Sorry this is so late. Wanted to make promises of quicker updates but life keeps taking turns that shock us all. A family that I babysit for has three beautiful kids, and Oct 16th, 3 year old Jackson was diagnosed with Leukemia Everyone's doing everything they can to help out with their 6 year old and 9 month old while mom and dad spend their days in the Childrens Hospital. So with focusing on that and such, I will update as much as I can. But I can honestly just say that my heart and mind is elsewhere. Please keep the Houser family in your thoughts and prayers!

Also, the fics I'm reading, at least 18 of them, and there haven't been many updates on those lately, so it's kinda like OTH is non existing right now and the Naley love isn't visible. In the last chapter's ending it went along the lines of "Haley walked in to see Nathan lying face down in the bed with Tracy next to him blah blah, I changed that.. just read and you'll see how she found him"

Also (sorry for changes) The guys flew into NC from Texas, then had to drive to the girls' school, from there. Just had to clear that up.

Anywho, here's the next chapter- enjoy and leave feedback.

Chapter 22

It was just after ten o'clock when Haley peeked her head into Brooke's room, hoping that both she and Lucas were decent. Normally she knew better than to wake her roommate before noon on the weekend, especially if Lucas was in town.

"Brooke" Haley whispered seeing the two of them spooned together. She prayed they had clothes on.

"Hales?" What's going on?" It was clear that she was half asleep, but knew only Haley would be brave enough to wake her so early.

"Hey, where'd you guys stash Nathan? Peyton said he didn't leave with her and Jake, and I can't get a hold of him"

"He didn't leave with us Haley" Next to her, Lucas groaned loudly before turning over to bury his face in a pillow. Peeling the covers away, Brooke slipped on a robe over Lucas' shirt she was wearing and followed Haley out of her room, pulling her door closed.

"You and Luke didn't hang out with Nathan when I left? Did you see him at all once I was gone?" Haley didn't understand why he wasn't crashed on the couch when she woke up this morning and figured she would get some answers from one of her friends, but so far she was having no such luck.

"When you left, I was about to rip Tracy a new one until Luke pulled me away. Nate was there in the kitchen with us but after that I didn't see him at all really. Sorry Hales, me and Luke were just spending time together and I figured he just stuck with Peyton and Jake. Have you called him?"

"I've been calling his cell for the last twenty minutes Brooke, I don't get it. He always answers my calls and if for whatever reason he can't talk, he'll text me at least so I don't worry"

Moving closer to rub her friends back, Brooke tried to best to reassure her. "Hales, I'm sure he's fine, He could be with one of the guys they played ball with yesterday. Maybe he couldn't find anyone of us, so he caught a cab to a motel or something"

"That makes no sense though, he wouldn't do that. His phone is going straight to voicemail, so he's got it off. We need to call the police or something. I mean he has to be missing right? It's not like he found some girl last night and is…" before she could finish Brooke's head popped up with a tell-all look. "Brooke what's with the look?"

"He um… he was playing I Never with us when I went off on Tracy and Luke pulled me away… Luke was distracting me really well but I'm almost sure I saw him later with Tracy"

"What do you mean with Tracy?"

Haley completely trusted Nathan, but the thought of him being near Tracy had doubts entering her mind. Haley never understood the effect that Tracy had on guys but no matter what, they always seemed to fall for her bs and flock to her.

"He was talking to her I think. I mean I could be wrong Haley, who knows I was drinking"

"Brooke, don't lie to me..." she spoke quietly, and on the verge of tears "was Nathan talking to her?"

All she did was nod, and Haley grabbed her purse, keys, and was out the door.

Brooke walked back in her room to see Lucas sitting up fiddling with his phone. "She hasn't heard from him all morning? What the hell, he better be back by the time I leave"

Brooke knew Lucas wasn't really worried about Nathan's wellbeing, but more about him doing something stupid that'd get him stranded here, and most of all in deep shit with Haley.

The bright light shined in on Nathan's face, forcing him to pull the pillow over his head. His head was pounding, stomach twisting in agony, and the ringing in his ears signaled to him what last night actually cost him. He had a massive hangover, something he hadn't experienced in years. Rolling over until he fell off the bed, his large body landed with a thud and he groaned in pain before making his way to the bathroom. He urinated longer than he expected, and almost instantly threw up the liquids in his stomach, leaving a horrible taste in his mouth.

