I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am for the longest update drought. School and life have been taking precedent, not to mention this story is writing the way that I want it to and I hate to force it. I will try harder in the future not to let a month go by before I post again.

So sorry for the serious lateness.

Alex.

Daddy Overnight

An OTH Fan Fic

By AlexB

Chapter 10

With a deep groan, he pulled the pillow over his head. Who the hell kept leaving that damned window open? And it was way too damned early for those big mouthed birds to be singing.

It wouldn't stop. They wouldn't stop and sleep would not come. Nathan rolled to his back, throwing the pillow he'd had over his head as far as he could. There was the soft smack of it hitting the wall and the almost soundless thud of it touching the floor. He glared at the ceiling, refusing to look at the clock.

Nathan rolled to sitting, his legs over the side of the bed. He washed his hands over his face, pulled them through his hair. When he stood, he pulled his sweats up with him then fell to the bedroom floor in the first of his morning pushups. His chest had touched the floor for only the third time before he noticed it.

The ring on his finger.

He froze, unable to take his eye of the gleaming metal that stared back at him. He pushed to his feet staring at his hand like he didn't know where the limb came from. His eyes felt like they were about to fall out of his head, he stared at the ring incredulously until his eyes grew unfocused. He blinked and his gaze caught on the framed photo at his bedside.

Moving slowly, Nathan picked up the frame.

It was of him.

He was holding a baby. It wasn't Nic. It couldn't have been because Nathan hadn't been there. He hadn't known that his child had existed until the last minute. And this shot…this picture was taken in a hospital.

What the hell?

He set the picture down only to pick up the one next to it. It was of him and a little boy no more than four. He recognized the clothes that the boy wore. He'd worn them himself once upon a time.

T-Ball.

"Hey!"

At the sound of the raised voice, Nathan's heart jumped into his throat. He started for the door just as it flew open and a pint sized bundle of boy threw himself at him. Dropping the picture Nathan caught the boy instinctively. He held the boy away from him just staring. He wore pajamas with trains on them, his breath smelled like little kid toothpaste, his hair was as dark as night and all over the place, and his eyes, Nathan's eyes, stared back at him.

"Mom says it's time to get up."

He stared at the boy unable to speak.

"Mom says…" He tired to speak but his words trailed away.

The boy frowned up at him. "Are you still going to take me and Jake to the big park with the pool fountain? Mom said to ask."

"Yeah, mom said to ask."

Nathan looked past the boy in him arms to a younger version of him with his arms out in front of him like he was flying, like he was Superman. He was being held in the air by an arm wrapped around his stomach, his feet stuck out behind him. He had Nathan's eyes and mischievous smile. His hair was just as black, but it was curly.

His gaze shot to the pregnant stomach next to the boy's head then up to the amber eyes of the woman who carried him.

He swallowed.

Haley frowned at him in confusion.

"What's wrong?"

Nathan's eyes shot open. He jackknifed up in bed. Breathing hard, his body was covered in sweat, shivering with cold. His heart was beating so hard in his chest, he could feel it in his throat, hear it beating in his ears. He swung his gaze to his bedside. There was no picture, only the clock. He held his hands out in front of him.

No ring.

He blew out a hard breath. He'd been thinking about her a lot lately so it really didn't surprise Nathan that he dreamed about her. What kicked him in the stomach was the ring, the wife, the extra kid, and the obvious bump in Haley's stomach that he knew he was responsible for. A part of Nathan was scared to death at the dream, but there was a bigger part of him that wasn't. It was just a dream. He knew that.

But still.

Nathan pushed the dream and Haley, as far as he could, out of his mind. He was halfway into his morning routine, his chest touching the floor for the umpteenth time during his morning pushups when he caught himself looking at his hand and the ring that wasn't there.

How long he stared at his bare finger was anyone's guess. Hearing the familiar cries from down the hall, Nathan pushed out twenty rapid pushups then went to see about the baby.

-

Not wanting to be faced with his mother for any period of time, Nathan took Nic with him to the bar. It sounded bad, but it wasn't like they were actually open for business during breakfast. Nic seemed right at home being held in the arms of his godfather while Jake showed him around the place.

It's hadn't been a great morning.

