Disclaimer: SC1.
Feedback: Still out of catchy phrases... please?
AN: OMG! GUYS I AM SO SORRY FOR THE DELAY! I REALLY AM! My computer at home had the Sasser Worn and it's been a pain in the ass to get rid of. And my computer at school has a new filter on it and it won't let me upload anything unless I've got the administrative code... which I don't. SO I AM SO, SO, SO, SORRY!
AN2: Sorry about the bad ending. It didn't upload the entire thing and I just now realized it.
"Nathan, you've met... um, baby Nate," Haley stuttered. "Your son."
"My son?" Nathan repeated. "Oh shit."
"Nathan, I know this is hard," Haley started.
"This- is this why you left?" Nathan asked, sinking into a chair in the living room. "Because you were pregnant?"
"Ye- yes," Haley nodded painfully.
Nathan jumped up off the seat; his eyes furious. "You left because you were pregnant with my child and you couldn't even tell me! My God."
"I got scared!" Haley yelled. "I didn't know what to do. Lucas found out and-."
"You knew?" Nathan rounded on Lucas. "You knew and you didn't tell me?"
"Haley told me she wasn't going to keep him!" Lucas blurted out.
"Lucas!" Haley cried.
"What?" Nathan shouted, turning back to Haley. "No, know what? I'm going to ask this one last time. What the hell is happening here?"
"Just before graduation, I walked in on Haley in her kitchen," Lucas began. "She was staring at the pregnancy test... and it was positive."
"I was scared Nathan," Haley admitted. "All I could think about was how... how Dan had left Lucas and screwed you over so badly. I was afraid to tell you because-."
"Because you thought I'd do the same thing," Nathan sighed, sitting down and hiding his face in his hands.
"I didn't really believe you would," Haley insisted. "But I didn't want to find out in case... you would. Nathan I am-."
"Do NOT say you're sorry!" Nathan shouted, jumping back up. Haley gasped when she saw the tears running freely down his face. "Don't you DARE say you're sorry!"
"Nathan, I know you're hurting," Lucas whispered.
"And you don't talk to me!" Nathan directed forcefully towards Lucas. "Say one more word to me and find out how much I'm hurting."
"Nathan," Haley said with a slight warning in her voice.
"You- you weren't going to keep him?" Nathan asked.
"That was my first thought," Haley nodded.
"Shit!" Nathan screamed. "Haley, you have no idea what you've done!"
"I just didn't-."
"I promised myself a long time ago that I wouldn't make the same choices my father did!" Nathan shouted as the tears flowed freely down his face. "That I would not ABANDON a child if that circumstance came; that I would not become what he was. Well, congratulations Haley. You did that for me!"
"Nathan!" Haley was crying also by this point as Nathan headed for the door. "Please."
"Remember when I told you that life's a bitch?" Nathan asked, pausing at the doorway without looking back at her. "I've never said anything more true."
Haley watched as Nathan ran out the door and into the street.
Nathan heard a car horn honk, but he continued to walk, suspecting that it was Lucas following him. He heard the car pull up and drive slowly next to him, but he ignored it and stared at the ground.
"Get in," he heard Brooke's voice say.
"Brooke," Nathan looked at her.
"Get in the damned car Nathan," Brooke repeated.
"I'm not going back right now," Nathan replied.
"But you will?" Brooke asked.
Nathan scoffed and replied, "Of course. I'm not that much of an ass."
"Good," Brooke smiled. "Not get in the freaking car!"
"Why?" Nathan asked.
"I'm taking you to see your son," Brooke said as Nathan climbed in.
"I screwed up, Luke," Haley cried into his shoulder.
"Haley, you were scared," Lucas tried to comfort his best friend. "He just... overreacted."
"Oh no," Haley disagreed. "If anything, I'd say he under-reacted. It's true. I turned him into his father. I did this to him."
"Haley, what happened?" Lucas asked. "You said you were going to get rid of the baby and come back."
"I couldn't!" Haley started fidgeting with her hair. "I was sitting there in the clinic and- I just couldn't do it! I knew I had lost Nathan just by leaving him the way I did. I didn't- I couldn't lose that little bit I had left. And Luke, oh Nate's just like Nathan. He's smart, he's funny, and he's sweet. He loves basketball. You know the ball that the team gave Nathan after the championships senior year? Nate takes it down when he thinks I'm not looking and tries to play with it. It's too big for him, but he loves it. And Nate looks more like father every day! They look exactly alike."
"He sounds like a great kid," Lucas smiled.
"He is!" Haley laughed. "Oh, and I love him! For ages I've wanted to find Nathan and tell him to come see his son but..."
"But what?" Lucas prompted.
"I never wanted him to see me like this!" Haley sobbed.
"Like what?" Lucas asked, confused.
"This!" Haley exclaimed. "He- he's playing college ball and is about to be signed to the best team on the east coast! And I'm- I'm just a waitress at a bar that has to have help from her friends just pay the water bill every month."
"Haley," Lucas hugged her close. "He wouldn't have cared. He loves you so much. Last night, he won the finals for our team with a three pointer at the buzzer. He should have felt amazing. But he didn't because last night marked another night you weren't there, and it was the night you had disappeared without a word. He's practically put his life on hold because of that."
"You're telling me I broke his heart," Haley stated.
"Yes," Lucas nodded. "I'm sorry, but you did. And you broke yours in the process."
There's about 3 or 4 chapters left.
AGAIN: I'm so sorry about the delay. Good news is, this is all written out and I'll update again this week... most probably.
I write, you read, you review, I write more.