2 hours, that's 120 minutes and 7200 seconds, that's how long a person's life is in the hands of a stranger. A 15-year-old teenage girl, Nathan Scott's baby sister to be exact, 2 hours, 120 minutes and 7200 seconds, that's how long she's been in surgery and he's counting every second of it.
He felt like his feet couldn't go fast enough as he ran through the hospital doors, completely forgetting that his girlfriend and uncle were right behind him.
"Excuse me" he panted as he came to a stop at the front desk.
"How can I help you, sir?"
"Could you tell me were my sister is? She was rushed in and I don't know" he stuttered.
"What's her name?"
"Rachel Mae Scott"
"She's on the Paediatric unit on the 14thfloor"
"Thank you" Nathan smiled, quickly making his way to the elevators.
Arriving at the 14thfloor, he stepped out and made his way through the doors of the Paediatric unit to see Caspar sat with his head in his hands.
"Hey" Nathan shouted, making the blonde look up to reveal stitches above his eyebrow and a bruise on the side of his face, "what happened?"
"Oh god, I don't know, we over at Finn's and I was going home and she asked me to take her home on my way and the next thing I know a truck's running a red light and into the passenger side of my car" Caspar rushed out shakily.
"Is she- did she? where-" he stuttered.
"Nathan" Dr Stone interrupted.
"Is she okay? What happened to her?"
"The truck hit the car with quite a force and your sister suffered from a dislocated shoulder, a few broken ribs and some bleeding-"
"Bleeding?"
"Yes, her liver was pierced by one of her broken ribs, but she's in surgery now and-"
"Wait how is she in surgery? Don't you need my permission?" Nathan asked confused.
"Well, your father was the one who brought her and told us to do what we can"
"My father?"
Nathan was knocked out of his thoughts when he felt a smaller body sit next to him.
"Hey" Haley said softly, leaning into him, "I got you some coffee"
"Thanks" he said tiredly, taking the beverage off her.
"Cooper just got off the phone with your Grandparents, they said they'll do their best to get her as fast as they can" she said, sighing when he nodded.
"Nathan" she sighed, leaning her head on the side of his arm, "talk to me" she whispered.
"I don't know what to say" he said quietly, turning his head to look at her with tired eyes. Leaning into her touch when she placed her hand against his cheeks, turning his head slightly to kiss her palm.
"She's going to be okay!"
"How can you be sure?"
"Because I'm always right" she smirked, earning a light chuckle from her boyfriend, "there's that handsome smile"
"You are right about me being handsome" Nathan smirked.
"You're so cocky" she giggled, cuddling into his chest, allowing him to wrap an arm around her waist.
"I have good authority to be" he said, placing a kiss in her hair.
"Driving lessons" Nathan blurted out.
"What?" Haley asked, looking up at him confused.
"I had organized driving lessons for her 16th" he said absentmindedly, "she's probably not gonna want to go near a car if she wakes up"
"When she wakes up" Haley corrected, "Clay and everyone should be here soon, I'm looking forward to meeting David" she said, changing the subject.
"Yeah" he nodded.
"I don't know what I'd do without her" Nathan whispered.
"She's not going anywhere"
"Nathan?" a strange voice interrupted.
Haley looked up to see an older man and women, with a young girl.
"Hi" Nathan said, standing up and pulling Haley with him, the older women puling Nathan into a hug and then the older man shaking his hand, "Thank you so much for coming"
"Hey you don't have to thank us, you're family" the women smiled, "now are you going to introduce us?" she said, nodding her head towards Haley.
"Oh yeah, Andy, Rebecca this is my girlfriend Haley" Nathan said, throwing his arm around her shoulder, "Hales, these are Jack and Finn's parents"
"It's nice to meet you" Haley said, shaking both of their hands.
"What about me, Uncle Nathan?" the young girl said, walking out from behind her father's legs.
"How are you doing, Munchkin?" Nathan said, crouching down to pick the young girl up.
"Good" she said, smiling a toothy smile, "I'm 8 now"
"What? No" Nathan said feigning shock, making the girl laugh.
Haley felt her heart and stomach flutter at the sight of Nathan with the little girl.
"Is that your girlfriend?" she whispered in his ear but loud enough for them all to hear.
"Yeah" Nathan said nodding.
