Chapter Four
A.N., I thought I would let you know that it's very hard to write a OTH story when you are suffering from serious withdrawal...Damn the hiatus! Anyway, sorry, so thank you all sooo much for your reviews it means a ton that this is being so well received, it's still very hard to write and doesn't appear to be getting any easier, but I'll keep on keeping on if you keep reviewing! This chapter was created because I found myself in a small bookstore café after being provided with caffeine from the person I've dubbed my Luke, soooo cute and he made me such good coffee...guess we all know what coffee shop I'll be frequenting!
With Haley in his arms again for the first time in what felt like forever it was all Nathan could do to keep from breaking down in the middle of the crowded hallway and cry with her. But he knows that that won't help anyone, instead he holds her tightly to him and whispers, "we'll get through this. It's going to be okay. Shh, it's okay."
Peyton walks over to Lucas, both smile sadly at each other hoping that maybe things will get better now. Neither can hear the almost silent exchange happening and Peyton whispers, "she's going to be okay."
"Let me take you home," Nathan urges staring down at his wife's tear stained cheeks.
Haley shivers in Nathan's arms, "please."
Nathan wraps a protective arm around Haley, shielding her from all the overly curious glances of their nosey schoolmates Nathan leads Haley towards Lucas and Peyton. "We're going home, if anyone asks we had a family emergency."
"Of course," Lucas nods.
"If you need anything..." Peyton offers.
"Thanks," Nathan hugs Haley tightly, "we'll talk to you guys later."
"Just sit here," Nathan gently guides Haley to sit at the kitchen counter. "I'll make you something to drink or eat, what do you want?"
"I..." Haley falters, "I don't need anything..."
"We have lots of that tea you love..." Nathan states starting to pull tea bags out of the cupboard. How about some tea and jelly toast, your favorite."
"Okay." Haley nods.
Nathan turns away from Haley sucking in a deep breath, he had spent the last two days on the internet researching everything he could possibly get his hands on regarding how to help a rape victim. And he remembered it all. But just seeing Haley sitting there, so broken, was throwing him off, he had all of these details in his mind but he didn't have the slightest idea how to apply them.
When Nathan turns back around with the tea and toast he finds that Haley is no longer sitting at the counter, quickly Nathan's gaze searches the apartment. His gaze finally settles on Haley curled into a ball on the couch with the blanket, that had once decoratedthe bed in her bedroom, wrapped tightly around you.
"Hey," Nathan gently touches Haley's shoulder and she shies away from him, immediately giving him an apologetic glance. Nathan had read about how she might not want to be touched, but actually seeing his wife move away from his touch crushed him but he won't let it show, "you don't want anything to eat, do you?"
Haley shakes her head, "I think I just want to try and sleep. I'm so tired..."
Nathan nods, "I'll go into the bedroom and let you rest here, catch up on some homework."
Haley shakes her head, "you don't have to...if you want to sit with me that'd be okay."
"Sure," Nathan nods, "I'll sit here." He gestures to the opposite end of the couch and Haley nods slightly, and Nathan settles on the couch.
A long time passes and Nathan assumes she's fallen asleep, "I'm sorry." Haley's words are so quiet that Nathan isn't even sure he's heard them until he turns to glance at her and she's starring back at him with a pained expression on his face.
"Hales, don't apologize for something that isn't your fault," Nathan takes a deep breath, trying to keep his anger at Chris hidden, for fear that Haley will mistake it as anger at her. Haley turns her gaze away from Nathan, her forehead now resting on her knees. "Haley, I'm serious. Nothing that happened was your fault."
"Nate..." Haley lets out a long breath but doesn't finish whatever she'd intended to say.
"Haley," Nathan gently lifts Haley's chin to look at him, despite her flinch the second his skin touches hers. "I love you, I'm going to love you forever. What Chris did to you is his fault and I'm going to help you get through this in away possible."
Haley pulls away at Nathan's words, "you can't help." Haley moves quickly to her feet distancing herself from him, "it happened and it's not going away Nate. Reporting him, seeing a counselor or a doctor isn't going to change ir or make it better."
"You haven't seen a doctor?" Nathan stares shocked, he'd assumed Karen had taken her.
"No, and I'm not going to someone to tell them what happened."
Nathan stands up, almost two feet between him and his wife, "you have to see a doctor," he states firmly.
"Nathan, you can't force me to go." Tears are welling Haley's eyes and there's no force behind her words.
"Haley, you're going, you need to be examined by a doctor. Please, don't make me drag you there."
"Nathan, please," tears now slip down Haley's cheeks, making Nathan's heart smash into a billion pieces for the millionth time in just a couple days.
He doesn't want to force her to do anything else against her will, but Nathan had read enough to know the doctors visit, no matter how emotional painful, had to be done. "Haley, baby, I'm sorry, but you have to see a doctor. I won't force you to report him or to see a councilor but you have to do this."
"Nathan, please..."
"Haley, you are seeing a doctor, do you want to call and make the appointment or should I?"
"You can't force me to go," for the first time since Haley had come back from New Yorkher face has a look other than brokeness, stubbornness, that gives Nathan hope, resides there. "This is my life."
"I'll call then." Nathan calm comment, as if it were an everyday conversation, deflates Haley as if putting up her stubborn front for even that short period of time has taken everything out ofher and she collapses silently onto the couch. With a deep breath Nathan grabs the cordless phone and heads back to the bedroom where he knows Haley's address book is.
