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Nathan continued to press his lips against Haley's. She continued to feel uncomfortable, but didn't want him to think she was too scared. He gently lied her down on the bed and began to unbutton her shirt.

"Nathan, stop," She gasped, desperately trying to get the 150lb+ guy off her.

"What? I thought this was what you wanted?" Nathan said. Haley kept a firm grip on his shoulders, she turned her head as he lent in for a kiss.

"Stop," Haley yelled. All these things ran through her mind. She remembered watching those videos in health class about rape and domestic violence. But Haley refused to let herself become a victim. She tried yelling again, but it felt like the walls were drowning out her plea. She felt tears roll down her cheek as she began to succumb to the force known as Nathan Scott. "No, please, no." She cried, but Nathan kissed her harder.

"Get off her!" Came Christian's shocked voice. He ran into the room and with great force, pushed Nathan off of Haley. She ran into the corner of the room and watched as Christian threw a punch that connected with Nathan's mouth. He smiled as he wiped the blood that trickled down his chin.

"You better watch your back, Young." Nathan sneered. He got up into his face, as if he wanted another punch. A slap was what he needed, but Haley was too afraid to leave her position in the corner. She cowered away from Nathan as he walked right up to her. His face just inches away from hers.

"You know, little Brooke, I won't hold this against you. I'll come back when you're ready." Nathan said, taking one last look at Christian before he strutted out the door.

"Are you okay?" Christian asked Haley in a soft tone. Haley shook her head and began to cry. He walked over to her and gently pulled her up by her wrist, carefully avoiding the bruises. He gave her a light hug as she silently sobbed into his shirt. "Do you want me to get Brooke?"

Haley shook her head. The last thing she wanted was to have Brooke sending Nathan death threats. "No," She whispered, her voice slightly muffled by his shirt. Christian gently walked her over to the bed and sat her down. Her small body trembled with every move she made. He gazed into her wet brown eyes. After what she had just experienced, he figured she would want to be left alone.

"Well, I'm going to get going. Call me if you need anything." Christian said. Haley looked up at him and grabbed his arm.

"Please don't go." She whispered, "Will you stay with me for a bit?"

Christian smiled and sat down next to her. He lay down on the bed, Haley following soon after. She rested her head on his chest. He reciprocated by putting his arm around her.

"Now, tell me something. When I first met you a few weeks ago, you said your sister hated you. It doesn't look like she hates you if she went and almost kicked Claire's ass. Something that I wouldn't mind seeing." Christian said with a small laugh.

Haley sighed and closed her eyes for a minute. "Brooke and I have a weird relationship. Some days we're the best of friends, some days we're enemies. But no matter how much I get on Brooke's nerves, she never lets anyone hurt me. She's always been there to catch me when I fell, or cheer me up when I had a bad day. Something my other sister never did for her. I guess she didn't want to become the person Taylor became." Haley said, wiping the stray tear that fell down her cheek. For someone who was almost raped, she was surprisingly calm.

"See with my sister and I, it's just pure hate really. We've never really gotten along because of our parents. My Dad was a bastard and my mom was an alcoholic. Claire always thought they would change one day, but they never did. I told my aunt how my mom would hit us when she was drunk and that my dad never came home. My Aunt called DSS and they took us from them and we went to live with our grandmother. Now, that was when we were ten. Seven years later she still hates me." Christian said.

"I'm sorry," was all Haley could muster. She never understood how people could hate their children. Let alone abuse them.

Christian shrugged and quickly changed the subject. "So, uh, I hope your dad doesn't come up here and find us like this." He said with a laugh. Haley bit her lip and sat up.

"Um, my dad's actually dead." Haley said, turning away to avoid Christian's look.

"Oh God, Haley, I'm so sorry." He said as Haley turned back to him with a small smile.

"That's okay. You didn't know."

"So what's this movie about?" Brooke asked Lucas and they made their way into the movie theatre.

Lucas sighed. "For the hundredth time, Keanu Reeves plays a supernatural detective who teams up with a woman to investigate the suicide-death of her sister."

Brooke stared at him. "Can't we just go see Million Dollar Baby or something?"

