Chapter Three- Take My Hand
Haley woke up the next morning to the most wonderful feeling- being surrounded by her husband. He was spooned up behind her, his arm draped possessively over her side. Their fingers were entwined and she could feel his steady breathing on the nape of her neck, where his nose was resting gently. As carefully as she could, she rolled onto her other side so as not to wake him up. Exactly as it used to, his body moved with the movement of her body. His arm was still draped over her stomach, but now his leg had moved over both of hers and pulled them towards his body. Haley couldn't help but reach out and touch his face, her fingers gently sweeping over his cheekbones and his lips. It felt nice to feel Nathan's face lean into her touch, considering he was asleep and not conscious of his actions.
"Nathan…" she leaned forward to whisper in his ear. "It's already two in the afternoon, you should probably get up."
"I don't want to, I want to lay in bed all day." His eyes opened as he rolled onto his back, pulling Haley with him so that her head was resting on his shoulder.
"How long have you been up?" she asked, gently poking his side.
"Long enough to feel you playing with my face." He couldn't help but laugh.
"Oh, god," Haley brought her hands up to her face. "You know you liked it."
"Well, I didn't say that I was complaining. Hales…" he paused slightly, "I'm really glad that you came home last night. I know that I might not have acted like it at first, but I was losing it here without you and I don't know how much longer I would have made it."
"I know that I wouldn't have made it another minute there. I was so ready to see your face I would have run all the way home dragging my luggage behind me. Or I could have punched my manager in the face because he was really the only thing holding me back. I would have been back a lot earlier if he wasn't such an ass."
"Seriously? Um, can we drive over there right now so I can kill him for keeping me from my wife?"
Haley laughed and nodded. "Yes, yes you can. As long as I get to help."
"Well we'll just have to find you an even better manager I guess."
"Another manager?"
"Yeah, it's sort of hard to have a singing career without a manager."
"But Nathan…"
"No buts, Hales. We have to promise each other that we will make this marriage work and follow our dreams. I think your goal while I'm at High Flyers should be finding yourself a new manager."
"Okay then your goal is signing an NBA contract, deal?"
"Okay, we'll deal with both of our goals when I get back. Does that sound better?"
"Yes, much. How would you feel about me singing at TRIC while you're gone, if Peyton lets me?"
"Well even though I'm going to miss hearing you play, I think it would be wonderful."
"Well maybe I'll give you a private show before you leave." Haley laughed and winked at him.
"Oh really…" He couldn't help but reach down and tickle her sides, where she was the most ticklish.
"Nathan, stop!" Haley burst out laughing and did her best to slap Nathan's hands away. In their struggle Nathan somehow ended up on top of Haley, with their faces close to each other and their noses almost touching. They both paused, Nathan's hands resting on Haley's hips and hers on his shoulders. They were so close, only had to lean forward slightly and their lips would be touching…
The ringing of Nathan's cell phone disrupted the moment. "Sorry, Haley, I have to answer that. It could be my mom."
"No, it's fine, I totally understand."
Nathan carefully rolled off of Haley and picked his phone up off the floor next to the bed. "Hello?... Hey mom… Yeah, no problem… I'll be there as soon as I can… See you soon…" He tossed his phone back onto the floor and turned back towards Haley. "I have to head over to the hospital, I guess there's been a change in my dad's condition."
"Okay, well do you want me to make you some breakfast while you get ready?"
"Actually, I was wondering if you wanted to come with me, for moral support?"
"Are you sure? I mean, yeah, I'd love to."
"Good, cause I could really use you there. It'll make it a little easier."
"Well that's really good for me because I didn't want to let you out of my sight anyway. Now let's get changed, grab a quick bite to eat, and head to the hospital. Okay?"
Nathan nodded and quickly kissed her forehead before jumping out of the bed and heading to his bedroom. Haley couldn't help the smile that her mouth formed from cheek to cheek. She grabbed some fresh clothes and went to the bathroom to change.
A half an hour later they were in the elevator at the hospital, heading to Dan's room. "So how do you think your mom's going to react when she sees me?" Haley asked. "Last night she was happy, but I think it was probably the shock."
"Well, we all had some pretty big shocks last night, but I think she'll be happy to see you. She saw how upset I was when you were gone, and I don't think she ever wants me to go back to that place, so she should be pretty okay with it."
