This is really more of a filler.

Chapter 28

Nathan raised his fist to knock on Haley's front door, letting out a small sigh. He shook his head, grabbing onto the door handle and pushing it open slowly, poking his head into the house. He found Haley standing in the kitchen, leaning against the countertop, staring down at her phone.

"Hey." He said to her, watching her glance up at him quickly.

"Jamie, Dad is here!" She yelled through the house, standing up straight and crossing her arms. "I didn't hear you come in."

"Yeah." He responded, rubbing the back of his neck, shifting slightly. "Haley..."

He was cut off my Jamie barreling into his legs, hugging him tightly.

"You're home!" The five year old said, smiling brightly.

Nathan grinned down at his son, picking him up, hugging him close. "Hey buddy." He said, looking at him. "Have you been good for Mom while I've been gone? And Aunt Brooke and Uncle Lucas?"

Jamie nodded his head, "I'm always good." He reminded his father, tapping his nose. "Why are you pink?"

"Mom forgot to put sunscreen on me." Nathan responded, smirking in Haley's direction.

Haley rolled her eyes, shaking her head when Jamie looked over at her. "I tried to tell him, Jame. Let this be a lesson, listen to me when I tell you to put sunscreen on, or you'll end up like him."

Jamie flashed her a smile. "I always do, Mama." He reminded her, holding out a thumbs up.

"Good boy." She said, winking at him, tapping her fingers on the countertop.

"Are you ready to go?" Jamie asked, looking at his dad, nodding eagerly.

"Go where?" Nathan chuckled, ruffling his sons hair.

"Play! But not here, let's go to your house or to the park, or the Rivercourt." Jamie said, smiling brightly.

"Yeah, I'm ready. You have all your stuff? Backpack ready for school tomorrow?" Nathan asked, setting Jamie down.

Jamie looked over at Haley, who nodded in response.

"Yep!" He hummed, glancing up at Nathan, before looking back at Haley. "Are you coming with us?"

"Not right now, baby. I have some things I need to get done." She informed him, walking around the counter and smoothing out Jamie's hair. "You have fun with Daddy, okay?"

Jamie nodded his head, hugging her tightly, before pulling away. "I'll go get my backpack." He said, rushing up the stairs.

Nathan frowned at Haley as she went back to her spot behind the countertop, looking at her phone again. He felt like she was acting as if he wasn't even in the room.

"Hales." He said, frowning at her. "We need to talk. Come with us."

"Now you want to talk?" Haley asked him, shaking her head and laughing sarcastically.

"I wanted to talk, you're the one that left." He pointed out pathetically, shrugging.

She looked up at him, biting her lip. She had plenty to say to him, but she was biting her tongue because Jamie could come down at any second.

"I have things to do today, Nathan. Maybe I'll come by your house later tonight." She said, tucking her hair behind her ear.

"Maybe?" He frowned, letting out a deep sigh. "You're not going to spend the night?"

"You can get him to school tomorrow on your own, can't you?" She asked him, raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah, but..."

"I think I'm going to stay here." She stopped him before he could start again. "It's been awhile since I've had a night to myself. You're leaving for a couple days tomorrow, so just spend time with him. I'll see you on Thanksgiving."

He felt a little desperate. She was closing him out so quickly, it worried him a little bit. He didn't even know why he kept it from her, probably because she would be so opposed to the idea.

"My flight leaves at ten, don't you want to see me before then?" He asked her, frowning, letting out a deep sigh.

Her gaze softened on him a little bit, nodding her head. "I'm really mad at you, Nathan. I just can't believe you wouldn't tell me something like this." She said quietly, shrugging.

"Haley..." He trailed off, stepping up to the opposite side of the counter.

"I don't want to fight right now, Nathan. I just don't feel like I have the energy, and Jamie is upstairs." She said, shaking her head.

"We aren't fighting." He said quickly, frowning at her.

Haley let out a deep breath, "I'm upset with you, Nathan. I'm staying here." She said simply.

"Then we'll stay here too." He said, reaching across the counter and grabbing onto her hand.

