Well, Christmas is coming up, so you all know what that means…Thanks for all the reviews on the last chapter! I'm glad you guys are liking it; I'm still open to any suggestions. We're up to Christmas Eve now, bear with me here, lol. Well, keep the reviews coming, they really motivate me.
Nathan stirred from his deep sleep to the sound of the phone ringing. He mumbled incoherently for Haley to get it before realizing she wasn't in bed and reached for it himself, almost knocking the lamp off the bedside table.
"What do you want?" Nathan asked groggily.
"Well good morning to you too sweetheart. Merry Christmas Eve! How are we this morning sunshine?" Haley asked cheerily from the other end of the phone.
"Tired. Where are you and why did you wake me up?" He asked crankily.
"I'm on my way into the studio to tell Chris that I can't sing with him anymore." Haley says as her smile falters.
"Oh, okay, good luck with that." He tells her, knowing that it's going to hard for her.
"Yeah, but it will be fine. I'm also picking up your Christmas present today! You're gonna love it!" Haley says in a mischievous voice.
"Does it involve you being naked? That's all I need; you don't need to spend any money on me, we don't really have it." Nathan asked in a hopeful voice.
"This part that I'm picking up doesn't involve me being naked, but who knows about later…" She says with a grin, which surprises him.
"Hmmm…well then I guess I'm gonna like it a lot." Nathan says as he finally gets out of bed and starts his shower.
"Well, I'm about to walk into the building and I hear you starting, so I'm gonna get going. Wish me luck!" Haley says nervously.
"Hales, it will be fine, trust me. Call me as soon as you are done talking to him to let me know how it went." Nathan says, hoping that she'll be able to go through with it.
"Okay, I will. I'll talk to you later. Love you." Haley tells him, staying on the line only to wait for his response.
"Love you too." Nathan replies as he hangs up and leans against the wall wondering if he's done the right thing.
In the studio…
Haley stands and watches Chris sing into the microphone with his melodic voice that she admires so much. She knows what needs to be done so she walks through the door between the two rooms into the one he's in.
"Hey Chris, what's up?" Haley asks cheerfully, hoping he doesn't sense her nervousness.
"Hey Haley, I wasn't sure if I'd be seeing you today. I figured you might wanna stay home with your husband, seeing as it's so close to Christmas." Chris responded sarcastically as he removed his headset.
"Yeah, about that…" Haley started as she began to twist her hands and look at her feet.
"Look, it's fine. Let's just lay down some tracks now. I know you wanna get back to your pretty boy before Christmas, even though some of us take our work more seriously." He said as he pulled his headset back over his ears.
"What do you mean? You aren't spending time with your family for Christmas?" Haley asked, ignoring the obvious fact that he was ready to begin.
"No, I don't really have any family. The family that I do have is in North Dakota so I never see them, but I guess it's just as well. It lets me focus more on my work." He says nonchalantly as he once again pulls his headset onto his head.
"That's horrible. Christmas is all about spending time with the ones you love. I could never imagine not spending Christmas at the café like I do every year with Lucas and his mom and everyone else." Haley says with a look of horror on her face for him.
"You know what Haley? It doesn't matter because they are hundreds of miles away, so I'm not going to be seeing them." He says as he impatiently puts his headset back on for what he hoped was the last time, but he wasn't so lucky.
"But it does matter. You can't be alone on Christmas!" Haley says as she watched him fling the headset off.
"I guess we won't be getting any tracks laid down at this rate! What do you wanna know? I don't have any family so I'm gonna be sitting alone in my apartment on Christmas. That's how it is every year and you learn to live with it. It works just fine for me. Can we get back to the music now?" He asks, but doesn't put the headset on, knowing she probably has more to say.
"No, you won't sit home along on Christmas. Tonight, you are going to come to the café for our annual Christmas Eve dinner. Everyone will be there and it will be fun." Haley says with a smile at her ingenious plan.