Nic was inconsolable. He had to be held. He threw up all over himself and Nathan. He had to bathe the boy twice because the first time he threw up in his bathwater. He hadn't settled down until they had gotten in the car and started moving.

Peyton had her nose buried in paperwork when Nathan pulled up a seat next to her at the bar. He made note of the way the woman watched their business partner out of the corner of her eye. Nathan shook his head laughing softly.

"It's really sad that that man has been denied his right to be a father to his daughter." She spoke. "Doesn't make any sense that a man who's so good shouldn't be able to have the one thing he really wants in this world."

"Bad things happen to good people everyday, Peyton."

"And the worst of the worst get to go on like nothing they do every effects anyone."

"Preaching to the choir."

"Bringing a baby to a bar? I'm sure there's a joke in there somewhere?"

"Figured he should see that place. And we can't exactly go home."

"Why?"

"I can only take so much of the smell of baby puke."

Peyton laughed. "Forget how to open a window."

"The morning sucked. Nic likes riding in the car. Besides," he pulled in a breath. "Cabin Fever is a bitch."

"Whatever the reason. It's nice to see you out of the house, Nate." She looked up at him. "The neighbor?"

"Still the neighbor."

"Riiight."

"What did that daytime TV, chick flick watching, cackling hen tell you?"

"Just that you have a thing for the bony brunette's friend. Jake said when he left your place last the neighbor was on your door step. Do tell."

Nathan looked down at his chest, just to make sure.

"I don't have boobs."

"In the hell are you talking stupid about?" Peyton asked going back to the task at hand. "I can see that you are missing that attribute."

"I don't girl talk. Last I checked, guys didn't 'dish'."

"This isn't girl talk," Peyton told him. "And just what do you call all that locker room talk? It's just girl talk with man parts. Guys so girl talk."

"Not this guy."

Peyton lifted a brow. "Uh-huh. I'm not asking because I'm a gossip. I'm asking because I care. What's going on, Nate?"

He gave his friend a long look before his mouth beat his brain. "We had all of 30 seconds before Keith and Dan showed."

"I'm sorry, Nate."

"They probably did me a favor. Haley heard the whole story of the Scott brother feud. She learned how Dan felt about Nic. After I kicked the both of them out…"

"What?"

He wasn't going to tell even Peyton 'what'.

"Then mom showed…I don't even know how she can look at me and not try to see what she sees." He all but blurted.

"I don't understand."

"After hearing all that, whatever Haley thought about me before has changed."

Nathan was looking straight ahead at nothing, while Peyton watched him. "No doubt." She finally replied.

"I don't want her pity."

"How do you know that's what it is?"

He said nothing and Peyton wanted to slap him.

"That why she's still the neighbor?"

"Part of it."

"What's the other part?"

Now this was girl talk.

Peyton sighed.

"Feel free to scratch and rearrange if it'll make you feel more manly. Jeeze, Nate, you're acting like I asked you about your monthly or your lack of boobage."

"Guys don't-Shut up." He rubbed a hand over his face. "Look, things are just…just."

She brushed her hand over the top of his head as she stood moving past him.

"So what? That's it?"

"It's what we decided."

"Now that's happiness about it."

"It's not like anything could happen anyway."

"Why not?"

Nathan didn't answer right away. He watched as Jake handed Nic to Peyton. They looked like a family. He knew that he had made the right choice in the two of them. He knew that Nic would be taken care of if anything were to happen to him. When they spoke to each other, it was in low murmurs. They could be talking about what be needed to be done for the bar for all he knew. He didn't know. He couldn't make out the words. It jus seemed so intimate. Nathan almost felt like a voyeur.

"Nate?"

He blinked then frowned. "What?"

"Why not?"

Why not?

"Because home and hearth is tattooed on that woman somewhere and I don't do family."

"Just what do you think that Jake and I are? What about your son?"

"Totally different, Sawyer and you know it. I'm not married to you. Jake isn't the brother I hate with a passion and Nic…"

"Nic?"

"Nic will never be me." Nathan told her. "He won't ever feel the way that I felt. There's enough of Dan inside me that I have to fight it everyday. It's not just for myself anymore. It's for him too. I don't want to do that to anyone I love."

"So you're just going to deny yourself and you child?"

"Haley…"

"What?"

"Nothing." Nathan shook his head. "Forget it."

