Nathan walked into the kitchen of his apartment, grabbing at a half empty box of fruit loops and pouring it into a bowl he found in a cupboard. He topped it off with milk and while he begun to eat the phone rang.

"Hello?" Nathan said, his voice muffled from the mouthful of cereal he was currently chewing.

"Hey son, I'm just calling to see if you're ready to go to the gym with me. Are you?"

Nathan looked around his messy apartment; he had completely forgotten that he told Dan he'd go the gym with him. "Yeah, yeah we're still on. What time should I meet you there?" Nathan used his shoulder to hold the phone while Nathan's ear kept it in place. He was running around the kitchen trying to get ready. Putting the bowl of cereal in the sink he dashed into his room trying to get dressed as quickly as possible.

"I'm ready right now if you are. I know we're not suppose to meet up for another half hour but I was hoping that afterwards I could take you out to lunch. I was kind of hoping that we could hang out."

Was Dan up to something? Hang out? Was he high or something?

"Um, sure, sure I'm ready." He threw on his basketball shorts and a plain white undershirt and looked in the mirror aghast by his appearance. Nathan's hair was disheveled and dark bags formed under his eye, he wasn't sure if this headache was due to not really eating or from a possible hangover from drinking at the party last night.

"Great, meet me outside." He hung up the phone and from his car, he watched Nathan's apartment waiting for him to appear.

He was already here? He was expecting to have at least a few more minutes to get ready but if Nathan wasn't in Dan's car in five minutes, Dan would jump to conclusions and figure Nathan was hiding something. In this case, that was true. Nathan pulled on his face wondering how he'd be able to cover this up with outright divulging that he'd been drinking, his frightful appearance clearly giving it off. He splashed water onto his face and brushed his teeth, getting rid of the alcohol smell. He locked the door to his apartment and spotted Dan's car, jogging down the steps and getting in.

"You weren't really ready were you?" Dan asked putting the car into reverse.

"No I was, I'm sorry I kept you waiting I was looking for a last minute thing."

"I see. Anyways, at lunch today I have something I wanted to talk to you about but it can wait until lunch, first we'll hit the gym." Dan pulled out of the apartment complex, smiling at his son, which in turn gave Nathan a sick feeling to his stomach.

Haley paced around her room biting austerely on her nails; a line from walking back and forth so many times became evident on her rug.

"Hales, what's going on? I came as soon as I got your message." Lucas asked apprehensive when he saw the panic in Haley's face.

"I need my best friend here for support." Tears started running down her face, she was hysterical and he couldn't remember last time he saw her like this, whatever was going on was serious.

"Support? Support for what?"

Haley swallowed hard as she looked Lucas square in the eye, "I think I'm p-p-pregnant." She said while exhaling sternly. Lucas's muscles loosened up due to the shock of this announcement causing his jaw to wilt. Lucas' stomach dropped and he just stared at Haley in disbelief.

Lucas took Haley to the local drug store in order to buy a test to further confirm or deny her indictment and with Haley leading, they walked down the aisle where the pregnancy tests were. Haley looked at all the tests in front of her; this was like a dream gone awry and any second she was going to wake up and it would go back to normal. An incisive taping on her shoulder revived her from her reverie.

"Haley? You ready?" Lucas wrapped his arm around her as she picked up a box from the shelve and nodded unsurely clutching the box tightly in her hands

The girl at the counter took the box of pregnancy tests and looked warily up at Lucas and Haley clearly coming to her own conclusions. She rang the box up and Lucas graciously paid for it seeing as Haley was too wound up. She put the box into a plastic bag and handed it to Haley. The car ride home, Lucas tried to lighten the mood but Haley never spoke a word. When he pulled into Haley's driveway they both got out of the car and Haley jogged up the stairs to her room, Lucas followed. He sat on her bed, twiddling his thumbs, waiting for her to come out of the bathroom.