"She's pretty" the young girl giggled.
"Yeah, she is" Nathan smiled, "Anyway, Haley this is Emmy, Jack and Finn's baby sister"
The young girl scoffed, "Uncle Nathan, I'm not a baby anymore" she said, making them all laugh.
"Hi" Haley waved.
"Hello" Emmy smiled.
"C'mon, baby, let's go find your brothers, I'm sure uncle Nathan want to be alone with Haley" Rebecca said, allowing Nathan to place her daughter back on the ground.
"I can take her if you want" Haley said.
"Oh sweetie you don't have to do that"
"I don't mind, really" Haley smiled politely, "I'm sure you guys want to talk"
"Thank you" Andy smiled.
"No problem" Haley nodded, taking the young girls hand and leading her away, "I like your braid"
"Thank you! Rachel done it for me when she was at my house" The young girl said looking up at Haley, "she always does it for me when she's at my house and when she's not kissing my brother, yuck"
Haley laughed, "They kiss a lot don't they?"
"Like all the time" Emmy complained, "Jacky" the young girl yelled once they'd turned the corner to see her brother.
"Hey, Princess" Jack said, leaning down to pick his sister up.
"Hey" Haley greeted, "where's Finn?" she asked, looking around the waiting area to notice he was missing.
"He took off" he shrugged, "Said he needed some air"
Haley nodded in understandingly, "Well, your parents just showed up, they're just around the corner"
"Okay, thanks" Jack said and made his way to his parents.
Haley looked around to find Cooper sat alone with his head buried in his hands. She made her way over to him and took a seat next to him. Over the past two weeks her and Cooper had gotten great and she could see why Nathan looked up to the man so much.
"You okay?" she asked, nudging his side, "you know what? Forget I asked that, it was a stupid question"
"It wasn't a stupid question. It was just you being you" he smiled, "and to answer your question I'm not doing to good" he sighed.
"Yeah, me neither"
"How's Nate?"
"Quiet" she answered, "I've tried to get him to talk but he's not saying much" she said sadly.
"He'll talk eventually. I just don't think everything's sunk in yet"
"I hope so" she smiled, "now what are Nathan's grandparents like?"
"They're good people. Royals a bit of an ass but I've only met him a few times"
"What about his Grandma?"
"Mae's a lovely woman. You'd wonder how she could've had a son like Dan but then you look at Royal" Cooper informed.
"Right" Haley said nervously.
"Hey, there's no reason to be nervous" Cooper said, throwing his arm around her shoulder and hugging her to his side, "Mae will love you, but Royal will probably like interrogate you, then again I'm positive you could take him" he teased.
"Oh shut up" Haley laughed, elbowing him playfully.
"But seriously, there's no need to worry" he said seriously.
"Hey, Cooper" Nathan said, appearing from around the corner, "Why don't you get your hands off my girl" he teased.
"What makes you think she wants me to get my hands off her" he asked in the same teasing manner.
"Dude, shut up" Nathan laughed, pulling Haley up and bringing her into a bear hug.
"Kinda need to breathe here, babe" Haley gasped.
"I love you" he breathed, pulling away slightly so he could lean down to kiss her deeply.
Pulling away breathlessly, Haley looked up to notice nothing but love and admiration in his eyes, "Not that I'm complaining, but what was that all about?"
"I just thought you should know how much I love you. I don't think I've told you enough today, but I do love you"
"I love you too" she smiled.
"Clay and the guys just arrived"
"Well, let's go see them" she said, leaning up to kiss him again.
"Okay, as fun as it was to watch you kids get all cuddly, I'm gonna go say hi to the guys" he said standing up and patting Nathan on the back before walking away.
"C'mon, let's go see the guys" Nathan said, his arm around Haley's shoulder, guiding the way.
Turning the corner they saw Clay, Tony, Tim and David with a petite blonde who Haley assumed to be his girlfriend.
"Haley, baby" Tim started, "it's good to see you again, pretty lady, the Tim has missed you"
"It's good to see you too, Tim" she said, amused by his behavior.
David stepped forward, "You must be Haley" he smiled, "It's nice to finally meet you, I've heard a lot about you" he winked.
"All good things I hope" she said kinking her eyebrow.
"Obviously" he smiled.
"Well then, it's good to finally meet you too, David" she smiled, shaking his hand.
