"Hales, Haley," Nathan said, shaking her shoulder lightly. "It's time to wake up, baby. The plane's gonna land in a few minutes."
Haley looked around groggily and stretched her arms out in front of her. She blinked a few times and rubbed her eyes before looking up at Nathan as the weight of everything that had happened in the last six hours once again sank in.
Six hours ago her oldest sister had called her and told her their parents were dead and then insinuated that she didn't care enough to return to Texas for the funeral. She hadn't told Nathan about Vivian's accusation. She didn't want him to think badly of her family before he even met them. It was true that she'd never gone back to Briar Creek after graduating high school. It was true that she didn't go home for holidays or birthdays or anniversaries. But that didn't mean she didn't care. For the longest time it had been because she couldn't afford it. Then it was just something she'd never done. But that didn't mean that she didn't love her family and didn't care. She always called and she'd seen everyone when she'd played in Dallas on her last tour. Sometimes though, everyone made her feel like it wasn't enough.
Five hours ago she'd left her apartment with Nathan so they could go pack his bags. He'd been so sweet and supportive it had almost brought her to tears again. She'd sat on his bed wrapped in a blanket that he'd magically procured out of thin air as he scrambled around his room trying to throw everything he could possibly need into a duffle bag. She'd reminded him that he would need a suit for the funeral and then he'd sat next to her on the bed for ten minutes as she cried again. She probably would have cried longer but Jake had called to tell them that he'd found them a flight to Dallas. Haley's home town was closer to Austin, but the flight to Dallas had been the first available. There wasn't a flight into Austin for twelve hours.
Four hours ago they'd gotten to the airport and been mobbed by the paparazzi. She wasn't sure where the vultures came from, but all of a sudden they were swooping down on her and Nathan as they walked into the airport, Nathan holding his duffle bag and dragging her suitcase along as well. He'd almost lost it when one of the photographers shoved a camera into Haley's tear-stained face and security had to get involved. That was going to end up in the tabloids.
Three hours and thirty minutes ago they'd gotten on the plane and the damn flight attendant had asked her so many times if she needed anything she'd completely snapped. Haley was almost certain she was going to go to the tabloids and say what a bitch Haley James was when she flew commercial. It wouldn't matter that her parents had just died. The only thing that would matter was that she'd snapped at a poor unsuspecting flight attendant over offering her a bag of pretzels one too many times. That was two unfavorable stories about her and Nathan from one trip to the airport.
Two hours ago Nathan had finally convinced her to get some rest and she'd fallen asleep curled up in his arms. He'd raised the arm rest between their seats and let her cuddle up against him. He'd rubbed her back soothingly as she drifted off to sleep and she'd been able to rest dreamlessly with him so close. She hadn't wanted to sleep at first, afraid that her parents would haunt her dreams, but Nathan's presence had somehow kept the nightmares away. She'd thought getting to sleep had been difficult, but waking up to a world where her parents didn't exist anymore was the hard part.
He watched as her amber eyes filled with pain and his arms immediately surrounded her, holding her tightly against him. He felt her sag in his arms and once again started to softly rub her back. That always seemed to sooth her. The seatbelt light came on and Haley moved away from him so that she could buckles hers before the plane slowly started its descent. She laced her fingers through his and held his hand tightly as the plane landed. A few minutes later she was officially back in Texas and on her way home for the first time since she was eighteen.
It was just after one o'clock in the morning when their plane landed. The terminal was fairly empty and they were thankful for the privacy as they made their way towards the baggage claim. Nathan stood there waiting for their bags as Haley went over to the rental car counter to pick up the keys to the SUV Jake had ordered for them and have it brought around to their exit. Haley's oldest brother had called offering to come pick them up when their flight got in, but she'd declined saying that it would be easier if they had their own car while they were there.
"You get the car, babe?" Nathan asked as she walked over to him.
"It'll be at the door in about five minutes," Haley said. "There's my bag. I can get it myself, you know. It does have wheels."
"Now what kind of boyfriend would I be if I let my girlfriend get her own bags?" he said as he pulled her bag off the conveyor belt, trying to lighten her mood.
"A normal one," she said with a hint of a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
"Well, maybe I don't want to be normal," he said, grabbing his duffle bag.
