Foolish Games (Chapter eleven)

"Are you all right?" Nathan asked the next morning as they walked into Brooke and Lucas' apartment where they had agreed to have breakfest. Haley looked at him. Her gaze was steely as she sat down at the table.

"I told you I was fine," she replied finally in a tone that contradicted her words. He bit his lip. She had been on edge ever since they had gotten back from the restaurant. He figured a night to herself would help her digest everything and maybe even calm her down but it had done nothing to improve her mood. When he had picked her up twenty minutes earlier, her anger and irritability were evident in the way she walked. And what came out of her mouth was seemed to corroborate what Nathan already knew: Haley was anything but fine.

"Why wouldn't she be fine?" Lucas asked, coming into the room and grabbing a few plates for everyone. Haley was about to open her mouth but Nathan cut her off.

"We ran into someone we didn't expect yesterday and she's upset about it," Nathan replied. Haley exhaled in frustration.

"Hi; I'm sitting right here," Haley reminded them. Then she turned to Nathan. "And I haven't admitted to feeling anything about it so before you answer for me, you might want to make sure your assessment is accurate." Lucas whistled and looked at Nathan in disbelief.

"Hi, Haley! Hey, Nate," Brooke exclaimed, waddling into the room and sitting down beside them. She was completely oblivious as she smiled at them.

"I'm sorry. I just assumed that you would be upset," Nathan said. Haley chuckled wryly.

"Well, don't assume because when people assume things, they usually make an ass…" Haley started but Brooke cut her off.

"Haley!" Brooke exclaimed, covering her stomach in protection. Haley looked over at Brooke in confusion.

"What?" she asked.

"Don't curse in front of me," Brooke instructed. Haley looked at her in amusement.

/Okay, Brooke does realize that she is Brooke Davis, right? I mean, she swore practically every damn day I saw her back in high school and what I said pales into comparison to all of the horrendous things that have come out of her mouth/

"Why?" Haley asked.

"Because he can hear you," Brooke said. Haley looked at her. She smirked. She knew what she meant but decided to have fun with Brooke since she seemed to be against swearing now.

"I didn't realize you were so religious, Brooke," Haley commented. Lucas cracked a smile as he caught on. Nathan had to bite his lip to keep from chuckling as he turned to see the look on Brooke's face. Brooke's nose was wrinkled as she rolled her eyes.

"I'm not religious. I was talking about the 'he' inside of me," Brooke said, shaking her head in annoyance.

"Oh. Sorry," Haley said. Nathan looked away and smirked.

/It was the least sincere apology I've ever heard and the fact that Haley was the one who said it, tells me that she's not coping well with her mom's, if you can even call her that, sudden appearance in her life. The thing that gets to me the most is that they only saw each other for a two or three minutes and Haley's already on the war path. I hate to think of what'll happen when she and her mother have an actual sit down or whatever. I'm worried about Haley at any rate./

"Why so charming this morning?" Brooke asked. She seemed to be catching on.

"I had an annoying visit from the woman who gave birth to me last night," Haley replied. Lucas dropped his spoon into his cereal and milk splashed up onto his shirt. Brooke just widened her eyes in complete shock.

It was a well-known fact that Haley James was adopted now. Back in high school, Nathan had been the only person Haley had ever confided that piece of information with. But it was one thing to know that she was adopted and another to be confronted with proof of it. Lucas and Brooke looked to Nathan to fill in the blanks.

"She came up to our table and tapped Haley on the shoulder…" Nathan started.

"She just came over and butt into your conversation and introduced herself? Talk about being rude," Brooke interruped. Haley cracked a smile and Nathan glared at Brooke in annoyance who smirked at him apologetically.

"Anyways, she introduced herself as Michelle Caine and then Haley's mother. Then…" Nathan started.

"Then she just walked away!" Haley exclaimed. Her tone carried her anger and confusion in it. Brooke and Lucas looked over at her sympathetically and then looked at Nathan. Brooke cracked a smile at him.

"Come on, Broody. Let's go and work on the nursery for a while. I have a few comments on the wallpaper that you've picked out," Brooke said, dragging Lucas up and pulling him away.

"Great. We're going to be a few hundred years. Make yourselves at home," Lucas said on the way to the hallway. Nathan supressed a smirk and he looked at Haley, who was now staring at the plate infront of her, shaking her head in confusion.

"So, that's what's got you so worked up?" he asked. She looked up at him. "It's not that she's back, it's that she just walked away after telling you who she was." It was a statement, not a question. Haley sighed.

"I just don't understand it. Why even bother telling me if she wasn't planning on sticking around?" Haley asked. Nathan moved to the chair beside her and took one of her hands and rubbed it between his.

