Disclaimer: I don't own One Tree Hill or its characters

Thanks a ton for the reviews on the last chapter I'm really glad you liked it! Please please keep reviewing for me, my reviews have been going down quite a bit lately but I really love hearing your guys' feedback, it really does mean a lot to me. I hope you all like this chapter! Please review and let me know!

Chapter 25: More Than Anything or Anyone

Nathan had stayed in the hospital another night just in case and he was going to back to his dorm the next day. He didn't know how long his parents were going to stay but more than that, he didn't know how long he wanted them to. He appreciated the fact that they cared enough to come see him and make sure he was ok, but he didn't really want them to stay for long. The only person he really wanted to be with was Haley. He thought that was pretty understandable considering everything that had been going on. And they had some things they still needed to talk about. All he wanted was to make everything better and put it all behind them.

When he was getting ready to leave Jake brought him clothes from his dorm to change into. He put on a pair of black basketball shorts and a light blue t-shirt. He changed into them but it was a little hard because of his sore muscles. He was trying to lean over to tie his shoes but it hurt to much because of the surgery. Haley walked through the door and saw him trying to tie his shoes. "Want some help?" she asked. Nathan looked up and saw her standing in the door way and nodded. She walked over to the side of the bed and got down on her knees and grabbed the laces on his shoes.

"This is pretty embarrassing," Nathan mumbled and ran his hand over his hair. Haley laughed quietly and finished tying one of his Nikes before starting on the other. Nathan watched her and smiled. "I love you, you know that," Nathan said and smiled. Haley finished with his shoe and stood up. Nathan grabbed her hand and pulled her to him. "I love you too." He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him until he pulled her so she was straddling him.

Nathan's hands tangled in her hair and he leaned up to kiss her. Her lips pressed against his in a bruising kiss. Their lips moved together and Nathan put his hand on her hips and pressed her tighter against him. He pulled his lips away from hers when air became an issue but soon went to kissing her neck. "Nathan," she said, "we really shouldn't be doing this here," she said and laughed. Nathan mumbled something but she couldn't understand what and he went back to kissing her neck.

He stopped kissing her neck and started kissing her lips again. He lightly bit her full bottom lip then soothed it over with his tongue. She opened her mouth and her tongue met and played with his. Her breathing was becoming heavy and she knew they shouldn't be doing this here but she couldn't stop herself. She felt Nathan's hands lightly touching the skin of her back. She pulled away from him and rested her forehead against his. "We really shouldn't be doing this."

Nathan smirked and pecked her lips again, "well we already are," he said. Haley laughed and nodded, "yeah but we shouldn't be." The door to Nathan's room opened and Lucas and Brooke walked in. Haley quickly got off of Nathan's lap. She didn't need them to say anything about this. Especially not Brooke. Lucas would most likely be to freaked out to say anything. Brook laughed and kinked her eyebrow and said, "damn, in a hospital? Even I wouldn't do that."

Haley blushed and Nathan wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her to his chest. "I really didn't need to see this," Lucas said and shook his head. Brooke rolled her eyes and looked at him before saying, "right like we don't all know that they've been having sex for months now."

"Brooke!" Haley yelled. It was one thing that people probably knew that but Brooke really didn't need to talk about. Especially not with Lucas and definitely not now. Haley heard Nathan laugh and she slapped his chest with the back of her hand. "Shut up," she said. Nathan laughed again quietly, "I'm sorry baby, I didn't mean it." Haley nodded and stood up before walking over by Brooke who was standing by the door. "We'll see you guys out there," Brooke said and she and Haley walked out of the room.

Lucas watched the door close and then turned to look back at his brother. "How ya feeling this morning?" Lucas asked. Nathan shrugged and used his hand to rub his sore muscles in his neck. "I'm alright," he said, "pretty sore though, but that's understandable." Lucas nodded and stuck out his hand to help Nathan stand up.

"They sent a wheelchair but I don't think you'll need it." Nathan shook his head, "I'm good with out it." Lucas opened the door and walked out in front of Nathan. They slowly made their way to the waiting room where everyone was waiting. Deb hurried over to Nathan and hugged him. Nathan flinched slightly and said, "watch out of the stitches mom." She pulled away from him and looked at him apologetically. "Sorry Nathan."

He shook his head, "don't worry about it." Nathan looked away from his mom and saw that his Aunt and Uncle were standing not far away. He also noticed Haley, Jake, Peyton, Brooke and Colin. He also saw his dad standing behind them all. Nathan took in the look on his face. It wasn't one of relief that his son was ok, it was one of annoyance. "Why don't we take this little reunion back to the dorm?" Dan asked. Nathan rolled his eyes and said, "sorry this is such a big inconvenience for you. If you would like you can just go back home."

