A/N: I am so, so sorry for how long it's taken me to upload this. There are a lot of reasons as to why it's taken me this long, but I won't bore you with them. Let's just say that it's been a very busy year, leave it at that and get on with the chapter! Thank you all for your reviews, constructive criticism and continued support. You are all wonderful!

The only sounds in the room were the scratching of pens on paper and the ticking of the grandfather clock that stood proudly in one corner. The tension in the room was palpable, mostly due to the fact that it was painfully obvious to both people in the room or to anyone else who might be watching the footage of them currently being captured that neither of them wanted to be there.

It was Thursday morning once again and that marked the commencement of Nathan and Haley's third tutoring session to date and, so far, in terms of the amount of work that they had managed to complete, it was their most successful session. In terms of interaction, however, it was by far the worst. They had only spoken to one another in greeting at the start of the hour and since then only for Haley to tell Nathan which exercises she wanted him to complete and for him to inform her that he'd finished them. Currently, they were each working on separate things: Nathan on the new set of exercises Haley had set him and Haley marking the paper he'd just handed her, along with a stack of others from her other students. There was the sense that if either of them spoke about anything other than the work in front of them that it would end in World War III, so they kept silent and focused on their individual papers.

Haley, for her part, was barely even concentrating on the work she was meant to be doing: her mind was too concerned with thoughts of her father and the doctor's appointment they'd just come from earlier that morning. Jimmy hadn't wanted her to come in with him to the doctor's office, so she'd sat outside in the waiting room patiently. He'd emerged some time later, looking more ruffled than usual and decidedly grumpier. Her eyes hadn't been able to ignore the cotton wool taped to his arm and the faint blood specks that had started to seep through it to the other side. Reluctantly, he'd told her that the doctor had run a load of tests on him and then sent off blood and urine samples for further testing. Beyond this, he refused to say much more other than that it was all a big waste of time and that he'd have been better off staying at home and working on his latest project. The last thing that he'd told her before she'd dropped him off at home and driven up to the manor was that the doctor had said the test results should be ready in about a week. In a way, she was glad that her father had had to have tests as it meant that the doctor must have some cause for concern about his health and that all of her worrying had been excessive. At least now, if all the tests came back and said that Jimmy was perfectly healthy then she could relax in the knowledge that she hadn't ignored the issues and had taken some kind of action about it.

Nathan, on the other hand, was mostly thinking about how long he had left until he could get out onto the court and start his practicing for the day. Already, he could feel his body itching to get outdoors, feeling cramped and suffocated from having to sit and stare at books for so long. It had been years since he'd done anything remotely academic and even back when he had it hadn't been his strongest suit. He'd always been too eager to go and shoot hoops to focus on his school work too much and now his brain was unused to thinking in terms of formulas and essays after such a long break. Also, running through his brain was the thought that even though he'd planned on giving his 'relationship' with Megan another week or so before calling it off with her, he honestly couldn't stand to be around her for another second. She was overly clingy and desperate to be featured on the show, demanding to know why she hadn't been shown on that week's episode. Despite the fact that Dan would've loved to see the clip of them making out together on the show just to spark another media frenzy, he was never going to get the dubious pleasure of viewing it. Nathan had asked Julian not to include it in the episode and, with so much other footage to use for that week, he had agreed without a fight. Nathan didn't want to give Megan what she wanted: her spot in the limelight. He didn't want newspapers hounding her for 'her side of the story' or her face appearing on magazines labelled as his latest girlfriend. Nothing in the world appalled him quite as much as that thought. He'd seen the way she treated people and he didn't want her to be rewarded for that, certainly not in the same way that he was paid to act like a jerk. He just wanted to be through with her before she managed to weasel her way into her fifteen seconds of fame.

And somewhere, amidst all those other thoughts, was also the hidden, almost unconscious observation that when the sun shone on Haley's hair that certain strands of it turned red and for some reason that fascinated him. But his conscious mind ignored that particular mental note, choosing instead to opt for his usual apathetic thoughts about her. They were far safer.

Surprising them both with his sudden movement, Nathan pushed himself up from the chair he was sitting on and away from the table all his work was on. He stretched his arms up into the air above him and Haley chose to ignore the fact that the action made his top ride up and to focus on her work rather than ogling him like the lovesick, airhead fan he had recently accused her of being. If there's anything Haley wasn't at the moment it was a fan of Nathan Scott. He yawned loudly and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Then, without a warning he began to stride towards the door of the study they were in.

'Um, where do you think you're going?' she asked, frowning slightly at him, 'We still have another twenty minutes left of the session.'

'How could I possibly forget that?' he drawled, not bothering to look back at her, 'I'm hungry. I'm getting a snack – is that allowed?'

He half-turned back to her, eyes sparking with defiance just daring her to challenge him and to prove his assumptions that she was a tyrant correct.

'Knock yourself out,' she said with a casual shrug, thinking that it wouldn't perhaps be the worst thing if he did that literally.

She expected him to be gone for at least fifteen of the twenty minutes that remained of their session, using the need for a snack as an excuse to get out of doing his work. It was a surprise to Haley, therefore, when he re-entered the room just a couple of minutes later, holding two mugs of coffee and a box of Cracker Jacks.

He set the items down on the table, pushing one of the coffee cups towards Haley with a grin and gesturing to his own mug and the box in front of him, he said, 'Breakfast of champions.'

Haley raised an eyebrow but smiled a little in spite of herself, 'Breakfast? It's almost 12.'

Nathan shrugged, tearing open the top of the box, 'Second breakfast, then, or elevenses.'

'Wow, I wasn't aware of the fact that existed outside of the British upper class from, like, 50 years ago,' Haley chuckled.

Again, Nathan shrugged his shoulders, sending his tutor a wolfish grin as he bit into one of the pieces, 'Hey, I'll take any excuse for an extra meal.'

He nudged the box over the table to her, silently offering her one. Haley fought back a smile as she dipped her hand into the packet, 'Seriously, Cracker Jack? What are you, five?'

'Hey! Don't knock Cracker Jacks, they're amazing! Plus, if they were good enough for me when I was five, they're good enough for me now,' he reasoned, snatching the pack back from her and holding it against his chest protectively, like she'd somehow hurt its feelings.

Haley held up her hands defensively, 'I wasn't knocking them, I just can't believe that anyone other than me who's our age still eats them. Peyton and Brooke are always teasing me 'cause they say I eat kids' stuff.'

'And what's wrong with that? Kids get the best stuff. Half the time, I'll take Lily into places just so I can use her as an excuse to buy kids food and then I'll make her share it with me,' Nathan said, loosening his hold on the box.

'Yeah, I used to do that with Elise when she was younger but she's getting too old for it now,' Haley pouted a little at the thought.

'Elise…that's Peyton's little sister, right?' Nathan asked, offering the pack out to Haley again, who nodded and took a handful, 'And she let you borrow her sister just so you could go and get kids food?'

'Sometimes, but sometimes I'd just be looking after Elise for her and by then she knew how much I liked it so she'd suggest we should go into places where they had the best stuff. Often they'd give us discounts 'cause Elise was so cute back then,' she smiled at the memory, popping the remainder of her handful into her mouth.

'I remember,' Nathan nodded, 'well, if you ever need to borrow Lily for that and she's around, I'd be more than happy to loan her out to you – as long as you bring me back a ten pack of these, though.'

'Deal,' Haley laughed, 'what are you going to do when Lily gets too old for it as well?'

Nathan shrugged, 'Hope that Luke has a kid by then? Or just brave it by myself and look like a freak.'

'Please,' Haley scoffed, 'I think the PR guys for Cracker Jack would be tripping over themselves to try and make you an official sponsor or something if they saw you buying this, I'd be the one looking like a freak.'

'Hey, if it got me a lifetime's supply, I'd be more than happy to do it. And I'd share it with you too, of course,' Nathan laughed.

'Very generous of you,' she said, smiling and picking up her mug, 'thanks for this, by the way.'

'No problem,' he replied, then looked inside the Cracker Jack packet again, 'let's see what the prize is.'

'Ooo, yeah!' Haley said excitedly, leaning forward in her chair to get a better look as Nathan pulled out the small plastic bag.

Nathan snorted, 'We are way too excited about this for two grown-ups and a free toy.'

'Who cares? Just open it,' Haley waved away his comment, bouncing slightly in her seat. Nathan looked at her for a moment, and saw how wide and childlike her eyes had become and he couldn't help but smile in response.

He tore into the packet and held up his palm to let the gift drop into it, muttering, 'Please let this be a keychain!'

What fell out, however, was a plastic bracelet with different coloured animal shapes on it. Nathan looked at it for a moment, looking a little bit disappointed at first, before looking over at Haley and her still rapt expression and smiling, 'It's for you.'

'Nathan, no, it's your pack. You should keep it,' Haley shook her head.

Nathan shot her a look and held it out to her, 'It's a bracelet.'

Haley still hesitated for a moment before holding out her wrist and Nathan caught it, slipping the bracelet onto it.

'Don't say I never gave you anything,' he said, giving her winning crooked grin.

