Hey everyone! I'm finally back from Slovakia and with an update. Thank you SO much for all the great reviews. It's always nice to come back home and read all of the sweet reviews. Keep 'em coming:) Anyways, on with the story. Here's chapter 12 from Colgate Soulmate. :)

Chapter 12

Haley woke up around six a.m. She turned to look at Nathan. She was surprised to find him staring back at her with a worried look.

"Hey." She said in a small voice.

"Hey."

"I hope I didn't wake you up."

"No." he said while stoking her hair.

"Oh." She said confused. Then she realized. "You never fell asleep, right."

"Nope, but don't worry about that. How are you?"

"I don't know. I'm just starting to accept my mother's death but it doesn't make the pain away. In fact, I'm feeling much worse than the past week." She said.

"That's good." He said and then realized what he just said. "Wait, I didn't mean it like that. I never want you to feel any pain and if I could I would take it all away. I just think it's good that you're starting to come to terms with the situation and finally mourning." He said.

"Yeah..." she said in a small voice.

"Time heals all wounds, don't forget." He said.

"I hope so." She said and put her head on top of his chest.

For about an hour they both just laid still Haley listening to his heart beat while he stroked her hair inhaling her scent.

"I need to get back." She finally said in a small voice.

"Oh." Nathan said. He was too afraid to ask if by 'back' she meant back home or back to LA.

"Alright, let's go then. Tim and your dad are probably worried." Nathan said. Haley went to the bathroom while Nathan changed. Together they walked back to the Smith house. They went to make breakfast in the kitchen.

An hour or something later Peter and Tim walked in.

"Morning." Tim said. He then saw Nathan there. "What are you doing here this early?" Nathan looked at Haley. He didn't know what to tell him.

"I invited him for breakfast." She then said.

"Oh." Tim said and then looked at Haley. "What time did Brooke drop you off? I didn't even here you come in." He said. Haley looked at Tim confused.

"You came around midnight, right?" Peter asked. "Did you have fun with Brooke?" he asked while looking at Haley.

"Umh.. wha... Yeah! Brooke dropped me off around midnight, yes." She said when she understood what her dad was trying to do.

"So, what did you do?" Tim asked.

"Nothing. Just hung out." She said and turned to look at Peter. "Dad, can I talk to you for just a second?" Haley asked.

"Sure, we'll go to my study." He said and they left. Peter closed the door after they got in.

"What was that about?" Haley asked.

"I saw you go to Nathan's last night and I didn't want to worry Tim about it. So I told him you were with Brooke."

"Thanks." Haley said and didn't say anything for a while. "Why do you trust Nathan?" she suddenly asked.

"I've known the Scott's for a long time. Nathan's been Tim's best friend since we moved here and Tim saw Nathan playing ball in his court. Nathan's a good kid." He said and paused for a second. "But no, I'm not an idiot. I know about his past relationships but I believe that's not the real him."

"Even a blind person can see that he really cares about you and he would never hurt you. Partly because you're Tim's sister and he would break his arm if Nathan ever hurt you. But also because he truly cares about you."

"Thanks, dad." Haley said smiling a bit. Then her smile faded. "I actually had to talk to you about something else too."

"What is it?" he asked worried.

"I need you to book a flight to LA."

-------

"...so I played like 3 hours last night and you were right. Vice City is better than San Andreas." Tim finished. Nathan laughed a little. He was happy that his friend was feeling better. Tim still had sad, tired eyes but anyone could tell he was starting to feel a bit better. One day at a time.

Haley came back right then. She had changed upstairs to jeans, flip flops and Nathan's sweatshirt that she still had. She was holding a purse.

"Tim." She said. Tim turned to look at her surprised. She hadn't really talked much the past week.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Get your passport. You, me and dad are going to LA." She said.

"What? Why? When?" Tim asked confused.

"Cause I need your help with things there." She said.

"What things?" Tim asked.

"We gotta take care of mom's business and her will. We're meeting the lawyer at 4 pm." She said.