"I don't want to ever send you back to that place."
Nathan reached between them and took her hand in his, lacing their fingers together. "Neither of us will be back in that place, ever again. Cause see, you are going to have a real tough time getting rid of me again."
"Well good, cause the same goes for me." She lifted their hands up and kissed the back of his. "For better or worse, right?"
"Exactly." The elevator came to a stop and they followed the directions the receptionist had given them. Nathan held tightly onto Haley's hand as he walked into the room she had told them. Haley had expected to see a grotesque sight, but instead it was just a mummified Dan, covered from head to toe in bandages.
Deb stood up as they came closer to the bed. "Nate, it's not as bad as it looks. I mean, it's bad, but not all that is bandaged is burned. They just did that to properly cover the bad parts." She pulled her son into her arms and took a deep breath. "Well, I guess you saw it last night. I'm sorry about that, honey, I was just in such shock."
"It's okay, mom, I understand." He sat down in one of the chairs at Dan's bedside.
"Haley," Deb said, pulling her into her arms also. "I'm so glad that you've decided to come home. I'm hoping it's a permanent stay?"
"Yeah, I'm not going anywhere unless this one goes with me. Well, I guess that rule will be applied after he gets home from High Flyers."
Deb smiled as she pulled back. "That makes me so happy to hear. You know the first year is the hardest, and if you two are this happy at the end of it, then you're going to have one hell of a life together. I'm so glad you worked everything out, it's the way it should be."
"Thank you, Mrs. Scott."
"Please, call me Deb. Or I guess Mom, because we never really had that discussion. I know we weren't supportive of you guys, but I can feel the love radiating off you two by just standing in the same room. And that's all that really matters, there's nothing else. I've begun to understand that now."
Haley sat down next to Nathan, wrapping her arm around his as he placed his hand on her leg. She completely agreed with Deb, all they needed was love, and they had plenty of that. They always had.
"Well, he woke up for a little bit earlier, that's why I called you. I feel bad, I probably got you out of bed for nothing. You were sleeping, weren't you?" Deb asked.
"Well, we kind of were, but it's really okay. I was planning on coming as soon as I woke up, anyway. So, did he say anything when he woke up?"
"He said 'I'm sorry' about fifteen times, I can't really figure out why though."
"Well this is the second time he's nearly died- maybe it's getting to him. What did the police say today?" Last night they had been pretty quiet, just asked Nathan a few questions. Like if Dan had any enemies, which Nathan had only been able to laugh at. Nathan hadn't been much help to them.
"Well they're saying that it was either foul play or suicide. They won't know until they determine how the fire was started, or if Dan wakes up. I'm going to be brutally honest with you though, they found traces of painkillers in his blood."
"So do they think he was trying to kill himself?"
"Well they really can't answer that until Dan wakes up and tells us himself."
"You honestly think he would admit to it? I mean, first of all it doesn't even sound like something he would do. Second of all, I think he would have too much pride to admit he was struggling and unhappy."
"I don't know, Nathan. Right now there are just too many possibilities."
"You know what," Haley said and standing up, "I'm kind of thirsty. Do either of you want me to get you something to drink?"
"I would love a coffee. Thank you," Deb said.
"No, thanks, I'm good." Nathan answered.
Haley smiled and kissed Nathan on the top of the head before heading towards the cafeteria.
Deb smiled as she watched Nathan eyes follow Haley until she was out the door. "I'm really glad she's home, I can see just how happy she makes you. It looks like you guys were able to work everything out."
"Yeah, mostly. We're still both a little hesitant to jump right back into where we left off, but we talked for awhile last night and sorted a lot out. There were a few things standing in our way, but after realizing we had both made mistakes it made it easier to see how much we missed each other."
"What do you mean?"
"Well for starters, Dan forged my name on annulment papers and brought them to Haley. He made her believe it was what I wanted and that I didn't love her anymore. Meanwhile, I was here convinced she was cheating on me when really she was writing me letters nearly everyday telling me how much she loved me. She just never sent them because she thought I would have thrown them away, which she was probably right."
"Well, I'm glad that you two worked everything out. People make mistakes and sometimes it just takes awhile for us to figure out that we're truly not happy with our decisions."
