A few days had passed since the Haley and Nathan incident, yet nothing seemed to have progressed for the two of them. Haley was still refusing to talk to Nathan, and he was desperate for any communication with her to let her know what was going on. She had previously agreed to talk to him but then was overcome with such anger that she slammed the door in his face.

"Good morning Anthony" Lucas smiled, handing him a muffin. He mustered up a smile and sat down on the stool. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah" he nodded. Madison walked in sleepily, yawning and shuffling her feet.

"Madison!" Lucas greeted cheerfully. "Good morning!"

"What's so good about it?" Madison asked shortly, grabbing some apple juice and plopping down on the couch.

"Oh get over yourself Madison" Hayden snapped.

"Whoa, whoa, what's going on here?" Brooke asked, looking up from playing with Lena. "Why is everyone in such a bad mood? Hayden, apologize to Madison, and Madison, why is your morning not good?"

"Sorry Maddie"

"Its ok…it's just not good" Madison sighed, clanking her spoon against the side of the bowl.

"Hey..." Lucas said, hugging his daughter. "You ok, baby? You don't seem normal"

"I'm fine, dad" Madison sighed, getting up and practically shooting up the stairs. Brooke and Lucas exchanged a look and Brooke returned to playing blocks with Lena.

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"I don't wanna talk to you Dad" Anthony said, shutting the door.

"Anthony…" Nathan pleaded.

"What?" Anthony snapped.

"Just let me explain" Nathan sighed.

"Explain what? How you cheated on mom- cause I already know that story, Dad"

"Look-" Nathan pleaded.

"Look what? You told me 5 hours before you went and cheated on mom with some girl that you should always watch out for girls' feelings because they're sensitive and that you had hurt mom a lot in the past- well you hurt her again and now I'm just even more convinced that your speech was utter crap" Anthony practically yelled. "Mom is in tears day and night and I can't get Angelina to SLEEP at night, Dad, she's so heartbroken that you guys wont talk- I have to stay up all night to tell her that no one's gonna leave her! And you didn't even bother to come check on us!"

"I wanted to, but Brooke and Lucas told me that you didn't wanna see me and I didn't wanna push it with anyone, so I waited till I was sure it was gonna be ok-I'm sorry" Nathan said.

"I don't wanna hear your sob story dad, and don't apologize to me, apologize to mom" Anthony snapped.

"You know how many times I've tried to apologize to her? I love her, Anthony, you don't understand how much I love her, you're 12 years old! I was drunk and stupid- I didn't mean a single thing that I did" Nathan said, his voice rising and then falling again.

"Whatever, Dad"

"Ok, fine, use the whatever line, but I love your mother and you and Angelina more than anything in this entire world, and I cannot be without her…I hope you understand that" Nathan said quietly, turning around to walk out the door. Anthony watched his father's tall lean figure turning around the corner and saw Madison's small frame bouncing into his room. Seeing the look on his face and remembering that she had seen Nathan walking with his head hung down, she put two and two together and pulled Anthony into a hug.

"I'm so sorry Anthony" she said softly.

"Yah…me too"

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"Haley…Nathan's here" Peyton said quietly, leaving the room to give Haley and Nathan privacy.

"Hey Haley" Nathan said softly, squinting his eyes and stepping back a little. Haley looked gorgeous in a soft cashmere sweater and jeans, her hair falling gracefully in natural curls.

"Hi"

"Can I just talk for a while and then you can yell at me?" he asked.

"Fine" she said, sitting down on the couch.

"Firstly, Haley, I wanna apologize for what I did- it was 100 completely wrong and my fault and I accept all blame and deserve to be yelled at. Secondly, Haley, I was drunk, and tired from the game. I was in a bad position with a stupid whore who could never, ever compare to you, and I want you to know that absolutely nothing happened"

"Nothing happened, Nathan? Nothing happened! You were practically feeling the girl up!"

"I know but that was it. I hadn't even left the club, or moved from my seat, for that matter"

"I don't care what happened, Nathan, you had the audacity to practically cheat on your wife…I thought we had more than that" Haley said, her voice quivering and tears forming in her eyes again.

