...Hello. Wow, I feel terrible. It took so long for me to get this chapter up. I'm truly sorry. I could probably find a million excuses to give you, but what it comes down to is I don't know how to manage my time. (I should never have taken AP US History. lol) I feel absolutely awful about making you all wait this long and I promise that it will never ever take this long again. Anyway, thank you so much to the amazing people who sent me a review for the last chapter. I adore you all. Seriously.
Now I have a question for all of you. For my own future reference, which do you prefer: a) shorter chapters updated every day or two, or b) longer chapters updated every couple of days or once a week? I don't really deserve any reviews since this took so long, but if you do decide to leave me one, I would appreciate an answer to that. :) So, here's the next chapter. Sorry again for the wait.
Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill or any of its characters.
Summary: After 4 years, Nathan, Haley, Brooke, Lucas, Peyton, and Tim are heading back to the beach for another summer of fun. Some hold secrets, some have suffered through heartbreaks, and some are their same old selves. They will encounter a few familiar faces and unimaginable surprises as they return to the past in this sequel to "A Summer to Remember."
Return to the Past
Chapter 38
Nick and Nicki Chavez stared wide-eyed at the man now holding their precious gun. It had all happened so fast, one minute they had again been arguing about whether or not to kill their only remaining captive, and the next Nathan had the gun pointed at them. How he had taken it from Nicki's hand without either of them realizing it was a mystery.
"Whoa, take it easy Scott, I was never going to kill you," Nick laughed nervously. How the hell did he get a hold of the gun? This had turned into a nightmare. The hostage was never supposed to have the upper hand on the captor, it would never end good.
"Nathan, if you give us the gun back, we'll let you go," Nicki proposed sweetly as if she were trying to persuade a disobedient five year old to go down for a nap. The last 30 seconds were a blur to her. She had had the gun…and then he had it. It just didn't make sense.
"I think you're forgetting that now that I have the gun I can do whatever the hell I want," Nathan said in a low voice as he snapped the safety off. He had been waiting patiently as the argument between Nick and Nicki heated up and when he saw their eyes glaze over in rage towards each other he had known it was his only chance. He almost had to laugh at how easily Nicki had let go of the gun because she was so consumed in the fight with her brother. All he had had to do was reach for it and she practically handed it to him.
So now he held all of the power, he was just waiting for the right time to use it. Haley had left just a minute or two ago and he knew that she was going to go to Chris's because he was the only that was possibly home and he also knew that she was going to take the stairs rather than the elevator in an attempt to save time no matter what amount of pain she was in. The thought of her being in any pain at all was enough to make him want to shoot Nick on the spot, but he couldn't. He had to give her time to call the police again.
Then out of the corner of his eye he saw the faint flash of a red and blue light in the window and realized that the police were already here. The call Haley had made to 911 had worked and now he just had to let them know where to find the criminals.
"Nick, just take the gun from him," Nicki commanded. "He's just a city boy; he doesn't know how to use it."
Nathan laughed at that and then pointed the gun at the ceiling and pulled the trigger. Not only had he just proved that he could fire a gun, but he was sure that the police had heard it and were both calling for backup and surrounding the building.
Both Chavez's now stood dumbfounded. This wasn't happening, their well thought out plan was deteriorating right in front of their eyes and they didn't like it. Nathan hurriedly snapped the safety back on the gun and headed for the door.
"Where the hell do you think you're going with my gun?" Nick snapped possessively as the front door swung open and Nathan stepped into the hallway.
"I'm going to find my wife and take her to the hospital," Nathan said bitterly. "You can try to leave if you want, but my guess is that the police already have the place surrounded." With that, he slammed the door shut and headed for the stairs.
He knew that Haley couldn't have gone too far because of the amount pain she was in, so Chris's condo was his first guess at where she was at, and no matter how much he hated Chris, he hoped she was safely inside his condo.
"Holy shit!" He heard a voice cry out as soon as he reached the top of the stairs. Was that Chris? "Haley? Can you hear me? Wake up!"
This time it was Nathan's turn to curse, that did not sound good. He ran down the stairs as fast as he could and when he reached the bottom he was sure his hear stopped beating. "Oh my God. Chris, what happened?" he asked frantically as he rushed over to the motionless body of his wife on the floor.
