Short chapter (again!) but I promise to get a longer one up eventually...but again I've got another two exams this week! (but then I'm done! finally!)

And also, a VERY happy announcement! I have a new reviewer! Michelle! (Marit and I welcome you to the circle!...even though I am speaking for Marit here : ) )You write the most amazing reviews I would have to say I've ever seen on any of the stories I've read on here. I read through a few of the chapters of your stories (which I promise to review for as soon as I get a free minute again, because they are incredibly well written (you are my writing idol!))

It feels great to have two amazing reviewers! Like they always say, it's quality over quantity and I must say you two are proof of that!

Oh... and by the way, if you haven't noticed, all of the chapters have the title of songs, and most have a quote from that song. I plan on posting the names with theartists of these songs with the last chapter some long ways down the road. Anyway, minor detail. I've always liked how they did that on OTH though, I'm also a music freak, what can I say?

...there was one other thing I can't remember I planned on putting, but I'll think of it later and put it in the next chapter. (Especially before this little note at the top becomes longer than the chapter itself!)

"I'm trying to reach your hand, but I'm on fire. I never planned to fade... away. Stay with me. Stop pretending when they say that you're nothing."

"Haley, I think you left your flat iron on again!" Chris called as he opened the door of the apartment. He looked over and saw it wasn't her flat iron, but the oven was on. He pulled out the pie that was in the oven. "Uh-oh, she's baking," he muttered. Just from the three weeks of living with her, he knew that whenever she baked it was bad new, something was up. He walked over to the coffee table and picked up a notebook that had the words "The music won't love you back" written in swirly girly handwriting, each letter painstakingly traced over numerous times on the cover.

"Haley?" He knocked on the bathroom door. He could here her crying faintly. He heard her start shuffling things around, and going through cabinets. She opened the door.

"I'm going home," she replied, her voice barely challenging the thick maple door between them. She brushed past him with hair care products and makeup in hand.

"What happened Haley?" he looked at her wide-eyed as a box fell from her grasp. He picked it up as she just stood frozen. It was a pregnancy test. "Haley…" he trailed off.

She swiftly turned around and threw the stuff left in her arms onto the queen sized bed where her suitcase laid already half packed. She just kept moving, frantically, grabbing clothes from every side of the room. Chris walked over and sat on the bed, he just watched silently as she ran around.

"Haley, stop!" he finally interjected. She just kept packing. "Haley, just stop already!" He stood up and grabbed her by the shoulders, gently, but strong enough to stop her from trying to move. She started to cry, he guided her over to the bed, letting her sit down. She covered her face with her hands and started talking, but it was impossible to understand the words muffled by her hands. "Look at me." He pulled her hands away from her face.

"Nathan doesn't love me!" she blurted out.

"Haley, stop it, of course Nathan loves you!" He was scared for her, he'd never seen her like this before. He brushed her hair out of her damp eyes, trying to read her true emotions beyond the tears. He hated that he couldn't help her, and he couldn't come up with anything to say.

"He came today, that's why I left during the meeting. We went to the park, he told me he wanted me to come home. He told me it wasn't worth staying here, I wasn't ever going to get anywhere running around New York." The words flowed out too fast for him to catch them all, but the pain on her face faded for a moment, freed from a little bit of the turmoil inside.

"You know better than that, you know he loves you all the same. He's just as lost as you." His four years more heartbreak experience made him sound wiser than she felt she could ever be. "He won't let you go, you're too good a catch Haley."

She wanted to believe him, but she felt the tears building up. She reached for the box that was still in Chris's hand from when he picked it up before. He handed it to her as she reached for it. Neither knew what to say about that. After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, Haley finally spoke up.

"I just bought it on the way home. I guess I got kind of scared, I hadn't really thought about it before, but between being sick, and the days late, and talking to Nathan. It's just all the doubts." She looked away, focusing her eyes on the vanity across the room. "I didn't take it yet." She bit her lip and looked back over at Chris. She started to get nervous, looking into his blue eyes, completely void of expression. Caught between fear and pain she stood up and headed to the bathroom, test in hand.

Chris just sat there, he couldn't stop her. It wasn't his life, and he knew it was never going to go away. "Either way, Haley…" She turned around in the hallway looking back at his reflection from the full length mirror which hung on the half opened door of her bedroom. She wanted him to say she wouldn't be alone, he'd said all the right words since they'd been in New York, he could be wrong forever after this, just as long as he was right this on more time. "Either way, you've got a piece of him, Haley. He's always in your heart, and I guarantee you'll always be in his." He gave her a half smile, a vote of confidence if anything.

She turned around and walked towards the bathroom. Her heart fluttered as she opened the box and read the directions. It didn't seem like rocket science, a simple "yes" or "no" digital read out, but she was thankful for a minute that she hadn't grabbed one of the ones with the blue lines, she couldn't take the guessing at that point. As she took the test she realized how much less glamorous it was than how they always showed it on those stupid dramas on tv. She sat on the edge of the bathtub waiting for the five minute waiting period to elapse, her leg involuntarily bouncing. She squinted at the mirror, trying to see what it said from a distance.

It'd been ten minutes, she knew it only took five, but she wasn't nearly brave enough go get up and check. She continued to try the mirror trick, but with no avail. The anticipation was killing her at that point. She finally took the few steps to the counter, staring down fate.

Sorry for the cliffhanger (that could possibly last a while)! Hey, how about we have a little reader interaction here...which way do you wish it to go? Now that I have TWO reviewers it should be fun, haha...we could even get a tie now!