Twenty: Just Another Manic Monday
"Hello?" Haley anxiously snatched up the phone, knowing that Nathan was on the other end of the line.
"Hey," he grinned.
"I've tried calling you since the game ended. Why didn't you answer your phone?" she demanded, angered that he didn't seem to know or care that she'd been worried.
"The battery was dead; I had to charge it," he replied, confused by her irritated tone.
"You always forget to charge it!" Haley scolded.
"Well now it's charged, and I'm talking to you, so what's the problem?" he grumbled, feeling a little peeved himself.
"The problem is that I haven't been able to get a hold of you."
"Why is that a problem? Did something happen?" Nathan was concerned now. "Is James all right?"
"Yes, James is fine," Haley quickly assured him. Her face flushed with shame; she hadn't meant to alarm him.
"Damn it, Haley," Nathan muttered, putting a hand to his racing heart. "You scared me."
"I'm sorry," she mumbled sheepishly.
"If nothing's wrong, why did you need to talk to me?" he asked when she said nothing else.
"I didn't need to talk to you, I just wanted to talk to you," she explained.
"What about?"
"Lots of things."
"Like…?"
"Like your game. You were so great," she gushed.
"You watched it?"
"Yes, I told you I would. James and I went over to your parents' house and we all watched it together. We really liked that slam dunk in the middle of the third quarter."
"Yeah?" Nathan broke into a smile.
"Yeah," Haley nodded. "Oh and by the way, our son is amazing! He did something incredible today!" she exclaimed proudly.
"What, what did he do?" Nathan eagerly clutched the cell phone to his ear, ignoring the tired glare his roommate was sending his way.
"He can hold things! Only for a few seconds, but he can hold things!" Haley squealed. "I was playing with him in the living room, 'ya know before work yesterday morning, and he reached for a rattle and held it all by himself!"
"Hey, that's my boy!" Nathan beamed. "Man, I wish I could have seen that."
"Oh, it's okay, I got it on the video camera the second time he did it," Haley replied.
Nathan laughed. "Haley you're hilarious."
"When you say hilarious, you mean ridiculous, don't you?" she asked wryly.
He only laughed harder.
"So what have you been up to tonight?" Haley inquired when Nathan's laughter had died down.
"Oh, I was with Brooke," he reported with enthusiasm. "She came to the game."
"Really?" Haley was just as excited as her husband. "How is she?"
"She's okay, a little homesick, but other than that she's great. We talked about you and James all through dinner.
"After we ate, she took me to this really cool little shop… I got presents," he revealed with a grin.
"Yay."
"I thought you'd like that," he chuckled. "We got these huge soft pretzels when we finished shopping--- they had like cinnamon sugar on top of them, 'ya know---."
"Quit it! I'm hungry!" Haley laughed.
"Well anyway, after that, we decided to call it a night. The cab just dropped me back here at the hotel and now I'm talking to you. It's good to hear your voice," he sighed.
"Do you like my voice?" she asked, speaking in a low, sultry tone.
He laughed. "Yeah, it's sexy. I kind of miss you. A lot."
"I kind of miss you a lot too," Haley pouted, pulling a throw pillow into her lap with her free hand and giving it a little hug. "When are you coming home again? You have another game on Friday, right?"
"Yeah," Nathan nodded. "We play Friday night and we'll be home Saturday afternoon."
"That's like two-and-a-half days!" Haley mourned.
"Yeah, I know." He sighed again. Two-and-a-half days without Haley and baby James? It was going to be torture.
"What're you going to do with yourself?" she asked.
"Work," he replied. "The team's having practice in the morning, gearing up for the game."
"Well what about Brooke?" Haley questioned. "You should spend some more time with her while you're up there. It must get hard for her being so far from home; and tomorrow's Thanksgiving."
"She did ask if I wanted to have dinner with her. I told her I would. She's been having a pretty tough time lately."
"Does she really miss Lucas?"
"Yeah. Well, she misses everybody, but especially him. At dinner, when we weren't talking about you and James, or Jake and Peyton, she was asking about Lucas. I swear every other word that came out of her mouth was 'Lucas'."
Haley snickered. "Lucas is the same way about her. I didn't really understand what he was going through until you left. I miss you so much, and you're coming back on Saturday. It's got to be really tough for them, knowing that they're going to be separated for four years, with only a few holidays in between to see each other."
