Hello guys. Gosh it's been so long since I last updated. My bad but work's been crazy. Now that OTH is over for the season, writing about my favourite characters seems like a good idea. Speaking of which, how odd was it that Lucas and Peyton left without any rhyme nor reason. Are they just gonna disappear just like that? Although I'm so happy for Nathan. He got his dream career and his dream family. Naley was awesome as usual! I'm psyched about Julian returning next season and him and Brooke have a great chemistry. The finale was good although like I said, Lucas and Peyton and Sawyer leaving like that bothered me a bit. Anyway, enough rambling. Here's the next chapter. I hope it doesn't disappoint. And thanks for the awesome reviews for the last chapter. I really appreciate you guys encouraging me. Cheers! xoxo
Chapter 13
She felt the airplane dip slightly, preparing itself for landing. She took a deep breath, unaware that she was gripping her seat so tight. She was excited to see Jamie. She had missed him so much since she went on her European tour. At the same time she was apprehensive about seeing Nathan again. The tour had done her a lot of good. Being away from Tree Hill and from Nathan had given her a semblance of peace. But it didn't stop her from thinking about him every now and then. She realized that telling him that she still loved him at the Rivercourt was a mistake. She still did love him. That had not changed. In fact she knew that it would never change. He was the love of her life, which was why she had rejected so many advances from men before. She knew that they would pale in comparison to him.
She wondered if he was going to be at the airport with Jamie. Was she hoping that he was? She shook her head. She didn't know anymore. There were a lot of things that she wasn't sure anymore. Her heart beat faster when she heard the captain telling the passengers that they were landing in five minutes. She held her breath, knowing that nothing she could do would prepare her for her meeting with Nathan again.
He searched through the crowd for signs of her. The airport was busy with the Christmas crowd, making his task a bit more difficult. His tiny head bobbed up and down in excitement.
"I see her!" Jamie said, and pointed at Haley. "Mama!" He ran and rushed towards her, almost knocking her back. She laughed and hugged him tight.
"Hey buddy. God, I've missed you so much!" she said and kissed him all over his face, before pulling him back for another hug.
"Mama, you're kinda suffocating me," Jamie said and wriggled in her arms.
She laughed. "I'm sorry," she said and stood up. She gave him the once over and looked at him critically. "Did you grow taller since I left?"
He stood up straighter and beamed. "Did I?"
"I think you must have." She took his face in her hands and said, "well, don't grow up too fast, little man. Who are you here with?" she asked and held her breath.
"Uncle Lucas drove us here," he said and pointed at Lucas, who waved.
"Oh." There was a hint of disappointment in her voice. "Where's Daddy?" she asked nonchalantly.
"Daddy's helping Aunt Brooke and Aunt Peyton with the Christmas party." Haley nodded in understanding. Peyton had told her about the Christmas party last week. "Hey Luke." She wrapped her arms around him as he came near.
"Welcome home Hales. How was the tour?" he asked conversationally as they walked back to his car.
She smiled. "It was great. It was better than I had hoped." She then stole a glance at Jamie who was holding her hand. "But right now, I'm looking forward to spending Christmas in Tree Hill."
He looked at her from the corner of his eyes. "You sure about that?"
She took in a deep breath and said confidently. "Yeah, I'm sure."
Nathan looked in the mirror and straightened his tie for the hundredth time. He was never good at ties. When he and Haley were together, it was her who always did his tie, although she did it after teasing him about him ineptitude. He couldn't wait to see her tonight. He had not seen her since she came back yesterday. He knew that she must have wanted to spend some time with Jamie and he let her. Besides, he wanted to prepare himself for what he knew was going to be a difficult conversation between them.
"You look dashing," a voice came from behind him, making him jump. He turned around and saw Peyton giving him a silent approval of his looks.
"Thanks," he said and continued to touch his tie, still unsatisfied with it. "Damn it!" he cursed under his breath. He suddenly felt like a girl but he wanted to look nice enough, at least in Haley's eyes.
"Here, let me help," Peyton offered and stepped up towards him. She started to fumble with his tie and said, "you're nervous." His silence confirmed her suspicion. "You'll be fine," she said with a smile and patted his chest. "All done."
"Thanks Sawyer," he said gratefully. "Is everybody here yet?" he asked tentatively.
"You mean, is Haley here yet?" He reluctantly nodded. "Yep, she just got here. Come on, we should probably go out or Brooke will have both our heads."
"Okay," he said and they started walking towards the door. Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks. "Peyton wait. Will I? I mean, will I be fine?" he asked.
She smiled. "Sure you will," she said confidently. "I know you love her-"
"I love her so much it's killing me inside," he confessed, cutting short her words. "I would do anything to have her back in my life, but I'm not sure if she wants to. And that scares the hell out of me."