"Already?" Tim asked. "Don't you think it's pretty soon?" he said looking at the clock on the wall that said 8 am.

"No, not really." She said and paused for a second. "Since our flight is leaving at 10. So get your ass upstairs, take a shower and get your passport. We're leaving in fifteen minutes." She said.

"What do I need with me? When are we flying back?" he asked.

"Tomorrow." She said. Tim left in a hurry. Nathan just sat on his seat and looked at Haley.

"So, are you gonna fly back with them tomorrow or...?" he asked. Haley looked down.

"I don't know. I'm 18 now which means I'm not a minor anymore. There's my mom's business, my music, the high school..." she said in a sad voice. "But then there's you and Tim and my dad... I just don't know, Nathan."

"I understand." He said in a small voice. It was breaking his heart to let her go but he had no choice.

"Nathan, I don't know what to do here." She said in a desperate voice. She had a bad feeling she was about to lose the best thing that ever happened to her but she knew she needed to leave.

"If things were different... It's just the timing... I don't know what to say..." Haley couldn't finish a sentence. Nathan just sat there not saying anything. What could he say?

"I understand." He said in small voice again.

"Nathan, I'm so sorry." She said in a heartbreaking voice.

"Haley, don't say that. You don't have anything to be sorry for. Things that shouldn't have happened, did. And now they need to be fixed. So don't worry about me, just do what you have to do." He said.

Nathan got up and went to her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and put his chin on top of her head. She inhaled the scent of his shirt while hugging him fiercely. She bit her lip to stop the tears. She looked up and kissed him longingly. Nathan responded the same way. Haley tried to remember every thing about him. They way he smelt, felt, sounded. Everything. She ended the kiss and looked in his eyes while holding his face.

"Please don't cry, Haley." He whispered when he saw few tears fall down her cheek. He wiped them away with his thumb.

"I know this is pretty quick that I'm leaving like this but I'm finally starting to realize that my mom's actually dead." Haley said. "Her business meant the world to her and I owe it to her to take care of it before it's too late." She said in a quiet voice. "I need to face reality. I need to face LA."

"It's ok." He said and

"I..." she started. She felt like she needed to say those words to him, but she just couldn't. Because if she did and he said them too, she would never be able to leave. And she had to leave and take care of everything. She owed it to her mom. Also, if Nathan didn't say the words, it would break her heart so badly she doubted it would ever heal back. So she just stayed quiet.

Their quiet embrace was interrupted by the honk of a car outside. Haley looked outside and sighed. It was the cab.

She just looked at Nathan not saying anything until they were interrupted by Peter.

"Was that the tax-? Oh, did I interrupt? I'm so sorry." He said when he saw Nathan and Haley quickly separating when he came.

"No, dad. It's fine." She said with a tired voice. Nathan looked down and put his hands in his pockets. Tim also came to the kitchen.

"I'm ready." He announced. He looked between Nathan and Haley and raised his eyebrows in question.

"Ok." Haley said and looked down.

"You're not gonna pack anything?" Tim asked.

"No, I've got everything I need in LA." She said. "Almost everything." She added while looking at Nathan. Tim looked at Peter with a worried look.

"You sure, you're ready to go?" Tim asked.

"Yeah." She said and started to walk towards the front door. Tim, Nathan and Peter followed her. Peter closed the front door and made sure he had everything with him. Tim turned to look at Nathan before going inside the cab.

"So, I'll see you tomorrow then." He said.

"Yeah." He said without taking her eyes of off Haley. He was standing his back towards the cab and Haley was in front of him.

"Take as long as you need." Peter whispered to Haley before going inside the cab and closing the door.

Haley just stared at Nathan. Without saying anything she flung herself on him, hugging him as hard as she could while Nathan wrapped his arms around her. Haley gave him one last kiss before letting him go and opening the cab door. She turned around one last time to look at him. She mouthed 'bye' before going inside the cab.

