I don't own anything related to One Tree Hill, but I DO wish I owned two certain brothers. Note: NathanLucasLover-18—I know! I looked back over that chapter and I was like "Wow, that sucked! But I was just trying to deal with some of the nitty-gritty details, and even though I'm not sure what you mean, there's a lot more drama in this chapter.

Haley laid in her bed, a sheet of steadfast tears rolling down her face. If it had been anything else, she probably would've been crying for Nathan, too. It was a habit she had; when something came up, she wouldn't only cry for that tragedy, but she would cry for Nathan, and for her, and how everything had turned out. Since she'd never had the luxurious option of real mourning, this was a nice alternative. Today she wasn't crying for Nathan's death too, though. Today she cried for her son, who was sitting in the hospital of a foreign country with a broken leg, trying to get to know a father who'd never been there for either of them, and today she cried because everything that she'd missed for the past years since her husband had "died" were within her grasp the whole time. There wasn't much else to do but cry it seemed to her. She was in such a state of utter physical and emotional exhaustion that actually getting up and doing something had never occurred to her. She heard a voice, matter-of-fact with the trademark, endearing Scott cockiness woven in say a little too loudly, "I never thought I'd see the day where my best friend in the world, Miss Always Put Together, would actually show a trace of human emotion." She whipped around, and Lucas Scott held out his arms for a hug. Instead, she threw the bottle of lotion on the nightstand at him. "Lucas Scott, you are the most insensitive, rude, uncaring best friend in the entire world!" she screamed and he literally jumped back, dodging as Haley threw everything within reach of her at him. "FIRST you send me off to Italy. As if that isn't enough, I have to meet my husband who's been dead, or who hasn't been dead apparently, for years! Then my son gets a broken leg, and you traipse in here accusing me of not being put together?! Who could be put together in my place?" "Whoa, calm down, Hales. I didn't mean it. I was only trying to lighten up the situation with a joke! Obviously a really bad joke though. You know what? Why don't we start over? I apologize for acting like I've been ejected from a rat's behind, and you give me a hug and then we go over to the hospital to visit Dillon and Nathan." Haley blew out a huge gust of air, obviously irritated. "You know, I didn't want to forgive you. Or Nathan either. Why should I? I have a right to be mad at somebody for the way my life's turned out, don't I? It would be justified if I was to scream at you because you're the person closest in relation to Nathan, right? I'm even justified in hating Nathan, or Eric or whatever, but still loving him a lot, right?" She gave him a pleading look, and Lucas shook his head. "See, Hales, this is where we always run into trouble. I can't talk to you about all that girl PMS stuff, because I'm a guy. Now, if you were willing to just ask for a shoulder to cry on, or beat on or whatever," here the blond grimaced, "That would work. I just can't do this whole loving Nathan thing when I haven't even seen him or talked to him yet." "PMS, huh?" Haley said with a small smile, and Lucas held out his arms again. This time, she gave him the innocent hug he'd been waiting for since he came.

Brooke, Jake, and Peyton all waited in the hospital waiting room until the doctor told them they could take Jenny home. They all helped her out to the car and buckled her in, something she couldn't quite do with her arm. This time they'd thought to get two cabs that could hold them all, something Brooke and Peyton would never forgive themselves for not doing with Dillon. The car ride home was lively as Jenny talked all about how much her arm hurt, but how that was okay because the "Pretty lady in white" had given her endless amounts of popsicles and ice cream and even made sure that they gave her the kind of anesthetics that had anti-nausea doses in them to prevent her from any discomfort. "I liked it a lot in there, but I'm still glad to be back with you and mom," she exclaimed, snuggling up against Jake. "Hey, sweetie, that's pretty cool. I'm glad that it wasn't that bad. Now when we get back home you can have a story to tell you friends that'll get them all wondering around after you, talking about how strong and brave you are." Jenny wrinkled her nose. "The only strong and brave girl in my grade is Shanquilla, and she's the school bully. Everybody hates her." Jake laughed, and soon they pulled up to the hotel.

When they finally got inside, Brooke, Jenny, and Jake got a chance to say hi to Lucas. "Wow, and to think I always thought both the Scott brothers would end up in an alley making drug deals and living in the ghetto by the time they were nineteen," Brooke said sarcastically as she gave Luke a hug. "It's nice to see you too, Brooke. Hey, Jake. Congrats on the wedding you two! I don't think I could've tied the not the early on," Lucas said, shaking Jake's hand. "Oh, well you know me, always exceeding everyone's expectations," Brooke said with a giggle. "Is this really little Jenny? Man, I haven't seen you in years! How are you, sweetie? Besides the broken arm, I mean." They all laughed, and Jenny blushed and leaned up to Brooke, whispering something in her ear. "Yes, he is taken, Jenny. Besides, even if he wasn't I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with the idea of you going after an older man." Everyone laughed as Jenny rolled her eyes in embarrassment. "Hey, guys, Haley left for the hospital a little while ago. I was thinking we could all go over and be there for moral support after we got stuff settled in," Lucas offered. "You know what? That's a good idea," Peyton replied. "We can work out some kind of a shift so that there's always one adult with Nathan and Haley and three of us with Jenny." Brooke nodded enthusiastically, and they soon decided that Lucas would be the first one to visit the hospital. After giving him directions, he was gone. Peyton looked after him a little longer than necessary, and Brooke said jokingly, "Here, I'll get you a napkin to catch some of that drool with." Peyton elbowed her, and the two walked off after Jenny and Jake.