"Would you still get my bag if it was zebra print like Brooke's?" she asked.
"You'd be on your own," he said, causing her to chuckle as they made their way out of the airport. "Are you ready for this?"
"Honestly?" Haley sighed. "No. I haven't seen most of my siblings in about a year. We're pretty scattered. I just wish we were all together again for a different reason."
"It's gonna be okay, baby," he said, lifting their bags into the back of the SUV. "We're staying with your sister, right?"
"Yeah," Haley said. "She's got this huge house just outside Briar Creek. Her father-in-law is some sort of oil tycoon or something and both she and her husband are corporate lawyers. I think everyone is staying with her. Just watch out for my sister, Taylor, okay? She has a thing of other sisters' boyfriends."
"Well, it's a good thing I only have a thing for girls named Haley James," he said, leaning down to kiss her softly before walking her around to the passenger side of the car to open her door for her.
…
Nathan had fully expected Haley to fall back asleep once they were in the car, but she surprised him by staying awake the whole ride to give him directions. The SUV had a GPS and the rental company had programmed in Vivian's address for him, but he didn't use it. He knew she needed to feel useful and didn't even bother turning it on. At first she'd chatted about all of her siblings, telling him a little about each one and their families, but as the miles had gone on she'd grown more and more silent as she stared out the window into the black night.
"Turn left at the next street," Haley said, not looking at him. "It'll be the last driveway on your right."
"I'm impressed that you remember how to get her," Nathan said as he turned onto the street Haley had indicated.
"Briar Creek is really small," she shrugged. "It's hard to forget."
"Are you really okay with this, baby?" he asked. "We can find a hotel for tonight and come back in the morning when you're well-rested."
"Vivian's waiting up for us," she said. "I really don't want to deal with her bitching over staying up half the night and then us not showing up."
"If you're sure…"
"It'll be fine, Nathan," Haley said, attempting to smile at him. "My family's really not as bad as I'm making you think. I'm just sad and tired and…"
"I get it," he said, reaching over to squeeze her knee. "Is this the driveway?"
"Yeah," she said "This is it."
Vivian's driveway was nearly a mile long. Haley didn't say anything as they approached the house, but sighed when it came into view. The massive red brick Southern style plantation house was something to be marveled at. It was easily twice the size of Nathan's mansion with a wide front porch that wrapped around the entire house.
"Kind of ostentatious, isn't it?" Haley said as Nathan pulled in behind a mud splattered dark blue pickup truck. "Vivy won't let me live it down that my entire apartment is smaller than her bedroom. Please don't tell her I said that."
"I wasn't going to, Hales," he assured her, cutting off the engine.
The front door opened just after Haley shut her car door and what looked like an older version of Haley with dark brown hair came running out. Nathan guessed that she was probably about ten years older than Haley with dark hair pulled back in a messy bun. She had a white silky robe over her pajama pants and white slippers on her feet as she came rushing out of the house to embrace Haley.
"I'm so glad you're here, Haley Bop," Vivian said as she embraced her younger sister. "Everyone else got here a couple of hours ago and have already gone to bed."
"We got on the first plane we could, Vivy," Haley said, returning her sister's embrace with less gusto.
"You must be Nathan," Vivian said as she stepped back away from Haley. "I'm Vivian Reynolds, Haley's oldest sister."
"It's nice to meet you," Nathan said with a faint smile, sticking out his hand for her to shake. "I wish it was under better circumstances."
"You're practically family now," Vivian said, ignoring his hand and moving to hug him. "Families hug."
Nathan's eyes widened a little as the woman moved to embrace him, and Haley couldn't help but chuckle a little under her breath at his bewildered expression. It was obvious that hugging was not something the Scott family did very often. He patted Vivian awkwardly on her back as she hugged him and breathed a huge sigh of relief when she finally let him go.
"Let me show you two to your room," Vivian said after Nathan had gotten both of their bags out of the car.
