"Maybe I didn't hear you correctly. Did you just say that Haley, your Haley, killed Damien?"
"It was an accident." he began to explain.
"No. You just said she murdered him."
"He attacked her. He wouldn't leave her alone."
"So she bludgeoned him to death?"
"You know how Damien was. If he didn't get his way he exploded, he got violent. That's what happened with Haley."
"Exploded?"
"He was trying to rape her, ok. So she picked up a rock to defend herself."
"Who told you this?"
"Haley. Haley told me."
"Were there any witnesses?"
"No."
"So you believed her? You just took her word for it?!"
"She wouldn't lie to me, Brooke. Not about this."
"And why wouldn't she lie to you?! Why?! Because she loves you so much?! Because she's so in love with you?! If she was so in love with you, she would still be here, Nathan! And she would still be with you!" Brooke yelled.
"She didn't leave me, alright!" he yelled back.
"No. She just got away with murder! That's all she did."
"Listen to me. It was an accident. She did not mean to kill Damien."
"An eye for an eye, right? Isn't that what dad used to say?"
"This was not intentional. It wasn't like it was a hit or something."
"I don't care. Haley killed our brother so Haley must pay."
"Listen, don't talk like that. Don't you ever talk like that again." Nathan warned.
"Like what? Like a Scott?"
"Yes."
"You think I forgot about dad's life lessons?"
"How can you remember that? You were just a little girl."
"I remember. Mom used to send me upstairs, excuse me after dinner. But I used to sit at the top of the stairs and listen to every word dad would say."
"You listened?"
"Yes. And every night I got caught by mom. I would listen to him and she would ask me what I heard. I would tell her 'eye for an eye' and 'justice'. She asked me if I understood and I said no. But she knew because after that she sent me away to school. To protect me from all of this."
"Yes, because you don't have to be like the rest of us. You can be better. You can be so much better than that. You have to go back to school."
"I don't have to do anything."
"You're not safe here, Brooke."
"I don't care."
"You are gonna go back to California and forget that any of this ever happened."
"No. I won't forget it. I won't because I'm a part of this now. I'm a part of this family."
"Listen if you leave school, every dream that mom had for you to have a normal life will be gone."
"What about me? Huh? What about me, Nathan? When do I get to dream?"
"Why can't you just let it go for now? Just go back to school and finish your semester."
"Am I supposed to listen to you like a good little girl, Nathan? No, I won't anymore."
"If you quit school, you're gonna regret if for the rest of your life, Brooke."
"The only thing I regret, Nathan, is that none of you told me the truth about what's going on here. You left it up to a stranger to let me know about my own family!"
"What do you want me to say?! What do you wanna do?!" Nathan ran his hand over his face, trying to control his frustration.
"I'm gonna talk to mom."
"About what?"
"I'm gonna tell her about everything."
"You can't do that. It will kill her and you know that."
"And you don't think this is killing me too?"
"I know it is, Brooke." Nathan looked over and saw Julian walking toward them.
"Are you ok?" Julian asked.
"She's fine." Nathan responded.
"Look, I hope I didn't make anything worse for you." Nathan chuckled at his comment.
"No, I'm sorry. I'm really grateful. You really opened up my eyes." Brooke said.
Julian grabbed Brooke's hand and gave her a piece of paper. "Here, take my number. I want you to call me if you wanna talk about anything."
"Thank you, Julian."
"She's not gonna be calling you." Nathan said.
"How do you know? Maybe you don't know everything about me, Nathan." Brooke began to walk away, but Nathan grabbed her arm.
"Where are you going?"
Brooke yanked her arm from his grasp. "Will you just lay off? I'm not gonna talk to mom yet. I'm just gonna go for a walk."
"Where? Tell me where." Nathan pressed.
"I'm just gonna go for a walk. I need to think. Just leave me alone." She grabbed her stuff out of his hands and walked away.
As soon as she was out of view, Nathan shoved Julian. "You stay the hell away from her. She is off limits to you."
"And what if I don't?"
