Thanks to iftheyonlyknewthetruth and xSmile for replying.

14. SISTERS AND LIES

Haley wandered into the kitchen the next morning. To her surprise, most of the family was present including Nathan's parents who she recognized from a picture she had seen of them in an old newspaper.

Lucas was at the table next to a brunette that Haley sort of recognized but couldn't place. She didn't think Lucas lived there though but shrugged the thought away and surveyed the rest of the table. There was another oddly familiar woman sitting next to the brunette and beside her was a man.

She took a few small steps towards the table. There was an empty seat right beside her sister as well as one beside Nathan's father. She reached for the chair next to Taylor to steady herself. Since she had woken up, she had had lots of dizzy spells.

Her doctor had explained that since she had been incapacitated for so long, her muscles were extremely weak and it would take some time before they were back to their normal strength and until then, she had been ordered to take it easy.

Haley, being a Physician's Assistant, didn't really need this explained to her. She knew that the dizzy spells were warning her that she was pushing herself too hard but she was so tired of being trapped in that room.

It was more of a prison cell, actually. Taylor had put the room together and though she knew her sister meant well, she hated it. Taylor had done it all wrong. For the wallpaper, she had chosen a soft shade of pink. Her bedspread was also pink and blue. Hate was too tame a word to describe her feelings because Haley actually despised the colour.

Haley pulled the chair a few inches back, causing the legs to scrape against the floor. All heads snapped up in surprise. "Haley!" Taylor exclaimed loudly. Haley was so startled that she tripped over the leg of chair as she was pulling it out further to be able to sit down and she would have gone crashing to the floor if it hadn't been for someone's quick reaction.

A pair of strong arms had encircled her small waist almost as soon as she had started to fall and hoisted her back up. Haley leaned against the person for a minute. As soon as she realized what she was doing, she started to pull away but the arms tightened around her. "Take it easy," a low but gentle voice told her. Nathan, she thought to herself as the voice registered.

A few seconds later, she turned to him and nodded. "Thanks," she muttered as she quickly sat down beside Taylor.

"Don't mention it," Nathan said, pulling out the chair beside her and sitting down. Haley clapped her forehead as she realized what she'd done.

"What's wrong?" Taylor inquired.

"I took your seat," she replied. Everyone stared at her in confusion.

"I'm already sitting," Taylor pointed out.

"Not your seat," Haley replied. Nathan looked at her in confusion. "His."

"There's no assigned seating," he assured her.

"Yeah, but Taylor is your wife. It's only natural for you to be sitting next to her," Haley explained.

"Haley, it's fine," Taylor said immediately.

"No it's not," Haley said, pushing herself up. She began swaying unsteadily because she had gotten up too fast. She sat back down to make the spinning stop and gestured to the place in front of her as she said, "Switch places with me."

"It's not that big a deal, Haley. I don't mind not sitting next to Taylor for one morning," Nathan said.

"Well, I do mind because I don't want to come between you two," Haley said.

"You are not coming between us," Taylor assured her. Haley's gaze shifted from Nathan, to Taylor and then back to Nathan again.

"Actually I am," she retorted as she gestured to where she was sitting, pointing out that she was sitting in between the two. Nathan burst out laughing and Taylor glared at her in annoyance.

"You are being ridiculous, Haley," Taylor said.

"I don't think I am," she said defiantly. Taylor rolled her eyes. She put her spoon down and turned to her sister.

"Haley, you're weak; you can barely stand and when you do, you nearly lose your balance," Taylor pointed out.

"That's because your shrill voice startled me!" Haley exclaimed. Taylor's face darkened and she glared at her little sister warningly.

"I do not have a shrill voice," Taylor insisted. Haley completely forgot about her anger as her eyes went wide with amusement at her sister's statement.

"Uh, yeah, you do. Always have," Haley retorted teasingly.

"I have a higher voice than most but it isn't shrill," Taylor said.

"Remind me again. When you were in ninth grade, which soprano was it that the choir instructor asked to switch to alto because when they sang, they sang so high that it felt like they were piercing her eardrum?" Haley quipped. Her sister stiffened.

"What did you do, record every embarrassment I've ever endured in one of your little notebooks so you could throw it back in my face later on to make me relive it over and over?" Taylor complained. Haley's smile widened.

"So you do remember that it was you," Haley mused. Taylor's jaw clenched and her left hand was curled into a fist.

"If we didn't know you two were sisters before, we certainly do now," Mrs. Scott remarked. Mr. Scott, Lucas, the brunette, the blond and the other guy chuckled. Nathan had a hand over his mouth in an attempt to shield his laughter.

