I am SO SO SO sorry for the lull in updates!! School+college applications+auditions+the holidays made life pretty crazy! But I'm back and I hope some of you can forgive me :) This next chapter was tough to write but I hope it went okay. It is dedicated to Ophelia (Naley23Addicit) who was such an amazing writer on this site. I will miss her stories so much. If you love Naley, read her stories. (Esp. 'Your Life Collides With Mine' and the sequel 'When the World Caves In" I promise you they are amazing.
Anyway, here is the chapter!
Chapter 11: You Can't Have Heartbreak Without A Heart
Haley woke up and sighed, looking around at the guest bedroom she was in. She knew her friends were going to kill her for not calling. She got up and went to the kitchen where the smell of coffee and waffles entered her nose.
"And how'd you sleep sweetheart?" Karen asked her, getting out the syrup.
"Okay." Haley replied.
"Now honey, I have a confession-I called Jake after our little chat. I just told him that you were safe, you were staying here and he and the others shouldn't be worried." Haley smiled in gratitude, but her face fell soon after.
"Did he say anything about Nathan?"
"Only that he was ready to call the police to try to find you. And Dan and Deb are coming down today." Haley buried her head in her hands.
"Why is this happening Karen? Lucas is one of the best people I know and now he's just…stuck. He can't go to the Marines, he'll have to wait another year before college. Life's not working out how he planned and I guess I just..."
"Feel the same way?" Karen asked, handing Haley a plate of waffles.
"Yeah…I mean Luke and I are the responsible, hard-working organized ones but now we're both just screwed. Me financially, Lucas physically."
"It totally sucks." Karen agreed, although the wheels were turning in her head. "But you too are also strong and smart. You'll get through it. I promise." She said, grabbing her own waffle and sitting down with Haley.
"Thank you again Karen. I mean I know I showed up bawling on your doorstep at an ungodly hour last night-"
"Not another word Haley James. And by the way," She added, raising her eyebrows at Haley. "Don't even think about coming to work tonight unless you have settled everything with that boy of yours." Haley gave her a small smile and a nod.
--
Lucas looked over at Nathan who was twiddling his thumbs as they drove to the airport to pick up their parents.
"They'll understand about not wanting to take the test," Lucas told him. Nathan gave him a look.
"Luke, you know that's bull. They'll probably drag my ass to the doctor before we get back to the house." Lucas didn't say anything; his philosophy was to let Nathan make his own choices. He had enough to worry about.
They got to the airport, parked and went to the terminal where both boys were immediately enveloped in a hug by their mother. Though Deb Scott was a good eight inches shorter than the boys, they couldn't escape her death grip on them. Nor did they want to. She let them go and looked at them.
"Oh my boys, I love you both so much. Lucas," she said, looking at him and giving him his own hug. Dan embraced Nathan and Nathan suddenly felt embarrassed. His father was not the hugging type and to be doing it in such a public place only made Nathan realized that the situation was really bad. He was relieved when they finally made it to the car.
"Nathan, I made an appointment with a doctor down here to get you tested this afternoon at five." Dan said, turning to face him.
"I'm not getting tested mom." Nathan said softly. Dan slammed his feet on the breakes, but it was Deb who whipped her head around to look at Nathan.
"Yes you are." She said in a tone that Nathan knew it was in his best interests not to argue. But he did anyway.
"Mom I'm eighteen, I can decided by myself-"
"And I'm forty five so I can decide to call Duke and tell them to test my son for HCM. Do you want to do it now or later?" The car was silent and Deb continued. "You are acting like a selfish piece of crap right now Nathaniel Royal Scott. Do you want to drop dead in the middle of a basketball game one day and leave your parents, your friends and especially your brother behind? You have NO idea what it feels like to loose a brother over something you could have been tested for, something you could have treated." She said, her eyes welling up in tears. Lucas reached his hand out to her and she squeezed it. "You're taking the test Nathan."
--
"Pick up for Lucas Scott." Lucas said as he and Nathan walked up to the Pharmacy counter. The pharmacist nodded and handed Lucas a bottle of large blue pills. Lucas gave him the check and he and Nathan turned to leave. Nathan started walking forward but stopped when he realized Lucas wasn't with him. He turned and saw his brother standing in the same place.
"Lucas?" he asked. Lucas didn't respond, he kept staring at the bottle of pills. Nathan walked back over to him. "Luke, what's going on?"
"I have to take one of these pills every day for the rest of my life." He said in a monotone voice, still looking at the pills. Nathan was silent; he didn't know what to say. Lucas looked at him and Nathan's heart felt a sharp pang at the look of fear and grief on Lucas' face.
"Luke-"
"This HCM thing isn't going away Nate." Lucas said, his voice cracking. "I'm stuck with this disease, these pills for the rest of my god damn life. I'm not gonna get better. Ever." Tears started falling from his eyes and Nathan put his hands on Lucas' shoulders.
"You aren't gonna get worse though Luke. This thing was caught early; you're going to be fine. Okay?" Lucas nodded and wiped away his tears.
"I'm loosing everything. I have no future."
"You aren't loosing me." Nathan assured him firmly. "I will always be here."