Haley swept into the hospital room, leaning down and kissing Dillon. "Hey, baby, you okay? Mom's been worried about you a lot, you know." "I know. Why wouldn't you be?" Dillon said, and Nathan laughed while Haley rolled her eyes. "Don't encourage him. He'll just start up again and again, talking about what a star he is." "Mom, you're the one who's always saying I'm really special. Why can't I go awound and tell other peopawll?" Nathan really smirked at this comment, and watched Haley stumble over her answer. "If this is so funny, why don't you try taking a stab at it?" Haley said, but for a minute he caught some of her old playfulness instead of the irritation she had towards him constantly right now. "No way am I going to try answering that one, Hales. You dug yourself into this hole, so you might as well dig yourself out of it." "Is that a fact? I'll have you know Nathan Scott that I intend to make sure my son is never as cocky as you are." "Well then, you'll have to protect him from yourself. I mean, obviously if you're too good to even talk to me for real about everything, than you're pretty cocky yourself." She froze after he said this, and looked him straight in the eye. "This is why I wish you hadn't come here, Nathan or Eric or whatever you go by these days. You just can't seem to let things be. Why don't you just leave us all alone? You've already permanently screwed up my life. Why not find some other girl to screw over and then leave once you "die"?" Dillon sat back watching this, his little face becoming more and more troubled. Suddenly Lucas came through the door. He was about to leave when Nathan noticed him. "Hey, man. I haven't seen you in years." "Yeah, it's like you're back from the grave," Lucas pointed out, and the two of them laughed and gave each other a guy hug. "It's been too long, I think, since I've beaten your sorry but in a game of basketball," Lucas said with conviction. "Yeah, that may be the way you remember it, big brother, but I can guarantee you it never went down that way," Nathan replied. The two laughed again, and Lucas made his way over to Dillon. "Hey chomp, what's up?" "Hi Uncle Lucas!" Dillon chirped. "Do ya see my leg? It's hurt really bad. Do you see him? That's my daddy." Dillon pointed straight at Nathan. "You guys are still best friends. I'm happy. That means mommay must like him a lot too?" Lucas glanced from one of them to the other, and replied hesitantly, "You're dad and I will always be best friends, I think. As for your mom, she never could stay mad at either of us." "That's good, 'cause I hate it when people are mad at each other," Dillon said, going to sleep with a smile on his face. It pained Haley to just watch her son, so much like Nathan, that she'd spent what people had told her would be "the best years of her life" raising. They had truly been the best years of her life in some ways, but also the worst, because they'd been spent without her soul mate. Now that he was standing right next to her in the midst of an awkward silence, all she wanted to do was run and hide. Nathan Scott always made her feel exposed, and when they'd been married that had been all right, because she'd trusted him to protect her and love her, just like she would to him. Now, though, she didn't have any such assurance, and she wished she could hide her face from everyone she knew and just disappear inside herself to that place far away, where none of this would matter...

She snapped back out of it as soon as Lucas started talking. "I'm going to go down and get us some coffee, Nathan. You look like you've been through the ringer. Then again, Dillon is really talkative, so he must've kept you up all night." "Yeah, that would be great. Thanks man, I'll pay you back." "It's on me. Now we're even from all those years ago when we had that dinner at... Red Lobster, I think, and you covered for me." "I'd forgotten about our high school graduation lunch," Nathan said with a smile. "Do you want anything Haley?" Luke asked her cautiously. "That's okay, I'll just ride it out." After he'd left the room, Nathan finally spoke up. "I know you think I'm an ass, in the most literal sense of the word, too. Just give me a chance, though. Let me get close to Dillon, and get to know my son. I really want to, and you heard him. He thinks everything's going to be like Leave It to Beaver as soon as he gets out of here. Can't you just put up with me, for his sake at least?" "Okay. I'll do it because he deserves some innocence, and because I love my son more than anything else in this world," she answered sullenly, looking down when she said the last part. Nathan cleared his throat and said uncertainly, "Yeah, we'll do it for Dillon."

I know this was ever so short! I'm really trying, though, guys! I tried to bring better writing techniques into chapter two and I didn't like the results, so please let me know if this chapter is any better! Thanks! OnTheOutsideLookingIn