"Oh God, Lucas! Yes! Baby, right there!"

Nathan turned over and buried his face in his pillow. He shut his eyes tight. For as much money as he was shelling out for the apartment, he thought the place could have had at least thicker walls.

"Damn, Brooke! Baby, I love you so much!"

Nathan looked at the clock. 2:07 a.m. Damn. The love fest in the room next door had been going on for almost two hours. What the hell was Lucas on, Viagra or something? Cursing out loud, he banged loudly on the wall. It was to no avail.

"Oh…oh…oh…Broody!"

"Jesus Christ", Nathan muttered to himself.

Those two were like rabbits. Did they ever stop? And besides, the fact that it was a little annoying, Nathan had to admit he was slightly jealous. It had been forever since he'd had pleasure that didn't involve a Jenna Jameson DVD and his well slicked right hand. But more than the actual act of sex itself, he just longed for that special human touch. Intimate affection from someone of the opposite sex. Someone to touch, to hold to feel…

The vibration of his cell phone caused him to nearly jump out of his skin. He briefly glanced at the Caller ID before answering it.

"Haley, what's up? Everything okay with Lillian?"

"Yeah. She's fine. Sleeping finally. Look, I'm sorry to call so late but your daughter has been up all night and now that's she finally asleep and Taylor's out, I'm kind of bored. I'm wide awake, too. I know you can be somewhat of a night owl so if I didn't wake you and you don't mind…"

"I'm on my way up", he said quickly.

Haley chuckled.

"That was a response without hesitation. Look, Nathan, you don't have to. I know it's late so if you were already in bed, then don't worry about it."

"Trust me", he said against another Brucas sex noise. "You just saved my life…or at least my sanity."

"What?"

"I'll explain when I get there."

Sticking his bare feet in sneakers and slipping a wife beater on, along with his basketball shorts, Nathan was out the door and on his way upstairs in a jiff. The door was slightly ajar and she was waiting for him in a white tank top and dark pajama bottoms.

"Warm milk?" she offered as he plopped down on the couch.

"Thanks", he took the steaming mug.

"So…care to tell me how I saved you?" she asked with a smile.

Nathan rolled his eyes.

"It seems I'm sharing an apartment with Ron Jeremy and Jenna Jameson", he shook his head. "Those two never stop going at it."

Haley shuddered.

"Iiiieewww. Totally bad mental picture. Imagining my Buddy having sex is…I don't know", she laughed. "But it's pretty bad. The only thing worse I can think of is my parents doing it."

Nathan grinned.

"You ever walk in on Jim and Lydia?"

"Hell no, thank God!"

"Seriously?"

"Seriously. But I think I heard them a time or two. I don't know. I tried to pretend like I didn't. But once Taylor went away to college and it was just the three of us in that big, old house…I don't know. I guess they got bold or something."

"Consider yourself lucky. I caught my parents…twice."

"No way!" Haley giggled.

"Way, unfortunately. The first time, I was like seven. And it was early on a Saturday morning. I used to get up in the summers so I could spend the day with Dad at the dealership. That was before he became the annoying, overbearing, evil prick we know and love to hate today. But anyway. I had this really bad dream and it was barely light outside yet so I'm sitting in my bed in my gay ass Spiderman pajamas convinced there is a freaking monster in my closet. I finally get the courage and I just go for it, I mean, a full on dead sprint to my parents' room. The door is closed but I open it and I see…oh man, this is traumatizing. I see, my…my mom's ass is like in the air and Dad is behind her."

"Oh God", Haley laughed, spitting out her milk as Nathan struggled to repeat the embarrassing tale.

"Dude, I am not making this up, I swear."

"So what did you do?"

"I was a second grader. I didn't know what the hell was going on. She was making these weird noises so I thought he was, you know, doing something to her."

"He was", Haley snickered.

"Well, duh but I thought he was doing something bad. So I run over to the bed and I grab like a shoe or something that was on the floor and I start hitting him across the back and I'm like, 'Get off my mommy! Stop hurting her!' And they were mortified and then later on Dad was trying to explain and it's just uh! I can't believe that!"

He covered his eyes as Haley tried to gain her composure.

"That's classic."

"Glad it's so amusing to you."

"And the second time?"

"I came home unexpectedly from college one weekend and they were on the floor. They were at least under some blankets that time, thank God. It was funny though. I have to give it to Dad, the setup was pretty pimp. It was like a little carpet picnic with champagne and strawberries and stuff. The lights were dimmed, the fireplace was roaring, and Frank Sinatra was playing in the background."

"Tell me your dad did not break out Frank."

"Yes he did", Nathan laughed with her.

"Wow. Kind of hard picturing Dan being romantic."

"Tell me about it."

Haley sighed.

"Deb must really love him. I always wondered why she stayed. Even when she was being a bitch to me, I still found it hard to believe a woman that nice could be with somebody so…not nice, I guess."

"I don't know why she stays either. I guess they do love each other but it's probably more out of habit than anything. Hell, they've been married almost 25 years. They're only 43 but I guess it's just a comfort thing with them now."

