A/N: YOU GUYS ROCK! Thanks for sticking with me through this story! Chapter 11 is going to be the big one! much love to you all! If you have any ideas or things you would like to see in the story, LET ME KNOW! I may be having slight writer's block..

Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill or James Lafferty, although that would be cool

Chapter 10: I Don't Want to Waste Another Minute

Nathan felt like he was in a horror movie. He had a good buzz going on, and he was walking through the woods that led to a lake at nighttime looking for his girlfriend. He blamed himself for letting her out of his sight, but he also was frustrated that Brooke, who was sober, hadn't seen a damn thing. He hoped and prayed that he was over-exaggerating, and that this was just some big joke. He also wanted to punch Dan in the face for distracting him and showing up at the lake house. He would deal with that issue later. Right now, Haley was his main focus.

He followed the footsteps to the dock by the lake where he saw two bodies; one was very still.

- One Tree Hill -

Haley tried to scream, but she couldn't. She was taken off guard and wished that she hadn't had that second glass of wine because then her reflexes might have been a little better. She was kicking and hitting the guy who had his hand over her mouth and dragged her out the side door, that she never even noticed was there before. She was just trying to pee in peace and hang out with Nathan when she was grabbed the second she walked out the bathroom door. Her heart was pounding and she was terrified. She just wanted Nathan to be here and to be in his arms. She didn't know who this man was or what he planned on doing with her.

"Take off your jacket." His voice was deep and raspy. Haley immediately obeyed, not wanting to risk anything if this man had a weapon. "Take off that stupid fucking bracelet. Did your hot shot of a boyfriend make you that?" The man growled. It was clear that he knew Haley and Nathan but she had never heard his voice before. He continued to drag her after she dropped her stuff on the porch. She glimpsed up and saw Chris Keller slowly approaching her with a finger of his mouth to tell her to keep quiet. Was Chris trying to save her?

The man dragged her to the dock and dropped her there. He taped her mouth shut and got on top of her so that she couldn't move. He began to punch her in the eye and she winced at the pain. Why was this man so angry, what did she do to deserve this?

"Yeah, how's that feel buttercup? Where's Mr. Hot Shot when you need him?" She wanted to cry, as he began to unbutton the jeans that she was wearing. She knew where this was going and she wanted to fight it but the man was so heavy and she couldn't move. He kissed her lips; they felt sour and stale. She tried to turn her cheek and when she began to he abruptly grabbed her face and turned it to face him. "Don't you dare look away from me!" He began to rub her breasts and then moved down to the area outside of her underwear and began to rub some more. She was wiggling trying to find a way to get out of this man's death grip and kick him in the balls, something. Suddenly, Chris Keller came and tackled the man to the ground and yelled at Haley to hurry up and get away. Haley froze, she didn't know what to do when the man tackled Chris back and began to pound him. As she began to turn and run away, he yelled at her to stop.

"If you move another inch I will slit this flamboyant, idiot's throat. How dare you fucking touch me!" He pulled a knife out of his pocket and both Haley and Chris's eyes got big. This could not be happening. Chris began bad mouthing the man and the man took his knife and stabbed Chris in the gut, Chris fell to the ground crying in pain. Haley wanted to throw up. She reached in her pocket for her cell phone but the man came over and pushed her down, kicking the cell phone out of her reach and began to kick her ribs. She was in incredible pain as he kept kicking her bruised ribs from the accident she got into with Lucas a couple weeks back. She wanted to die. Her breathing was shallow, but she had to fight back. So she managed to roll over and took her heel and shoved it right in the guy's crotch. "YOU BITCH!"

Just as the man was about to attack some more, Haley heard brustling in the woods and prayed to God that it was Nathan. She wanted to look up and see but she was fighting to get up because she couldn't breathe. "This is NOT the last of me Haley James! I will be back. You and Nathan have not seen the last of me, mark my fucking words!" The man quickly took off as Haley began to crawl over to Chris, who wasn't moving.

"Chris someone is coming, hang on please! Please!" Haley shrieked as she took off her shirt and wadded it up, covering Chris's wound and putting pressure on it to stop the bleeding. She had a tank top on underneath her shirt, but the breeze was cool by the water and she was cold.

"HALEY! HALEY ARE YOU OKAY!?" Nathan's voice was frantic and Haley felt a wave of relief wash through her as Nathan came booking down to the dock. "Oh my god what happened?! Is that Chris?!" Haley nodded. She felt dizzy and she still couldn't breathe. This was the end. She could see it.

"I .. was..attacked. He saved.." Haley could barely get the rest of the words out before she passed out.