"Did I say that?" Dan asked, "I just would like to leave the ER. We've been here for hours." Nathan rolled his eyes and put his hand out for Haley to take and they all made their way towards the elevator. Nathan put his arm around Haley's shoulder while they waited for the elevator to get to the first floor so they could leave. They all took separate cars back to the dorms. On the ride back Haley could tell that Nathan was upset and she wished there was a way for her to make him feel better, but she didn't know what it would be.

Haley took her eyes off the road for a moment and looked at Nathan who was sitting in the passenger seat next to her. "Are you ok?" she asked. Nathan shrugged and said, "yeah I'm just tired and a little sore." Haley nodded in understanding and then said, "is that all?" Nathan turned his head and looked at her and nodded then said, "yeah, I'm just wondering how long my parents are gonna be here ya know? I don't mind my mom at all but my dad is just… my dad."

"I know."

"Jake told me what he said to you, I'm so sorry Haley. My dad's an ass and you didn't deserve to have that said to you. Especially since this is far from being your fault."

Haley shook her head and looked back at Nathan for a second and said, "but it is. It is my fault. I should have been more honest with you and I wasn't and if I had come forward about Kyle then it would have been better and maybe there could have been a way to stop him. But I was embarrassed and I didn't want you to know. I was afraid of what you would do and what would happen when you found out. I'm sorry for lying to you Nathan."

"Haley please don't apologize to me. You didn't do anything wrong. I promise you that. I know why you didn't tell me and I'm not mad at you. I was never mad at you, I was mad at him for what he did to you. And I'm the one who should apologize."

"Nathan you don't-"

"No I should. Before Summer I was mad and I was stupid for not trusting you. I know that you would never do something to intentionally hurt me and you would never do something like cheat on me. But when Kyle said that you- Well I shouldn't have believed him. I should have trusted you. I'm sorry I didn't."

"I probably wouldn't have trusted me if I were you either."

Nathan reached his hand over and took her hand. He interlaced her fingers with his and they spent the rest of the ride back to the dorms in a comfortable silence.

Haley and Nathan walked with Dan and Deb up to Nathan and Lucas's dorm. Nathan still had a firm hold on Haley's hand. He didn't want her to go anywhere and leave him alone with his parents. But he was sure she wouldn't go anywhere. He knew she wouldn't. Nathan pulled out the door key when they got to the room and unlocked the door. When he opened the door Deb sighed. Nathan wouldn't deny that his and Lucas's room was a mess.

"Nathan," she said quietly, "when was the last time you did laundry?" she said picking up clothes and dropping them into the hamper. Dan was standing near the door with his arms crossed over his chest. He'd been looking around the room with a critical eye since they walked in. Nathan could only imagine what he was thinking. "I can't believe we weren't able to get you guys a better room," Dan said, "I mean with what we pay this school."

"I think the rooms fine Dad," Nathan said.

Haley could feel the tension in the room around them. She knew that Nathan was trying hard to keep things fine between him and his dad but she could feel the tight grip on her hand every Dan said something Nathan didn't like. She was also hoping that things would be ok with him and his parents while they were here. The last thing Nathan need was to be fighting with his parents. Mainly his dad.

Nathan wished that Lucas had been with them. He always acted as a buffer between him and his dad. But he didn't know where he was. Probably somewhere with Brooke. But he needed him here right now. It was hard for him to bite his tongue when it came to some of the things that Dan said. But he didn't want to start a fight with him. And he knew that Haley wouldn't want to say anything to him. And he didn't want her to. That's why he needed Lucas here.

Deb continued to clean up the room as best she could. She didn't want her sons to live in a dirty room and she knew they wouldn't clean it so she would have to. "Do you need me to go out and get anything for you?" Deb asked, "are you guys good on food?" she asked looking at their mini fridge. Nathan shook his head, "no mom. We're good. Thanks though."

"Yeah Mrs. Scott," Haley said, "I make sure he eats well."

Deb smiled at Haley and said, "thank you. I'm glad that he found someone to look out for him." Nathan smiled too. He was glad that at least on of his parents seemed to be on Haley's side. But his mom was always kind to people that her sons cared about. She figured that if her son cared about them, they must have a good side. Dan was not like that at all. He believed everyone had ulterior motives when it came to his sons.

