Slipping Away (Chapter Eight)

Nathan was sitting in the waiting room of Tree Hill Hospital panicking. All sorts of things were running through his mind he could barely pick out one coherent thought, there was an overwhelming fear that paralyzed him: What if Haley didn't make it? She was shot in the gut, but he wasn't sure where. The bullet could've pierced a lung, her liver, her pancreas, her heart, her spleen; there were too many possibilities. There were at least four nurses and two doctors working on her and every few minutes, someone would leave or someone would rush in and it was slowly driving him crazy that they never stopped to tell them how it was going.

He knew realistically that if they stopped to chat that it could ruin Haley's chances of surviving, but not knowing what was happening because it gave him time to agonize over what he'd do without her. All of a sudden, he heard a few familiar voices coming into the ER. He could instantly tell that Brooke was the one that was crying. He looked up and Lucas had his arm around her and pulling her close, but he was crying too, so it didn't do much. Peyton and Jake walked over to him and sat down on either side of him. Peyton put her hand in one of his and squeezed it.

He looked up at her. She had been crying. He could tell that by the fact that her face was red and puffy. She made an attempt at a smile, but it was more of a half-smile. "How are you doing?" she asked. He shook his head.

"They won't tell us anything. They just keep running in and out of the room," he said.

"They need to work on her first," Peyton said to him. He nodded. He had forgotten that Peyton had been through this when her mother died in a car accident.

"All I keep hearing is her piercing scream and then the gun shots. I hear it over and over again. And all I see is Haley's limp body lying motionless on the ground with all of that blood. It's driving me nuts. I can't get it out of my head," he said, looking at her.

"Excuse me, Mr. Scott, I couldn't help but overhear," the officer who was questioning Haley's father and mother said.

"You said Miss James screamed. Did she scream a word or did she just scream?" he asked.

"She said, 'no'," Nathan replied.

"That was because she saw the gunman before I did. He was aiming at me and Haley jumped in front me and pushed me to the ground," Jimmy James said.

"So the shooter was after you, not your daughter?" the officer asked. Jimmy nodded. "Why would someone want to shoot you?" he asked. Jimmy shrugged.

"I have no idea. I just wish it had been me and not her," Jimmy said.

"Don't say that, Jimmy. Haley was trying to protect you. She obviously wanted you to survive," Lydia said.

"Yes and it might've gotten her killed," he argued.

"Well, none of that matters now. What matters is that Haley survives and that we're all here to be here," Lucas said. Jimmy and Lydia nodded and smiled at him. Lydia walked over and hugged Lucas.

"We've missed you around the house," she said as she pulled away.

"Well, when she gets out of here, I might stay the weekends," Lucas joked. Lydia cracked a smile. Lucas walked over to Nathan, Peyton and Jake. He saw Nathan holding his head in his hand. He could tell he was crying because he was shaking and Peyton had one arm around him. Lucas put one hand on his brother's shoulder. Nathan looked up at him and wiped his face. "You did everything you could, Nathan. If you hadn't performed CPR and gotten her pulse back, there would be nothing for the doctors to save," Lucas said. Nathan nodded and shook Lucas' outstretched hand.

"Thanks," he said. Lucas nodded. Then two doctors in blue scrubs came out and approached them. Jimmy and Lydia stepped forward when they asked for Haley's parents. Lydia motioned for them to come closer.

"Your daughter suffered severe injuries. She is in a coma right now. A bullet nicked her lung and another was lodged in her spleen. We had to perform an emergency splenectomy to remove her spleen. We're going to keep her on O2 to help her breathe and monitor her progress," the doctor said.

"Will she survive?" Lydia asked. The doctor looked at her sympathetically.

"I'm not going to lie to you. She came very close to dying. If someone hadn't performed CPR, she wouldn't even stand a chance. I can't tell for certain if she'll recover. If she makes it through the night, the prognosis is good," he said.

"Can we see her?" Peyton asked. The doctor nodded.

"Only a few at a time. Try to keep it down to two or one visitors at a time," he said.

Two hours later, Peyton and Jake came out of Haley's room and said good-bye to Nathan. Lucas and Brooke had left earlier. Brooke needed something to eat and Lucas wanted to go home to fill his mom and everyone else in on Haley's progress. Jimmy had convinced Lydia to go home to get some sleep and a few of Haley's sisters and brothers were all flying in, so Jimmy had decided to take Lydia to the airport to pick up their other children. They had been a little hesitant to leave Haley alone and asked Nathan to stay the night with her. He couldn't believe they were actually serious. Of course he would stay with her. He'd move in if they would let him while she was there. So he took a deep breath and entered her room.