They both stared at it there for a second, with his hand still wrapped loosely around her wrist. Haley felt an inexplicable rush of annoyance as she looked from the gift to Nathan's slightly smug smile. She wanted to throw it back in his face, to yell at him that he couldn't give her a cheap bracelet and try and charm her like all those other bimbos that hung around him, that she had a boyfriend. She had a whole speech prepared in a matter of seconds involving comparing herself to Maths that was cutting and showed how little she cared for him.

She opened her mouth to say it.

But a small voice in her head stopped her, reminding her that this was the first civil conversation that they'd had with one another since they'd met where they either weren't wearing masks or one of her friends wasn't in danger. Her more reasonable, practical side kicked in and she told herself not to be so silly. Nathan had already made it perfectly clear that he wasn't interested in her in that way and she had given him a whole speech about not being so big-headed as to assume that everyone was in love with him. This time, all he had done had been to have a vaguely friendly conversation with her and to give her a free bracelet from a kids snack packet that he wouldn't have kept anyway. If she accused him now of trying to hit on her or trying to charm her then she would be being completely hypocritical.

So, she swallowed her frustration, telling herself to let it go, that she was being paranoid. After all, he was probably just trying to be nice to her and she was misconstruing it as him flirting with her. Fixing a smile back on her face, she mumbled, 'Thanks.'

'No problem,' he smiled back, though it had faded a little by then, 'we should get back to work, huh?'

Haley glanced at her watch and saw that they had less than ten minutes left, 'Sure, not much left to go now.'

Nathan craned his neck to look over the table at her watch and nodded. They went back to their work and carried on for the remaining time in silence. When it reached twelve, Haley thought Nathan would have rushed out just like he had the last couple of times but he stayed where he was, head bent down and working studiously. She let him go on for another couple of minutes, wondering if he knew that their time was over yet.

Eventually, she cleared her throat, 'Um…it's gone twelve now, Nathan, we can finish for the day if you've got things you need to be doing.'

Nathan scribbled down a couple more notes before looking up at her, 'Oh, that's fine. I just thought I'd make up for the time we lost when we were having our break, unless you have somewhere you need to be now?'

The fact that he was actually considering her schedule in all of that honestly shocked Haley so much that she forgot that she was meant to be back at work soon and she shook her head, 'No, I'm okay for a few more minutes, but, you know, you really don't have to make up that time. It was a break, after all.'

'I don't mind,' he smiled briefly at her before ducking his head back down and carrying on with his work.

Haley regarded him for a moment longer in a state of mild shock. She wasn't quite sure how they'd managed to go from the icy silence that had typified the start of the session to Nathan voluntarily choosing to spend longer than required in her presence and the tenuous truce that seemed to have occurred between the two of them. However it had happened, she found she was grateful for it.

Perhaps they had turned a corner in their relationship.

Perhaps Nathan Scott wasn't such a bad boy after all.

XxX

Megan lounged on one of the Scott's many sofas in one of their many living rooms like she was Lady of the manor. She looked around her at the fine furnishings and antique décor with silent glee. In her mind, she saw herself as the future Mrs Nathan Scott (after all, it was only a matter of time) and owner of everything she could lay eyes on, as well as the countless other rooms that she hadn't even seen yet. She would spend her days decked out in diamonds and rubies from head to toe while Nathan catered to her every whim. Cameras would document every step she took on her route to stardom and people would fawn over like royalty.

Of course, the manor couldn't possibly stay as it was when she was married to Nathan and in charge of it. It was far too old-fashioned and dreary in her opinion. No, she would have the whole thing refurbished and modernised; she'd have Peyton scrub it clean with nothing but a toothbrush every day, Elise too now that she thought about it, and she'd let Beatrice and their mother stay there – in the guest wing, of course – but only to remind them daily of her success and that they were simply a charity case. She smirked to herself, thinking about all the changes she'd make, all the wardrobes she'd fill with new clothes and all the champagne she'd drink.

The door swung open, scattering her imaginings from her mind and Peyton half-stumbled in, carrying a vacuum cleaner and a bucket full of cleaning supplies. Her hair was tied up into a top knot, with a strip of cotton tied around her head to keep any stray curls from falling into her eyes. Her clothes were the ones she wore whenever she had to do a deep clean of their own home and so were worn and ripped; they were already stained from whatever it was that she'd already been doing that day and perspiration was showing on her forehead and upper lip.

Megan took in this unkempt appearance and smirked scornfully at her grimy older step-sister. She was everything that Megan would never be: dirty, unfashionable and a servant.

Peyton stopped in the doorway when she saw Megan lying on the couch. Her eyes narrowed slightly and her expression instantly hardened, her whole posture tensing like it always was at home.

'I need to clean in here,' she said tersely, deliberately avoiding eye contact with her.

Megan rolled her head away so that she was staring up at the ceiling, 'You can come back and do it later.'

'No, I'm going to do it now,' Peyton insisted, dragging the hoover into the room and setting down her bucket in defiance.

'And I told you to come back later,' Megan drawled, still not looking at her.

'No.'

Megan turned to look at her step-sister, one perfectly plucked eyebrow raised, 'No?'

Peyton shook her head, 'You're not my employer and you don't live here, therefore, I don't take orders from you here.'

'Perhaps I don't live here right now but I will do someday soon so I'd watch yourself,' Megan threatened idly, not bothering to put too much menace into it as she was sure that Peyton would back down soon enough.

'There's no way on earth that Nathan Scott would be dumb enough to marry you,' Peyton snorted.

'Oh really? 'Cause I think it's gonna be pretty easy to convince him that he's in love with me and wants to marry me,' Megan sang.

'And then what? You think you're going to live happily ever after here with someone paid to wipe your ass every time you go to the toilet?' Peyton bit back.

Megan smirked, 'Careful, sister dearest, or it'll be you wiping my ass and you won't be being paid for it. But as for the 'happily ever after'…no more like a few years of living in fame and luxury, then a hefty divorce settlement and a high profile deal to publish my autobiography. That should do to set me up for life, a couple of years of faking it with a totally hot, rich guy then the rest of my life to live it how I want and with all the money I could ever need. Do you honestly think I'm gonna make the same mistake as my mother and stay in a dead, boring marriage with a guy I don't even care about and who's never there? Please, I'm not that dumb.'

'I wouldn't be quite so sure about that,' another, deeper voice said somewhere behind Peyton.

Megan froze and sat up so quickly on the couch that she almost gave herself whiplash, 'Nathan, sweetie! What are you doing lurking around out there?'

She gave a forced, high giggle that gave away her nerves all too easily.

Peyton turned around and shuffled out of the way of the door to let Nathan in. She kept her head bowed down and her voice low as she addressed him, 'I'm sorry, sir, I didn't see you there.'

'I'm sorry for how incompetent my useless step-sister is, honey,' Megan simpered, glaring at Peyton, 'I don't think she's all there, you know, mentally; quite honestly, it's a wonder she even got into college, let alone graduated!'

'Really? Because from what I've seen of the work Miss Sawyer has done around my house so far she seems to be anything but incompetent or useless. And, from what I heard of your conversation just now she appears to be more than deserving of a college education,' Nathan commented, stepping further into the room and causing Peyton to smile in spite of herself as she stood deferentially to the side.

'Get out, Peyton,' Megan snapped in irritation at the fact that Nathan no longer seemed to be on her side, 'can't you see that my boyfriend and I need some time alone together and you're clearly just getting in the way?'

Peyton lifted her head, eyes blazing to glare at Megan but Nathan spoke before she could, 'Actually, I'd prefer it if Miss Sawyer stayed for the moment. I need to speak to her about something in a moment and I don't think it's going to take me long to clear up this matter now.'

'What matter, baby?' Megan asked, batting her eyelashes furiously as she rose from the sofa and began to make her way towards Nathan.

'I'm breaking up with you,' Nathan told her bluntly, halting her progress in her tracks.

'I…I…what?!' Megan shrieked, never one for missing out on a chance to be dramatic.

'I think you heard me perfectly fine: we're done,' he said calmly, gesturing between the two of them.

From her place by the door, Peyton held back a laugh as she snuck a glance at Megan's horrified face.

'But, baby, we're meant to be together!' Megan spluttered.

'I don't think so,' Nathan shook his head.

'Yes we are! We belong together, don't you feel it too?' Megan insisted, trying to get closer to Nathan but he moved away from her to the other side of the room.

'If we belong together then why are you planning on divorcing me after a couple of years of…how did you put it? Oh yeah, 'faking it with a totally hot, rich guy'. Give me some credit, Megan, I've known from the second you came up to me at the ball that you were only interested in me for a fast-track to fame and money. I saw you coming a mile away, so it's funny that you didn't see this coming,' he laughed hollowly.

'Nathan, please, what I said before it was stupid. I was just trying to show off in front of my step-sister but what we have is real, I promise,' she said in a pleading tone.

'Stop, Megan, just stop. You're embarrassing yourself and insulting me even further by thinking that for one second I'm gonna fall for this crap. I've heard it all a hundred times before and it didn't work then and it sure as hell isn't gonna work now,' Nathan told her, his voice firm but not harsh.

Megan bristled, seeing that there was no swaying him, 'Okay then, if you're so smart and you saw me coming a mile off, why did you make out with me in the first place?'

'Because it was easy,' Nathan shrugged.

