she slowly began returning the kiss. Her arms slowly made their way around Nathan's neck, as they both continued kissing each other. Their lips moving in perfect unison. The rain poured down on them as they continued standing in each other's arms kissing each other deeply. Haley's feet were barely touching the ground as her hands combed through Nathan's hair, and Nathan's grip on Haley tightened as he pulled her closer to him. And they stood there in this embrace and in that kiss like they were the only two people in the world and nothing else mattered. Because really, in that moment, nothing did matter.

'Cause it's you and me and all of the people with nothing to do

Nothing to lose

And it's you and me and all other people

And I don't know why, I can't keep my eyes off of you