AUTHOR'S NOTE: Insert standard apology regarding the length of time to update here. If anyone is still reading this story, this chapter picks up directly from the last one.

"I can't believe you didn't know!"

"Seriously, Nathan? I know it's been 10 years but it's not like I became some basketball guru in that time."

"I guess you're right... ten minutes ago you did just ask me if I moved back here to play for Tree Hill... in the NBA."

"How was I supposed to know that Tree Hill doesn't have its own team! I thought we were like, really good at basketball." Haley's voice rose in pitch as she laughed, defensively.

"Haley!" Nathan was laughing, too, and it felt so good to be teasing her, laughing together. "North Carolina just has the one NBA team, the Hornets; they're based in Charlotte." He shook his head in amazement. "Seriously, you hadn't heard? There was a time where even I couldn't escape myself... I used to get paps following me around everywhere and US Weekly were always printing shit about me. I've made 8 covers of Sports Illustrated in 5 years..."

"Oh, yeah, sorry..." Haley nodded knowingly, her smile still stretching across her face. "The mailman keeps losing my subscription to Sports Illustrated. That's why I didn't know."

"Yeah, yeah, okay..." Nathan laughed again. "You know absolutely nothing about sports, including my career-ending knee injury. Got it."

"What can I say?" Haley spread her hands wide. "I'm a nerd and I'm proud of it. Were you really expecting anything else?"

"Honestly? I wasn't expecting to see you at all." Nathan admitted quietly, as the somber tone settled around them like a soft blanket.

It was surreal; 24 hours ago, Nathan hadn't heard Haley's name mentioned to him in a decade. Since then, he discovered his best friend was living with her sister, he'd tried to talk to her, only to be shut down before he could even open his mouth properly, and then this morning she appeared again, like a mirage in the heat of the River Court, wanting to hear him out. Forgiving him. Agreeing to be friends.

They had continued to sit side by side facing the river, talking. Haley had asked him why he had moved to Tree Hill to become a sports agent and Nathan couldn't help but be surprised at how little she knew about his life. While he understood and took full responsibility for his asshole behavior, knowing that she wasn't exactly going to be following his career after he broke her heart, it was still surprising that she still thought he was playing professional basketball; as he had just pointed out, his rise and fall from superstardom on the court was hardly a national secret.

What surprised him more, however, was how easily and comfortably they had fallen in to their conversation. Haley had sat listening, her earth brown eyes trained on him, nodding quietly as he told her what had sat heavily in his chest for the last couple of years: how it had felt to lose his father and the game at the same time, the spiral of drinking and depression he fell into that Clay and Lucas had finally been able to pull him out of, how nervous he was to start a new career, finishing off the last of his college credits in his late-20's. It was a heavy monologue, one that Nathan had only really voiced to a professional therapist before, but he could feel the weight of Haley's support and lack of judgement in her gaze, just like he used to back in high school.

"You should be really proud of yourself, Nathan."

There was a swoop low in his stomach, as if he'd missed a step on a staircase. Haley's soft tone matched his and there was something about the serious turn in their conversation that had his heart beating faster. He picked at the sharp grooves that edged around his bottle cap, waiting.

"You wanted to play in the NBA since you were four years old and you sacrificed so much, put up with so much to focus on that dream and make it a reality. It was all you've ever known and wanted and now, through no fault of your own, you've lost it. On top of that, your father dies and basketball was really only the ever thing you shared. But look at you now, Nathan... returning to your hometown where you don't exactly have pleasant memories, finding a new career path and working towards that. You're totally rebuilding who you are. That takes a bravery and a strength that most people don't have."

Nathan squirmed under Haley's attention, her words seeping through his body like hot cocoa on a snow day, warming him from the inside out. Even with his eyes fixated on his now-warm water bottle, he knew she was looking at him. He could close his eyes and picture the exact expression on her face - the same one she always wore ten years ago, a mixture of pride and strength that showed how much she believed in him and cheered him on. It wasn't as if he didn't have support in his life, but over the last decade no one ever praised him for anything so inherent; sportscasters and coaches would talk up his stats and his form, tabloids would talk about his body and icy blue eyes, but no one looked into his head and found the qualities he so desperately and secretly wanted to be, the way Haley had... and was doing right now.