It was so quiet except for her heart monitor beeping and the oxygen machine making a "whoosh" sound as it pumped air into her. She was dressed in a paper-thin hospital gown with around five blankets on her body. Even through all of that, he could clearly see where the two holes in her gut where the bullets had pierced her fragile body because the bandages stood up a little. He sat down beside her and took one of her hands into both of his and squeezed it to let her know he was there. Her hand was freezing, but he didn't care. He got up and planted a kiss on her forehead and then another on her chafe, almost colourless lips.

"I love you, Hales. Everyone loves you and we all need you. That's why you've got to pull through this. Besides, what about all of your dreams? Going to university? Where did you always want to go again?" he joked. "Oh, right. Stanford. How could I forget that, right? You remind me constantly. If you hadn't, I think the Stanford paraphernalia on your little bulletin board in your room is a major clue. Your mom told me you actually traced and coloured that map of the campus when you were around seven. If you want me to have the grades to be able to go to that school with you, you're going to need to wake up and start tutoring me again. There's no way I'll get there by myself," he said, and chuckled as he pictured her outraged expression she got on her face whenever he put himself down in his mind.

"It's always been Duke for me. But that's just my dad's dream. I can play basketball anywhere and I choose to be with you. But, then, it's a little early to be thinking about college, right? Well, I think about these kind of things. You know? Our future," he said.

An hour later, Nathan was still yammering on about a bunch of stuff. He reminded her of the first time she had tutored him and he had tried to "woo" her as she called it. "I'll never forget when you picked up the book and said: 'Do you see this book? Because this book is me. I am math.' And I asked what you meant and you answered and confused a touchdown for a basket and then when I corrected you, you just shrugged and said: 'Whatever. Look, the point is at the end of the day, all your bluster and B.S. don't mean anything to math because math don't care, and neither do I.'" He laughed at the memory again. "You know what I'll never forget? Our first kiss," he replied.

(FLASHBACK)

Nathan finally arrived at her house, picked up a handful of gravel and hurled them at her window. Then Haley walked by, took a quick look at what he was doing and smiled. Then put on her tough face and walked up to him. "Trying to wake up my parents? That's their room," she said. He turned around and stood still for a minute. Haley rolled her eyes and started to walk away.

"Wait! Haley, look, I need to apologize, okay?" he asked, following her.

Haley turned around momentarily and said: "You should write them in bulk if you're going to hand apologies out that often." He sighed.

"Can we just?" he started to ask but stopped when he saw her glare. I don't know how to do this, alright? I'm not like you," he said. Haley narrowed her eyes.

"What does that mean?" she demanded. He put his hands up in a gesture.

"I screw up a lot, alright? And being around you, I just, I don't want to be that guy anymore," he said.

"Well, who do you want to be, Nathan?" Haley asked immediately.

"I want to be someone who's good enough to be seen with you," he said. Haley's face softened a little as she thought about it for a minute. Then she remembered the way he had changed into an arrogant jerk once his friends came around and her face hardened again.

"Well, you should've thought of that last night!" she exclaimed. Then she threw her hands up in frustration. "You know, I keep, I keep putting myself out there, and you keep blowing it, it's probably a good thing because at this point there's nothing you could say or do that's gonna surprise me." Nathan clenched his jaw and looked at her for a minute. He leaned in and caught her lips in a sudden kiss. When the kiss ended, Haley opened her eyes. "Except that," she muttered quietly. "You shouldn't have done that, Nathan," she said. He sighed and shrugged.

"I wanted to," he said. He didn't seem the least bit remorseful for doing it or seem to regret it at all. Haley nodded.

"Yeah," she agreed. She paused and stared at him, studying him. Then she suddenly leaned forward, threw her arms around his neck and latched onto him, and kissed him again much more passionately. The first kiss was a peck compared to this one. Nathan put his arms around her and pulled her closer. When they broke apart, he smiled at her. Seeing his reaction, Haley smiled too.

(END OF FLASHBACK)

He still remembered the feeling of shock as she kissed him back and right then, he could feel the need from that he had felt then. All of a sudden a long sustaining beep alarmed. He looked around and noticed it was her heart monitor. The line that normally went up and down was now flat and straight. He looked at Haley and panic took over his body. "Haley?" he called to her even though he was right beside her.

The doctors and nurses quickly came in and pushed him out of the way. They took the paddles and began to shock her a few times. Then, they stopped. "No!" Nathan exclaimed. "No, Haley! Come back!" he exclaimed, rushing toward her body. The doctors didn't try to stop him. He held her face and buried his head in it. "Come back, Hales. Hales, come back," he said. "Hales?" he asked as he looked at her to see some sign of life in her closed eyes. "Hales?" he said again. "No!" he said and buried his head on her shoulder again and started crying.

Dialogue in the flashbacks are from One Tree Hill: 1.03 Are You True and 1. 08 The Search for Something More. Everything else is written by kat657