"Don't push me, Julian. It won't be good for your health."
"Maybe you should stay away from your sister. You're the only one she doesn't want to have anything to do with. You and your mother."
"I have been protecting Brooke her entire life. It was working until you came along and shot off your mouth."
"You can justify anything, can't you? You're blaming me because your family sent away the only good person in it?"
"Are you out of your mind? You don't know a thing about my family. Don't push your luck, Baker."
"If that's a threat, Scott, you can save your breath. I'm not afraid of you. Look, you married my best friend and made her life a living hell. So I'm gonna say whatever the hell I want about you and your family. And as for your sister, she's not the naïve little girl you think she is. Not even close."
"You don't know shit about my sister. Don't even pretend to."
"It only took me five minutes with Brooke to see that she's nothing like you."
"I hope you enjoyed them because those are the last few minutes you are ever gonna spend with her."
"Oh yea? Why? Because I blew your cover? Because she saw straight through you and was smart enough to use me to get to the truth?"
"Are you trying to set me off? Because if you are, you just keep talking about things that you know nothing about!"
"Ok, I don't know anything about people like you and your family. I don't want to. But I do know about Haley. Your sister used me to get to the truth about your family. The truth that she deserves. And about what you do to people, like Haley."
"That's what this is about, isn't it? It's about Haley."
"Yea. Do you remember the girl whose life you destroyed? Getting away from you was the best thing that ever happened to Haley. Why don't you do your little sister the same favor."
"With no thanks to you, I have been trying to protect my sister."
"Yea. You always have the best of intentions. It's too bad the logic behind them was a little screwed up."
"You made your point." Nathan blew out a breath. This was getting them no where.
"What is this? Is the great Nathan Scott suddenly developing a conscious?"
"What's the matter, Julian? It doesn't fit your profile of me?"
"Look, what was the deal with you and Haley?"
"Suddenly there's something you don't know?" Nathan taunted.
"She didn't tell me much about it, ok."
"Really? Your best friend?"
"She was scared. She didn't want to get her friends involved in this whole nightmare. Does that make sense to you?"
"Well that's over now so you can just mind your own damn business."
"How's your jaw?" Julian asked.
"I'll live."
"Look, I see you grab Brooke and I'm gonna do something about it."
"Yea, you decided to be a hero. Let me give you some advice. Don't be so stupid next time. I might let it slide, but others may not."
"I'll keep it in mind. So what about Brooke? I mean, what's gonna happen? She knows everything now."
"I don't know. Maybe she'll accept it and maybe she'll take off and get as far away from here as she can." Nathan looked at the ground. "Do you ever think about doing that? Just getting in your car and taking off? Driving until you end up nowhere?"
"Yea. I've been there. The only problem is where ever you end up, you're still the same person."
Nathan looked back up at him and sighed. "So what is in this for you?"
"Excuse me?"
"What do you want with Brooke?"
"There's nothing in this for me. She's just somebody I happened to help out."
"Yea, you helped a lot. Mission accomplished." Nathan said sarcastically.
"What are you getting at?"
"You gave her your phone number. She's gonna use it. I know she is."
"Oh ok. I get it. This is the part when you threaten me to stay away from your little sister."
"If she calls you, I want you to do anything she asks. I want you to look out for her."
"What's the catch, Nathan?"
"No catch. Things are gonna get a little crazy around here. She's my sister and I love her. And you don't really want me for an enemy, do you?" Nathan began walking away.
"Where you gonna go?"
"I'm just gonna drive." Nathan answered before walking away.
Nathan opened the door of the cottage. He didn't know how he ended up here or why. He just got in his car and drove. He hadn't expected the front door to be unlocked, but it was. He stepped inside and shut the door behind him. He looked around the cottage. It was the same as it was the last time he was here.
That seemed like a lifetime ago. When he was still with Haley and they were trying to get Lucas out of their lives. He would be lying to himself if he said he hadn't loved being in that bed with her. She had been so beautiful that night.