She shook her head, giving his hand a light squeeze. "We can talk when you come home for Thanksgiving?"

"Haley, I'll be home late Wednesday night. That's a long time to go mad." He said, frowning at her.

"All I know is that I'm mad at you, Nathan. I can't do this again if we aren't open with each other, okay? I love you. I love you so much, I do. But we'll talk about it when you get home." She said simply, shrugging her shoulders.

"You're going to let me just live with the fact that you're mad at me for three more days?" He asked her, frowning at her.

"No, Nathan. I'm going to let you live with the fact that you betrayed my trust and didn't tell me something potentially life changing for us. See a difference?" She snapped slightly, pinching the bridge of her nose.

Nathan shifted slightly under her intense gaze, looking away from her and clearing his throat, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"Maybe." He responded quietly, letting out a deep breath. "I never said you had to come with me, if I traded to Miami." He said quietly, before squeezing his eyes shut.

Yeah, that definitely wasn't the right thing to say.

Haley blinked at him, raising her eyebrows. "You're unbelievable, Nathan." She said, shaking her head. "I can't... Wow. Okay. I'm going to go upstairs and get some work done, you have fun with Jamie today." She said simply, brushing past him quickly, heading up the stairs.

He let out a loud sigh, pushing his hand through his hair, looking around the empty kitchen. It wasn't long before Jamie came down the stairs, carrying about ten stuffed animals with him.

He raised his eyebrows, frown turning into a smile as he saw his son. "What's all this, buddy? We have some of those at my house." He chuckled, relieving his son of some of the toys.

"I know but I need more." Jamie informed him, smiling up at him.

"Did you say goodbye to your mom?" Nathan asked him, taking his backpack as well.

"Yeah." Jamie responded, rushing towards the front door. "Let's go, we're wasting precious daylight!"

"You've been spending too much time with Aunt Brooke." Nathan chuckled, pulling the door open. He glanced over his shoulder, looking down at Jamie.

"Bye Hales." He called out, letting out a small sigh at the silence that responded to him.

He shook his head, stepping out of the house, heading towards his car with Jamie, throwing his son's stuff in the back. He picked up Jamie, buckling him into his car seat.

"Are you okay?" Jamie asked him, leaning back and looking up at him.

Nathan chuckled, resting his elbow against one of Jamie's arm rests, looking down at him. "How could I not be okay when I get to hang out with you?" He responded, ruffling his hair, before getting into the car.

He glanced back towards Haley's house longingly, letting out a deep breath. His gaze shifted to the rear view mirror, making eye contact with Jamie.

He wasn't going to let this ruin his day with Jamie.

No matter how much he wanted to be holding his girl in his arms, going to the park with their son together.

Okay, maybe it was going to put a little bit of a damper on his mood, but it was his own doing.

He sent Jamie a smile, deciding to do his best to keep his focus on the five year old in his back seat.

Casting one last glance towards the house, he buckled his seatbelt, shifted the car into drive, and pulled out of the driveway.

xxxx

"How long do you think you'll be pink?" Jamie asked him curiously, taking a big bite out of his ice cream cone.

Nathan chuckled, picking up a napkin and wiping off Jamie's face carefully. "Probably not too long. The guys are going to make fun of me about it though, I'm sure. They'll be calling me Rudolph Scott or something like that until I'm back to normal."

"I think it's funny." Jamie responded, looking around. "I wish Mama came with us."

"Yeah." Nathan responded, before quickly changing the subject. "So, how was Ravens practice yesterday?"

"Uncle Lucas made me run with them, and I was faster." Jamie said, shrugging his shoulders. "But I got to stop when I was tired, and they didn't."

"When I was in high school, Lucas ran so slow, because of his heart problems. But no one knew about it, so Coach Whitey would make us run, and run, and run. I was so mad at Luke." Nathan chuckled, resting his elbows on the picnic table, looking down at Jamie. He reached over, tugging the zipper of his son's jacket further up.

"He was yelling at them, it was kind of funny." Jamie laughed, shaking his head. "I like basketball practice a lot."

