School is letting out so I'm not sure how fast I'll get the next chapter out. It may be harder to find time to write now that my little ones will be home all day.

Ch 35

Nathan walked into the house and entered into the kitchen, not surprised to find his wife sitting at the counter wearing her glasses and diligently working on her homework. "Hey you," he whispered, leaning over to kiss her cheek.

"Hey," she said back, turning to get his lips before he pulled away. "Something happen? You're all sweaty."

"I stopped to play some basketball on the way home. I needed to blow off some steam and stop thinking for a while," he told her, walking over to the fridge and pulling out a bottle of water and taking a long drink.

"How did it go? Was it that bad?" she asked, not sure how to read his attitude.

"It wasn't nearly as bad as I'd expected," he admitted. "The process was pretty easy actually, it's just dealing with the results that sucks."

Haley looked at her husband, studying his posture, his movements as he made himself a sandwich. He turned around to face her and she stared into his eyes, "You remember now," she said, suddenly sure. "You remember all of it."

He nodded his head, barely able to brace himself before she threw herself into his arms. "Hey, don't cry," he whispered as he felt her body start to shake. "It's a good thing baby."

"I know," she told him, pulling back and looking into his eyes again, "it's just...I don't know how to explain it. I feel so happy for you and relieved and..."

Nathan led her into the family room and sat down, pulling her down to sit beside him. "I know these last months have been really hard on you and I know that I didn't always deal with all of it as well as I should have..."

Haley reached up and put her fingers over his mouth to shush him. "You have nothing to be sorry for. If anything, I'm amazed at how well you handled everything. I can't imagine most people would have done nearly as well."

"You know Hales, I couldn't have made it through any of this without you. Thank you for sticking by me and loving me even when I couldn't remember who you were or how much we meant to each other," he told her, holding her close. "You're amazing."

"We're amazing," she told him, reaching up to give him a long kiss.

"So how did you know?" he asked her moments later as she snuggled back into his side.

"About the memories?" she asked, absentmindedly tracing circles on his chest, "I could see it in your eyes. Even with all we've gone through lately, your eyes have been lighter, less burdened and cynical. I can see that weight again now. I don't think I ever realized that's what it was until it was gone and then came back. I'm so sorry you have to carry that around all the time, but at the same time grateful because I know how frustrated the not remembering made you."

"I knew that there was going to be a lot of things that I'd probably end up wishing I didn't remember," he told her as he played with her long hair. "You guys all warned me some of it would be hard, but I needed to do it, not just because I wanted the memories of us back, but because they are all a part of me. I've learned a lot in the last 4 years, about life and love, patience and forgiveness, loss and grief and even the most painful things taught me something. Without those memories, I felt like I was flying blind... like I was dealing with things for the first time when I knew that wasn't true. Yeah, some of the things I remembered really suck, but they made me who I am and without them, I kind of felt like an imposter in my own body."

"Do you remember when you proposed...the second time?" Haley asked, and upon receiving his nod she continued, "you said that the bad stuff didn't matter and you wouldn't change it because it led us there, to that place, that moment. I didn't really understand then because there were so many things that I would have changed if I could have gone back, but now I think I do. All the stuff we've gone through has just made us stronger and made us really appreciate what we have. I love you so much Nathan Scott. I won't ever take that for granted."

"I love you too Hales," he told her, wiping a tear that had escaped from her eyes.

"It's so nice to have you all the way back," she told him, moving to sit on his lap. "Not that I didn't love you the whole time, but it's just extra wonderful to be able to share all of our memories with you too. As close as we were, it still sort of felt like something was missing..."

"I know what you mean. I'm sorry..."

"No," she told him, placing her forehead against his. "You have no reason to apologize."

"God I love you," he whispered, pulling her lips to his for a long passionate kiss. "I say we should go celebrate."

"I think I should sign with Maryland," Nathan said the next morning as they ate breakfast. "I liked their coach a lot and they had a really nice campus."

"Wow, okay," Haley said, surprised by the sudden pronouncement. "I thought you were still hoping for Duke?"