"I'm Lauren, David's girlfriend" the blonde said.
"I'm Haley, Nathan's girlfriend" Haley smiled.
"So Haley" Tim said saddling up to her side, "Are you ready to ditch your loser boyfriend and get with a real man like The Tim?" forgetting that Nathan was stood to the other side of her.
"Tim, you do realize that my 'loser boyfriend' is one of your best friends, right?" she asked, as the others looked on amused.
"So?" Tim said confused.
"You know what? I don't think I'm quite ready for the Tim just yet" she said, stifling the laughter bubbling up in her throat.
"Aw man, that suck" he muttered.
"Anyway, how's she doing?" Tony asked.
"I don't know" Nathan shrugged, "I still haven't heard anything"
"I'm sure she'll be fine" Clay said reassuringly, "the girl has balls, she's tough"
"Thanks man" Nathan said, bumping fists with the blonde man.
"Wait, Rachel's got balls? I thought she was a chick" Tim spoke confusingly cause the group to burst into laughter.
Nathan looked around the waiting room that was filled with family and friends. It had been an hour since the guys and Lauren showed up and his Grandparents had arrived about 15 minutes ago.
"Nathan" Dr Stone said.
"Dr Stone" Nathan acknowledged, "Any good news for me?"
"Yes actually. She's out of surgery" he started, "it went very well and we were able to stop the bleeding, it's just up to her when she wakes up now"
Nathan let out a sigh of relief, "when can I see her?"
"Now actually, but I don't suggest you all go in at the same time" Dr Stone said looking around the room to notice about 20 people, obviously here for the teen, "maybe go in, in 3's or 4's"
"That's fine, thank you, Dr Stone" Nathan nodded.
"No problem, she's in room 412" he said before walking off.
Nathan turned around to find the faces of his friends and family staring at him.
"So who's going in first?" Brooke was the first to speak.
"Actually, I was wondering if I could go in alone for like 10 minutes?" Nathan asked.
Nathan thanked them after they agreed and made his way to the room. He paused as he came to a stop at her door; he took a minute to collect his thoughts before entering the room to see a nurse by her bed side.
He smiled politely at her before taking a seat in the chair next to her bed.
"How's she doing?" Nathan asked.
"She's strong. Pulled through it like a soldier" The nurse said.
"I'll bet" Nathan said, a small smile forming on his face.
"I'll leave you to it" she said, making her way out.
"Thank you" he nodded.
Turning to look at his sister, he took in the bruises on her face and the stitches on her cheek. Her arm was in a navy blue arm sling.
Nathan sighed, "Hi" he said, barely above a whisper, "I don't know if you can hear me but I'm so proud of you. You pulled through it so well. Granma and grandpa came and so did Clay and the guys and they're all here for you. I know I haven't been the best brother lately and I'm so sorry for that, but starting now that's all changing. And I don't know if you know but Dan actually saved you, kind of ironic, huh? Trying to avoid him and then him being the one to save your life. But I know it should've been me, I try so hard to protect from the world that when I do it only drives you away and gets you hurt and I feel so stupid" he said, laying his hand over her much smaller one, "I need you to wake up" he said, feeling himself choke up, "I need you to wake up, because I don't think I could live with myself if you didn't. I mean who would annoy the hell out of me and beat me at NBA live at the same time?" By now the tears had started falling, "and I know I've got Haley and I love her. I do. So much, but she's terrible at basketball" he joked, jumping when he felt a hand on his shoulder, not needing to turn around to know it was Haley.
He laid a hand over hers and pulled her around to sit on his lap, his arms wrapping around her waist tightly and his head buried in her neck as the tears flowed.
She wrapped her arms around his shoulders as he shook with tear, trying her best to calm him down.
"I'm not that bad at basketball" she said, making him pull her head away from her and look at her before chuckling lightly.
"You are" he nodded, "you are, but it's one of the reasons why I love you so much" he said, moving a hand to tangle in her hair, guiding her lips to his.
She met his lips in a soft kiss, her thumbs coming up to wipe his damp cheeks before pulling away.
"So what are you doing in here?" Nathan asked.
"I wanted to be here for you" she smiled.
"My grandpa was questioning you wasn't he?" Nathan asked knowingly.
