Title: Separation anxiety

Name: Joy

Email: Julianna@ziplip.com

Rating: PG 13

2.

Haley's house was dark when he got there but he knew she was home. He could feel her... It was weird but he could. Lucas let himself in and locked the door behind him. He found Haley asleep in front of the fireplace book in hand...The lion, the witch and the wardrobe. Lucas smiled, such a Haley book. He covered her in a blanket and made them some hot chocolate.

Lucas was deeply engrossed in his own novel, when he heard a knock at the door. Through the window he could see it was Nathan. "Haley...Hales..." Lucas whispered softly, touching her shoulder. She lifted her head slightly. "Hey there sleeping beauty."

"Hey. How long have I been asleep?" she mumbled.

"A half an hour since I got here...Look Hales, Nathan is at the door knocking. What do you want me to do? Do you want to talk to him? I can make myself scarce."

"I'm not awake enough to fight with him."

"So you want me to tell him to call or what?" Lucas asked.

Haley yawned and said, "I'm done talking. I want space."

Lucas internally jumped for joy, "Okay Hales."

Lucas rose and went to the door. He opened it slowly and attempted to be as civil as possible for Haley's sake. "Hey man."

Nathan looked tired and taken aback, "Hey...What are you...never mind... I'm assuming Haley's home."

"She is...she's asleep...umm...ya want to leave her a note or something?" Lucas offered.

"Sure, got something to write on and with?"

"Yeah..." Lucas got a tablet and pen. As he came back he noticed Nathan checking out his story but decided not to mention it. "Here." Nathan looked at him and the pad of paper. "Look if it makes you feel better you can watch me wake her up and give it to her."

"Always the knight, huh?" Nathan commented ruefully.

"She's my best friend," Lucas said solemnly.

"And that doesn't change if I'm her boyfriend?" the rich boy asked.

Lucas stared him dead in the face, "You aren't her boyfriend anymore, which you know. But if you make her happy I'll learn to adjust to you as the guy that treats Haley well, rather than the guy that hates my existence." The blonde paused for a moment then regarded his little brother, "The only thing is you don't make her happy. You make her cry and have insomnia. You yell at her in public and grovel back later... If she wants a break than let her have one until you can treat her well."

"Like you?"

"What?" Lucas asked.

"Until I can treat her like you do?" Nathan answered.

"I guess...I treat her like a best friend," Luke tried to qualify.

"Look around you. You are alone in Haley's house."

Lucas stared at his brother, "I have a key."

"Figures," Nathan smirked.

"What does that mean?" the blonde asked.

"That means..." Nathan began with fury and then wore himself out. "I don't know what I mean... I just know you have everything I want and that sucks...I never have had to lack for anything and everything that has been important to me has gone to you and I hate you for it!"

Lucas took a deep...deep breath, "Nathan, go home. There is nothing for you here right now."

As he went to shut the door Nathan stopped it with his foot. "How do you do it, huh? How do you waltz in and take my place on the team, you take away my girl, and you never bow out when I put the nails to you? I humiliate, embarrass, harass, and kidnap you and you still come back. The one thing you had that was yours I took awayÉHaley. And damn if I didn't really start to like her. But now its you in front of the romantic fire with MY girl."

"She's not your girl," Lucas growled.

Nathan wasn't listening, "You have a key...A KEY... Just tell me! What do I have to do to make you go away? How much money can I get daddy to cough up to get you out of my life!"

Lucas was shocked at the venom behind the words. He knew that Nathan hated him in a high school jealousy way but this was practically disdain. "Nathan...this is my life, my world. The only thing I did was join the team... upon request. I'm not dating Peyton. I never went out on a date with Peyton. I was nice to Peyton... something, if you recall you weren't, and you were her boyfriend..." He got a little closer to Nathan, "I don't back down because your father has taken enough from my family and I will not give you anymore. I will not roll over and die because you tell me to. I am a survivor and a survivor raised me. You don't get to have that much power over me... And as for Haley, I can know why you started spending time with her but I can't deny you have feelings for her. It would take some kind of an idiot not to fall in love with her...she's that awesome. But you don't get to hurt her anymore...not when she's told me she doesn't want to talk anymore and not when you're this irrational."

"So you admit it?!" Nathan snapped.

"Admit what?" Lucas asked exasperated.

"Admit that you are in love with Haley."

"What?!"

"You just said it would take some kind of idiot not to fall in love with her...so you are either in love with her or an idiot. Which is it?" Nathan demanded.

Lucas was shocked. He hadn't thought about his words while he was speaking them. He had just said the words...in love.

After too long a pause, "I knew it!" Nathan yelled apparently waking Haley from her slumber.

Haley sleepily stumbled off the couch. "Nathan!" she fussed. "You kept me up all night arguing. I need some sleep. I need a break for the umpteen millionth time. SO just back off!"

"Haley, he's trying to break us up...just like he did with Peyton," Nathan rationalized.

That was when she laughed...really laughed, a heartfelt belly laugh. "Nathan, I broke up with you all on my own," Haley snipped. "Lucas could have pulled a 'if you love me, you'll never see him again' a long time ago and I would have been pissed but I would have agreed. Lucas has always had the ability to break us up if he wanted to. But he loves me and wants what's best for me...he wants me happy. Things you will never understand because the universe revolves around you and your father. Well guess what? Lucas was here before you were here, while you were here, and will be here after youÕre gone. So...get over it." She was in rare form angry and tired. "Now do yourself and the rest of the world a favor and chose to live with your mom. Maybe she can deprogram you enough that the Spawn of Satan will not have successfully created a clone!" And with that Haley stormed into the kitchen.

The Scott brothers were both stunned. "Ah...um...sorry about that. She gets really cranky when she's tired. She really didn't mean the last part," Lucas tried to sooth.

"Why do you care?" Nathan said pissed.

"This is me trying to be nice, okay...Life sucks for you right now and I know it. I'm trying here!" Lucas snapped back. Nathan grit his teeth. "She's right though. You should live with your mom. She's really awesome."

Nathan looked at him queerly, "You...you like my mom?"

"Yeah...I mean what she did for my mom is amazing...I can't ever thank her enough. She is the only one of the five of us that can be on all sides...support all of us."

"She's not supporting dad anymore," Nathan sulked.

Lucas swallowed and took his life in his own hands, "But you'll be free." Nathan stared at him again. "You play because you love it, you have the talent, and its who you are...not because daddy said so, or the scouts, or its what's expected. It becomes yours and not his."

There was a tense moment where there was peace between them. "Don't expect me to be your friend," Nathan commented.

"Oh noÉthat would be too much to ask," Lucas said with a smirk. "We'll work on being tolerable to one another when you and Haley work things out." Nathan laughed at that. "Why is that funny?"

"Lucas, why would she want to wait around for one Scott brother to get his act together, when she already has a Scott who is everything she could want?" Nathan left Lucas stunned in the doorway as he walked away.

Tbc