"I haven't heard anything and the other schools aren't going to hold their offers for me indefinitely," he answered her. "I know it's not ideal because we'd be further away from everyone, but I think we'd be happy there."

"I hate that you're having to give up on your dream," Haley told him, reaching out to cup his cheek. "Are you sure about this?"

"If I we are together and I get to play college basketball, I can be happy anywhere," he told her. "Besides, they had nice apartments we could live in and we'd have plenty of room for the baby..."

"I don't know Nathan," Haley said, "it's already going to be so hard to juggle everything and being so far from all our family and friends..."

"I know, but I really think this is the best of the choices remaining, and maybe it would actually be good to get away. Maybe there wouldn't be as much drama," Nathan told her.

"Okay, I'll make you a deal. Go ahead and set up a press conference for Thursday," Haley told him. "If we don't hear from Duke by then or it's a no, then go ahead and sign with Maryland, but I really think you should give Duke a couple more days. I just really have this feeling that that's where we should be."

Nathan leaned forward and kissed her forehead, "Sounds like a plan to me. I'll set something up. You okay with going to school again today? I know yesterday was a little rough. I still wish you had let me cancel my appointment to come with you."

"Getting your memories back was so worth you not being there with me for one day," she said, taking a bite of her muffin. "Besides, it was a lot better after Rachel basically threatened anyone who was mean to me. I guess I should be grateful to have her on our side for once."

"They're lucky it was Rachel and not me," Nathan said. "I don't know what I'd have done if I'd been there when that bitch said that about you."

"She wouldn't have said it if you had been," Haley pointed out. "You know the whole reason she treats me like crap is because she has had a huge crush on you since we were freshman. I didn't even know you back then and I knew about it. I was in her gym class and she used to talk about how she was going to be with you someday. It was ridiculous since everyone knew you didn't even seem to notice her."

"I'm not sure I even knew who she was until there were all those rumors that you knocked her teeth out," he laughed. "Actually, maybe you should have."

Haley laughed at the remembrance, despite it being from one of their rough patches. "So, are you going to tell people?"

"I'll probably tell our friends and it's not like I'm going to hide it, but I'm not going to pull a Brooke and make a school wide announcement or anything. I'm sure people will figure it out on their own eventually," he explained. "I don't really care who knows."

"Maybe you should call and tell your dad," Haley ventured. She knew he and Dan had gotten close recently, but wasn't sure how having his memories restored would change that.

"Yeah, I guess. I'll tell him when I call him about the press conference. I'm just not feeling a prolonged conversation right now. There are too many things I need to put in perspective and deal with before I want to talk to Dan about them," Nathan told her.

"Is that what the nightmare was about?" Haley asked, moving to stand between her husband's legs. "You tried to be quiet, but I heard you gasp and then get out of bed to splash water on your face."

"Sorry about that," Nathan told her, "you were actually sleeping well and I woke you up."

"Hey, you've been there for me, let me be there for you. I noticed that you called him Dan," she said, placing her hands on his shoulders. "You've been calling him Dad again."

Nathan sighed. "I know that when he started coming around again you guys all warned me that he wasn't to be trusted and that he'd done some terrible things, but I guess I assumed it was just more of the same from what I grew up with," Nathan paused, trying to find the right words, "I had no idea what a downright bastard he'd turned into. How much he'd hurt us."

"I know that you have some pretty...rough memories of him," Haley began, frowning when Nathan scoffed, "but don't let them ruin what you two have been building these last couple of months."

"How can they not affect it?" he asked her, "I feel like he's been playing me for a fool."

"Don't think that," she told him, placing her hand under his chin and brining his eyes back to hers. "Maybe you trusted him in a way he hadn't earned, but you were thinking with your heart. He has really come through and proved your instincts to give him another chance were right. I don't want to see your relationship go back to how it was before. You've finally got the father you always wanted. Maybe you should just be grateful and try to put the other stuff behind you."

Nathan nodded, knowing his wife was right and finished his orange juice. "I'll think about it. I guess we should get going soon. Are you sure you're good?"

"I know my emotions have been all over the place...sorry about that by the way. Sometimes the littlest thing makes me cry..." Haley told him.