"Oh my god, Haley! HELP! HELP! SOMEONE HELP!" Nathan pulled out his cell phone and called 911. He had barely any service and hoped that the operator could be able to at least make out their location. He held Haley's body, while still trying to apply pressure to Chris's wound. This was not how this weekend was suppose to go.

- One Tree Hill -

Dan continued to roam around the house. Everyone was intoxicated beyond belief. He laughed at them. They were all amateurs who obviously didn't know how to handle their liquor. He was pleased when he did his rounds and couldn't find that dumb girl Haley. She was getting in the way, Nathan was playing sloppy. He had been watching him at the Rivercourt and it was clear that he was distracted. He couldn't rely on his other son either. Lucas was hopeless with a heart disease and a baby on the way. There was no longer a bright future for him. That was the reason why he had left Karen in the first place when he found out that she was pregnant with Lucas. He felt his phone vibrate and was ecstatic when he saw who the caller was.

"Talk to me. Has she been taken care of?"

"There was a complication, some flamboyant musician came and interfered so I stabbed the loser. Poor guy didn't know what was coming."

"But what about her?"

"I was taking care of it until your bastard of a son came and interfered. The basketball star one, in case you can't keep track of your damn spawns."

"YOU HAD ONE JOB FELIX!"

"Yeah, well you don't pay me enough. Maybe next time Danny boy." Felix hung up. This was not how this was suppose to go. Dan had to get out of here before anyone caught on to Haley and Nathan's disappearance and his appearance.

- One Tree Hill -

The rest of the night never seemed to end. Nathan was able to get enough service to call 911 and they came immediately. Haley thankfully was okay, her ribs just were broken on her right side and bruised on her left. She was admitted to bed rest until graduation, which made it hard since she was the Valedictorian. Luckily, graduation was 2 weeks away and the doctors expected that she would be able to walk comfortably again by then. Haley had been smart and got all her credits in for graduation, she was just tutoring and doing an independent study so she didn't have to worry too much about staying caught up. Chris on the other hand wasn't doing so well. The stab wound was pretty deep, and he hadn't wakened up yet. He had a bunch of machines hooked up to him, and he was breathing with the help of an oxygen machine. Nathan felt horrible, this was all his fault. If he hadn't answered that damn door, then he would have seen the man who grabbed Haley and would have been able to stop it. He was relived that he got there when he did because it could have been her that was stabbed, or raped. He wanted to know who this man was and why he was so concerned with Haley and Nathan. He wondered if Dan had something to do with it but figured his father couldn't possibly be that heartless.

Lucas never left the hospital either. He kept Nathan company and took turns with Nathan and Lydia to spend time in her hospital room. She was also on an oxygen machine, which made sense since her ribs were all messed up. He was so thankful that he didn't lose her. He couldn't picture his life without her.

While Lydia was in visiting with Haley, Nathan and Lucas sat in the waiting room in silence. It wasn't awkward, it was just sad. Nathan was feeling guilty and Lucas was upset. Nathan put his hand in his pocket and fiddled with the black box that he had that contained Haley's ring. He wasn't going to propose to her here but he had the ring with him to remind him how he almost lost Haley and that time and life are precious. He contemplated just proposing to her here but there were too many bad memories with this hospital lately. Lucas noticed Nathan's fidgeting in his pocket and wondered what his little brother was up to. Must be the ring.

"What do you have in your pocket? You've been playing with it for at least fifteen minutes now." Lucas raised his eyebrow at Nathan as he closed the magazine he was reading and set it down on the chair next to him that separated him and Nathan.

"Nothing."

"Want to try that one again little brother?"

"It's a secret."

"Brooke told me." Nathan whipped to face Lucas.

"I knew telling her wasn't a good idea! Does Haley know? How much do you know?" As if this weekend couldn't get any worse.

"Relax Nate. She just told me that you were planning on proposing to Haley soon. She didn't tell me where or how, she said that was a secret. She only told me because she tells me everything. Kind of like what Haley does to you."

"Please don't tell her. I want this to be perfect, especially after these last couple weeks of complete hell."

"I won't. Don't worry. Are you sure you're ready for this though Nate? Marriage is serious."

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be. Haley's the one man. She has been the one since we were 7 years old on the playground. I just was too naïve and proud to admit it." Nathan looked away, smiling as he saw Lydia walking out of Haley's room with a smile.

"She would like to see you Nathan." Nathan nodded, gave her a hug and headed into Haley's room.

"Hi Hales." His heart felt full when he saw her there smiling at him. She looked beautiful even if she had a black eye. He was so thankful that she was alive and with him.

