A.N Here's the latest chapter. I want to dedicate this chapter to Cathy although perhaps if I hadn't spent so much time chatting to her the last few days it may have been up a bit sooner. LOL. Anyway I hope you all enjoy it. I'll do my best to have another new one up soon. Don't forget to leave me lots of reviews so I can hear what you think of it.

Chapter Thirty-nine

Haley carried Cory into Lucas' room with Nathan close behind her. Lucas unfortunately did not appear to be awake and Haley sighed as she realised that he still would not get the chance to meet his son for the first time.

Nathan however was not prepared to concede defeat that easily as he walked to the side of the bed and sat down in the chair. Punching him lightly in his uninjured arm he spoke. "Hey Big Brother, time to wake up, we brought someone to meet you."

Lucas however remained as he was; eyes closed mouth slightly agape as his breath continued sounding harsh in the quietness of the room. Nathan groaned with frustration as he was forced to accept the possibility that Lucas may once again not respond to his visit.

Haley watched the frustration and sadness cross Nathan's face as he looked at his brother lying helpless in the hospital bed and felt her heart contract in sympathy for him. Things had hardly been easy between them that afternoon but they had definitely improved since they had managed to laugh together over the incidents with Cory. It was as if all the tension that had been between then had been eased and although they weren't exactly friends there was some sort of companionship in their interactions together. Anything had to be an improvement on the way things had been since she had returned and Haley now felt some small sliver of hope towards what the future between them held.

"Uh Nate do you want me to leave you alone for a while to spend some time with Lucas, I could take Cory down to see Brooke?"

Nathan looked up and Haley was surprised to see the sheen of unshed tears in his eyes. A small smile of gratitude crossed his face as he nodded mutely at her. Everything inside of Haley wanted to reach out to him in that moment but she was terrified of how he would respond.

"Ok well I'll be back soon."

He didn't look at her as she left the room his attention was once again focused on Lucas lying so still in the bed. Haley saw a shudder pass through his body as he heaved a huge sigh. She swallowed the lump in her throat and moved to stand behind him gently placing a hand on his shoulder. For a moment he remained as he was and then just as she thought that she had made a mistake his hand came up to rest on hers for just a moment. Raising his gaze to meet hers he looked her in the eye, "Thanks Haley, I'll see you soon ok."

As she walked away Nathan could hardly believe what had just occurred between them. For just a moment he allowed himself to forget everything that had occurred in their past and simply accept her gesture for what it was. It was one that was given in the hopes of bringing even the smallest amount of comfort in a time when he was hurting so badly. No matter what else had happened between them no one had ever been able to read him the way that Haley could. She knew that an overblown gesture would only serve to make him uncomfortable and so had kept it simple and unobtrusive. For the first time in forever he was able to appreciate her for the caring person she had always been. Seeing Cory in her arms was hard as he imagined what it would have been like to see her with Schapelle, his eyes travelled down to the slight swelling of her stomach and he was reminded again of the fact that in just a few months he would be a father to her child. It was hard to imagine what parenthood would be like between them but he knew that no matter what he would love that child. Stirring from his thoughts he turned back to Lucas and remained quiet as he heard Haley leave the room.

"You have got to wake up man," he said quietly. "I'm so lost at the moment I can't keep my feelings straight. There are times when I think that I don't care if I never see her again and then other times I can't imagine what my life would be like if I let her get away again. I don't know if there's any future for us man but I do know that there is no way that I can miss out on knowing another one of my children and well whether I want her to be or not Haley is a part of that package. She's going to be the mother of my child. Doesn't that mean that she will always be part of my life in some form?" Nathan sighed as he looked at Lucas who remained quiet and still on the bed. "I wish you were awake to advise me about this man because I certainly need someone to talk to about it all and there is no one else at the moment who I can possibly imagine doing that with."

Haley paused outside the room hoping against hope that a miracle had occurred and Brooke would be sitting up in bed doing her nails and driving the nurses crazy with her incessant talk about all things important in the world of Brooke, the latest fashion trends, the newest movies and her favourite song of the moment. But above all she would be talking about the most important thing in the world to her, her family. She found herself holding her breath as she entered the room clasping Cory tightly to her chest. Silently she prayed that her fantasy had come true but sadly it was not to be as she found herself confronted with a Brooke who it seemed had not changed since she had seen her the day before. It was hard to believe that less than twenty four hours had passed since she had returned to Tree Hill and yet so much had happened.

Walking to the chair beside her bed she sat down doing her best to smile so that when she spoke she would hopefully be able to hide the tears that were forming already. Brooke may not be able to see her at the moment but she was determined to believe that she could at least hear her and because of this she wanted to sound as upbeat as possible. She knew this was what Brooke would want especially since she was taking care of Cory. Brooke would want Cory to be spending the first days of his life in an atmosphere of laughter not tears and Haley wanted to be able to do that for her more than anything.

