A.N Ok before I go any further with this story there is something I have been meaning to say for quite some time. I just want to give a big thank you to cherrymfzb for her help with telling me about the American school system. It has definitely come in handy with this story. Thanks so much Kat. Well judging by all the enthusiastic reviews you guys are still enjoying this story. I'm sorry I didn't update over the weekend but some friends and I went on a road trip but don't worry I used the time to do plenty of brainstorming and I've come up with some amazing ideas for this story so I can promise that things are really going to get interesting with this story in the near future. But i'm back now and figure I owe you guys an update. Enjoy the chapter and let me know what you think.

heather dawn Well it seems from the last couple of reviews that you are in favour of the spoilers and I think at this stage that I will probably continue with them. You don't have to wait any longer to find out about the extra guests at dinner hope you enjoy what I did with them. I'm glad you enjoyed the motorbike idea because to be honest it was a spur of the moment inclusion and I wasn't sure how people would feel about it. Lastly with Nathan's bedroom well I hope you won't be disappointed with what I've made happen in there. Thought it was about time for some more Naley action as I would assume most people reading this story did. Thank you so much for your review and I'll look forward to hearing your thoughts on this chapter and the ones that follow.

HipHopper92 Wow two reviews in less than 24 hours thats an impressive start. Thanx for reviewing again and I was really happy to hear that you enjoyed the last chapter. Hopefully this chapter with the dinner scene will live up to expectations. Personally I like how it worked out and that is not something I would necessarily say about a lot of my chapters so it will be interesting to see whether anyone else agrees with me. Thanx again for reviewing and keep them coming. Reviews definitely give me incentive to update.

Cap'n Keira Sparrow Thanx for the vote of confidence for the last chapter I was really happy to hear that you enjoyed it. Plus you gave me another tick in the pro spoilers column. Keep reading and reviewing I always look forward to hearing what you think.

MeSpikeAndAngelinA3sum First off I've been meaning to tell you forages how much I like your pen name. I'm a huge Buffy and Angel fan and lets just say the thought of a naked Spike and Angel does not exactly upset me. Now onto your review once again it was full of enthusiasm which definitely makes me smile to get a review like that. Glad you enjoyed the chapter and that Haley's awkwardness is making itself apparent. I think we all know that Nathan is very capable of pushing people's buttons on the show and that was an element I wanted to carry over into my story. Poor Haley just makes it far too easy for him to get at her buttons. It sounds like the spoilers are going to be a welcome addition to my chapters so thanx for letting me know your opinion. Hope you enjoy this chapter too.

cherrymfzb Yay. I was so happy to get a review from you again. I was starting to think you might be one of the readers I had lost along the way. I'm glad you enjoyed that chapter and were amused by Nathan's behaviour. Don't think there's going to be any face punching going on in the near future but rest assured that Haley is going to start fighting back in the chapters to come. After all there is only so much a girl can take and Nathan is fast pushing her to that point. I hope the dinner party lives up to expectations. Thanks for the review. I'll look forward to hearing what you think of the next chapters.

hesfadedme Glad you think so. Thanx for the review.

unfolddream I know Nathan never shies away from saying what he thinks. Personally I love writing his flirty side so you should see quite a bit more of that to come. Thanx for the feedback.

Kennedy Thanx for the review. It was great to get one from you again. I'm glad you are enjoying the story and thank you so much for the compliments on my writing. You made my day. Make sure you keep reading and reviewing.

hilaryhilary You have no idea how excited I was to see that I had a review from you. I have been enjoying your stories so much and to find out that you actually enjoy mine too made my day. Don't worry about the fact that you didn't review up until now just make sure you keep them coming from here on in. LOL. Anyway like I said I'm really pleased that you like the story. I hope you enjoy this chapter too.

Chapter Eleven

Haley held on for dear life as they careened around corners at breakneck speed.

This is why someone like Nathan should never have a motor bike.

She knew that they weren't much further from Debs' house and said a silent prayer that she would survive the next five minutes.

