Author's note: Yes, I'm alive! I really am sorry for the massive break with this story. I won't bore you with details and my excuses aren't that great, anyway. I do just want to say thank you for still being here and reading and for being interested in this even though it's taken months for me to update.

There are just a couple of things I wanted to mention before we get on with chapter 8... firstly, I feel seriously rusty and I overthink EVERYTHING, so this chapter isn't my best. I really want to move the plot forward with the Halo23/Devil12 relationship online and Naley finding their footing with each other in the present day. The story isn't about why Nathan broke up with Haley ten years ago, but in order to move things along, she needs to hear what he has to say and she also has to forgive him so she can move on (sorry to the reviewer who was pretty adamant that Haley shouldn't forgive Nathan - this is a Naley story and for them to get a happy ending, she has to forgive him at some point!) I don't think I've done a good job with this but hopefully things will lighten up soon. All going to plan, the next chapter won't be so deep or complicated.

Thanks again for the amazing support!

Cape Fear River spun and danced beneath an unblemished blue sky, the bright sunlight scattering diamonds across its deep blue surface. It was the sort of image that graced most of the postcards for sale in the Tree Hill Visitors Center, but today Haley was oblivious to its beauty as she pulled into a small carpark by Battleship Park. The carpark itself was a recent installation, along with the rows of picnic tables that dotted the surrounding park area, in order to encourage more visitors, but Haley had no idea if it had been successful or not; she'd had no intention of coming back, quite happy to leave the memories from her late high school days on the other side of the river from downtown Tree Hill.

Today, however, she sat in her small Honda Civic, gathering the strength to step out and onto the worn concrete court a few yards away. Her phone display was lit up as she re-read the messages Devil12 had sent the previous night. Her new online friend had given her some much-needed courage to open a door of memories and emotions that she had tried very hard to keep locked for ten years. She wanted to talk to Nathan about as much as she wanted to give herself a Brazilian wax, but the stubborn side of her wanted to prove Brooke, and the little voice Brooke had set off in her own head, wrong - she was over Nathan, she wasn't deliberately dating guys that were all wrong for her and her life could continue in the perfectly normal way it had been before he moved back into town.

As she finally got out of her car, shutting the door and locking it with a small beep, a black Range Rover parked by the edge of the grass caught her eye and reminded her of Devil12 and the comment he'd made about her preferred first date. She smiled internally at the extra boost seeing the popular car gave her. It was amazing how much courage the anonymous man she'd started chatting to gave her, but she was grateful for it.

The sound of rubber reverberating off the hot concrete court grew louder and the lone figure grew larger as Haley forced one foot in front of the other. She watched, as she had done countless of times a decade earlier, as a bright orange ball flew through the air and swooshed down through a tattered net. The figure watched, too, arms outstretched and wrists bent, before giving a small, grim nod and stepping forward to retrieve the ball.

Haley was so caught up in watching the tall body reach down towards the ball, black basketball shorts clinging determinedly to a firm, rounded ass, that her reactions were delayed as the deep, confused voice reached her ears.

"Haley? What are you doing here?"

Her reply took even longer to reach her mouth from her brain as Nathan walked towards her, lifting the hem of the red sleeveless top he was wearing up to wipe the sweat off his face. The action revealed deeply carved muscles that disappeared into the low waistband of his shorts, and Haley was so flustered by the brief glimpse of dark hair that trailed down from his navel - hair that certainly hadn't existed during his teenage years - she couldn't fully confirm whether it was six or eight chunks of muscle that made up his abdomen before his top dropped down again, quickly snapping Haley's attention back as it covered his body from view.

"Haley?"

Damn Nathan Scott, moving back to Tree Hill with his muscular body and fine ass, Haley fumed inwardly, scolding herself for allowing herself to get distracted once again by his physical appearance.

"Yesterday. You wanted to talk." Her voice was ruder than she intended it to be and she cleared her throat, softly. "I've had some time to think about it and I was wrong to shut you off. We both live here, we're both still friends with the same people; we should be able talk to each other."

Nathan's brilliant blue eyes narrowed as he watched her. "You want to talk now?"

Haley shrugged, trying to act nonchalant. "It doesn't change anything about the past, but if you've got something to say then I'm here. I'll listen."

She wasn't sure what she was expecting, but a nod from Nathan as he wordlessly led them to the small, rickety bleachers on the other side of the court gave her a sense of control over the situation. She was doing him a favor by hearing him out; he didn't need to know what caused her to have a change of heart.