'You're an asshole!' Megan yelled, storming up to him, eyes burning with rage and indignance, partly at the insult and partly at having been called out.

'And you're a gold-digging bitch,' Nathan countered, not looking even slightly perturbed by her anger or by her proximity, 'I think that means it's a good thing all round that we're ending things now then, doesn't it?'

'I can't believe I ever thought you were a nice guy,' Megan growled, clearly only restraining herself from hitting him by reminding herself that he was a celebrity probably with a lawyer on speed dial.

'I think you're confusing me with my brother there,' he said and grinned at the fury that statement provoked in her, 'ah, and there it is: you're thinking that you made the wrong choice at the ball, aren't you? When you were trying to figure out which one of us was the quickest route to fame you bet on me and you bet wrong. Well, sorry to break it to you, Megan, but you missed your chance: my brother already found someone at the ball and, even if he hadn't, he wouldn't have gone anywhere near you anyway. You see, that's the difference between me and Lucas: he sees the girls who are bad news and steers clear of them, whereas I see them and think 'what the hell, let's go for it and break up with them later'. Either way, people like you miss out. Shame about that, huh?'

Megan pushed herself up on her tiptoes so her nose was almost brushing Nathan's and whispered in a menacing tone, 'You're going to regret this, Nathan Scott.'

'I very much doubt that, Miss Sawyer, in fact, I think you'll find that the only one of us who'll have anything to regret will be you if you ever make the mistake of threatening me again,' Nathan told her in a low voice that even made Peyton afraid of him and she wasn't the one who was being glared at with his cold, hard eyes, 'now get out of my house.'

Say what you want about Megan, but she knew when she was beaten and Nathan Scott had well and truly bested her. He could crush her entire future with just a few well-placed phone calls and she knew full well that if she ever wanted to stand a chance of pulling of the kind of stunt she'd been attempting to do with him with another rich fool then she'd have to avoid angering him any further. With any luck, she could leave now and he'd ignore her existence from then on, not intervening in any of her future attempts to become a celebrity wife.

So, she nodded and turned to exit – not exactly graciously, but then that wasn't exactly in her nature.

As she passed Peyton on the way out, she spat angrily, 'Haven't you got a floor to sweep?'

'Actually, if you remember, I'd asked Miss Sawyer to stay there because I need to speak to her about something. And the last time I checked, we were in my house and that means you don't get to give orders to people in it.'

Megan blushed at being caught out, and nodded her head quickly, 'Of course, Mr Scott.'

Peyton saw Megan exit the room with as much dignity as she could muster, but as soon as she thought she was out of Nathan's eye line, the act dropped and the sheer fury radiating from her was clearly displayed in the way that she stalked down the corridor, muttering to herself angrily. She found herself wondering if Megan would seek revenge on her merely for being present during the whole debacle she had just witnessed.

Before she could worry too much about that issue, however, Nathan called out to her from across the room, 'Oi, earth to Peyton Sawyer?'

She snapped her head around to see him smirking at her amusedly, 'I see you've given up on that whole 'Miss Sawyer' rubbish pretty quickly.'

'That was all just for Megan's benefit,' he explained, waving his hand with a casual flick as though dispelling his previous formality from the air, 'from what I've seen and heard, you two don't really seem to get on very well and I didn't want her to think that you'd somehow talked me into dumping her.'

'Well…er…thanks?' Peyton offered, slightly confused at this display of thoughtfulness on Nathan's part given what she had heard about him from Haley, 'I can handle Megan but thanks for letting me see that. Honestly, I think that might just have been the highlight of my year!'

'You're welcome,' Nathan chuckled, 'I kinda enjoyed it a little bit too much myself. How can you stand living with her?'

Peyton shrugged and made a face, 'Years of practice of tuning her out as much as possible and avoiding being around her whenever I can. Luckily, she's out at the mall most of the time so I don't have to see her too much.'

'Well, if you ever need a place to escape to if she's getting too…well, like herself, you can always come here, even if Brooke's busy,' he offered with a conspiratorial smile that told her that he now understood how much she would need that space.

Genuinely surprised, Peyton stammered, 'Thank you…er very much, Mr Scott. That's very generous of you…So…um what was it you wanted to talk to me about, sir?'

Nathan shot her an incredulous look, ''Sir'? 'Mr Scott'? Peyton, I know we've never exactly known each other well enough to be friends but I thought I'd made it clear that I didn't like all that formal crap. My mom's the one who's your boss, not me, not anyone here, okay? You're doing us a service being here; you're not our servant and we're sure as hell aren't royalty so don't feel for a second like you need to do any of that here, okay? I'm only 'Mr Scott' and 'sir' to people who don't know me or are trying to kiss my ass, and, even if we're not friends yet, we still definitely aren't strangers and I don't think for one second that you're a kissass, so just call me Nathan, alright?'

'Got it,' Peyton nodded with a grin. It might be true that they didn't know each other well enough to consider one another a friend but Nathan Scott was quickly proving himself to be someone she wanted to put in that category – if he carried on like this and eased up on Haley, that was, 'so, what did you need to speak to me about so desperately?'

'Well, as you might already know, Luke and I are looking for a new personal trainer while we're out here. We thought while we were back here it'd be nice to support local businesses as much as possible, so we left our personal trainers back in Charlotte and thought we'd look here for a new one. We had interviews the other day and we were meant to be getting back to the candidates by Sunday at the latest but, well, you know what happened with Brooke. It kinda made picking a new trainer take a backseat for a couple of days. Anyway, Luke and I sat down and had a chat about it earlier and we've managed to get it down to two people.'

'This is all great, Nathan, but I don't really see how I can help you with this. The closest I've been to a gym in years is passing outside it on my way to the bakery,' Peyton smiled, though her expression was a little puzzled.

'One of the candidates is Garrett Simmons,' Nathan clarified quickly, gauging her face for a reaction.

'Oh,' Peyton breathed quietly, her eyebrows rising.

'Yeah, so I was hoping I could get an idea from you about whether he'd be good or not, y'know what he's like as a person when he's not trying to suck up to me and Luke to get a job,' he winked at her with a laugh.

Peyton was stunned silent for a moment. On one hand, she thoroughly disliked Garrett, an opinion she knew that Brooke shared, and so her feelings on what kind of a person he was could hardly be described as favourable. No matter how mean Nathan might have been to Haley, she hardly thought he deserved to be stuck in a contract with Garrett, especially given that he had proven himself capable for being quite considerate from time to time. And if he didn't deserve it, then Lucas of all people definitely didn't, not when he'd been so…she stopped herself quickly before she thought too much about Lucas or what he had vowed on TV to do to find her or the sweet things he had said to her on the night of the ball. That was particularly dangerous territory.

However, on the other hand, whatever her feelings might be towards Garrett, he was still Haley's boyfriend and Haley, for some unknown reason, loved him. How could she call herself Haley's best friend if she was trying to jeopardise her boyfriend's chances at a dream job? Moreover, she knew that Garrett would probably find some way of blaming it on Haley if he didn't get the job and she didn't want to see her friend crying over the hurtful things he'd said to her again, not if she could prevent it.

Unsure as to what to say, Peyton blurted out, 'He's Haley's boyfriend.'

Nathan shot her a bemused look, 'I know, that's why I'm asking you. You must have a better idea of what he's like than I do.'

'I haven't exactly spent a lot of time with the guy, I don't know if I'd be that helpful,' she mumbled, desperately hoping to avoid the situation.

Nathan was silent for a moment before grinning and wagging his finger at her, 'You don't approve of him.'

'What? No…I…I mean, I…,' she floundered, wondering how on earth he'd managed to catch her out so quickly.

'You don't like him!' Nathan said, grinning gleefully at her discomfort like a child that had just caught its parents doing something wrong.

'Fine! No, I don't, okay?' she threw her hands up in the air, hating herself for betraying Haley to someone who hardly had the best track record with her.

'Does Haley know? Does Brooke hate him too?' he asked, still smiling far too much for Peyton's liking.

'Yes, and yes,' Peyton sighed, 'look, Haley knows that we don't think that Garrett's good enough for her but she also knows that we love her and we support her relationship with him because he makes her happy, though heaven knows why.'

'So, you don't think we should hire him?' he guessed.

'No, I'm not gonna say that,' Peyton shook her head quickly, 'look, I might not like the guy and so asking me to give an unbiased opinion on his personality and everything is pointless. But, no matter how I feel about him as a person, I can tell you that he is very good at his job and he's very dedicated to his clients. So, from that perspective, he'd make a great personal trainer for you guys. And anyway, most of the things I don't like about him are to do with how he treats Haley and how he is as a boyfriend to her, so my issues with him shouldn't even come into your heads when you're making your decision 'cause they don't have anything to do with it.'

'I get what you're saying and it's true, but at the same time I want to actually get on with whoever's gonna be my trainer. I mean, I'm going to have to see them quite a bit and I don't want to hate whoever it is. All the guys here, they're like brothers to me, I just wanna be sure that I'm bringing the right person into our family,' Nathan told her and Peyton was again surprised by his honesty.

'Okay, I get that and I think that's great but shouldn't you make up your own mind about Garrett and not just go on my completely biased opinions about him? I mean, you might find that you really like him,' she countered.

'True, but I think you're a pretty good judge of character, Sawyer,' he smiled in return.