Peyton sighed. "Nate."

"It wouldn't be fair, Peyton." He told her. "Not to her, not to me, and not to him."

"Some battles you can't fight alone, Nate." She told him. "This is one of them. Dan, he's not an issue. You aren't a kid anymore. You already beat him. You slayed that dragon. Not by going all the way with basketball, but by being your own man and living your life your way. So don't give me that weak assed excuse. 'Cuse me, baby." She patted Nic's back. "You're scared." Peyton said to the baby's father.

"I'm not scared of anything."

She snorted. "You're scared that you aren't strong enough, or you don't deserve to be happy because you have some whacked out notion and you'll wreck it. Not doing such a bang up job now, but you couldn't be more wrong, Nathan Scott. You can have it. Take it."

"We decided-"

"Seriously, Nate? Seriously?" He wanted her to slap him. That's what was wrong with him.

"What?"

"Don't hide behind that lame assed excuse either."

"Nice talk."

"I'm sorry, baby."

"I forgive you."

"I wasn't taking to you, clown."

"Figured." Nathan barely hid grin.

"Undecide." She told him. "I can't believe you've got me up here going all after school special. I should push your sorry butt off that barstool, you blockhead."

"I love you, too, Sawyer."

"I just want you happy, Nate."

"Does happiness really exist?"

"Yeah," Unconsciously, Peyton's eyes moved to Jake. The man smiled as he talked to the delivery man. "It really does."

-

"You two are going to be gorgeous." Haley grinned as she helped her sister bring her baby nieces inside. She had them dressed in matching dresses with bonnets and booties, looking so sweet it made Haley's teeth hurt. They had fine red hairs on top of their bald little heads.

"It'll come back ladies," she murmured to them, remembering when the girls had been born they'd had head full of red hair.

"How goes it, Mama?" Even exhausted Haley's sister looked great. She still had that glow about her.

"What are you thinking about over there, Haley James?" Her sister asked.

"How much you look like mom." She replied. "Serene. It's permanent. Mom had eight kids and she still has the glow."

"If eight kids is what it takes to keep it, she can have it."

Haley laughed. "You know you want more."

Her sister laughed too. "I do." When she got that look. That "Mom" look. Haley nearly squirmed in her seat. It had to be a power that you came into, she thought. Her middle sister had always been the maternal one, now that she had babies whatever gifts she'd been given at birth were multiplied by a billion.

"What's his name?"

"How do you know it's a guy?"

"Last I checked, you weren't into women."

"You kiss your mother with that mouth?"

"You said that you're not going to have babies, which I don't believe for a second." Her sister went on. Haley rolled her eyes.

"You need a guy for that as you well know." Haley gave a pointed look.

"Now you know that there are many ways to be a mother. Adoption, foster parenting, artificial-"

"Stop." She held up a hand. "Me auntie. You mommy."

"Talked to Brooke."

Closing her eyes, Haley groaned. That big mouthed spoon user. When she got a hold of that girl she was going to superglue her lips over her head to the back of her neck.

"Whatever your envisioning over there is anatomically impossible."

Haley glared. Her sister laughed harder.

"You are our mother's daughter. Proof that you weren't left on our porch by hillbilly aliens like Brian said."

"Brian can kiss-"

"Language. Virgin ears."

Long story short, Brian hadn't been Haley's favorite sibling coming up and he wasn't now.

"Hales."

"It's complicated, Jess."

"The guy or the situation?"

"Both."

"Oh."

"What do you mean 'oh'?" Haley demanded. "You say that like it's a trait of the sexiest men on the planet."

"So he's hot?"

"Didn't say that."

"And I quote, 'sexiest man on the planet'."

"You know what I meant."

"Yep." Jess tucked her strawberry blonde hair behind her ears, her brown eyes gleaming. "Not only is the man not bad to look at, there's that something about him that makes your stomach melt like butter."

Dark hair, killer eyes. Wounded, broody and sexy. And he loved his son, even if he hadn't said the words yet.

Haley shook her head hard. "Hot and sexy are not the same thing. Stop smirking at me."

"I know it. But they're components for sexiest men on the planet. I should know. I married one."

"Only you would think that bookworms are sexy."