"I don't know, one minute she was telling me she wanted me to call the police, then she was saying she needed to sit down, then we heard some loud boom like a gunshot or something, then she walked out here and collapsed," Chris said hurriedly. Never in his life had something as weird as this happened to him. "It was almost like she- whoa! Is that a gun in your back pocket? What the hell!"
"Chris, shut up and go get one of the police officers," Nathan barked as he battled the lump rising in his throat again. "Haley? Haley, wake up. Please, baby, wake up," he said softly as he gathered her in his arms and gently ran his hand down the side of her face. She just passed out, she'll be ok, he told himself desperately. He had to believe that; he couldn't even let his mind start thinking of all the terrible possibilities of what had happened to her.
"Um, what am I supposed to say to a police officer when I find one?" Chris asked casually as if waiting for specific directions from Nathan.
"I don't care what the hell you say!" he yelled in desperation. "Just go find someone, anyone, who can help her!"
Chris watched Nathan as he turned back to the young woman in his arms and began to whisper to her again. He had never seen Nathan looking so rattled and it actually scared him a little. For as long as he had known him, Nathan Scott had never gotten emotional, and now Chris was witnessing what was as close to a breakdown as they come. Nathan was all but crying at this point and he knew that if Haley didn't wake up soon, Nathan would probably loose it. Not wanting to be around if and when that happened, Chris scurried off in search of one of the police officers that had been parked outside just a minute ago.
"Hales, you have to wake up," Nathan choked out. He really wasn't sure how long she'd been unconscious, but to him it felt like an eternity. This wasn't supposed to happen. They were free from Nick and Nicki now and they could finally get to the hospital, she was supposed to be fine. She was supposed to be talking to him right now, holding his hand, and yelling at him for getting her pregnant in the first place. This reality was all wrong. "Come on, I need you to wake up for me."
He could hear shouts coming from the stairs and assumed it was the police on the third floor arresting Nick and Nicki, but at the moment he couldn't care less. All he wanted was for her to wake up. As if sensing his need for her, her eyes slowly opened and she blinked a few times until her vision cleared up.
"Haley?" he asked softly as she looked at him confusedly. As soon as he saw her deep chocolate brown eyes, he knew that she was going to be ok, that everything was going to be ok. Staring into her eyes did that to him.
"Please tell me you're not an angel," she whispered after taking a few seconds to regain her voice.
Nathan laughed softly out of relief as he pressed a sweet kissed her temple and hugged her to him as gently as he could. "God, don't ever do that again," he commanded in a whisper.
"I -" A sudden pain, the worst one she had felt yet, ripped through her lower abdomen and sent her gasping as her hands flew to grip her stomach.
"Shit," he cursed. In all of the confusion he had almost forgotten that she wasn't ok. She may be conscious, but she wasn't ok. "Where the hell is Chris?"
"Nathan, it hurts …it hurts so much," Haley cried, the pain she had been fighting for the past half an hour finally becoming unbearable. James seemed intent on appearing as fast as possible.
"I know, baby, I know," he calmed her as he brushed the hair from her face. "Screw you Keller," Nathan muttered bitterly as he looked to both ends of the hallway, impatiently waiting for Chris to bring help. Haley's grabbing his hand and holding onto it for dear life caused him to immediately decide that waiting for Chris wasn't an option anymore. She needed help now. "Haley, I'm going to pick you up, ok?"
Haley nodded and whimpered slightly as Nathan reached his arms under her back and legs and lifted her up as gently as possible. The pain had dulled slightly now, but hadn't really subsided, something she missed about her contractions from earlier. They were getting so close together that it seemed to her that as soon as one ended another one started.
"Hey, we need help over here!" Nathan called desperately as he got out of the hallway and made his way towards the parking lot where he knew he had seen the lights of the police cars.
Everything from then on seemed like a dream to Haley, almost as though she weren't really there and was watching the scene unfold from across the parking lot. She could hear Nathan's panicked voice as well as the calm one of a police officer, but couldn't make out what they were saying.