'What on earth makes you think that?' she asked, wondering what she'd said in the past half an hour or so that had made her come across as such a perceptive person.

'Well, you're friends with Haley and Brooke, you like all of my family, you hate Megan…and also, I didn't like Garrett all that much when I met him and I wanted to know if it was just me. I guess now I know.'

Haley's disappointed face flashed across Peyton's eyes and she felt a stab of panic, 'But you still don't know for sure! Listen, just give him a chance, okay? For Haley's sake if not for his. Just give him a couple of weeks as a trial run and if you completely hate him, then you can get rid of him without breaking any kind of contract and if he's the best personal trainer in the world, then you can keep him.'

Nathan looked at her dubiously.

'Please, Nathan? Just give him a chance. I'd hate myself if I knew that I was the reason he didn't get the job,' she pleaded in a low voice.

Nathan was quiet for a moment longer before nodding slowly, 'Okay, I'll go back to Luke and tell him your ide and if he agrees then we'll give Garrett a two week trial.'

'Thank you, Nathan,' Peyton beamed in relief, partly wanting to hug him but then also realising that they definitely didn't know each other well enough for that yet and that he had still been an asshole to Haley for most of the time she'd been tutoring him, which according to their most recent conversation on the topic the night before had only just begun to change.

'You're welcome, Sawyer,' he nodded with a grin in return and glanced down at her cleaning supplies, 'I'll let you get back to your job for now.'

Peyton glanced down at her watch and her eyes widened, 'Wow, yeah I really need to get on!'

Nathan nodded casually again by means of a farewell and sauntered away from her, calling back over his shoulder as he left the room, 'I'll see you around, Sawyer.'

'You too, Scott,' she called back, shaking her head as she turned back to the task at hand and tried to work out the enigma that was Nathan Scott. It was probably too early to tell yet, but she thought she might be on the way to making a new friendship there.

XxX

It had been a week since Brooke had moved into the little cottage on the Scott estate and she had already managed to make it feel more like home for her than her New York apartment ever had in the few years she had lived in it. A big part of the reason for that, though, was that it was situated in her home town rather than a vast, lonely city, it was close to her friends and that Julian was sharing it with her.

He had helped her so much already in the short time they had known each other to begin to recover from the attack and it surprised her whenever she realised that they had only been in each other's lives for one week, as it felt much longer than that. He was such a comfort and source of strength for her, always seeming to know just what the right thing to say was; though Peyton and Haley were, of course, great and called her every day, dropping by whenever they could, it definitely helped enormously to have Julian in the house with her.

Her nights had been a lot calmer ever since he had moved his bed into her room, putting it into the place where the couch had been. It had only taken him one more sleepless night for the both of them after that first Sunday to realise that it would make things much easier if he just shared a room with Brooke until she was able to sleep on her own again. She was much too proud and embarrassed to ever accept his offer of going into his room should she be unable to sleep and he hadn't been able to get any sleep as he had been worrying too much about her.

Slowly, ever so slowly, she was beginning to heal from the attack – physically much faster than emotionally – her scars and bruises had faded significantly, along with the pain. But the hardest wounds to close are those of the heart and mind. She'd spent the first half of the week too afraid to leave the cottage or even to leave her bedroom unless totally necessary when someone else wasn't there. For the past couple of days, however, Peyton and Haley had managed to coax her out from the house to walk around the grounds with them and she'd even been able to do so once by herself.

She spent her days either watching TV or reading mostly. Julian invited her to come up to the house with him every day when he left for work and she'd taken him up on the offer a couple of times but, at first, she'd been unable to even think of leaving the house and then, as her crippling fear began to ease a little, she hadn't wanted him to feel crowded by her. Once or twice, she'd thought about digging her sketchpad or fabrics out from where she'd hidden them away under her bed just to design something but then she'd think of her father alone and sick in New York and the threats Kathy had made. Somehow, illogical though it was, she feared that Kathy would be able to tell that she was working again and would punish him, even if she never planned on selling anything she made.

The sound of someone tapping lightly on the front door broke her from her current reverie as she sat in front of a muted TV screen, letting the pictures wash over her like calming waves as her mind wandered once again back to the life and people she'd left behind in New York. For a moment, she was seized with anxiety, imagining it to be Marco having changed his mind and deciding to carry out Kathy's orders after all, or, worse, her step-mother herself there to finish the job herself. Such dark thoughts plagued her each time someone came to the door or she heard noises outside the house.

Her worry was short-lived, however, when she heard Julian call out a moment later, 'It's me, Brooke.'

The tension drained from her instantly and she rushed over to the door to let him in, sliding the bolts back and opening it with a nervous smile, 'You're back early.'

For a second, his eyes searched her face with concern, obviously looking for any signs of any trauma that might have occurred while he'd been gone. Clearly finding nothing too alarming, his face relaxed into an easy smile that made her stomach twist pleasantly and she stepped back to let him inside.

'I know, I just…got tired of waiting to come home to see you,' he admitted, his voice betraying a bit of sheepishness at telling her this.

'Good, 'cause I'd just about got tired of waiting for you,' Brooke said lightly, making her way into the kitchen that adjoined the main living area. Her heart swelled at the thought that Julian had missed her company as much as she'd missed his, and at his referring to the cottage as 'home', 'it gets kinda boring being alone here all day with only me for company, you know.'

'I've always said you can come up to the house with me,' Julian said softly, following her into the small kitchen.

Brooke hesitated, back turned to him, feeling her insecurities rising within her again, 'I know, but I just don't want to be in your way, or anyone else's up there. You all have enough to do without someone having to babysit me.'

'You wouldn't be in anyone's way – you haven't been when you've come up before. The guys like having you around and getting to know you, and if you feel like you need to be alone, you can just find an empty room somewhere until you want to be around people again. No one thinks you need to be babysat, Brooke,' he told her gently, 'besides, I like having you close by.'

Brooke squeezed her eyes shut to fend off the approach of tears she could feel forming. It wasn't that she didn't like spending time up at the manor, or getting to know the men who lived and worked in it, or that she didn't recognise that Julian's points were entirely valid. However, aside from her own worries about being in the way, there was still the nearly overwhelming panic that seized her every time she left the cottage and though she was learning to fight against it, it was still exhausting and some days she just didn't have the energy to do it.

Not wanting to reject Julian outright or to talk about her anxieties, she reached for the kettle and asked, 'Coffee? Or tea?'

She heard Julian sigh quietly behind her and there was a slight pause before he replied, 'Coffee would be great, thanks.'

A few minutes later, when they were both settled on the sofa with two steaming mugs in front of them on the coffee table, the TV still silently flicking through images that neither of them took in.

'So, how was your day?' Brooke asked, angling herself towards Julian with her legs tucked under her.

'Interesting, actually,' he replied with a smile, 'I had a call from Dan asking me to send over more footage from Nathan and Haley's tutoring sessions to include in the final cut for tomorrow's episode.'

'Why's that?'

'Well, apparently, your friend has made quite an impression on the viewers and people are shipping her with Nathan all over social media; I think there was something about a '#naley' mentioned and it being trending worldwide,' he shook his head in amused disbelief.

'Okay, what? People want Nathan and Haley to be in a relationship? Based on what exactly? So far, all they've done onscreen is have a couple of awkward tutoring sessions and bickered with each other a little. How on earth is that evidence that they would be a good couple?' Brooke exclaimed, 'I mean, I know Hales said their session on Thursday went a bit better than before, but that hasn't even been aired yet.'

'I know, I know,' Julian chuckled, holding his hands up, 'look, I think it's just as crazy as you do but I guess to the fans it makes sense. I mean, don't get me wrong, the buzz around Lucas and the girl at the ball has been huge and people are really backing him finding her, but I think the fans are really invested in seeing Nathan in a settled relationship too.'

'What do you mean?'

'The viewers love both the brothers, of course; most people still have their favourite out of the two, though, but all people really want is to see them both happy – that's why there was such a high demand for there to be greater focus on the two of them in this season. I don't think the public was ever fully behind Lucas' relationship with Lindsey; I think they could always tell that there was something off about it and about her. So, naturally, they're fully behind him finding this girl from the ball and, of course, the storyline couldn't have worked out better than if we'd staged it ourselves. It's a proper romance that everyone can invest in, so people are excited about it.

'But there's always been something about Nathan that people have been drawn to that's different from Lucas. You see, Lucas has always been the romantic of the two, the one who believed in soulmates and fate, and so it was pretty much a given that he'd find the person he's meant to be with someday. But with Nathan, well, he's always been a little bit more of a loose cannon – harder to pin down and not really showing any interest in settling down – and as much as some people like that side of him, everyone's just been waiting for him to calm down and mature a little bit. For him to find the girl of his dreams – to actually commit to being with someone for more than a couple of weeks – well, that's much more of a big deal than with Lucas because it'd be more of a sign of personal growth,' he explained.

'Okay, I get that,' Brooke nodded slowly, then frowned, 'but why Haley?'