"What the hell happened last night?" he spoke aloud.

"Stop hogging the bathroom and I'll tell you"

He wasn't sure where the echoing voice even came from, but knowing that it sure as hell wasn't Haley, Brooke or Peyton, meant he was in deep shit. Exiting the bathroom, he saw the blond from last night undressing, leaving her in a bra as she went for the skirt she was wearing.

"Whoa, what the hell! What happened last night? What the hell are you doing here?"

"Nate, don't be that way. Last night was fun, don't you remember"

As bad as his headache was, and although he felt as though he could pass out at any moment, he remembered everything about last night. Most importantly, he knew for a fact that nothing happened between the two of them. But the fact that she was still there made him a little uneasy.

"What I remember is drinking way too much, and not being able to find my friends to leave with them. Brandon said I could crash here…. But you were supposed to be gone"

"My girl never showed up so Brandon said I could crash here"

"Yea, I told you to crash in one of the upstairs rooms that were empty, not down here you lying bitch. What the hell are you still doing here? You need get yourself dressed and leave" Brandon came in having heard the loud voices. "Sorry Nate, you crashed and she came in a few hours later saying her ride still hadn't showed"

They both watched as Tracy went into the bathroom, closing the door and started up the shower. "Man, this is fucked up" Nathan ran his hands over his face sighing. "Why the hell would she come in here, knowing I'm with Haley"

"Listen, she was upstairs, I took her there myself. She was pretty wasted and crashed. All I can think is that she came down just a while ago and jumped in bed with you. You got nothing to worry about. She's just pulling her normal bullshit as far as I can tell. She's desperate like that"

"Yea… but Haley sure as hell won't see it that way. Alright I'm gonna get out of here in a minute, thanks for letting me crash."

"No problem, let me know if you need me to vouch to Haley for you. Keep safe when you get back over there man."

"Thanks man"

Brandon left out of the house to start cleaning up out back and Nathan sighed hearing the shower cut off. Looking to the nightstand where he sat his phone the night before he was surprised when it wasn't there. Opening the drawer, he found it empty sans boxes of unopened condoms and a tv remote. He looked behind the table and finally spotted it. It was now in three pieces , battery not in sight, making him wonder how many calls he'd obviously missed.

By the time he fished out all three scattered pieces of his phone, he was searching for a missing show while the phone turned on and loaded. Seeing all the calls he'd missed from Haley broke his heart and the few messages she'd left all had her worrying for him instead of being angry.

His brothers message was more of a warning muttering things like "kill you for putting Haley through this…..leaving with or without you in two hours…..get your act together…. Not in high school anymore"

He reached for his shoes to put on when he heard footsteps coming towards the room. He looked up and saw the angry, yet relieved look on his girlfriend's face as she noticed him.

"Haley, baby let me explain what happened, I'm so sorry.."

"What the hell happened Nathan? Why are you still here!" she asked more hurt than angry.

"I swear Haley it was an accident, you now I'd.."

Before he could get another word out, the bathroom door opened and Tracy walked out in her same clothes from the night before, sans shirt. "You seen a shirt lying around?" she asked, looking directly at Nathan while fixing her bra straps.

Shaking her head, Haley started to back away from Nathan completely as the tears welled back up in her eyes.

"Haley, don't leave you know this isn't me Haley! Dammit just talk to me"

"No, you don't talk to me like that. Stay the hell away from me Nathan" He couldn't stop her from running to her car and leaving just as quickly as she'd gotten there.

Nine voicemails, twenty text messages, seventeen missed phone calls, and four hours and thirty-six minutes later, Nathan sat fiddling with his phone while Lucas returned the rental car to the airport. They'd stuck around for as long as they could before they had to leave the small town and head back to the airport for their late night flight. No one had heard from Haley, and the only bright spot in the entire situation was that Nathan was able to explain to Brooke everything that happened and had Brandon there as well to back up his story and vouch for him. She knew the whole story knowing that Haley would come to her friends for comfort sooner or later, she promised to tell her everything.

The only problem now was that Haley hadn't been home since she'd ran out that morning and she'd only responded to Brooke and Peyton's text with a simple "I'm fine" text message before shutting her phone off.