Peyton nodded in understanding. "For what it's worth, I think she still loves you. She just needs time to get used to the idea again. You know what she's like. She's stubborn when she puts her mind to something but she'll come around. Maybe she wants to know if you're willing to do whatever it takes to fight for her, so you do that. Fight for her."
He ran his fingers through his hair. "I will," he said determinedly.
"Good," she said. "Now let's get out of here." She gave him one last look and said, "by the way, when you see her, try not to stare."
Nathan's face took on a perplexed look but he didn't have to figure out what she meant. Instead, he took a deep breath knowing that all he could do now was to step out of that room and face the only woman he had ever loved.
Haley was equally nervous as she mingled with her friends and family who had all gathered for the party. To ease her nervousness, she had started sipping a glass of champagne, at the same time careful not to drink too much, knowing full well that alcohol and her do not mix that well. Her eyes fell on Karen and she watched with fondness the woman she had thought of as her mother. She looked at Dan, the tall man who had been protective of her as if she was his own daughter. She watched Deb, the mother of the man she loved hanging to every word Jamie was saying to her. She had always found their situation amazing, Karen who had been Dan's sweetheart in high school and had borne him a son. Dan had left her just before he found out that she was pregnant and for some reason, she had forgiven him. And Deb, the woman that Dan had ended up marrying and had given him Nathan. The three of them had continued to be good friends. She wondered if she could ever be that way with Nathan. She shook her head and tried to get him out of her head. Instead, she looked around in amazement at what Brooke had done to her living room. The decoration was stunning, giving an atmosphere of festivity while at the same elegant, as only Brooke was capable of doing. As if on cue, Brooke came up next to her, grinning from ear to ear.
"Brooke, this is really awesome. You really pulled this off Tigger," she said, referring to the nickname that they had christened Brooke.
"You think so?" Brooke asked.
Haley laughed, knowing that she was just fishing for compliments. "Don't push it."
"You're cruel," she said with a pout. "I'm still angry with you by the way."
"What the hell for?" Haley asked in surprise.
"You left for the tour without telling me. One day after my wedding. The next thing I knew, poof! You were gone!"
"Poof?" Haley asked, trying to keep from laughing.
"Yeah, poof. And what are you sniggering at?" Brooke asked in annoyance.
Haley rubbed Brooke's arm comfortingly. "I'm so sorry for leaving like that. I just had to-"
"Get away from Nathan?"
Haley watched Brooke's face carefully. Brooke may not be the smartest girl in school, but she did know her best friends really well.
"Why do you say that?" she asked and took another sip of her champagne. Okay, I think that's enough champagne for one night, she made a mental note to herself.
Brooke shrugged. "Well, since we all know what happened, including Nathan, I figured that maybe you just had to get away," she said while giving Haley a pointed look.
She almost choked on her champagne when she heard the words coming out of Brooke's mouth. "What do you mean?" she said while trying to keep a straight face.
Brooke rolled her eyes to the ceiling. "Haley, stop all these pretending. It's bad enough that you kept it a secret from me, but pretending to not know what I'm talking about, that's unforgivable."
She felt her body go stiff. Nathan knows. "Peyton told you?" she finally asked. Brooke nodded.
"I need to sit," Haley said. She suddenly felt unable to breath. The room had started spinning around her and had Brooke not taken her arm, she was pretty sure she would fall to the floor.
"Haley? It's okay honey. I've got you," Brooke said and put her arm around Haley's small waist as she tried to support her weight. "Nathan!" she called out.
Haley shook her head. "No, not Nathan. I'm fine Brooke."
Brooke ignored her and continued to yell. By this time the room had fallen silent as the group of people suddenly realized what had happened.
"Mama?" Jamie's small voice was heard, fear evident in his voice. Nathan who had been watching Haley all night quickly rushed to her side.
"Haley, are you okay?" he asked, his voice hinging on panic. "What happened." He took over from Brooke and held Haley.
She tried to stand on her own and said, her voice wavering slightly, "I'm fine. You can take your hand off me."
"Haley, you're not fine," Nathan said, his gruff voice sending shivers down her spine. "Come here," he said and led Haley to Brooke's room. He looked at Brooke who nodded, her face gone white with fear.
He led Haley to the bed and sat her down. "You should lie down," he said.
"Nathan, I'm fine. Jamie," she said. She knew that she had scared the small boy and started to get up.
"Jamie's fine. My mom's got him. You on the other hand, are obviously not. Now lie down," he instructed.
"Nathan, I am not a child," she protested.