"What? No" she said, trying her best to convince him, but unfortunately he saw straight through it.
"God, you'd think with everything going on, he wouldn't bother being an ass. But some things never change" he sighed.
"It's fine. Your Grandma kinda told him off" she said.
"Yeah"
"I like her"
"She's great" Nathan smiled, "she was the one who taught me how to cook"
"Well then, I best be thanking her" she teased.
"I'm sorry about my Grandpa"
"Hey, it's fine. Anyway Cooper said I could take him" she said, making him laugh.
"Really. He said that?"
"Yep" she nodded.
"I like that you two can get along. My favourite guy and my favourite girl" he smiled.
"You best hope your sister didn't hear that. She'd kick your ass and then mine"
"Nah, she wouldn't be able to take me" Nathan said, looking at her body and then back to Haley, "she could take you though" he joked.
"She could take all of us and you know it" she said, "she's a fighter, which is why she's going to wake up"
"I know she will. But I can't help but thinking what if she doesn't"
"You can't think like that! You need to think positively"
"What am I going to tell her about Dan?"
"
Tell her the truth and then it's up to her what she does" Haley said.
"Have you always been so wise?"
"Yes" she smirked.
"I think you've been spending way too much time with me. That ego of yours is getting bigger" he teased.
"So you admit that you have a big ego?"
"I didn't say that"
"You implied it"
Nathan scoffed, "Whatever"
"Do you want me to go get the others?"
"Actually can you just get Finn, I'm sure he wants to see her"
"You're a good man Nathan Scott"
"You made me a good man"
"How? I remember you were a good man when we first met" she smiled, "well apart from hitting on me straight away" she said making them laugh.
"I really don't know what I was thinking" he sighed, running a hand over his face, "I was so nervous"
"Really?"
"Well yeah! I remember seeing you from my window for the first time and from then on I was pretty much hooked. And I remember the first few weeks getting to know each other, I always had sweaty palms and I always felt my heart was about to jump out my chest because I was afraid of making an ass of myself"
"Well you did make a bit of an ass of yourself the first time we went to Tric" she said, trying to suppress a giggle, "but you kinda made it up with the morning after" she blushed.
Haley sighed happily as she snuggled into her pillow and pulled her comforter tighter around her body. Opening one eye to the blinding light she checked her alarm clock.
"Few more hours" she mumbled to herself, as she noticed it was only 8:30 am.
She turned on her other side feeling herself drift off again, when she felt herself come into contact with something rather hard. Opening her eyes, she allowed them to adjust to the brightness, once they did; she looked up to notice those familiar blue eyes staring back at her.
"Hey" he smiled.
"How long have you been awake?"
"Like 5 minutes" he shrugged.
"Oh well, you can leave now and let me go back to sleep" she said casually before turning back over.
"You think you're so funny don't you?" he said.
"Hmm" she mumbled.
"What about now?" he said, attaching his fingers to her side and tickling her.
"No" she giggled, "St-stop, please" she said rolling onto her back.
"You think you're still funny now?" he asked, his hand going to her other side as he continued to tickle her.
"Ye-yes"
"Not the right answer, Haley" he said, proceeding to tickle her harder.
"Okay, okay! I give up" she said.
"Say it"
"I'm not funny" she defeated.
"Clever choice" he smirked.
"Whatever" she said rolling her eyes, "and don't you ever wear shirts?" she said, obviously referring to the fact he was shirtless.
"Why would I do that when I have body like this" he said flexing his arms.
"God, you're so cocky" she scoffed.
"Nah, I just know what's good" he shrugged, "and I don't know why you're complaining, I know if the roles were reversed and you were the shirtless one I definitely wouldn't be complaining" he said waggling his eyebrows.
"Perv" she muttered, back handing his chest lightly.
"And I've seen you staring at me"
"I so don't stare"
"You so do" he laughed, "It's okay though because I stare at you too" he said, moving his head to the side to look at her and smirking when she blushed.
"God, you're such a pervert" she groaned, throwing her comforter off her and swinging her legs to the floor.
"Where are you going?" he pouted dramatically.
"To shower. I might as well considering you woke me up" she teased.
"Can I join you?"
"You won't ask me out but you'll ask to join me in the shower?" she said, turning around to face him and placing her hands on her hips.