She tried to stare straight ahead but couldn't help but look right where Nathan was standing. She stared at him as long as she could but when the cab was too far, she just closed her eyes and let the tears fall.

---------

"Plane food sucks."

"We'll go out to eat. Don't worry, son. Is that ok with you, Haley?"

"Yeah." She mumbled. They were sitting in a cab in LA, on their way to meet the lawyer.

Since the cab had left the Smith driveway, Haley had had a feeling she was making a mistake. First the cab driver had gotten lost. Then she remembered she hadn't even said goodbye to Brooke, Peyton or anyone else. When they had finally gotten to the airport, she had found out their flight number was 815. The same as the infamous flight on 'Lost'. Then their flight had been delayed and there had been really bad turbulence. All were signs, at least in Haley's mind, that she shouldn't have left Tree Hill.

"We're here." Tim announced when the cab stopped in front of a familiar night club 'Club 16'. That's where they were meeting the lawyer. Because their flight had been delayed they had to drive straight from the airport to the meeting.

"Sorry we're late, Bill." Haley said to the lawyer who was waiting for them in front of the club.

"No problem, Miss Smith. I got your message." He said and waited for Haley to open the door to the club. They all went inside and walked through the club to the back room where Lydia's office was.

"So, any problems with the club during my mom's absence?" Haley asked formally when they were all settled in the office.

"No, Linda has been taking care of everything."

"Who's Linda?" Tim asked.

"You remember her, right? She is-, I mean she was mom's business partner." Haley said.

"Ok."

"So, why don't we get to the point?" the lawyer said and opened his brief case. He took out a huge file and opened it. "Your mom's will is very specific and there were no problems with her estate. She took good care of the club and all her paper work were done perfectly. She made my work very easy, in fact." He said in gratitude. Haley just stared at him to continue.

"Anyways, she made sure that 10 of her fortune was divided to a number of charity organizations her choice." He said, paused and put his classes on. "This is the part that concerns you. Miss James wanted all of her property and possession to be shared among her two children, Haley and Tim Smith. She also left the LA apartment and the Colorado cabin to their possession. In total there's 1,2 million dollars plus the real estate." He said.

"What?" Haley asked confused.

"Mom didn't have that much money." Tim said.

"The night club was very successful and she was able to pay back the bank loan last year. Also, she never took vacations and didn't spend much money on anything. She had a lot of savings." Bill explained.

"So, basically we get everything?" Tim asked quietly.

"Yes." The lawyer confirmed.

"What's gonna happen to her business? The night club?" Haley asked concerned. She didn't care about the money or the houses, she just wanted to make sure her mom's business wouldn't die along with her.

"When your mother made this will, you two were still minors so she named your father, Mr. Smith, as the caretaker of the business but since you both just turned 18, you are the legal owners of the business."

"We're just kids." Tim muttered.

"Your mother wished that Linda Petterson, her business partner, would stay in control of everything but you two would ultimately be the ones who make the decisions. Everything would go through you, she would just be the one to make it happen." He explained.

Haley and Tim looked at each other in shock. They had no idea she had planned on leaving everything to them.

"Is Linda happy with this arrangement?" Haley finally asked.

"Yes, she knows the situation and would like to have the position. But she won't do it if you don't want her to." Bill said.

"Really?" Tim asked. He didn't know Linda was that close to his mother.

"It doesn't surprise me." Haley said. "Linda respected mom very much. She would never step over her boundaries. I think she would be perfect to run this place." She said.

"I'll let her know." Bill said. "But remember, you still own this place so everything goes through you." He said.

"Yeah, we're aware of that." Haley said. Bill put a lot of papers in front of Haley and Tim.

"You need to sign here, here, here, here and here." Bill said. Haley and Tim signed the papers.

"I will do the rest of the paper work." Bill continued. "The state of California has to confirm everything so it will be about 4-6 months till everything is legally in your possession." Bill said.

"Ok." Tim said.

"Are we done?" Haley asked.

