Summary: Nathan tries his hand at babysitting.
Spoilers: Set late season 1, after 'How Can you be sure', but Brooke and Lucas are very close. Or she's drunk. Anyway, ignore that slight error in continuity.
Author's Notes: My first time writing OTH fluff, and really writing the characters. Tell me if it's majorly OOC, and thanks in advance for reading.
Disclaimer: The characters of One Tree Hill do not belong to me, and neither does the story The Best Nest. I'm making no money off of this.
---
"Oh, oh!"
"Nice try, loser."
"Shut up, Luke."
"Oh!"
"Ha!"
"Do we want to go in there?" Peyton questioned, as she, Haley and Brooke stood outside Nathan's apartment.
Haley shrugged and opened the door. Jake and Lucas were sprawled on the floor, glued to the playstation.
"Hi," Haley said, putting her purse down and wincing at the mess of pizza boxes, soda cans and who knew what else strewn about the living room.
"Mm," Lucas grunted.
"Where's Jenny?" Peyton questioned, trying to get Jake's attention.
"Where's Nathan?" Haley asked the room at large.
"Jenny's in there," Jake said, gesturing behind him without looking up.
"Oh, you put her in the wall, I see." Brooke rolled her eyes at Peyton's sarcasm.
"She's in Nate's room – oh!"
The boys were a lost cause. Brooke sat down on the couch beside Lucas, intent on distracting him completely.
Haley headed for Nathan's room, Peyton close behind.
---
Nathan rolled his eyes at his brother and Jake. Glancing at the clock, he frowned. 9:30. Who knew when the girls would be back from the mall or wherever the hell Brooke and Peyton had dragged Haley to.
Heading for his room to grab his cell and call Haley, he stopped in the doorway. Jenny was lying on his bed, looking around his room. She wasn't crying, but making little noises that indicated she could start at any second.
Nathan's first impulse was to run and get Jake. His next impulse was to panic. He forced himself not to do either, and crossed the room slowly.
"Hi," he said. Haley and everyone always talked to Jenny in high, pathetic voices. There was no way Nathan was doing that. "Hi, Jen." Did people call her Jen? Could she even understand him? Was he scaring her?
Jenny whined some random baby crap and Nathan slid on the bed next to her. She'd better not need to be changed; he was not doing that. Ever.
"Your daddy's out there being an idiot with my brother," he told her, horrified that his voice sounded pretty damned pathetic in spite of himself.
"Eeee?" Jenny questioned.
"Uh… yeah," Nathan said. "Eee. Like um, like eeeediot! Can you say idiot, Jenny?"
"Eee," she said again, laughing. Had he done that? Had he made her laugh?
"Close enough," he told her. "Let's um, let's see what you have in this bag thing of yours," he cried, spotting the diaper bag lying beside her.
He rooted around and pulled out a bottle. He hoped it didn't need to be heated up or anything…
"Hey, hey, you want this?" Jenny squealed and wiggled around.
Nathan awkwardly reached for her. He'd have to hold her or something.
There was a reason he'd never helped Haley out when she'd babysat Jenny! Now he wished he had, instead of trying to get her to make out.
"I um I don't really know how to do this," he told Jenny. She gazed up at him with big eyes, looking straight into his.
He swallowed hard and slid an arm under her head, then another under her back. As carefully as he could he brought her into his lap, sort of pulling her into a sitting position. She whimpered a bit, but once she was settled she seemed okay. He kept one arm around her, holding her upright and reveling in the warmth of her small body against his.
"Okay, that wasn't so bad, right?" Jenny whimpered some more. "Okay, so I sucked at that. Can you say sucked?"
"Sssuuuueeeiii," Jenny said gleefully.
"Well, you can certainly suck," Nathan muttered as he stuck the bottle in her mouth and she accepted it eagerly.
He held the bottle with one hand, his arm still around her. He sort of patted her back, remembering Haley or someone saying something about babies needing to burp or something.
