Chapter 22- A Conversation with Max

Haley rushed to her apartment that night with only one thing on her mind....Nathan. She didn't know what to do. On one hand she thought maybe telling Nathan about the baby would make him happy and they could be together and everything would work themselves out but in the back of her mind there was something that just kept nagging her. She knew Nathan was miserable without her but just because he was missing her didn't mean he was missing the baby that she was carrying. What if when he found out he would leave her. A baby wasn't in the plans, shoot marriage wasn't in the plans, a long term relationship was hardly in the plans. They were just letting things come to them day by day. The more and more Haley thought about it the more she was discouraged. No good could come out of telling Nathan the truth.

"Oh Max," Haley said distressed as she flopped herself onto the couch. "What am I going to do?"

Max made his way to Haley and placed his chin on her lap.

"I mean I love Nathan more than anything but I just don't want to ruin things for him. He's got such a great future ahead of him and a baby will just slow it down for him. I just don't want him to end up hating me and this baby."

Haley gentle began to stroke Max's head as he continued to rest his chin on her lap.

"But maybe I'm just overreacting, maybe it's not as big a deal as I think it is. What am I thinking? Of course it's a big deal. I mean it's a baby for goodness sakes. You can't get much bigger than that.

Haley let out a sigh.

"But he would find out eventually. Brooke I'm sure will tell Jake not that it could actually be avoided. In four months I'm sure he'll begin to wonder why there is a baby running around all of a sudden. Do you think Brooke would break up with Jake for me?"

Max lifted his head from her lap and gave her the look.

"Yah I didn't think so either. AHHHH!!!! Max what am I gonna do? Come on you're a smart dog, just help me and tell me what I should do."

Just then Max removed himself from the position by her side and quickly trotted off to the other side of the room.

"Yah, I understand Max, i wouldn't want to make this decision either." Haley let out a sigh and rested her head on the back of the couch still pondering her point of action when suddenly she felt a tug at her pant leg.

"Max What are you doing, you know better than to bite." When Haley went to scold Max she noticed something at laying down beside her feet and next to Max. It was a picture.

A picture of Haley and Nathan at the park with Max. It was the day after they made love for the second time. The day after they first said I Love you. Haley cracked a smile at the memory. She remembered how Max and Nathan were playing frisbee and how every time Max caught the frisbee he refused to give it back to Nathan causing them to have a full out tug of war. What amazed Haley the most about that whole occurance was that even though Nathan knew max wouldn't give him back the frisbee, he still continued to throw it to him. All Haley could think about at that moment at the park was how great a father Nathan would be one day. She could see him playing with his children no matter how they played the game even if it wasn't exactly the ideal way.

Thinking about that day made Haley smile and the overactive hormones that she heard so much about but never really experienced started to kick in and she started to cry. For the first time since she found out she was pregnant she knew exactly what she was going to do. She was going to be with Nathan and their baby and they were going to be a family. A happy family.

"I gotta to go tell him." Haley quickly grabbed her coat and her purse and made her way to the door but before she made her way completely out of her apartment she turned around and looked at Max. "Max, you truly are an amazing dog." And then she headed out the door to search for her future....