Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust (Chapter 6)

A week later…

Haley stood outside her sister, Olivia's hospital room and stared into the window. The blinds were down, but they weren't closed so she could clearly see her boyfriend crying as he held her hand through the folds. He had been in there for thirty minutes now. They were saying goodbye to each other because in less than three hours, Olivia would be gone from their reach. In less than three hours, Haley, as the executor of Olivia's living will, was going to take her sister off of life support. The door opened and Derek came out. His face was stained with tears and he glared at her with one emotion in his eyes: hate. "How is she?" Haley asked, not particularly caring what he thought of her at the moment.

"Brave, beautiful and full of life," he replied in anger. Haley closed her eyes in frustration. He had been singing her the same song since she had come back.

"We've been through this," she said in a small voice. She didn't want Olivia to know that they were still arguing. She wanted to give her sister as much peace as possible.

"You haven't listened to a single word I've said. From the minute you came back, your mind was already made up," Derek spat.

"I understand your position, Derek. I know that you don't want to let her go. None of us do, but the time has been a long time coming and you knew it," Haley said. Derek punched the wall in frustration. Haley noticed Olivia flinch in her bed, but closed her eyes again.

"Spare me the sympathetic crap, Haley! I don't want to let her go, that's true. Neither do Craig, Quinn, John, Eric, or Taylor. But we all know that you could care less about what happens to Olivia. You've always been about taking the easy way out. Now it's fine for your own life, but you have no right to run your sister's life in the same manner you run your own," Derek said. Haley was so stunned she was speechless. Is that really what he thought? "You help her do one thing and Olivia treats you like you're the second coming! When in reality, you're probably anxious to get this over with so you can get back on tour and return to your life of fame!" Haley raised her right arm and slapped Derek squarely across the face.

Nathan walked towards the sound of Haley yelling at someone and was surprised to find that it was Derek. He got there just in time to see her slap him. "What's going on?" he asked. Both Haley and Derek only glanced him. Then Haley spoke. Her voice was full of anger.

"You can think whatever you want, but before you open your mouth, you might want to be absolutely positive that what comes out of it isn't a load of crap!" Haley exclaimed. Derek just appeared to be even angrier. "Do you honestly think that this is what I want to do?"

"Haley, you've been absent for seven years while the rest of us have been here for her!" Derek exclaimed in fury. Haley raised her arm again, but thought better of it.

"You can talk all you want about how you've been here for Olivia, how you've spent time with her or whatever, but none of that was really for her. It was for you. The truth is that I am the only one who was willing to put aside what I wanted and what I thought was best and do what Olivia wanted and as unbearable as it may be, what Olivia wants is to die. So don't you dare judge me because you're too much of a coward to let her go," she retorted. Derek looked down and deflated. Haley had nailed him where it hurt.

"Haley, you've made your point. Come on. You look like you could use a cup of coffee," Nathan said, gently grabbing her arm. Haley started to follow him. As they passed Derek, he scoffed which made Haley turn around.

"Don't EVER think that this is an easy thing for me to do," she said. With that, she turned back to Nathan and followed him down the hall towards the elevator and down to the cafeteria.

Two hours later…

"Thanks for getting in between us. If you hadn't come along, there's no telling what would've happened," Haley said. Nathan nodded.

"I figured you could use some support today," he said. Haley smiled gratefully at him. He reached over and squeezed one of her hands. "I'm not going anywhere."

"I appreciate it," she said softly, squeezing his hand back.

"You shouldn't pay attention to anything he says. Derek is just upset," Nathan assured her. Haley nodded.

"Yeah, I know. But he's right," she said.

"What?" he asked.

"Well, I have been away for seven years. The others were here supporting her, helping her and spending time with her, I was on stage singing to a bunch of strangers while my sister was lying in a hospital dying," Haley said.

"You were living your life, Haley. No one, including Olivia, wanted you to stay in Tree Hill and watch her waste away. She wanted you to follow your dreams and you did, but you never forgot where you came from. You still stayed in touch and that's what counts," Nathan said.

"And now I'm back to fulfill her wishes while everyone else's efforts go overlooked," she said.

"Will you stop it? You came back to finish what you started when you helped Olivia issue a DNR. It's not like you're trying to be some big hero. You're just being her sister," Nathan exclaimed.

"Haley!" Taylor James exclaimed. Both Nathan and Haley's heads snapped up at Taylor's voice. "It's time." Haley nodded and got up. Nathan remained behind as Haley and Taylor both walked away, but Haley turned around.

"Nathan?" Haley said. He looked up and she held out her hand. He smiled and got up. He walked over to her and took her outstretched hand and walked with them to Olivia's room.

"She's been put into an induced coma so she's asleep right now. I assure you, she won't be in any pain," he said.

"Like that's supposed to make this any easier," was what Haley thought of saying but instead she nodded at the doctor. "Thank you," she said. Nathan was right behind her. He had his hands on both of her shoulders. She reached up and put her hands on his and squeezed them as she stepped out of his comforting embrace. She walked towards Olivia and kissed her sister on the forehead. "Be free, Liv." She then walked over to the ventilator and then pushed the small switch from the on position to the off position. The air stopped pumping and Olivia's chest stopped moving up and down a few seconds later. Then her heart monitor started beeping instantaneously until it finally slowed into a deafening sustained beep. Haley's face crumpled as she knew that this meant that her sister was now gone.

"You have to call it," the doctor reminded her. Haley closed her eyes as fresh tears began to fall down her face. She cleared her throat.

"Time of death: 21:23," she said. Nathan came up behind her just as she felt like she was going to lose her balance. He turned her around and pulled her into a crushing embrace. "She's gone. One minute there was life and then next… there's just nothing."

"Shh," Nathan said as he kissed her forehead and then her hair and pulled her tighter against him as she continued to cry. Really cry. Her body shook with convulsions as she started to sob uncontrollably. "I'm here."