Somehow they arrived at Deb's without any major mishaps and as Nathan turned off the engine Haley released a huge sigh of relief.

I'm still alive.

Remaining where he was on the bike Nathan craned his neck in order to look behind him at Haley.

"So I'm judging by the white knuckles Hales that you didn't necessarily enjoy your first time on a motor bike."

"To put it mildly." Haley grunted in response.

"Well I guess I can't make all of your first times as enjoyable as I made that other one," he said with a smirk.

Haley glared at him slightly but could not actually find words to argue with him.

It was hard to disagree with something when she knew it was the truth.

"We should go inside," she said anxiously trying to break the moment because she could tell just by looking at him that he was remembering that other first time that they had shared together.

"Hey I'm ready" he said.

"I've just been waiting for you to let go of me so that we can go inside."

As he said this he brought his hand up to stroke across hers where they still remained on his chest.

She was still clinging to him just as she had been throughout the ride.

She groaned as she realised what sort of conclusions he had probably drawn from her behaviour.

"Hales don't worry about it.

I didn't mind at all." He assured her.

"Yeah that's what I'm worried about." Haley muttered under her breath.

But Nathan heard and broke into laughter.

Pulling her hands away from his chest she pulled the helmet off and ran a hand over her head making sure her hair was not all over the place.

Not bothering to look back at him she walked towards the door but she could feel him following close behind her.

"Nathan I want to ask you one thing before we go inside."

He looked at her and she took this as her sign to continue with her request.

"I really like your mom and I don't want to hurt her so please don't do anything to embarrass me tonight."

"Of course not Hales," he replied blandly.

They could see Deb's shape hovering on the other side of the door about to open it.

Leaning his head down so he could speak into her ear he asked in a whisper.

"You don't embarrass easily do you?"

Deb answered the door with a huge grin on her face.

"Haley honey I'm so glad you came."

Spying Nathan standing behind her Deb's smile actually grew if that was even possible.

"Oh Nathan I didn't realise you were here too.

Did you two come together?" she asked and there was a definite note of hope in her voice.

Although she didn't say anything Haley could tell that this was extremely good news as far as Deb was concerned.

In Deb's mind they were probably well on the road to reconciliation.

Haley wished that she could tell her exactly how obnoxiously her son had been behaving recently but her innate good manners would not allow her to tell Deb what she really thought of her son.

Haley could hear the low rumble of Nathan's voice behind her as he chatted quietly with his mother.

"Well," Deb said breaking into Haley's thoughts "why don't you come inside the others are already here."

"Others?" Haley questioned.

Nathan had already told her before they left her house that Dan was away on an extended business trip and was not expected back for at least the next three weeks.

"Yes," Deb answered "Lucas and Brooke are in the lounge."

Haley's face must have shown her confusion because Deb hurriedly explained things to her.

"Lucas and Dan have managed to put aside their differences and he and Brooke have been coming around for Saturday night dinners about once a month ever since they got married."

"Married." Haley choked out.

Deb looked at her a little strangely for a moment

If I don't stop repeating everything they say she's going to think I've lost it.

"Um yes it must be about sixteen months now. Nate does that sound about right?"

"Yeah I guess so." Nathan answered with a notable lack of enthusiasm.

"Anyway," Deb continued, "We can't stand out here talking all night.

Come in and have a drink."

As they entered Deb leaned over to speak conspiratorially into Haley's ear.

"Haley I have to tell you it is so wonderful seeing you and Nate spending time together again.

It really does my heart good.

I hope this time things will work out for the two of you."

Haley started to speak but before she could correct Deb's misconception she was almost bowled over by Brooke flinging herself at Haley.

"Haley I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier about Lucas and I.

Please don't be angry with me."

Haley hastily reassured her.

"Tigger it's fine don't worry about it.

I'm not angry but I am a little bit confused.

Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

As Haley spoke her mind was in overdrive.

So this must be how Brooke had known she was back in town and how she had known about Josh suddenly things were making a bit more sense although she was still at a loss to know why Brooke hadn't told her about her marriage.