"Well I was bracing myself for a long-distance relationship when you told me you'd applied to Stanford. I didn't know what I was going to do without you," Nathan responded.
"Then I got pregnant," Haley said quietly.
"Oh, Haley, I'm sorry." Nathan could have kicked himself for bringing up Stanford.
"It's all right," she assured him.
"Do you regret it yet?" he asked when the silence had stretched too long.
"What do you mean?" Haley was confused.
"Well, when we decided to go through with the pregnancy, everybody told us that we'd be sorry and that we were making a huge mistake… I've been waiting to feel some kind of regret, but I haven't yet. I don't think I ever will."
"I don't think I will either," Haley answered at once. "James is just… he's everything. Now that I have him, I can't imagine life without him."
"I know exactly what you mean," Nathan murmured, smiling as he thought of his son. "I love him so much."
"Did you show Brooke the new picture of him? The one you put in your wallet?" Haley broke into an expectant smile. She already knew what the answer would be.
"Oh yeah. She must have told me how cute he was five million times," Nathan chuckled. "She said she can't believe how big he is. I thought she was going to bust out crying or something."
"Well, the last time she saw him was the middle of August, when she left for school. He really has grown a lot since then," Haley pointed out.
"I know. It's crazy, isn't it?" Nathan sounded sort of sad.
"Every morning, when I go into the nursery to feed him, I look down at him in his crib, and I know he's bigger. He doesn't look any different from the night before, but I know he's bigger; and every morning I tell him to stop growing, but I don't think he's listening to me." Haley smiled sorrowfully and held the phone closer to her ear.
"Well I think we'd better get used to that," Nathan grinned. "In about sixteen years, the no listening thing is going to be ten-thousand times worse."
Haley groaned theatrically from her end of the line and then giggled. "Oh, James as a teenager. Nathan we're doomed."
"Nice, Hales."
"No, seriously, now I'm freaked out." Haley's knuckles turned white as she gripped the phone with even greater force. "Are we cut out for that? I mean, can we handle it? What if we like, permanently screw him up?"
"Do you know what I love about you, Haley? You're so optimistic," he chuckled.
"Oh would you get off the phone already?" Nathan's roommate made a desperate plea. "I'm trying to sleep over here, Scott! I'm tired!"
"Geez, O'Reily, quit whining." Nathan sent the boy in the bed next to his a menacing scowl.
"Well, good lord, Nathan." O'Reily, whose first name was Sean, pouted and pulled his covers up to his chin. "You said it was just going to be a quick call."
"I'm sorry, have I kept you up past your bedtime?" Nathan teased good-naturedly.
"Shut up, man," Sean mumbled, his brown eyes lightening with a slight grin. He raked his long fingers through his disheveled red hair and said, "Come on, seriously. Coach wants to have practice in the morning and I am beat, Nate, no lie."
"Hey, Hales, I've got to go," Nathan said into the phone.
"Sweet dreams," she murmured with a smile.
"The only sweet dreams I have are dreams of you," he murmured back to her.
Sean groaned. "I think I'm going to barf. That was so lame, Nathan." Then, grumbling to himself, he said, "How did I get stuck rooming with the married guy?"
"I love you," Nathan grinned, ignoring his roommate. "No, I love you. Haley, you know that's not possible because I love you more. No…"
"Oh, in the name of all that's sacred, would you hang up the phone!" Sean had no patience left.
"Give James a kiss for me," Nathan sputtered quickly before he finally ended the call. "There, are you happy now?" he demanded of his roommate with a scowl as he tossed his phone onto the bedside table and turned out the light.
Sean lay silently in the darkness for a long while before he finally spoke.
"Nate?"
"I thought you wanted to go to sleep," Nathan grumbled drowsily.
"What're you doing?"
"Well, I was almost asleep…"
"I mean with that girl. The one you went out with tonight."
"Brooke?"
"Yeah."
"What do you mean…?" Nathan's question faded away to nothing as he slowly realized what Sean was really asking. He began to laugh. "Dude, what do you think, that I'm hooking up with her something?"
"Look, I've met your wife," Sean said with quite a bit of intensity. "She's a real nice girl. I don't care how pretty Brooke is, if you think cheating on Haley is okay…"
"Brooke is a friend of mine from high school. I've known her for years," Nathan interrupted, still highly amused.
Sean propped himself up on one elbow, glaring at Nathan through the blackness. "You're one messed up S.O.B. 'ya know that, Scott?"