The house was as impressive from the inside was it was from the out. Vivian gave a few descriptions of her favorite pieces of furniture or whatever as they passed, but promised a full tour sometime during their visit. She finally stopped in front of a white door on the third floor and pushed it open. The room she led them into looked like something out of a five star hotel. The bed was most likely a California king with a silky light blue and gold patterned duvet cover and an ornate wrought iron frame. A blue and cream carpet was beneath the bed with gold accents to match the duvet. A heavy looking mahogany dresser sat across from the bed with a large plasma screen TV hanging over it. Nathan could see two doors in the room and figured they led to the closet and a bathroom, but was too tired to explore which one was which.
Almost as soon as Vivian left them, Haley dug her pajamas out of her suitcase and went into what he assumed was the bathroom to change. He stripped out of his jeans and t-shirt right there in the room and climbed in beneath the covers, fighting to stay awake until Haley got into bed as well.
"You're okay with this, right?" he asked after she came out of the bathroom. "Sharing a bed and all?"
"It's fine," she replied, climbing into bed next to him. "I'd rather not be alone right now."
"I'm right here, baby," he said softly, gathering her into his arms and pulling her close. "I'm right here if you need me."
"Why can't we ever just be happy, Nathan?" she asked softly.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean every time you and I get to a good place, something else goes wrong," Haley said.
"I don't know why that is," he said. "But I do know that I love you, Hales, and I know that I'm not going anywhere. I'm holding on to you too, remember?"
"God, was that really only a few hours ago?" she said, snuggling against him. "It feels like another lifetime, and I love you too."
Haley snuggled closer against his chest as he rubbed soothing circles on her back. He felt her tense muscles relax against him and she sighed quietly. Nathan pressed a kiss to the top of her head and then closed his eyes. He easily drifted off to sleep, dreaming of the beautiful woman in his arms.
…
Rest didn't come so easily for Haley. Being back in Texas was unsettling. It was so hard being there without her parents. The house she'd grown up in had been sold years ago, but the town contained so many memories. The entire drive, all she could think about was all the times she'd passed the familiar landmarks with her parents. She remembered trips to the mall with her mother, going with her father to his favorite lake for a day of fishing. She remembered sitting at the counter in the diner with her siblings getting milkshakes on hot summer days with sticky moist dollar bills their mother had pressed into their hands before they'd left for the community pool that morning. She felt like her brain was swimming with all the memories and rest just wasn't coming as easily she she'd hoped.
She slowly extricated herself from Nathan's tight embrace without waking him and grabbed her silky lavender bathrobe that matched the sleep shorts she was wearing. She figured a glass of water would help her sleep and quietly slipped down to the first floor to find the kitchen. Vivian's kitchen was full of state-of-the-art stainless steel appliances that Haley was fairly certain her sister never used, but it was fairly easy to locate a glass and fill it with water out of the dispenser on the door of the fridge.
As she was making her way back towards the stairs, she noticed the faint glow from the TV screen coming from Vivian's living room and made her way towards it to see who else was awake. Her bear of a brother, Matt, was sitting up in the couch bed looking at a DVD case in his hands. He had reddish blonde hair and Haley's chocolaty brown eyes. He smiled as soon as he looked up and saw Haley and she immediately made her way over to him
"Hey, Matty," she said. "What are you doing up? Where's Lily?"
"Lily's in her third trimester," Haley's oldest brother, Matt, said. "She couldn't come with me. She's at home with Teddy. Ana came though. She's upstairs in Allie's room."
Matt had been married for six years to his wife, Lily, and had two children with one on the way. Ana was five and was almost a miniature version of her Aunt Haley and Teddy was three with Lily's blonde hair and big blue eyes. Matt had met Lily in his last year playing for the Patriots when he'd visited a camp for kids with disabilities where Lily had been a counselor. The petite blue eyed blonde had given him a run for his money and Matt said that he'd fallen fast and hard. They'd been inseparable ever since their wedding and it was weird to see her big brother without his better half.
"That doesn't answer why you're still awake," Haley said, carefully taking a seat on the bed next to her brother. "And why aren't you in a bedroom?"
"I could be asking you the same question," Matt replied. "And I told Vivian not to bother with a room for me. I figure it'll be easier for Ana to find me if she has a nightmare or whatever if I'm down here. All of those doors in Vivian's hallways look the same. Besides, the DVD collection is down here. Guess what I found."
