A/N: In true One Tree Hill style I have called each chapter after a song. I'm a huge Naley fan but Haley really hurt Nathan so it's gonna take a lot of work to fix, if ever. I thought the last chapter kind of revolved around Nathan, Lucas and Haley, so I put a bit more Peyton and Brooke in this one, hope you like!
i heart One Tree Hill (Thanks for your kind review, hope you enjoy this chapter too!)
Nate and Jake (Glad you liked it, thanks for reviewing!)
Anna (Thanks for your suggestions, don't worry I'm a huge Naley fan, but that don't mean the road ain't gonna be bumpy, lol!)
karmabellexx (yay someone else how's a sucker for the brotherly love stuff, I love those guys and their interaction, hence whyI have loads in my story!)
Lexical (yay you like my angst, so gladI got it right, it's can be really hard to get right sometimes, anway sorry got off track there, thanks for you suggestions hope this has enough tragedy for you!)
unfolddream (Thanks for reviewing, hope you enjoy this one too!)
DuCksRVeRykOoL (yay you like it, hope this one is good too, thanks for reviewing!)
And on with the story...
Broken Chapter 2 – The Way We Get By
He looked so helpless and vulnerable, two things she rarely saw in him. Haley was standing at the door staring through the glass window. Every fibre of her wanted to run away somewhere, away from the pain, away from the guilt. But this wasn't about her, Nathan had nearly died and it was all her fault. But she still couldn't bring herself to go through the door, so there she stood.
He was so pale, just lying there, fast asleep. She wished she could just go in there, hug him and tell him everything was going to be alright. But how could it? Nathan had tried to end his life, you couldn't just kiss and make up and pretend that it never happened.
What have I done? She asked herself as she choked back more tears. He was lying there on that hospital bed because of her.
"You can go inside, you know," Lucas said from behind her.
Lightly shaking her head, her fear began to win control of her. "I can't do this," she whispered as she pushed past him and ran down the hall.
"Haley?" he called as he took off after her.
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Peyton sat in silence in the uncomfortable plastic chair in the waiting room. She felt like she was numb to everything. God she wished she could go back to when things were normal, but then she thought, when were things ever normal?
She was still in shock that Nathan would do something like this. She knew that he loved Haley, but she never realised how much in love with her, he was. And Jake; she couldn't stop worrying about him as well.
"Hey goldilocks," Brooke asked nudging her. "You want some coffee?"
"No, I'm ok, thanks," she replied as Brooke walked over to the machine.
Shifting in the chair she stared at the far wall. That's when she noticed Haley running through the waiting room and heading towards the door. Knowing she could probably use a friend right now she followed her out.
Peyton found her slumped on the ground near the door.
"Haley?" she said as she sat down beside her.
Turning her tear streaked face to Peyton, she tried to say something but instead all that came out was a sob.
"It's ok," Peyton said as she hugged Haley.
After a few minutes Haley managed to pull herself together, enough to speak anyway.
"I'm sorry," she apologised as she wiped away some of her tears.
"Don't be," Peyton told her.
"God, how did things get so messed up?" she asked, not really expecting an answer.
Peyton almost smiled at that. "Hey, it's Tree Hill. What else would you expect?"
A glimmer of a smile crossed Haley's face but was gone so quickly, Peyton couldn't be sure she didn't imagine it. She didn't know what to say to make Haley feel better; talking in these kinds of situations was never really her strong point. Now brooding, well she had that down to an art.
"Do you hate me?" Haley asked suddenly.
"Of course not, why would you think that?" Peyton asked, shocked by the question.
"Because I left without even saying goodbye. Because I didn't call. Because I nearly killed Nathan…"
"Haley, you didn't nearly kill Nathan," she told her friend.
"Yes I did," Haley said refusing to look at Peyton. "I left him behind when I went searching for my dream. When he came to see me, I was so surprised to see him I said some things I didn't really mean. I told him that our marriage might have been a mistake, that we might have taken things too fast."
Haley took a deep breath and forced herself to continue, she had to get this out. "I love him so much, but we're only seventeen and then with the tour. I just got so wrapped up in the moment and didn't really look at what I was doing, to you, Lucas, everyone and I didn't understand what I was doing to Nathan."
"Haley…" Peyton began but Haley cut her off.
"After the car crash he told me not to come home and I didn't. He needed me and I wasn't there. But the one thing I don't understand is why he would do something like this? It's not like him," she said, her eyes asking Peyton whether she knew. After all Peyton knew him better when he was in his self-destruct mode, since she had been dating him at the time.
"It's not your fault," Peyton told her. "We should have seen this coming, with the way he's been acting since you've been gone. He's been drinking a lot, getting into fights, even got himself arrested. But I thought Lucas was getting through to him, plus I was a bit sidetracked with all the stuff that's been going on with Jake."
"Jake?" Haley asked wondering how much she had missed.
"Long story."
Haley nodded. Letting this knew information wash over her. When Lucas had called her, he had told how worried about Nathan he was, but he hadn't said anything specific. If she had known, would things have been different?
"How do I fix this?" she pleaded.
"I really don't know," Peyton replied honestly. "But you have to talk to Nathan. You're the only one that can get through to him, you're the only one that can save him."
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"Haley?" Lucas called as he nearly ran straight into Brooke.
"Whoa," Brooke gasped still gripping onto the coffee cup, somehow she managed not to spill it everywhere.
"Sorry," he said. "Have you seen Haley?"
"Yeah, Peyton went after her," she told him.
Lucas was about to walk away when Brooke placed her free hand on his arm.
"How you holding up?"