"Will you really?" Lucas asked softly, looking at the ground. "Because if you have HCM too and you don't take that test, you won't be. It'll be just like mom said-you'll leave it all behind. Will you just take the test Nate?"
Nathan closed his eyes and thought. He imagined himself watching the Duke basketball games from the sidelines because he couldn't play. He imagined a life full of pills, doctors and tests. But then Haley's words, Peyton's words his mom's words all ran through his head. "Not when you could die…there's enough stuff you can't prevent…loosing a brother…" And then he looked at his brither and he knew his answer.
"Okay." He softly said.
--
Haley walked inside the house and walked up to the kitchen.
"So you guys decide to clean when I'm gone?" She lightly joked as she walked in on Jake, Peyton and Brooke tidying up.
"Please tutorgirl, you like it dirty." Brooke said with a wink. Haley went over and gave her a hug.
"I'm scared for our boys" Haley admitted and Brooke nodded.
"I'm scared for us." They remained in an embrace for another minute before Jake spoke up.
"I'm scared for Dan and Deb's reaction to having the two of you dating their sons." They all chuckled and Brooke invited him and Peyton into the hug.
--
After greeting Dan and Deb and laughing at their not surprised reactions to all the couples in the house, Haley excused herself to her room. She was still in her clothes from the day before and felt groggy and tired. She pulled off her shirt when her bedroom door swung open and Nathan walked in. She instinctively brought her hands to cover her chest and Nathan gave a small smirk as he closed the door.
"Not like I haven't seen them before Hales." She gave a tiny grin. "Haley-"
"Nathan-" they both said at the same time.
"You go first." He motioned to her. She took a deep breath.
"I know I should respect your choice. I know I'm being pushy and bitchy. But I know that I can't live without you. Nathan, I love you. I love you so much that it scares me to death sometimes while also thrilling me beyond words. What we have is so deep and true that I know what I want for the rest of my life. I want you. I want the whole marriage, kids, dogs, cats, big white house with a picket fence thing with you. And when that dream of mine was in serious danger of being only a dream, I freaked."
"I don't want a cat." Nathan said, stepping close to her and wrapping his arms around her tiny frame. "But I want the rest of it." Haley buried her head in his chest and he rubbed the back of her neck. "Which is why I decided I'm taking the test." Haley picked her head up and looked at him.
"I'll be right there with you." She promised him. He nodded and hugged her close again. And for a while, they remained in a tight embrace each refusing to let the other go.
--
"Okay, I followed all of these instructions really well." Brooke said, putting a plate of cookies on the table that night. Karen had called and told Haley to not come to work, she could handle it. Plus Haley needed to be with Nathan as he took the test. It went smoothly; they would know the results in a few days time.
"I don't know…" Peyton said apprehensively.
"Well they don't LOOK toxic," Nathan reasoned and Haley lightly smacked his arm.
"I'm not THAT bad at cooking!" Brooke said defensively. She looked to Dan and Deb for support.
"Should you tell her or should I?" Dan asked Deb laughing.
"Aw, come on guys." Lucas said, defending her. "How about we each bite into a cookie at the same time?" They all grumbled but picked up their cookie. "One, two, three." They all bit into their cookie. Jake was the first to spit his out, but soon the others followed suit.
"Brooke what they hell did you do?!" Jake said, disgusted. Brooke looked hurt and grabbed a cookie and bit into it, before she too spit it out.
"Oh my god!" She screamed. "Haley, what did I do?!" They all looked at Haley, who was biting her bottom lip.
"Brookie, I think you put ¾ cup of salt instead of sugar in these." Brooke's mouth formed into an "o" shape and everyone groaned.
"Well they look the same!" she attempted, but even Lucas shook his head.
"Babe, salt?" Brooke huffed and Deb got up.
"Luckily, I made a spare dessert." She went over to the freezer and pulled out a huge Rubbermaid and Jake's face lit up.
"Tell me those are buckeyes. Tell me those are the delicious chocolate covered peanut butter balls that I look forward to every time I see you." Deb smiled and opened the lid, revealing just that.
"YES!" Jake, Peyton and Haley said, their fists in the air. The table got into a discussion about their favorite foods and Brooke got up to go to the kitchen.
"I guess my talents lie elsewhere, huh?" Brooke asked Deb, dumping her plate of cookies in the trash. Deb stopped moving her buckeyes to a serving plate and put her arm around her and smiled.
"You've got a talent for making my son smile brightly even in bad situations. I wouldn't trade that for prize-winning cookies."
"But Haley can make cookies AND make Nathan smile. But not in bad situations though. Naley is not good in a crisis."
"Naley?" Deb laughed. "Does that make you and Lucas…Brucas?"
"Yup!" Brooke giggled. "And Jake and Peyton are Jeyton."
"What about Dan and I?" Brooke thought for a minute.
"It doesn't really work I guess. Unless you took the first two letters of your name and the last two letters of him and combined them. Then you'd be Dean." Deb laughed and pulled Brooke in for a hug.
"I'm glad you and Lucas finally found your way."
"Me too." Brooke said softly. "Me too."
NEXT: Nathan's HCM results, Haley and Lucas find a solution. I bet some of you can figure it out:)