IT had been 3 weeks since the run in with Haley and Nathan still couldn't help but think about her every night but to him this wasn't weird because ever since they day she left all he could think about was her but this time around he tried everything to get her off his mind, he refused to watch any sports that had New jersey teams playing in them , he refused to even listen to the radio cause he knew that one of their songs would suddenly get played and it would cause memories of her to appear, he even tried spending time with Natalie and for once their bounding time together didn't seem that bad, for once their time together wasn't spent fighting and arguing it was actually spent with joking around and just talking like normal people, sure Natalie was still one money hungry bitch and could get under Nathan's skin in the matter of seconds but ever since he told her about Haley after he had a few beers in him. She seemed to be very caring and comforting to him, he couldn't believe this but he was actually starting to grow a liking to Natalie, The two seemed to be connecting the past few weeks she understood Nathan through all his anger that he held in. And when he told her about his past with Haley she still accepted him with open arms, she was starting to act like a normal girlfriend, the kind of girlfriend he needed in his life since the day Haley Left.
Nathan had just left work and was heading to The Little Italy Restaurant to met Natalie for a dinner Date.
Nathan arrived and headed off to a side table where he spotted Natalie sitting
" hay babe" Nathan greeted Natalie with a kiss on the check
" Hay…..how was work?" Natalie questioned as Nathan took a seat
Nathan: same as always, quick day yet very stressfull.
" Well when we get home ill be sure to take that stress off you" Natalie replied seductively as she played footsy with Nathan
" Cant wait" Nathan said with a smile
Natalie: So you coming with me tomorrow to pick out my purse for the wedding?
Nathan: yeah but you'll have to wait cause remember we got that drive to Tree hill tomorrow morning
" oww Nathan I need that purse though I don't have any other purse that will match with my dress, " Natalie started to whine to Nathan
"hay baby im just joking with you, we cant get the purse tomorrow but it doesn't matter cause "
Nathan pulled out from his brief case a tan and white coach purse .
Nathan: I already got it for you
Natalie stood over and bent over to Nathan and kissed him gently on the lips, she pulled back and sat back down as Nathan handed her over the purse
Natalie: oww Nathan this purse is beautiful, thank you so much you are the greatest boyfriend ever, I feel like the most lucky girl in the world when I with you.
Nathan grab her hand and kissed it
Nathan: yeah well I'm one lucky guy to have you.
Waitor approached them.
Waitior: Would you like to start your order?
" could you give us about 5 more minutes " Nathan asked
Waitor: sure ill be back then.
Nathan: thank you
Natalie: So what are you getting?
" the chicken defiantly" Nathan said as a matter of fact
Natalie: well I'm getting the soup and salad so why did you ask for 5 more minutes if you know what your getting?
Nathan: Well I been thinking and there's something I been meaning to tell you, these past few weeks we really connected and I just love being around you anymore and tonight seems like the perfect night to tell you that ( Nathan took a breath) I love you.
A smile krept across Natalie's face as she bent over grabbed his face and kissed him.