Lucas rolled his eyes and shook his head. "No. Besides, I've already bought the tickets!" He waved two tickets around in his girlfriends face. Brooke let out a huge sigh and followed Lucas into the theatre.

"This better be good." She mumbled as Lucas threw his hands up in the air. "I'm talking good like the song good. Lucas raised his eyebrow. "You know the song by Something Corporate." Lucas stared at her, he knew who they were but he wasn't sure Brooke did. Brooke blushed as she noticed the look Lucas was giving her. "Peyton rubs off of you if you spend large amounts of time with her."

"Well that movie sucked!" Brooke exclaimed, as her and Lucas made their way up to her room.

"How would you know? You fell asleep 10 minutes into it!" He replied, shaking his head. Brooke shrugged and planted a kiss on his lips.

"Does that make it up to you?" She asked as Lucas pretended to think.

"We'll see what we can work out," Lucas replied, as the two jumped onto the bed. The two were quickly interrupted by Taylor's voice.

"Whoa, guys keep it down. Mike is downstairs you know." Lucas quickly sat up and Brooke fixed her hair. She glared at Taylor's amused face.

"Call me later," Lucas whispered as he quickly left the room before Taylor started telling him how much he grew up.

He walked down the hall to Haley's room. He peered in the slightly open door and frowned when he saw her. She was curled up in a little ball looking sad and somewhat lost.

"Hey stranger," He gently said as he pushed open the door. Haley looked at him. For the first time today her eyes lit up and she was genuinely happy.

"Hi, Luke," She whispered as she watched Lucas make his way over to her bed. She sat up and wrapped her arms around his chest.

"Are you okay?" He asked as Haley's grip got tighter.

"Can I ask you something?" Haley asked. She turned her head so she could see Lucas nod. "Would you, would you miss me if I was gone?" Lucas looked shocked as Haley began to cry and tremble in his arms.

"Haley," He said in a surprised voice. "Why would you ask me that?" Lucas stared dumbfounded at his best friend.

"Because, Lucas, I can't go on anymore." Haley whispered. "Not without them at least. The only two people who loved me are gone and never coming back. It's not fair."

"I love you, Hales." Lucas said with a slight shake to his voice. "And I always will. You've got a house full of people who care about you."

Haley wiped her eyes and released her grip on Lucas. "Ever since you started to date Brooke you made less and less time for me and more and more time for her. I feel like I'm losing you too."

"Haley, I've only been dating Brooke for a year, we've been best friends for ten. I would never leave you." Lucas said, not knowing where she was going with this.

"No, you're lying!" Haley spat. "They said they would never leave me either and look where they are now! Six feet under a shitty headstone that says 'you'll be forever in our hearts'. So don't you dare make promises you won't keep." And for Haley, it felt like 4 and a half years of emotions came pouring out of her. It seemed like all the years of pretending caught up to her. Truth was she felt exactly like Brooke. She didn't want to talk about it and she wanted to move on, but there was something that was holding her back. And that something was herself. She stared at Lucas through her blurred vision and fell into his arms.

"Oh, Luke, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to say that." Lucas didn't say anything. Instead he wrapped his arms around her small body and rocked her back and forth. All the commotion had brought a curious Brooke into the room. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw her sister shaking in her boyfriend's arms. Without a word, she quietly walked over to them and gently put her hand on Lucas' shoulder. He looked up with sad eyes and gently moved so Brooke could sit down. Haley was oblivious to Brooke, who was stroking her hair.

And for the first time in her life, Brooke James was speechless. Part of her wanted to crack a joke, something along the lines of "Hey Luke, what did you do to her?" But just because it sounded funny in her head, wouldn't necessarily mean it would sound good out loud. And for the first time since they were together, she saw tears well up in Lucas' eyes.

"It's okay, buddy, we're here." Lucas whispered his voice evident that he was going to cry. A part of him wished he could take his best friend's tears and make them stop, but if he were wishing for things, he'd bring back Mr. and Mrs. James.

Haley looked up and saw her sister sitting there with tears in her eyes. "Brooke," she whimpered, moving into her arms. Brooke embraced her tightly and kissed the top of her head.