Nathan burst out laughing again. "Sean, she's been dating my brother since our junior year! She and I are just friends. She's going to school here; she hasn't seen anybody from home in months, so she came to watch the game. That's all."
There was another long silence and then Sean sheepishly muttered, "Oh. Well, uh, g'night."
"This is a really great place," Nathan said for the millionth time, looking around Brooke's spacious apartment with envy. He was lounging on her couch, watching a football game.
"Thank you, but if you say that one more time, I'll throw you out," Brooke threatened with a cheerful grin. She bustled over to the dining table, carrying a large take-out bag that was marked with the name of some restaurant.
"Brooke, did you have Thanksgiving dinner delivered?" he snickered.
"Well, if I had tried to cook it myself, there wouldn't be any dinner to eat," Brooke defended herself.
"That's true," Nathan agreed. He flashed a cheeky grin when Brooke glared at him.
"'Ya know, you could get up off your butt and help me, if you were any kind of a gentleman," she said, being jokingly scathing. "And tell me you're not watching football."
"It's Thanksgiving, you have to watch football. It's like the law." Nathan got lazily to his feet and came over to help Brooke with the food.
"No, on Thanksgiving, you have to watch the parade," Brooke contradicted him, passing him a container of mashed potatoes.
"What parade?" Nathan was distracted as he struggled to get the lid off of the container.
"The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, hello." Brooke was astounded by his question.
"The one with all those floats?" Nathan made a please-no-anything-but-that kind of face.
Brooke showed no mercy. She grabbed the remote, as Nathan finally got the lid off of the potatoes, and switched to a channel that was showing the parade.
"I'm the guest," Nathan reminded her with a frown. "Shouldn't I get to watch what I want?"
"Technically, yes," Brooke admitted with a slow nod. "But this is my first Thanksgiving away from home and I've watched the parade every year since I was a little kid and---."
"All right, all right, fine," Nathan grumbled, waving a hand to silence her. "'Ya know, you're really milking this away-from-home thing."
"For all it's worth," Brooke grinned. "I was actually thinking about taking you with me to see this live and in person, but I didn't think you'd go for it. Ooo! Snoopy!" she squealed, pointing delightedly at the giant float on the TV screen.
"You thought right," Nathan muttered, unable to hold back a crooked smile.
Before too long, the not-homemade dinner had been spooned into regular dishes, and Brooke and Nathan settled down to eat. A companionable silence hung over the table as forks scraped against plates, but then Nathan started to chuckle.
"What's funny?" Brooke wanted to know the joke. She chewed on a tender piece of turkey.
"I'm sorry," Nathan snickered, shaking his head. "I'm just thinking about something my roommate said last night."
"What did he say?" Brooke sipped curiously at her water, waiting for his response.
"He gave me a pretty bad scolding," Nathan chuckled again.
"About…?" Brooke prodded.
"You," Nathan's shoulders shook with quiet laughter.
Brooke's hazel eyes widened with shocked realization, and she spewed her water everywhere, choking as she hysterically cackled.
"Brooke! Gross!" Nathan pulled his plate out of the path of the spray.
"He thought we were together?" she coughed, turning a bright red as she continued to laugh.
"Well, it's not really that funny," Nathan mumbled. His ego was slightly bruised by her reaction.
"Yes, it is!" Brooke snorted, trying to regain her composure; but she could only laugh. "Holy crap! You and me? Hahahaha!" she hooted.
Nathan grinned in spite of himself and scooped up a forkful of mashed potatoes. The idea that the two of them could be anything more than friends was pretty ridiculous.
Brooke came to see Nathan play again at the Friday night game and, again, they went out together. She wanted to show her friend more of the city that was now her home.
"So you're leaving tomorrow?" Brooke tilted her head, stuffing her hands in the pockets of her coat. She and Nathan were standing in front of his hotel. A cab was idling by the curb, waiting for Brooke to say her goodbyes.
"Yeah," Nathan stuck his hands in his pockets, too. Blowing out a long breath, he watched it create cloudy puffs in the cold night air.
"Well, it's been really nice to see you," she said.
"Yeah, you too," he nodded. "And listen, thanks for everything. I had a lot of fun."
"Good, I'm glad," she grinned. Then she shivered.
"You'd better get back in the cab," Nathan suggested. "You'll freeze out here."
"I know." Brooke's teeth chattered. "You have a safe trip back; and tell Haley that I say hello and that I miss her."