"Yes, I will stay in touch with you once I get any information. Where can I reach you?" he asked from Haley. She looked at him sadly. Even she didn't know yet if she was gonna stay in LA or go back to Tree Hill.

"My cell." She said and got up. She shook Bill's hand. "Thanks for everything, Bill."

"No problem. If you get any questions, just call." He said.

"We will." Tim said and shook his hand too. Peter did the same. They all got out of the club. Haley closed the door and got them a cab.

"So are we going home now?" Tim asked. Haley looked at him with raised eyebrows. She didn't know if he meant Tree Hill of LA when he said home.

"We're going to mom's." She said while giving the address to the driver. They drove there in silence. When they finally got there, Haley got out and sighed.

"Home sweet home." She muttered waiting her dad to pay the cab driver.

"You ok?" Peter asked when he got out of the cab.

"Yeah." She said. She turned to look at the huge building in front of her. "Let's do this." They started to walk towards the front door. Haley noticed the familiar door woman.

"Miss Smith!"

"Brenda." Haley smiled and hugged the woman.

"I'm so sorry about your mother." Brenda said in a quiet voice.

"Thank you." Haley said and turned to look at Tim and Peter. "You remember my brother Tim? And this is my dad, Peter." Brenda shook both of their hands.

"Nice to meet you both. I'm very sorry for your loss." She said.

"Thanks." Tim mumbled.

"We should probably get going." Haley said. "But it was good to see you, Brenda." Haley said and went inside the building. She sighed when she saw another familiar person. This time it was the receptionist.

"Hey, Thomas." Haley smiled to the 70-something year old man.

"Haley, how are you? I'm so sorry about Lydia. She will be dearly missed." He said.

"Thank you. Any mail for me?" she asked.

"You have gotten so many packages, post cards, teddies, flowers and letters that I took the liberty to deliver them to your apartment." Thomas said.

"Thanks, Thomas. That's very thoughtful." She said and introduced her brother and father before heading for the elevator. Once they got in, she pressed the familiar '26' button and waited for the elevator to get there.

The doors opened and they all got out. Haley walked straight ahead and stopped when she got to the end of the hallway. She used her key to open the door. They all got in. Haley looked in shock of all the little gifts, presents, flowers and mail she had gotten from her fans when they found out about her mother.

"Oh my god..." Tim whispered and started to go through the post cards. Haley saw the bleeping light of her answering machine. She pressed the button to listen to them.

Beep.

"Lydia! It's Linda, I know you're not back from your trip yet but I thought I'd leave you a message anyways and let you know that everything is going great at the club. Miss you! Call me you get this."

Beep.

"Hales! It's Katie, call me when you get back from North Carolina. We gotta get together. I gotta tell you something but I don't wanna do it over the phone. So call me. Oh, what the hell. You ready for this? I got engaged! So, call me!"

Beep.

"Hales, it's Kelly. I'm so sorry for your mom. I just heard. Please call me when you get this."

Beep.

"Hey, it's Fergs. Just heard the news. We're so sorry. Call us if you need anything. Take care, sweetie."

Beep.

"Haley, it's Justin. Cam and I just hear about your mom. So sorry. If you need anything, let us know."

Beep.

"It's me." Haley froze when she heard the familiar voice of Chris Keller. "I miss you, baby. And I know you're going through a lot because of Lydia, so call me when you realize you need me."

Haley huffed in annoyance and deleted the message. Haley quickly listened all the messages and deleted them all. Once she was done she helped Tim and Peter to sort out the mail. After that they were too tired to go out to eat so they just ordered some pizza.

"So, what's your plan for tomorrow?" Peter asked when they were eating the pizzas in the living room while watching TV.

"I have no idea." She confessed.

"You're 18 now so I can't make any decisions for you. But honestly I don't see any reason why you should stay here." Peter said.

"Yeah, dad's right." Tim said and started to count the reasons why she should move.

"You'd be living alone. Mom's business is being taken care of and you're taking a break from the music business anyways. Then there's me and dad who want you to live with us and I'm sure Nathan wouldn't mind." he said. "Why the hell would you stay here?" he asked.