Flashing lights seemed to be everywhere and the number of them looked as if it was increasing. She clung to Nathan as though her were her life preserver in this sea of chaos. Before she knew it, she was strapped into an ambulance with Nathan on one side of her and a paramedic on the other.
The dream-like haze continued when they arrived at the hospital. The beeping of the monitors she had been rapidly hooked up to, the voices of the doctors and nurses telling her to calm down and push, and the faint sounds of people scurrying about outside the door were all muffled. The pain and fear dulled every voice but one. The only thing she was able to make out was the smooth sound of her husband's voice whispering encouragements in her ear.
"Hales, you need to push, ok?" he pleaded softly.
"No! It's too early!" she sobbed as she tried her best to withstand the pain shooting through her entire body. The doctor said something then, but she couldn't hear him and kept her focus on the pained expression across Nathan's face. "Don't let him…he can't be born yet!"
The doctor said something again and Nathan looked up at him as Haley held his hands tightly. Recognizing that she couldn't and wouldn't hear a word the doctor said, Nathan leaned forward to rest his forehead against hers. "Haley, the doctor said it's too late for that. The baby is coming and trying to stop it is only making it worse for him."
Haley only shook her head as she took a deep breath and tried not to scream at the never-ending contractions. "He's going to be fine. Just please do what the doctor says." Nathan was trying as hard as he could to keep the conflict he was feeling off of his face. The last thing Haley needed was to see him coming unraveled by this.
For a brief moment her eyes met his and all of her fears subsided. "You have to push," he said softly, both of them ignoring the doctor who was saying the same thing. This time Haley nodded before letting out a shaky breath and grabbing his hands even tighter.
She wasn't sure if it was from pain or the tears that were backed up in her eyes, but either way her vision was cloudy as she looked up at the doctor, silently begging him to make sure her baby was ok. She saw him nod and then say something that was drowned out by the combination of her cries and the bustling about of the nurses preparing for the birth.
Nathan brought her hand delicately to his lips before smoothing the hair out of her face. "We have a head of dark hair," the doctor announced encouragingly and Nathan face broke into a large smile as Haley both laughed and cried at the same time.
The instant the small cry was heard throughout the room, it was as if all of Haley's senses were heightened. The fog that had clouded her vision vanished and the muffled voices became clear. A euphoric state captivated both Nathan and Haley at the sound of their son.
"Oh my God," Nathan said softly as a smile spread across his face and he quickly leaned over to kiss Haley's temple. "You did so good, baby."
Haley was both crying and smiling as the doctor held the tiny baby up for the parents to see while the nurse cut the umbilical chord and then wrapped him in a blue blanket. "Can I hold him?" she managed to say between tears and joyful laughs.
The doctor smiled before placing the tightly wrapped baby into Haley's arms. "Oh my God," she breathed out shakily as she held his tiny body in her arms. "Hi baby."
Nathan stared at the baby in Haley's arms and had to swallow the lump that was rising in his throat. Was this a dream? Never in his life had he felt so insanely happy, so insanely in love with two people. Everything that had happened less than 30 minutes ago didn't matter, all that mattered was his wife and the baby boy she held in her arms.
"He's perfect," he whispered as he reached over to softly rub the back of the baby's head. Haley only nodded in agreement before gently kissing the dark hair of her son.
"Brooke, will you please stop texting? We're in a move theater for God's sake," Lucas complained quietly as he watched his girlfriend rapidly punching buttons on her phone.
"Why does it matter if we're in a movie theater or not?" Brooke responded innocently as she pressed the 'send' button.
"Because your phone is lighting up the whole place," he said with irritation. "People are staring."
"Let them. I'm sure watching me is more interesting than this lame movie anyway."
"What could possibly be so important that you can't wait until the movie is over?" His patience was starting to wear thin and he wasn't sure if he would be able to take the glares from the old women beside him much longer.
"Haley hasn't texted me since we left and it's making me nervous," she shrugged.
"Do you mind dear? We're trying to watch a movie," one of the older women chastised bitterly. "If you don't put that obnoxious light away I will have to involve security."
"Oh please," Brooke rolled her eyes in response. "You don't scare me, granny. Why are you even here? This is a horror movie."