A few minutes later the door opened and Lucas walked in. Nathan let out a sigh of relief. For the past 5 minutes the four of them had been in a bit of an awkward silence. He was glad that Lucas was now there to maybe fix that.

"Well I guess you've been cleaning," Lucas said to his mother. She smiled then said, "of course, I don't know why you boys live like that. I mean really when was the last time you cleaned up?"

"When we moved out last year," Lucas said and chuckled.

"That's what I thought."

Nathan looked at his dad and saw that he looked disappointed. Not that he was surprised. "What dad?" Nathan asked. Dan looked at his son and said, "I just can't believe this happened," he said motioning to Nathan. "I mean you all are acting like nothing happened. You were just in the hospital because you were shot and we act like it didn't happen at all."

"We are not acting like that Dan," Deb said with an irritated tone, "but why do we have to bring it up right now? Do we need to constantly talk about it?"

"I just think it's ridiculous that Nathan could have lost his ability to play basketball because he got shot because of some girl."

"Some girl?" Nathan asked and let go of Haley's hand and moved towards Dan, "she's my girlfriend dad."

"Yeah for now, until she decides to cheat on you again."

Nathan had had it. He wasn't going to put up with Dan's comments anymore. He could say whatever he wanted about him, but when he started talking about Haley, that's when he was done listening. Nathan took another step closer to Dan with balled fists and gave him a quick swift punch to the left side of the face. The impact of the punch sent Dan falling backwards and to the ground.

Haley hurried up to Nathan and grabbed his arms and pulled him back. "Nathan don't," she said and tried to pull him again. "Nathan!" Deb yelled looking at her husband lying on the ground. She helped him stand up and he wiped away the bit of blood that was on his lip. "I want you to leave," Nathan said looking directly at Dan, "I'm not just talking about my dorm, I want you to go back home. I don't want you here. I didn't want you to come here."

"Nathan-" Deb said but was cut off by Nathan.

"Leave."

Dan looked at Haley then back at Nathan before shaking his head and walking out of the room. "Deb," he said, "let's go. Our son doesn't want us here."

Nathan looked away from them and listened as the door shut. He didn't care that they were leaving. He felt bad that his mother probably thought that he wanted her gone too but he was glad that his father was leaving. There was no denying that. He was happy he didn't have to hear anymore of his fathers complaining. If his mom had to leave to, so be it. He would call her later and apologize.

"Maybe I should go," Haley said.

Nathan turned and looked at her. "You don't have to." The truth was he really didn't want to be away from her. Since he woke up and saw her at the hospital waiting for him, all he wanted was to be around her. The fact that he could have died and he never would have gotten to be with her again after that day scared him more than anything. But at the same time he was glad he was the one who got hurt and not her. If she had been put in the hospital by Kyle he didn't know what he would have done. But they were both ok and soon enough things would be getting back to normal. Which is what he really wanted. He knew it's what she really wanted too.

"I know but I thought you might want to get some rest."

"You can still stay."

Lucas looked at the two of them and smiled. He knew they wanted to be together so he made up an excuse to leave. "I have to go to the library and work on a paper," he told them, "I'll be back in a little while." Nathan watched his brother grab his keys again and walk out the door. He didn't know if he really was going to work on a paper, but he was glad that now that his parents left, he could be with just Haley.

Haley laughed a little, "he's not working on a paper."

"Probably not but I'm not complaining," Nathan said and grabbed Haley's hands in his and pulled her towards him. He sat them on the edge of his bed and Haley smiled at him. "Are you feeling sore?" she asked not wanting to do anything that would hurt him. Nathan nodded and said, "a little bit but it's not too bad."

Haley moved so she was sitting behind him and grabbed the hem of his t-shirt and began to pull it upwards. Nathan didn't ask any questions and let her do whatever she wanted. She tossed his shirt somewhere next to the bed and began to gently knead his shoulders feeling stiff and achy the muscles were. Nathan closed his eyes and relaxed into her touch and leaned his head forwards. Her hands moved over his shoulders and down his sore back and back up to his neck. "Let me know if I'm doing anything that's hurting," she said. Nathan nodded but remained silent and continued to enjoy the touch of her hands.

After a few minutes he felt her lips press lightly on the back of his neck. His hand went up to his shoulder and he took one of her hands that was resting there and he pulled it toward his mouth and he kissed the back of her hand. "I love you Hales," he said and turned his head to look at her. "I love you too baby," she said. She could feel his muscles relaxing and she was glad. He didn't need the extra stress on his body. She heard him yawn and gently pulled him back. The two of them laid on his bed and he wrapped his arms around her.

