I am not going to hesitate to say that I think this is my favorite chapter of the story so far. There are big secrets revealed, not much Leyton but there will be in the upcoming chapters! Trust me! READ AND REVIEW!

XOXO Jules

Chapter 10: "I'm so far down"

Haley shut off the lights and locked the door of the grocery store where she had worked for the past two years. She wrapped her arms around herself as she walked to the bus stop. She looked up at the sky, full moon.

The air had the faint smell of salt all of the time. One of the beauties of living in Waterside. Haley always wanted to get married and move to a town like this… a little boy and a little girl, a successful husband, the white picket fence, but it didn't turn out that way.

A car pulled up beside her. Haley stopped and glanced in the window.

"Nathan." Haley said rolling her eyes

"Need a ride?"

"No, the bus stop is just up the street." Haley said as she continued walking, Nathan followed alongside of her.

"Please Haley, let me just give you a ride." Nathan begged.

"Why? Because you care about me?" Haley said sarcastically

"YES!" Nathan said pushing the door open for her to get in

Haley rolled her eyes once again and got in the car.

"Where are you headed?" Nathan asked pulling out of the grocery store parking lot.

"Where do you think I'm going? HOME to my son!" Haley almost yelled

"I was hoping that we didn't have to talk about that right now." Nathan said

"Oh, surprise, surprise. Put your son on the back burner like you've done for the past three years." Haley said.

Nathan stopped the car and got out, Haley followed.

"We need to work on this Haley. It's not fair that you keep dangling this over my head!" Nathan yelled.

"How can I not Nathan? I have to look at my son everyday, watch him grow up without a father!"

"I have been a father to Caleb!"

"No you haven't Nathan because all that you care about is yourself! You don't care about me, you don't care about Caleb!" Haley yelled

"How dare you tell me that I don't care about you!" Nathan yelled "Haley I married you, I compromised everything that I am for you!"

"Right." Haley said looking down and nodding through gritted teeth. "Is that why Luke held back my hair when I was throwing up every morning, or why Peyton went to the doctors with me for EVERY check up and I didn't see you at one."

"That is not fair, I was back in Tree Hill trying to make a living so I could support my child!"

"No you weren't Nathan. You were back in Tree Hill being the womanizing basketball star that couldn't care less about his responsibilities." Haley said leaning back against the car.

"You don't know shit about the time that I was in Tree Hill. I was a wreck without you, I couldn't do my school work, my game was totally salted-" Haley cut him off then

"Your GAME was salted? Did you just seriously say that. Look, I didn't even go to College! I graduated valedictorian Nathan! I never wanted to be another statistic, but somehow I ended up the girl that was seduced by the most popular guy in school, and then kicked to the curb when the stick turned blue and she refused to get rid of it!"

"You're making me look like some kind of monster!" Nathan yelled

"Well than tell me this Nate, if I had gotten an abortion would we still be together today?" Nathan was silent … "That's what I thought." Haley said "You want to see you son Nathan? You're going to have to make some changes." She walked away leaving Nathan stunned on the side of the road.

--- Haley went directly to she and Calebs room when she got home. He was tucked under the covers in his bed. Haley gently ran her fingers through his hair. She couldn't understand how she could love anyone so much. Caleb was her's and she was going to protect him.

She exited the room after getting changed for bed. The house was silent pretty silent. Jenny and the twins must have been in bed by now.

"Peyt?" Haley asked lightly knocking on the door before she entered the room.

Peyton was sitting on the bed, ghostly pale, and her eyes red like she had been crying.

"Are you okay Peyton?" Haley asked as she sat on the bed beside her.

"I told Jenny about Nikki today."

"How did she take it?" Haley asked

Peyton shrugged.