"Hi baby." She winced as she tried to sit up, and Nathan walked over to her bedside and kissed her forehead.

"I'm so sorry I left your side baby. This is all my fault. I'm so glad you're okay. I couldn't picture my life without you."

"It's not your fault." She always tried to make him feel better. It really wasn't Nathan's fault that this happened. He did the best that he could and if he hadn't of came when he did, Haley could be in the same position as Chris was.

"I love you so much Hales. Always and forever."

- One Tree Hill -

The weeks began to fly by. Everyone was so busy with finishing up the school year, that they were beginning to lose track of time. Brooke apologized profusely for the cabin extravaganza and told everyone that she would make it up to them this summer. Chris Keller was okay, and Nathan was grateful that Chris had been there to save Haley. He was so grateful that he actually began talking to Chris more and realized he wasn't that bad and wasn't after Haley, he had too much respect for her and Nathan. Lucas still hadn't told his mother about the heart condition but he dedicated family dinner tonight to telling them. Brooke was coming over for dinner as well, and she promised she would hold his hand through the whole thing and be there for him if things took a wrong turn. Haley was getting better as the days went on and focused most of her time on the Valedictorian speech. Her ribs were healing, slowly but surely.

Mouth was spending a lot more time with Nathan as well, as they tried to make sure that everything was in place for their plan. No one knew about it except Whitey, who was going to be reading names at graduation. Nathan had relied on Whitey for most of his high school basketball career. Whitey was more of a father figure to him than Dan was. Their time together was coming to an end, and that was terrifying enough.

That night, Lucas paced back and forth as he waited for Brooke to arrive for dinner. He had gone to Keith's grave earlier that day and told him. He visited Keith's grave every single month. Keith had been a father to him his entire life. Dan was just biologically related to Lucas as far as he was concerned or a "sperm donor" as Karen and Keith use to joke about. When Brooke finally arrived, she looked absolutely stunning. Lucas couldn't believe that this beautiful woman was carrying HIS child. He was excited to see what the future had in store for them and their little one.

"Are you ready?" Brooke asked, as she kissed his cheek. "I'm here for you every single step of the way."

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be. Now or never right?" He said as he grabbed her hand and led her into the dining room where Karen and Lily were putting the food out.

"Brookie you look so pretty!" Lily exclaimed. She always admired Brooke and Lucas thought that was the best thing that he could ask for.

"Why thank you missy. You look pretty too." Brooke loved Lily like she was her own sister. One day they would be related, but not anytime soon. Unlike Nathan, Lucas wanted to wait a little before they got married. They had jumped into having a baby, he didn't want to rush all the other good stuff.

"Brooke, it's so good to see you. I'm glad you could join us tonight." Karen said as she sweetly smiled at Brooke.

"Thanks Karen, I'm glad that I was able to come as well. I wouldn't want to miss your home cooking or my little doll Lily." Brooke smiled as she looked over at Lily who was also smiling.

"Well thank you Brooke, that's very sweet of you." Dinner went on as normal. Karen was asking Lucas and Brooke about graduation and when they were going to find out the sex of the baby. Brooke revealed that she wanted to have some sort of Gender Reveal party, and Karen loved the idea and asked if she could plan it. Lucas loved seeing his mom and girlfriend getting along so well. He hated to have to ruin this moment.

"So Lucas, you said you wanted to talk about something correct?" Lucas's heart dropped when Karen asked the one question he hoped she would forget.

"Oh yeah, there was something I wanted to tell you mom."

"Well, what could it possibly be? Is everything alright?"

"It will be." Brooke put her hand on Lucas's knee and squeezed to reassure Lucas that she was there for him and that he could do this. He appreciated the support and it made him feel a little bit better.

"What do you mean?"

"I had to get some tests done when I got my physical for Duke. It turns out that I have inherited the heart condition from Dan and I can't play basketball. I have to go on some medications and there's a slight chance the baby could have it too mom, and I'm scared." Karen gasped. Lily looked at Lucas confused as to what was going on and Brooke leaned in and kissed Lucas on the cheek to let him know that he did the right thing. Lucas was expecting his mother to hash out at him for not telling him earlier, but she didn't. Instead, she simply just got up and walked over to Lucas and pulled him into an embrace.

- One Tree Hill -

2 Days before Graduation

Nathan was sweating. The day was coming up so quickly. He constantly checked to see if he still had the ring. For some reason he was afraid that if he let the ring out of his site it would disappear. Lucas had been keeping him calm the past couple days as it got closer while Mouth did all the technical work behind the scenes. This was becoming real and Nathan was scared. Haley James made him feel a way that no one else could and he didn't want to ruin or jeopardize that.