"It says the results will be ready in two minutes, so I guess we have to wait." She sat next to Lucas on the bed, tilting forward burying her face in her hands. Lucas rubbed her back wishing there was something he could say to make her feel better.

"Look, Haley. I'm your best friend and I just want to tell you that no matter what the results are I will always be here for you, no matter what. I'll help out with whatever you need, I know my mom will, Peyton and Brooke...Nathan."

"Nathan and I aren't even together anymore. We can't have a baby, we just can't Luke. I'm only seventeen."

"Don't jump to conclusions, you may not even be pregnant."

She leaped from the bed looking Lucas in the eye, "but what if I am? What am I going to do?"

"If you are, you'll have people there to support you and help you through it. No matter what you wont be alone, I promise." He embraced Haley in a hug, holding onto his best friend like he's done so many times. When one of them had a problem and needed the other one to help they were always there for each other. Haley knew that she could tell Lucas anything and he felt the same. Whether it be from excitement of something happening in their lives, relationship advice or just to plain hug because they cared about each other so much, Haley knew Luke would always, no matter what; be there for her especially since Nathan wasn't going to.

The timer buzzed from the bathroom and Haley pulled out of the hug looking up at Lucas mortified. With some reassurance to go, she walked into the bathroom coming back out with the pregnancy test in one hand and the box in the other.

"Moment of truth I guess. I can't, I just, can you look for me?" She handed him the box and held the pregnancy test out for him to look at. She continued to bite her nails while Lucas figured out the final verdict; she couldn't even look at him when he was reading it because if she did, she could see the anguish in his face. He looked back up to Haley and with out even saying a word she collapsed onto the bed and began crying. Lucas set the box on the nightstand and tried to comfort his friend but what could he do that he hasn't before? When she's crying over Nathan because they broke up or because he's being a jerk, Lucas is there to console her, stop her crying and make her think about what a great girl she is – that's easy compared to this. How can he stop her crying, by telling her over and over it's okay? Truth is, it's not going to be easy and both of them knew it, but he'd be there for Haley and his nephew or niece because that's what friends do and Haley meant the world to him.

"I know you don't want to talk about him right now but when are you going to tell Nathan?" Haley looked up at her friend, her face red and swollen from crying.

"I can't tell him, he doesn't need to know."

"Haley, be serious here, he is the father and even though he's a jackass he does deserve to know."

"Why? He doesn't care about me; he's probably out right now screwing some girl because I apparently meant so much to him. If he cared about me Lucas he would have called, but he didn't so that has to tell me something." She began to hiccup and her chest and throat started to ache. This had been the worst day of Haley's life.

"He loves you and you know it." Lucas sighed and pushed a strand of Haley's hair out of her eye.

"I can't go back to school, I can't face him. My life is falling apart. Isn't this ironic, that me out of all the girls in school is the one to get pregnant? I mean isn't that just hilarious? I do one bad thing in my life and I get punished for it." Lucas rubbed his forehead with his hand and listened as Haley continued. "I'm the one who was going to wait until I'm married and look at me, I'm not married, I'm not even dating, and I'm pregnant. I can't believe this." She broke down into a crying fit again.

"Let's not dwell on this right now. Why don't you rest for the day and I'll give you a call later, you probably want some alone time to think." Lucas bent over to hug Haley and planted a kiss on her forehead before he pulled away.

"Luke –"

"Yeah Hales?"

"Please don't tell anyone that I'm pregnant okay? I'm not ready for the whole world to know right away and for now I just want some time to absorb all of this."

"Of course Hales."

"Luke, thank you." Lucas tucked her into bed and gave her another kiss on the forehead. He felt like crying. He felt so helpless and awful, but he decided to hold them back because someone needed to be strong. He shut the door to her bedroom and walked down the creaky wooden steps out to the car. He banged his head against the steering wheel in frustration. This could be an 'I told you so' situation. Lucas had warned her that Nathan was a bad guy but Haley reassured him that Nathan was different. Son of a bitch, Lucas couldn't believe that his best friend was pregnant, and pregnant with the person he hates most in the world's baby. Lucas started the car up and backed out of the driveway, his heart was getting heavy holding all these secrets but Haley and Peyton trusted him and he wasn't going to say a word.

