"Nathan! Put me back in!" Brooke screamed at her older brother.

"Sit your butt down on that bench now or you won't go back in the game at all," he gritted at her, trying to keep his voice down so other parents couldn't hear him.

"Quinn, go in for Nikki."

"It's about time," Brooke huffed from her spot on the bench.

Nathan looked through the stands, not being able to find Haley anywhere. He needed a reprieve and bad. Brooke needed her butt taken outside and spanked and with their new deal, Haley was supposed to have his back, but where was she? The buzzer went off for halftime and he was brought out of his thoughts of killing his little sister and where he might hide the body. He needed a break, but he couldn't leave the kids without an adult and his team mom was nowhere in sight.

"You okay?" a weary Karen asked, noticing the flux of emotions on his face.

"No. Have you seen Haley?"

"Not lately."

"Can you watch them for a minute?"

"Of course."

Nathan rushed out of the room to the concession stand, hoping Haley would be there, but he couldn't find her anywhere. He went the only next logical place. The girls' bathroom.

"Hales?" he shouted before he walked in.

"Nathan?" she said, peeking out from the stall. "What are you doing in here?" she whispered.

"I was looking for you." Haley stepped out of her stall for a moment, but only to pull Nathan in. "Am I really getting this lucky?" he laughed as she started going through his pockets.

"No. I need your keys. I need to get out of here. Now."

"Why? Are you on your period or something?"

"No, you idiot. I just need out of here. And I need Quinn. Fast. Please."

Nathan could tell Haley was trying her best not to lose it, but the tears falling down her face showed him how important whatever was happening was. "Hales, slow down. Talk to me."

"I can't."

"What am I supposed to tell Quinn? What's so important that she can't finish the game?"

Haley thought things over in her head and realized taking Quinn away from the game was the worst thing she could do. It would just draw more attention to her, which was the last thing she needed right now. "Fine, she doesn't have to leave. But Nathan, do not take your eyes off of her. Don't let her talk to any strangers and just try not to shout at her too much."

"Okay… Where am I supposed to tell her you went?"

"Tell her I got my period. I had to go home and change."

"But you didn't, did you?"

"No, Nathan. Just go coach, please."

"Are you sure you should be alone right now?"

"I am fine. Okay? I just really have to leave."

Without another word, Haley was gone, leaving Nathan alone in the girls' bathroom. "Great," he laughed as he stepped out of the stall to see Nikki's mom staring at him. "Hey," he nodded before walking back out to the court.


"I can't believe you missed it," Quinn squealed when she saw her sister's face.

"What did I miss?" she asked enthusiastically.

"They won!" Nathan grinned as he walked through the door, thinking the win was the most important thing she missed.

"Well, of course we won," Quinn laughed as if they could ever lose. "We got to ride in a Hummer!"

"Oh my God, I took your booster seats," Haley realized quite a bit too late.

"Yeah, whatever, Hales. We're not babies. We don't need booster seats."

"By law, you do," she scolded her sister.

"Why do you have to ruin everything?" Quinn screamed at Haley, who had completely shut down her excitement about riding in a cool car. She ran off to her bedroom and Brooke quickly followed her.

Haley fell to the ground in a jumbled mess.

"Whoa," Nathan said out of shock before rushing to her side. "Please don't cry, baby. You know she doesn't mean anything by it."

"I know," she whimpered.

"Okay, then what's the big deal? Why did you have to leave?"

Haley couldn't catch her breath. The tears were coming faster and her breathing was getting more erratic. All she wanted to do was tell Nathan what was going on, but she couldn't. Words wouldn't form. Her whole world seemed to be crumbling and as it collapsed on top of itself, so did her vision. "Paper bag!" she heard Nathan scream before everything went black.


When Haley finally opened her eyes again she saw both Nathan and Brooke staring down at her. She could tell that she had been moved to her bed, but had no idea how or why. She looked down and could feel Quinn shaking on top of her. "Are you okay?" Haley gasped when she felt the tears staining her shirt.

"Haley!" Quinn screamed once she saw her eyes open. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it. I love you."

"I love you too, but what are you talking about?"

"I thought you died," Quinn cried.

Haley looked at Nathan, confused by everything going on. "I told you she didn't die," he said, letting Haley know that he hadn't put that crazy idea in Quinn's head.

"I know, but I didn't believe you. She wasn't waking up…"

"Okay, but she's awake now, so we all know she's okay. Why don't you girls go fix us some dinner and let Haley rest."

"I don't want to leave her," Quinn said, squeezing her sister tight.

"Honey, can you just go help Brooke? I need to talk to Nathan, okay?" Haley said, trying to keep calm.

"Okay," Quinn said reluctantly, giving her one more hug and a kiss.

Once the girls were out of the room, Nathan shut the door and joined Haley on the bed. "You okay?"

"Not really. What the hell just happened? How did I get in my bed? And why is my sister crying?"

"You had an anxiety attack. I only know because Brooke has them some times. Pretty much your brain was on overload. It needed time to reboot, so your body forced you to pass out. You're gonna feel like shit for the rest of the day. Don't worry, I won't pressure you to talk about the game."

"The game," Haley said, snapping her body back to attention and sitting up when she remembered what had upset her. Just as fast as she sat up, her body involuntarily fell right back down.

"Vertigo," Nathan explained as he saw how dejected Haley looked at her body's inability to function. "Don't get up too fast. Just relax."

"Nathan…" Haley started, but couldn't get out the words. Tears were flooding from her eyes again and Nathan felt helpless. Sure, he could deal with anxiety attacks, but tears were a different story.

"Hales, you don't have to talk about it. It's okay."

"No! I need to." Haley started breathing hard again and Nathan quickly handed her a paper bag that was on the bedside table. "What?"

"Breathe in it," he told her as he guided it to her mouth.

She did as she was told and her breathing quickly went back to normal. "He was there, Nathan."

"Who?"

Haley took a long breath and gripped Nathan's hand in a death lock. "My dad," she finally said.

I haven't had a cliffhanger on a story in a while, so I figured it was time for one. Adding on that I'm still working on my papers and won't have much time to write, I'm sure I'll piss quite a few people off, but oh well, it'll make the next update all that more exciting!