Sighing he let Brooke lead him over to a chair. "I'm not really sure," he replied honestly.
She gave him a small smile. "I know what you mean. I don't know how I am so calm right now."
"I feel like I'm in a dream that I can't wake up from, because this can't be real," Lucas said as he put his head in his hands.
Setting the unwanted coffee aside Brooke pulled him into a hug.
"Thank god, you got there when you did," she whispered.
Pulling back Lucas looked at her, his pain showing in his eyes.
"But what if I hadn't?"
"But you did, Lucas you can't think like that."
"And what's to stop him trying again?" he asked. "I can't lose him, not like this."
Brooke felt her calm demeanour start to crack, unsure of what to say, she said the only thing she could. "You won't!"
I hope she's right, he thought to himself.
"Lucas?" a voice asked jerking him out of his thoughts. Looking up he found himself staring at his father.
The pain was quickly replaced with anger. "What are you doing here?" he spat.
"How is he?" Dan asked, slightly confused at Lucas' reaction.
"Why do you care?" Lucas shot at him as he rose to his feet.
"He's my son, of course I care."
"You have a great way of showing it, especially after what you did!"
Raising an eyebrow, Dan inquired. "What did I do?"
"Son of a bitch," Lucas cried as he swung a punch that firmly connected with Dan's jaw.
Recoiling in surprise Dan just narrowly avoided Lucas' next attack.
"Lucas, no," Brooke shouted as she shot up from her seat and planted herself between the two, pushing Lucas back a few steps.
"What was that for?" Dan demanded as he wiped the blood from his lip away.
"Don't act like you don't know," Lucas warned. "You made him sign those papers."
"That was for his own good," Dan replied.
"His own good?" Lucas almost laughed. "How is his making him sign those damn papers for his own good? He just tried to kill himself!"
"What?" Dan asked, failing to see the connection.
"When I found him, bleeding on the kitchen floor," Lucas told him harshly. "He was mumbling over and over again, about 'how he made me sign.'"
Dan stood there frozen, not sure what to think, what to say, what to do. Was this really his fault?
"You did this to him!" Lucas shouted at him, as he tried to move around Brooke but she refused to budge.
"Luke, you have to calm down," she pleaded with him, pushing him back a few more steps.
"Calm down?" he asked outraged.
"Yes. You need to calm down," she told him firmly as she grabbed his arm and dragged him away from the still stunned Dan.
"Brooke," Lucas began to argue.
"No, you have to listen to me, ok," she said as she continued to pull him down the hall. "Yelling and getting angry isn't going to help."
Finally giving in, he stopped resisting and let Brooke drag him away. Once she decided she had put enough distance between the two, she stopped. They were now in a large hallway, not far from Nathan's room.
Lucas leant against the wall, sliding down until he was sitting on the floor.
Brooke joined him on him on the cold tile floor, letting a shiver pass over her. After what felt like hours of silence she softly said to him. "Talk to me."
"I'm so lost," he told her, the pain evident in his voice. "My baby brother is hurting and I don't know how to help him."
"I wish I could help, but I don't know what to do either," she confessed.
Looking down at his bloodstained t-shirt he whispered. "I have never been so scared."
Trying to hold in her tears Brooke took Lucas' hand in hers. She didn't have the words but knew that right now all he needed was her support.
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"I don't know if I can face him," Haley admitted to Peyton as they sat on the ground outside the hospital doors.
"You have to at least try," Peyton reasoned.
"I…" she began but stopped as more tears slid down her cheeks.
"Come on, let's go see him," Peyton suggested but she recieved no reply from Haley.
Peyton saw the signs gradually appearing; Haley was pale, her body was shaking and she was slowly slipping into shock. Peyton knew that she had to do something, soon.
"Haley, I know that you're hurting right now but Nathan nearly died. You can't runaway this time and hope things will get better. You have to pull yourself together, because he needs you. You have to do something," she argued knowing that she was being very blunt and her words were harsh but she couldn't think of any other way to snap Haley back to reality. "You have to be strong for him, do you think you can do that?"
Haley remained silent as she stared off into the night sky. Peyton moved around so that she was kneeling right in front of Haley, taking her by the shoulders she gently shuck her.
"Haley James Scott," she shouted at her. This gave the desired effect when Haley's eyes seemed to focus once again. "You love him right?"
"Yes," she whispered.
"Then fight for him," she told her.
Haley let out another sob but Peyton continued. "You're stronger than this, I know you are. Nathan needs you right now, all you have to do is be there."
Wiping away the last of her tears she nodded slowly. Peyton was right, she may be in pain but it paled in comparison as to what Nathan was going through. In the last few months, with the music, Haley had been putting herself first, now it was time to put Nathan first.
"I can do that," she said softly as she allowed Peyton to pull her to her feet.
"That's my girl," Peyton said as she slung her arm around Haley's shoulders and guided her friend back into the hospital.
Her fear slowly began to build up again as they reached his room. Looking through the glass she could see her husband lying there as vital blood was given to him by a drip.
Turning back to Peyton she asked. "But what do I say?"
"Just listen to your heart," she replied giving Haley a little push towards the door.
She took a deep breath, pushing her fears aside as much as she could as she reached for the door handle.
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I know it's kind of evil to leave it there but I'm not entirely sure how I want the meeting between Haley and Nathan to go yet. Although i have a vague idea of where I'm taking the story now your comments and suggestions would be a big help! Not sure when the next update will be cause of my exams but I'll try, oh this would have been up a few days ago but it wouldn't let me log in! Anyway hope you enjoyed and please review and tell me what you think, good or bad I really wanna know! $