"I don't know Tutor Girl I guess I was just worried that you wouldn't feel comfortable talking to me about things if you knew I was married to Nathan's brother." Brooke answered Haley's unspoken question.

Haley glanced over to where Lucas and Nathan sat watching the two women earnestly obviously wondering what Haley's reaction was going to be to this deception.

"Like I said before Brooke its fine.

Don't worry about it."

Looking up Haley saw Nathan approaching her with a glass of wine.

"Here Hales drink this you look like you could use it."

"Thanks," she said quietly taking the proffered glass.

Deb re-entered the room from the kitchen where she had been checking on dinner.

"Ok everyone you may as well get comfortable dinner's probably going to be about another 20 minutes or so."

Haley moved over to the sofa where Lucas was sitting pulling Brooke along with her.

Sitting herself down she dragged Brooke down next to her ensuring that she had Lucas sitting on her other side thus making it impossible for Nathan to get too close.

Nathan apparently realised what she was doing and sat down in an armchair directly across from her smirking at her behaviour.

Ignoring him she turned her attention to Lucas.

"So Lucas tell me what you've been doing with yourself for the last five years."

Just over 20 minutes later Deb came in to tell then that dinner was ready.

Haley heaved a sigh of relief because although she had tried her best to focus on what Lucas had been saying about his job and his mother's recent marriage, time and time again she found her attention being drawn back to where Nathan was sitting.

Each time she would determinedly turn away from him only to find herself once again staring at him within minutes of turning away.

For once though if Nathan was aware of her behaviour he wasn't showing it so she was grateful for that at least.

At least it would be one less thing for him to hold over her head later on.

At dinner she found herself seated across the table from him and so pretended great interest in her food rarely allowing her eyes to lift from her plate.

As they finished up their main course she felt Lucas moving nervously beside her.

Looking up at him she found him staring at an extremely anxious looking Brooke.

As she watched she saw Brooke give a slight nod to her husband and Lucas abruptly cleared his throat before standing up.

"Hey everyone Brooke and I have some news we want to share.

Um well I guess there's no other way to say it.

Brooke's pregnant.

We're having a baby."

"Oh that's fantastic." Deb exclaimed jumping to her feet and rushing around to hug first Brooke and then Lucas.

"I'm so happy for the two of you."

Nathan and Haley offered their congratulations also.

Deb made a toast to the future parents and as they drank their wine she quickly pulled another bottle out.

"Ok everyone get a refill.

I want to make another toast.

Lucas honey go and get Brooke some more mineral water." Deb instructed him.

When he returned moments later and Brooke's glass was once again full Deb lifted her glass and looked at Nathan and Haley.

Why is she looking at us like that?

"I just want to say how wonderful it is to have the two of you here together again and if no one minds I'd like to make a little toast."

Everyone remained silent and Deb continued.

"To Nathan and Haley and a chance for new beginnings."

Brooke and Lucas enthusiastically raised their glasses and Nathan looked at her sardonically before he too raised his glass in the air.

Haley could feel Deb's eyes on her but she could not force herself to join in the toast.

"Actually Deb…" she started to say.

"What we wanted to tell you Mom," Nathan spoke over the top of her "is that we've already decided to give things another go."

"We're back together again."

Deb let out a little squeal of delight as she looked back and forth between the two of them.

Haley could feel a strange pressure building up in her chest and knew it had to be released right then.

She wanted to scream that no they weren't giving things another go but she saw the joy on Deb's face and could not force the words that would tell Deb that her son was a liar.

Pushing back from the table she stammered something about needing to go to the bathroom and walked out of the room racing up the stairs as soon as she was out of sight of the rest of the group.

Entering the bathroom she pressed her face against the cool glass of the mirror and tried to get her emotions under control.

This situation just kept going from bad to worse and all because she could never bear to upset people.

Confrontations had never been her thing hence the way she had left Nathan five years ago without telling him her plans.

She remained in the bathroom staring at her reflection in the mirror for several minutes searching for the courage to refute Nathan's claims and risk upsetting everyone all over again.