"No, that's okay. I don't need you people's charity. I'm fine on my own. I know your husband hates me anyway, so I'm not gonna go there." He says as he turns to walk away.
"It's not charity. I really want you there and it would make me feel a lot better knowing that you weren't sitting all alone. He doesn't hate you, he's just threatened, and that's all. Maybe spending some time with him tonight will help him see the light. You know me well enough to know that I won't be taking no for an answer." Haley replied indignantly.
"Fine, whatever. But if something gets started, it's all on you. What time should I be there?" He asks as he shakes his head, not believing that he actually agreed to go through with this plan.
"Well, dinner will be served around 6pm, but you should get there a little early so you can talk to everyone." She says with a triumphant smile.
"Yeah, yeah. I can see that we aren't going to get any work done, so I'll see you later tonight." He says as he exits the studio.
Haley finally realizes what she just did.
"Nathan is gonna be pissed." She whispers to herself as she starts to dial the familiar phone number.
"How did it go?" He said without so much as a hello.
"Umm, I don't think you are going to like this very much." Haley replies, biting her bottom lip.
"Haley, what did you do?" Nathan asks with apprehension weighing on his voice.
"I accidentally invited him to dinner tonight." She exclaimed in one quick sentence.
"You what?!" Nathan yelled, not believing what his wife just told him.
"Nate, he told me that he was gonna be all alone and that his family lives in another state. I just felt horrible about it, so the invitation just kinda slipped out and I didn't realize what I had just done until it was too late." She tried to explain quickly.
"I can't believe this Haley. You go there to stop singing with him and end up bringing him to our dinner." Nathan says with anger in his voice.
"Nate, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to go that way. I'll tell him that I can't sing with him anymore at dinner, I promise. You can sit right there and watch me." She told him, hoping to ease his worries.
"Whatever, but if he tries something, you know I'm gonna kick his ass." Nathan mumbles, obviously angry at her actions.
"Look, I'm on my way home now. We can talk when I get home, but there isn't much left to say." Haley tells him apologetically.
"No kidding, I'll see you in a little while." Nathan says as he hangs up the phone.
At Brooke's house…
"Come on Brooke! Hurry up, we're gonna be late!" Lucas yelled up the staircase trying to hurry along his girlfriend.
"You can't rush these things Lucas!" She screamed back down.
"I heard that Haley invited that Chris guy over for dinner." Lucas yelled back up.
"I'll be right down." Brooke yelled as she came flying down the stairs.
"Well, I should've known that's all it would have taken." Lucas says with a chuckle.
"So what happened?" Brooke asked anxiously waiting to hear about this.
"Well, Nate called and told me that when Haley went in to the studio to tell Chris that she couldn't work with him anymore, he laid on a guilt trip and she ended up inviting him to dinner." Lucas says as he looks at her and he can tell the wheels in her brain are turning.
"Hmm…Tutor Wife is seriously causing some drama here." She says after she thinks it through.
"No kidding, but Nathan said that he's gonna try to be cool." Lucas says as he puts on his coat and pulls out Brookes.
"Well, what's taking you so long Broody? Let's get a move on, I can't miss this." Brooke says with a gleam in her eye.
"You are just plain evil." Lucas says with a laugh.
At the Café…
Everyone was in scattered about in the café talking and laughing amongst themselves. Everyone is having a good time. They sit down to eat. Their banter lasts all through the meal. Chris doesn't say much, but he just observes the closeness of this bunch. After dinner, Haley decides that it's time to approach Chris.
"Hey Chris, can I talk to you for a minute?" Haley asks as she approaches him.
"Sure, what's up?" He asks as they start to walk into another room, but Haley stops.
"Look, I just wanted to tell you that I can't work with you anymore. Now I know that this is a crappy thing for me to do on Christmas Eve, but it needed to be done. I couldn't risk my marriage." Haley says, as she looks down at her feet.
"Haley, you can't let Nathan get to you. I know that's the only reason you are even considering this." Chris says as he steps towards her.