"Alright I guess, considering that she's six." She took a deep breath and laid back on the bed staring at the ceiling, Haley did the same. "When Jake and I were together I never thought about this, what would happen if anything ever happened to him, what would happen to me and Jenny. When I was with Jake life was so perfect that I didn't believe that it wouldn't always be that way… but then I lost him, and then Brooke…" Peyton said her voice rising as she spoke

"I felt the same way with Nathan… I loved him so much, I wanted to be with him forever. When we got married everything was so perfect." Haley sighed, "But then he knocked me up…" She said with a sarcastic laugh. "Is he now like he was when you two were going out?" Haley asked

Peyton thought for a second.

"He's made some bad decisions but he still has feelings for you Hales."

"Don't pull that Peyton." Haley said looking at her. "If he cared about me he would have been there for me."

"I think that he was scared."

"So was I!" Haley said becoming frustrated.

"Well unfortunately we don't have the luxury of running like they do seeing how we're carrying the 'problem'." Peyton said. "People have different ways of dealing with things. I'm Jenny's mother, if I had actually gotten pregnant with her would have been 16, and I don't know whether or not I would be able to go through with it. Actually I know for a fact that I wouldn't."

Haley digested Peytons words.

"What are you trying to tell me?" Haley asked

"I've made some mistakes." Peyton said

"Are you trying to tell me that you got an ab-" Haley couldn't even finish the thought "Was it Jakes?" She asked Peyton shook her head no. "Nathan's." She said as it all clicked.

Peyton's silence was the only confirmation that Haley needed.

"But why Peyton?"

"I was 16, I was scared, Nathan and I didn't have the best of a relationship…"

"Did Nathan make you?" Haley asked

"No, the exact opposite."

"What do you mean?" Haley asked surprised

"He wanted me to keep it. He really wanted me to keep it. I on the other hand, I was scared to death. Me, a mother, then? I couldn't do it, especially with Nathan, we were different people back there. We went to parties every weekend, got drunk, I'm not sure I was ready to give that all up…" She swallowed hard "So I threw all of this stuff at him about how he would never be a good father, how he would end up like Dan, and this would ruin his basketball career… I told him that the baby would end up hating him as much as he hated his own father… and then that was all that he needed. He drove me to the clinic and then that was it. After we pretended like nothing had happened. I'm surprised that we are still on decent terms today."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Haley said as little to surprised to be angry

"I felt guilty, … If I hadn't told Nathan all of that stuff then maybe he wouldn't have wanted you to abort Caleb and ran off. Hales I had just lost Brooke and you were one of my only friends left, I really didn't want to loose you." Peyton said

"It's okay." Haley said pulling the other girl into a hug.

There was a knock at the door.

"I wonder who that is." Haley said she and Peyton got out of bed.

By the time that they got to the door, Jenny, who was already awake had opened it. She was standing in her underwear and an old dingy ripped up kids wife beater with her hair in lop sided pig tails.

"Hi!" Jenny said smiling.

"Hi…" Karen said looking down at Jenny, and then past her to where Haley and Peyton stood. They hadn't seen, nor talked to her since any of them left Tree Hill. Lucas said that he wanted to be the first to contact her so nobody pushed.

"Karen…" Haley said

"Who's at the door?" Little Brooke asked coming out of her room rubbing her eyes, her dark brown hair falling loosely around her shoulders, she was wearing one of Lukes oversized gray T-Shirts.

Peyton leaned down and picked up Brooke, who rubbed her eyes.

"Jenny? Brooke?" Hayden said as he walked out of the room clad in his boxers.

He was a spitting image of Luke at that age. Peyton picked him up on the other hip.

"Well, … anymore surprises?" Karen asked looking around the room where the three children Haley, and Peyton now stood.

Right then Caleb appeared in the doorway of his room rubbing his eyes with his tiny fists.

"Mommy?" He said reaching his hands up to be picked up.

"Oh dear Lord." Karen said leaning onto the doorframe for support.

YAY KARE-NESS!!! Does anyone understand what I meant by that because I sure as hell didn't... :p

What'd you think?! PLEASE REVIEW, and let me know what you think... Also I still want to know what you think about Nikki and all. Much love to EVERYONE!

XOXO Jules