"I will," Nathan promised.
"Give her and that cute little baby of yours a hug and a kiss for me."
"I will."
"Let Lucas know that I love him and…"
"Whoa, whoa," Nathan interrupted. "I'm not giving him a kiss for you."
Brooke laughed. "Bye, Nathan."
"Bye."
"I'll see you all at Christmas," she said, almost as if she were trying to comfort herself.
"That's less than a month from now. You can make it," he grinned reassuringly.
She smiled and quickly hugged him. Then she hurried back to the cab.
Nathan stood at the curb, arm raised in a gesture of farewell, watching it drive away. When the taxi was lost in traffic, he rushed inside the hotel, anxious to get warm and talk to his wife.
"Ah, home," Nathan sighed happily. He walked through the doorway of his apartment on Saturday afternoon, lugging his suitcase. He smiled when he saw the homemade banner that hung on the living room wall.
Welcome Home, it said. We Missed You!
Haley followed him, cradling baby James. She was smiling also. "I know, I'm a loser," she giggled.
"Yeah, but I love you anyway." Nathan covered her lips with a gentle kiss that gave Haley chills of bliss. When the kiss ended, he turned his attention to his son. "Now let me see this guy," he said, speaking in a soft, gentle tone. He smiled again when he had the baby in his arms.
James returned his father's smile, cooing gleefully, with brown eyes that were bright and happy.
"Seriously, how cute is he?" Nathan chuckled, touching his mouth to James's forehead. Closing his eyes, he breathed in the scent of baby powder.
"He's happy to see you," Haley observed, watching her husband and their son with sparkling eyes.
"I'm happy to see him, too." Nathan held the baby closer and tickled him underneath his chin. "'Cause I missed you," he said when James smiled at him again. "Daddy hates having to go away from you."
Eventually, Haley and Nathan, along with baby James, made their way into the living room and cuddled up together on the couch. Nathan handed out the presents he'd brought back from his trip.
Haley was obviously pleased with her gift. It was a small porcelain model of a grand piano, painted a glossy black; a key in the bottom of it, when twisted, caused a tinkling version of "New York, New York" to play.
"One day, I'll get you the real thing, but for right now, that'll have to do." Nathan's expression was full of pure affection.
Haley laughed and leaned over to kiss his cheek. "This one will still be my favorite, even if I have ten real ones someday."
Nathan tenderly kissed her mouth.
Haley laughed again once they'd pulled away from each other. "Look at James."
Obediently, Nathan lowered his eyes to gaze at the baby.
James, who was nestled safely in his father's right arm, was staring at the little piano in wonderment; he was hypnotized by the music.
Nathan laughed too and rubbed the baby's belly through his tiny onesie. "What's that noise, James? What is that?" he asked in the soft, quiet tone he used only when he was speaking to his son.
"Do you like the music, baby?" Haley twisted the key a second time, wanting to keep the music playing for her little angel. "What did you get for him?" she questioned, catching one of James's chubby little hands and kissing it.
"Oh." Nathan pulled a cheerful blue teddy bear out of the shopping bag he'd taken from his suitcase just minutes before. The bear, which was a sky blue color, had a picture of the Statue of Liberty stitched into the right side his chest, with the phrase "I love NY" over his heart.
"Awww." Haley reached out to caress the side of her husband's face. He really was so incredibly sweet.
"I know he already has like a million teddy bears, but…" Nathan shrugged, embarrassed for some reason.
"No, but he doesn't have this one," Haley insisted. "This one's special. His daddy got it for him the first time he ever had to leave him." To prove her point, Haley took the bear and touched its nose to James's nose, making a big, smacking kiss noise.
James gurgled cheerfully and reached for the toy.
Nathan chuckled. "Do you like your bear, buddy?"
Later that evening, Nathan was lounging on the living room couch, with James snuggled cozily in the crook of his arm. James was watching his father's face, while Nathan was flipping through a book entitled Basketball Legends.
Haley, clad in her pajamas, having just finished washing her face and brushing her teeth, stopped abruptly at the end of the hallway and peered covertly around the corner. She was careful to be very quiet, so they wouldn't know she was there.
"James, James look," Nathan said, pointing to a picture in the book.
James followed his father's finger and blinked inquisitively at the photo.
"Can you say 'Kareem Abdul-Jabbar'?" Nathan asked, turning his gaze to his son's face and tapping the picture with the tip of his finger.
