"So pull me under your weather patterns, your cold fronts and the rain don't matter, 'cause a sun burn's what I needed."

Chris opened his eyes and it took him a minute or two to figure out where he was. He must have fallen asleep on the couch the night before, then he remembered the movie night with Haley. "Haley," he called out somewhat groggily. He stood up and grabbed a few things off the coffee table and brought them into the kitchen. He walked down the hallway towards her room, but stopped when he heard the shower go on. At least he knew where she was. He glanced over at the clock in his room as he walked by the door, "We've got an hour Haley!" he called to her, hoping she'd hurry up in the shower so he could hop in before they had to leave.

"Ok!" she shouted back.

"Eggs?" he asked as she walked out in jeans and a t-shirt, her wet hair tied up in a loose bun.

"No, I don't think so," she looked at the frying eggs in disgust.

"If I remember correctly, eggs were one of your favorite foods less than a week ago."

"They were, they just don't look appetizing, I'm not really hungry…" she trailed off walking away. Chris looked at her curiously, but then went back to cooking. He still had to shower and change, and they had to be in the Maverick office within the hour.

"I'm telling Joey." Haley looked over at Chris as they walked down the steps of the apartment building. She waited patiently for a reply. Joey was their talent manager for the time being, he managed all the new acts. Apparently you actually have to be famous before you can get your own manager, go figure. "He's gonna be mad, I know, but I can't live a lie, especially at someone else's expense," she added. She brushed the hair out of her eyes and put her hands in her pockets.

Chris looked over at her, she was probably one of the most lost souls he had ever met. Then again it was partially his fault, he had asked her to come to New York in the first place. "Either way I'm behind you." He put his hand on her shoulder. She loved feeling protected, even if it was just for a minute.

"Woah look who's here! Better late than never I suppose," Joey greeted them. Haley and Chris had walked into the office 5 minutes late, and slid into two of the office chairs trying to go unnoticed while Joey was on the phone, it obviously didn't work. "What was up with you guys last night, I never expected you to cancel on me…especially you Keller…" Joey looked up, both Chris and Haley were silent. He drummed his fingers on the desk, "Alright, really, what's up?"

"Woah, I totally forgot to grab the recording of that song we were working on last week from Dan down at the recording studio, I'll be back in five." Chris glanced over at Haley before he ducked out of the room before Joey could stop him.

"Well he's gonna be disappointed when he gets there and finds out Dan dropped it off yesterday," John laughed, looking over at Haley. She just smiled uneasily, maybe telling him now wasn't the best idea.

"Come on doll face, what happened to the Haley who was singing Madonna at the top of her lungs three days ago for that recording, which came out amazing by the way." He pulled out a binder, the next few months of her life already mapped out on the pages bound within it.

"I don't know how much longer I can do this," she looked up from wringing her hands in her lap.

"Come on Haley, I thought we were passed this." Haley looked down again, a little ashamed.

"I am…I was."

"What now? What is that husband of yours up to?" Joey didn't like acknowledging the fact she was married, it gave him less of a promotional angle to work with. Haley didn't answer his question. "Haley what is it?" Joey tried, but he lacked any ability to be empathetic. He'd admit it himself, he had a lot more fun watching someone be miserable than watching them succeed, as long as it wasn't on his dime or time, so for Haley he actually had to act like he cared.

"Well…" Haley mumbled. "Speaking of Nathan…"

"Yeah, James?"

"I'm gonna guess kids and music careers don't really mix. Kind of how you feel marriages and music don't seem to mix."

"What? James? …Keller, get your ass in here, I know you're just standing out in the hallway." Chris walked in, shrugging his shoulders. He mouthed 'sorry Haley' to her as he walked in and sat back down in the office chair. "What did you do to her Keller? Somebody say something!" Joey demanded.

"What? Me? I didn't do anything!" Chris replied defensively. Joey's glare switched from Chris to Haley.

"This is bad…bad, bad, bad." Joey sat back in his office chair, placing his hand on his forehead. "Listen, we're going to have to work this out, because I'm not losing you two over this. We had an amazing image to work with before. Maybe if married girl hadn't been married and hadn't decided to go and get knocked up we'd be in a lot better shape right now!" Sensitivity was definitely not Joey's thing. "Listen, brilliant idea. Chris, you could wear a wedding band and we'd have an even better image! It's like Sonny and Cher times 10!"

"Joey, you've lost it! It's a lie and I don't know if you've noticed, but it's also illegal! Haley's 17!"

"Hey, who's managing your music career?" Joey raised his eyebrow, the good ol' power trip.

"Come on Joey. We've got two months left of touring, and then we'll be recording for at least six, it'll work out."

Joey pushed the schedule book towards Chris, "If you're the expert."

"Listen, stop fighting like I'm not even in the room!" Haley cried. Both men looked over at her. "Listen, you seem to all think I planned this or something. Well for your information I did not plan the likely demise of my marriage, nor did I plan having a kid at 17 thank you very much!" Everyone was silent for a moment.

"Alright, if we all calm down for a minute, we can work this out. Normally, just so you know, you'd be dropped from a label like that if something like this ever happened. You're lucky I'm generous." Chris and Haley were starting to realize why the music industry got such a bad rap all the time. "We'll shoot the promos for the album ASAP, you tour for another two and a half months instead of two, and you record for seven. We release it for Valentines Day. Then, no more slip ups, alright?"

"Yeah," Haley replied. She thought making a record would be more exciting, but now it seemed like it was all about logistics.

"Wow. I don't know if that was better or worse than I expected." Chris opened the apartment door, bag of groceries in hand.

"Awww, come on…making Joey almost cry was sort of funny. You have to admit..." Haley followed him into the apartment, she was trying her best just to laugh at herself. "You going out with Julianna tonight?" She grabbed in apple out of the paper bag as soon as Chris set it down.

"Yeah, I'm going over there around six."

"Are you actually going to be back before tomorrow morning? Unlike last time," she laughed. She loved making fun of him for that one night two weeks before.

"Hey! Nothing happened!" He pretended to splash a glass of water on her before he poured it out in the sink.

"Suuuuuure," Haley mocked. Her happy-go-lucky attitude went away when she looked over at her cell phone sitting on the counter. The light was blinking and the screen read "5 missed calls." She felt herself being sucked back into Tree Hill just like that. She scrolled through the missed calls list; two were from Peyton, one was from her mom and dad, and two were from Lucas. She felt her heart sink, she was hoping Nathan would have called by that time, she didn't even know if he had gotten home alright. She started to run through scenarios in her head; life with Nathan, life without him. She set the cell phone back down on the counter. Life was just hitting her too fast, and she had decided to run in the other direction at full speed.