Natalie: I love you to Nathan, I always have
Nathan sat there and thought for a moment if he really meant what he said, did he love Natalie, at that moment he wasn't quite sure why he told Natalie that he loved her, cause after he said them words he felt a sense of regret come across him, them 3 words always seem to get to Nathan ever since he first spoke them words to his parents as a kid, he would be leaving to go off to preschool and before he entered he always gave his father or mother a kiss goodbye along with an I love you see ya later and his parents would responded with an I love you also. Although as Nathan got older he would rarely say these words to his parents because he believed why tell them he loved them when they didn't even have an ounce a love for him. Cause if his mother loved him she would of never left him month after month with that ego sadistic father of his and wouldn't of wasted time they could have had for bounding on some guy that she just wanted to get an easy fuck out of, which made Nathan also think did his own mother love his father cause if she did she would of never cheated on him cause last time he checked if you loved someone you wouldn't go sleep with another person but then again he couldn't really blame his mom cause his father treated her as his property as a piece of shit. Although Nathan didn't feel much love from his mother, she was somewhat more caring then his father would ever be. Dan Scott the father from hell ever since Nathan was young he treated Nathan as if he was some kind of robot, he could remember Dan pushing him to the point where Nathan thought he wasn't good enough in the eyes of his father so he took Pills to up his basketball game just so he could simply make his father happy. So what kind of father was Dan if he treated his own son as some kind of chained up dog and even had him go out of his way to impress him he surely wasn't a father who loved his son or even a good husband for that matter. To Nathan it seemed like he was alone that no one cared about him the real him, until Haley came along, she understood Nathan better then anyone and made Nathan feel wanted , happy and most of all Loved and that's exactly what Nathan needed, so finally he declared his love for Haley and she responded with an I love you to, Nathan was estatic he finally had someone who loved him for him but just like his parents Haley betrayed him to , she left him not only once but twice and never looked back. Now if she really did love Nathan why did she leave he wanted to no if you say you love someone how can you just pick up and leave them, Nathan knew he could of never left her cause that was the only person Nathan ever truly Loved and he couldn't imagine ever being without her but he guessed Haley thought different. So after telling Natalie tonight that he loved her he seconded guessed his self and thought I don't love her, I just love the fact that she'll never leave me like Haley did as long as he had his money Natalie was sure as hell never going to leave Nathan's side. If he had balls he would of finish the I love you with saying because I no you'll never leave my ass cause ill always support you with my paycheck but he didn't say it, all that came out was an I love you and that was the first time in Nathan's life that he had said them words and not meant them but he didn't care cause unlike Haley his mother and father, Natalie was a safe bet cause as long as he had his job she would stay and if she left it really didn't matter because unlike the other times he said I love you he knew the outcome of this one.
Nathan snapped back out of his thought " yeah can we order now?"
Natalie smiled " sure "
Back in Deptford New Jersey Haley sat in her bedroom packing a couple last minute items when Taylor entered the room.
Taylor: Little sister
Haley jumped around not noticing Taylor entered the room.
Haley: o hay Tay.
Taylor: almost done packing?
Haley closed up her suit case " not almost but done " Haley smiled as she placed her suitcase on the ground
Taylor sat down on the bed " well I just wanted to inform you that Lucas has been calling your cell phone for the past 5 minutes and I just noticed his missed calls and the three voice messages he left you."
Haley: yeah well he probably thinks I'm going to be a no show since I haven't called him since last night, I should give him a call on the way to Tree hill so he can sleep peacefully knowing that I will be attending the wedding.
" so about this wedding, I cant believe your going back to Tree hill back to where your life, hell where my life begun back to your past." Taylor stated
" Yeah I no it all seems so weird never in a million years would I think I would be back there but I must make peace with my past that is if my past will even talk to me in a peace full matter" Haley replied
" by past you mean Nathan huh?" Taylor questioned but already knew the answer
" Yeah he's going to be the biggest challenge but don't get me wrong everyone that I left behind is going to be a challenge to make good with. I mean me and Lucas are okay now we had that long awaited talk that was more then needed but there are still the others like Peyton, she always seemed like a female Lucas but she was more misunderstood. She always listened to me Peyton and when I would screw up or do something stupid she would always be there understanding that I did what I did for a good reason. I can only imagine how she is now I wonder if her and Jake ever got that happily ever after life with Jenny. Then came Brooke, she introduced me to the funnier side of life the side of life were all things shouldn't be taken so serious, most people took Brooke to be a stuck up little rich whore but when I got to no her I saw her true side that like all humans she had a heart a big heart if that but once you break her heart if was hard for her to trust you again I'm just hoping I can rebuild my trust with her.