"Hey Tigger, well I'm back and I brought someone with me. It's someone that you have been desperate to meet. So how about you open your eyes and say hello to your son." Haley watched her with the hope that maybe this would be the thing that could bring Brooke out of her comatose state. She knew that it was a slim hope but she couldn't restrain the feeling of hope that maybe just maybe Brooke would open her eyes for Cory. Surely if there was one thing that could get through to her then this was it. But nothing happened Brooke gave no sign that she was aware of their presence and Haley felt her hope deflate once again.

"Ok well I guess that you still need your rest. I know you'll wake up when you're ready and Cory and I will be here waiting for that moment. I miss you Tigger."

Wanting to take the conversation away from the morbid turn that it was taking she looked around. "You know Brooke I really can't believe that here I am finally back the way you have been begging me to for the last few months and you're not even awake to witness it. You accomplished just what you wanted Brooke. I'm here; Nathan and I are talking again. This is just what you wanted."

She sat with Brooke chatting away for the next half an hour telling her about everything that she could possibly think of. It was hard at times keeping up the one sided conversation but she had read somewhere that it was important to keep talking to people who were in comas. She could only hope that somehow Brooke was hearing her and understanding what she was saying.

Nathan sat by Lucas unburdening his soul. Even though he wasn't even sure if Lucas could hear him it felt good to be able to say it all and get it off his chest. "So man that's basically where things stand at the moment, I know I shouldn't be surprised by anything dad does but I never in a million years would have expected that he has known where Haley was the whole time and even knew about Schapelle. I mean what the fuck man. Here he is my father and he is helping her keep the secret of my child's birth. I just don't get it. It's like everyone in my life was just intent on keeping me in the dark well except you and Brooke," he amended quickly.

He sighed as he glanced around the bland hospital room. "We so need to get you out of here. You should not be lying here in this bed when you could be at home getting to know your son. What sort of messed up world do we live in when the two of you who have never done anything to hurt anyone have this happen to them? I thought karma was supposed to reward people who do the right thing but it sure doesn't seem like it. Take Tim for instance look what he did to Haley and now he's off living the high life of an NBA star it's just so wrong."

Standing up he started to stalk around the room hating being confined in such a small room. He felt like an idiot sitting there basically just talking to himself but he actually found it therapeutic to be able to say what he was feeling without being lectured or having his mothers lame ass attempts at counselling. Not that he had had to deal with much of that lately. He hadn't seen her in weeks until he went to her house looking for Haley that morning and he had no intention of seeing her again any time in the near future.

Hearing a soft knock at the door he looked up and saw Haley quietly standing at the entrance to the room watching him. Seeing him look up at her she smiled cautiously. "Hey Nate do you mind if we come in? I just thought it would be good for Cory to spend a bit more time around Lucas before we have to go. He's going to be in need of a bottle soon so we won't be able to hang around much longer."

"That's fine Haley I think that will be really good for Cory and with any luck for Lucas too."

"Yeah I hope so," she replied sadly.

"So how was Brooke?" he asked watching her carefully. He could see the tracks of tears still apparent on her face and knew instinctively that after leaving Brooke's room that she would have gone somewhere to have a cry. He knew her well enough to know that she wouldn't have wanted to cry in Brooke's room even though she was not awake to witness it.

"No change," she said looking at Lucas lying on the bed. "Has he woken up at all?"

"Nah," Nathan responded "I've been talking to him heaps but I don't think he has heard me at all."

"I'm sure he has," Haley said immediately struggling to deal with the look of such intense pain in his eyes.

Cory started to squirm in her arms and she rocked him gently hoping to calm him for the moment so that they could remain with Lucas for a while longer. She looked up and caught Nathan staring at them and felt a strange sensation pass through her body. There was such an intense awareness between them at the moment and Haley felt herself shudder at the look in his eyes. It was in no way sexual but it made her aware of just how well he knew her, how he had always been able to see into her soul when they were together to know how she was feeling. In some respects that was why she had found it necessary to leave town after everything that had happened both times because she knew that she wouldn't be able to be around him and still hope to keep her secrets.

The moment between them was broken as Cory no longer content just to be rocked decided to let everyone know just how hungry he was. He let out an indignant squawk before beginning to cry in earnest. Haley looked down at him. "Oh sweetie," she cooed "I promise you'll be fed soon. I just wanted to let you have some time with your daddy first."

Nathan stood up and walked to where Haley was, stopping in front of her and peering down at Cory. "Are you sure he's just hungry he sounds like he's in pain or something?"

"I'm pretty sure he's just hungry," Haley responded.

"Well maybe if I try taking him," Nathan suggested.

"You can if you want to." Haley said "But I really don't think it's going to make any difference."

Their attention was focused entirely on the squalling infant so it was only as the voice came to them from the bed that they realised that Lucas was now awake.

"What's wrong with him?" he asked. "Is there something wrong with Cory?"

Nathan and Haley turned to look at him in shock.

"Oh my God," Nathan said. "You're awake."