"Speaking from experience, Mom?"
"Maybe… But there's really only one thing I regret in my life, and that's letting Dan treat me like a puppet. When he wakes up, I'm not going to let that happen again. I need to figure out who I am, on my own and without him. I don't want to end up again where I was this year, I shouldn't have to numb myself through life."
"Good for you, Mom."
"Yeah, well if only he would wake up so I could start that new life sooner rather than later."
Lucas Scott was sitting in the hospital waiting room when he saw something out of the corner of his eye that he couldn't quite believe. "Haley?" he called out, questioningly.
She turned around and couldn't help the smile that spread across her face when she saw him. "Luke, what are you doing here?" she asked as she pulled him into her arms.
"I guess I could ask you the same question. I heard Dan was brought it, but I haven't been able to build up enough courage to go see him." He pulled back out of her arms so that he could look into her eyes. "What are you doing here?"
"I came home last night, I'm sorry I didn't call you. I was just trying to work everything out with Nathan and then all of this happened with Dan."
"It's okay, Hales, I'm just glad that you're home. It's been a rough couple of days."
"Why?"
"Well, for starters I finally confessed to Brooke how I really feel about her, but she still left. That was kind of a really big slap in the face, but I understand why she had to leave. Your husband isn't talking to me because I told him I would stop investigating Dan, but then he found out that I didn't stop and told me off. Lastly, I confronted Dan and it turns out he was really just testing me and I failed his test majorly. He's such a son of a bitch, but yet here I am, contemplating going in there and talking to him."
"Wait, why were you investigating Dan?"
"I thought he was stealing money from the company. And then I was trying to help Deb get away from him and I thought it was going to be her way out. Turns out he was really just testing my loyalty cause he's extremely twisted. I really screwed things up with Nate though, I don't know if he's ever going to talk to me again."
"Well, I think I'll be able to change his mind on that one because there is no way in hell I'm choosing sides between the two of you. I've never had to and I'm not going to start now, I love you both way too much. I'll talk to him. So Brooke, huh?"
"Yeah," Lucas said with a smile. "I really miss her, Hales, and it's only been a day. I wish she would have stayed here. I mean, come on, my girlfriend would have been living in my house without my mom there. How many guys have that opportunity?"
Haley laughed. "Where's your mom?"
"She went to Australia to go after Andy."
"Good for her, she deserves to be happy more than any of us."
"Well, what about you Hales, what made you come back?"
"Love. I wouldn't have been able to get through one more day without Nathan, it's as simple as that."
"How did he react when he saw you?"
"Anger at first, but after figuring a few things out he's starting to let me back in. It will take awhile for him to trust me again, but I'm willing to wait. I know he's well worth it. I'm never going to let something get between us again, I know now just how much our relationship means to me. He's too important."
"I'm really happy for you guys and I'm really happy that you're finally home."
"That makes two of us." a voice said from behind them.
Haley and Lucas turned around to see Nathan standing a few feet away. He came closer to them, standing next to Haley and placing his arm around her. "Listen, Luke, I'm really sorry about how I reacted before. I've always told you to do what you want when it comes to Dan and I went back on my word. I was just trying to watch out for my mom."
"No problem, Nate, I completely understand."
"So we can just forget about it? I'm all about the new beginnings and second chances today," Nathan said, glancing down at Haley and smiling.
"Yeah, that sounds good. So how's he doing?"
"He's burned pretty bad, but I guess he woke up a little bit ago. They still really aren't that sure what happened, I think a lot of it is going to depend on Dan's statement. Hopefully he remembers enough of what happened. Do you want to go in there?"
"I don't know if I will today, it kind of took a lot just to be able to make it this far. I think I got in and out of the car about five times before I finally starting driving here."
Nathan laughed. "Well, he'll still be here waiting tomorrow, he's not going anywhere. My mom really wants a cup of coffee though, so we should probably get back in there."
"Lucas, it was so good to see you and I can't wait to have dinner or something and catch up." Haley said, pulling her best friend into an embrace. "Maybe a cafeteria lunch tomorrow if you gather up enough courage to come back."
"Yeah, that sounds really good. I'll talk to you soon. Nathan, I'll see you later and I promise next time if you ask me to do something, I'll respect your wishes. It would have been smart of me to do."