" She must still want some friendship with you if she invited you to her own wedding and being that most of Tree Hill will be there I'm guessing that they cant hate you that much" Taylor said giving the younger James sister hope
" yeah but it wasn't her who invited me to her wedding it was Lucas, I wonder if he even told her I was going " Haley questioned
" Don't be silly of course he told her, I mean she is going to be his wife and there not going to hid anything from one another not that your visit should be something he would hide anyways" Taylor said stating what she believed
" yeah I guess your right, Im just nervous you no and to top it off seeing Brooke and Peyton is sure as hell going to be hard but facing Karen and Keith they were like second parents to me, Karen practically raised me and you know that and Keith always played the role of a 2nd father to me when I was younger and then when I left without warning……
" Haley stop it" Taylor interrupted
" Like I said stop beating yourself over this okay, your going to go back to Tree hill and have a good time catch up with everyone and then finally when the time is right you and Nathan will finally have that long awaited talk and no what He's not going to hate you for what you did and neither is anyone else cause I want you to promise me that you'll tell them, the whole entire truth on why you left from being pregnant to Dan Scott threatening you out of Tree hill.
" O my god Dan " Haley thought aloud
" He's going to be my 2nd biggest challenge next to Nathan" Haley said in a worried voice
" Haley listen to yourself, did you take a look in the mirror yet, your no longer that high school girl that was easily intimidated, you're a grown ass women who for the past 7 years has held her grounds very well and hasn't had anyone boss her around, Hales don't let him bring you down of all people he's ego is big enough. Having you fall to him again would only make it grow more. Just promise me you'll let them all know that Dan is to blame for the drama that's been going on for the past 7 years.
Haley bent down to pick up her suit case to walk out the room but stopped in front of Taylor " Im sorry Tay, I'm done breaking promises and that's just one I don't know if I can keep "
Taylor shook her head " well at least promise me one other thing "
" Yeah and what's that?" Haley questioned Taylor as Taylor handed her off her Cell phone.
" Listen to your heart" Taylor replied
" That I can promise cause that's exactly what I should of done 7 years back" Haley said as she exited the room
Haley walked down the hallway into her son and daughters room she saw her son Alex sitting reading some children's book that Taylor had bought him a few months back.
"So what you reading there buddy?" Haley asked as she sat next to her son on the floor
" Penny and the prince" Alex answered his mother as he placed the book down to talk to her
" So do you like it?" Haley asked
" yeah this is my second time reading it " Alex turned to Haley
Haley couldn't help but stop to think for a minute and see just how much Alex was like her, she remember being around his age and could read books for hours, she mainly remembers going into Taylor's school bag and taking out the books she would have to read for school and read them and later help out Taylor doing her book reports since Taylor wasn't that big on doing school work period. It also amazed Haley how young Alex was but still had the reading level of a 4th grader.
" Really? Well what's this book that you're so interested in about?" Haley smiled at her son
" Its about this rich prince named Danny and his maid penny and how they want to be together but Danny's family is rich and mean and they think Penny is dirty and not good enough for their son so they try to separate the two for 10 years by sending Penny away and Making Danny marry some Spoiled Princess but in the end Danny and Penny fight through dragons, knights and their families to finally be together" Alex said in a excited voice as he finished telling Haley about the story
Haley just sat there for a moment and took in all that her 6 year old son said, she thought if this story didn't hit close to home with her and Nathan, Two people who want to be together but ones family thinks the other one isn't good enough for the other and there forced to move on with life but somehow fate brings them back together. What are the chances that he would be reading a book like this?
" So they live happily ever after huh?" Haley asked after snapping back to her and her son's conversation
" yeah a story isn't complete unless there's a happily ever after mommy" Alex told his mother
Haley smiled at the last comment Alex just said a story isn't complete unless there's a happily ever after she just wondered if that was true in all cases, her and Nathan's case to be more specific.
Haley stood up " alright come here sport give your mommy a big hug and kiss cause im going to miss you so much when I'm gone "
Alex stood up and wraped his arms around Haley hugging her and reached up and gave her a kiss " love you mommy"
Haley stood their still hugging him " Love you to Alex, now you better call me every night and be on your extra best behavior for aunt Taylor"
Alex: Promise
Haley let go of her son as she exited from his room and walked down the steps and to the outside area where her Daughter Abby was sitting on the step playing a hand held game of Basketball.
