"Questions?"

"Is this a Joke?"

Summary: Two years on, both Nathan and Haley are left in the dark but neither knows it. Please R&R.

Disclaimer: Don't own it.(How much fun would it be of I did though.................... sorry dreaming.)

Rating: PG13. Just to be safe. There is a bit of swearing.


Lucas could hear shuffling coming from inside so he waited knowing someone was coming to answer the hotel door. The large wooden door opened slowly and a very tired woman emerged in front of Lucas. He noticed that she was only wearing an oversized t-shirt and nothing else. This was typical of her.

"Susan, shouldn't you put on some proper clothes to answer the door?" Lucas asked the black haired girl as she opened the door further so he could come in. "Yeah whatever Lucas." Lucas rolled his eyes at her and looked around the room for his brother.

"Where's Nathan?" Lucas asked not seeing his bother. "Donno, he went downstairs about an hour and a half ago but he hasn't come back yet." Susan answered him while shuffling through her suitcase and then disappearing into the bathroom.

Lucas was about to leave when he heard the bathroom door squeak open. Susan popped her head out of the slightly ajar door. "If you see Nathan, tell him to come up here and entertain me. I'm bored." Lucas looked at the brother's girlfriend and rolled his eyes at her. "God forbid you should be bored." He mumbled as he walked out the door.

000

Lucas toured the lobby and the restaurant on the bottom floor not able to locate his brother. Now just aimlessly wondering the hotels many floors Lucas stumbled across the leisure centre. 'Of course' he thought to himself and he pushed through the big double doors with small windows and a notice reading 'Residents and Employees Only'.

Lucas scanned the huge room that was filled to the brim with tread mills, weights and other exercise equipment. He caught sight of his little brother lifting weights at the far end of the room. "Do you ever just go a day without working out?"

Nathan head shot up hearing the question. He smiled and shook his head and then went back to lifting weights. Lucas laughed out loud at his brother. They were supposed to be on a holiday.

He maneuvered his way around all the equipment and started spotting Nathan on the weights. The two boys were in complete silence for a few minutes. Nathan was concentrating on the weights and Lucas was trying to decide how to tell him that Brooke had seen Haley earlier.

"Did Brooke get back from her shopping?" Nathan asked, snapping Lucas out of his daze. Lucas looked down at Nathan and realized that this was his chance. And he probably wouldn't get another like it.

"Yeah... but she never did get around to shopping..." Lucas paused to think for a second, just to make sure that he was making the right choice about telling Nathan. ".. she kind of bumped into someone." Lucas said, hoping that Nathan would take the hint and ask who she had met.

"God must have been someone important for Brooke to give up shopping." Nathan laughed, half expecting Lucas to give him a whack. Lucas just took the plunge. "It was Haley. Brooke met Haley."

Nathan sat up on the bench and turned around to face Lucas. "Haley?" Nathan asked not knowing if he had misheard. "Yep." Lucas watched his brother's confused face form. "Man, tell me this is a joke." Nathan said, shaking his head in complete disbelief.

"Nate, it's not a joke. Brooke saw her and they talked for a bit." Lucas explained. Nathan sat dumbfounded for a few minutes trying to sort out everything that was running through his mind at that moment.

Nathan could feel his brother's hand on his shoulder. He wasn't going to do this again. Not again. Nathan shrugged off Lucas' hand and continued to lift the weights. "Nate?" Lucas didn't have one clue to what he was thinking right now and he wanted to make sure that he was o.k.

"Look Luke, just leave it alone. It's her right to live where ever the hell she pleases and I really don't give a shit." Lucas stood on his spot for a second before leaving Nathan in peace. Lucas knew his brother and he thought he knew Haley, but after what she done, it was Brooke and him that were there to pick up the pieces.

000

Lucas wandered back to his hotel room to find Brooke watching TV. "How did he take it?" she turned off the TV and sat up on the just made bed to look at her boyfriend. Lucas looked intently at Brooke and lay on his side behind her.

"Truthfully, I really don't know. He just sat there..." Lucas let out a loud sigh and rolled onto his back. "..he thought I was joking." Lucas let out a loud laugh and Brooke watched him, baffled. "Why are you laughing Scott?" she asked cracking a smile at his bizarre actions.

"He thought I was joking, just like I thought he was joking when he told me that Haley was gone... she just gives us all a bunch of laughs, now doesn't she." Lucas laughed bitterly thinking of the day he went to see Nathan.

000

Nathan sat on the couch in his apartment, his hands tightly clutching onto the black cordless phone. Lucas stood in front of him not knowing what was wrong. "She's gone..." Lucas stood puzzled not grasping what his brother was saying.

"Who's gone?" he asked while taking the phone from him for fear it would shatter under his grip. "Haley. She left last night." Lucas squinted his eyes in confusion. "What are you talking about Nate?"

"She's gone. She left me. No note, no explanation, no nothing. She just... left." Nathan spluttered not ably to look at Lucas, just in case he would ask what he had done to make her leave. Because he didn't know. Everything had been fine the day before... more that fine. It had been great.

"Is this a joke?" Nathan's head snapped up in anger at Lucas. "Does it look like I'm kidding." He shouted, getting up and pacing around the room. "Well did you call her parents?" Lucas asked trying to help the situation.

Nathan let out a deep breath that he didn't even know he was holding. "Yeah. She told her mom to tell me that she loved me and that everything would be explained. How is this going to be explained? By who?" Nathan shook his head I confusion. Nothing was making sense in his mind anymore.

000

For over a year Nathan waited. He was waiting for a phone call, a letter even a text message form her. Nathan had made sure to keep the same number just in case she would call. At night, if he heard a car outside on the street he would get up to check if it was her. But it never was. It was at the start of his second year at college that he realized that she wasn't coming back.

He was tired of checking the phone book for her name and number everywhere he went. He was tired of leaving his cell phone on at night in case she was trying to call him. He was tired of waiting for that 'explanation' that never came. He was just tired and he had to move on.

000

"You can't put all the blame on her Lucas; we don't know what made her leave." Brooke replied softly to Lucas' harsh words. "Nathan's not the only person she left Brooke, she left her family too and I doubt she told them what was going on in her head." Brooke shook her head at him and got up from the bed.

"Lucas you're not mad because she didn't tell Nathan and her family what was going on, you are mad because she didn't tell you what was going on." Lucas looked up at Brooke and rolled his eyes. "No Brooke, I'm mad because she up and left with no warning, leaving her family and her friends behind and not thinking what it would do to everybody." Lucas screamed at her and then grabbing the remote and turning on the sports channel.

Brooke stormed out of their hotel room and out of the big hotel. She looked down both sides of the street for some kind of clue to where she would spend a couple of hours. A sign post caught her attention and she started walking to where it pointed.

"Hospital." She muttered to herself as she walked down a busy street paying close attention to the signs. Brooke finally found the hospital, which she had passed three times and not even noticed. She walked up to the receptionist. "Hi, do you know where I can find Haley James. She works here." Brooke smiled at the old lady and followed her directions.


tardychic06: Hey I know this kind of took me a long time but I've been really busy with school but I should have another update in the next week or so. Thanks for the review.

ilvjameslafferty23 and OneTreeHillCharmedFreak : Thank you both for taking a bit of time to write me a reply and tell me how I'm doing. Please keep it up.


Hey I know I've taken my sweet time getting to this chapter but if you are all really nice and review I'm sure I'll have another chapter up by the end of the week. Don't you just love mid-terms?