"Brooke!" Lucas whispered in disapproval before turning to the aghast woman apologetically. "I'm sorry, she didn't mean it."
The woman shook her head in displeasure before turning to say something to her friend. "Brooke, please just put your phone away-"
"Lucas," she hissed, "didn't you hear what I said? I haven't heard from Haley since she was over at our condo this afternoon and now she isn't returning my texts!"
"Can you please lower your voice?" he pleaded as he looked around nervously at the frowning faces staring at them. "I think you're overreacting. It's not like she has to be in contact with you at all times."
"But she promised that she would text me during the movie to distract me," she justified.
"Maybe she forgot."
"Haley doesn't forget things," Brooke snapped. "Don't you care that our best friend isn't answering my texts?"
"Ugh, Brooke, I'm sure she's fine. She and Nathan probably just went out to dinner or something. Either that or she just doesn't have her phone with her." Lucas really couldn't see what the cause of his girlfriend's worry was; it had only been a couple of hours since they'd seen her.
"I texted Nathan too," she explained, "and he never said anything back either."
"Brooke, you're blowing this way out of proportion. Did you ever think that…maybe they don't want to be disturbed?" As soon as he said this he regretted it because of all of the mental pictures that popped into his head.
Brooke was silent for a moment as if considering the possibility. "No. She promised to text me and she hasn't. Oh my God! What if they got into a car accident and are now stranded in a ditch on the side of the road?! You know the way that Nathan drives, what if they-"
"Shut up lady!" an unruly voice called from the back row.
"Don't you tell me to shut up! We all know that you're not really watching the movie up there anyway!" she hollered back in frustration.
"Brooke! Just please stop talking; we'll call them when the movie's over." Lucas was past the point of mortification now. He hated being the center of attention and he especially hated it when he was the center of attention for a bad reason.
"Fine, but when we find out that they've gone missing, don't say I didn't warn you," she fired back in a low voice before stuffing a handful of popcorn into her mouth.
After about ten seconds of silence throughout the theater, a new noise was heard, but this time it wasn't a voice, it was a phone. As soon as it started ringing, people around Brooke and Lucas started to groan and mutter profanities.
"Who the hell's phone is that?" the same person from the top row yelled out angrily.
Suddenly, realization dawned on Lucas; it was his phone that was causing the disruption this time. "Shit!" he mumbled as he reached into his pocket and pulled it out to see a number that he didn't recognize.
Brooke kinked her eyebrow as she watched Lucas trying to decide if he should answer it or not. "So I'm not allowed to text but you can leave your phone on?"
Lucas ignored her as he flipped the phone opened and whispered into it. "Hello?"
"Lucas?"
"Nathan, hi, can I call you back? This is kind of a bad time-"
"Uh no, you can't call me back. I don't have my phone with me. We're at the hospital."
"You're where?" he all but yelled in disbelief. "Hold on." He grabbed Brooke's hand and they climbed over the row of unhappy movie-goers as they made their way to the exit. Brooke could have sworn she heard someone yell "don't come back" just as they exited the theater, but she couldn't be sure.
"Nathan, ok, so where are you?"
"At the hospital," he answered.
"Why?" Lucas gasped. Hospitals were not a good place to be unexpectedly.
"Where are they?" Brooke whispered beside him.
"The hospital," Lucas relayed as he watched Brooke's mouth drop open in shock. Before he could say anything, she had ripped the phone away from him and was holding it up to her own ear.
"What happened? Did you get in an accident? I told Lucas that something was wrong! Oh my God, are you both ok? I-"
"Brooke, calm down, we're both fine. Haley just had the baby."
"What?!" she shrieked, causing all of the people in line for snacks to jump and then stare unappreciatively. "But she's not due for over a month!"
Lucas's head shot up when he heard Brooke's proclamation. "What's wrong with the baby?" he asked quickly.
"Haley just had the baby!" Brooke answered him hysterically. Lucas's eyes widened as she spoke into the phone again. "Is he ok? I mean, he's so early-"
"He seems to be fine," Nathan responded, cutting off her rant. "The doctors are looking at him now to make sure he's ok."