Her hands went to his back again and she ran her hands over his back. She could feel the muscles in his back flex under her touch when she ran her nails over his skin. "Are you in a good position? Do you need to move?" she asked not wanting him to be uncomfortable in anyway. Nathan shook his head and tightened his grasp on her so she wouldn't move. "I'm fine," he said, "let's just stay like this. Please?"

Haley smiled and nodded, "sounds like a plan."

Nathan smiled back and pecked her lips. The two of them laid in a comfortable silence and eventually the fell asleep in each others arms. All they needed was to be with each other and forget about the events of the last 48 hours. They needed peace and quiet and they were happy to relish in it together.

Brooke sat on her bed with her laptop next to her. She'd been in her room for awhile now and she had just gotten off the phone with Lucas. He was working on something in the library and she was going to meet him for a date later. There was a knock on the door and she got up to answer it. When she pulled the door open she saw Jake standing on the other side. "Hey Jake," she said, "come in." She moved out of the way of the door and he walked inside.

"What's up?" she asked. Jake took a seat on Haley's bed and shrugged, "um ok so I need your opinion on something," Jake said, "and I want you to be completely honest."

"Go for it, whatever you need."

"Ok well lately I've been thinking about getting back together with Peyton. The truth is that I still really love her and I've been thinking about her a lot lately and I want us to be together again but-"

"You don't know if you can completely trust her again?" Brooke guessed finishing his sentence for him. Jake nodded and looked down at the floor. Brooke went through the same thing he did and she knew what he was feeling. "Jake I know that it's hard to know if you can trust someone again but with me the reason I gave Lucas another chance is, well because my heart was just aching without him. Even when I was mad at him I would check my phone messages and texts hoping that one was from him. It was kinda pathetic actually but I knew why I did it. I still loved him and I knew that I wanted to be with him and give him another chance. So we're trying again and yeah sometimes it's gonna be hard for me to trust him, but I want to try. And I can tell from what you were saying about Peyton that you still want to be with her. And she's crazy about you Jake."

"Really?"

"Yes. I mean you should see her get ready in the mornings. Even if she doesn't know if she's gonna see you she makes sure she looks perfect on the off chance that she might run into you or get the chance to talk to you. It's cute how much she loves you."

"And I really love her."

"Then I say you try again with her. See what happens."

Jake nodded, "I will. You're right I love her."

Brooke smiled and nodded, "good," she said her dark hair bouncing with the movement of her head.

Jake knew he could count on Brooke to be honest and tell him how she was really feeling. He couldn't think of anyone else to go to with this problem. She was in the same boat. He didn't know why it was so hard for him to admit that he wanted Peyton back but now he knew for certain that he wanted her in his life. "Have you heard anything new about Nathan?" Brooke asked. Jake shook his head, "not really. I mean nothing from a little while ago."

"Yeah I guess if you knew, I would know too."

"I do know the police are out looking for Kyle."

"I bet Rachel knows where he is," Brooke said and shook her head. She hated the fact that there was someone who knew how sick Kyle was and she was only helping the problem become worse. Part of Brooke wanted to blame Nathan being in the hospital on Rachel. Part of it was her fault. "I knew I hated her for a reason," Brooke said.

"Yeah I never liked her. Even when she and Nathan would hook up I hated her."

"She and Nathan used to hook up?" Brooke asked. She knew that Nathan used to be a player on campus before he met Haley, but she didn't know that he and Rachel had slept together. Hopefully Haley wouldn't find about that, she knew she would hate it.

"Yeah like last year. Before you and Lucas even met. But he was never really into it. He thinks she's really annoying actually."

"Doesn't everyone?"

"But Kyle apparently. He kept coming back for some reason."

"Probably had something to do with the fact that she's been supplying him with drugs."

"Yeah that probably has something to do with it."

Nathan woke up and saw that it was now dark outside. Haley was still sleeping next to him but she was now turned so her back was against his chest. He kissed the top of her head and she snuggled closer to his chest. "I don't know what I would do without you," he whispered, "I love you more than I've ever loved anything or anyone." He listened to the sound of her even breathing and he smiled. He was so happy to have her there with him. He knew she was what he wanted for the rest of his life. "I'm gonna marry you some day Haley James."

Sorry for the lack of updates on all my stories lately, I've been kinda busy with school and stuff. I won't be able to update this weekend, most likely cuz I'll be out of town. If I can I'll work on new chapters but I don't know if I'll be able to put them up. But anyway, please let me know what you think about this chapter! Thanks!