The Truth Will Set You Free… Yeah, Right (Chapter Eleven)

"Just what exactly are you telling me?" Haley asked her parents. She was sitting in her hospital room.

"The truth, honey," Jimmy explained. Haley looked at them in disbelief and shook her head. She actually laughed at them.

"So you're informants for the FBI?" Haley asked, not quite believing it because it sounded so absurd. Her parents were business people, not agents for the government. Right?

"I'm afraid it runs much deeper than that," Lydia replied, shaking her head.

"That person who shot at us represents one of the biggest crime lords in Tree Hill," Jimmy said.

"Who we worked for up until a few months ago. When that person fired us, we knew we had to go to the FBI and get them to put a stop to the person's madness," Lydia replied.

"What was 'that person' doing?" Haley asked. Lydia and Jimmy both looked at each other and then at her.

"We can't tell you," Jimmy said. Haley looked at him in disbelief.

"I was the one that was shot and I almost died. If it hadn't been for Nathan, I would be dead. And that would've been on your hands. Now I appreciate that you're telling me now but if you're going to tell me, you need to tell me everything, not just bits and pieces," she said firmly. Her parents looked at each other in worry and then began to tell her everything.

"Haley, what is it?" Nathan asked, sitting at his girlfriend's bedside. Haley looked at him innocently.

"What?" she asked, widening her eyes in confusion. She leaned in and kissed him lightly. When the kiss ended, he looked at her and smirked at her attempt to try to lead him off the subject.

"Come on. You've got that look," he said, eyeing her carefully.

"What look?" she asked.

"The look you get when you should to tell me something, but you're either not sure how or you don't really want to tell me," he said. Haley smiled and looked away for a second.

"You caught that one, huh?" she asked. He nodded and smiled at her. "Damn. It took my family like four years to figure that out."

"Stop stalling, Hales," he said in amusement. She looked at him seriously for a minute. She looked worried. He cupped her cheek. "Come on, you know you can tell me anything." Haley took a deep breath.

"I know who shot me and why," Haley said. Nathan looked at her in surprise. He had not seen that one coming.

"Ok. Who was it?" Nathan asked. He could feel his anger mounting as he remembered what it felt like to see Haley lying in a pool of her own blood because she was protecting her own father. Then, his anger mounted at Haley's father. He had deduced long ago that he was the intended target of the shooting in the James' backyard and how he could stand there and pretend like everything was ok after his daughter was nearly killed because of something he had done.

"This is going to come as a shock," Haley said. He rolled his eyes at her but made sure to keep his head down so she wouldn't notice. "Nathan, my parents were informants for the FBI." He looked up at her.

"What?" he asked.

"My parents worked for someone in Tree Hill for a long time. You know they're accountants so they know a lot about how to hide money in places and schemes to make certain things not show up on tax returns. That's what they did for this person," Haley said.

"So, they were going to the FBI to give them the records or help bring the person down?" Nathan asked. Haley nodded. "And the person they were selling out found out about their new partnership and decided to what, get even?" His tone suggested that he didn't really believe it. Haley nodded.

"That's exactly what happened. Only the shooter didn't count on their daughter being there or jumping in the way of the bullet and so I was hit," Haley said.

"I'm glad your parents told you the truth, but what does all of this have to do with me?" he asked, shrugging.

"Here comes the part I don't really want to tell you," she said.

"Do I need to know?" he asked. Haley stopped to think for a second and then nodded. "What?"

"The person that my parents were working for…" she started.

"Who is it?" he asked, smirking at her in confusion.

"It's your father," she replied. Nathan dropped her hand. He stood up and looked at her in disbelief. "I'm sorry."

"No, don't be sorry. It's not true, Haley. My father may be a lot of things but he's not a criminal," he said, shaking his head, dismissing the notion that his father had been lying to him and his mother. Haley looked at him sympathetically. He was angry at her at that moment.

"Nathan, my parents told me everything," she said gently. He scoffed.

"The word of two criminals? That's what you're basing this accusation on?" he demanded. Haley stiffened.

"My parents aren't criminals," Haley said defensively. He laughed at her.

"My father is the mayor of Tree Hill. He's an upstanding citizen. He won't even violate traffic laws, let alone, falsify financial documents. That's your parents and they copped to it, Haley. So that does make them criminals," he said.

"I know that this is hard for you to accept, Nathan, but it's the truth," Haley said. He snorted.

"Your parents' version of the truth, Haley. No offence or anything, but their word isn't worth much," he said. Haley scoffed and shook her head in annoyance.

"Some taken," she said. He shrugged.

"Well, how do you think I feel? You accused my father of breaking the law," he said.

"You basically called my parents 'blue-collar criminals'," Haley said.

"I was only stating the truth," Nathan said.

"I'll be the first to admit that they did something wrong, but that doesn't make them criminals," she said.

"Fine, if it helps you, you believe that," he said. Haley narrowed her eyes in anger. "But since you bring that up, even if my father did do that, it doesn't make him a criminal," he said.

"Maybe not. But ordering a hit on someone does," Haley said.

"Which he didn't do," he said.

"Yes, he did. Why won't you believe me?" she asked.

"How can I? It's been said that the apple doesn't fall that far from the tree," he said. Haley winced but then she regained her composure.

"I guess you would be an expert on that," she said. She looked at him in disappointment. "You should leave." Nathan was about to protest but the intensity of Haley's glare made it clear: there was no way he was going to be able to reason with her. He shrugged.

"Fine," he said, leaving her hospital room and not looking back.