A/N- lyrics used are from "Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls and "Something Like That" by Tim McGraw.

Chapter Title is "Up and Go" by The Starting Line

Chapter Thirteen: Up and Go

"And I don't want the world to see me, cause I don't think that they'd understand…" Haley sang softly as she wiped down the counter of the café. It was late on the cold Saturday night, weeks after the little incident with her father, and she was closing down the café where she willingly spent all her time. "When everything's made to be broken, I just want you to know who I am."

Things had gotten effectively worse between Brooke, Lucas, and Peyton and there was nothing Haley could do for them. She couldn't force Brooke to do something she didn't want to do and she couldn't go back in time to stop Lucas from cheating on Brooke. Things had also gotten worse with her mother after Haley had told her the news of moving out to live with Nathan. Though she hadn't regretted leaving her childhood home, she couldn't help but remember the look of devastation on Lydia's face as she told her.

Haley sighed as she flipped the switch to the coffee maker, turning it off. Brooke's living situation hadn't gotten any better since their last conversation with their father. She was still living at her house since predictably, their father had gone off on his business trips and had taken his wife with him. Though she had gotten a job working at a new store at the mall, she didn't make enough to be able to rent an apartment and keep rent. Though Haley had offered to move in with her, Brooke insisted on being able to save enough to at least be able to do it by herself for a little bit. While that had surprised her, Haley could honestly say that she was proud of Brooke for becoming independent after being so dependent on her father's money all her life.

As Haley glanced around the small café and saw her work cut out for her as all the dirty dishes seemed to have piled up throughout the night, she couldn't help but smile to herself. Living with Nathan was different, to say the least, but it was interesting and surprisingly fun. As a boy, he was kind of sloppy but she was used to that with having two messy brothers and a messy sister growing up.

She turned on the water in the sink and began singing again as she started to clean. "It was labor day weekend, I was seventeen." She started humming to herself as she continued singing. "I bought a coke and some gasoline. And I drove out to the county fair."

"I would have never pegged you as a country fan."

Haley turned around surprised, dropping the plate she was cleaning into the water and putting her hand over her heart. "You scared me."

His blue eyes twinkled in amusement. "Is that all I do?"

She couldn't help the smile that came to her face as he stepped closer to her. "No."

"Gotta say Hales, you have a beautiful voice," Nathan smiled softly, grabbing a dish from next to her and started cleaning with her. "How come you never told me you can sing?"

Haley shrugged as they started working side by side moving through the dishes quickly. "I guess it never came up. It's not something I like to show other people."

He nudged her softly, "Well I think you should."

"Nathan," Haley shook her head, "I'm not that good." She shot him a look that she didn't want to talk about it anymore.

He nodded, sighing as he got the message. He would have to continue this conversation some other time. Finally he grinned. "So Tim McGraw, huh? Whatever happened to that crap you and Lucas listen to?"

Haley rolled her eyes, "My dad…" She caught herself quickly. "Jimmy…" There was no way she could ever get comfortable calling the man who she thought was her father by his first name. It didn't seem right to her when all he had ever done with unconditionally love her. "He used to listen to country music all the time, but he loved Tim McGraw the most and I guess now that he's gone, it's just a way to remember him."

"You miss him don't you?" Nathan glanced at her to see that she was focused on cleaning a cup.

Haley nodded as she scrubbed extra hard. "I wish he could be here to help me through this."

"You were a daddy's girl, weren't you?" He teased her quietly. "Man, I'm learning all kinds of things tonight."

"Yeah," Haley nodded again, proudly. "I most definitely was. I was the youngest, he couldn't help it, even if I wasn't biologically his."

Nathan smiled, "I remember he told me that when they came home last year to visit you." He finished his pile of dishes. "He told me to look out for you when he wasn't around, that you were the last one, and he didn't want anything to harm his baby."

Haley couldn't help the tears that started falling down her face. "I can't believe he's gone."

"Hey, come here," Nathan pulled her into his arms, holding on to her tightly as she began to sob into his shirt. "You're gonna get through this, we'll do it together. I'm not gonna leave you Hales, ever."

As they clung to each other, one crying, the other giving all the comfort he knew how, they knew that no matter what happened around them, they had each other and for them that was enough.

Brooke bounced down the stairs, in a happier mood than she had been in the last few weeks. It seemed that she was tired of moping around and now that basketball was starting, she had something to look forward to. November was always the start of something new for her and this November was no different.

