Dig a Little Deeper and You'll Find… The Devastating Truth (Chapter 2)

Somehow Peyton had managed to convince Haley to drive over to her and Lucas' house located on the outskirts of Tree Hill. Haley had wanted to stay and spend some time with Olivia but her sister had urged her to go and catch up with her friends.

/Flashback/

"Olivia, come on. You've only got x number of days left and I want to spend as much time as I can with you. I can see them anytime," Haley said. Olivia's bed was positioned so she was sitting and her weakened sister shook her head forcefully at her younger sister.

"We both know that once I'm gone, you will be too," Olivia said. Haley looked at her in confusion.

"What do you mean?" Haley asked. Olivia smirked.

"Come on, Hay. Playing dumb doesn't become you," she said. Haley still looked at her in confusion. "Once things are taken care of, you'll be back on the road with your husband." Haley looked down.

"I suppose you're right," she said. Olivia looked at her sister knowingly.

"Do they know?" Olivia asked. Haley looked at her quizzically. "Do they know that you and Chris are married?" Haley shook her head.

"No, they don't know," Haley replied. Olivia shook her head in disappointment.

"I personally think you should get an annulment," Olivia commented. Haley looked at her in annoyance. "I'm sorry! But there is a reason that you married him and it's no longer an issue, so I don't see the point in prolonging your misery."

"Well, a marriage isn't like a purse. Once you're tired of it, you can't just take it back," Haley said.

"Actually, theoretically, you can. That's what divorce is for," Olivia pointed out. "It's an amazing thing that helps battered women get away from their abusive husbands." Haley fixed her sister with a glare that could melt ice in the arctic.

"Liv, we've had this conversation before," Haley said sternly.

"I know; you took vows in a church and you are not the type of person to just break a promise," Olivia said almost mockingly.

"Exactly," Haley said, ignoring her tone.

"Anyways, getting back to the issue at hand. You need to visit with your old friends," Olivia said.

/End of Flashback/

Haley got out of her car and leaned against the door for a minute, contemplating how she was going to break the news that she was married to them. It's not like she could just walk in the door and say, "Oh, those are really nice curtains; By the way, I'm married." Then, she shook her head in annoyance and walked up to the front door and before she could knock, it opened and Brooke appeared on the other side.

"Tutor girl!" she exclaimed, pulling Haley through the girl and hugging her. Haley felt odd at the enthusiasm in Brooke's welcome since she and Haley had never really been very close friends. She was sure that Taylor had said that Peyton was the pregnant one, not Brooke. Peyton came out of the kitchen as Brooke and Haley were heading to the living room.

"Oh, Haley, you're here," Peyton said. Then she turned to Brooke. "You could've told me that you were answering the door so I wouldn't have to waddle all this way for nothing."

"You didn't ask," Brooke offered simply. Peyton rolled her eyes and smirked at Haley.

"How Nathan puts up with you, I'll never understand," Peyton commented and laughed as Brooke started glaring at her.

"Why would Nathan need to put up with you?" Haley asked curiously.

"Oh, because we're dating," Brooke said. Haley's jaw dropped and she widened her eyes in amazement.

"That was mine and Lucas' reaction too," Peyton said, laughing.

"How long?" Haley asked.

"For about three months," Nathan said, peering into the hallway from the living room. "Are you three going to come and sit down or are we going to catch up here in the hallway?" Peyton rolled her eyes and accepted Nathan's shoulder to lean on to get to the living room. "Are you okay?" Nathan asked Haley.

"Yeah, why?" Haley asked.

"You're limping," Nathan said.

"Oh, it's nothing. I just twisted my ankle last night," Haley said.

"How?" Brooke asked when they were all sitting down. Nathan and Brooke were on one couch. Lucas and Peyton were on the other and Haley sat in a chair.

"Well, unfortunately, seven years hasn't changed the fact that I'm still a klutz. I tripped over Chris' guitar in the living room yesterday," Haley lied. While she was still a klutz, it was Chris she had tripped over only after he had pushed her down and proceeded to kick her in the ankle as well as her knee.