Julian shrugged, 'For the most part, I'd say your guess is as good as mine. However, if I was going to try and figure out the minds of our viewers, I'd say that it's because she's not like any of the girls Nathan normally goes for. She's a lot more grounded for one thing; she's not out for the fame or the money, she's just doing her job; and she doesn't stand for any of Nathan's crap. Nathan needs someone who can stand up to him, not just worship the ground he walks on, and someone who'll bring out the best in him. I guess they think that Haley could do a pretty good job at that.'

'She would,' mused Brooke, 'but don't they know that she's in a relationship already? As much as Garrett might not be my favourite person, Haley loves him and she wouldn't be happy with the thought of strangers pairing her off with some other guy, even if it's just in their minds.'

'I know: she said as much when I spoke to her on the phone,' he smiled at her, finding it funny how close the friends were that they were able to guess the other's reaction to something without having even spoken to them about it.

'You spoke to Haley about it?' Brooke asked, leaning forward.

Julian nodded, 'I thought she deserved to know what was being said about her on social media – as she doesn't exactly strike me as the type to spend her time glued to her phone – and to know the reasons why she'd be having more screen time tomorrow than she probably thought she'd be getting. I don't have a choice really about giving Dan the footage but I didn't want her or Nathan to be blindsided by it.'

'What did she say? What did Nathan say?'

'Nathan just shrugged it off when I told him – he was playing basketball at the time so he tends not to really take stuff in during that. And Haley said she was fine with it – well, as much as she could be – so long as it was made perfectly clear that she was in a long-term, committed relationship. So, I said we'd put a notice up to tell people that during that part of the episode, not that I think it'll help. If people have made up their minds about something like that, Haley being in a relationship isn't going to put them off.'

'Perhaps not, but at least she can say she's done everything she could to put people off if Garrett gives her grief about it.'

'You really think he'd do that?' Julian asked, concerned.

Brooke shrugged, 'The man is insanely jealous when it comes to Haley, but who knows? Maybe he'll let it slide if it's a celebrity; besides, it's not like Nathan's actually hitting on Haley, people just want him to be.'

Julian nodded and opened his mouth to say something else but a familiar face flashing up on the TV screen in the corner of his eye caused him to pause, 'Hey, Brooke, look.'

Brooke turned her head to look where he was pointing only to find her own face staring out at her from the set. Silently, Julian picked up the remote and took the TV off mute, his eyes glued to the screen the whole time.

'…was last seen a little over a week ago at a private function hosted by her stepmother, Katherine Davis-Powell, to celebrate her recent success at Mirror magazine's prestigious FOTA awards, where Miss Davis was named Fairest Of Them All,' an announcer on the TV spoke over the image of Brooke on the screen, 'Miss Davis' office had also recently been targeted in a break-in that police are still investigating; they haven't commented yet as to whether the incident is thought to be linked to her disappearance.'

An image of the outside of Brooke's apartment building in New York replaced the one of her face. Police flanked the doorway and reporters were crowded around, all eagerly waiting for someone to pass on information to them.

'Neighbours became worried few days ago when they noticed that Miss Davis hadn't left her apartment for days and mail was piling up outside the door to her flat, however, they didn't contact the police as they didn't see it as alarming enough. Concerns were also raised by her employees after she'd failed to turn up to work for days in a row or to call to provide an explanation for her absence. Attempts had been made to contact her agent, Marco Acciai, but unsuccessfully as he, too, appears to have disappeared. Police are searching Miss Davis' apartment currently, looking for clues as to why she seems to have vanished into thin air. Police were contacted early this morning when the window cleaner employed by the building's management was washing the windows of Miss Davis' apartment and saw through them blood on the floor and signs of a struggle. '

As this was announced, several cops appeared in the entrance of the building and the reporters gathered outside surged forward, microphones at the ready to catch whatever it was that they were about to be told whilst also shouting out a hundred different questions of their own.

One of the cops stepped forward, and Brooke recognised him as DI Melbourne, who had been investigating the break in at her office in now what felt like a lifetime ago. He held up his hand for silence and hush fell over the crowd.

'At around 8am this morning, we were contacted by a man employed here to clean the windows, who had seen signs of a disturbance in the apartment of Miss Davis. My team had to force entry to the apartment upon receiving no response to repeated requests to enter as, acting on the information given to us, we believed a crime to have been committed. Upon entering the apartment, we found it to be empty with no sign of the occupant. There was also blood on the floor of the kitchen/living area, which we believe at least some of to be that of Miss Davis; there were obvious signs of a struggle, with broken glass and a bloody knife. Our forensic team has informed me that the amount of blood found on the scene, while great in amount, does not appear to be enough lost to have been fatal to the victim, so long as medical help was sought to treat the injuries it came from.

'At this point in time it's hard to tell but we believe that a number of items are missing from Miss Davis' room and our team is looking into this. Upon speaking to neighbours, family, friends and employees of Miss Davis it has become clear that she has not been seen by anyone since the night of Friday September 12th when she attended a social event at The Crown Hotel, after which we believe the incident in her apartment occurred. We are asking that anybody with any information regarding the events of that night, or Miss Davis' current whereabouts, or any other relevant information to come forward. We also ask that the media and public respect Miss Davis' family's right to privacy at this difficult time, thank you.'

As soon as he'd finished speaking, a crescendo of voices rose again from the reporters. One voice managed to shout louder than the rest: 'Detective Inspector, do you believe the disappearance of Miss Davis and the events of September 12th to be linked to the break-in at the Clothes Over Bros headquarters the previous week?'

DI Melbourne held up his hand once more and said loudly over the continuing noise, 'At this point in our investigation, we're not ruling anything out. More information will be given to you at the appropriate time. No further questions, please.'

And he and his colleagues turned their backs to the gaggle and went back inside the building to continue their investigation, leaving the reporters to shout their remaining questions to an empty door.

'An update there on the progress of the investigation into the disappearance of fashion mogul Brooke Davis from DI Gabe Melbourne, who is heading the case,' explained the voice of the reporter over the now silent footage of the outside of Brooke's apartment, 'we spoke to Brooke's stepmother earlier; here's what she had to say about her stepdaughter's disappearance.'

The screen cut to a video of Kathy's distraught-looking face as she sat in her apartment, straight-backed and wide-eyed in her attempts to act her concern for the fate of her stepdaughter. Her skin looked pale and drawn and her eyes were red-rimmed but Brooke, who had enough makeup knowledge to be able to spot such things, could see that these effects were nothing more than powder and play-acting.

Brooke's whole body tensed instantly upon seeing her stepmother for the first time since her exile from New York and Julian moved to turn off the TV but she put her hand out to stop him and he stilled. Transfixed by the images of the woman who had betrayed her, Brooke listened as Kathy gave the performance of a lifetime.

'I honestly don't know what to say to you,' Kathy whispered onscreen, tears already becoming visible in her eyes, 'I…I'm just in complete shock – we all are. I c-can't believe that this has happened to Brooke. I just don't understand…she was fine when I said goodbye to her on Friday night; we'd just had some mother-daughter bonding time after all the guests had left.'

Julian snorted at this, ''Mother-daughter bonding time'? Is that seriously what she's calling revealing that she's been poisoning your father, breaking into your office and threatening you?'

Brooke remained silent, frozen in place and unblinking as she watched Kathy continue with her charade.

'When we didn't hear from her for a few days, I just assumed that she'd gone away from the city for a bit to clear her head and have a break. She'd had such a busy, stressful few weeks – what with the award and then the break-in – we'd talked about her getting away for a couple of days that night but she'd made it sound like it would be in a week or so. I did think it was strange that she hadn't told us – my husband and I, that is – that she was going or said goodbye to us but, well, I just thought that it must have all become too much for her. We're worried sick. I'm just so concerned for my husband, with his ill health, that he won't be able to cope or that this whole thing could be to target him. So I've arranged for a personal bodyguard to be with him every minute of every day to make sure no one can get to him.

'If I'd thought for a second that she was in any kind of danger – that she-

'I'm sorry…this is all just–' she broke off with a sob, pressing a perfectly manicured hand to her lips, before continuing a moment later, 'We're just so worried about her. I feel like I've let her down, you know? If I'd just realised sooner…'

She paused to look up at the camera with tearful eyes, 'Brooke, sweetheart, if you're watching this – if you can hear me – please just let us know that you're okay. We just want to know that you're safe, darling, your father and I. And…if you're out there and you have my stepdaughter, my beautiful girl, if you're k-keeping her somewhere…please let her go. Don't hurt her…please…Brooke, your father…'

At this, Kathy broke completely down into tears and the scene was replaced with the inside of a newsroom, with the reporter explaining that Mrs Davis-Powell had been unable to continue with the interview. But Brooke had already seen the warning that Kathy had given to her just before the image had changed: the look in her stepmother's eyes had changed ever so slightly and her voice had taken on a harder edge to it that was so subtle that you'd have had to have been looking for it to notice it.

Brooke had.

'She knows I'm alive,' she said hoarsely, staring at the TV set with now unseeing eyes.

'Hey, we don't know that,' Julian said comfortingly, putting his hand out to cover hers.

'N-no, I do,' Brooke insisted, turning to him with a terrified expression covering her features, 'did you see the way she looked at the camera when she mentioned my father that last time?'

Julian shook his head and then reached for the remote again, rewinding the live feed until it reached the last couple of frames of Kathy's interview. He let it play again until she said the words 'Brooke, your father…' again and then he paused it.