They faced the river as it continued to show off in front of them. Nathan wedged the ball between his feet and took a long sip from his water bottle. Haley settled herself as far as she could comfortably sit away from him, but the heat radiating off his skin filled the inches between their bodies and she was acutely away of his bare arms - the way his biceps bunched as he lifted the bottle to his lips, how the veins along his forearms swelled with the blood flowing through them, how...

"I didn't know Clay was dating your sister until last night," Nathan's voice once again interrupted her internal, lust-filled speculation of his body, and she gave herself a mental slap. It wasn't like her to be ruled by her libido, but the last 24 hours had shaken her. "It took me by surprise and I kinda took it out on her. I owe Quinn an apology."

Before Haley's eyebrows had the chance to rise, Nathan continued. "They're so good together, you know... Clay and Quinn. Clay worships the ground she walks on. I know she's been through a divorce and stuff, but Clay wouldn't hurt her. He's so in love with her. He's a decent guy, Haley. He's kind and he's loyal. He's good for her."

Haley felt like she was taken by surprise even more than she had been last night. Nathan sounded so earnest, so desperate to assure Haley that Quinn was in good hands, that his best friend was worthy of her sister. It was like he knew the concern she felt over the new couple moving so fast, so soon. It belatedly occurred to her that he cared about Clay as much as she cared about Quinn, and that surprised her even more. The Nathan Scott she had known never apologized to anyone, except to her, and didn't care about anyone else's relationship. The man beside her seemed considerably more empathetic than he ever had before.

Realizing that Nathan was waiting for a reply, she nodded. "I know. He seems like a nice guy. They seem happy."

"Yeah, he is. They are." Nathan nodded, too. Haley watched as his fingers toyed with the lid of his water bottle and she realized that he was nervous - another personality trait he'd never exhibited as a teenager. She waited quietly and patiently, the staccato tapping filling the silence between them, until he spoke.

"I knew you applied to go to Duke with me... and I didn't want you to."

Of all the things he could have said to her, nothing could have surprised her more. Haley hadn't told a soul when she sent in her application for Duke University - Nathan had ended their relationship before her acceptance letter had even had a change to arrive. Everything had happened so quickly after that, that she hadn't had the opportunity to tell anyone she'd considered staying in North Carolina for college with the man she loved, and she hadn't breathed a word until much, much later when she'd let it slip to Quinn that she had almost given up her alma mater to be with Nathan.

"I applied for Stanford, Hales," Nathan continued his assault of surprises as Haley's mouth tried and failed to form words. "Dan found out and lost his mind... he spoke to the coach, to the Dean of Admissions... I don't know what went on, but I didn't get in. I mean, I know I probably wouldn't have gotten accepted, you know how bad my grades were, but... they're still a division 1 team and I thought..." Nathan shrugged, helplessly. "I thought there could be a way for us to stay together and you not give up your dream school."

Haley stared at him, as if he had suddenly grown a second head, unable to believe the words coming out of his mouth. She couldn't tear her eyes away from him as he continued to speak.

"Dan... He's a powerful man... was a powerful man. He found out that you had applied to Duke... Haley I swear, I wish things could have been different, but I was scared he'd do something." Nathan turned to her with pleading eyes. "I knew I could try to live without you, Hales, but I couldn't live with myself if my father had sabotaged your life somehow. He was in my head, saying I'd lose Duke as well if I went there with my girlfriend tagging along, how all he'd need to do is have one little chat with Coach K and I could lose my spot..." Nathan heaved a heavy sigh and dropped his head into his hands, his long fingers tugging at the ends of his dark hair. "It all seems so stupid now, but I believed him, Hales."

Haley turned away to look out over the river, its sparkles fading in comparison to the brightness of Nathan's eyes. She exhaled, her shoulders dropping as her lungs deflated, letting Nathan's words sink in: Dan had known about her applying for Duke, Nathan had applied for Stanford, Dan had gotten into his son's head, his threats and abuse once again proving too hard to fight.

As her astonishment waned, the only emotion Haley felt was indifferent. She'd spent ten years wondering what had gone wrong, why she'd been dumped so unexpectedly and unceremoniously… her friends had danced around her for a decade, trying to separate their relationship with her and theirs with Nathan. So much confusion and secrecy and heartbreak for what now made her feel nothing. Now that she knew, she simply felt resigned towards something she probably knew all along. She turned back to the man beside her, taking in his weary, defeated expression.

