Haley woke up to the sunlight pouring in from the window. She was confused at first about where she was until she realized the previous night's events. Apparently she and Lucas fell asleep on the couch watching a movie. Trying to carefully get up from underneath his grasp, he woke up anyways.
"5 more minutes mom."
"I'm glad you think so highly of me," she remarked sarcastically.
"Hales? What are you doing here?"
"Hmm.. last night ring a bell?"
"Oh yeah.. Guess I just thought it was a dream. Glad it wasn't though! So how about we go over to the café for some breakfast!"
"Sounds good. I never got the chance to say hi to your mom last night."
"Well, you're going to have to wait a little longer! She went to New Zealand with Andy."
"Wow Luke, you ok with that?"
"Yeah, she deserves to be with someone that makes her happy. I kind of always wished it was Keith, but Andy's pretty cool. Come on, lets go get some food!"
Lucas and Haley drove over to the café and realized it wasn't open. Deb was supposed to be running the café while Karen was in New Zealand.
"That's weird. Where do you think she could be?" Lucas wondered aloud.
Deb and Nathan walked into Dan's room to see his body lying there motionless. Wires and tubes hooked up everywhere. He didn't look too bad. A few noticeable burns, nothing major. Deb and Nathan tried to get comfortable sitting in the hospital chairs while an awkward silence fell upon the room.
"Sooo…" They both began at the same time.
"How did things go with Haley last night?" Deb honestly wanted to know.
"Well, she said she made a mistake. Which I already knew. It's just the pain is just too much sometimes. I mean, I gave up High Flyers for her. And when the tour came up, she didn't give it up for me. Suddenly music was more important to her."
"Honey, I don't think anything is more important than you to her."
"Yeah I doubt that, but thanks mom."
"I'm serious sweetie. She might not be your favorite person right now, but you love her. You married her. You chose to spend your life with her. At least hear her out. Trust me, your father and I would have separated long ago if he hadn't given me any more chances."
"I thought you would be happy that Haley left me. It's not like you exactly welcomed her into the family."
"I know I was harsh on you two. It's just that every mother doesn't want to lose her son. And to see another woman hold a piece of your heart that I can't ever hold saddens me sometimes. I took my anger out on you guys and I'm sorry for that. But I am willing to give her another chance. Please Nate just hear her out. You might be surprised at what she has to say."
"Yeah, I guess. I don't know. I leave for High Flyers tomorrow, so it's not like we can spend a lot of time together just talking this summer."
"Well is High Flyers really your dream?"
"You know, Lucas sort of asked me the same question when I took the HCM test. He asked that if I knew I had HCM wouldn't it be like giving up my future. At the time I said Haley was my future. And honestly, I still believe that. She makes me happy, she makes me laugh, and obviously she can piss me off. But I love her. I just don't know if it's enough. If I don't go to High Flyers, will I regret it?"
"Well maybe you have your answer then. Talk to her today, work things out. Go to the camp tomorrow and hopefully in the end, you won't regret anything."
Nathan gets up and hugs Deb. "Thanks mom. I guess I'm going to go find Haley and finish packing! Call me if anything changes with dad."
"Of course I will. Now go get your wife!" After Nathan left, Deb went down to the chapel, once again, to pray.
Lucas tried calling Deb on her cell, but kept getting the message saying it was shut off. "I guess it would be ok if the cafe didn't open just this once.."
"Don't worry about it Luke. I'm sure Deb has a good reason as to why she's not here. Anyways I think I'm going to go back to the apartment and try and fix it up. I guess I'll continue living there with or without Nathan..."
"Again Hales I gotta say everything will work out. Do you want me to come with you?"
"No that's ok. I think I'll just run to the store to buy some paint and then head over. Call me later!"
"Ok I will.. be careful!"
"Yes mommy." She chuckled and walked down the street.
Finally after buying paint to match the color her walls used to be, she headed back to the apartment. 'It's so empty and unwelcoming.' she thought.
Haley then noticed a piece of paper on the floor. She picked it up and realized it was one of Peyton's drawings, or at least the same style. "Sometimes they come back." She read aloud. "Sometimes they come back.." And for the first time since she got back to Tree Hill she cried. Crying was nothing new to Haley. She cried herself to sleep nearly every night she was away. Longing for Nathan to be beside her, longing to see his face in the morning, and it never happened. So she came back to try and fix the mess she made. And as she expected, Nathan was bitter towards her. She deserved this though, right? Haley left Nathan. Not the other way around. And from the looks of this drawing, he had high hopes that she would come back. But she didn't until it was too late. So there she sat in the middle of the floor, of her empty apartment, surrounded by paint cans, crying like there was no tomorrow. Crying so hard, she didn't even hear the door open behind her.
"Haley?" She jumped at the sound of his voice. "Haley what's wrong?"
"This!" She shoved the piece of paper in his face. "Everything I did to hurt you. I left you and you came after me. I left you and you still had hope that I would come back. I'm so sorry.." The tears began flowing even harder as Nathan pulled her into a hug.
"Listen, everything will be alright. You're home, I'm home. Come on lets get something to eat so we can talk."
"Ok," she sniffled. "The café isn't open though. Where is your mom?"
"Oh! Well someone tried to kill Dan last night by lighting the dealership on fire. He's in the hospital in a coma and my mom is with him."
"Oh my gosh Nathan, I'm sorry."
"Ah don't be. He got what he deserved. So how about we go back to my house and see what we can dig up there?" They left the apartment hand in hand. Things were definitely looking up.
When they got to the house..
"Haley what kind of a sandwich do you want? Turkey? Ham? PB & J?"
"Are you sure you can handle making a meal?"
"Hey I resent that. Just because the pancake incident of October 4th went up in flames doesn't mean that I can't make a sandwich."