"Brooke?"

"Mom?" Brooke questioned as walked into the kitchen noticing the smell of fresh cookies coming from the oven. She mentally smacked herself as the name came out of her mouth before she could stop it.

Gloria Davis simply smiled as she sat on the counter drinking hot chocolate from a mug that Brooke had made her years ago. "It's okay if you call me that, if Lydia doesn't mind, anyways." She noticed Brooke standing hesitantly by the doorway. "Come in, take a seat."

"What are you doing here?" Brooke walked in slowly, not knowing what the hell was going on. She had never been in this situation before, at least not lately. Her mother was never one to sit around the house and bake cookies. She doubted that Gloria had ever made anything before in her life. Something was going on.

"I didn't feel like going with your father," Gloria shrugged. Her blonde hair was up in a ponytail and she seemed younger than her 37 years. She noticed the surprised look on her daughter's face. No matter who her biological mother was, Brooke was still her daughter, though she guessed she hadn't done that good a job of being a mother to her. "Don't look so surprised, it happens."

Brooke cracked a smile and took a seat across from her mother. "I guess it's been a long time since we've actually talked."

"A couple years at least," Gloria admitted. "Listen Brooke, I know that I haven't been the best mother to you lately, and now that you have your real mother…"

"You are my mother," Brooke interrupted forcefully. "She's my mother by genetics but she wasn't there when I fell off my bike when I was four and had that huge cut on my leg or when I was ten and I had that ballet recital." She shrugged. "But you were."

Gloria smiled. They had had a good relationship before Mark had gotten promoted in his job and started traveling. That had to have been around the time Brooke was thirteen or so. By then Brooke had felt resentment towards her parents and had effectively shut them out of her life. "Thanks."

"It couldn't have been easy for you, huh?" Brooke continued, looking down at the counter before glancing up into the blue eyes of her mother. "I mean, I wasn't yours and you must have been what, twenty? And stuck with a kid that came out of an affair?"

"It wasn't easy," Gloria admitted. "And when you brought it up after you found out, I guessed I just sort of snapped and let it out on you."

Brooke nodded knowingly. There was no way she could ever forget that day. Though their relationship had turned cold in the last couple of years, she didn't blame the woman in front of her for anything. "I guess." She glanced around the kitchen. "I can't believe you're baking cookies. I didn't even think you knew where the kitchen was."

Gloria laughed. "We used to bake stuff all the time, just me and you."

"Really?" Brooke raised an eyebrow. "I don't remember that."

Gloria nodded. "Yeah, you'd get flour all over you and the kitchen always ended up a mess, but you always enjoyed it." She shrugged. "Now I only do it when I'm bored or really, really worried about something."

"What are you worried about?" Brooke asked offhandedly, sticking her finger in the rest of the batter sitting in a bowl on the counter. "Anything important?"

"Your test on Monday," Gloria glanced at Brooke to see if her words affected her. "If it's really bad news, your father's going to be really upset and he's going to be disappointed." She took a sip of her drink. "He really does love you, you know? You and Haley."

That was the first time she had ever heard Gloria mention her twin sister. Brooke glanced up at her at the words. "You knew about Haley too?"

The blonde-haired woman smiled, "Your father mentioned her once or twice. Lydia would sometimes send him pictures and he would show me."

This was definitely news to Brooke. "This whole situation is screwed up." She sighed. "And you were okay with that?"

"She was technically my step-daughter too," Gloria shrugged in amusement. "And it's not like if I could do anything about it. She was…is your sister and his daughter. There was nothing I could have done about it anyway."

The timer beeped and the older woman stood up and grabbed pot holders taking the cookies out and placing them on the stove top. She grabbed the plate that was previously placed in the freezer out and put two cookies on it before placing it in front of Brooke. Then she grabbed a glass and the gallon of milk and set it in front of her too.

Brooke gave her trademark smile as she poured the milk into the glass and grabbing a cookie before her mother settled herself back on her chair and grabbed the other one. "Mmm. It's good."

"My grandmother made the best oatmeal cookies," Gloria told her as she bit into hers. "And I have to say, learning the recipe was one of the best things I could have ever done."

Brooke nodded in agreement as she finished hers. "Most definitely."

