Chapter 10
Nathan and I walked into the beach house slowly, "Why's the door unlocked?" I asked.
Nathan shrugged, "Maybe we left it unlocked." he said as we walked in, "You feeling okay?" he asked putting his hand on my lower back as we went towards the rooms. Though before I could speak, someone walked out of the bathroom, causing me to scream, which caused the other person to jump.
"I was." I said, putting my hand over my heart.
"Uncle Cooper." Nathan said happily, walking over and hugged him.
"Hey there nephew. And you must be Haley, I've heard a lot about you. Mostly all good things but I never listen to Dan. Sorry I scared you."
"It's okay. I Just have to wait for my heart to stop pounding."
"How'd you get in here? And when did you get in?" Nathan asked.
Cooper smiled, "Plane was an hour early. And I got the extra key from your mom when I dropped my stuff off."
The three of us walked into the kitchen, "Anyone want some breakfast?" Cooper asked once we walked in and he started rooting through the fridge.
"Cooper its like 11:30 at night man." Nathan said as we sat down.
"Never too late or early to have breakfast Nate. You'll learn that. Hale what do you want to eat?"
"Um, nothing. I'm not feeling well, and I'm tired."
"You were fine earlier."
"Yeah but I've been up since 4 am puking my guts out. And I was wide awake then someone decided to give me a heart attack." I said looking at Cooper who raised his hands in surrender before handing me a package of saltines. "How about I make some coffee? Then we can stay up and chat. Come on Haley, you know you want to talk to me."
"Make mine a tea and you got a deal. Now I know where you get it." I said, looking at Nathan.
"Tea's not gonna keep you up. Have some coffee." Cooper said as he made the pot.
"I can't have coffee Cooper." I said lightly.
"Why allergic to coffee beans?" I shook my head no.
"Can't have caffeine?" Again, I shook my head.
"What then? Are you pregnant?" he asked as a joke, facing us just as Nathan and I looked at each other then turned back to him. "Wait, you are?"
I nodded slowly.
"And before you ask, yes I'm the father." Nathan said.
Cooper put his hands on the counter, "Okay, wow. When did you find out?"
"I confirmed it on the 19th, found out how far along I was on the 22nd and went to have an abortion on the 23rd. I didn't go through with it obviously."
"Damn, when are you going to tell Dan and Deb?" he asked turning back to the food.
"Tomorrow. At dinner. The sooner the better. So you were going to find out tomorrow anyway." Nathan said.
Cooper laughed, "I'm so glad I'm going to be there to see Dans face tomorrow." He said as he finished up and turned to face us again, "Look, I got your back. Both of you. If you want to keep it, then, I'm with you."
"Thanks Coop."
Christmas day
"How ya feeling?" Nathan asked after I walked out of the bathroom from throwing up and brushing my teeth.
I glared a bit, "Why did morning sickness have to kick in on Christmas? Now your mom is gonna think I'm a total bitch."
"My mom is not going to think you're a bitch. Well, not when she finds out that you're pregnant."
"You mean not until she finds out I'm pregnant. Not when." I said tugging on my shirt self consciously as I started to walk past.
Nathan pulled me back to him and hugged me, "Everything will be fine Hales. Sure they may freak out but it's our decision, not theirs. Just relax."
I sighed, "Okay." I Said lightly. We turned and walked out into the living room where Cooper was waiting to go with us to the dinner.
"You two ready?" he asked as Nathan and I put on our coats.
"Yeah, as we'll ever be anyway." I said putting on my scarf.
"Everything will be fine Haley. Dan and Royal are your biggest worry. Deb I can handle myself. Keith will handle May." Cooper said as the three of us headed towards and out the door.
At the Scott house
"So have you guys opened any gifts yet?" Deb asked as the wine was brought it.
"Um just the ones from you guys and Haleys' parents. We made plans to open the ones from Lucas and the others for later tonight since they were spending it with their families so they're coming over tonight." Nathan said taking a drink.
"That's nice."
"So Haley, where's your family?" Royal asked.
'Um, my siblings are all scattered. Either in college or raising a family. My parents are in Rhode Island this week I think." I asked Nathan who nodded since he was there when I talked to them last and told them about the baby. "They'll be in New York for a visit next month." I said moving some food around my plate, since everyone was still eating, trying not to run to the bathroom.
"Haley, are you alright dear?" May asked, noticing how pale I looked.
I nodded, "Just not feeling well."
"And you haven't even touched your wine. It's the holidays, time to be Merry." Dan said, watching me.
I looked at Nathan, who put his fork down and cleared his throat, "Um, I have an announcement to make. It's kind of important."
"Okay honey, what is it?" Deb asked.
Nathans hand gripped mine under the table, "Haley's pregnant and we're going to keep it. We've talked about our other options and none of them sounded right. So keeping it was the only option."
The table became completely silent as Deb slowly set down her wine glass. I looked over at everyone. Dans eyes held anger, Coopers amusement, Keiths held Pride and Debs and Mays held shock.