Dan and Nathan finished their workout, both were panting and their chests glistened with sweat.

"Are you hungry?" Dan asked wiping off his chest with a towel, then putting his shirt back on.

"More thirsty then hungry, but I'm up for lunch." Nathan grabbed his gym bag and unzipped it pulling out his change of clothes. His face was crimson and he sat on the bench trying to steady his breathing, waiting a few seconds before he'd get changed. Nathan rose from the bench, gym bag in hand, and gaited into a stall to get changed. Nathan and his father left the gym twenty minutes later and Dan took him to a newly opened dinner down the street.

They walked into the diner, it wasn't too crowded and the hostess sat them in a booth next to a window. Before walking away she got them silverware and menus and said, "enjoy" then returned back to her hostess stand to seat some incoming customers.

"Do you like this place? I thought we could come here and check it out, looks nice huh?" Dan asked unwrapping his silverware and putting his napkin on his lap.

"Yeah it's.... nice. Um, so what exactly did you want to talk to me about?" Nathan looks down at his silverware, picking up his fork and tapping it lightly against his napkin.

"Well your mother, and I," he cleared his throat and took a sip of his water before he continued. "We've.... been talking and we'd like it if you moved back in with us." Nathan shifted in his chair, the uneasiness was apparent.

"Dad, I've been on my own for a couple months now and I'm doing fine. I like the freedom and no offense, but you and mom should work on your problems before there ever was a chance of me moving back in."

"Nathan your mother and I are fine, she's...we're, just worried about you. You are only seventeen."

"I'm seventeen but I'm almost eighteen dad. I have an okay paying job, I haven't missed any rent and I have food in the fridge. I'm fine, but thanks for the offer."

"If you insist but just know the offer is always open." Nathan stared out the window and shook his head. This so-called talk clearly wasn't Dan's idea and nevertheless it was obvious by the way he came off.

Dan and Nathan sat in the booths looking at anything but each other. The awkwardness was evident and the whole forty-five minutes they spent at the diner was a mixture of silence, talk of basketball and Nathan's job - bland subjects but enough to get them through this father-son bonding experience.

Brooke went home with Peyton and crashed on the computer chair, mainly because that's where she passed out, while Peyton slept on her bed. Both the girls were awoken when Lucas stopped by to bring Peyton to get her car.

"Knock, knock." Lucas said opening the door, seeing Brooke and Peyton were still sleeping. He laughed noting that it was almost noon now.

Peyton was the first to wake up, her hand immediately going to her aching head. "I'm never doing that again, I keep forgetting what the day after feels like."

Lucas chortled and sat down next to Peyton, his eyes peeled on Brooke who was emerging from her sleep, her facial expression the same as Peyton's. "You ready to go get your car?"

"My car? Why, what happened to my car?" Peyton's memory clearly failing her and she began to whine from the pain she was in. She crawled slowly off the bed and grabbed a sweatshirt out of her dresser, putting it on over her head.

"You must have really been wasted last night. Remember, you left your car at Tim's house?" Lucas took a seat on Peyton's bed leaning over as if in pain and rubbed his forehead.

"Yeah, yeah I remember." She shook her head, she didn't but she just said she did. She grabbed some sandals out of her closet and while she put them on she watched Lucas intently. "Something wrong?"

"No, I'm fine. It's just it's been a long morning." Brooke was fully up now, bitchy as ever and irate from being woken up.

"What the hell... what time is it?" She stumbled over to where both of them were and misjudging how far away the bed was from her, she fell onto the floor landing on her back.

Lucas and Peyton immediately began to laugh and when Brooke pulled herself up, her face peering over the top of the bed and her fingers clutched on the rim, she huffed a piece of hair out of her face. Lucas offered his hand but she refused it.