"You're right. It does seem so stupid now."

Nathan's eyebrows raised, an unspoken question to her agreement, and she shook her head gently. "Nathan, I waited 10 years to hear an explanation. And now? It's nothing new." Haley shrugged her shoulders. "Dan was always bullying you, threatening you... he was always in your head, trying to convince you that he was in control of your life and it was his way or he was going to make you pay... It didn't need to be such a big secret, Nathan. You could have told me. When did I ever need protecting from Dan?"

The corners of Nathan's mouth turned up in a sad smile. "Never," he admitted. "You were always stronger than me. But I knew it wasn't worth the fight, Hales. I knew once we got to college, if you went to Duke with me, you'd see everything that was out there for you, that the high school basketball star was nothing compared what you deserved. There wasn't any point prolonging it; you always deserved so much more."

"So you're saying that our relationship wasn't worth the fight against Dan?"

"No! I mean..." Nathan shook his head as if to clear it. "I knew you would've dealt with Dan, but at what cost? I would have lost you anyway..."

Whatever Nathan had been about to say got cut off as Haley started laughing. The absurdity of it all cause her shoulders to shake as she threw an amused glance at the sky before turning back to her ex-boyfriend. Nathan's confused face only made her laugh more.

"What's so funny?"

"Nathan, you always had to be the martyr, didn't you?"

Nathan's confused frown deepened. "What do you mean?"

"I loved you, Nathan. And you loved me. We could have made it work together, but you were the one who decided you weren't good enough for my future, you decided what my dreams should be, you decided that I deserved more..." Haley shook her head. All her fear and hesitancy over seeing Nathan, all the anger she'd felt last night seemed redundant now. She didn't feel a thing. "I'm just, I'm just not surprised."

It was true, she reflected. At 18 years old, Nathan fought a head full of battles, but that had never stopped him from adding to them instead of talking them through. The end of their relationship and the direction of their entire lives could have been avoided by a single conversation that Haley could have made so simple, had Nathan had the ability to communicate what was on his mind.

"So you're saying, if I'd told you the truth about Dan, you would have come to Duke with me anyway? And we'd be together now?"

Haley ignored the pang in her chest at his reference to now as she shrugged. "Who knows? That's the point, Nathan – you didn't give me a choice to say what I wanted. You went along with what you thought best, the only answer in your head."

Nathan raked his long fingers through his dark hair, forcing a small laugh, too, once he understood. "I see what you mean. I am sorry, Haley, really." His aquamarine gaze searched hers, eyes his flitting between each chocolate brown orb. "'I've changed a lot over the years… I've had to, but it's only taken until recently, until Dan's death, for me to work out how screwed up I was back then. I've done a lot of growing up since."

"It's not your fault, Nathan," Haley consoled him with a hand on his warm forearm, fighting the reflex to snatch it back at the sensation of warmth that travelled up her arm. He still seemed so sad and vulnerable, and it didn't take a lot for Haley to see the changes in him. Vulnerability was another trait he had never shown as a teenager.

"I mean, it was old Nathan's fault, or young Nathan's…" she shook her head a smile. "It was so long ago. We've all changed so much since then, it just doesn't matter. I'm glad you told me. It was something I should have worked out on my own, but I know now."

Nathan's eyes seemed fixated on her delicate hand. "Do you think we can be friends, Hales? Are we... I mean, can you forgive me?"

He sounded so lost, so defeated, that she wanted to put her arm around his solid frame and reassure him. She wanted to hold him and say there was nothing to forgive, but the heat through her hand, which was still resting on his arm, stopped her from any further physical contact. She gently removed her hand, tucking it between her knees with the other to stop her from mauling him further

"Nathan, there's nothing to forgive. Truly," she insisted, relieved that her words were genuine. "We're not the same people we used to be back then. You were just a kid, thinking you knew everything, fighting with your dad. I'm not mad, Nathan. It's in the past."

"So… friends?"

The look in his powerful blue eyes, so full of hope, when they connected with hers stole her breath away and sent her thoughts scattering. With a deep breath that pushed everything inside her as far down as she could push them, she nodded her head.

She was over him. She was ready to put her heart and her energy towards getting to know Devil12, to having that second strike of lightning. Regardless of their past and how she was reacting to him now, Nathan wasn't going to be a main feature of her future.

"Friends."