"You ever think about what it would have been like if Dan had married Karen instead of your mother?"

Nathan chuckled.

"Funny you ask that…"

"What's funny?" she turned to him, tucking her small feet underneath her as she got comfortable.

"This is weird and I've never really told anybody but I have this like, recurring dream about that."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Cool. What happens?"

"We're back in high school. I play street ball on the River Court with Fergie and Skills. And it's Lucas who is the star of the Ravens. Dad is a teacher and coach while Karen runs like this corporation of cafes. Luke is a total dick and basically does all the shitty things to me I used to do to him. Anyway, when my mom kept me without being married, my grandparents disowned her so she didn't have any of their money and had to everything on her own. She took out a loan and bought Deb's Den but it's still hard to make ends meet with the diner."

"What about Brooke and Peyton?"

"They're there. Peyton is Luke's girlfriend and she knows what a jackass he is. Brooke is the slutty cheerleader who keeps popping up in my shower naked."

"Interesting", Haley raised an eyebrow. "Total role reversal, huh?"

"Yeah but it's weird. They say, change one thing, change everything. I think that's true. Because in this dream, my dad did one thing differently. He chose Karen and Lucas instead. But it affected everyone's life and how they were as people."

"What do you mean?"

"Lucas was a jackhole, just like I was. I kind of had his personality. My dad was still a jerk but he was more passive aggressive. He didn't have all the power. In fact, Keith owned the dealership and he was kind of ruthless. And Karen wasn't as nice and she was more interested in her career than her family and she and Keith were having this affair."

"Wow", Haley raised her eyebrows. "That's crazy."

"Yeah…"

"So", Haley shrugged nervously. "Was…am I in your dream?"

He looked away.

"Yeah…you um, wear these funky hats and ponchos, you work at Deb's Den and you're my best friend…although we're kind of like flirty."

"Flirty, huh?"

"Yeah and one other thing."

"What's that?"

"In my dream, you're tone deaf."

Haley just looked at him, not sure of what to do or say next.

"Nathan…"

"Anyway. It's just a stupid, dream, right?"

"Right", she replied, her heart heavy.

They looked away, a series of thoughts running rampant on their separate minds but neither one spoke. A faint cry from the nursery broke the awkward silence.

"I'll get her", Nathan volunteered before Haley could stand up.

He went and tried to comfort the little girl in her crib but she wanted more attention. He lifted her and brought her out to the living room.

"She okay?" Haley asked.

"Just spoiled", Nathan grinned.

Sure enough, the child was quieted just being in the presence of her two parents and the television set. Nathan leaned back and placed Lillian on his chest against his. They watched a random show in silence as Haley's eye began to grow heavy. CAT emerged from here selected hiding space for the evening and rubbed against Haley's leg before finally hopping onto her lap. She stared at Nathan and the baby.

"Hey you", Haley cooed. "I haven't seen you all day."

Nathan just shook his head.

"You and your cats."

"CAT is my other baby, aren't you, girl?"

"I was always a dog man, myself."

"Look at this precious face. How can you not fall in love with her?"

"Because she looks like she's ready to claw my eyes out at any given second. Hales, make her quit looking at me like that."

"It means she likes you."

"Well, I'd hate to see the look if she didn't like me", he half joked.

The cat eventually gave way to fatigue as did the others. Dawn approached quickly and Haley, a wicked crook in her neck from sleeping the wrong way, frowned and stirred. Passed out on her lap was CAT. Her head had been resting against her ex husband's bare arm and she was ashamed to admit there was a thin trail of drool where her open mouth had been. Amused and embarrassed, she gently wiped at it, trying to do so without waking him. His muscles tightened but his eyes did not open as he kept his protective grip on their daughter.

Haley sighed. It was the picture of perfection. That's how it was always supposed to be. That's how she dared envision it, even years after the breakup. She and Nathan sleeping side by side surrounded by their pets and children. Her heart pounded. It was she wanted secretly but when had real, uncomplicated happiness ever bestowed itself upon Nathan and Haley? Not in years. It was always something, an unknown force or entity to cause a million problems and keep them apart. Her heart couldn't take much more and even if it could, now there was another more important factor to consider. Lillian was number one. She deserved two parents who loved her. And so far, everything was working out. Mom and Dad were content and civil and there for their little girl. You could even call them friends and that was a huge accomplishment in itself after so many years of heartache and unanswered questions. But when wanting more, the mere audacity of any inkling of hope for a possible romantic future together, that's when things started getting messy. They always did for Nathan and Haley. One or both end up getting hurt. When it was just them to consider, that was fine but now an innocent baby had been tossed in the mix. They had to think of how their mistakes, actions, emotions and reactions would ultimately affect Lillian.

Haley took a deep breath. It would never be like it was. That wasn't humanly possible. Dreams of a happy family with a sitcom ending were just that…dreams. But for one brief moment, for one early morning, they could have it all. Haley rested her head back on his arms and let slumber overtake her weary body once again.