"It's noon and if you want to stay here while Peyton and I go get her car you can. It's up to you."

"You woke me up just to tell me I could stay here while you and blondie get her car?" She looked like she was going to strangle him and fearing for his life he back stepped towards her door.

"Brooke calm down, go back to sleep if you want to. We'll be back in a half hour okay?" By this time Brooke was already lying on Peyton's bed, covers over her and snoring.

"Wow, I definitely know to stay away from her when she has a hangover." Peyton and Lucas were now out in Peyton's driveway, both entering Lucas' car.

"I know, I'm kind of scared to go back there. If there's anything I've learned from being friends with Brooke it's stay away for at least a day, a day and a half tops, when she has a hangover in fear for your life."

"I'll keep that in mind, thanks." Lucas put on his blinker and pulled out onto the road towards Tim's house.

"So have you got in touch with Haley? How's she doing?" Peyton, trying to make conversation, thought she'd add that in seeing it was the first thing to come into her head at the time.

"Um.... she's, she's fine, a little under the weather but she'll be alright." Peyton could sense the tension and she tell Lucas was hiding something.

"Good." Peyton added and returned her daze back out the window until ten minutes later when they arrived at Tim's house. Lucas parked the car in Tim's driveway and looked at Peyton wearily who returned her stare after unbuckling her seat belt.

"You're all set?" He asked sighing after he finished the sentence. He was trying to be nice; it wasn't anything Peyton did to make him act like this - it was because of Haley. Lucas couldn't stop thinking about her and it came off as rudeness to everyone else.

"Yeah, I'm good. Thanks Luke." She grabbed her keys from her purse and with them in her hand she waved good-bye to Lucas.

"I'll talk to you later this weekend. Bye Peyton." Lucas backed out of Tim's driveway and Peyton waved good-bye until Lucas' car was clearly out of sight.

Tim emerged from his house after hearing the noise from the car, standing on his porch looking at Peyton. She noticed him only after he said hi, and then looked down when she noticed he was only in his boxers.

"Peyton. Hi."

"Hey, uh Lucas dropped me off a minute ago. I came to get my car and then leave." Peyton didn't want to see Tim and especially since she noticed the smile on his face. He clearly remembered what he saw last night and Peyton's cheeks blushed.

"You don't have to go, you can stay and hang out. I got some dvd's inside and there's still food from last night."

"Tim I can't. I'm sorry, I have to get home and tend to Brooke. She has a really bad hangover and I have to take care of her." She felt bad lying to him and the look he gave her afterwards made her feel worse. She wasn't technically lying, maybe a little, but Peyton felt too embarrassed by last night that seeing Tim made her feel even more uncomfortable.

"That's fine, I'll see you Monday." As Peyton climbed into her car Tim stopped her again, Peyton emerging from her car to look at him again. "Page two-seventy, one to ten for calc, right?" She bobbed her head and climbed back into her car and drove off, Tim stood on the porch watching her drive off.

Haley woke up due to the nauseas feeling in her stomach and throwing the covers off of her body, she bolted to the bathroom. Hunching over the toilet she emptied everything that wasn't in her stomach into the toilet. She can't remember last time she ate and after emptying the contents of her stomach into the toilet, eating didn't sound so appetizing anymore. She slouched down next to the toilet, her knees to her chest and her arms wrapped protectively around them; she laid her head on her knees beginning to cry. She hated Nathan so much right now that no words could possibly describe how she felt. She hated him for getting her pregnant, for making her have to go through this by herself and just for how he acted to her yesterday. She was so confused. She loved Nathan, she knows Nathan, and in the time they were dating she fell in love with him – but the guy she fell in love with broke her heart and she couldn't forgive that.

She had to make sure that she was indeed pregnant before stirring anything up and with out any knowledge of an obstetrician, she knew her best option was to go to Planned Parenthood.