"If you say so, turkey please."
Nathan finished the sandwiches and they walked into the living room to watch a movie. 'Here goes nothing,' Haley thought to herself.
"Listen.." They both began.
"You first."
"Haley, I just gotta say this and get it out there. I'm leaving tomorrow. For High Flyers." He awaited for her response.
"Um.. Wow! That's great. Finally going after your dream. I really am happy for you. Although I do regret not bringing you along with me on the tour, it was great to experience one of my dreams."
"And I regret you not bringing me along either." He chuckled. Haley wasn't too sure how to take the remark. "Hales, It's okay, I'm just kidding. But we really need to talk about us."
"Okay, Let me go first. When I left, I was confused. This amazing opportunity was practically being handed to me, but I didn't really want to leave you either."
"But you did." He smirked.
"Please Nathan, just let me finish! Performing on stage wasn't the same anymore. Everyone I knew was mad at me for just leaving, you, Lucas, Brooke, and Peyton. I didn't have anyone to share my success with. I think it started to show in my performances. The tour managers began questioning if I could even do it. I became more and more depressed, crying myself to sleep every night. All I could think about was you."
"Then why didn't you come home sooner? Why didn't you come home with me when I came after you?"
"Because I was hoping things would change. It sounds stupid now, but I did. That message I left you on the answering machine, I'm not—"
"Oh, about that. I sort of never listened to it. I kind of erased it..."
"Well that just makes me feel so much better!"
"I was pissed and bitter and just didn't want to have to hear what you had to say! God Haley, this whole music thing killed me. Yes I pushed you to pursue your dreams, but I wanted to be with you! Countless nights spent thinking of you and drinking. That pretty much sums up my life for the last 3 months."
"I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry," He mimicked. "Is that really enough? Can those words erase the pain of the last 3 months?"
"But I am! And now you know how much I was hurting! But I'm back, and I'm staying. The music thing is not for me, at least not yet. I love you Nathan and nothing else matters."
"I love you too, but sometimes it's not enough."
"What else do we need Nathan? Tell me what I can do to make things better. You're leaving tomorrow for God's sake!"
"Well maybe that is what we need. Time and space."
"Time and space! I was away for 3 months and you were pissed. Now you want more space? Great, that's great Nathan. Call me when you've had enough space." Haley got up and left. She drove around for an hour just thinking about Nathan. 'How could this have happened? Everything is spinning out of control so quickly.. Why did I leave?' She began crying again when she didn't notice the truck headed straight for her.
Nathan was so frustrated after she left, he didn't know what to do. 'God I screwed up again. I love her, I really do, and I want to work things out but this all is just too painful.' He grabbed a basketball and went outside. There was nothing like shooting hoops to clear his mind.
About 20 minutes after he had been outside, Lucas came over. "You're not still mad at me are you little brother?"
"Well, let's see. You lied to me about going after Dan. You lied to me about going to see Haley. Bottom line, you lied to me. I don't need anymore lying in my life."
"I know! And I'm sorry, but I did it for you man. I wanted to help you get away from Dan. I wanted to try and convince Haley to come home. She told me that she wasn't coming home. Any idea why she did?"
"She said she was sorry and wanted to make things better. I don't know what to do Luke. I'm leaving tomorrow and she probably doesn't want to talk to me."
"That sounds like Hales alright. Well listen, I just wanted to say I'm sorry, so I guess I'll see ya around." He began to walk back down the driveway.
"Hey Luke! How about some one-on-one? Still think you can beat me?"
"Of course, little brother." And the two began playing like brothers should.
"Ahhh!" Haley screamed as she swerved out of the way of truck when she finally realized what was going on. The car ended up going into a nearby ditch. "Damnit!" She got out her phone. "Lucas? Hey it's me Haley. Can you come tow my car? I sort of drove it into a ditch…"
"Into a ditch? How the hell did you do that Haley?" Nathan was suddenly interested in Lucas's phone call.
"Well I wasn't thinking clearly and I wasn't paying attention a truck was coming at me and at the last minute I swerved out of the way."
"Wow. What's going on with you today? Where are you? I'll be there soon." Haley gave him the road she was on and Lucas got ready to leave.
"Luke, what's going on man?"
"It's Haley. She was almost hit by a truck, but luckily got out of the way in time. However her car is now in a ditch so I have to go get it. Want to come?"
"Nah, I'll just stay here. Maybe go back to the hospital."
"The hospital? What happened?"
"No one called you? Sorry… It's Dan. Someone lit the dealership on fire with him in it and now he's in a coma."
"Whoa. Well I guess he got what he deserved."
"That's what I said too. What loving sons we are."
"That we are!" Lucas chuckled. "Anyways, see you probably tomorrow? Maybe I'll come say goodbye at the airport."
"Alright man, later."
"Haley what happened? Wait nevermind, you told me. Are you alright?"
"Yeah I'm fine, just a little shaken up. Can we go?"
"Sure, let me just hook your car to the back of the truck." After doing so they left and dropped the car off at Keith's, actually Dan's, service shop.
"Hales, do you mind if we go to the hospital? I just found out about Dan and I figure I should probably go see him. I could use you there to make sure I don't unplug any important IV's or something."
"Sure I'll go. Don't really want to go back to my empty apartment and be alone."
"Alright, let's go."
"Hey mom, how's he doing?"
"Same. But the doctors say he'll be fine. How did things go with Haley?"
"Not good. I just don't know what else to do."
"Give her time sweetie, she'll come around."
"I think I'm going to go to the chapel. Even though I think Dan deserved this, I wouldn't wish death on him." And he walked out of the room and down to the chapel not noticing who was walking out of the elevator behind him.