Chapter Twenty-Five: It Never Rains

Nathan slowly opened his eyes, blinking in confusion at his unfamiliar surroundings. His arm went automatically around the place his wife usually lay, but he was surprised to find it empty. His arm wound around thin air as the door opened.

"Good sleep?" asked Peyton sarcastically, raising an eyebrow.

"It sucked. Thanks for letting me crash," he said, sitting up in bed.

"No problem. Though I'm curious as to why you had an argument with your wife about me and came to prove her right," said Peyton. Nathan paused a second before laughing.

"I didn't know where to go. Brooke's gone, and without her I don't really have anyone I can count on," he said sadly. Peyton went and sat beside him on the bed.

"You do now. Chill, she'll forgive you," said Peyton comfortingly, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Nathan looked sideways at her and smiled. For years, Peyton had been something of a dream to him. She was tall, pretty and blonde, and everything he was sure he could never have. This was before the days he'd begun to feel for Brooke, fall for Haley. He hadn't even known Peyton, he'd just seen her.

He leaned forward without pausing to think. His hand curved around her neck and she braced herself in anticipation as he lowered his lips to hers. He responded eagerly to the slight pressure on her lips and they fell backward onto the bed, their bodies pressed together.

Clad only in his boxers, Nathan could clearly feel the leg that wrapped around him, all her curves pressed into his body. He took her by the shoulders and turned so that he was on top of her, their kisses deepening as their hands began to explore.

A loud noise started them, and Nathan immediately leapt off of her and made a blind grab for the phone on the bedside table, turning his back to her.

"Hello?" he said quickly, running a hand through his mussed hair.

"Nathan?" said Haley quietly.

"Hey," he said in relief.

"Can you come home? I'm so sorry," she whispered.

"I'll be right there," he promised.

"Great. Love you," she said. He clicked off the phone before he had time to think, and turned back to Peyton.

She stared deeply into his eyes, looking wounded and somehow lost.

"I'm sorry," he said eventually. He was startled when a solitary tear dripped down her cheek.

"This isn't fair, Nathan," she said. He went to sit beside her, turning off his phone as he did so.

"What isn't?"

"This! I feel so much for you but you're married. It's not fair," she said again. He put a reluctant hand on her shoulder and didn't stop her as she turned inward to him and put her arms around his neck.

"By tomorrow you'll be wondering why you're crying, I promise," he said, into her blonde curls.

"You're going home to her now, aren't you?" asked Peyton.

"Yes. I am," he said stiffly. Peyton slowly dropped her hands and turned away.

"Then I'm sorry, too," she said, refusing to look at him as he gathered his things and exited quickly. Only looking up when he was finally gone to let one glint of victory slip into her somber expression.

XxxxxxX

Haley fruitlessly dialed Nathan's phone one more time before giving up and calling her sister's.

"Brooke?" she said sadly. Brooke took a second to respond, and Haley could hear an agonized cry of a child in the background.

"Hales? What's wrong, you sound kind of funny," said Brooke worriedly.

"Everything. We had a fight and he turned off his phone and I have no idea where he is," she said.

"Why isn't he there?" asked Brooke in confusion, handing off the baby in her arms to her mother.

"He stormed out last night. I was being a bitch and he just left," said Haley.

"Any idea where he went?" asked Brooke, dropping onto a sofa.

"Peyton's, probably," said Haley bitterly.

"What?"

"That's what the fight was about. He got a call from her and he took it in the bedroom and then he didn't say what she called about, and I got pissed ant then he said I didn't have a right to be pissed," burst out Haley. Brooke kindly refrained from mentioning that she did not, in fact, have a right to be pissed.

"Bitch," said Brooke sympathetically as she turned around and caught a glimpse of her computer, and the page it was open to. She screamed. "What's wrong?"

"Get back. I don't know why, but I need you. I'm going to have a plan. I'm going to think of a plan and then I'm going to ruin her fucking life and I'm pretty sure I can't do it alone. So get back her and stop sulking," said Haley, clicking off the phone and letting it drop to the ground as she stared at the computer: her husband getting off of Peyton Sawyer to answer the phone. And was it just her imagination, or did the blonde turn toward the webcam to give it one small, triumphant smirk?

XxxxxxX

Nathan drove quickly toward his apartment, feeling guilty. He'd tried to call Haley repeatedly, only to find the line continually busy.

His thoughts switched magically back to Peyton. Was it true, that she really cared for him? Or was she, in true cheerleading fashion, trying to get another notch on her bedpost? Nathan wasn't sure, but somehow she was so sincere. Haley had hurt him deeply, repeatedly. Somehow he was sure that Peyton would never hurt him.

XxxxxxX

Brooke stared at the phone as it clicked off in her hand, and hurriedly took back the boy who was again screaming his head off. She quieted him absently, her eyes darting around the room. She was needed, it seemed. Should she follow the cry of duty, go to Haley, solve her problems? Or should she continue hiding from her own.

"I think I'm going back," she said to her mother in confusion, who nodded slowly after a pause. Both pairs of eyes drifted inevitably to the baby and to the framed document on the wall:

Jonathon Davis-Scott, born May 8th 2004. Son of Brooke Penelope Davis and Lucas

Eugene Scott.