"This is my home." Haley said quietly.

"Tree Hill could be your home." Tim said.

"It's not as simple as you make it sound." She said quietly and got up to take the empty pizza boxes to the kitchen. Tim got up too and went after her.

"It is simple. You either stay or go." Tim said hurt. He couldn't believe she was actually thinking of staying in LA.

"Don't push it, Tim." Haley warned and started to wipe the counter even though it was spotless.

"Haley, you can't stay here by yourself!" Tim said annoyed.

"It's my decision, Tim!" Haley snapped.

"Why would you wanna stay here?" he asked loudly.

"Cause I wanna remember!" Haley yelled. "This is the last physical thing I have left of mom! If I move out of the apartment it's like giving myself the permission to forget about her!" she said with tears in her eyes. "Every single memory is connected to this place! I can't just let that all go!" she said sobbing quietly.

Tim looked at Haley with a sad look. He opened his arms and hugged her tightly.

"Haley, that's not true." He said. "Thinking that this apartment is everything you have left of her is so wrong. We have the business, 5 scrapbooks, all the memories... The apartment is nothing compared to those."

"I'm just not ready to let it go yet." Haley said quietly.

"You don't have to. We can come here as much as we want." He said.

"Huh?" she asked confused. Tim took a hold of her shoulders and looked at her in the eyes.

"What, you thought we'd sell this?" Tim asked. "Where do you think I'm gonna live when I play for the Lakers?" he asked laughing. Haley wiped her tears and laughed a little.

"I don't know..." Haley said. Tim could see that she was starting to cave in so he decided to push it.

"You could hang out with Brooke and Peyton... Go to an actual high school for once with us instead here alone... We could hang out more and dad would love to have you there too..." he paused for a second.

"You could see Nathan as much as you wanted..." Tim finally said. Haley laughed a bit.

"Yeah, 'cause it's been so easy to hang out with him till now." She said sarcastically.

"That would change."

"You wouldn't be an asshole about it?" she asked with narrowed eyes.

"Nope." He said.

"So you wouldn't yell if we started dating?" she asked.

"Nope."

"Or if we went to the Homecoming together?"

"Nope. Like I said, I'd be fine with everything."

"Everything?" she asked.

"Yep."

"You're telling me that you'd be fine if you caught us making out on my bed?" she asked grinning. Tim gulped and looked at her.

"Umh-"

"Or naked in the Jacuzzi?"

"I don't-"

"Or having sex in your bed?"

"Haley!" he finally said and covered his ears. "You're my sister. It's against the law or something for me to have to listen to this." He said horrified. "You haven't have sex with him, right?"

"Of course I haven't." She said quickly. A little bit too quickly.

"Why did you- Oh my god. You had sex with him." Tim said and started to hyperventilate.

"Tim, calm-"

"You had sex with Nathan."

"Tim, listen-"

"You had sex with my best friend!"

"Don't yell, dad's right-"

"My baby sister had sex!"

"Stop freaking out." She hissed and slapped him lightly on the cheek. "I'm a big girl." she said then softer. "What I do with my love life doesn't concern you."

"I just can't believe you've had sex at all. And with Nathan of all the people." He said. Haley looked at him with a small smile. "I mean, Nathan's the only one you've had...?" he had trouble saying the words.

"Sure, Chris and I did see each other for two years but no, of course we didn't have sex." She said sarcastically. "Because he's such a gentleman." She said.

"Wait, now you're being sarcastic." He said putting the pieces together.

"No shit, Sherlock."

"Which means that you and Chris-" he then paused and looked at Haley in shock. "Eew! Eew, eew, EEW!" he yelled in disgust.

"Tim, calm dow-"

"The visual images!"

"Take a deep bre-"

"I'm scarred for life!" Haley slapped him lightly again.

"Will you get your shit together." She hissed. She didn't want her dad to know about her sex life. "Don't be such a girl." She said. Tim shut his eyes and snapped his fingers. Then he opened his eyes.