"I think you're the only person that's ever said that." Nathan chuckled, nudging Jamie with his elbow. "Did you have fun with Grandma Deb?"

"Nanny Deb." Jamie said, nodding his head. "That's what she wants me to call her. She says she's too young to be a grandma."

"Of course she said that." Nathan laughed, rolling his eyes. "Did you have fun with Nanny Deb?" He corrected himself.

"I did. We went to your house for a little while, and she made me pancakes for lunch."

"You lucky little guy." Nathan responded, wiping off Jamie's face once again after he finished his ice cream cone. "I love you, Jame."

"I love you too, Daddy." Jamie said, standing up. "Let's go play on the swings."

"Good idea." Nathan chuckled, scooping Jamie up, throwing him over his shoulder, heading over to the swings. He set his giggling son down on the swing, moving to stand behind him, beginning to push him lightly.

"You don't need to push me anymore, I learned how to do it. Uncle Lucas taught me three weeks ago." Jamie informed him, beginning to kick his legs.

Nathan felt something inside of him crumble, looking down at his son as he was, indeed, doing it by himself. He frowned at his words, moving to take a seat in the swing next to Jamie. He couldn't believe Jamie had learned to swing without him. His gaze quickly shifted away from his son, feeling his head start to spin a little bit. What else could he do? Ride a bike without training wheels? Drive? Shave? What had Lucas taught him to do?

"Is Mommy okay?" Jamie asked him, bringing him out of his thoughts.

"Yeah, she's fine." Nathan responded quickly, letting out a deep breath, his eyes shifting to the ground.

"Why did she come home early?" Jamie questioned him, kicking his legs.

"You ask a lot of questions." Nathan chuckled, shaking his head. "She came home because she had some things to do."

"Okay." Jamie responded, looking over at him. "Uncle Lucas said that you guys are going to make the play off this year."

"Uncle Lucas, huh?" Nathan grumbled. He couldn't help but feel jealous of his older brother all the sudden. Jealous that his brother was teaching Jamie to do the things that he wanted to teach him. "Uncle Lucas doesn't know anything. It's only November."

Was he really arguing against his brother about his team being successful?

"Uncle Lucas-"

"Jamie." Nathan stopped him, clearing his throat. "Do you want to go to the store?"

"For what?" Jamie asked him, raising his eyebrows.

"I don't know, let's just go buy you some stuff." Nathan said quickly, standing up.

Jamie slowed his swing, hopping off of it and nodding his head. "Okay." He said, grabbing onto Nathan's hand, beginning to follow him back to the car.

xxxx

"Okay, Jamie. In and out. You drop off the things you want to leave at Mom's house, give her the present you got her, and then run back out to my car." Nathan said, clearing his throat, unbuckling Jamie, helping him out and opening up the back of his car.

"Will you help me?" Jamie asked him, raising his eyebrows.

"I, uh, think you can handle it. Pick the stuff you want to stay here." Nathan responded, glancing up at the house.

Jamie began to point out various bags full of toys, clothes, really anything that Jamie wanted, Nathan bought for him.

When Nathan glanced down, he saw Jamie struggling to carry some of the bags as he headed into the house.

He let out a small sigh, closing the back once again, walking to Jamie, taking the majority of the bags, pushing open the front door to the house. He glanced around, not seeing Haley around, letting out a breath of relief. He knew she would disapprove of how many things he just bought their son.

"Here's the plan, we run upstairs and put these things in your closet, okay?" He suggested, nodding towards the stairs.

Jamie nodded, beginning to hurry up the stairs, Nathan following behind him.

They were almost in Jamie's room, when Haley's voice sounded from behind them.

"What are you two doing?" She asked them.

Nathan could hear the scowl in her voice, stopping in his tracks and wincing slightly.

Jamie looked up at him, pulling a 'we're in so much trouble' face. He glanced into his room, nodding his head.

Nathan sighed, tipping his head into the room, loading Jamie up with bags again, watching him disappear into his bedroom, closing the door behind him.