"Vivian doesn't seriously have Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on DVD, does she?" Haley asked incredulously as she set her cup on one of the end tables next to the couch and grabbed the plastic case out of his hand.
"Seasons one, two and three," Matt said, grinning.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Haley laughed, scrambling off the bed and towards the DVD player.
She popped in the first DVD from season one and then snuggled back into the bed next to her big brother. The James siblings had spent many a Saturday morning watching the cartoon show together. Matt was twelve years older than Haley and the diverse age range of the siblings had made it difficult to find a show they were all willing to watch, but Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles could always be agreed upon.
"Do I hear Donatello?" a sleepy voice asked.
"Brian!"
Brian was the elder of Haley's twin brothers by three minutes. He was very proud of those three minutes and held them over his twin Chris's head every chance he got. At 6'8" he towered over all of his siblings, except for his twin of course, who stood at 6'6". He had long curly reddish blonde hair like Matt's, but had their father's blue eyes. Brian was also the self-proclaimed confirmed bachelor of the family. At twenty nine, he had no intention of ever settling down and was more than happy with going from cheerleader to cheerleader. Their mother, however, had always been fairly certain he was going to end up married with more kids than all the rest of them put together.
"Hey, Haley Bop," Brian said as he made his way into the room and took a seat next to her on the bed. "When did you get here?"
"About an hour or so ago," she said.
"Shh," Matt said. "I'm trying to hear this."
"You three are going to wake the kids up," Vivian scolded as she walked into the room.
"Don't be such a tight ass, Viv," Brian said. "The kids are all on the second floor. There's no way they're going to hear us. Now come over here and watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with us."
"I haven't watched this show in like ten years," Vivian said with a smile, lingering next to the edge of the sofa bed without actually climbing on.
"Which explains why you have it on DVD," Matt said.
"It was on sale and I was feeling nostalgic," Vivian replied. "Does anyone feel like popcorn?"
"Not it!" Haley, Brian and Matt called.
"You guys suck, you know that?"
"We love you too, Vivy," Haley said as Vivian got up off the bed to make her way into the kitchen as Quinn walked into the room.
Quinn was Haley's second oldest sister and had just turned 30. She was the only sibling with naturally dark hair and had blue eyes like Brian and Chris. She'd married her husband David two years before and they were both photographers. They'd recently spent six months in Uganda and had come back with the intention of starting a family. They hadn't had any luck in their last few months, but hadn't given up trying.
"What's everyone doing awake?" she asked.
"Watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," Brian said.
"Ooh!" Quinn nearly squealed. "I had the biggest crush on Rafael."
"I am so telling David you had a crush on a fictional turtle," Brian taunted.
"Hey!" Quinn said. "He was a ninja crime fighting turtle! What's not to love? And if you tell David that, I'll tell that cheerleader you're dating that you slept with Vivian's old My Little Pony night light on in your room until you were twelve."
"You wouldn't dare…"
"Just try me," Quinn replied. "Or I could always tell her about those footie pajamas with the pink bunnies on them.'
"Those were comfortable!" Brian said. "And if you mention them, I'll tell David about that shrine in your closet dedicated to Zack from Saved by the Bell."
"If you do that, then I'll…"
"Alright, children," Vivian interrupted as she walked back into the room carrying two bowls of popcorn. "That's enough."
"Thanks, Vivy," Haley said as she took one of the bowls from her sister and set it in her lap.
"Do I smell popcorn?" another voice called out as Haley's last brother and Brian's twin, Chris, walked into the room.
Although he was two inches shorter than his twin, they were still nearly mirror images of each other. Sometimes Haley still had problems telling them apart when they were together. It seemed a lot simpler when they were apart for some reason. Like his twin, he was still single with little intention of settling down in the near future, but wasn't as opposed to marriage as Brian supposedly was.
"We're watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Chris," Quinn called out. "Come join us."
Haley wasn't sure how she and her five siblings all fit onto that pullout couch, but they did. She was sandwiched between Matt and Quinn right in the middle of it all. Brian kept reaching his long arm around to steal popcorn out of her bowl as Vivian was getting rather possessive of the one she'd held onto and Chris was shoveling the stuff down like he hadn't eaten in a weak. Haley sighed as she settled back on the couch bed with her legs stretched out in front of her.