Haley stood outside the large building looking up at the sign that hung above the door. The glass doors seemed so far away and with each step her breathing became more labored and her anxiety amplified. She reached for the handle of the glass door, her attention focused on a flier that was taped to it. Abortion in big bold letters ran across the paper and Haley quickly scanned it.

"Abortion." She mumbled to herself. She really never thought of that before and she guessed because that was something she'd never do – but who would have guessed she'd ever be in this situation. She shrugged her shoulders and entered walking up to the front desk.

"Hello, how may I help you?" The lady, Claire, asked looking up at Haley. She put the papers she was shuffling through back down on the desk to help the teenager that was standing before her.

"Yes h-hi, I'm H-Haley James. I don't have an appointment or anything but I was hoping I'd be able to see a doctor." Haley stuttered looking down at her hands, not looking at Claire for fear of embarrassment. Her voice soft and shaky as she carefully looked around while the receptionist typed on her computer.

"May I ask what this is for?" The cheeriness of the receptionist just angered Haley and she didn't really understand why but it did. Maybe because Haley was in such an awful mood anyone who was relatively happy made her long for that feeling and to her, she figured she'd never be happy again.

"A pregnancy test. I-I think I'm pregnant and I wanted to confirm it."

Claire typed more into her computer and looked up again at Hailey, smiling. "Doctor Phillips is booked until four. Is that fine?"

Haley nodded her head and glanced at the clock that stood on the wall behind the receptionist. It was only two thirty. "Yeah, that sounds great thanks."

She had nowhere to go, and no one to see so she figured she'd just stay there for the hour and a half and wait. Haley stealthily walked over to the waiting room was and took a seat. There were a few others in the waiting room, their reasons not are palpable but Haley's attention was focused on a pregnant teenager sitting three seats next to her. She had to be about Haley's age, maybe even younger who looked as if she was six or seven months pregnant. Haley sighed and looked down at her stomach. She gulped hard, thoughts running through her mind – that'd be her in a matter of months if was in fact pregnant.

Haley grabbed a magazine and skimmed through it. It was Parenthood magazine and while she flipped through the pages she read an article about teen pregnancy. It was like a sign, all these arrows pointing towards Haley's fear as if to give her a slap in the face and announce she was in fact pregnant after all. She looked back up at the clock.... only an hour and twenty minutes until her appointment.

Peyton walked into her house as quiet as she could not knowing whether or not Brooke was still asleep. She carefully opened the door to her bedroom to see the lump still lying under her bed. Brooke was still sleeping it now had to be over ten hours but Peyton let her sleep, not wanting to wake her because she knew she'd get hell for it.

Peyton's cell phone rang and she dashed into the hallway scared the noise would wake Brooke. She looked at the caller i.d. – it was Nathan. She didn't want to talk to him but she had no choice it was either talk to him or wake up Brooke...though for a minute the second choice seemed better.

"Hello?" Peyton agitatedly said when she answered.

"Hey, it's me...um look about last night – "Nathan started but Peyton chimed in before he could finish.

"Look Nate, it's nothing okay. It's in the past and we never have to think about it again."

"Well that's the problem, I can't stop thinking about. I know I was a jerk when we were going out but last night, I don't know it just brought back memories of when we were going out – "

"Then it must have been some good memories because as far as I'm concerned you had the time of your life."

"No, I'm talking about good memories between us. You know I loved you when we were dating, I always have. I know I wasn't the greatest boyfriend..." On the other end Peyton scoffed and Nathan cleared his throat to continue. "I can never change what happened between us in the past but I'd like a chance to make it up to you." Nathan sounded more sincere then ever and Peyton's heart melted.

"Nathan I can't, I don't want to get hurt again. I never want to feel the way you made me feel, my heart can't take it twice."

"Peyton Sawyer, I won't ever hurt you again. I promise you." Peyton leaned against the wall and slid down it until she reached the floor.