James looked dubiously up into his father's eyes and wrinkled his little forehead.
"Yeah, you're right," Nathan nodded, as if James had spoken to him. "Maybe we should start with something a little easier. Let's see…" Nathan flipped through a few more pages.
From her hiding spot, Haley choked back a laugh.
"Oh, here we go," Nathan grinned. "James," he pointed to another picture. "Michael Jordan."
James cooed excitedly and extended one of his small hands toward the photo.
"You like him?" Nathan smiled, very pleased. Closing the book, he tossed it on to the coffee table; he then proceeded to wrap both of his arms around the baby, cuddling him closer. "You are one cool kid. I can't wait 'til you get a little bigger. I'll teach you to play ball. Yeah. Oh, you'll love it. Yeah, you will," he babbled in his baby-talk voice.
James cooed again and sent an adoring smile his father's way. Nathan's own face softened in a subtle smile and he gave James one of his fingers. The baby curled his hand around it.
"'Ya know what, buddy?" Nathan asked after a quiet moment. "Don't grow up too fast. I kind of like you the way you are."
It was then that Haley made her presence known. She came out of the hallway's shadows; a smile identical to her husband's brightened her countenance.
Nathan's ears turned an uncomfortable shade of pink. "How long have you been there?"
"Come here, mister," Haley murmured to James, completely ignoring Nathan's question as she scooped James up in her arms. "It's time for you to go to bed."
Nathan got to his feet and followed Haley into the nursery.
After James had been tucked snugly into his crib and kissed goodnight about five hundred times, Nathan and Haley made their way back out into the hall.
"Okay seriously," Nathan said as he trailed Haley into their bedroom. "How long were you standing there?"
Haley turned to face him, her eyes glittering in the dark. "Can you say Kareem Abdul-Jabbar?" she deepened her voice to imitate him and giggled.
Nathan groaned and hid his face in his hands. "You'll never let me live this down, will you?"
Haley went up on her tiptoes and kissed the tip of his nose when he lowered his hands. "No," she smiled wickedly.
Nathan wrapped his arms around her and playfully tackled her to the mattress, attempting to tickle her.
"Aaa!" Haley squealed. "Ow! Ouch! Nathan, your fingers are like concrete, quit it!"
"Oh, I'm sorry." Nathan pulled back.
Haley flashed a crooked grin. Her plan had worked! She nudged him sideways, straddling his stomach to pin him down.
Nathan sighed and rolled his eyes when Haley raised her hands, flexing her fingers in preparation for tickling.
"Haley, I'm not ticklish," he said, sounding bored.
"Yes you are," she nodded. "I know where, too."
His eyes popped. "Don't," he warned.
"What're you going to do about it?" Haley laughed, flexing her fingers with even greater speed.
In a quick, fluid movement, Nathan rolled and had Haley trapped under his body.
Haley, tangled in the sheets, stared blankly up into her husband's smug face. "You should have gone out for wrestling," she grunted, shoving against his chest in an effort to free herself.
"Nah, I wouldn't want to wrestle guys. I like wrestling with you better," Nathan grinned.
"Why, because it's an easy victory? You outweigh me by like seventy pounds." Haley pushed against Nathan's solid chest again but didn't budge him an inch.
"No." Nathan lowered his lips to his wife's in a slow, fiery kiss. Haley purred with pleasure when she felt the smooth slide of his tongue.
"Oh I see," she sighed dazedly when the kiss finally came to an end. "You couldn't do that with a bunch of sweaty guys, could you?"
"Nope," he chuckled. Haley nudged at his chest again and he rolled onto his back; his head landed squarely on his pillow.
They lay in bed, holding each other and talking. James was now sleeping through the night, so they conversed without interruption. Haley listened enthusiastically as Nathan described New York to her.
"It sounds like so much fun," she sighed, snuggling her cheek to Nathan's chest. There was an edge of wistfulness in her voice.
"It is," Nathan replied. "It's so different there; everything's bigger, and faster. It's exciting."
"Dinky old Tree Hill is just downright boring, huh?" Haley teased.
Nathan chuckled and the deep sound vibrated against Haley's ear. "No, it's home. It's good to be home," he sighed. He tightened his arm around Haley and kissed her forehead.
"I want to see it--- New York," she murmured after a moment.
Nathan looked down into her uplifted eyes. "Would you like that?" he smiled.
Haley nodded silently.