The courage required however was not to be found and groaning with frustration she knew she had to go back downstairs unless she wanted to risk Deb sending a search party out to look for her.

As she exited the bathroom she heard the sound of laughter and chatter coming from downstairs and was relieved that it seemed she hadn't been missed just yet.

She looked towards the stairs for a moment and then turned resolutely and headed in the opposite direction.

She didn't know why she felt such a need to go to his room but it was like there was an invisible magnet pulling her there.

Stopping outside the closed door she drew a deep breath and forced herself to open the door.

Moving quickly before she could chicken out she stepped through the opening and came face to face with her past.

Looking around it appeared that very little had changed in fact if she didn't know any better she would almost think that he still lived here and slept in that very bed every night.

Her gaze locked onto a silver frame resting on the bedside table and she felt her heart jump into her throat.

Surely he didn't still have it?

Tentatively moving forward she picked up the cool metal of the frame in her hands and gasped as she saw her own smiling face staring back at her.

She didn't really think that she seemed to have changed all that much in the last five years but looking at Nathan's beaming face in the photograph she was struck by the changes to him.

Sure he had gotten older but there was something more, in that photo he looked so carefree and exhibited a genuine joy in life but these days it seemed to have been replaced by a more guarded look and it was almost as if he had closed himself off from the world.

She wondered what had happened to change him so much.

She briefly considered the possibility that maybe it had something to do with her leaving but quickly dismissed that possibility.

Nathan hadn't cared that much about me surely.

Pushing aside those thoughts she abstractly stroked her fingers over the blue comforter remembering the many times she had slept with that same blue comforter as the only covering over her naked flesh.

"Reminiscing Hales?" his voice was quiet in her ear and before she knew what she was doing she responded with an equally quiet "Yeah."

She jerked her head up as she realised what she had just admitted to Nathan, who was now in the room with her standing mere inches from where she was.

"We spent an awful lot of time in that bed didn't we Hales?

It's a wonder that mattress isn't completely worn out."

Seeing Haley start to tense up he moved closer to her so close that he was almost touching her but not quite.

"Remember how we used to be Hales?

How we couldn't get enough of each other.

How we would practically rip each others clothes off as soon as we entered the room."

"Nathan," Haley's voice held a slight pleading note to it but whether it was pleading with him to stop what he was saying or to continue even she wasn't sure.

"But things are different now aren't they Hales now we can appreciate the excitement of slowing things down a bit.

Of prolonging the pleasure through a slow build up."

As he said this he moved so that his body was pressed up firmly against hers.

He placed his hand against the exposed skin of her midriff as his other hand lifted up her top slightly.

As he dragged his fingers across her skin in a feather light touch Haley had to literally bite down on her lip to stop the moan escaping from her lips.

Nathan didn't need to hear the moan though to know how he was affecting her.

He knew her body almost as well as he knew his own and he was more than capable of telling when she was becoming aroused.

His lips found her earlobe scraping his teeth gently across it.

He could sense her excitement increasing and knew that his chance had finally come.

Turning her around so that he could look into her eyes he could see uncertainty swimming in her brown orbs but he also saw a deep hunger burning within.

Sliding his hands up over her sides he removed her top leaving her standing before him wearing only her bra, skirt and high heels.

He could feel his own body stirring in excitement at the sight that stood before him.

Then Haley did something that he had not expected she raised her own hands to his chest and slowly started unbuttoning his shirt.

Capturing her chin in his hand he tilted her head up to his taking immediate possession of her lips.

She needed no further encouragement and responded with all the enthusiasm of five years ago, parting her lips to invite his tongue into her mouth relishing the feel of his possession.

Removing his shirt from his shoulders without breaking their kiss she brought her hands around to stroke over the hard muscles of his back.

His own hands came down to cup her ass lifting her so that her legs wrapped around his waist and he moved them towards the bed.

Finding the bed he followed her down onto it enjoying the feel of having her beneath him again after so long.