"Hey, sweetheart." He said, a smile forming in his face, turning around and looking at her.

"What are you doing?" Haley asked him, crossing her arms.

"Jamie was just dropping off some things." He responded, clearing his throat.

"I can tell." She said, letting out a deep breath. "Nathan... What was all that?"

"Haley, it doesn't matter." Nathan said, shrugging. "We're leaving."

She looked up at him, sighing softly. "Whatever, Nathan. I don't care right now."

"Don't you think you're going a little overboard?" He asked her, rolling his eyes.

"Me? You think I'm going overboard?" Haley snapped, shaking her head. "Don't you think you're being a little bit of an ass?"

"Yes." He responded, crossing his arms, turning around and knocking on Jamie's door. "Jamie, we're leaving. Let's go."

"At least you know it." Haley said, shaking her head.

Jamie walked out of his room slowly, a sad look on his face as he looked up at his parents. "Here you go, Mama." He said quietly. "We got you something." He held out a small bag, looking up at her.

Haley took it from the small boy, sending him a small smile, opening up the bag. She looked in it, before looking at Jamie.

Red pens.

She looked at Jamie curiously, raising her eyebrows.

"You were using a blue pen this morning." Jamie informed her. "And I know you like to use red ones when you look at homework. I couldn't find one in the house." He stated, nodding up at her.

Haley's smile grew brushing her fingers through Jamie's hair, kneeling down and pulling him into a tight hug.

It was something small, but the fact that he had taken her into consideration.

She pressed her face into his shoulder, closing her eyes and letting out a deep breath.

Hugging her son always made her feel so much better.

"I love you, Mama." Jamie said softly to her, hugging her tightly.

She felt herself tear up a little bit, pulling him closer to her. "I love you too, baby." She said, stroking his hair lightly. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"You aren't going to come over tonight?" Jamie asked her, his face falling once again.

Haley glanced up at Nathan, pressing a kiss to Jamie's forehead. "Not tonight, Jamie. Daddy is going to drop you off at school tomorrow, and then you know who's picking you up?"

"Aunt Quinn." Haley said, pushing we fingers through Jamie's hair.

"Really?" Jamie asked, smiling brightly.

"Yeah, and then she's going to play with you for a little while, then bring you to my school. Sound fun?"

"Yes." Jamie responded, pressing a kiss to her cheek.

"I'll see you tomorrow, baby. But don't think for a second that I won't be thinking about you the whole time." She said, hugging him tighter to her.

"I won't. I love you." He said, rubbing his nose against hers. "I'll see you tomorrow." He said, letting out a deep breath, glancing over at Nathan. "Ready to go play those new videos games?"

Nathan didn't miss the disapproving glance from Haley. "Yeah, buddy. Let's go." He said, smiling at him. He walked over to Haley when she stood up, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "I love you."

"You too." She responded, "Call me if you need anything. Let me know before your flight takes off tomorrow, and when you land."

He nodded at her, sighing softly. "I will." He said, hesitating for a moment, before leaning down and pressing a kiss to her lips.

She brought her hand up to his face, cupping his cheek, holding him close to her.

Nathan pulled back after a second, sending her a small smile. "I'll see you in a couple days." He said, turning away, grabbing onto Jamie's hand.

"Nathan." She said, grabbing his other hand. She glanced down at Jamie, before meeting her boyfriend's eyes once again. "I love you, baby. Don't think for a second that I don't, okay?" She whispered, squeezing his hand. "Travel safely. I'll see you in a couple days." She repeated back to him.

He nodded, kissing her head once more. "Will do." He said, picking up Jamie. "Let's get going, my man. Mom has some work to do."

"Bye, Mommy." Jamie said, waving at her.

"Bye, honey." Haley responded, waving back at him, leaning against the wall, biting her lip.

Nathan gave her one last glance, before heading down the stairs.

Haley heard the front door slam shut, and a car start in the driveway. She leaned against the wall behind her, sliding down it, brushing her fingers through his hair.

These next few days were going to be miserable.