"Baby, you're pregnant and you got attacked," Nathan said, brushing her hair away from her face. "You have had every reason to cry. I totally understood that you needed to get it all out. Frankly, I'm surprised with everything you've been through that it took so long."

"I know, I'm just not used to being so crazy emotional," she said, slightly embarrassed. "I just can't control it sometimes."

"Hey, I want you to come to me with your problems, or your fears, no matter how big or small. We're in this together," he reminded her

Haley smiled. "I know, but I'm really okay and if for some reason that changes, I'll let you know. I just really want to leave all of this behind and try and get back to just being us," Haley promised, pausing for a minute. "Although neither one of us is exactly the poster child for emotional stability right now."

"That's okay Hales, we can have our breakdowns together. Maybe we can even share a padded room," he joked, pulling her as close as he could and kissing her.

"Always and forever," she laughed, "even in straight jackets."

"Oh my," Brooke said as they watched Nathan and Haley walking down the hallway toward them. "Nate has his memories back."

"What? How do you know that?" Lucas asked, dumbfounded. "I mean, I guess it's possible since he went to the therapist yesterday, but he hasn't said anything and I'm pretty sure he would have told me."

"Look at how he's walking," Brooke said, "Nate has always had this super sexy confident swagger when he walks. That's been a little different ever since the accident, but now it's back."

"He looks the same to me, and what's this about him being sexy?" Lucas pouted.

"Just because I love you doesn't mean I'm suddenly blind," Brooke pointed out. "I've never had a thing for our Boy Toy, especially since P. Sawyer here had already nabbed him, but there is no denying that he's fine looking and that body..."

"But she also remembers that hot body used to be home to a complete asshole," Peyton pointed out, "thus the never going after him part."

"I would have totally slept with him though if he wasn't yours. I bet that boy has moves..." Brooke grinned at the thought

"Umm hmm," Lucas cleared his throat, shaking his head in dismay as Nathan and Haley arrived at their lockers. "Boyfriend standing right here."

"So Brooke claims you got your memories back," he said, turning to the newcomers. "I told her no way because you would have told me."

"Actually," Nathan said, looking strangely at Brooke, "she's right."

"I told you..." Lucas started, "wait, she is?"

Nathan and Haley both nodded. "I was planning on calling you but we kind of...got distracted."

Lucas looked at his best friend and saw her blushing. "Eww. You could have just kept that to yourselves."

"Get over it Broody," Brooke told him before turning back to the other couple. "I'm really glad it worked out for you Nate. How does it feel?"

"It's still a little weird," he admitted. "I remember everything from before, or at least I think I do, but I also remember not remembering which is really strange."

"Hey," Nathan acknowledged Peyton, a little uncomfortable with the newest revelations. Not that long ago he had barely remembered her at all and now he remembered more than he felt comfortable with.

There was an awkward moment of silence and then suddenly Nathan pulled Haley to him, drawing her into a deep, passionate kiss that drew whistles from more than one classmate passing by.

"Mmmm, not that I'm complaining, but what brought that on?" Haley grinned when they finally came up for air, her arms staying wrapped around his waist.

"Can't I just kiss you because I find you sexy and irresistible?" he smiled back.

"You can, but you don't usually do it in the middle of the crowded hallway," she giggled, leaning her head against his chest.

"Sue Garvy was walking past," Brooke chimed in, laughing at Lucas' discomfort at the display.

Haley looked at her husband and shook her head in amusement. "Of course."

"Hey," he said defensively, "you said some people believed that I wasn't at school because I was upset with you and I thought the kiss was the perfect way to dispel those rumors. People can see we are very much together and I get to make-out with my very hot wife. It's a win-win."

"Yeah, yeah," Haley teased, pulling away and opening her locker. "Your hot wife needs to get to class and so do you."

Lucas came over to Nathan when he was done making his free throws to end practice and watched as Nathan shot three pointers off the ball rack, making 4 out of 5. "Hey, I didn't really get a chance to talk to you earlier. I wanted to find out more about the what happened at your therapy session."