"You haven't changed at all," he laughed nervously, trying to think too much about how her words affected him. He looked up to see the look on her face was identical to what he had imagined. "You were always so fast to forgive people and see the good in even the worst of us, and you always believed I was a better man than I was."

Shrugging, Haley smiled. "Maybe I haven't, but you haven't either." At Nathan's raised eyebrows, she replied, "You never gave yourself enough credit, or saw how strong you really are. You always thought you had your talent because Dan worked your ass to the bone, but looks like you're doing pretty darn well without him, Scott."

Friends. They were going to try and be friends. He had a real chance with his online relationship with Halo23 - pulling his ex-girlfriend into his chest, holding her tightly and molding his lips to hers had no place in his plans... even if it was all his brain could think about. How had this happened? He couldn't believe this woman still existed: the woman who had borne the worst of all of his faults and behaviors but still sat beside him, listening and forgiving.

"You know, you're not the only one who has been clueless as to what the other has been doing for the last ten years, Hales," Nathan pointed out, desperate to change the subject. "I don't know anything about your life, Hales. What did you do after Stanford?"

A soft smile played on Haley's lips and Nathan couldn't stop his eyes from following the plump curve. "I taught for a bit in Palo Alto, but the West Coast wasn't for me. Tree Hill is always going to be home. I'm actually teaching at THH, now."

"No way," Nathan laughed. "Wow... what's that like?"

"Weird! Principal Turner is still there, and remember Ms Campion, the French teacher?"

"Oh God," Nathan tipped his head towards the sky. "That old bat. Don't tell me she's still alive?"

"And kicking," Haley grinned. "She hadn't forgotten that I hadn't been able to get you to pass French. She thought I was a useless tutor and I'd be an even worse teacher."

"But you don't even teach French! And hey, I wasn't that bad. French was the only subject I didn't pass."

"Because you kept renting the movies!"

The pair started laughing again and the words slipped out of Nathan's mouth without a second thought. "What about your husband? Does he like Tree Hill?"

"What?!" Haley's eyes bugged out comically as she gaped at him. Nathan frowned.

"What, what?"

"My husband? Why do you think I'm married?"

Nathan shrugged, confused. "Because... wasn't that the plan? Get married and start having kids young? I remember you telling me in one of our tutoring sessions how you wanted a big family like yours but you didn't want to be too old and popping out baby number seven..."

"I can't believe you remembered that," Haley shook her head, incredulously. "We weren't even dating then... trust you to remember stuff like that and yet never remember French conjugations."

Nathan shrugged again, embarrassed. He had no idea how those little nuggets of memories slipped out so easily after being dormant for a decade. "So..." He trailed off, unsure as to why he had a perverse need to push the subject. Friends. They were going to be friends.

"I'm not married, Nathan."

"Oh... well... then your boyfriend is an idiot. What's he waiting for?" Even Nathan, with his unstable family life and history of commitment issues knew that if you found someone like Haley James, you put a ring on her. Surely people with far more common sense than he ever had would know that, too?

"I don't have a boyfriend. I don't have a boyfriend and I don't have a husband. It's not as if that's so strange, I mean I'm only 28. Plenty of people these days don't get married until well into their 30's and it's not like there's anything wrong with me. I'm a perfectly good catch, I just want to be picky. I just think..."

