A/N: Thank you all for the wonderful reviews. I really wanted to keep this constant updating going so I started writing the next chapter right after I updated chapter 25. I really liked this chapter. I hope you all do too.

Special PRs:

Mimi: Hi my darling! I'm so happy to see you reply to my story. I read what you wrote and that's what I did. I put my butt down on my chair and started writing the next chapter. I hope you are satisfied lol. You won't have to wait 10 years anymore haha. I love you! I can't wait to read your next reply, pookie! :)

: Hi dear! Thank you so much for the review. I really try hard to write Nathan and Haley differently, but close to the same personalities they have on the show. Haha and yeah, Matt's like a rotten tomato. Thanks for the review! :)

Pam211: OMG! You have no idea how much I loved your review. It totally made sense. I had to read it like a billion times to make sure you were really talking about my stories. It made me happy x100 because when you said that my stories brought you to a different time period, it totally made me light up. I really like having this old-fashioned feel to my stories. Almost all of my stories have this vintage feel to it. And about my other stories? Haha, I've only had a few written on this site, but the ones I do have, I'm not sure if I'll continue them. But I was thinking of writing a new Naley story soon. Anyways. I'm like writing you a novel, but I am really happy to hear what you had to say. I really loved your review. Thanks again.

Songs lyrics underneath the chapter number is by Shinedown's "Simple Man". ENJOY!

26
Be a simple kind of man
Be a something you love and understand

It's been three weeks since we got caught outside of the Smith house. I remembered how my father walked passed me and grabbed Nathan by the hand and cuffed his wrists in front of me. He glared at me the whole time and nodded at another officer to come over and cuff me as well. I was surprised to know that he would do that. I felt Blake, the officer, grab my wrist gently and softly say to stay still and pulled my arms behind my back. My heart was racing so hard against my chest; I thought I was going to collapse. I felt like vomiting right there because I started to panic. My stomach started to churn even more when I noticed my father helping Nathan get into his vehicle by protecting his head from hitting the top of the car.

I gulped and I looked to my left and found Brooke talking to a police. He was throwing questions at her, one after another. As Blake started walking me to a separate cop car, Brooke glanced over at me with those same puppy dog eyes that David and I carried throughout that night. I knew that she was completely sorry that this was happening to us. I wasn't surprised to see her standing without handcuffs around her wrists. She was part of this whole thing. But I wasn't angry at her. No, I wasn't. I was mad at Matthew.

When Blake opened the door for me, I looked over the roof of the car and noticed Matthew standing under a tree with a few other cops. I glared at him. All I wanted to do was grab him by the neck and punch the living day lights out of his stupid smirk. I hated him. I hated every single cell in his body.

"Be careful, Miss James," I heard Blake say as I climbed into the car. I remembered sitting there and watching Matthew smile as we started to leave the area. All I thought about was kicking his ass the minute I saw him again and if Nathan was thinking the same thing. I wondered if he was fine over in the other cop car that my father was driving. It must've been worse sitting in there. That look I saw in my father's face when we were hiding behind that big oak tree was the first thing that popped into my mind. He was probably making that same face right now.

Later that day, I stayed in jail for a couple of hours until my father decided to bail me out. He would walk past my cell and give me this face. I couldn't bare it anymore and he obviously didn't like how I was sitting there. So he grabbed his key and took me out. Fortunately my father was the sheriff and my mother was the mayor, so I was out of that cell in a day. My parents pretended like I didn't do anything wrong, but they did treat me differently. Unfortunately Nathan didn't get the same privileges as I did. He had to stay in there for a week then he got out, but he had a court date a week before spring break.

And here I was, sitting in my room a few days before his trial thinking about that night. I really felt numb after I came back home. I looked at my parents like they were strangers and I barely spoke a word to Matthew, even if he tried to convince me that he was doing the right thing. The only person I would speak to were Brooke because she was my best friend after all. Nathan never came back to school because he wasn't allowed on school grounds and I felt like I was missing a very big part of me. It was like I had left the front door of our house open every time I left for school. I was worried everyday because that's all I thought about. It wasn't normal and I was definitely not feeling normal

"Haley, dinner's ready!" my mother called out from downstairs. This was a first. We rarely had family dinners. My parents were always so busy. They were either stuck in their offices doing paper work or going on night shifts on crime searches and working on their next campaign.

I pulled myself off my bed and headed downstairs. I could smell the mashed potatoes and gravy from the stairwell. When I reached the dining room, I noticed the table set up full of food like it was Thanksgiving. My father was sitting at the end of the table while my mother was placing a pot of baked chicken in the middle of it. It reminded me of how Nathan's mother, Deb, placed the lemon chicken on the table when I came over that one night.

"What's the occasion?" I asked, pulling the chair that was next to my father out.

"Your mother and I just decided to have a family dinner, that's all," he replied, taking a sip from his wine glass. I took a seat in my chair and waited until my mother sat across from me on the other side of the table. She began pouring peas onto her plate and passed it to my dad.

"I'm not buying it," I stated as my father grabbed the glass container and started putting peas on his plate. My mother looked up at me and blinked a few times before she grabbed the mashed potatoes.

"Buying what?" he asked, handing me the peas. I took it and placed it back on the table without taking any. I knew this was too good to be true. We never just had dinner on a random night like this before.

"This is not normal," I said. "There has to be something behind this."

"Stop it," my mother ordered, placing the mashed potatoes back on the table. "There is nothing going on. We just wanted to have a nice dinner with our daughter. Is that so bad?"

"No, it's not bad. It's just weird," I confessed. I reached out to grab the corn.

"Haley, it's been three weeks since you came home. We haven't gotten a chance to talk as a family since then. We were just worried about you." I didn't look up at as he spoke. I just slowly poured the corn on my plate and ignored their eyes.