Minutes later, Nathan and Lucas sat across from one another on the shuttle to their terminal in silence. The entire time Lucas was texting on his phone, Nathan watched jealously, wishing he could talk to Haley even if only for a minute.

"Brooke say anything about Haley?"

Lucas lost track with the number of times his younger brother had asked him that question and did his best to not get annoyed with him. "Not a word"

He was back to pouting when it was time to get off. Walking through the automatic doors, Lucas stopped Nathan and held out the ticket he'd been holding for his brother.

"Listen and admit you're an idiot and apologize for the next hour and a half. I'll see you at the gate"

Nathan was completely confused until Lucas gestured behind him and when he turned around he was shocked to see Haley standing no more than twenty feet away from him.

His mind was solely focused on the woman that stood so close, yet still so far from him. He didn't have time to question if he should give her space or let her take the lead, instead he was before her in just seconds, pulling her body tightly to his.

"I was so worried about you. I don't ever want to be that scared again Hales. I know you're pissed and hurt and upset, but just please tell me that you believe me when I say nothing happened with her. You have to know I would never do anything remotely close to hurting you like that"

It worried Nathan that she hadn't hugged him back, but instead held onto his arms. When she nodded against him, his hold relaxed a little and when she barely whispered "I trust you" he let out the breath he had been holding.

Haley pulled out of his grasp and took his hand in hers, leading them over to some chairs that were by the door he'd just come in. There weren't too many people roaming around, most of them heading directly to their gates.

"You're the first guy that's ever made me feel special and loved Nathan" she started slowly.

"I know that" he interrupted, making sure she knew where he stood, "and I want to be the only guy that can do that."

"I know, so do I. I want that so bad too. It's just that when any girl, especially a girl like Tracy that I've seen guys, good guys get caught up in and jump over hurdles to be with her even for a day- when I see that kind of girl wanting you and just hear about her wanting you, it honestly makes me feel inadequate and like it's all just a joke and I could never be with someone like you."

"Hales, I would never.."

"It's not about you Nathan. It's not you that worried me really, it's her. I've seen her manipulate some of the best guys I know. Guys with standards and, and morals and even guys with girlfriends and fiancés and she just changes them in an instant and I refuse to let anyone take you from me Nathan. I couldn't handle it" The tears that were evident in her voice the second she'd started to speak were now flowing freely down her face.

Taking a hold of her hands in one of his he brought the other up to lift her chin so that they were at eye level with one another and leaned in to kiss her lips softly.

"Haley James, soon enough Scott, there is NO one in this world that could take me away from you. I don't care who it is, what they look like, what they think they're selling, it'll always be you and no one else. I love you so much baby, and I screwed up big time, but I promise I'll do anything to make sure you never doubt that you'll always have me"

It was her that leaned captured his lips in a searing, yet gentle kiss, moving herself as close to him as possible. Moving his hands from her lap, Nathan framed her face brushing the remnants of tears that were still there before entangling his fingers in her honey blonde hair.

She laughed a pulled back from his lips when he'd hit a tangle in her hair, causing pain. "Sorry, it's kind of a mess in there" she wiped at his mouth, removing the clear lip gloss that'd transferred to his lips. "I was in a rush to get here and didn't bother to make myself presentable. Brooke told me everything and I just wanted to get here before you took off"

His hands smoothed her hair back, and he twirled a piece of hair in his hands then kissed at her head. "You're beautiful. Always beautiful." He looked down, taking in her sweat pants, tank top and small pink matching jacket.

She would have normally been embarrassed with the way he was staring at her body, but the way he was looking at her made her feel just as beautiful as he'd said she was. "How much longer till you need to head to security?" Haley said breaking the silence.

Nathan snapped out of his trance and looked to the black watch he wore on his wrist. He didn't answer her right away, instead he looked outside for a few moments while doing a few calculations in his head. "Umm, well I still have at least an hour before I really need to make my way to security, but I think I should head there now"

Her face was full of confusion at his answer "what do you mean?" sure she didn't want to seem clingy, but she knew he'd understand her wanting to stay as long as possible to be with him while she could.