"Well if I ask you out, then can I join you?" he smirked, rolling over to the other side of the bed.
"You are such a guy" she said, punching his shoulder playfully.
Nathan quickly grabbed her wrist and pulled her back on the bed, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her back flushed against his chest.
"What are you doing?" she asked though her giggles.
"Nuthin'" he mumbled, burying his head into her neck.
"So I never asked did you enjoy yourself at Tric last night?" he asked.
"Yeah I did" she nodded, enjoying the warmth from his bare chest, "I definitely had a better time than you" she said, giggling when he groaned into her neck.
"So not funny"
"It so was" she said, "you pretty much turned into a go-go dancer and started dancing on the bar"
"I was drunk" he defended.
"Really. I hadn't noticed" she said sarcastically, "you never mentioned why you got so drunk. Why did you?"
"I was jealous" he stated.
"Of what?"
"I saw you talking and dancing with that douche" he muttered.
"But why would that make you jealous?" she asked nervously.
"Because I like you and I wanted to be the one dancing with you" he said, blushing. Wait, blushing? Nathan Scott doesn't blush- Nathan thought to himself.
"Yo-you like me?" she asked.
"Yes" he said, turning her around so she was facing him.
"I-I like you too" she blushed, looking up at him through her eyelashes.
"I know" he said.
"Yeah… wait, what? How do you know that?" she asked confused.
"Brooke told me"
"Of course she did" Haley muttered rolling her eyes.
"You can't me annoyed I know she told you that I told her I liked you"
"Yeah, but I didn't think she was serious"
"Why?"
"Well you're you and I'm well… me"
"What do you mean?"
"Well you were the big jock and I was the nerdy girl with no friends"
"That was high school, Haley, we're adults now and I know you had friends, you had Lucas"
"Yeah, but I'm not like the other girls you've dated and I know we aren't dating, but I like you"
"And I like you too, and I know you aren't like the other girls I've dated. You're so much better than them"
"I am?"
"Yes, you're smart, funny, sarcastic, beautiful and just the fact that you actually get along with my sister means everything to me" he admitted shyly.
"Did the other girls you've been with not like her?"
"No. They always thought she was a distraction because I spent a lot of my time with her and I still do"
"Whores" Haley muttered making Nathan chuckle.
"Thank you"
"What for?"
"For just being you" he smiled making her blush.
"No problem"
"Now, how about that shower?" he smirked, her laughter filling the room.
"Yeah, that was a good morning" Nathan smiled.
"Yes it was" she smiled, rubbing her nose against his, "I love you"
"I love you too" he replied, placing a kiss against her lips.
"Oh I spoke to my parents before"
"What did they say?"
"They sent their best and hope that everything's okay. They said they could've came but they're in Washington"
"It must have been hard for you when they started traveling"
"It was but I pretty much lived in Lucas' and when I wasn't as Luke's, Taylor or one of my brothers were home"
"Didn't you miss them?"
"Every day and I still do, but that's life" she shrugged.
"Yeah, did you ask them about thanksgiving?"
Haley nodded, "they said they'll be here"
"That's good; I'm excited to meet them"
"Really?" Haley asked.
"I'm nervous obviously but I'm happy to be meeting the people who brought you into my life" he smiled.
"Why are you nervous? They'll love you"
"I'm nervous because I want them to think I'm good enough for their daughter"
"You are good enough for me. And I think my mom's got a 'crush' on you"
"Really?" Nathan smirked.
"Yeah, she called you a hunk"
"A hunk, huh? Well I can see why she thinks that" he winked, flexing the bicep that wasn't around her waist"
"Shut up" she blushed.
"You know I'm right, Babe. I'm hot and you know it"
"I need to go, your ego's taking up too much room" she said standing up.
"Where are you going?" he pouted.
"To get Finn" she said leaning down to pop a kiss on his cheek.
"Thanks" he smiled.
"No problem. I'll talk to you later" she smiled, placing one more kiss on his cheek before walking off.
Nathan sighed, running a hand over his face before turning back to the bed.
"Please wake up" he whispered, taking her hand in his.
I know it's kind of a random chapter but I didn't want too much drama. I promise the next chapter will be more about Rachel and everyone else. Apologies for any spelling or grammar mistakes I missed in my read over.
I hope you enjoy. Please Read&Review, I really appreciate it.