"I don't know," he admitted. Haley smirked.

"I'm sorry I've been so rude lately," she said. He shook his head.

"Hey, it's perfectly understandable. I was wondering when you were going to come out of your little stupor and admit that you weren't fine, though," he said. Haley shrugged.

"I don't even know what to do with the information," she confessed.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well, I know a lot of adopted kids try to find out more about where they came from. They even go searching for their biological parents, but not me. I didn't even care about them. Yeah, I was fortunate enough to know that I was adopted. It explained a lot," Haley said, referring to the differences between her and her family. Nathan nodded. "But other than that, I didn't care. I know it sounds weird but I didn't spend a lot of time wondering about my parents because as far as I was concerned, the ones who mattered were already with me."

"You didn't even wonder about them?" Nathan asked. Haley shook her head.

"No. Not once," Haley said.

"It's ironic," he said. Haley looked at him.

"How's that?" she asked.

"Well, you always did seem so sure of who you were when you probably knew less about yourself than any of us back then," Nathan replied. Haley chuckled.

"Yeah," she agreed. Nathan put his hand on her cheek and then ran it through her hair.

"Look, you shouldn't worry too much about your mom. I mean, you have aboslutely no obligation to have anything to do with her. So, if she just wants to walk away, that's fine. At least you know who she is," Nathan said. Haley smiled at him.

"You're right. How did you get to be so smart?" she asked, raising an eyebrow in interest. He put his arm around her and pulled her closer to him.

"Well, you see, I had this amazing tutor in high school who believed me. Come to think of it, you look a lot like her," he said. Haley smiled and laughed as she kissed him.

"No, seriously. The resemblance is uncanny," he said when the kiss ended. Haley wapped him on the shoulder with a rolled up placemat and was about to again when he caught her arm and pulled her to him, crushing her lips with his.

"I'm here for you; whatever you need," he said.

"Thanks," she said, snuggling into his shoulder.

Two days later…

Haley walked into her office and froze when she saw Michelle Caine sitting at one of the chairs in front of her desk. She was looking around the room. Haley rested against the door for a second and observed the woman.

Michelle Caine and Haley resembled each other. Michelle had the same small frame as Haley. Her skin was pale and their hair was the same chocolate brown. Haley figured she got her hazel eyes from her father or someone else in her family. Michelle had a delicate voice and Haley wondered if she had any musical talent at all. She didn't like the look in Michelle's eyes, though. They screamed of deceit and danger.

"So, what exactly is it that you want?" Haley asked, surprising Michelle as she jumped at the sound of her voice. She walked further into her office and sat down at her desk. "If it's money, you're after, then, you can forget it." Michelle scoffed.

"You think I introduced myself to my daughter in order to squeeze a few bucks out of you?" Michelle asked.

"You would hardly be the first person to approach the child you gave up years later when they were all grown-up and even more vulnerable because they never had you when they were growing up," Haley said. Michelle looked at her in surprise. Then Haley looked at her warningly. "Well, I'm not vulnerable to you. To be honest, I haven't really spent a lot of time thinking about you over the years. Actually, none that I recall."

"I never met the people that adopted you five years after I gave you up. The orphanage contacted me for consent. I just signed the forms because on paper, they seemed so perfect. I would never have given you over to them had I known that they would've raised such a cynic," Michelle said. Haley glared at her.

"Well, I'm not surprised that you weren't responsible enough to check out the people you were handing your flesh and blood over to. I mean, you did get pregnant at fifteen. That's not exactly a good example of good choices, is it?" Haley asked.

"I was raped," Michelle corrected her.

"Sure you were," Haley said, unconvinced.

"You don't believe I was raped?" Michelle asked. Haley shook her head.

"I believe that was just something that you told your parents so that they wouldn't kick you out," Haley said. Michelle looked at her.

"You knew who I was all along," Michelle confirmed. Haley shrugged.

"I knew your history. I read the file about you that the people at the orhpanage had given me. You know, the one you left," Haley said.

"And you said you didn't spend a lot of time thinking about me," Michelle said.

"After I left the orphanage, I didn't think about you. I was there for five years before I was adopted," Haley said. Then she folded her arms across her chest as she glared at Michelle. "Did you know that?" Michelle looked down as she shook her head.

"No," she admitted. Haley nodded.

"Then, allow me to make myself crystal clear. Whatever it is that you came here for, I'm not interested. See, when you abandoned me… When you just dumped me off at the orphanage like I was old clothing you were dropping off at the Salvation Army, you gave up your right to get to know me. So just turn around and walk out that door right now because this," Haley said, pointing to the few feet between them, "is as close as we are ever going to get."