Will Love Win Out in the End? (Chapter 8)
Nathan looked at her nervously as Haley opened her mouth to speak but then closed it. His heart dropped. "I care about you. I really do," she said.
"It's a simple question, Haley. Do you want me back? Yes or no?" he said.
"It is not that simple and you know it, Nathan," she snapped.
"Is it because you don't love me?" he asked.
"No, it's not. Loving you has never been the point because you know I do," she said.
"Then, what's the big deal?" he asked.
"You left me once, Nathan," she reminded him.
"That was a mistake," he said defensively. Haley scoffed.
"Yeah, a mistake that almost destroyed me. If I take you back, how do I know that you won't get scared again? I can't lose you a second time, Nathan. I won't survive it," she said. Nathan tightened his grasp around her hand.
"I'm here, Hales, and I'm not going anywhere," he said.
"You don't know that," she said.
"Yes, I do, Hales. I've lived without you before. It was the worst time in my life," he said.
"It wasn't so pleasant for me, either," she said.
"So, then why won't you give us another chance?" he asked.
"Because I'm scared," she said.
He stood up and sat down on her bed. He leaned down and kissed her deeply. He put his hands down on the bed to support himself as he leaned into her and continued to kiss her. Her arms came around his neck, pulling him closer to her. He slowly broke the kiss and moved his face a few centimeters away from her face. "I felt that and so did you," he said. She looked at him in confusion.
"That is love, Hales. It's love, its passion and it's need. And we're both feeling it. We love each other and we both need one another. Now, I know you're scared and you have every reason to be, but you can't deny what I felt from you. It's the same thing you felt from me and if we both still feel that way after so long, I think it's pretty obvious that we should be together," he said. Haley sighed and looked at him. She smiled at him and nodded. He looked at her hopefully.
"Does that mean that you agree?" he asked.
"Yes. I want you with me, Nathan," she said and laughed as he processed the information and slowly began to smile.
All of a sudden, the door swung open and Dan Scott came into the hospital room. Nathan had gone to get some thing to eat and Haley was drifting off to sleep. He sat down beside her and grabbed her hand and squeezed it hard. Haley opened her eyes and yelped in pain. "You tell my son that you changed your mind," he demanded. Haley looked at him in disbelief.
"You're hurting me, Mr. Scott," she said, trying to grab her hand away from him.
"You're lucky I don't kill you, Haley," he said. He released her hand. "You stole my son away from Deb and me once. Your marriage nearly destroyed his career. You're insane if you think I'm going to let you waltz back into his life after he's finally got his priorities in order," he said.
"If you want to come in here and spew threats, be my guest. It won't change the fact that Nathan despises you. I pushed Nathan in the right direction from freeing himself from you. You are responsible for him leaving, not me. And you know what? That's not what you're upset about. You're mad because you lost control over him," Haley said, holding her wrist in pain.
"You poisoned him against me. Once you let him down easy, he'll come back," Dan said.
"Keep dreaming," Haley said. Dan looked at her in surprise. He walked out and went to find Nathan. Nathan was walking back to Haley's room when he saw his father.
"There you are," he said.
"What do you want, Dad?" Nathan asked.
"Are you out of your mind, Nathan? Why on earth did you quit the team and transfer to Raleigh College? You're not going to be able to join their team in the middle of the season, Nathan," he said.
"Drop it, Dad," he said.
"When I got the call from the coach, I insisted that he was mistaken. Then, I called the school and they confirmed that you transferred last week," he said.
"I came here to be with Haley," Nathan said.
"Oh, come on, Nathan. If you're going to throw your life away, at least do it over something important," Dan said. Nathan glared at him.
"Haley is my wife," he reminded him.
"She's your ex-wife, Nathan," Dan said.
"The divorce is not final, Dad. I called my lawyer to get him to stop it," Nathan said.
"Haley is unstable, Nathan. She tried to kill herself. Are you sure you want to be tied to her?" Dan asked.
"Haley only tried to hurt herself because I stabbed her in the back and you paid her a visit to twist the knife," Nathan said. "And, by the way, if you knew about that, why didn't you tell me?" he asked.
"I didn't want her to suck you back in," Dan said. "You know what? You're a monster," Nathan said, walking away and to Haley's bedside. He kissed her on the forehead and they started eating the food Lucas had brought.