Chapter Thirteen: Comings and Goings

Nathan Scott arrived home two days after Haley recovered, and went to her home before his own.

"Did you have a good time?" she asked timidly, after he had kissed her passionately enough to make her feel spectacularly guilty.

"It was fine. What about you?" he asked, leaning down to kiss her again.

"Go…" she began, as the front door creaked open and Taylor bounded in, shadowed by a more sedate Gabby.

"Oh. Wow, I'm sorry. We'll just…" began Taylor, putting an hand on Gabby's shoulder to steer her out.

"Don't," said Haley, realizing with horror that she was uncomfortable with Nathan. "Taylor, you remember Nathan, of course. Gabby this is my friend Nathan," she said.

Haley blushed as Nathan teasingly poked her in the back, as a subtle reminder.

"Boyfriend, Nathan. My boyfriend Nathan," she said, trying out the words on her tongue. She'd rarely used them before-he'd gone so fast from enemy to friend to boyfriend to husband to out of her life completely.

"As in Nathan Scott?" asked Gabby, showing emotion in her face. Clearly impressed.

"Yeah. You follow basketball?" he asked, clearly uncomfortable with children. Gabby shrugged. As Nathan nodded, Haley pictured him with his own kids. Oddly enough not with her kids but with-

"How're you doing, Nate?" asked Taylor, interrupting Haley's flow of thoughts.

"Pretty good. I just got a call from Jake Jagielski. He's going insane," said Nathan, laughing. Haley giggled, but Taylor raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Oh, his wife's five months pregnant. Sorry Hales, but I have to go, press conference," he said. He made to kiss her lips but Haley misunderstood and bent her head, making his kiss land on her forehead.

Taylor stared after him as he left, looking between the two of them.

"Gabby, do you want to go get a snack or something?" asked Haley desperately, as Taylor opened her mouth to speak, guessing she was about to say something vastly inappropriate. Gabby went, and Taylor spoke.

"Someone's been getting some," she said.

"Quiet, you," said Haley, reddening nonetheless.

"Way to deny it. Was it like you'd remembered?" she asked eagerly. Haley thought of all the things she'd done to Nathan that she'd once never dreamed of doing.

"No. Not remotely," she said. Secretly, Haley had always worried that these things would lead to a lack of respect.

"Haley-bub, are you okay?" asked Taylor, suddenly sensitive to her sister's duress.

"Lucas was here, and he stayed for a few days," she began. Taylor gasped.

"Two brothers!" Taylor yelped.

"No, not like that. I was sick, he was taking care of me. He was so sweet, just like old times," said Haley reminiscently.

"That's all wrong! You're supposed to get married to Nathan again! And isn't Lucas supposed to hook up with the Davis one?" asked Taylor anxiously.

"God no. And I know you worked hard to bring all this about, but that doesn't mean you can dictate it," said Haley, her voice hard.

"Excuse me for trying to make your life not suck," said Taylor.

"My life didn't suck. I had everything I'd ever wanted," said Haley angrily.

"Is that so? You spent your entire childhood dreaming of marrying Lucas Scott and then the second you got old enough you fell for his brother!" screamed Taylor.

"We fell in love with other people! It happens. Though I guess YOU WOULDN'T KNOW WHAT THAT FEELS LIKE!" said Haley, screaming the last words.

"You think I've never been in love? What the hell do you know? I've just never been lucky enough to have love like yours! Returned love!" Taylor made for the door, but turned as her hand reached out to open it. "If I did, I'd never let it go."

Haley exhaled as Taylor left, suddenly feeling ashamed. She turned around to go check on her foster child, but was horrified to find the girl standing directly behind, her eyebrows raised.

"Did you hear… everything?" asked Haley. Gabby nodded.

"Taylor's been running away from loneliness for a long time. Of course she resents you," she mumbled.

"How'd you get so grown up?" asked Haley.

"My mother died when I was three," said Gabby. Her tone was dull, but her eyes were full of pain.

"Did you ever regret not being able to grow up properly?" asked Haley.

"You were never a child," stated Gabriela. Haley almost laughed.

"I was. When I was sixteen, for about six months," she said.

"Is Taylor going to come back?" asked Gabby, sounding slightly anxious.

"Definitely. But maybe not today. So what do you say about me and you going to get some dinner somewhere?"

Gabby came out of her room ten minutes later dressed in jeans and a clean t-shirt, but when she caught a glimpse of Haley, clad in a black evening gown, she ran back into her room and reappeared after another ten minutes in a green dress that went with her hair and was much more appropriate for the occasion.

So the two went out, and Gabriela Travers had her evening of being of being a grown-up. But Haley had a better idea for the next night, one which would give Gabby a night of being a child.

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Taylor was still not home by the time the next evening came around. Haley was sad: she missed Taylor, and she knew that her sister would enjoy what she had planned for this evening.

"What's for dinner? Are we going out again?" asked Gabby, sounding slightly eager.

"No, we'll order in. But come on, I have something to show you," said Haley, leading her out to the front hall.

They went through a doorway and climbed a staircase that Gabby had had never seen before. She was surprised when they ended up on a gravel paved roof, with only a waist high fence protecting them from falling many, many floors down to the city below. Gabriela peered anxiously over the railing before turning to Haley.

"Are you going to kill me or something?" she asked.

"No. Just remember my friend Nathan?" asked Haley. Gabby nodded. "His brother Lucas was my best friend growing up. And even when we were older than you we always used to do stupid things for fun."

"Like what?" asked Gabby.

"Like… throwing water balloons," said Haley, kicking the basket of them at her feet, already feeling inferior.

"Why? We'll get wet, and cold. And one might go over the edge, and I'm pretty sure that throwing projectiles over high rise buildings is frowned upon. And that door could lock us out and we'd die of hypothermia. And you…" Haley James never knew what she was, according to Gabriela, because the younger girl was cut off by a balloon, which hit her directly in her stomach and exploded. Haley was nervous for a moment as Gabby wiped the broken rubber off her face and blinked her eyes several times.

"And you… You are going to pay," she said. Lunging forward, she grabbed a balloon, backed off several feet and lobbed it onto Haley, where it splattered all over her designer shirt.

Taylor looked up when the two of them trooped back down, soaking wet and laughing.

"What the hell were you guys doing?" she asked.

"Where the hell were you?" replied Haley.

"Around. I'm back now, if you'll let me stay," she said. Haley hugged her sister, making her almost equally wet.

"You..!" fired off Taylor.

"I'm freezing," moaned Gabby, wrapping her arms around herself.

"There's a hot tub by the pool. Get your suit," she instructed, running of to get her own.

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