He moved closer to her and she curled into his body. "Someday I'll take you there," he promised, stroking her hair. "You and James."
Haley drifted happily to sleep, safe in Nathan's embrace.
Saturday had been a very good day.
Monday wasn't so good.
"Haley, hello," a smiling voice called out.
Haley looked up from tending to a cranky baby. Two cribs down, she heard James start to wail. She glanced at the clock and heaved a big sigh of relief. Only half an hour 'til quitting time.
"Haley!" the overly-cheerful voice rang out again.
Haley turned toward it and silently groaned to herself. Out loud she said, "Oh, Mrs. Wolfe, hi."
Mrs. Wolfe, her friendly smile wide and fake, swept gracefully toward Haley.
Miranda, one of Haley's co-workers, approached them. She cradled Mrs. Wolfe's six-month old daughter Samantha in her arms.
"Princess!" Mrs. Wolfe exclaimed, kissing her baby's cheeks and babbling nonsense to her. She took Samantha from Miranda and smoothed her fine blonde hair. "How was she today?"
"Perfect," Miranda grinned tightly. Like Haley, Miranda was nauseated by Mrs. Wolfe and her theatrics.
"Well, aren't you always, my precious darling?" Mrs. Wolfe kissed her baby again.
Haley had gotten James from his assigned crib and was heading to one of the rocking chairs to feed him.
"How old is your little angel now, Haley?" Mrs. Wolfe inquired, rocking Samantha back and forth.
"Um, he'll be four months on December third," Haley responded. Her chest tightened as she was hit with the realization that her baby was fast becoming a full-blown infant.
"Really?" Mrs. Wolfe seemed surprised. "I was back to my pre-baby weight by the time my Samantha was that old, and I'm nearly six years older than you. I would have thought losing weight would be easier for a teenager."
Haley stared at Mrs. Wolfe, confused for a moment; then, she understood what the other woman was trying to say, and her face flushed scarlet.
"Oh, now don't be embarrassed dear," Mrs. Wolfe comforted. "Some women's figures just don't come back, no matter what they do. I'm sure your husband will get used to it."
Miranda looked at Haley and then turned angered eyes on Mrs. Wolfe. There was nothing wrong with Haley!
"Well, have a good night girls." Mrs. Wolfe waved and made her departure.
"Haley, don't pay attention to what she said," Miranda spoke up after a moment. "You look fine. You look the way you did before you had the baby."
Haley nodded and tried to laugh it off, but Mrs. Wolfe's comments had struck a nerve.
"Hey." Nathan came home after spending an hour in the weight room to find Haley, turning from side to side, examining herself in the bathroom mirror.
"Hi," she mumbled absently; poking herself experimentally in the stomach, she frowned.
Nathan mirrored her frown, confused. "What're you doing?"
She sighed and turned to face him, her expression bothered. "Do you think I'm flabby?"
"What?" Nathan's forehead furrowed.
Haley raised her shirt and poked at her mid-section a second time, frowning again at something that displeased her. "See? Did you see? Flab."
"Haley, that's your skin." Nathan could see no flab. She was gorgeous.
"No, but I'm flabby!" she insisted. "I don't look the way I used to before James was born."
Nathan wasn't entirely sure what he was supposed to say here. "Well, obviously I can't speak from experience, but from what I've heard, having babies will do that to you."
Haley moaned. "You think I'm ugly!"
"What?" Nathan was bewildered. "Haley I didn't say that!"
"Maybe Mrs. Wolfe was right," Haley mumbled dejectedly, turning away from her reflection with disgust. "Maybe I'll just never get my figure back."
"What?" Nathan looked her up and down in amazement. From what he could see, her figure had come back in fine fashion; honestly, she was totally hot.
"Excuse me," she sniffled, attempting to move past him and exit the bathroom. Tears were starting to roll down her cheeks and she wanted to cry in peace.
"Wait, wait, wait," Nathan caught her shoulders in his hands, holding her in place. "Who's Mrs. Wolfe and what did she say to you?"
"She's one of the daycare parents," Haley explained. "She made a comment about my weight today and it made me feel bad."
Nathan pulled a whimpering Haley close to his chest and murmured soothingly to her. Inwardly, he felt rage. Anyone who caused his Haley any kind of pain was a sworn enemy.
"Come on, hey, it's all right," he comforted her. "I bet you'll feel better once you eat some dinner; come on…"
Haley pulled free from his grasp. "No, I'm not hungry," she mumbled, swiping her hands over her cheeks.