" Hay, winning?" Haley asked as she sat down next to Abby
" Almost" Abby answered her mother quickly, her eyes never leaving the screen on the game.
" well I just wanted to say goodbye to you before I left" Haley told her
" Your leaving now mom?" Abby questioned as she paused her game
" yeah I have a long ride ahead of me , so I got to get on the rode now" Haley informed her
" okay " abby turned to her mother hugging her
" love you sweetie, be good for aunt Taylor and watch out for Alex okay?" Haley said still hugging Abby as she was hugging her she noticed something shinny sitting next to her so she reached out and grabbed it.
" Abby, what is this" Haley asked as she picked up a necklace chain with a ring on it, a wedding ring to be exact.
" The night Kevin Kinny came to Tj's I was playing basketball with that Nathan guy and he left it there so I was going to trade it with Alex for one of his Playstation games."
Haley took a look at that Necklace with the ring, she studied it and could have sworn she saw this somewhere before, somewhere before in her past , she looked inside of the ring when she noticed the number 445 engraved in little practically un notice able writing.
" Honey do you mind if mommy keeps this, please, you can trade one of your own playstation games for Alex's or even play him in a game of basketball and winner gets to use the game"
Haley knew for a fact it was wrong to tell Abby to play against Alex for one his belongings in basketball cause she knew Abby would be victorious but that was all she could think of to persuade Abby to let her keep the Necklace with the ring.
" oww yeah ill defiantly win Alex PS game in a basketball game, so yeah you can keep the necklace mommy but why do you want it mommy? " Abby asked
" So I can return it to its rightful owner " Haley told her as she stood up getting ready to leave
" Who that Nathan guy?" Abby questioned her
" I guess you could say that" Haley said as she grabbed her bags and went to her car
Haley got into her car as Abby waved to her goodbye along with blowing kisses at her
" Be good baby and remember Mommy loves you" Haley told Abby as she rolled the window down and rode off
As Haley Was driving she took a quick look at the necklace with HER wedding ring attached to it , Yeah that was Haley's ring alright she remember the number 445 engraved on it, 445 was the number of rings the company that Nathan bought it at had sold and she remember well that he bought the four hundred and forty fifth one that day and she also remember a month after her and Nathan finally got divorced that she went to his house to talk to him and accidentally left her ring there. As time passed she figured Nathan would have thrown it out or even sold it but little did she know all this time Nathan hadn't thrown it out or sold it but he kept it after all these years but why? Better yet why did he have it on him that night two weeks back.
Back at Nathan Scott's house in New York
Nathan was walking down the steps on his half a million dollar home to get a glass of milk before he went to sleep for the night when he noticed his house phone blinking, he looked over at and noticed there was a message on his phone for him, he pressed the button down to listen to it as he entered his kitchen and opened the fridge for the milk.
Message : Nate, Its me Your brother, pick up the phone , pick up, okay so im guessing your not home, well since this is the second time I'm calling you, since I called your cell phone but no answer I figured I'd tell you over your house phone message machine since I don't need you breaking and throwing your cell phone after you hear what I'm going to tell you.
Nathan finished pouring his milk and left the milk on the counter top as he stopped to pay more attention to Lucas's message.
Message: Now I no the plan for the wedding was you escorting Bevon Down the isle but Last night Bevon's grandmother passed away so she is going to have to attend her funeral, which happens to be the same day of our wedding now at first me and Brooke had no idea on who to replace Bevon but since most of all our friends from Tree hill will be in the wedding we thought it would be complete if we had the whole gang back together and after talking it over with Brooke we decided that since she's coming back for the wedding it would only seem right if she was in it, so we want you to escort Haley down the isle, she's now taking Bevons spot as a brides mates, Now just like you I couldn't get a hold of her either but I left a message on her phone and she should be calling me back, now I know you want to kill me but its only walking up an Isle together I know you can at least be civil enough to do that. Alright man Brooke needs me, make sure you call back
Nathan stood there for a few minutes before throwing his glass of milk against the wall
Nathan: He has got to be fucking kidding me