"Will you stop being stubborn and do as you're told," Nathan said exasperatedly. They glared at each other for a few seconds before she complied, albeit reluctantly. She closed her eyes and tried to relax. After a few seconds she gave up. How could she relax with him being so near her? Before she knew it, she felt his fingers on her face, caressing it lightly. She opened her eyes and saw his concerned face.
"Feel better?" he asked softly. He smoothed a few loose tendrils from her face, not knowing that every touch on her face made her tremble. She nodded slowly. "You scared me," he confessed.
"It was the champagne. I shouldn't have drank so much," she said. That and the fact that you now know what happened. "I'm ready to go out now," she said and started to get up. He didn't move from the bed and for a while they just sat there next to each other.
"We need to talk," Nathan said quietly.
"There's nothing to talk about," she said and got up. He grabbed her hand and stopped her from leaving.
"Hales," he said softly. "We need to talk," he insisted. "Please," he said.
She knew she couldn't run away anymore. Now that he knew, she realized that it was only a matter of time before he confronted her. Better get it over with, Haley, she said to herself. "Okay, we'll talk. After the party. I don't want to ruin it for Brooke," she said.
"After the party's fine," Nathan agreed. "By the way, you look amazing," he said. He now understood what Peyton was telling him. She looked beautiful. The simplicity of the green dress that she wore did not mar the fact that the dress suited her perfectly. She had let her now dark brown hair down, which was how he liked it. She did not look a day over twenty two, he thought.
"Thank you," she said almost shyly. "You look...nice," she said. He was disappointed with her words. He had wanted to impress her. Apparently, it didn't work.
"That's it? Nice?"
"Your tie's crooked," she commented and she automatically went up to him to straighten the tie. He held his breath as he savoured her nearness. She patted his chest softly. "That's better," she said. Their eyes locked for a moment before she pulled her gaze away. "We'd better get back. Jamie must be worried."
"Yeah, we should. Wait, are you sure you're alright?"
"I'm fine. Thank you," she said politely. As soon as she stepped out the room, Jamie bounded on her. "Hey, little man," she said and carried him in her arms. She knew that he was to be big to be carried, but she just wanted to hold him. "Did I scare you?" Jamie nodded. She kissed her forehead. "I'm sorry baby. I'm okay. See?" she said with a smile.
Jamie looked at her carefully and after being satisfied that was indeed alright, said, "Okay. Can I get down now?"
Haley laughed and put her down. She smiled at the crowd standing around her. "I'm fine guys," she said and held her hand up.
"Okay," Brooke said with a sigh of relief. "Why don't we eat? We don't want the food to get cold," she said and led everybody to the table. Everybody settled down and before long, the room was filled once again with their voices. Haley cursed under her breath. She knew that Brooke had prepared the seating arrangement and had purposely sat her next to Nathan. Not that he was complaining.
"Everything's so good," Peyton said as she happily munched on her food. "Karen, you have outdone yourself this time," she said with her mouth full, making everybody laugh.
"Thank you Peyton," Karen said and beamed. Brooke had asked for her help in the kitchen, knowing that there was no way she would be able to cook without burning the house down, and Karen had happily obliged.
"Hey, I helped too," Brooke said grudgingly. Lucas laughed and kissed her on the head.
"Of course you did baby," he said soothingly. Seeing that she was pacified somewhat, he looked at Haley. "So Hales, how was your tour?"
"It was amazing. I had no idea I had so many fans in Europe."
"Come on Hales, you're good. Of course you have fans in Europe. Why wouldn't you?" Nathan commented.
She was stunned to silence by his compliment. She remembered the fight they had before she left and this 'new' Nathan unnerved her. She chose not to address his compliment. Instead she said to Peyton, "by the way Goldilocks, Connor was a heavensent. I wouldn't have been able to pull it off without him."
"Only the best for you," Peyton said with a smile.
"Wait. Connor? Who's Connor?" Nathan asked suspiciously.
"My tour manager," Haley said dismissively.
"Yeah, he's great isn't he? He's worked with a lot of people before, mostly bands. That was his first time managing a solo artist."
"Are you serious? He was like a pro out there," Haley continued to gush.
"Is he cute?" Brooke interjected. "I bet he has a cute ass," she said dreamily.
"And you're one step away from sleeping alone tonight," Lucas continued, eliciting laughter from everybody. Everybody except Nathan.
They continued to talk about her tour while Nathan ate in silence. The thought of another man being with her almost every single second of the day made him uneasy. He shot a look of daggers to Peyton, who managed to avoid his angry eyes.
I really need to talk to her tonight, he thought adamantly and started attacking his food as he tried to block the thought of Haley with Connor out of his head.
A/N: Let me know what you think. Next chapter will be the big talk :)