"Trust me Hales, I want to stay here with you as long as possible" he said seeing her confusion and sensing the fear it might have put in her mind. "But baby, you have to get on the road, like now. You have about six hours ahead of you and it's through the mountains and the damn deer will be out, I just want you to be back home and not driving this late. It's already getting dark"

He hadn't thought of that, and by the look on her face, Haley hadn't thought about that either. She was nearly terrified of deer and her biggest fear was hitting one while driving at night. Her hold on his hands tightened knowing she'd be out of the airport and away from him in the next few minutes and tears welled up in her eyes.

Nathan stood up and walked out automatic doors, having her lead the way towards her car parked in the lot across the walkway. She held onto his waste tightly with her other hand intertwined with his. The walk wasn't long at all and when she leaned into her car, she pulled him with her burying her face in his neck, and sobbing.

Nathan held her tightly completely understanding the emotions she was feeling. This was their first big… whatever it was, and although everything was fixed, understood and sorted out, they had no time to really bask in the achievement of it all.

He wanted to hold on to her forever.

Pushing back from Nathan with a quick thought, Haley held up one finger then unlocked her door before turning it on and rolling the windows down. "five more minutes" he barely heard the whisper that came from her lips before she clung to him once again and started to sway, pulling him along with her.

Before he could question her actions, music started to flow from the car with a strong piano leading the tune. He squeezed her tightly to him, running his hands up and down the length of her back, swaying with her to what she deemed their song.

This years love had better last

Heaven knows it's high time

I've been waiting on my own too long

But when you hole me like you do

It feels so right

I start to forget

How my heart gets torn

When that hurt gets thrown

Feeling like you can't go on

This years love had better last

This years love had better last

When the song was over, Haley had intentions to lock her car up, but Nathan halted her actions by pulling her closer to his body and meeting her lips in a deep, open mouth kiss. Nathan angled her head sideways, slanting his mouth over hers. He moaned when her hands ended up scratching at his scalp and lovingly pulling the short hairs on his head.

They took seconds for air before continuing their attack on one another's mouths. When Nathan finally pulled back, he simply gathered her in his arms, squeezing her tight and planting one last kiss on her neck, then her hair.

"I'm not going to let you watch me leave you Hales.. I do that enough. You're gonna get in your car, head home, and I'm going to call you as soon as I land. You get on the road and I'll call Brooke and Peyton to let them know you're on the way. I want you to be careful baby. I couldn't survive if anything happened to you. I love you so much baby"

She didn't want to listen to him, but when he didn't let her get a word in, she knew better than to argue with him. "I love you too Nathan. Always and forever right"

"Always and forever" he agreed.

The kids were being put in bed, the house had been straightened up as much as she felt like doing, and now was time to bring up the elephant in the room.

It was obvious that Nathan had steered clear of his wife the entire evening that she'd been home with their children. He'd been so hands on with them that he'd barely looked at her and they surely hadn't spoken about their respectful days. He'd just left out of Jay's room after reading to him and Maddie, and she was surprised when instead of handing the baby over to be nursed he kept Maddie in his arms and headed into the living room.

"Hey babe, don't you think it's about time Toots goes to bed" It was well pass eight and although it was the start of summer break, the staying up late rules didn't apply to the nearly seven month old baby.

"Well I really need to feed her, then I'm going to put her down, so hand that little cutie over" she talked to him in a chipper voice, mostly meant for Maddie. She scooped her out of his arms even while he protested before taking her to into their bedroom.

It was nearly thirty minutes later when Nathan decided to finally go to his room. When he saw Haley facing his side of the bed, he figured she'd fallen asleep while feeding his daughter but was wrong. When he finally came into her view, her eyes locked on his and he was able to read the worry in her eyes.

"You want me to put her down" he questioned gesturing to the sleeping baby that lay still attached to her breast.

She shook her head slowly before moving her daughter and fixing her tank top. She sat up leaning back against the headboard and pillows laying the dark headed baby on her chest, stroking her back lovingly. She cherished everything about her little girl and knew Nathan felt the same way.

"Talk to me Nathan" she didn't look up as she spoke the soft words to him, and she didn't want to be emotional about whatever would be coming out of his mouth, but she couldn't help get chocked up. "I don't care what it is Nathan, just talk to me."