Nathan shrugged, "He put me in a trance and led me through some exercises designed to help reactivate the part of the brain where memories are stored. It took a while, but it was pretty easy."

"So, you really got all of your memories back?"

"It seems like it," Nathan said, holding the ball. "There aren't any noticeable gaps or anything. I mean, I'm sure there are probably a few little things, but that's totally normal."

"All in one session? If it's that easy, why didn't you just do that first?" Lucas asked, grabbing a ball off the rack and shooting a shot of his own.

"Well, I'll give you the condensed version of that they told me. First, you have to let the brain heal itself from the trauma and then, you have to give it time to start re-making connections. After that, it's okay to try and bring them back, but if you have to dig deep for them, then people often recover additional "memories" that aren't real so you have to be really careful," Nathan explained. "They originally told me it might take several sessions because they wanted to make sure that didn't happen, but apparently because I was such a good little boy, it went super well and worked the first try."

"That's great," Lucas said, "It's still really strange to think that you got hypnotized."

Nathan rolled his eyes at his brother, "it wasn't like you see on tv or anything. It wasn't that big of a deal."

"Seemed like Haley was happy about it," Lucas said casually. "I know she has been pretty worried about you ever since the accident."

"Yeah," Nathan said, "I mean, I know that she loved me without all the memories, and I loved her, but it's just...different with them. There's an added level of comfort and understanding that wasn't there a few days ago that makes it all feel more...complete I guess. She's been way more open and relaxed since she found out and it actually makes me feel guilty because I didn't realize just how much it was still weighing her down. I think the good news was just what she needed after what happened. It has given her something better to think about and focus on."

"I'm really happy for you. I'm so glad things are working out," Lucas said. "Now we just have to win the State Championship."

"I'll be ready to give it everything I've got," Nathan said, shooting and making another shot. "Dan might have blown his chance at it, but I'm not going to. In fact, I'm going to stay for another hour and get some more shots up before I pick up Haley from the cafe. You're free to join me."

"Nah, I promised Brooke I'd stop by," Lucas told him. "Maybe next time."

"So that's the way it's going to be? Dolls over balls?" Nathan teased, stopping for a minute. "Oh, that sounded so much better in my head."

Lucas looked at his brother and both boys laughed until they could barely breathe.

"I think maybe we should leave those statements up to Brooke," Lucas finally managed to say. "But I sure do hope we'd both agree on that one at least."

"Get out of here," Nathan laughed again, "you're wasting my practice time."

"Don't worry, I won't tell your wife which one you picked," Lucas added as he walked away.

"You keep that up and I'm going to go back to hating you," Nathan yelled.

"Yeah, yeah. Promises, promises," Lucas smiled. Things were finally almost back to normal. Now he just had to get Brooke and Peyton back to being best friends.

Nathan finished his last dribbling drill and walked over to check his watch. 6:40. He wiped his face with a towel and headed to the locker room. Haley got off work at 7 and he wanted to make sure she was there before then. He didn't want there to be any chance of her walking out of the building by herself since he still wasn't sure what caused Damien West to come unhinged.

He changed quickly and grabbed his keys, walking out of the gym and into the mostly dark evening. "Good to see you working so hard," he heard from his right, startling him. "I'm sure the scouts appreciate that."

"Just trying to keep getting better, " Nathan said without stopping. His father had told him to avoid Daunte Jones and while he had a lot of issues to work out with the man, he was pretty sure he should take his advice this time.

"You're not going to stop and talk to a friend? I'm hurt. I came here to offer you some help," Daunte said as he climbed out of his car. "I thought maybe we could work out a deal that would benefit both of us."

"I'm not interested in any deals and I have somewhere I need to be," Nathan said. He didn't want to offend the guy, but he certainly didn't want to stand around and chat with him either. He looked around and noticed there were only a couple of other cars still in the lot and figured they probably belonged to the janitors.

"Heading to pick up your pregnant wife from the Cafe?" the man asked, leaning back against his car. "She's a looker but it's a shame she has to work so hard. Especially with what happened after the game the other night," Daunte paused, shaking his head, "and pregnant too? That's a dangerous combination. Something could go wrong."