Nathan's brain clunked loudly to a stop as Haley continued to ramble beside him. Granted, he hadn't allowed himself to think about Haley at all since he forced himself to leave her behind when he left Tree Hill, but he knew as intrinsically as he knew the sky was blue that Haley would be married by now. There wasn't another option to entertain. She would have found herself a man with a good, stable job who adored her and worshiped the ground she walked on. He would be ridiculously smart and they would sit together talking about books Nathan had never heard of and doing things that he had never done like Sudoku or play chess. That man would be fiercely protective over her, but he'd never resort to violence or petty jealousy when other men inevitably admired her natural beauty and sweeping curves. He would have been brought up in a loving home with two parents... Hearing Haley contradict what he believed was true was too difficult and confusing to comprehend.

"You're right, you're absolutely right," Nathan interrupted with a nod. "You should be picky. You deserve to be, there are some guys out there that don't have a clue about how to treat women, or what to do when their girlfriend is smarter and more successful than they are. Why settle for someone just because you thought you'd be in a different stage of life by now? It makes no sense. You'll be happier having everything you dreamed of having if you're with the right person, even if it is a bit later in life."

Haley regarded him with raised eyebrows. "You've gotten wise in your old age, Nathan Scott."

Nathan gave her a casual shrug. "If you've had as much therapy as I've had, you're bound to pick something up."

"You've been going to therapy?"

The concern in Haley's voice made Nathan's chest constrict. No doubt she was remembering the awful sessions he was forced to go to with his parents in his junior year, Dan full of condescending and derisive comments, Deb pleading with him to listen and Nathan slouched between the two trying to block the whole experience out. He'd hated it and he could see why Haley was surprised he'd given it another chance in adulthood.

"Yeah... Clay sort of forced me to. Luke as well... after Dan and my knee, they thought..." Nathan trailed off, not wanting Haley to know about how broken he'd been and how he'd treated her best friend and his brother. "Well, I wasn't a good guy for awhile and I needed some help getting there."

"You've never been your father, Nathan."

Haley's voice was soft, but he heard her clearly. Much to his embarrassment, he felt his eyes heat with unshed tears. While it was fairly obvious that Dan Scott had never been a role model for his son, hearing Haley reassure him of his deepest fears was a lot to handle - especially after he'd just told her that Dan was the biggest reason behind their breakup. The woman beside him continued to astound him.

"So... what about you, Mr NBA-Superstar?" Haley's light, joking tone softened the tension Nathan could feel in his body. "Have you settled down yet?"

Was he imagining the nervous energy in Haley's voice? If so, why? Did he want her to care about his answer? At this point, his head was turned so far upside down that he didn't even know.

"I'm ... taking it slow..." he admitted, finding his bottle cap fascinating again. "I don't want to be the guy I've been and I don't want the women that wanted him... there's someone in my life who deserves the very best version of me, I'm just... taking it slow, so I don't ruin it" he repeated.

The truth was, discovering Halo23 had terrified him. The connection between them was natural, it was fun but it was meaningful, too. He had meant every word he'd sent to her the night before - about being a better man, about wanting to be in her life - but finding someone like her online was scary as hell. As much as he loved the opportunity for them to get to know each other, he knew everything would change once she discovered he was Nathan Scott, there was no avoiding that. He wanted to put off that moment for as long as possible. He wasn't sure if he could stand it if they met and she turned out to be just like the other shallow, vapid, money-and-fame-seeking women who'd swarmed around him like flies. The more he talked to her, the more he trusted that she wasn't, but trust wasn't something that Nathan gave out very often.

Haley nodded with understanding. "Yeah, I can understand that. I..."

"Hey, there you are," a voice interrupted them, so unexpectedly that both Nathan and Haley jumped before turning to see Clay strolling towards them, hands in his pockets. "So, this is the famous Rivercourt, huh? It's no Madison Square Garden, but it's nice. Quaint."

"Hey," Nathan's voice scratched out, and he couldn't help feeling disappointed. The last hour or so had felt like a warm, heavy blanket wrapped around his shoulders, his best friend whipping it away to expose the real world around him.

Clay nodded back. "Hey, Haley."

Nathan noticed that Haley's replying smile didn't reach her eyes and his heart dropped further as she abruptly stood from where they had been sitting together on the bench. "Hi Clay."