"Chris, huh? So you and that hunky Chris Keller are still dating?" Brooke asked. Haley bit her lip. She walked right into the question.

"Uh, no. We're married now," Haley said. She didn't need to look up to tell that Nathan was staring at her in shock, that Brooke was smiling at her in pride that she had bagged a rock star, or that Peyton and Lucas were looking at her in surprise.

"Married?" Peyton repeated. She said it like she was a two-year-old sounding out different parts of the word to make it complete but was having doubts. Haley nodded.

"Since when?" Brooke asked.

"Three years," Haley replied. Peyton started coughing. Nathan got up and left the room.

About fifteen minutes later, Nathan was still standing on the front lawn of his brother and sister-in-law's house. So he had been a little less than honest when she had questioned him about how he felt at seeing Haley again. Haley was always a tough subject for him. His feelings for her were worse. Things had ended so quickly and abruptly with them, their relationship felt like unfinished business.

They had loved each other immensely in the time they had been together and everyone knew it, which was part of the reason he guessed Brooke had questioned him about her.

Did he still have feelings for her? Of course he did. Did he wonder what might be? Sometimes. Was he willing to start a relationship with her? No. Things with Haley, while he had loved her and still did, were always complicated. Unlike his relationship with Brooke.

They were dating, but it was more of a "friends with benefits", as she called it, type of relationship. There were no strings or expectations. They were free to date other people and Brooke certainly did shop around. Nathan didn't and he was strangely fine with the fact that Brooke did. He had realized once he saw Haley again that things were never going to last with Brooke. He had guessed she felt it too, which was why she had started asking him so many questions. He could still hear her suspicious voice ringing in his head. "Nathan," a voice behind him said. He turned around to see Haley.

"Hey," he said.

"Are you all right?" Haley asked.

"Of course. Why wouldn't I be?" he asked, shrugging.

"Well, you did leave in kind of a hurry," she reminded him.

"Oh, yeah. That," he said. Haley looked at him. He knew she was hoping for some sort of explanation. "You just surprised me, that's all." Was she buying it? He couldn't tell. She only nodded.

"Why?" she asked. Haley didn't know why she was asking. She was just suddenly overcome with curiosity about Nathan's reaction.

"I didn't think you would get married so quickly. I thought you would wait until you were more established in your career," he said. Haley smirked. "I mean I know you're famous and everything but you only have like one album out."

"Two," she corrected him.

"Really? I haven't seen another one," he said.

"It was one I did with Chris. He calls it 'The Kellers' Album'," she replied.

"What is it, just a bunch of sappy duets?" he asked, smirking in amusement. Haley's eyes narrowed slightly but she shook her head.

"There are a few duets, but there's also a cover of a song called 'Missing You' that Chris did and I did three or four solo tracks that I wrote," Haley replied.

"Are you happy with him?" he asked. Haley hesitated. No one had really ever asked her that. They had told her how happy she must be or how lucky she was. Someone had even told her that she should count her lucky stars that she had married Chris Keller. Ha! If they only knew, she thought to herself. "Haley?"

"What?" she asked. She had totally spaced and looked at him in confusion. Then, she remembered what she asked and answered like it was a reflex, "Yes, of course I'm happy with him."

"Of course," Nathan said. Haley nodded; unaware of the fact that Nathan was mimicking her. Something in her voice didn't sound very convinced. Her tone was almost questioning if he believed her when she answered him and people could call him crazy, but that shouldn't be how a happy wife acted. "Are you sure?" Haley down, up, down and then up again. There was no mistaking the emotion in her eyes: Fear.

"I'm sure," she replied in a strong voice.

"Haley!" Peyton called from inside the house. Haley excused herself and headed back inside. Nathan watched her leave and then continued to stare at the door minutes after she had left.

"Something's going on," he muttered to himself and he was going to find out what it was as he dialled information and received the number for Chris Keller. He left a message, inviting him to Tree Hill, explaining that his wife needed him at a time like this.