"Well what's there to be worried about?" I asked, grabbing the bowl of mashed potatoes. My mother was in the middle of carving the chicken when she suddenly stopped and put her utensils on her plate.

"You've changed," my mother spoke. I picked at my food as I place the bowl back to where I got it from and divided the corn from the potatoes on my plate. I didn't say a word then she continued. "You're not the same Haley we used to know. The old you wouldn't have went into that jail to help a prisoner escape."

"What was I supposed to do? He didn't belong in there." I finally looked up from my plate and glanced at them. My mother licked her lips. I watched as she took in a deep breath and glanced back at me. On my left, my father took another sip of his wine.

"He was there for drug possession, Haley. Its part of the law for me to arrest him," he stated.

"But do you know why he had them? Did you even ask him?" I questioned strongly. "No, you didn't. You assumed that it was his and took him in. You took him in because of me. Because you hate him!"

"Haley!" my mother shouted, slamming her hand against the table. It made the wine in their glasses swoosh back in forth. I was angry. I raised my voice at my father. It definitely wasn't what I would've done in the past, but I couldn't control it like I always did before.

"It's true! Both of you hate him. Why can't you see what I see in him? Why don't you have any faith in me when I tell you that?" I began, tears slowly filling the rims of my eyes. My mother starting rubbing her forehead with her palm as I waited for her to respond. "Do you have any idea how much it kills me to be a away from him? Do you have any earthly idea?" I asked again, looking over at my father. He took one look at me before he looked away.

I bit my lip to keep myself from crying, but I could feel my bottom lip quiver. I didn't say much to them these three weeks when I was around them because I was angry for everything they've done. I hated them for trying to keep us away. I hated them for telling me he wasn't right for me. I hated my father for arresting him without really knowing why. I hated my mother for thinking less of Nathan. And it destroyed me every night because I had to stay in the same house as these people. Who were they? Were they my parents? Or were they the enemy?

They didn't say a word so I looked at my full plate of food, and scooted my chair back to leave.
"Um, I guess you won't answer any of my questions so I'm just going to cut out of this dinner early and go to my room," I stated and threw the napkin I had on my lap down on the chair. I ran upstairs and buried my face into my pillow.

-----

Lydia looked over at Haley's empty seat and wondered how they got this way.
"What are we going to do, Jimmy?" she asked him. He started shaking his head

"I don't know."

"How did things get this complicated?" she asked again, standing up from her seat to reach over and grab Haley's plate. She started pouring the corn back into the bowl. She did the same with the mashed potatoes.

"I don't know, Lydia," he replied roughly. "We've never had to deal with something like this."

"Do you think we were wrong about everything?" she asked quietly, sitting back into her chair.

"We weren't wrong, honey. We were just being her parents."

"So much for being parents, look where we are now. She hates us." Lydia pouted. She leaned against the table and placed her face into her hands. "I never wanted her to end up hating us."

Jimmy started rubbing Lydia's back for comfort and started thinking the same thing. Haley was their little baby and to have her react in this matter slayed them.

"There's not more that we can do, but maybe give Nathan a chance. Although I despise the kid we can try to look past everything," Jimmy suggested. Lydia gave him a look. She was thinking about this idea, maybe even agreeing to it. She already had this impression that Nathan wasn't the best guy for Haley, but seeing that she was head over heels over the boy she just might try to see what Haley saw.

"I guess we could," she replied.

"But we have to get through all this court stuff before we decide on what's best for her. We don't know what the judge will say about Nathan's situation."

-----

Deb opened the door to Nathan's room and found him lying on his bed staring at his ceiling. She leaned against his door frame and stared at her son for a few minutes. He was on his best behavior ever since he came back home. He was calmer and less talkative.

"What's so interesting up there?" she asked, looking up at the spot that he was looking at.

Nathan glanced at his mother and lifted himself up on his elbows. "Oh hey," he looked back up at the ceiling then back to her. "I was just thinking."

"About what's going to happen after this week?" she walked closer to his bed and sat on the end of it.

"Yeah. I've been through this court stuff before, but it feels different this time."

"I know why," Deb stated.

Nathan lifted his eyebrow and sat up on his bed, "Why?"

"Because you have Haley to think about. You never had to worry about someone other than yourself and us before."

Nathan nodded and started picking at the lint on his jeans. "You're mind reader," he stated with a smirk.

"I've been your mother for the past 17 years, you think I don't know what's in that thick skull of yours?" she laughed as she poked at his head.

Nathan gave out a soft chuckle then stopped smiling when he looked up at his mother, his beautiful mother. She was alone raising two children. She had no husband to help her and it killed him knowing that it was true. Now that he had a court date in the next few days, he wasn't sure if he was going to ever see her again for a while.

"Look, mom," he began, "I'm so sorry that we have to go through this again. You know, court dates and all."

Deb started shaking her hand and placed a hand on his shoulder. "No, don't apologize, Nathan. We can get through this. I know it. None of this is your fault."

"But it is,"

She gave him a look and scooted closer to him. "Just because you decided to help out a friend doesn't make any of this your fault. Even Haley knew that you didn't' belong in there."

"Yeah, I just hope the judge believes that," Nathan replied, concerned about his fate. "You think I'll go to jail?"

Deb took a moment to think then held his hand in hers, "I don't know Nate, but I have this slightest feeling that things will be fine. I support you 100% you know that."

Nathan smiled, "Thanks mom."

"No problem." She stood up from the bed and headed towards the door. Before she stepped out into the hall, she turned around and said, "Don't think any less of yourself, okay? You're too good to believe that you're not." He nodded and she left the room. She really was a mind reader.

R/R!