Haley's eyes opened and she jumped, completely unaware of her surroundings. It all felt so unfamiliar then the horrific memories of the night before began flooding back. Ricky, running away, ending up at Nathan's, having to tell him the whole story, then having to repeat it again after he had called the police. The minute she showed him the marks and relived the terror with him, he had become enraged. A gentleman and always fiercely protective of his friends, he was determined that a middle aged, drunk piece of garbage was not going to get away with the beating and attempted rape of an innocent young woman. Not only had he alerted the cops, he had stayed with her during the questioning and accompanied her to the sheriff's office for further inquisition. Then he had insisted that she stay in one of the spare bedrooms at his place. Too worn out to protest and not having too many more appealing options, she had simply complied. When she finally did wake up, he was out in the yard washing his Mustang and playing fetch with the dogs.

"Hi", she said through the door.

"Hey", he smiled as he headed inside. "You're up. Want something to eat?"

She didn't want to push for too much and he had already been so sweet to her.

"No, thank you."

"Come on. You have to eat. Pancakes, bacon, eggs, cereal, what? I'm not much of a cook but whatever you want is yours."

"I'm not hungry", she said, just as her stomach growled.

"You could have fooled me", he smiled. "Come on. I'm gonna fix myself some French toast, scrambled eggs and a juice. I'll make enough for both of us."

She smiled as Nathan went about preparing something for them to eat.

"The sheriff called while you were sleeping. They arrested Ricky. They're gonna hold him for 48 hours until you decide to press charges."

"I don't know...I don't think I can."

"Yes you can. You can do anything. And you have to, Hales. That monster deserves to be behind bars, not roaming the streets. God, every time I think about what he did to you..."

"I'm scared, Nathan", Haley volunteered truthfully. "I am scared and I'm embarrassed. Jesus, I don't even know how I let my life get like this. Now all this mess has happened and the whole town is gonna know if they don't already."

"It's not like that. It doesn't have to be that way."

"Yes, it is. You don't understand. You're one of the lucky ones, Nate, because you got out. You made something of your life. You're famous and you make a decent living...you built this house and you just have everything. A great career, great friends, fans..."

"And you can have the same. Maybe basketball isn't your dream but you can do other stuff. What about college? You were so smart in high school. Hell, if it hadn't been for your tutoring, my dumb ass would have been kicked off the team. There are plenty of things you could do."

"I wasn't smart enough", she said with a huge sigh. "I only received a partial scholarship to UNC and that wasn't enough. We just didn't have the money. Everything went to hell when Dad left and Mama started drinking. You know something, when I was little, I used to look at her and think that as much as I loved her, I never ever wanted to be like her. Even before she started drinking. She's 47 years old and drinks from sun up to sun down and stops only occasionally to do drugs or hang out with the low lives she chooses to shack up with. The sad part is that she's content to do that and be that way. I hate her for it, Nathan. Sometimes I really hate her. I feel like she ruined my life, too."

"But you have a chance..."

"What chance? Look at me."

"I am looking at you. I see a beautiful, intelligent, kind, wonderful girl who doesn't even realize her own power. God, Hales, you are so much more than you give yourself credit for."

Haley blushed and fought back tears. It was surreal to hear Nathan Scott, the love of her life since forever, utter such nice words with a real sense of sincerity. He said she was beautiful.

"Thank you", she said. "Nathan, thanks for everything. There is no way I could ever repay you for all the kindness. You've done so much in the last 12 hours but I have to leave."

"Where will you go?"

"I don't know..."

"You can't go back home."

"I don't have anywhere else to go", she muttered softly.

"Yes you do. Don't ever feel hopeless like that. I want to help you, Hales if you'll let me. You can stay here", Nathan offered before he even realized what he was saying.

"What? You don't mean that. I couldn't..."

"Yes, you can just until stuff blows over and we figure something else out. I'm going back on the road the day after tomorrow but you can just hang out here. You'll be safe and I trust you."

"Nathan..."

"No buts. It's okay. You can trust me, Haley."

And the scary thing for her was that she did.