Haley too was finding great pleasure in the familiar weight of his body pressing her back into the mattress.

She was doing her best to ignore the voice inside her head telling her how wrong this all was.

She couldn't understand how something so wrong could feel so right.

His hand left her ass coming around to trace its way up her thigh finding the edge of her panties and pushing two fingers underneath the flimsy material.

He stroked against her moist core and could barely control his urge to rip off his own jeans and plunge inside of her right there and then.

But he had promised her a slow build up and he wanted to hear her pleading with him for it before he took that final step.

Haley deep down knew that what was happening between them was wrong and knew she should try to get him to stop.

If I could just get him to stop touching me like that but oh god I don't want him to ever stop.

It almost feels like we were never apart.

A sharp rapping on the door followed by Deb's voice managed to break her trance though and she froze as she realised what she had been doing with Nathan.

"Nathan, Haley are you in there?

Your dessert's ready."

"I was just about to get my dessert." Nathan muttered just loudly enough for Haley to hear.

"Mom just put ours aside for now." He called back over his shoulder

"We'll be down later."

Haley this time though was not going to allow Nathan to speak for her.

She knew if she didn't get out of here right now then there was no way that she would be able to put a stop to things with Nathan again.

Deb had unbeknownst to her supplied her with an opportunity to bring things to an end before she took them too far and she had to take it.

"Don't worry about it Deb we'll be right down."

Nathan looked at her incredulously.

"You can't be serious Hales.

Things were just starting to get good."

"Of course I'm serious Nathan now please get off me."

Nathan remained where he was.

"Nathan please." Her voice cracked slightly as tears filled her eyes.

"Do you have any idea how easy it would be for me to just continue Hales because I can promise you that if I did you would not be complaining."

He looked deep into her eyes for a moment before apparently seeing the response he wanted in her gaze and rolling off her.

"This is going to happen between us Hales it's just a matter of time."

She shook her head in mute denial of his words.

"There's no point trying to deny it Hales I saw the truth when I looked into your eyes just then and you know it as well as I do."

She wished she could yell at him and tell him that no she knew no such thing but the words would not come.

Instead she stood up straightening her skirt and pulling her top back over her head.

Nathan stood also replacing his shirt and fixing the buttons on it.

He held out his hand to her as he stood in front of her looking at her expectantly.

"What?" she asked wondering what on earth he was playing at this time.

"Well we are supposedly giving our relationship another try don't you think we should at least be holding hands."

"Nathan you know damn well that we are not getting back together.

I have no idea why you told your mother that but you are going to have to tell her the truth."

"As far as I'm concerned," Nathan began "that is the truth.

We are trying again and if you honestly intend to tell her that we aren't then I'd like to know how you're going to explain what was just happening then.

My mom's not stupid Hales she would have guessed exactly what we were up to."

Haley was mortified as she realised he was right and probably everyone downstairs had guessed what she and Nathan had been up to just minutes ago.

"If you want to tell her," Nathan said "that's fine but just don't expect me to do it for you.

Like I said as far as I'm concerned we are starting again."

Haley looked at him wondering if there was any possible way she could get him to reconsider.

But she knew Nathan too well and could remember very well just how stubborn he could be when he set his mind to something.

"Fine, we won't tell her but you're the one that's going to have to explain things when I leave to go back to Josh."

Nathan looked at her cynically.

"Why don't we cross that bridge if and when we come to it?"

Not allowing her a choice this time he grabbed her hand and led her downstairs to where everyone was waiting.

Haley didn't see the curious look that Lucas threw Nathan she was too busy absorbing the excitement Deb and Brooke were regarding her with.

They both looked so thrilled and Haley felt her heart plummet.

I just have to get through tonight and then I can avoid them all.

Nathan sat down then pulling Haley down into his lap.

"Sorry everyone we got a bit distracted.

So," he said beaming around the table "what did we miss?"

Spoilers: Haley finds herself dealing with the consequences of dinner plus Haley has a problem and Nathan comes to her rescue although she finds herself wishing he hadn't.