"That's good," Brooke let out a deep breath followed by Lucas doing the same thing. "Why didn't you call us? I wanted to be there!"
"It all happened really fast, Brooke." Nathan's voice was starting to show the fatigue that he felt and she noticed. "I'll explain when you guys get here."
"Ok, we'll be there as soon as we can," Brooke assured him. "Do you need us to bring anything? Does Haley have her things with her?"
"No, she doesn't, but don't go get anything from the condo."
"Why?" her puzzled voice was enough to make Lucas curious too and he leaned in closer to try and hear Nathan's response.
"I'll explain when you get here," he sighed. "Can you do me a favor though?"
"Sure," she replied dutifully. Her mind was still spinning from the fact that her best friend just had baby so she hoped that whatever he was about to ask didn't require a lot of thought.
"Can you call Peyton and tell her?"
"Yeah, I can do that," she nodded, forgetting that he couldn't see the gesture.
"Thanks."
"We'll see you soon," she promised as she looked at Lucas before closing the phone.
"Ok, Brooke, Lucas, Peyton, your parents, and my mom are all on their way," Nathan said as he walked back into the hospital room where Haley was waiting patiently in the bed.
"Thank you," she smiled.
"For what?" he chuckled as he leaned forward to kiss her forehead.
She only shrugged and smiled. She knew that there were so many things that should be on her mind, such as the inevitable questioning by the police, but she could only think about the tiny blue-eyed boy that was her son.
"Knock knock," a young nurse called softly as she entered the room pushing a generic hospital baby bed. "The doctor will be in in a few minutes to discuss the results of the tests they ran," she smiled softly as she wheeled the bed over to Haley's bed side and then gently lifted a content baby into Haley's arms.
"Thanks," Nathan smiled as he stared at his son. The nurse smiled and then left the young couple in the room alone as they waited for the doctor. "Hey there James."
"Do you want to hold him?" Haley asked suddenly as she cradled the small boy in her arms.
"What? No, I don't think that's a good idea," he stuttered as he looked from James's peaceful face to Haley's curious one.
"Why not?" she giggled.
"Because… I don't know… I've never really held a baby, especially not one as small as him…I might break him," he admitted sheepishly as Haley laughed.
"Nathan Scott, you make no sense sometimes," she chuckled softly. "You're not going to break him. Come over here."
Nathan did as he was commanded and pulled a chair up right next to her. He watched nervously as she carefully handed the precious bundle off to him. Making sure he supported his head, he brought the baby close to his body and held him. "Wow, so this is what 5 pounds 4 ounces feels like," he smiled as he relished in the feel of the warm body in his arms.
Haley giggled when she saw Nathan's panicked eyes as he watched James squirm slightly before settling down. "You're good with him," she encouraged warmly.
He smiled at her before looking down at the perfect face of his baby. "I think he likes me."
"Of course he does, you're his daddy," Haley grinned before looking up just in time to see the doctor walk in.
"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Scott, I'm Dr. Masen, I performed the tests on your son," the grey haired man announced gently as he pulled a chair up next to Nathan. Both Nathan and Haley looked at him anxiously, waiting to find out what the results were.
"As you both know, James here was born about six and a half weeks early and sometimes complications can arise in a child born premature like that. Miraculously though, all of his organs seem to be fully developed and we see no indication that any problems will arise in the future."
As soon as the words were said, the relief washed over both Nathan and Haley as they looked from their son to the doctor with grateful smiles.
"We're going to want to keep him here a little longer than normal for observation of course, but other than that you should be able to treat him as any normal baby," Dr. Masen smiled. He loved giving couples the news that their baby was perfectly healthy; it was one of the most rewarding aspects of the job.
They talked to the doctor for a few more minutes before he decided that he would leave them alone with their son. "Thank you so much, Doctor," Haley said, the relief and joy still evident in her voice.
"You take care now, James," the doctor smiled down at the baby before exiting. As if recognizing his name, James opened his blue eyes and started to wiggle a little uncomfortably.
Nathan automatically shifted him ever so slightly so he would be able to rest more easily in the crook of his arm as Haley reached over to softly run her hand down the baby's delicate face. Before long, he was asleep again.