"Haley, you look fine!" Brooke whined. "I've told you this a million times in the last 10 minutes…your dinner will go great"

"You think?"

"I know" Brooke smiled. "Look at you! You look awesome"

"Good" Haley smiled. The doorbell rang and she jumped. "That would be Nathan!"

"Yup…I'll get it" Brooke said. "I wonder what- Lucas! Hi!" Brooke said. "What are you doing here?"

"Yeah, what are you doing here?" Nathan asked, appearing by the door.

"I'm here to talk to Brooke" Lucas said. "Why are you here?"

"To take Haley out"

"Oh…well I have to talk to Brooke"

"Um…ok, why?" Brooke asked.

"I just do"

"Ok…"

"Hey" Haley said, emerging from the room.

"Hey you look…great" Nathan said. "Ready?"

"Ready, let me just get my purse" Haley said. Nathan nodded and Haley ran to get her purse quickly.

"Have fun, Haley" Brooke said, hugging her. "And don't forget, if it gets to be too much, call me, ok?" she added in a whisper. Haley nodded gratefully and followed Nathan out the door.

"Can we talk?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah…"

"You know how Rachel said she was pregnant?"

"Yeah"

"I thought she was just lying, but she's not…and it's not mine, that's not why I came…but she needs some serious help with everything and I was wondering if you could help me…help her"

"Why would I do such a thing?" Brooke asked. "I thought you didn't like her"

"I don't, but I did date her, Brooke- and I can't see her hanging like that"

"What did she ever do to deserve our help?" Brooke asked. "Especially mine, after she nearly destroyed my life like 3 times?"

"She's human, too, Brooke"

"Yeah, and so am I, and believe me she did some pretty inhumane things to me" Brooke said. "Why do you want to help her anyway?"

"You wanna know who the father is?" Lucas asked.

"Hopefully not you"

"No…Dan"

"WHAT?"

Meanwhile…

"So where are we going?" Haley asked in an attempt to strike up a conversation.

"You'll see" Nathan laughed.

"Ok" Haley settled back in the leathery recess of the seat. "This car is awesome"

"I know…Dan's money, my car"

"I love that logic" Haley laughed. Her laugh made Nathan's stomach turn. It was more like a tinkle and he loved the way she laughed.

"Yeah" Nathan turned onto the parking lot for the beach.

"Nathan…"

"Come on" Nathan opened the car door for her and led her down the boardwalk to the beach, where a picnic was laid out.

"Oh my gosh"

"I hope you're ok with getting your dress all sandy" Nathan said, referring to the flowing blue sundress Haley had on.

"Oh, its fine" Haley said. "I don't care"

"That's good" Nathan motioned for her to sit down on the blanket. Haley sat down slowly, still awed by the romantic factor of this dinner. Was Nathan trying to say something?

"SHE SLEPT WITH DAN SCOTT!" Brooke shrieked.

"Apparently so"

"But she told you it was a random guy at a bar"

"Dan's sick, he can be a random guy at a bar"

"Oh no, no, no not good" Brooke said, pacing up and down her living room. "This changes everything"

"I know"

"What are we gonna do?"

"I don't know!" Lucas said. "I'm in a bit of a panic mode- this kid is going to be my brother or sister, basically"

"That would make Rachel your step mom in a twisted sort of way"

"Ok ew" Lucas shuddered. "Dan is such a sick, sick man"

"No joke" Brooke said. "Ok…umm…does Rachel know?"

"No"

"How do you know?"

"I have my sources"

"Ok I wont ask…you're positive its Dan's?"

"100 percenttotally sure"

"Ok…well first we have to tell Rachel" Brooke said. "And as much as it pains me to do this, I'm gonna have to call her over here"

"Oh god…please don't like bitch her out, Brooke" Lucas said.

"I won't! Jeez"

"Ok, ok I believe you" Lucas laughed. He was glad he came to Brooke, she knew what to do in times like these…and also he basically just wanted to see her.

"Hello- Rachel? It's Brooke"

"What do you want now, Brooke? You know you won"

"Can you please just come over here?" Brooke asked. "I need to talk to you"

"If this is some elaborate plan to humiliate me, than please just tell me now what you wanna tell me and spare me the gas money" Rachel said.

"Its not…here, talk to Lucas"

"Rachel…just come here" Lucas said. "Please"

"Ok,fine I'll be there 10" Rachel said.

"She thinks I'm gonna give her a bitching" Brooke laughed. "That makes me happy"

"Brooke!"

"Sorry…"

Meanwhile…

"This is great, Nathan" Haley said. "And such a perfect spot…the stars look so pretty tonight"

"Yeah" Nathan looked into her eyes and saw the reflection of the very stars Haley was talking about. "I appreciate how much you dressed up, I feel like a thug compared to you"

"Well…I always liked thugs" Haley laughed. Nathan chuckled and poured some more coke into his glass.

"I wanna say why I really invited you here tonight" Nathan said.

"Oh" Haley sighed. She wasn't looking forward to this.

"I love you, Haley…a lot. And I wish everything would be perfect and we could be together forever and all that cheesy stuff that we all dream about- but that's not gonna happen. However, we have a year to work things out before the divorce is totally finalized. I really, really wish we could talk things out and I hope we can be together again, because the more I think about losing you, the more I can't imagine it"

"Nathan…"

"So are you willing to work things out?"

"Of course I am!" Haley said. "That's exactly what I wanted to hear tonight- I'll do everything and anything to earn back your trust"

"Um…I talked to my mom and she suggested marriage counseling"

"From like a priest?"

"No, since neither of us is particularly religious, just a normal one"

"Ok" Haley said. "I'm willing to do that"

"But the biggest part is our own will to wanna work things out" Nathan said.

"Oh I have will" Haley said, looking up at the stars and then back at Nathan. "I have plenty of will"

"So why am I here?" Rachel asked, looking back from Brooke to Lucas.

"We wanted to tell you who the father of the baby is"

"How did you find this out?"

"Long story"

"Who is it?" Rachel asked.

"Dan Scott"

"DAN SCOTT!"

"Yep"

"You're sure?"

"Positive"

"How do you not remember sleeping with him?" Brooke asked. She may have suddenly turned into Glenda the good witch but she WAS gonna take a teeny tiny stab at Rachel's idiocy.

"I was sorta…wasted?" Rachel said.

"Ok well he's the father…good thing you know because that'll be a hell of a time you're gonna have…and he's not gonna be in this baby's life" Lucas said.

"So what are you planning to do?" Brooke asked.

"Well I went and checked with Planned Parenthood and I'm definitelypregnant…about 2 months um and I'm planning to keep it" Rachel said.

"Well you realize you can't drink when you're pregnant?" Brooke said. "And you need to straighten up and pull yourself together because you've got a hell of a ride made out for you" Brooke snapped.

"Yes, mother"

"I'm serious, Rachel! This is no laughing matter- you can't provide a shitty life for a baby, ok? They require attention and love, and you have to be prepared to give it!" Brooke said. "I never wanna see parents like mine bestowed upon any unfortunate child every again!"

"She's right, Rachel…you have a lot of thinking to do" Lucas said. Rachel's eyes filled up with tears.

"I'm scared" Rachel said, the tears spilling over. "Really, really scared"

"Rachel…" Brooke found herself hugging the last person she thought she would ever hug.

"What am I going to do?"

A/N: TWIST! Betcha didn't see that one coming! Review :0)