Chapter Twenty

A/N Wow, those reviews were overwhelming. You guys rock Thanks. I'm so sorry this took so long. The holidays were really hectic. The next part will be up in the next day or so.

Lucas looked at Haley as she sat beside him in the doctor's office. She was trying to be strong but he could tell she was barely hanging on. Her eyes were red and there were dark circles under them She looked like she hadn't slept in twenty-four hours, because she hadn't. He desperately wanted to help her but there was nothing he could do. It was all up to Nathan now.

"Haley James?" The receptionist called out.

"I'm Haley James." She stood up slowly.

"Right this way." She lead Lucas and Haley to a room. "The doctor will be right in."

Haley looked around, it was the same room she and Nathan had been in for their first appointment. This was the room where they'd first seen their baby on the ultrasound, where they'd first heard the heartbeat. She felt her eyes ill up with tears and tried not to think about Nathan.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine. I just wish Nathan were here."

"I know." 'Guess he's not coming,' he thought to himself. 'I really thought he'd be here.'

"It's not too late." He tried to reassure her.

"Don't be stupid Luke. Nathan's gone. He's not coming back. I've accepted it, really." She really wanted to mean it.

"Hello Haley. How are we doing today." The doctor asked cheerfully. She looked at Luke, a confused expression on her face. "I'm sorry, I don't believe we've met."

"I'm Lucas."

"Oh, where's Nathan."

"He couldn't make it today so I said I'm come." Lucas answered,

The doctor looked sceptical but let it slide. "All right then. Haley, take a seat up on the cot here and we'll get started. "How's the morning sickness?"

"Subsiding. I still feel queasy sometimes but ti's not every day anymore."

"Good. You're lucky. With some women it lasts the whole nine months."

"Ugh." Haley groaned.

"You're taking you're vitamins? And eating well?"

"Yes and yes."

"Good. Any concerns you wanted to talk about?"

"No. Things seem to be going pretty well so far."

"Great. I'll do an ultrasound now, see where we're at."

While the doctor was setting up the ultrasound Lucas heard a commotion outside. He strained his ears to hear what was going on.

"But I'm the father! I have to let me in there!" Shouted a familiar voice.

"Someone's in a bad mood." The doctor joked.

"Excuse me a minute." Lucas said and walked out into the waiting room. Sure enough, Nathan was yelling at the receptionist, demanding to be allowed in to see Haley.

"Nathan, Nathan, man calm down."

"Lucas, could you please tell this woman that I'm the father and I need to be in there."

Lucas looked at the receptionist and smiled apologetically. "He is the father. He was running late and wasn't sure he was going to make it. I'm sure he didn't mean to yell at you. Did you?" He elbowed Nathan in the side.

"No. I'm really sorry."

"Apology accepted. Expectant fathers do tend to get a little stressed."

"Exactly. Come on Nathan, I'll take you to Haley.

Lucas lead Nathan to the examination room. The doctor was waiting for Lucas to return before starting the ultrasound.

"Look who I found."

Haley looked up and couldn't believe her eyes. "Nathan? What are you doing here?"

"We have a doctor's appointment don't we?" She looked at him questioningly. "I'll explain everything else later. Lucas, I've got it from here."

"Sure. I'll talk to you later Hales."

"All right. Can I do the ultrasound now or are there more visitors expected?"

"You can start."

Nathan felt his heart skip a beat when he heard their baby's heartbeat fill the room. The image of their baby was more obvious than in the first ultrasound.

"Well this is interesting."

"What is it?" Nathan and Haley said in unison.

"Is something wrong?" Nathan asked, fear evident in his voice.

"No, nothing's wrong. But you're going to be twice as busy. See, that's baby one, and that's baby two."

"Wait a minute, did you say two?"

"Yes, as in twins."

"Wow." Nathan sat back in his chair. "Wow. Did you hear that Hales, we're having twins." He kissed her forehead.

***

A short while later they were in the car driving home. Everything seemed to be back to normal but Haley couldn't simply forget that Nathan had left her.

"Nathan, when were you going to talk about what happened?"

Nathan sighed. He'd known this was coming but he just didn't know what to say. He was so ashamed of what he'd done, it had been so cowardly, so Dan- like. "I know we have to. I'm just afraid you'll hate me."

"Nathan, when I was sitting in my room, alone, holding your note in my hand, I couldn't hate you. I tried but I just don't have it in me to hate you. Please Nathan, I need to know what made you take off like that, and why you came back."

"Okay. I don't want to do this in the car okay. Let's go to the docks."

They drove to the docks and sat down in their usual spot. "Okay Nathan, time's up. Talk."

"Okay. I talked to my father a few days ago. He said some stuff that got to me."

"Like what?"

"Like I was going to be the same kind of father as he was. Then I had a dream where I was exactly like him, yelling at my son . It freaked me out. That's y worst nightmare Hales, that I'm going to make my child as miserable as he made me. So I ran. I told myself I was protecting my child. I swear Haley, it was never about hurting you or not caring about you. I love you and our child more than anything but I got it in my head that I'd only hurt you both if I stuck around."

Haley nodded. "What changed your mind?"

"Lucas. He came and found me at the beach house and told me what an idiot I was being. He told me how much I'd be missing out on if I went through with it. At first, I refused to listen to me but then was sitting on the couch feeling sorry for myself this morning and the sonogram picture fell out of my wallet. It hit me that I didn't want to miss out on fatherhood just because I had a lousy dad so I drove here as fast as I could."

"I'm glad you came."

"You're not mad?"

"Yeah, I'm mad. I'm furious actually because you put me through he** this week. Finding your note was like a bullet through the heart. I didn't want to live, I didn't see a reason why I should. I'm mad that you took off without even talking to me about what was bothering you. If you had we could have worked through it together. That's the thing Nathan, you can't take on everything by yourself; you have to let me in. Because if you can't do that Nathan, you might as well leave."

She was done being upset and sad, now she was furious. "You're not the only one who can walk away Nathan. Now it's my turn."