It was such a small, seemingly insignificant glance at the camera on Kathy's part that if he hadn't been looking for it he would've never noticed it. But as the close-up, stilled image of her face now filled the screen, it was frighteningly clear.

The expression on Kathy's face had changed, just for the one second that the footage was currently paused on, from being that of a distraught, worried stepmother to that of an emotionless, cold criminal sending out a threat to anyone who stood in her way. In light of this, Kathy's final words were no longer not the beginning of a failed attempt to say anything about her husband, but rather a threat to Brooke that what she'd said before still stood and that she was under no circumstances to contact the police.

Julian broke his gaze free from the power of Kathy's stare to glance over at Brooke and saw that she was shaking, tears falling freely down her face.

Quickly, he turned off the TV and moved closer to her on the sofa, resting a hand on her shoulder blade, 'Hey, it's going to be okay. Even if she does know you're alive, she doesn't know where you are. You're safe here.'

'B-but my f-father,' Brooke stammered in between chattering teeth, 'don't you see? That thing about her making sure he had a bodyguard by his bed 24/7, that wasn't her being worried about his safety. That was a message to me: if I come out of hiding, go anywhere near New York, or go to the cos, she'll have one of them kill him before anyone can get to him first. He's still in danger because of me…he could die because of–'

'Hey, hey, no, you can't think like that,' Julian cut her off before she could get more upset, 'your father is probably the safest he's ever been right now.'

'What the hell do you mean? He's not safe with her there or her cronies,' Brooke recoiled from him.

'That's not what I meant,' Julian explained quietly, moving back a bit to give her space, 'I mean that, yes, Kathy probably has worked out by now that you're still alive but that means that she has to keep your father alive now. If you'd genuinely been dead then she might've thought about killing him but if she does that now then she'll lose all her leverage over you. The only reason why you're hiding and keeping silent is because she threatened to kill him if you spoke out, right?'

Brooke nodded slowly.

'And I'm right in thinking that if it was just your life at stake than you'd go to the cops anyway, right?' Another nod from Brooke and he continued, 'So, if Kathy kills your father then she knows that there'll be nothing to stop you from exposing her for who she really is.'

'So she needs to keep him alive,' Brooke finished for him, feeling hope returning to her once more, 'you're right: he is safe. For now.'

'And so are you,' Julian assured her, 'she doesn't know where you are, and even if she does find out she'll never be able to get to you. The estate is the most secure place in town and this cottage is probably even safer than the manor. She'd never guess that you were living here rather than in the main house and, in the incredibly unlikely event that she should somehow manage to make it past all the security there to work out that you're not there, someone would've been able to warn you by then.

'You're safe, Brooke. I'm here and I'm not going to let her hurt you. Not again,' he vowed.

Brooke moved closer to him again and took both in hands in hers, smiling in gratitude, 'Thank you, Julian. Honestly, everyone's been so great but it helps so much just knowing that you're here with me.'

'I'm not going anywhere, Brooke, I promise,' he said solemnly, locking eyes with her so she could see how serious he was.

'Well…in that case,' she chuckled softly, 'I have something for you. I was going to ask you after dinner anyway but I figure now seems to be the right time, so why not?'

'What is it?' Julian asked curiously, his tone instantly lightening upon seeing Brooke smiling again.

'I-it's the keys to here, to the cottage,' she mumbled, blushing, 'I'd like for you to have them – the second set, that is. I know it's only been a week but…well, I'd like for you to be able to think of this place as your home too…if that's what you want, of course.'

'You want me to move in? Permanently and officially, that is,' Julian clarified.

'Y-yes, that's what I want,' Brooke nodded, insecurity and embarrassment causing her to avoid his gaze, 'if – if that's what you want too.'

'Of course it's what I want, Brooke,' Julian beamed at her, 'I just didn't want you to feel like you had to have me living here with you if you didn't want to.'

'I like living with you,' she admitted, giving him a shy smile as she managed to make eye contact again.

'Good, 'cause I like living with you too,' he smiled in return, 'and you know that if you ever need some space and want me to stay back up at the main house for a night or two, then just let me know. I won't be offended, I promise.'

She laughed lightly, 'Okay, just as long as the same goes for you too. You know, just in case you ever get sick of seeing me every day.'

'Never,' he grinned but his tone was sincere. He stuck out his hand, 'Deal?'

'Deal,' she nodded, shaking his hand firmly. She kept a hold of his hand a moment longer to drop the keys into it.

They hit the skin of his palm with a dull jingle and it felt like the sound of a promise of a much bigger future that they couldn't see yet.

XxX

It was midday on the following Tuesday that Karen Scott found that her phone was ringing, with Peyton Sawyer's caller ID and a picture of her smiling face lighting up the screen.

'Peyton, sweetie, this is a pleasant surprise,' she said, delighted.

'Hey Karen,' she heard Peyton reply, 'how are you?'

'I'm good, thanks, honey. I've just finished up a coffee morning with some of Keith and Dan's associates and I'm planning on hiding for a little bit before anyone else can trick me into socialising with anymore businessmen,' she chuckled.

'That bad, huh?' Peyton laughed.

'Ugh, you have no idea! They're just all so boring – only interested in bragging to you about how much money they make or how fast their car is. And when they're not doing that, then they're trying to butter you up to get into business with your husband and brother-in-law. Don't get me wrong, I love Keith more than anything in the world but sometimes I really wish he hadn't chosen the line of work he has or that I wasn't expected to tag along to so many of his functions and meetings,' Karen groaned, pressing a hand to her forehead to try and alleviate the onset of a headache that listening to men in suits for two hours had given her.

'Wow, that really does sound awful,' Peyton sympathised.

'Peyton, sweetheart, just take my advice and never marry a guy who's involved in the high end of business,' she told the younger girl, half-joking, half-serious.

'Noted,' Peyton replied, the hint of a snort in her voice, 'though I don't exactly see me marrying anyone any time soon.'

Karen thought of the elder of her twin boys and his enduring crush on the blonde that she was currently speaking to and smiled serenely, 'Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that, honey, love tends to sneak up on you when you least expect it.'

'It can knock me over the head in broad daylight and it won't make a damn difference if I've still got Claudia to contend with,' Peyton said, properly snorting this time, 'the only reason she let me date Jake in college was because she didn't know he existed.'

'Oh, sweetheart,' Karen sighed, 'I know it's tough but if you find someone you really want to be with, even if you are still stuck with Claudia at the time, you'll find a way to make it work. You can't give up on love just because your stepmom's a psycho.'

There was a pause before Peyton changed the topic, 'How are Keith and Lily doing? It feels crazy that it's only been just over a week since you guys left town.'

'They're both good,' Karen shook her head at Peyton's not-so-subtle attempts to dodge the topic of love and romance, 'listen, sweetie, I know you must be calling you on your lunch break and, as much as I love talking to you, I don't want to use up all of your free time when you should be having a rest. So, why don't you tell me why you called me?'

Again, there was a moment of silence while Peyton clearly tried to work out how she was going to phrase whatever it was she was about to say. Then, she cleared her throat and started apologetically, 'Okay, just before I do, I just wanna say I'm sorry in advance for what I'm about to ask you, but I want you to know that I wouldn't be asking you if I really didn't have any other choice.'

Karen smiled at the blonde's hesitation and said encouragingly, 'It's okay, Peyton, just say whatever it is you need to say.'

She heard Peyton take a deep breath down the line, 'Okay, well, it's about the night of the ball…'

'Ah, I see,' the older woman suppressed a grin; she'd been wondering when she was going to get a phone call from the blonde about this, 'this wouldn't have anything to do with you dancing the night away with my son, would it?'

There was a groan from the other end of the line and she could just imagine Peyton burying her head in her hands in embarrassment.

'Yes? I guess you kinda already knew this was coming,' Peyton sighed.

'What, you calling me about it or you becoming a trending topic?' Karen teased.

After another, longer groan, Peyton replied, 'Ugh, it's a disaster, Karen! My stupid masked face is everywhere in town and on TV and I keep just waiting for the moment when Claudia or Megan finally works out it's me everyone's been searching for the whole time.'

'They won't, sweetheart,' Karen assured her, 'don't worry: those two think far too highly of themselves and what they think is their hold over you to think for a second that you could possibly go against their orders and have snuck out.'

'I hope you're right,' Peyton squeaked.

'So, what is it then, honey? What do you have to ask me?' Karen asked gently, feeling that she probably already knew the answer to that anyway.

'Okay, so…obviously you know that I'm the 'mystery girl' that Lucas danced with that night and that he's searching for now, but he doesn't know that and he also doesn't know that you know that. And, well, I wanted to ask…and I'm literally only asking you this 'cause I don't have any other choice…but he can't find out it was me, Karen. If Claudia and – well, you know why he and they can't find out.

'The thing is, at the end of yesterday's episode, they'd started to look through the footage from the ball so they could piece together where I'd been before I met Lucas and who I'd spoken to. And the only people I spoke to there who know who I am, are you and Haley and of course Lucas is going to want to speak to you both about it…so, what I wanted to ask you is…Karen, could you not tell him it was me?

'You don't even have to lie to him and tell him you don't know who I am, just tell him the truth: that you can't say. I know it's a lot to ask – holding something like that from your son – and I'm so sorry to have to do this, but I just don't know what else to do,' Peyton finished desperately.