"What are you doing here?" Nathan himself asked out loud. Nathan sighed as he continued to look around the cottage and remember that night with Haley.
He suddenly heard a noise coming from outside the door. Nathan turned around and saw the front door open. Haley walked through the door and smiled. She came into the room and shut the door behind her. "Hi."
"What are you doing here?" Nathan asked.
"Actually I never left."
"What do you mean? You didn't go visit your father?"
"No. I just kind of needed some time to think."
"So you've been hold up here this whole time?"
"Pretty much, yea. So that explains why I'm here. But I guess my question would be, why are you?" she asked, taking another step toward him.
"I don't know. I was just out driving and I needed to think."
"Yea I know the feeling."
"I just ended up here. Look, I'm sorry. If I had known you were here...I know this is an important place for you."
"Yea, I guess it is."
"I know that it means a lot to you...and Lucas." He inwardly cringed mentioning Lucas' name.
"Yea, this is a special place. It's kind of why I came here. I wanted to think about me and Lucas and…"
"Look, I'll get out of here so you can think. I hope you figure everything out."
"Nathan-"
"No. I'm serious. I really do want you and Lucas to have a good life together. I didn't mean to intrude on your special place." Nathan headed toward the door.
Haley stepped in front of him to stop him. "Nathan, I don't want you to go. We have to talk about this."
"What? What do you wanna talk about, Haley?" Nathan asked, stepping back from her.
"Please, Nathan."
"Wake up, Haley. This isn't just about you and your feelings. I mean, have you ever stopped to think that ever since we met my life hasn't exactly been a picnic either? I got arrested last night. I got myself arrested. I put my whole family in jeopardy and I got my little sister involved. And now she thinks that we're just a bunch of criminals. And her life is destroyed."
"I'm sorry." Haley said, taking a step toward him.
"No, don't be. I screwed it up. I screwed up my life."
"Nathan, you need to listen to me, ok. You need to let me finish. Because I came here to think about Lucas and I can't because…"
"Why not?"
"Because I can't stop thinking about you. And I have tried. I mean, I really tried and I can't get you out of my mind." Haley took a breath to collect herself. "Can I just be honest with you?"
"Ok." Nathan said quietly. He didn't know what else to say.
"Ok. I came here to, in a way, recapture my past with Lucas and-"
"Good."
"No, listen. Listen to me for a second. Lucas and I were really happy here, you know. And that meant a lot to me. It really meant a lot then. But now all I've been able to think about is lying that bed with you that night and lying next to you. And I'm actually having a really hard time remembering Lucas' face, which scares me a lot. And I'm really surprised by the whole thing because it's nothing like I expected at all. I don't know what it is. But I can't keep fighting it, you know. What's happening?"
"I'm sorry. You were here that night, right?"
"Yes."
"Well, it wasn't some big romantic evening. If you remember, I repulsed you and you pushed me away and you cried about Lucas."
"I was upset about Lucas because I didn't want to hurt him. And I still don't wanna hurt him, but you're my husband."
"Come on. It's nothing but a lie. You know that."
"You're gonna tell me that you didn't feel anything when you were lying in that bed next to me? Nothing when I walked down the aisle, when we exchanged vows with each other?" Nathan just shook his head. "Don't do that. Please! Because you know that you did because I felt it. I felt it when you kissed me."
"Look, I don't know what you're doing, but will you stop it?! I mean, we were pretending. We did what we had to do to keep you alive. That's it."
"I can't pretend that well, Nathan. I couldn't pretend that well if I tried. Do you know how much I wish we could just go back and make it as simple as the way that we planned and as easy as that? Something happened, I don't know. I don't know what it was, but something made it real with us. And I know that we deserve to make this marriage work and give it a try. Please, we need to make this work. We owe it to ourselves."
Haley brought her hands up and grabbed the collar of his shirt. "Nathan, I have tried so hard to fight feeling anything for you. I've tried so hard and I don't wanna fight anymore." Haley brought his face close to hers and kissed him. She kissed him with everything she had in her.