"Oh no." Nathan vehemently shook his head.
"What?" Haley folded her arms across her chest.
"You are not doing this; I won't let you do this."
"Do what?" Haley asked impatiently.
"Miss meals. You can't not eat, it's the worst thing you could do, especially now; you're breastfeeding, Haley."
"I want to lose the rest of my baby weight," she said, sounding almost beseeching. "I want you to think I'm beautiful."
Nathan pulled her into his arms again. "I do think you're beautiful."
"But I don't feel like I am." Haley's voice trembled with more tears that threatened to escape.
"All right, well then I'll help you. We'll do this together," Nathan decided. "It'll be a good way for us to spend time with each other. But, Haley, I want you to understand something."
Haley stared up into his face, waiting.
"What's here?" He laid his palm over her chest.
"My heart."
"This is what attracted me to you. Your spirit and your sense of humor, your intelligence and your ability to be true to yourself, the confidence mixed in with all of your insecurities… All of that and so much more is what I love about you; I love the person you are. I don't care how much you weigh."
Haley arched a skeptical eyebrow.
"Okay, I want you to be healthy," he corrected himself. "But don't feel like you have to live up to some insane supermodel standard, all right? Because I don't want a supermodel, I want you. So, like, if you want a cookie, eat a freaking cookie, 'ya know?"
Haley laughed. "What about cheesecake? Can I eat cheesecake?"
"Absolutely," he nodded. "I'll probably eat it with you!"
Haley laughed again and snuggled her face into his chest. "I'm sorry," she mumbled.
"Yeah, well, me too," he sighed, wrapping his arms around her.
She raised inquisitive eyes to look into his face.
"I'm sorry that you felt like you had to look a certain way to make me love you," he explained. "No matter what, I'm going to love you, Haley. Always…"
"And forever," she finished with a sparkling smile. She draped her arms around his shoulders and smiled again when he touched his forehead to hers.
"You're kind of wonderful," she whispered.
"I kind of know," he whispered back with a crooked grin.
"Maybe we should kind of kiss," she suggested, going up on tiptoe to breathe the words against his lips.
"That's kind of a really good idea," Nathan continued to whisper; then his mouth found Haley's and talking really wasn't necessary anymore.
Pitiful little wails floated into the cramped bathroom, coming from the nursery. Baby James was awake and ready to eat.
His parents pulled away from each other, quietly laughing. Taking each other's hands, they made the short journey to their son's room.
Okay, brace yourselves everybody, this is a pretty long message. I want to thank all of you for such an amazing response to the last chapter. I was stunned by the number of reviews that were sent my way and I really can't ever thank you enough for taking the time to tell me what you think. Apparently there are a little over 300 reviews, and although I know that a lot of them are repeat reviews from the same people, I'm still thrilled. That's awesome! Thank you guys sooo much!
I also loved all of the constructive criticism because it made me realize how strongly some of you feel about keeping the story realistic. However, I feel like I need to straighten a few things out.
First: Nathan would never cheat on Haley; it's just not in him. And he has no reason to cheat. He loves Haley and the baby.
Secondly: Brooke would never cheat with Nathan because she loves Lucas. She was also the one to get Nathan and Haley's marriage back on track by setting them up at the cabin at Christmas in the first story; and she kept a sharp eye on Rachel and made sure that she stayed away from Nathan when Haley had to leave school. Why would she sabotage something that she worked so hard to fix? Brooke was just homesick, lonely after months of being in a big city full of strangers, and she was excited to see the familiar face of a friend. She and Nathan are friends. That's all. They were simply being friendly with each other. I'm sorry if the way that I wrote it made you think otherwise. For those of you who wanted a little drama, it won't come from a romance between Brooke and Nathan. I'm sorry, but while Brooke is with Lucas and Nathan is with Haley, there will be no… well you know. : )
Also, just to let you know, I'm following the official Tar Heels Men's Basketball schedule, so that's why Nathan had to go to New York.
And someone asked me a question about the title. September sixteenth was James's original due date, so that's why I called the story September. Not to mention, it's an awesome song by Earth, Wind & Fire. Hehe…: ) PS--- the title of this chapter is also the title of a song from the eighties, but I can't remember the name of the group because I don't really listen to eighties music. But yeah. Anyway, there's no, like, infringement intended or anything… Yeah. : )
---Sarah