"Hales, everything's fine, it's just been a long few days"

"Come here" she waited till he was in the same position as her on the bed, and transferred the small child onto his chest before reaching for her phone. She scooted away from them before snapping a picture of them with her phone.

"I um.. when we got on facebook, you know how you set up the emails to come to my email since you get so many from work," he continued without waiting for her to answer. "for the past few days, I've been getting non-stop emails from someone and they just won't quit. I've told them so many times I'm happily married with a family and that I have no interest in them."

Haley sat her phone down, and scooted closer to Nathan on the bed, leaning back on her knees resting her hands on her thighs. "Do you remember what you said to me right after we said I do on our wedding day? The same thing you said to me when Jay was born, and you wrote it in the card you sent with the flowers to the hospital when this one was here."

He nodded his head and reached out to take her hand in his. "Everything you are, is exactly what I want in my life"

"I feel the same way and you've given me every reason to always believe you since the first time you spoke those words to me. We've been through so much together that the things that would normally cause me to retreat back into that self-conscious person I used to be doesn't have that effect on me anymore. The army doesn't scare me anymore, sickness doesn't scare me, and other people trying to destroy our marriage doesn't scare me…. Tracy doesn't scare me"

She spoke the last part quietly. Her husband didn't utter a word, but his body language spoke extremely loud. His wide eyes shared how shocked he was to hear the name slip from her lips and his tense frame that now had their little girl squirming against his chest proved to Haley that he was afraid of her response.

"I'm not that girl anymore Nathan, so calm down. You're getting Toots all worked up over nothing." Still reading the look in his eyes of how, she decided to spill. "Lucas called me after he left and told me how strange you were acting and that he was kinda worried, so while you were bathing the kids I went to tidy up and saw the lap top on and your email was still open. I read all the emails from her and how she's been harassing you and all your replies."

"You're so calm about this Hales. I swear I wasn't trying to lie to you about this"

"And I believe you. In fact I didn't think you were trying to lie or cover it up. I could sense something was bothering you and seeing all those emails from her just made me feel bad for her and frankly want to kick her ass" she laughed saying the last part, knowing she'd get a smile out of him.

She leaned forward and ran her hand softly over Maddie's hair, before touching his hair the same way. "Every time you give me one of these, a beautiful baby, you show me how much you love me and only me. You prove to me that I'm yours and that you're only mine. When you kiss me I believe that you're mine and when we make love to each other, I can feel that you belong to me. We will definitely get to the bottom of what she's up to, but nothing that she says will make me question that you're my husband. I'm not that young girl anymore Nathan, I'm all grown up and we're not going to run and hide from this, we're going to handle this like adults because we have no idea what she's planning and we have our family to protect."

Nathan simply starred at her in awe before leaning in and kissing her. "I love you"

"Oh yea" she asked moving away from him and smiling. "Why don't you put that baby in her room and show me just how much you love me Nathan Scott" she pulled the eleastic out of her hair, letting her shoulder length hair out knowing how much her husband hated it up when they made love.

"Can you get naked in say fifteen seconds?" he said scooting off the bed.

Haley rolled her eyes, knowing good and well her husband would never put their daughter, sleeping or awake, down in just fifteen seconds. He needed at least a couple of minutes with the baby before laying her down. "You have two minutes Scott"

"Yes ma'am"

She smiled at his retreating form as he talked softly to their daughter. She was proud of herself for being so strong and talking with Nathan about this. In all honesty, she still didn't trust Tracy and knew that there was a possibility that a lot of bad could come out of the entire situation.

She hoped it wouldn't.

AN: okay, sorry this was so short. The ending of this chapter i envisioned didnt come through at all but it's ok. The major things I wanted to happen with this story without them getting to crazy has already went down. This wasn't a story I wrote to be filled with drama but to actually be a mirror image of a relationship I had and what I hoped the future to be- Now none of it happened lol but this was fun to write. This story, my baby will be finished pretty soon. I'm guessing/estimating in the next 3 chapters or so. Thank you for all the support that you've given me on this story and this road I've taken Naley down and for excepting the differences I brought out in this couple! Don't worry, I have a story up my sleeve I'm going to start plotting for and it might just be a short one- maybe 10 chapters, but it'll keep Naley alive! Thanks all and review!

Jennifer!