"Lucas, whatever Dan did isn't worth investigating. We're all stronger than him and lately the only person he's been hurting is himself. The best thing I learned from growing up with him was how to ignore him. It took awhile to master, but I'm so glad that he doesn't hold an influence over me anymore."
"Thanks, Nate. Alright, I'll see you two soon." Lucas shook Nathan's hand before heading off towards the parking garage.
Nathan turned back to Haley and said, "Now, let's go get my mom some coffee and then visit for awhile so that we can get back to some us time."
Haley smiled and rested her head against his shoulder as they walked to the cafeteria. "I think I like the sound of that."
By the time they had left the hospital and eaten dinner, it was already nine o'clock when Haley and Nathan arrived back at the Scott house. Even though it was still early, they were both tired considering they had stayed up so late the night before. Haley didn't want to push anything so she went to the spare bedroom to change and decided to leave it up to Nathan whether or not they slept in the same bed again.
When she walked out of the bathroom she was surprised to see him just standing in the doorway. "What's going on?" she asked him.
He didn't say anything, and she didn't need him to, just held out his hand to her. She smiled as her stomach filled with butterflies and she stepped closer to him. As she stood across from him in the doorway his hands reached out to rest on her hips, slowly pulling her towards him. Biting her lip, she brought her hands up to the sides of his face, gently sweeping her thumbs over his cheeks. He pulled her even closer, slid his hands all the way around her back and grabbed one wrist so that she was completely resting against him. Haley put her arms all the way around his neck, gently leaning onto his shoulders.
Their lips were inches apart and to both of them it felt as if the whole world had stopped, just waiting for them to lean a little bit closer. Nathan closed the space between them, softly placing his lips upon hers. But it was Haley who took them to the next level. She had been waiting for this moment for months and it wasn't going to be wasted on a gentle kiss. Throwing her weight against the doorframe, she forced Nathan to rest his body completely against hers, and to deepen the kiss. He gently nibbled on her bottom lip and she giggled as he slipped one hand under the material of her shirt, meeting the skin on the small of her back. Just the one touch sent shocks of electricity throughout her body.
But no matter how much she wanted him to just pick her up and carry her to his bed, she knew that they needed to take things slow. They had to get back their relationship, the right way. As carefully as she could, she gently pushed him back. "Wow," was the only thought her mind could form.
"Yeah," he agreed with her.
She laughed because she hadn't meant to say it out loud. "Nathan, as much as I want to, I just don't think we should yet. We said we were going to take things slow."
"Yeah, I know, I just got a little carried away. I forgot how amazing it was to kiss you."
Haley smiled, trying her best not to blush. "Let's just try to get some sleep." She stepped out of the doorframe and this time she held out her hand to him.
Nathan gladly accepted it and followed her to his bedroom. All he could think was- Man, this is going to be one interesting week.
Touch my skin,and tell me what you're thinking
Take my hand and show me where we're going
Lie down next to me, look into my eyes and tell me, oh tell me what you're seeing
So sit on top of the world and tell me how you're feeling
what you feel now is what I feel for you
Take my hand and if I'm lying to you
I'll always be alone
if I'm lying to you
See my eyes, they carry your reflection
Watch my lips and hear the words I'm telling you
Give your trust to me and look into my heart and show me, show me what you're doing
So sit on top of the world and tell me how you're feeling
what you feel now is what I feel for you
Take my hand and if I'm lying to you
I'll always be alone
if I'm lying to you
Take your time, if I'm lying to you
I know you'll find that you believe me
you believe me
Feel the sun on your face and tell me what you're thinking
Catch the snow on your tongue and show me how it tastes
Take my hand and if I'm lying to you
I'll always be alone
if I'm lying to you
Take your time, if I'm lying to you
I know you'll find that you believe me
you believe me
"Take My Hand" by Dido
I just wanted to say thanks for all the positive feedback! Thanks HalleyScott for saying my characterization was good- that was the best comment yet! Haha, I really try to stay in character- I think this part was a little bit of a stretch for Deb but I've always wanted to see her supportive of Nathan and Haley's relationship. And fanfics are our way of writing what we wish would happen! Thanks again to everyone!
Kylie