"I feel kind of guilty," she confessed quietly, staring down at the popcorn bowl rather than at the TV screen as the credits from the third episode they'd watched started to roll. "We're having fun without them…"
"They would want us to, Haley Bop," Quinn said, squeezing her sister's hand. "Besides, it's going to be a really sad day. We're going to have to go to the coroner's office and… It's just going to be a really sad day. Let's just enjoy these last few hours together. We can be sad when the sun comes up."
They all nodded in agreement and Matt wrapped an arm around Haley and squeezed her shoulders lightly. She settled back against her big brother and looked down just in time to see Brian snag the last handful of popcorn out of the clear plastic bowl in her lap. Quinn reached over and smacked him playfully, causing everyone but Brian to laugh as he dropped most of the popcorn all over the bed.
"You know what we need," Haley said after a few minutes. "Some of Vivian's cookies. God, I used to love those things."
"Don't remind us," Brian grumbled.
"Why?"
"Because they turned you into a traitor," Chris said.
"What are you talking about?"
"Vivian used to give you those cookies so that you would tell on us," Brian said. "You were like an evil genius as a kid, Hales. You came up with all kinds of plans for us to play tricks on people. Then Vivian would tempt you with cookies and get you to spill your guts so she could get us in trouble before we ever got to do them."
"I didn't always tell Vivian," Haley said defensively.
"Oh yes you did," Chris said. "Vivian gave you one of those damn oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and you sang like a canary."
"Worked every time," Vivian said proudly as she smacked Chris's hand when he reached for more popcorn. "If I remember correctly, I saved the Johnson's cat several times."
"It was only a couple of water balloons," Brian said.
"Well, there was the time we tried to tie a firecracker to its tail," Chris said. "Which was totally your idea, Hales.'
"I totally remember that now," Haley laughed. "I wanted to scare the pants off Mary Harper. She was having a tea party and didn't invite me. That cat would have been perfect if you hadn't stopped us, Viv."
"Remember the time the boys tried to bake Vivy's cookies themselves?" Quinn asked. "They almost burnt the house down."
"That was totally Brian's fault," Chris said. "I knew you weren't supposed to bake them for two hours, but Brian swore you were."
"Twelve minutes, two hours," Brian shrugged sheepishly. "What's the difference?"
"Three fire trucks and a police car," Matt interjected. "Mom and Dad were so pissed and then they grounded me because I was supposed to be watching you two knuckleheads."
"But you were on the phone with your girlfriend," Vivian taunted. "You remember all of those ridiculous pet names he used to come up with?"
"Sugar muffin," Brian said
"Honey lips," Haley laughed.
"Sugar doll," Quinn said.
"Is it just me," Chris said. "Or where they all food related?"
"Well, Matt was always thinking about food," Vivian said.
"I was a growing boy!" Matt said, raising his hands defensively. "And all of that food got me a career in the NFL. Besides, I certainly remember the way Vivian drooled over those fireman."
"Good times," Quinn chuckled, resting her head against Haley's shoulder. "Those firemen were hot too."
"They wouldn't even give me the time of day," Vivian sighed dramatically. "It broke my poor little fifteen-year-old heart."
"Speaking of boys, did our little Haley Bop bring her boyfriend home with her?" Chris asked.
"He's upstairs," she said, looking down at her lap rather than up at her siblings. She'd never really dated when she still lived in Texas and knew her siblings were probably going to tease her mercilessly about it.
"You know, Hales," Brian said. "If you wanted to meet Nathan Scott, you really didn't have to get thrown from that horse. You could have just asked Chris and me or come to our game when we played the Lakers."
"I did not get thrown from a horse just to meet Nathan," she said, reaching over to smack her brother. "My accident was before his, remember?"
"Well, you do have a history," Quinn said. "You remember when you wanted to meet Billy Richards your freshman year of high school?"
"You definitely threw yourself down a flight of stairs," Chris said.
"I did not!" Haley replied indignantly. "I wasn't paying attention to where I was going and missed a step. I didn't do it just so that I could meet Billy. Besides, he was a jerk anyway."
"He had great hair though," Quinn sighed. "But he never gave any of us James girls the time of day. Well, except for maybe Taylor."