"Haley, I didn't mean to, I didn't WANT to…alcohol does a lot to your judgment and the girl was about to lead me out of the club but I saw my ring and even through my haze remembered you and I didn't want to go with the girl, I wasn't going to"

"Thanks for remembering me, because you know, you've only been married to me for 20 years" Haley snapped sarcastically.

"Haley will you just believe me? I'm sorry, sorrier than I'll ever be for anything in the world. I love you so much, Haley, and I can't live without you"

"Well if you can't live without me then I for the life of me can't understand why you would do something like that to me" Haley said, her tears spilling over and her sobs echoing through the expansive room. "I'm not so much angry as I am heartbroken…I thought you loved me, Nathan"

"I do love you Haley, god, don't say that I don't" Nathan said, tears forming in his own eyes.

"Nathan…" Haley sobbed. Nathan instinctively wanted to put his arms around her, but he didn't in fear she would freak out. "Just go"

"Ok…I love you Haley" Nathan said, walking out the door and closing it behind him.

"I love you too" she whispered.

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"Nathan! Dude! I have good news" Mike yelled into Nathan's cell phone.

"What?" Nathan asked half heartedly.

"You know the Melanie girl?"

"Yah?" Nathan asked, his attention captured.

"I thought she had drugged your drink when I saw her running her finger at the edges of the glass so when you ran after Haley I grabbed the glass and took it to my wife and she does scientific drug testing and they tested it and she drugged your drink! I have the official papers"

"Mike…dude…you saved my ass and relationship with Haley…come over as soon as you can, ok? So I can take the papers to her, ok?"

"Ok"

"And Mike?"

"Yah"

"Thanks dude"

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Brooke rolled out of bed after her afternoon nap and as she walked past Lucas, he pulled her back into bed with him.

"Lucas" Brooke laughed, kissing him.

"Brooke…" he said, pulling her under the covers with him and wrapping his arms around her.

"Lucas we've been in bed for 3 hours…we need to get up" Brooke giggled. Lucas kissed her neck and ran his fingers up and down her arms softly.

"Ok…no we don't" she giggled, turning around to kiss him.

"That's right…I love you Brooke" Lucas whispered.

"Aw…I love you too" Brooke giggled as she buried her head in Lucas's bare chest.

"And you look beautiful"

"Hardly, Lucas" Brooke pointed at her disheveled hair.

"I still think you look beautiful" Lucas said. "I always think you look beautiful"

"Thank you Lucas that's really sweet" Brooke said softly, kissing him. Lucas shuddered slightly when he felt her soft hair swing across his chest. He kissed her softly and wrapped his arms tightly around her.

"Hey Broody…"

"Yah?"

"Where are the kids?"

"Out back by the pool…"

"Well then" Brooke giggled, kissing Lucas seductively on his cheek and running a fingernail down his arm. "Consider yourself a lucky man"

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"So she drugged your drink?" Haley asked, shuffling through the papers.

"Yeah…but that makes what I did still wrong, but I thought this might prove to you that I didn't mean to" Nathan said softly. Haley looked up, a tiny sparkle showing in her eyes that gave Nathan hope.

"Nathan…I'm forced to believe you" Haley said. "But what you did was still wrong"

"Definitely, no denying it" Nathan said. "But I love you Haley, too much for my own good- I couldn't stand the thought of being without you these last few days"

"Nathan…" Haley said. He held out his arms and enveloped his wife in a hug.

"I would never hurt you intentionally Haley, I love you so damn much" he whispered into her hair.

"I know Nathan" Haley said, burying her head in his chest. He stroked her hair, happy to have her back in his arms.

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"Hey Catherine" Anthony smiled, sitting down on Brooke and Lucas's couch where everyone was hanging out.

"Hey" she smiled back, looking up from playing with Lena. Madison eyed Anthony carefully, hinting something.

"Can we talk?" he asked, pointing to the guest bedroom. Madison worked hard to conceal her smile as she saw Anthony and Catherine leave the room and shared a look with Brooke.

"Catherine?"

"Yah?"

"I'm sorry" Anthony said. "Really, really sorry"

"Its ok…I am too" Catherine smiled, the sparkle in her hazel eyes returning faster than you could say "true love".

A/N: WOOT! Chapter 8…Naley is ok…aren't you happy? It'll be fluff for a while until I conjure up some dramaaaa. REVIEW!