Gloria grinned at her daughter as she finished hers too. As they sat there, each contemplating grabbing another cookie, the mother and daughter relationship had just gotten better for them and as the rest of the afternoon and night passed on, neither of them could argue of that fact.

Monday came by quickly and Brooke, Haley, Lydia, Mark, and even Gloria were waiting impatiently for their test results as they sat in the waiting room. Haley and Brooke were missing school that morning and neither thought that they would go back after the news, anyway.

Taylor's request of getting a paternity test had stimulated debate between the twins and between their parents and in the end the twins won out, wanting to know for sure that Mark Davis was indeed their father. Though he would always be Brooke's father to her, Haley had a completely different opinion of that.

Haley sat at one end of the room unconsciously tapping her foot in nervousness as she waited to hear of the results. She wished that Nathan was in there with her, he always had a calming affect on her and she could really use that right now. She glanced at Brooke who was sitting next to her mother. They had gotten close that weekend and Haley was honestly glad that Brooke had someone besides her to fall back on. She watched her mother who was sitting on the other side of the room nervously flipping through an old magazine and finally she glanced at Mark who was annoyingly pacing the room.

"Mr. Davis?"

Five heads shot up at the words and they all but Haley stood up to hear the news.

The nurse glanced down at the paper in her hands. "It seems that you are the father of Haley James and Brooke Davis." She handed him the paper and gave the group a smile before walking away.

Haley let out a breathe she hadn't known she was holding in. She couldn't say that she wasn't disappointed in the news but it solved the confusion around everything that was happening to them. She sat there calmly as Brooke let Mark hug her.

Finally Lydia walked over to her. "You okay Haley-bub?"

"I'm fine." Haley nodded to herself as she stood up and walked past her father, her sister, her stepmother. She gave Mark a slight nod and Brooke a tight smile before walking out of the hospital and into the fresh air.

As she decided that she would rather walk home than grab a ride from Brooke, she started on the way back into town but stopped briefly as she heard her sisters voice.

"Hales!" Brooke panted as she caught up to Haley.

Haley had to bite back a smile as she watched Brooke take in a deep breath. "You know that you actually have to be in shape to cheerlead, right?"

Brooke shot her a glare. "What was with you back inside?"

"Nothing," Haley continued to walk, not wanting to go into detail.

"Haley!" Brooke exclaimed. "What's going on?" She put a hand on Haley's shoulder, stopping her from walking any further.

Haley shook her head, "I guess I was just hoping for something different."

Brooke knitted her eyebrows in confusion before she slowly began to understand. "You miss Jimmy, don't you?" She watched the emotions play out on Haley's face. "It's okay to wish that he was biologically your father Hales, I mean he was your father in every other way."

"I guess." Haley shrugged. She didn't want to deal with this right now. "I'm gonna go, okay? Clear my mind and stuff."

"Tutor girl," Brooke called out as Haley began to walk away. The old nickname not having much use in the past couple weeks. "I'll walk with you, I've got some stuff to tell you anyway."

Haley raised an eyebrow before nodding. "What's going on Tigger?"

"I'm gonna spend Thanksgiving with my aunt in New York," Brooke didn't look at Haley as she started speaking. This was something that wasn't going to end very well. "My mom and I are going up there and go shopping and stuff."

"That's cool, Tigger," Haley gave her a small smile. "I didn't really expect you to spend Thanksgiving with us, I mean usually all my…our siblings come down and that's a pain to deal with."

Brooke shook her head before taking a deep breath, "I'm thinking of moving up there."

Haley stopped walking as the words washed over her. "What!" She took a second before speaking again. "You're thinking of what!"

"Things are complicated around here Haley," Brooke gave her a sad smile. She noticed the look Haley was giving her. "Not with you, but with Lucas and Peyton, our mother, our father. I just can't deal with this anymore. I mean, I have my mom but sometimes that's not enough."

"What about me?" Haley's voice was low. "I'm not enough to keep you around?"

Brooke sighed as she ran a hand through her dark hair. "Haley, I just…"

"No I get it, Brooke, you're just gonna walk away." Haley sounded angry, hell she was angry. "You think it's easy for me to deal with our mother or our father too? Because it's not and it was easier knowing that you were there for me because you're going through the same thing too but now that you've decided that it's just too hard, I guess you're not as strong as I thought you were."

With those words Haley started back on her trek into town leaving Brooke to stand there watching her go and hoping she was making the right decision.