"All the boys noticed Taylor," Vivian said.
"Oh yeah," Brian said. "We had to beat up quite a few guys in the locker room over the way they were talking about her. It was all true, but we couldn't let anyone talk about our sister like that."
Haley could feel her own eyelids getting heavier as they continued to reminisce. She snuggled closer to Matt and let her head rest on his broad shoulder. Chris stretched out at their feet and Brian and Vivian were on Matt's other side. One by one they all dropped off to sleep as their favorite cartoon show continued to play in the background. Quinn was right when she said that it was going to be a sad day. It had been nice that for a few hours they could forget about all of that sadness and just enjoy being together again.
…
The first thing Nathan noticed when he woke up was that Haley wasn't in bed with him. Her side of the bed was cold, so he knew she hadn't been in bed with him in a long time. She wasn't in the bathroom or the closet, so he pulled on a pair of basketball shorts and a t-shirt before making his way down stairs. The house was still silent, so he figured no one else was awake yet until he made it down to the first floor and smelled the faint aroma of freshly brewed coffee. He followed the smell, hoping it would lead him towards the kitchen, but stopped when he saw a woman who looked a little like Haley with light brown hair standing in a doorway. `
"You must be Nathan," she said, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye.
"You must be Taylor," he replied, peaking into the room and seeing what he assumed to be all of the James siblings, minus Taylor of course, in a tangled heap on a pull out sofa bed. He could just see the top of Haley's head peeking out from where she was nestled between her brother and sister. "Why aren't you in there with them?"
"I don't get invited to join James sibling reunions," she said, a little spitefully. "So, you're actually dating Haley?"
"Yeah," he said.
"Good luck with that."
"What do you mean?" he asked with a frown.
"Haley's never been known to stick around," Taylor shrugged. "This is the first time she's been home in six years. Mom used to call her her little rolling stone."
"Okay…"
"Just don't get too attached," Taylor warned, pushing away from the door frame. "Nothing gets between Haley James and her ambitions. If you think she'll choose you over her career, you've got another thing coming."
"I wouldn't ask Haley to do that," he said.
Taylor snorted quietly and then made her way towards the kitchen as Haley started to stir. She slowly extricated herself from under Matt's arm and stretched sleepily before catching sight of Nathan standing in the doorway. She slowly climbed over her siblings and out of bed before going over to him and wrapping her arms around his waist.
"I was worried when I woke up without you," he said, hugging her tightly.
"I'm sorry," she replied. "I got up to get a glass of water and found Matt watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Somehow we all ended up down here."
"All of you except Taylor," he said quietly.
"Oh, god," Haley groaned, burring her face in his chest. "She saw us, didn't she?"
"Yeah," Nathan said. "She was standing here when I came down stairs."
"She's gonna be such a bitch about this," Haley said. "I swear we didn't plan it. It just kind of happened. But that's not going to matter to Taylor."
Nathan just stood there silently, rubbing her back, and Haley looked up at him searching his face to try to figure out what was going on. She could imagine that it had been a little unsettling waking up alone, but she didn't think he was mad at her for it.
"Did Taylor say anything to you?" she asked.
"Nothing important," he replied.
"Nathan," Haley sighed. "Taylor… Sometimes she says things just to cause problems. Don't take it to heart, okay?"
"I won't," he said, still rubbing her back.
Haley nodded and then tucked her head under his chin as the weight of the day settled down around her shoulders. Quinn had been right. It was going to be a sad day. She could feel the sadness wrap around her heart like a heavy wet wool blanket. But being there in Nathan's arms made it better. She held onto him a little tighter and felt him kiss the top of her head as her siblings started to stir. It was going to be a sad day, but Nathan made it better. He always made it better.
A/N: So, here's another beast of a chapter for me. Lots of words. I know there weren't a lot of Naley moments in this chapter. I just felt like we needed to get a better sense of Haley away from Nathan and some background information on Haley's family since they'll be playing a big role over the next couple of chapters. I would also like to say that my 15 to 20 chapter story has grown and is now probably going to be more like 25 chapters, maybe 30. We'll just have to see. So, read and review! I love to hear what ya'll have to say! It makes my day and then I write more chapters faster and ya'll won't have to wait for them.