Nathan tries to calm his nerves before the nurse picks up on the other line, "hello, I need to make a doctors appointment for my wife, as soon as possible."
"I have a ten o'clock appointment open for tomorrow."
"I need it for today, do you have any spaces open for today?"
"If your wife is seriously injured or ill I'd suggest and urgent care center, sir."
"She was," Nathan gulps a large amount of air. "My wife was raped, and I think she would feel more comfortable with her regular doctor, not a strange urgent care physician."
The nurse on the other end is silent for several seconds, "Doctor Bradbury has a brief opening, but your wife would have to come in right away."
"Thank you, very much," Nathan sighs in relief, he didn't want to put this off any longer than he had to, for Haley's sake.
"And your wife's name?"
"Haley James-Scott."
"Okay, she has a nine o'clock appointment with Doctor Bradbury."
Nathan hangs up the phone and heads back into the living room, and he can hear Brooke's voice before he sees her kneeing by Haley who still sits on the couch.
"Hey Nate," Brooke offers a sad smile. "So I was just telling Tutor-Wife here that I could take her to the doctors if she would prefer."
"Thanks Brooke but..."
"I told her yes," Haley's words are clear and hold no readable emotion.
Nathan falters but tries not to show it, "okay. Well, Hales, you have a nine o'clock appointment with Doctor Bradbury."
"Okay, come on Tutor-Wife, we should leave now," Brooke holds her hands out and pulls Haley to her feet. "We'll be back soon, but I might try to convince your wife to stop at Karen's with me. I am totally craving a blueberry scone."
Brooke sits anxiously in the doctor's office waiting for Haley's appointment to be over, she was never a good patient and being in the doctors office and not being a patient didn't do anything to calm her down. "Brooke?"
Brooke jumps at her name being called and finds Doctor Bradbury standing at the door, "yes?"
"Can I speak to you for a minute?"
Brooke nods and follows the doctor into her small office, "where's Haley?" Brooke questions once they are out of the hallway with the door shut.
"In the bathroom, calming down. These types of exams are never easy and you're a good friend to bring her."
"If I hadn't her husband would have," Brooke shrugs the comment off.
"Just the same, you're a good friend. Now," Doctor Bradbury takes a prescription notepad out of her desk drawer. "Haley said I could give these to you, since you are in a much better state of mind then she is, and you can pass along all the information to Haley's husband."
"Okay," Brooke nods.
"The first thing I am prescribing is a mild sedative, Haley hasn't slept well in days so this should help. I have some Levonorgestrel, the morning after pill, on hand and Haley and I have discussed it and she's decided to take it. So the nurse will give that to you on your way out. She must take it right away and take the second pill right away. Her blood test results should be in tomorrow, so someone will call Haley with the results. And one last thing,"
Doctor Bradbury begins flipping through a rollodex and writing things down as she speaks, "this is a list of councilors. All of the names I am writing down now specialize in rape victims, Haley told me she has no intention of seeing a councilor, but if you could give it to her husband to have on hand just in case she changes her mind."
"Okay," Brooke nods, "thank you."
"Brooke, one more thing."
"Yeah?"
"Try to get her to eat, she's not been sleeping and I have the feeling she hasn't been eating either. If you could get her to eat anything that would be better than nothing."
"I'll see what I can do."
"So," Brooke had allow silence to stand between her and Haley the entire way back to the car but once they are inside she breaks it. "Karen's?"
"I don't know think so Brooke..."
"Please?" Brooke wasn't actually hungry, the entire situation with her friend made her feel sick to her stomach every time she thought about it or looked at Haley , but she'd known Haley needed to eat something long before Doctor Bradbury had said something. "I'm, like, dying of starvation."
"Okay," Haley sighs.
"Great," Brooke's words come out with a forced enthusiasm. When they pull into the parking spot Brooke states, "you're coming in, right?"
"Can't I just stay in the car?"
"Every time I get around Karen I say something stupid, dates way back to when I waswith Lucas. Besides, we have to kill time until Doctor Bradbury calls your prescription in, then you can go home and sleep forever or you can watch daytime soaps, I think Emily and Nicholas are getting married on General Hospital today..."
Haley doesn't respond, but sighs and gets out of the car, slowly following Brooke into the café. "Why don't you sit there?" Brooke motions to a corner booth, "and I will get us something to eat and drink?"
"Fine," Haley moves toward the table Brooke had motioned to.
"Hey," Karen greets once Brooke reaches the counter, "how's she doing?"
Brooke shrugs, "pretty much, what you see is what you get. But she went home with Nathan today as soon as she got to school and he made a doctors appointment for her, we're just getting back from there."
"But she went home with Nathan, so that's good, right?"
Brooke shrugs, "things seemed kind of cool between them while I was there."
Karen frowns, "what can I get you guys?"
"A chai tea for me with a blueberry scone and the highest calorie drink and pastry you have, I don't think Haley's eaten a thing in days."
Karen nods, "okay." Brooke waits at the counter while Karen gets their order and she comes back with a large bag, "give that to Haley, it has a little of everything. I'm pretty sure Nathan isn't the chef in the family so if you could let him know that I'll bring by food for dinner tonight too?"
Brooke nods, "sure, no problem."
"She's going to get through this," Karen reassures, picking up the worry in Brooke's tone. "Haley has great friends, and we're going to help her get through this. It may take a while, but I know she'll be okay."
Brooke bites her lip, "I hope so."