'Peyton, honey, it's okay. I understand, of course I do, why you want to keep it a secret. I mean, if it was just a case of you telling Lucas and it remaining a secret between you two then it would be one thing, but he's gone public with this whole thing now so people are going to want to know eventually, not to mention Dan. He definitely won't let this slide past,' Karen sighed, thinking of how excited her brother-in-law had been about the whole story when he'd seen the footage from the ball.

'I know, that's what's making this all so hard! There's just no way I can come forward without everyone finding out, including my crazy stepmother and stepsister. I even thought about going to Julian the day after the ball and telling him that he couldn't use the footage of me 'cause of the contract that I signed for the show that said that I couldn't be featured on it. But then that would've meant that he'd have known it was me and you can bet, even with his best intentions, it wouldn't have been able to have been kept a secret for long.'

'I understand, it's not exactly like yours are ordinary circumstances, sweetheart. And it's because of that – and only because of that – that I won't tell Lucas it was you. I hope you know that there aren't many other people or many other situations that could come up that I'd keep something like this from one of my children,' Karen told her.

'Thank you, thank you, thank you, Karen! Thanks so much,' Peyton cried, relief flooding her voice, 'you have no idea what a weight that is off my mind. And I really appreciate it, more than you could ever know.'

'For you, honey, it's nothing,' Karen smiled, 'but I do think that I should just warn you that even with me and Haley both keeping our mouths shut about this, it doesn't mean that Lucas isn't going to find out who his 'mystery girl' is eventually. That boy can be darn stubborn when he wants to be and, once he's set his mind to doing something, he won't stop until it's done. He'll keep searching for you until he finds you, so I'm afraid all I can do is to buy you some time.

'And it probably won't be that much in the long run: Dan will want this search wrapped up neatly by the end of the season at the latest. We might be living in reality but he has to think about things in terms of the show and something as big as this dragging on for any longer than a season will bore and frustrate the public. I'm sorry for what that means for you, though.'

'It's okay, Karen,' Peyton sighed wearily, 'I know I can't hide forever but as long as I have a bit more time, I might be able to work out some way that I can get out of this mess with as little damage to everyone around me as possible.'

'You'll figure something out, Peyton; you've always been a smart girl,' Karen told her.

'Thanks, Karen. I don't know what I ever did to deserve a friend like you.'

'Likewise,' she replied lightly, 'well, I'll let you go in a second but, first, I just wanted to say something. I could embarrass you by asking you lots of questions about how you feel about my son and whether or not you want to be in a relationship with him, but I won't. If you want to tell me the answers to those questions, we can have that conversation another time. But what I do want to say is this: if, at the end of all of this, once Lucas knows who you are, you want to date him then nothing would make me happier than having it be you that my son ends up with. However, if it happens to be that you get through this and you decide that you don't want to be in a relationship with him, then that's fine too. I'll still love you just the same.'

'Thank you, Karen,' Peyton said again, this time with a slight tremble to her voice, 'that's good to hear.'

'Any time, sweetie,' Karen smiled, 'now, you go and enjoy whatever's left of your lunch break and I'm going to go and find a quiet room somewhere to go and hide out in.'

'Bye, Karen,' Peyton chuckled, 'I'll speak to you again soon, and thanks again.'

'Bye, sweetie,' Karen said and ended the call.

And, just as she stood up to find somewhere to go and have some peace and quiet, her phone rang again. She glanced down and saw that this time, it was Lucas' face that filled the screen and his ID that was written across it.

She sighed and squared her shoulders. This was going to be an interesting phone call.

XxX

Haley was in a foul mood as she trudged up the last stretch of the hill on her way up to the manor for her latest tutoring session with Nathan. A week had passed since the minor breakthrough in their professional relationship and they had somehow managed to continue being civil and even, tentatively, friendly with one another in the session that they'd had since then. As such, Haley's mood wasn't a result of the prospect of spending time with the dark-haired Scott brother (though it definitely had been the previous week), but rather it had been caused by two other people in her life.

The first of these was her father: the results from his tests still hadn't come back yet but his mental health seemed to be as poor as ever. He was still staying up until all hours of the morning in his study, forgetting what day it was and neglecting food and drink. Every hour that they went without an explanation for his erratic mood swings or memory loss was another hour that Haley grew increasingly worried about her father's health. Her father's wellbeing wasn't angering her – though her mood currently was decidedly annoyed – but rather upsetting her. It was part of the reason for her bad mood, but not for the simmering indignation that she now felt roiling away within her.

No, the cause of that was solely her boyfriend.

After days of the silence from Garrett that Haley had now become accustomed to after two years of dating him, he had finally shown up out of the blue that morning at the bookshop to tell her that he had got the job as the Scott brothers' personal trainer while they were in town. It was a few weeks later than they'd said it would be in terms of him finding out but the position meant a huge paycheque, an almost guaranteed appearance on the show (and, therefore, national TV) and free PR for his services and the gym simply by him being offered the position. So, it was fair to say that Garrett didn't mind so much that he'd been made to wait longer than he'd originally anticipated.

His jubilant mood upon entering the shop, bellowing out his news to her before the door had even banged shut behind him, quickly turned sour when he'd seen that Haley was not alone at the counter.

Mouth had dropped in just five minutes earlier to give her some worksheets that Nathan had completed and wanted her to have before their session later but had had a meeting to attend and so hadn't been able to give them to her in person. Despite having seen him in passing a couple of times whilst being up at the manor, Haley hadn't had the chance to catch up with him properly and, as they hadn't seen one another since their high school graduation, they naturally had a lot to talk about.

Haley had introduced Mouth to Garrett and explained what his role with the Scotts and that they would likely be seeing a lot more of each other now that Garrett was going to be the boys' personal trainer. Mouth, ever the polite and kind man he was, greeted Garrett and attempted to start a conversation with him.

Garrett, however, merely demanded why Mouth was trying to hit on his girlfriend so blatantly.

The whole situation had escalated from there, with Haley having to physically place herself in-between the two men to prevent her boyfriend from punching her former classmate. Mouth had left hastily after that, leaving the two of them alone together.

'What the hell was that?!' Haley demanded as soon as the bell had chimed to note Mouth's complete departure from the shop.

'I don't know what you mean,' Garrett said stubbornly, folding his enormous arms across his broad chest and sticking his chiselled chin out.

'You know exactly what I mean! I thought we were done with all of this, Garrett,' Haley cried, half in despair, half in frustration.

'You can't honestly expect me to walk into this shop and find some nerd,' he spat the word out distastefully, 'leaning all over the counter and flirting with my girlfriend like-'

'Marvin Macfadden was not flirting with me! I've known the guy since kindergarten, for goodness' sake; he's one of my oldest friends and he certainly doesn't flirt with me or me with him! And you can't speak to him the way you just did,' Haley shouted, her sheer anger at her boyfriend overtaking her normal urge to appease him in everything.

'I can speak to anyone hitting on my girlfriend any way I want to,' he retorted hotly.

'For the last time, he wasn't hitting on me! Mouth is my friend, nothing more and you were just so rude to him. I thought we'd agreed that you weren't going to do stuff like this anymore. I don't see or hear from you in days – you might as well be dead for all I know – and the first thing you do is to verbally assault my friend! I'm sick of it, Garrett,' she finished in exasperation.

He went to move closer to her, presumably to continue to fight his side of the argument, but she was so sick of his overly macho presence and constant attempts to exert himself over everyone, including her, that she turned her back on him and went behind the counter. This was the first time she had ever walked away from him in a fight, ever shown him any indication that she wouldn't be the first one to cave in, and the move clearly shocked him enough to see some kind of sense.

He stepped forward to the counter, his expression softening as a clear attempt to win her over, 'Haley, come on, don't be like this. I haven't done this in ages; I've really been trying; you know I have. I just…I was so excited about coming in here and telling you about the job. And then I came in and saw you and him laughing and you looked so close and…and I just lost control for a moment, that's all.'

Haley regarded him coolly, grateful for the counter to act as a buffer for his advances as it meant she could see and hear him clearly rather than allowing herself to be distracted by his touch and looks like she so often was in situations like this. She wasn't going to give in so easily this time.

She wasn't sure what it was that was giving her the courage to stand her ground, where before she'd always baulked in the face of the full force of his piercing blue eyes, but she drew from it now. Perhaps it was the fact that Mouth was a close friend of hers and not some random stranger like the source of Garrett's jealous rages normally were, or perhaps it was the fact that she was simply growing weary of the hypocrisy of their relationship. How was it, after all, that it was somehow acceptable for him to waltz off for days, weeks at a time without so much as a word to her and if she objected to it, then she was branded as clingy and over-dependent by him, yet he was allowed to then fly off into brute mode when she so much as looked at another man without being labelled as over-protective and paranoid?

When they had first started dating, moments like these had been a regular feature of their relationship: she could barely walk down the street with him without him singling out some poor, unsuspecting man to be the victim of his latest imagined challenge. It would be the waiter that smiled at her a little too widely, or the bartender that poured a little bit extra into her glass, or the passer-by she gave directions to who looked a little too closely at her. It didn't matter how small a detail it was, Garrett would pick up on it and then frequently revert to either verbal or physical aggression to resolve the offence.