"This coming from a fellow bookworm?" Jess raised a brow. "It's the glasses. And he can play the piano. And…he washes dishes."

"Jackpot."

"I'm sayin'." They laughed. "Look, are you going to tell me about him or am I going to have to ask Brooke?"

"Big mouth cow. I'm gonna tie her tongue in a knot."

"She loves you, Hales. She doesn't want you to waste your time on another rebound guy. Is he?" She knew that he wasn't. Whoever this guy was, he had her baby sister tied in knots. In that good, scary way. She just wanted to hear Haley-Never Going to Happen to Me- James, say it.

Haley sighed. "No." She raised a brow. "What exactly did Brooke tell you?"

"Aside from the fact that he's your neighbor, not bad looking, and on the comfortable side when it comes to money, not much."

"You always were a terrible liar, Jessie."

"This is me opening up the door for you to talk."

She did. She told her sister about Nathan, sweet little boy, his bastard father and idiot uncle. All Haley knew, she told.

"You're scared."

"He may not be a rebound guy, but I find myself wanting to save him. I have a bad habit of saving people. I'm tired of saving people. I want to just be."

"Doesn't sound like this guy needs saving. He's not a rebound guy. He's completely whole. Beat up maybe, scratched and dented, but whole. Uncharted territory. And he burns you up from the inside out, doesn't he?"

"You're stepping in it."

"I'm shocked, and a little disappointed, Hales. You aren't one to back down from anything or anyone."

"This is different."

"This could be real."

Haley was saved from answering when the girls let it be known that it was lunch time.

-

"Okay."

"Okay what?"

"I wanna see it."

He couldn't resist. It was wide open and the smart ass in him had to go for it. Jake leaned against the bar crossing his arms over his chest. "It?" He asked. "Why whatever do you mean?" He had the pleasure of seeing those eyes go wide, heat, then droop.

Oh man.

When Peyton shook it off, Jake grinned.

"Gonna have to be more specific about what you…want."

Peyton pulled in a breath. "I want to see this…whatever it is between Nathan and the neighbor."

"Haley."

"Haley." She replied. "Nathan's being a bonehead jackass and I would rather go covert ops than kick his ass. I would hate for Nic to have to grow up with the embarassement of his father being stomped by a girl."

"You're no girl," he muttered.

"What?"

"That's my girl."

"What are you doing?"

"Looking for something." He was behind the bar. Pulling out the small garbage can he upended it on the polished wood of the bar. Napkins, notes, labels and dead pen fell from the plastic can. Jake pawed through it until he found what he was looking for. The coaster with Haley's friend's name and number on it.

She looked like a Brooke.

Peyton picked up the coaster before he could. Jake tried to snatch it away, but she moved before he could.

"Kind of need that."

"Why?"

God he loved it when she got territorial. Even more so because he knew never in a million years would Peyton Sawyer admit it.

"You didn't tell me that the bony brunette tried to pick you up."

She hadn't. She had tired to pick up a man that she hadn't known was married. Innocent mistake seeing as the asshole had "lost" his wedding ring. Jake didn't like the dick, so he had taken the coaster and told the sorry sac that he would ring is damned neck if he heard about the business man stepping out on Bevin.

Not that he was going to let Peyton in on that just yet. Jake was just ass enough to let her think that something was going on with he and Brooke. He knew how he felt about Peyton, he didn't know how she felt about him. The woman was just so damn complicated. When she finally told him how she felt, she was going to mean it and she wasn't going to be able to go back on it.

Time to give Skills the heads up, he thought. How the other man would love to swoop in and take Bevin home with him. Back where she belonged.

Peyton handed the number over. Jake hid a smile as he dialed.

Brooke Davis. If that wasn't prom queen, Peyton thought, she didn't know what was.

"Brooke Davis."

"Brooke Davis? Jake Jagielski, bartender at Jeyton."

"Ah, the weirdo-mail tampering-cupid."

"I notice that you didn't try to fix matters, accomplice."

"What can I do for you, felon?

"You let one thing pass. Had to be for a reason." He said. "I'm thinking that you believe me." The woman was silent the other end. Jake smiled and Peyton quietly seethed.

"How would you feel about going all in?" Jake looked over his shoulder grinning at Peyton's back as she slammed glasses in a basin sink to be washed.