"Wait a minute. What am I saying, I can't. Aren't you with Haley?"

"I told you, we're not together anymore."

"So what's this mean now, what are we to each other?" She was confused and everything didn't make sense to her.

"I'm hoping that we're officially dating but that's your call."

"Fine Nathan Scott but you promised me that you wont hurt me and if you do I swear I'll –"It was now Nathan's turn to cut her off.

"I wont."

"Okay but I'm holding you to that." Peyton heard Brooke's cries from the bedroom and quickly hung up with Nathan. Her mood now exhilarated and Brooke noticed it as soon as she walked in, shooting it down with her grumpiness.

"Will you stop smiling, it's starting to get on my nerves. There's nothing to be happy about and you're ruining my mood" Brooke pushed the hair out of her eyes and covered her body with the blanket as she sat up against the headboard.

"Speak for yourself. I have a reason to be happy and your reason for being petulant is because alcohol, how classy." Peyton sat down in her computer chair, the chair Brooke claimed as her bed all night, and began to write in her journal.

"And your reason is...?" Brooke inquired to the best of her ability.

"I'm dating someone." Peyton grabbed a pencil from a coffee mug resting on the corner of her desk and opened her journal up to a new page and began to write. Brooke listlessly peeked over Peyton's shoulder just to catch the name Nathan written about ten times already in her journal.

"You and Nathan? Peyton you can't, that's like totally against friendship rules. Don't you know friend's are not allowed to date their best friend's boyfriends...oh wait, I guess you don't." Brooke saw Peyton's distress in her eyes when she finished that sentence. Brooke was never going to forget the little 'fling' she and Lucas had that one time, no, she'd have to live that down for the rest of her life.

"I know, but he's not even dating Haley anymore. Nathan's different, he opens up with me and I know him." Peyton shut her journal sliding it across her desk so that Brooke wouldn't be able to reach for it.

"You're defending him? I can't believe this. Earth to Peyton...he cheated on you." Elongating the last of what she told Peyton, she fell back onto the bed. "I don't know why you would go out with someone who's done that, it's like...it's like that doesn't even matter to you."

"Brooke I don't need you to tell me what I can and cannot do okay? You're not my mother."

"Yeah but I'm your best friend, a friend who's looking out for you." The girls both stood face to face, giving each other death glares.

"Well maybe I don't need you to look out for me because most friends would say congratulations and be happy for me."

"That's it, I'm out of here. Go find yourself a new best friend because you obviously don't need me and as far as Haley goes, consider her out of your life too after this stunt you pulled. Also, don't come back crying to me when he dumps you for some other bimbo because I'll be waiting with an 'I told you so'." Brooke ran out of Peyton's room to the front door, collecting her stuff from the foyer. Peyton sighed and squeezed her hands into fists trying to relax.

Brooke was back in a matter of seconds not because she wanted to be, but because she had no choice. Looking ridiculous, she swallowed her pride as she entered Peyton's bedroom again.

"Back to bitch at me some more?" Peyton, lying on her bed with her arms and legs crossed and staring up at the ceiling gawked her eyes over at Brooke.

"No, I need a ride home...I kind of forgot I didn't have a car."

"Fine. Follow me." Peyton rolled her eyes and grabbed her keys from her desk. As she walked out of the room her shoulder brushed against Brooke and when their eyes met, Peyton gave her a seething stare. With out talking they got into the car and after an interminably long ten minutes Peyton pulled into the Davis' driveway. "Your welcome."

"Thanks." Brooke slammed the door to the car and quickly hurried off into her house giving no sign of gratitude other then her insincere 'thank you.' She slammed on the gas and sped out of her driveway back to her house.

Haley glanced back up at the clock. She had twenty minutes until her appointment and it seemed while she sat there that time seemed to pass extremely slowly. Many people came in and out of the building, all with their own needs and reasons for coming and Haley sat from her chair, people watching, coming up with her own conclusions of why they were there. She kept watching the clock, the hands moving slowly until finally the hand reached four.