At first, though it had scared her, Haley had been touched by how protective Garrett was of her and that he thought her to be attractive enough to be warranting so much attention from the male public. But whatever charm his jealousy had, it quickly wore off and became humiliating and frustrating to her. She grew tired of having to apologise profusely to the men he either hurt or insulted and having to convince them, in some cases, not to press charges. Constantly having to explain her own actions to him or monitoring her slightest movements or phrasings with other men around him also grew tiresome.

Eventually, Haley had been able to pluck up the courage to bring it up with him and to offer him the ultimatum that either he change his habits and lay off or their relationship would be over. Inside her, she'd known that she lacked the conviction to follow through on her threat but, luckily, he'd taken her seriously enough to not question her resolve and they'd had a year of peace in that aspect of their love-life at least.

Until now.

'I told you before, Garrett, and I thought I'd made myself perfectly clear, you cannot treat people like that,' she told him, ignoring the puppy-dog eyes he was sending her way, 'you need to apologise to Mouth. Immediately. I'm not going to do it for you.'

'You're right, of course you are,' Garrett nodded, obviously sensing just how angry she was with him this time, 'I'll do it as soon as I finish work tonight.'

'You'd better,' she warned him with her eyes and tone that she wasn't messing around this time.

'I will, okay? I promise,' he reached across the counter to take her hand but she withdrew it sharply from the surface before he could.

'Do you have any idea how hurtful it is, knowing that you don't trust me?

'Of course I trust you,' he frowned.

'Well, you clearly don't if you think that someone 'flirting' with me is enough of a threat to fly off the handle about. If you really trusted me, then you would know that – even if all those men in the past and Mouth today were actually flirting with me – it would still be nothing for you to be worried about. I love you, I want you - not Mouth, not anyone else. Not that they have, but any guy from the street, or even one of my friends, could hit on me and it wouldn't make a difference, because I'm not interested in them. I only care about you. But you clearly don't trust me or you wouldn't feel the need to see off every single potential 'threat' like this,' she pointed out.

'I do trust you, Haley, I swear I do,' he protested, 'I know how much you love me and that you'd never cheat on me.'

'Then why do you keep on doing this? Why do you keep acting like I'm going to run off with any guy that's even vaguely polite to me?'

'Because I don't trust them! I know how guys think, I know that they don't care whether a chick is in a relationship or not, whether her boyfriend's standing right next to her or not. If they want that girl, stuff like that won't stop them,' he explained.

'But you should still trust me!' Haley cried in frustration, 'It doesn't matter if they want me or what they try to do to get me, it's not going to make a difference because I'm not going to fall for it. I'm not going to go off with them, so it shouldn't matter to you how much you think they're flirting with me.'

'You're right, I know you are,' he sighed deeply, 'I'm sorry, Haley. I do trust you, honestly, it's just sometimes I forget all about that and all I can see is some creep looking at you and then I can't help myself. But it won't happen again, I promise.'

She gave him a sceptical look.

'Haley, look at me,' he said seriously, putting his hand over his heart, 'I promise you I won't let it happen again. From now on, no matter how jealous I get, I'm going to trust you and not focus on how much I want to punch whichever jerk it is, okay?'

'Okay,' she smiled a small, tight smile, 'but just so you know, if there ever is someone I think deserves punching in the face, I'll let you know, okay?'

'Okay,' he chuckled, 'I'll wait for your signal, then. I just want to protect you, Haley, that's all.'

She nodded and stepped out from behind the counter to kiss him.

'Congratulations on your job,' she said, with her arms still around his neck, 'I'm so proud of you.'

'Thanks,' he grinned.

'I've got to go,' she said, detangling herself from him, 'I've got my next tutoring session with Nathan.'

'Hey, maybe we can go up there together on the days you're tutoring?' he suggested.

Haley nodded enthusiastically, hoping that this marked a turning point in their relationship where she might actually get to see him more than once a week. As she left, she made him repeat his promise to apologise to Mouth later.

By the time she had reached the foot of the hill, however, doubts had begun to creep back into Haley's mind. Once she was hallway up the incline, her optimism had been replaced with scepticism. In the remaining minutes that it took to climb to the gates of the manor, she was just about ready to go back down the hill and continue on with her fight with Garrett.

She felt the injustice of not being able to turn to him for comfort over her concerns about her father's health. She had tried to before and he had merely dismissed her worries as 'silly' and refused to 'indulge' her by talking any more about it. Of course, she had Peyton and Brooke to lean on – and they had both been great – but it still rankled that she was in some way 'weak' for wanting support from her boyfriend.

Also weighing down the pit of her stomach like a stone was the certainty that she was likely to be 'punished' by Garrett with another string of weeks of absence on his part to teach her not to argue with him or to question his actions. It had become a pattern in their relationship that she had recognised over the two years that they had been together: she would dare to mention something that he had said or done which had upset her and he would then disappear from her life for days or weeks on end until he felt she had learned her lesson.

This lesson was that life without him was so miserable that she should just put up with his faults so that she didn't have to endure that prospect. At first, she'd be angry that he'd abandoned her, but, as the time wore on, she'd grow increasingly worried that he wasn't going to be coming back this time and so by the time he did show up again, she'd be so relieved that she wouldn't scold him for taking off for fear of going through the whole ordeal again. Of course, he'd always be so loving and attentive whenever he returned that she would be made to feel crazy for ever doubting him and horrible for questioning his character.

Eventually, she had just learned that it was better to stay quiet unless she absolutely had to speak up.

But now, away from the hypnotising power of his embrace and voice, the unfairness of the situation hung heavily over her like a dark cloud. Why on earth should she suffer for something he had done wrong? Why should she be treated like a naughty child for standing up for one of her friends that he had unjustly accused of flirting with her? Where was the justice in that?

He should be the one feeling terrible about what he'd done, not the other way around. He should be grovelling at her feet for forgiveness, not swanning off to heaven knows where for days on end and leaving her in the dark.

Just to test out her premonition, she had called his cell on her way up the hill and, sure enough, it had been forwarded straight to voicemail. She had tried to tell herself that it was just because he was probably back at work by then, but instinct and their history told her otherwise. It also told her that this meant it was highly unlikely that he would be apologising to Mouth any time soon.

Nathan greeted her at the door with a fairly cheery attitude and seemed to be in a chatty mood as they made their way to the tutoring room but he picked up on her bad mood and lack of talking pretty quickly and left her to stew in silence. She gave him his work to do and explained in minimal language the various points he might struggle on and then left him to it while she marked the work that Mouth had brought in for her earlier.

The minutes ticked by in silence and, slowly, Haley's anger abated and she began to feel guilty for taking out her annoyance on Nathan when he had nothing to do with Garrett's treatment of her.

'Are you finished with that yet?' she asked, attempting to make her voice sound more amiable than it had been the last time she'd spoken to him.

'Not yet,' he replied, looking up at her in surprise at the change in her tone, 'but I'm almost done.'

She nodded her acknowledgement of that statement and then returned to her marking. Her red pen paused on the paper as she felt the need to apologise to him for her mood rising up stronger than it had been before. She was just about to open her mouth to say this to him, when Nathan spoke.

His head remained bent down over his work and he continued writing as he talked, making her wonder at first if he was actually speaking to her or himself. But then she replayed what he'd said in her head and as soon as she pieced it together, her pen slipped from her hand and her mouth dropped open in shock.

'I think I'm falling in love with you.'

She played it back to herself in her head again, just to make sure she'd heard him correctly but it still came out the same.

'I think I'm falling in love with you.'

There was only one response she could think of for a statement like that.

'I'm sorry, what?'

A/N: I have been waiting to write that last part for ages! I actually had it planned for the end of the next chapter originally but I realised that Naley's story needed moving along a little bit faster in order to catch up with Leyton and Brulian. I know that there's a fair bit of description in the last part but that was done to push together a couple of scenes that I had planned to do separately into one in order to move things along a bit faster. All I can say is that I'm planning for things to be moving along faster for everyone's storylines from now on - the timeframe for all of the past chapters has been quite slow and detailed and I'm sorry if that's made the story feel like it's been dragging but it was necessary for setting up all the important parts of the plot but I'm going to try to move things on faster now. I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to upload this - it's been sitting on my laptop 3/4 done for months but I just haven't had the time to finish it until now. I won't go into all the reasons why it's as late as it is but one of them is that my laptop decided to delete part of it and I had to rewrite it.

Can I also just say how much I love Nathan in this chapter? I hope you guys liked it as well and that it was worth the wait! I'm really going to try to make the next chapter not be such a long wait, and I really appreciate you all being so patient with me and sticking with this. Honestly, you guys are the reason I'm still writing this. I just want you to know that there's no way that I'm giving up on this story - I still have so many great things planned for it, so just bear with me.

In the next chapter, Lucas is going to step up the search for his mystery girl and Haley will deal with the fallout from Nathan's confession. It's going to be great! Please review, it motivates me to write and to everyone who's given me notes on my writing, I want you to know how much I appreciate it and that I'm trying to take it all on board whilst still being true to the story and my own style as a writer. Thank you all for reading and putting up with my flakiness in updating!