Nathan took two steps back toward the man. "Are you threatening her?"

"No, no. Why would I do that? She's never done anything to me. I was just thinking that I'm sure it would be nice if she didn't have to work so hard, but I know how expensive babies can be."

"We'll be fine," Nathan told him.

"Just thought I'd offer my help," he said. "You could help me out and consider it a very lucrative side job."

"I'm still not interested," Nathan told him, his hands starting to sweat. He didn't like the tone of this conversation at all. "Now I really have to go."

"I notice you aren't driving your little car anymore," Daunte said as Nathan walked away. "Daddy bought you a new one. You know he's only going to bail you out so many times. In fact, who knows when he'll decide being a good guy sucks and go back to being an ass?"

" I didn't ask for his help and I don't need it. The other car was wrecked," Nathan told him. "The insurance would have covered something else for us to drive, but he insisted on helping."

"Funny how they never found the other driver," Daunte said. "It's amazing how incompetent cops can be. People can do whatever they want to other people, anytime, anywhere and get away with it. Just think about that."

Nathan stood there, not sure how to respond to what he was now sure were threats.

"Don't you have to get to your wife?" Daunte reminded him. "Tell her one of her favorite customers says hi."

"I got here as soon as I could," Dan said as he walked into the kitchen. "What's going on?"

"Shh," Nathan said, leading his father into the den. "I don't want anyone else to overhear us."

"Then why didn't you come to me?" Dan asked in confusion. "It would have been easier."

"Because I didn't want Haley left alone," Nathan said, pacing the room. "This is bad. Really bad."

"Okay, tell me what's going on," Dan said, stopping Nathan and forcing him to try and calm down. Nathan took a deep breath and relayed the earlier conversation to the best of his ability.

"So I'm assuming he wants you to either throw the game or something similar," Dan said, going over to the bar and pouring himself a drink. "Are you sure he didn't say?"

"No, he was very careful to call it a job or something I could do for him," Nathan said. "He never outright threatened us either, but it was very clear that 's what he was doing."

"Whatever it is, you can't do it," Dan said. "We have to find a way out of this other than that."

"I should have known you would say something like that. Only you would care more about the basketball game than what happens to my family," Nathan said, raising his voice.

"Calm down," his father told him, reminding him of his desire for privacy. "That's not what I'm saying at all. I care about all three of you and of course I don't want anything to happen to Haley or your baby, but I also know what being a part of this could do to your future. They could hold his over your head and use it to force you to do other things so you don't lose your scholarship. On top of that, I know how much it would hurt you to betray your coach and your team that way. You would never forgive yourself."

"So what am I supposed to do?" Nathan asked, sitting down and putting his head in his hands. "This is such a mess."

"There really isn't anything we can do until we find out what he wants from you," Dan admitted, "except be extra vigilant, especially with Haley since she is the most vulnerable. I suggest you tell your brother what's going on and enlist his help."

"I don't want Haley to know," Nathan said, "at least not until I know what to do about it. She's been stressed enough without adding this to it."

"Are you sure that's the best way to do this?" Dan asked. "It would be easier to watch over her if she knew what was going on."

"I'm sure. Until I know for sure, I don't want to worry her," Nathan said.

Dan nodded, "Was this what you left the message for earlier?"

Nathan looked at him in confusion, "Oh, no. I wanted to set up a press conference."

"You heard from Duke," Dan asked in excitement. "Why didn't you say so?"

"I didn't hear from them," Nathan said. "I'm going to sign with Maryland."

"Oh," Dan said, "I know we talked about you going there, I just didn't realize you had made any decisions."

"I got the rest of my memories back and decided it was time," Nathan told him. "I know the National Signing day is past and they have to be eager to fill their spots. They won't hold the scholarship offers indefinitely."

"I'm proud of you Nathan," Dan said, realizing that was all he was going to get on the subject. "If Maryland is your choice, then they are damn lucky to have you."

"Thanks Dad," Nathan said, "I really needed to hear that."

"I really needed to say it," Dan said. "It'll be okay Nathan. I've got your back. We'll find a way out of this."