"I was looking for you everywhere; Quinn said I might find you here."

Not knowing what to say, Nathan simply shrugged. He didn't want to tell Clay - or Haley for that matter - that he'd come to his old haunt in order to clear his head after seeing his ex-girlfriend and opening up his heart to the girl he'd been chatting to online. Focusing on the rhythmic bouncing and swooshing had always been Nathan's favorite form of therapy.

"Gosh, look at the time," Haley spoke up. "I didn't realize I'd been here for so long, I was meant to catch up with Quinn... Bye, guys."

With a quick wave, Haley turned and was heading back to the car park before either man could say goodbye. Nathan stared after her, wishing he could read minds. Was she embarrassed at being caught talking to him? Did she really mean it when she said they could be friends?

"So, that's Haley, huh?"

"Yeah."

"She's cute, man. Really pretty. But, she's related to Quinn so that was going to be obvious... just not your usual type."

Nathan didn't bother replying, bouncing the basketball in his hand against the hot concrete court instead. Clay didn't need to know that Nathan's "usual type" had never been his type at all. The fake, stick-figure women whose legs opened as easily as their eyes had merely been a decade-long distraction, the easy option. Something about Clay's tone told Nathan that his former agent already knew that, but it was the presence of a certain beauty that had piqued his curiosity. Nathan had never mentioned Haley before and he knew how much Clay hated to be left in the dark about things relating to his personal life; it was a hangover from when Nathan was his client.

"So, uh... I was hoping you could help me out with something..." Clay spoke up again.

"Yeah? What's that?"

"I'm meeting Quinn's parents for the first time tonight. Think you can give me some pointers? What are they like, man?"

An image of Lydia and Jimmy James popped into Nathan's head and he laughed. "Seriously? You have nothing to worry about, Clay."

"Yeah, Quinn said that, too, but... you've obviously met them, right? You've been the boyfriend of one of their daughters. Help me out here, Nate."

Nathan rolled his eyes. "That was ten years ago, man. Anyway, Lydia will probably flirt with you and Jimmy will try and play the tough dad but he's all jokes. They're pussycats, really."

"Hey, why don't you come tonight? It's just going to be the four of us for dinner, and last night was practically the first time you left your house since you moved here." Nathan scoffed at the suggestion, throwing up a shot at the basket as Clay continued. "Seriously, Nate, come."

"Yeah, because spending an evening with three people that probably hate me is such a great idea," Nathan rolled his eyes once more, moving to grab the ball as it swooshed through the hoop. "For you, they'll be pussycats, but for me? You saw Quinn last night, Clay... I don't feel like going into the lions' den."

"Hmm... good point. I wonder if there's a way to somehow omit the fact that I know you? I don't want the James' to think you might have rubbed off on me."

It was a testament to their friendship that Nathan knew Clay was joking.

"Please just tell me you're not going to sit at home all night and watch Shrek 2 again? Because then I really don't want to know you."

"Hey," Nathan protested. "I like Shrek 2."

It was Clay's turn to roll his eyes as he grabbed the ball off Nathan and threw it at the hoop. It bounced off the rim and onto the concrete. Nathan chuckled as he retrieved it.

"At least you still have your looks, otherwise I'm not sure how you ever expect to find someone to settle down with. Shrek 2," Clay muttered to himself as he turned to leave. "So lame, Nate. No one likes sequels."

Nathan laughed and waved his friend off. Once the squeal of Clay's tires faded into the distance, he jogged over to his own car and pulled his cellphone out.

Hey you, he typed. How's your day going? Working hard or hardly working?

It didn't take too long for the screen to show him that Halo23 was typing. He hadn't really messaged her during the day before and he grinned to himself at the fact that she was replying straight away.

OMG, Shrek 2! I love that movie!

Nathan's grin got wider. His nerves and confusion after spending so much time with Haley faded away. He might be able to have it all - a friendship with his ex-girlfriend and a relationship with an incredible woman that he was growing closer to every day.