"You're partially right. Nathan is my reason, but not just because he wants me to. I know that it is putting a strain on our marriage and nothing is worth losing him. Not school, not music, not anything. I have to keep my priorities straight and Nathan is my priority." She says, as she finally looks him in the eye with conviction.
"You can't do this. I know you don't mean it, Haley. I know how much you want this." Chris says as he steps even closer and puts his hand on her arm.
Before she can pull away, he's pulled her into a kiss. Nathan sees them and rushes forwards, tackling Chris into a nearby wall.
"What the hell man?" Chris exclaims as he tries to free himself from Nathan's grasp.
Nathan pulls back and punches him in the jaw. He pulls back his hand again, but it stopped by Lucas and Jake.
"He's not worth it dude." Lucas says to Nathan as he tries to calm him down.
"It was just a little kiss under the mistletoe." Chris says with a devilish smile on his face.
Nathan struggled against Lucas' grasp and Jake had to once again help restrain him.
"Stay the hell away from my wife or I'll kill you." Nathan threatened with a menacing glare.
"Man, I hope you realize that you are messing up her whole life. She is young and she should be out there pursuing her dreams, but you are holding her back. Your marriage is like bindings so she can't be all that she wants and what she wants to be is a singer. You know where to find me Haley." Chris says as he finally turns to leave.
Everyone sits down and can't believe what just happened. Even Brooke was solemn. Haley went over to comfort Nathan, but he shrugged her off and got up to leave.
"No, Haley, he's right. I am holding you back from your dreams. I'm making you quit what you love and I'm not letting you see what all is out there for you." Nathan said as he looks down at her from where he is standing, ready to leave.
No, Nathan, you are you both wrong. I love you and you mean more to me than singing ever will. You are all there is for me. And you aren't making me quit what I love, just not to work with him. I can fulfill my dreams without him, even though the only dream I have is being with you." Haley says as she looks into his eyes with tears coming to her own.
"You can be so much Haley. You don't even know. I love you and I want what's best for you and maybe that's just not me right now. Maybe you need to go out and go for what you want." He said sadly with his head down.
"Nathan, you don't get it. I want you more than anything else out there. I don't feel like you're holding me back. I know you are always behind me in everything and that means the world to me. You are best for me and you make me happier than I've ever been doing anything else." Haley says sincerely as she stands up, taking his hand.
"I just love you so much and I hate the idea that you could be out doing so much more, but you are stuck in the middle of nowhere with me because we got married. If you just stay here, the biggest gig you will get will be at Tric." He tells her with tears in his own eyes.
"I'm not stuck here, Nathan, I choose to be here with you because I love you and I can't imagine my life without you. You were the one who got me singing in front of people to begin with. And I'm fine with small gigs, as long as I'm with you. At least I know that if I stay here, I'll always have you and we will be able to start a family. I could never, ever be unhappy with you." Haley says as she wraps her arms around him and pulls him into her. He resists at first and eventually gives in.
"I love you Haley." Nathan says as he clutches onto her for dear life.
"I love you too. Just think, this is just the beginning. Imagine what we're gonna go through with college and you playing basketball and all that." She says with a grin.
"Don't remind me." He groans as they pull away and share a small kiss.
"Well, what are we waiting for? We have Christmas Eve to celebrate!" Haley squeals, as she looks around at all the stunned faces of their friends and family.
"Yeah Tutor Wife! Let's have some fun!" Brooke says, being the first to snap out of her daze.
The incident wasn't talked about for the rest of the night even though it was on everyone's minds except Nathan and Haley's. They were perfectly content with everything. Peyton and Brooke knew that they'd be able to get the scoop out of Haley later while Lucas and Jake knew they'd be able to talk to Nathan, so everything went off without a hitch for the rest of the night.
Wow, that was a really really really long chapter. It just seemed to go on forever and it didn't seem right to end it anywhere. I really hope you liked it because it took me forever to do in one sitting. Please review and let me know what you thought! It's almost over…tear…