"I'm better now."

"Good."

"I'm in denial so if you mention the words 'bedroom', 'Nathan' or 'sex' in the same sentence, I'm gonna have to physically harm one of you to get rid of the visual image." He said. Haley just rolled her eyes smiling.

"So, you're coming back to Tree Hill?" Tim asked.

"I guess I am." She said smiling.

"Awesome. Dad!" he yelled through the closed kitchen door. "Haley's coming back with us!" he yelled happily.

"I know!" came the answer behind the door.

"Was he eavesdropping?" Haley whispered.

"I guess so."

"Great. My dad knows about sex life. Fantastic." She said under her breath. Tim looked at Haley for a while.

"You do know that I love you, right?" Tim asked.

"Yeah, of course. And I love you." Haley said looking at him.

"I know I'm been pretty much an asshole for so long but you gotta know that I never hated you." Tim said.

"I know, Tim. And I'm sorry for being a bitch."

"You're forgiven." Tim said laughing. "I just feel like I didn't get to tell mom enough many times how much she meant to me and now she's gone." Tim said swallowing hard. "I just wanna make sure it doesn't happen with you."

"Tim, I know you love me. I always knew."

"Even when I was a total asshole?"

"Even then." Haley said and smiled a bit. "I know about the box, Tim." Haley said softly. At first Tim looked confused, then embarrassed, then angry and then amused.

"You snooping through my stuff now?" he said smirking a bit.

"I was looking for a pencil sharpener-"

"And you thought you'd find one under my bed?"

"Anyways, long story short, I can't believe you kept all of those newspaper articles, interviews and albums." Haley said smiling.

"They meant a lot to you, so they meant a lot to me."

"And you taped all the awards ceremonies, interviews, shows... everything." Haley said still amazed.

"I just didn't wanna miss anything."

"You know you're the best brother, right."

"Aww, now you're making me blush." He said joking even though his cheeks were a bit red.

"I gotta show you something." Haley said and went to get her purse. She dog through it until she found her wallet. She opened it and showed the picture on the inside to Tim. Tim laughed when he saw a picture of two young kids, a boy and a girl, swimming alone in a huge pool while having weird red dots all over their bodies.

"The infamous Caribbean cruise '92." Tim said smiling.

"We were like five or six, right." Haley said smiling.

"You got the chicken pox the second day and of course I got it right after you." Tim said smiling.

"We still swam in the pool and everything."

"The other kids just stayed away." Tim concluded. Tim gave the wallet back to her and she put it back to her purse.

"I just wanted you to know that even though I was gone, you were always with me." Haley said in a quiet voice. Tim took a step forward and hugged her.

"I love you, sis and I will always be there for you." Tim said. "So, if Nathan starts to act like an ass, just say the word and I'll kick his ass." Haley chuckled a little.

"Thanks, Timmy." Haley said while taking a step back and going to where her dad was.

"Don't call me that!" he said but she was already through the door. He followed her.

"Hey, dad." Haley said to Peter. He turned to look at her.

"Hey, honey. Glad you decided to come back with us." He said.

"Me too. I think it's the right decision." She said.

"I agree." He said. "We've got an early flight back so you should start packing." He said. Haley nodded and went to her bedroom. Tim turned to look at Peter.

"You heard our conversation?" he asked.

"You two aren't really the quietest kids around." He said with a smirk.

"So, you heard about Haley..." Tim couldn't finish the sentence.

"... having sex with two guys. Yeah, I heard."

"So, you're ok with that?" he asked.

"Like she said, she's a grown up now. If we want her to act like an adult, we have to treat her like an adult." He said.

Tim just nodded disappointed that his dad didn't forbid her of having sex or something. Now it was up to him to take care that Nathan didn't get her pregnant or hurt her in any way. He was about to go help Haley pack when his dad spoke again.

"Naturally, we're putting her on the pill.

So, how was it? I know it wasn't the best but at least it was long. :) I'll make the next one better. :)

-Fes-