"It's okay, baby, I'm here." She whispered as she began to cry. Lucas got up from the bed and paced around the room. He went to the side of the bed and knelt down in front of the girls.

"I'm going to go now, Hales. Are you gonna be okay?" He asked, exchanging worried glances with Brooke. Haley lifted her head and silently nodded. It killed Lucas to leave her like this but he knew he had to. He gave Brooke a quick peck on the cheek. "Call me later." He whispered before leaving the room and shutting the door behind him.

"Honey, what's wrong?" Brooke asked, breaking the awkward silence. She had a hunch as to what was going on, but part of her wasn't ready to hear it.

Haley sat up and looked at her sister. Her eyes were red and puffy and. "Why did they have to die, Brooke? Why!" Haley started to scream. "It's not fair, why would God be so cruel and take them away from us!"

Brooke tried to calm her down with a hug, but the last thing Haley James wanted was hug. She pushed her arms away and went on. "I just want them back Brooke, that's all I want. I'll never ask them for anything else, all I want to do is see my parent's again. That's all I want." Her voice slowly turned into a whisper as she collapsed back into Brooke's arms. Brooke felt a lump form in her throat as she felt tears trickling down her cheek. Tonight was a night of firsts for Brooke. It was the first time she saw her boyfriend cry and it would be the first time she'll talk about the death of her parents.

"Haley, come on, stop crying, please?" She began, gathering her sister in arms and pulling her close to her. "Mom and Dad wouldn't want to see you like this. I don't want to see you like this. It kills me to hear you cry like this. I can't bring Mom and Dad back, honey, I wish I could but I can't. I wake up every morning knowing that I will never see them again. My children will never get to meet their grandparents and Dad will never be able to walk us down the aisle when we get married. And I go to bed at night blaming myself for what I've done to you. I never meant to hurt you, but there was a part of me that's still angry and I started taking it on the wrong person. I thought it would make me feel better if I made you feel worse. You took your time to get over their death, I didn't." At that point, Brooke was sobbing uncontrollably along with her sister. "When I hear you cry yourself to sleep night after night, it tears me up inside knowing that I can't heal your pain. Mom and Dad may be gone, but I'm not. I'll always be here for you no matter what. Just remember that, okay?"

She gave Haley a little squeeze and watched as her sister got off the bed and grabbed the picture of her parents from off her nightstand. Haley crawled back onto the bed and snuggled back up to her sister.

"Look at them," Haley said in a whisper, "they were too young to die. They never did anything to anyone. They were good people, Brooke. Not once did they drink and drive, not once did they break the law, not once did they let us down." Inside Brooke felt numb. If Haley could say all these things, why couldn't she? Apart of her just wanted to run out of the room and into Taylor's arms, but the other part of her waned to stay and made sure her sister could get through the night. Being strong all the time was definitely a hard task for Brooke to complete.

"You see that picture?" Brooke said, pointing to the photo in her sister's arms. "They took the day before you were born. Mom was so beautiful, especially when she was pregnant." She tried to get Haley to talk about the things they remembered about her parents, but Haley wasn't listening.

"I just don't understand. Why did it have to be our parents? Why couldn't it be someone else's?" Haley asked, starting to cry again.

"I don't know why, Haley. I really don't. Why did Peyton's mom have to die? We're lucky compared to her. She only got to have her mom for eight years; we had our mom for thirteen. Why did Peter King's father have to die from cancer? Why does anyone have to die?" With every word Brooke said Haley began to calm down. Her tight grip on Brooke became looser and her tears began to stop. "With all these people gone, it just proves only the good die young." Brooke whispered, gazing into Haley's brown eyes. "Even though they're not here, their spirits live on forever in our hearts. And as long as you believe they're in there, they'll be with you forever."

Taylor sank to the floor against the closed door. She wiped away her tears, realizing she had a lot of changing to do.

Orignally I was going to make Christian the bad guy, but then I took into cosideration what Mony19 said. So sorry Naley fans, this probably won't end up a Naley. And to be honest, I'm not the biggest fan of Nathan. hides