Keith looked at Dan, "Now Dan before you say anything..."
"Damn it Nathan! How could you be so stupid as to ruin your basketball career this way? What were you thinking? God were you even thinking? No, oh wait, yes you were, just with the wrong damn brain. I knew that girl was trouble." Dan said jumping up.
"Dan, Haley didn't do this by herself." Cooper said.
"Oh shut up Cooper. No one asked you. Though you don't look very surprised. "
"They told me last night. Though they wanted me to find out like everyone else did but it came up."
"Well that's nice. I should have known you'd be in on it. And you, Hades, I told you that you were a distraction and now you're bringing a child into it? How do we even know it's Nathans?"
"What? Nathan said angrily, "I'm the only one she was with."
"Now Nate your father has a point. We know nothing of this young lady right here and no offense Haley but you have no idea who she might have been with." Royal said calmly.
"She was with me. We were in Manhattan for Thanksgiving with Mouths girlfriend. We were either all together or she was with the girls or me or Lucas."
"I thought you two weren't dating."
"We're not." I finally said as I stared at the table. "Look Mr. Scott, you have been on my case since I got here and I'm tired of it. No, I'm not dating your son but we came to an agreement. Sure this changes things but things change. And no, Nate and I are not 'in love' whatever that is, but we do care. Like I care about Brooke or Lucas." I slowly turned and looked at him, "But it doesn't change the fact that we are having this baby. I got pregnant for a reason, now maybe this will change the way I date and who I date but I will have you know that I've slept with no one but Nathan the last 4 months. I'm not a slut and I haven't slept with very many people. One of those I was not a willing participate. You may think you know everything about everyone Dan Scott but you know nothing about me. Deb, thanks for having me. It was nice to meet you, Mr. And Mrs. Scott, Cooper. Merry Christmas. And by the way, the names Haley." I said said as I stood up and nodded at Deb then left the room and then the house all together.
Nathan shook his head and stood up to leave.
"Nathan, don't move. Don't even think about leaving this room." Dan turned to Deb, "Deb aren't you going to say anything to your son?"
Deb looked at Nathan then at Dan, "He's an adult Dan. There's not much to say. He can make his own decisions. And if they've talked about it and genuinely want to have this baby, who am I to argue." Deb said slowly and softly, "Nathan, you can leave."
"I think I'll go too. I'll walk out with you Nate." Keith said as he stood.
Nathan nodded and left the dining room with Keith as the arguing started.
"I'm proud of you Nathan. Stepping up with Haley instead of leaving." Keith said as they walked out the front door to, after getting their see me by the car with my coat on.
"I'm not him Uncle Keith. I won't be him."
"Good, I'll talk to your grandma tomorrow, see where she stands. But for now, get her back to the beach house and be with your friends. Get her some crackers too, she looks a little..." Keith stopped and looked over at where I was hunched over in the bushes getting sick, "Well, she looked sick."
Nathan laughed, "Thanks Uncle Keith."
"I figured if I corrupted one of Dan Scotts boys into being a good guy then I should get started on the other one. Even though he never needed that much of a push." Keith said then went to get into his truck.
Nathan walked over to me as I stood upright, "Come on. Lets get you back to the house. Our friends await."
We got back to the beach house, see lights on and hear Christmas music and laughter coming from inside. I shook my head and laughed as we walked in to see Brooke dancing around the living room. We took off our jackets and hung them up.
"What do we have here?" Nathan said then turned to me, "You know, i swear we lock the doors when we leave."
"A Christmas party. Where we exchange gifts and eat and be merry. We have apple cider for Haley and champaign for the rest of us. And for food we have left overs from Karen. Plus, Jake and Peyton brought stuff and so did the others. Oh and Peyton picked up some more saltines just in case you guys were out." Brooke said, handing a package of crackers to me.
"Um, thanks?" I said looking at the package before heading into the living room where everyone else was.
"So, how was dinner?" Lucas asked.
I sighed and rolled my eyes, "The worst ever. I couldn't even eat the food, which made me feel like crap. Then we told them I was pregnant."
"And Dan said exactly what you said he would Lucas."
"Do I know Dan or what?"
"Yeah, then said maybe the baby isn't even mine and I know Haley wasn't with anyone else."
"Unless you count me, Peyton and Bevin. Which none of us can get her pregnant and I know Lucas wouldn't do that. Again, ever."
"Why would I when I have you? Haley's not really my type."
"Are you saying I'm ugly?"
"What? No, no, I didn't say that. I just meant that um..."
I laughed, "It's okay Luke, you're not my type either. I'm not into blondes." I said jokingly.
"Not funny." Lucas said, putting his arm around my neck and giving me a light noogie.
"Get off me loser." I said laughing as I pushed him off me, as the others laughed.
"Okay, present time. Lets go people. Chop chop. I want gifts." Peyton said, picking up Jenny.
Well, heres another one, hope you like!!!