"Ms. James?" The gray-haired, middle-aged doctor asked scanning the room for Haley holding a vanilla folder in his hands.

"Yes, I'm Haley." Haley stood up, her anxiety higher then before; she cautiously walked over to the doctor following him into an exam room. The room, a pale green, reminded Haley of what she sees every morning, afternoon and night and her stomach didn't take it too well. She walked into the center of the room, her arms crossed over in front of her body as though she was protecting herself. The doctor could tell she was extremely nervous and tried his best to ease the feeling, but it didn't work.

"I'll leave you this gown to change into and I'll be back in a few minutes. Afterwards you can sit on that exam table and we'll continue." The doctor exited the room and left Haley alone. She felt so cold, goose bumps forming on her arms made the hair on her skin rise. It was quite ironic, she was pregnant and carrying another human being inside of her, yet she never remembers feeling so alone. She undressed and left her clothes neatly folded on the wooden chair against the wall. She walked over to the exam table and reached her hand out to touch it, tracing the outline of the table with her finger. Hesitantly, she boosted herself up upon the table and scooted backwards making the paper that covered the plastic of the table crumble. Haley grabbed at the bottom of the gown pulling it over her knees then crossed her legs feeling more then a little uncomfortable in her outfit.

The doctor knocked on the door and peeked his head in just to make sure that it was safe to go in. "Are you all set Ms. James?" Haley nodded shyly and the doctor proceeded in. "Alright Ms. James, you say that you think you're pregnant. How long has it been since you've had your period?" The doctor didn't look up until Haley didn't answer him back.

This had to be the most unpleasant situations she ever had been in. A stranger asking her how long it's been since she's had her period? Excuse me but that's none of his business no matter what his job is.

"Um...about a month, a month and a few days maybe. I'm not really sure." Haley said uneasily, her eyes focused on the legs of the wooden chair that held her clothes.

"Well that's not a problem, we have machines that will be able to calculate everything and indeed tell whether or not you're pregnant. I'll start off with some blood work, I'll have a nurse come in and do that."

"That's fine and everything, but will I be able to find out today whether or not I'm pregnant."

The doctor looked back at Haley putting his hands on his hips, his jacket being pushed back to reveal more of his shirt. "No, I'm sorry Ms. James but it's takes at least two days for us to find out the results. I know it seems like forever but that's as fast as modern technology will let us go." The doctor laughed and Haley smirked not really finding the joke funny, but laughing anyways.

The rest of the time Haley was there was a blur. She remembered a nurse walking in once the doctor left and introducing herself, but Haley was daydreaming and couldn't remember her name. The nurse laid on the counter next to the exam table a needle and other things she used to take her blood.

"This isn't going to hurt, you're going to feel a little prick and that's it." The nurse tied a rubber band an inch bellow Haley's elbow in order to find veins to take her blood sample. Haley just looked around the room, noticing all the posters on the walls of different views of a pregnant women's stomach. She looked at the nurse, whose head was fixated on Haley's arm and the tube the blood was going into, and perceived that the nurse was also pregnant. Haley wouldn't have noticed at all if the nurse didn't touch her stomach as though she was feeling a kick and smiled back up at Haley, who in return smiled back.

When the nurse finished up she put a band-aid on Haley's arm and sat there to talk with her for a few minutes. She just asked her about the father and Haley replied by saying that he was out of the picture. She didn't like being interrogated, all these questions made her shakier then she already was and all Haley wanted to do was get out there.

Haley entered the waiting room area seeing the seats were a lot more filled then before and hastily looked down to the ground as to not make eye contact with anyone in the room. She tilted her head to the side facing the wall opposite to where all the people were. Still with her head down, she quickly hurried out of the building. Haley's pace quickened and her walk soon turned into a jog. She felt embarrassed, like all these people in the waiting room were staring at her and judging her, making assumptions even though they didn't know Haley. She didn't like that feeling. When she pushed out of the building, using every ounce of strength she had to keep herself from crying and not collapsing there in the middle of the street, she leaned against the side of the building burying her face in her hands. Haley burst into tears even though she tried so hard not to. Everything was just so overwhelming and she couldn't hold up the strong façade anymore.