"I'm about to become an only child again," Taylor announced still glaring at Haley.

"Now, now, Tay. You shouldn't say things like that," she said.

"Why not?" Taylor asked.

"Because we both know that you don't want the death of two family members on your conscience," Haley replied, emphasizing her point by slightly widening her eyes. The sisters' stared at each other for a long minute until Taylor looked away and smiled.

"How about we finish eating," she suggested.

"You certainly know how to get under her skin," Nathan said as he came to her bedroom door, which was wide open. Haley was sitting at a white desk, scribbling some things down on a pad of paper.

"Taylor's always had a short fuse with a lot of triggers and I was careful to learn all of them," Haley explained.

"Why?" Nathan asked.

Haley put her pen down and looked at him. "When I was little, it was to avoid being yelled at," she replied.

"And now?" he prodded.

"I don't know," she said.

"Perhaps you intend to humiliate her like you did in the kitchen," Nathan said.

"I don't try to embarrass my sister whenever I can," Haley said.

"Then why did you?" he asked.

"It's a long story," she told him.

"I've got time. Taylor and I have a party to go to tonight but it's in about three hours and she won't be back until then," Nathan said. Haley made a face at his explanation and Nathan was alarmed because he thought he just screwed up.

He knew how to explain Taylor's constant absences to his own family. He knew them well so he knew what to say to make them forget a certain subject or to accept his explanation. But Haley was Taylor's family and she obviously knew Taylor very well, maybe even better than he did. He didn't know Haley at all so it was difficult for him to come up with an explanation to her satisfaction.

Haley's expression changed and Nathan felt a wave of relief. "When we were little, we really only had each other. Our parents were constantly away on trips or gatherings that were for adults, not little girls. So she basically took care of me while we were growing up," Haley began.

"I was grateful to her but sometimes she acted like she was my mother instead of my older sister. She got it into her head that she was the boss of me and ordered me around. When I was little, I obeyed because I didn't know any better," she added.

"So you don't like it when Taylor tries to tell you what to do?" Nathan asked. His eyes gleamed with amusement.

"It's more than that," Haley said. He frowned. "I'm not a little girl anymore. I needed a mother figure then but I don't need one now even though I'm not at my best."

"So what was that downstairs?" he asked.

"It was a reminder," Haley replied. "That Taylor is my sister and she is far from perfect."

"Nobody's perfect," Nathan pointed out.

"Least of all her. She's made a lot of mistakes and had a lot of problems. I helped her with them. As a sister," Haley said.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I'm saying I need my sister to help me through this," Haley replied. Nathan nodded. "Not a drill sergeant."

"How about a brother-in-law?" he asked. Her eyebrows came together as she stared at him in confusion. "To help you as well."

"Oh," Haley said with a laugh. "Sure. Thanks."

"No problem," he said. He was about to leave but he felt like she had a question. He smiled and said, "Your sister should be back soon. She just went to the store again." She nodded and he started to leave again. He was almost to his bedroom door when Haley came to her doorway and leaned against it with her arms across her chest.

"Why do you always do that?" Haley called after him. He bit his lip as he turned to face her and a cool smile immediately came onto his face.

"Do what?" he asked.

"Make excuses for her," Haley replied, walking further down the hall and closer to him.

"I don't know what you mean," he said, stuttering on the words because he knew she wouldn't believe him.

"Nathan," Haley said. He looked up at her, expecting to see judgement in her eyes only to find understanding.

"What?" he asked.

"Whatever is going on between the two of you is your business so I'm not going to ask what's wrong, but I need to tell you one thing," she said.

"Okay," he said.

"I understand why you're pretending in front of your parents- why you lie to them but you don't need to lie to me and I hate being lied to," Haley started. He looked away for a second and she took that as sign of admission that something was up. He returned his gaze to her and she smiled sympathetically. "I'm the last person you need to make excuses for Taylor to."

"Uh…" he started to say but she went on.

"Better than anyone, I know how she can be," Haley finished. Nathan was about to say that there was nothing wrong and that he was simply telling her where Taylor was so she wouldn't worry but then he saw the look in her eyes. It wasn't sympathy or even pity. It was empathy.

Then he remembered that Taylor was the one that caused the accident that took three years of Haley's life, and that their mom was dead because Taylor went back on her word to Haley, and that like Haley said, she grew up with Taylor. So he closed his mouth and smiled at her appreciatively. "I won't lie to you anymore," he said.

"Good. I'll see you later then," Haley said as she turned around and went back to her room.