Once the bottle was gone, Nathan kept Jenny in his lap, too afraid to try and lay her back down. He could try screaming for Jake but he didn't want Jenny screaming to. He could try standing up with her – no way. No. Way.
"So um, let's see what else is in here." He pulled out a purple monkey and Jenny went nuts, waving her little arms everywhere.
"You um, you want the monkey?" He handed it to her and she hugged it. Nathan wondered suddenly, with the empty bottle lying beside him, if Jenny's able to feet herself? Whatever.
"Um, hey um here's a book! You wanna read the book?" Nathan loathes reading out loud. Whenever he'd have to do it tutoring with Haley he'd always dread it. She never said anything, but he stumbled over the simplest words. The Best Nest couldn't be too hard though.
"Okay, let's um, let's read this book. Look, there's a bird." He jabbed his finger at the cover. "Can you say bird?"
"Bir," Jenny said happily.
"Yeah, good! Okay, let's read about the bir's."
---
Haley opened Nathan's bedroom door and froze.
"And the bird said, 'this nest is best!' Can um can you say best?"
"Eee," Jenny said.
"Close enough. Look, here's the bird's new nest." Jenny giggled.
"Haley – "
"Shh," Haley hissed. Peyton peered over her shoulder and grinned.
She ran back to the couch and rummaged in her bag franticly, while Haley watched Nathan continuing to read to Jenny. He wasn't the best reader but he didn't appear to be stuttering at all. Jenny was sitting in his lap, clutching her purple monkey and engrossed in the story.
"And there's the evil cat," Nathan was saying. "Hales always liked cats but they're stupid. Can you say stupid? Wait, no, don't. I've already taught you sucks and idiot, I'd better teach you something else or your daddy will hate me. Can um, can you say Haley?"
"Ha," Jenny said.
"Yeah, Ha. Ha-ley. Hal-ey."
"Pey!" Jenny squealed, spotting Peyton as she returned.
"Yeah, Pey. Like Peyton. Hey, good job! Hey – what are you looking at?"
"Pey," Jenny said again.
"Peyton?" Nathan glanced toward the door in confusion. "…oh, look, there's Peyton. And Haley. And Peyton has a camera."
"Pey Pey Pey!" Jenny wiggled excitedly, waving her monkey and whacking Nathan in the face.
"Say cheese, Jen," Peyton called and snapped a picture before Nathan could duck.
"Wha – no!" Nathan blinked at the flash and Jenny giggled, whacking him with the monkey again.
"Eee," she said to Nathan.
"Yeah, the camera is an eee."
"Eee," she said to him again.
"No, I'm Nathan. Pey has the eee," he encysted, while Haley and Peyton collapsed against the door frame, laughing.
"Ha?" Jenny questioned, looking at Haley.
"Yeah, she's Ha, she's Pey, and that's the eee," he said, pointing at the camera.
"Eee," Jenny said, looking at him again.
"Did my Eee have fun tonight?" Haley questioned, coming over and sitting beside him.
"Eee," Jenny giggled, smiling at Nathan.
"Shut up," Nathan said to Haley, but he was smiling in spite of himself.
"Did Nathan take care of you, Jenny?" Haley asked, bending down and making faces at the little girl.
Jenny giggled more and Nathan leaned over and kissed Haley on the cheek.
"Let's never have kids," he told her.
"Don't you mean let's never have an evil cat?" Haley leaned up and kissed him on the lips.
"Okay Jen, let's get you away from the lovebirds." Peyton swooped in, scooping Jenny from Nathan's lap.
"Eee," Jenny said happily, waving at Nathan.
"Bye Jen," he said. "Oh wait, here's her bottle."
"It's empty," Peyton said as she took it.
"Yeah she was hungry," Nathan said sheepishly. "Take the book too; she'll probably want to know the rest."
"Nathan Scott, babysitter extraordinaire," Peyton said, laughing.
"Shut up," Nathan said again, burying his face in Haley's hair.
"Eee," Jenny said, agreeing with Peyton.
End