"Excuse me, Miss? Is everything okay? Is there anything I can help you with?" A stranger on the street asked after seeing Haley's emotional breakdown and offered a hand.

Haley looked up at him; her eyes blood shot and her face swollen and red. She ran her finger under her eye sweeping away forming tears and stood up from against the wall. The man furrowed an eyebrow, curious to see if she was going to answer him.

Haley taking a deep breath looked the man in the eye and unsteadily said, "No, no one can help me." She had to get out of here, away from these people and off of this street so she turned in the direction her body made her go and took off running. She could feel the eyes of all the people in the street burning on the back of her head and thought about the scene she had just made and became even more flushed and embarrassed.

She kept running down the street until her feet wouldn't carry her anymore and she collapsed again on the side of the street. Looking around, no one was there and everything seemed abandoned and dead. It was getting darker out and she had no clue where she was but she had no intention of going back anytime soon. She crawled her way over against an abandoned building and hugged her knees tightly to her chest, resting her head on top of them. Her life couldn't get any worse and as far as Haley was concerned, this was the worst it could get. She would have probably stayed there until the cold fall air consumed her, at least death seemed best since her life was ruined anyways, if her phone didn't begin to ring.

Looking down at the phone she didn't bother to see who was calling her, it didn't matter to her anymore. Haley pressed the talk button quickly taking a deep breath to make it unobvious she was crying.

"Hello?" She could feel tears forming again in her eyes and she hastily tried to impede them before she had another meltdown on the phone.

"Hales, where are you? It's almost seven and I was getting worried." Her nerves seemed to calm when she heard the familiar voice on the other side of the phone.

"I don't know where I am. I went to the doctor and I couldn't take all this pressure so I just ran off and now I'm lost, and it's getting cold and..."

Lucas stopped her before she continued and attempted to calm her down. "Don't worry Haley, I'm getting in my car right now. I'll come find you."

He hung up the phone and ran out of his house almost forgetting his keys. Lucas didn't know where she was but he was determined to find her and wouldn't go home until he did. Driving around for nearly fifteen minutes he pulled into a dark alleyway recognizing Haley huddled against the wall shaking uncontrollably. He didn't turn off his car, instead ran right out and threw his arms around Haley to keep her warm.

"Lucas..." She said weakly staring up into her best friend's eyes. Her face pale and weary, she threw her arms around Lucas and weakly came to her feet while Lucas helped her up.

"It's okay Haley, I'm here and I'm not going anywhere." Haley rested her head on his shoulders and her grip around her neck was tight. If she could have she would have stayed like that like forever because for that brief moment she felt safe and loved and all her problems disappeared.

"I'm so scared Lucas. I can't do this by myself, I just can't." Silencing her again he rubbed her back and rocked back and forth to calm her down.

"I know Hales...but look at me." His hands on the side of her face, he bent down to eye level and stared at her fixedly. "I'm here for you and you know that. I will always be there for you and I won't let you go through this alone. Haley you're my best friend and you mean a lot to me, I'm just sorry you have to go through this in the first place." Embracing back into a hug, they stood like that for a little while longer until the weather became cruel and it began to rain. Lucas helped Haley back into the car and drove back into the night wanting more then ever to drive to Nathan's place and beat the shit out of him, but withdrew that thought for Haley's sake.

Looking out the window, cuddling up into the blanket Lucas brought for her to keep her warm, she closed her eyes and began to dream. She thought of how lucky she was to have a friend like Lucas and that'd she'd get through this with his help. Reaching her hand out to Lucas, he gripped her hand in his and squeezed it lightly. She'd be okay and she knew it.