Chapter Fifteen: Loving You Both

Author's note: Chapter dedicated to Ange, who hopefully only hates me a little.

"Gabby, do you want to stay for dinner?" asked Peyton, as the two girls came into the main room.

"No, but thank you. I was just about to call Jared to come pick me up," explained Gabby.

"The phone's right there. Who's Jared, your brother?" asked Peyton curiously.

"Her driver, Mom," said Jenny, grinning.

"Nice," laughed Peyton, as Gabby picked up the phone and dialed Jared's cell phone number.

The two girls ran off again as Jared's voice came clearly through the intercom on the wall.

"Usually Mom talks for a while with the parent, hopefully Jared will amount to pretty much the same thing," giggled Jenny.

Gabriela grabbed Jenny's wrist and paused for a moment as footsteps could be heard in the hall outside, heading for the door. Footsteps that were obviously not Jared's. The doorbell rang, and Benny ran joyfully to answer it.

"Oh, hi Haley, we thought you were Jared," said Gabby, smiling slightly. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Peyton whip her head around, her thick curls swish through the air.

"Haley," said Peyton softly, looking from her old friend to Gabby.

"Oh, I know you. You were the one kissing Uncle Luke at the train station," said Jenny cheerily.

"What?" said Jake in surprise, coming into the room.

"What? Haley, you can't kiss some train station guy, you're with Nathan!" protested Gabby, her tongue for once ahead of her mind.

"Nathan? Please tell me you mean ten years ago," said Jake, leaning against a wall.

"You've been with Nathan for ten years?" asked Gabby, raising an eyebrow.

"No, they were married ten years ago! Haley, what's wrong with you? You promised you wouldn't mess anything up! You promised! And how could I have been so blind? You told me she was coming, you told me her name… Gabriela Travers, I remember it! As if seducing Lucas wasn't enough…" yelled Peyton, her voice growing hysterical. In three long strides, Jake had reached his wife and taken her in his arms.

"Calm down. Remember what the doctor said," he whispered.

"And now you're back to break his heart again. It's getting old, Haley James," said Peyton wearily.

"He was the one who came to the house! He asked me out, he s…" Haley spoke for the first time, but stopped abruptly.

"Nathan Scott doesn't need to bother to seduce his women," shot back Peyton. Nervously, Gabby reached out and clutched Jenny's shaking hand.

"I'm not his woman," whispered Haley.

"God Haley, why are you so completely incapable of making choices and sticking to them? You've always been that way: first it was love over friendship, then it was Nathan over Chris, then your stupid career over Nathan, and finally Lucas and Nathan again," said Peyton.

"That's not fair, and you know it. Just because I'm not going to say why in front of your children doesn't mean you've always made the best choices," hissed Haley. "Gabby, let's go."

Mutely, Gabby followed Haley out, slowly processing the scene she'd just witnessed. Peyton gently laid a hand on her arm as she left.

"You're welcome here any time," she said.

"I won't be used," said Gabby, turning to leave the room.

The two of them walked silently down the hall, went down the lobby in the elevator, had Jared drive them home.

"What are you thinking about?" asked Haley eventually.

"I'm processing. You and Nathan were married…"

"Yes."

"You and Lucas were?"

"Best friends," supplied Haley.

"Who's Chris?"

"A friend. One who Nathan was convinced was much more," explained Haley.

"Did you ever..?" began Gabby.

"No!" said Haley quickly. Then it occurred to Gabby meant kissing, and that Haley meant sex.

Having gained fuller understanding of the situation, Gabby pursed her lips and kept them close for the duration of the ride. When they arrived home, she went straight to her room and shut the door.

"Something happen?" asked Taylor, coming into the main hall. Haley slumped to the floor, her back on the wall.

"Many, many things. What about you?" she asked.

"Your boyfriends called," said Taylor, leaving. Haley nodded, only noting afterward that that particular statement should not be one so easily understood.

That night Taylor went out partying, and Haley went to bed early.

She tossed and turned in bed for hours before finally slipping into a deep sleep, marred only dissatisfying dreams.

But the dissatisfaction of the lesser dreams paled in comparison to the one that nearly kept her up the entire night.

Haley could hear the hiss of the shower and feel the hot needles of water in her hair and on her back. It was the most realistic dream she'd ever had, but she knew it wasn't real, as much as she wanted it to be: the shower was not the top of the line shower in her penthouse, but the one she'd shared in the apartment with Nathan.

As she shower door opened, she felt a presence behind her, turned around and moved into him, the combination of the shower, his hard stomach muscles making her feel weak with desire. The figure gasped as her hand slipped down and began to fondle his hardness, and quickly he pressed her up against the cold shower wall and began to run his lips down her neck.

A cry rose in Haley's throat as he went inside of her. He gave a hoarse cry of intense pleasure as he came inside of her.

"Haley…" he said. Only one name came out of her throat, coming with absolutely no struggle or contest:

"Oh Luke…" she whispered.

Haley sat bolt upright in bed, a cold sweat breaking throughout her body as the vivid details of her dream came back to her. She'd rarely had such dreams, but they'd never failed to be about Nathan. Her dream self remember the texture of his dark hair, the sound of his tender voice, the feel of his… of his…

It hadn't felt like that in the dream.

Quickly she took her temperature again, hoping the flu had struck her as it once had. It had not. There was no denying it: once again, Haley James was torn.