Nathan began kissing back and grabbed her waist. When they pulled away, he placed his forehead against hers. "Haley."
"I know we can make this work. I know that we can because you can get away from your family. You are not one of them, Nathan." Nathan suddenly stepped away from her. "What?" Haley began to cry. Why was he making this so hard?
"Don't you get it? I am one of them. I am and you can't change me. And I can't be with you knowing that you want to change me."
"Can't we try?" Haley cried.
"No. Forget it. We don't have a future. It would never work." Nathan said, walking toward the door. "You would never be able to accept me for who I am, Haley. You know that." Nathan opened the door and walked out.
Haley rushed to the door, but she was too late. "Nathan, no!" Haley slammed her hand against the door. She slumped to the ground and began to sob.
"Mom, come on. You have lied to Brooke her entire life. What did you expect her to do when she learned the truth?" Nathan asked as he followed his mother into her office. Saying that Deb was upset was an understatement.
"Nathan, my daughter hates me. She hates me for doing what I believed was right and now she's out of control."
"Do you blame her? How could you? I don't blame her."
"She's a potential threat to the family now that she's taken up with this Julian Baker. He's the one who turned her against me."
"If he hadn't told her the truth, believe me, she would've gone somewhere else."
"How dare you take his side. How dare you say anything to me." Deb said angrily. "None of this would have happened if you had just kept her in school where she belonged."
"Don't blame me. If you wanna pin this on somebody, look at yourself." Nathan countered. He was tired of her always blaming him for her problems. "You're the one that destroyed this family, mom. You've got no one to blame but yourself."
"Brooke knew nothing about who we are or what we do until you interfered in her life."
"She's not stupid! Did you think you could keep her in the dark her entire life? She's been wondering for years why we kept her away."
"I was trying to protect my daughter."
"Yea, you've always made all the decisions for your children. Well now you have to get used to the consequences and you've got to live with them."
"Enough!"
"No! I was always the smart one so you decided that I was the one that was gonna run the business one day. And Brooke, she had to remain pure and innocent so you shipped her off to school. You exiled her with the same calculation that you used to decide what would happen to me, to Damien, to all of us."
"That was not the way it was." Deb said.
"Really? You decided that Damien wasn't the smart one so you turned him into the family goon. You wouldn't let him be anything but a thug. And what happened? His life was empty, it was violent, it was lonely. Just like his death."
"So now you're blaming me for my own son's death? I didn't kill Damien. Your bride did. And she's gonna destroy you if you don't get her out of your system."
"This has nothing to do with Haley! This has to do with what you've done to this family! " Nathan took a breath. "Did you ever ask us what we wanted? Did you even care? You have run everything. Well, this is your reward for all your hard work. This is your legacy. Congratulations."
Deb didn't say anything back. She simply glared at Nathan as she walked out of her office.
Chase passed by her on the way into Deb's office to talk to Nathan. He poked his head in and saw Nathan standing there. "Is this a bad time?"
"It's always a bad time around here, Chase." Nathan half joked. "What's up?"
Chase walked into the office and sat in the chair across from Deb's desk. Nathan sat in his mothers' chair. "Well, I came to talk to you about your marriage."
"Look, we did talk about it and there's nothing to talk about. It's done. I made up my mind."
"That's what you keep saying. But, Nate it's my job as your friend, your cousin, and your spiritual advisor to stop you from making an ass out of yourself."
"Well, thank you, Father, but forget it. Save your breath. I made up my mind. I told you that."
"I think you're making a big mistake, Nate."
"Look, Chase, when you get the annulment papers, why don't you just send them over." Nathan didn't want to talk about this anymore. He just wanted to get this over with.
Chase pulled a manila envelope from his jacket pocket and set them on the desk. "I tried."
Nathan grabbed the envelope and opened it. "Are these the preliminary papers?" Nathan read over them. "Good. We can get this thing rolling."
"Nate, that doesn't mean it's the way to go. You still have time to reconsider. My advice is to tear those up and throw them away. Because if you don't, you're gonna regret this for the rest of your life."