Chapter Thirty-Four: Overload

Author's note: If "Winding Road" was a TV show, two chapters ago, just after the kiss, would have been the season finale. Last chapter with the fluff would have been the season premiere. Haley, Nathan, Brooke, Lucas, Jake and Peyton would be the stars, listed in that order. Davis would have been taken off the opening credits two chapters ago. Ryan would have been added to the opening credits last chapter, having been previously listed as a guest star. Keith, Karen and Leigh would be listed as special guest stars. So there's a nice vaguely spoilerish analogy for you, and here's the new chapter. Episode. Whatever.

Ryan Scott had quickly grown used to knocking on her brother's door before entering. A few sightings of her brother and his new girlfriend making out on his bed had been enough to cure her of entering spontaneously.

But on that day, a week and a half after the day in the café, Ryan was quite sure that nothing short of a wall of fire could keep her from her brother's name.

She groaned in irritation as she entered her brother's room at a run and he didn't even notice.

"Nathan, Haley! Get up, get dressed, the parental units are approaching!" she said in panic. Nathan didn't entirely hear her speech, but he understood the gist of it. He hurriedly threw Haley off of him, put his shirt back on over his wife beater and took her hand to drag her into the room between his bedroom and the hallway, where they had had their first date.

Keith and Karen Scott came into the room to find Nathan and a girl they'd never met sitting on either side of Ryan.

"Mom, Keith," said Nathan, his voice happy but calm. Quickly he stood up to embrace his parents. (Or what Haley thought had been his parents. Had he really just called his father by his first name?)

"Nathan, how are you? No Davis anymore?" asked Karen Scott, hugging her eldest son.

"No. Guys, this is Haley. Haley this is my mom, Karen, and my stepdad, Keith," said Nathan. Haley stood and was surprised to receive an embrace from her new boyfriend's mother.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you, Mr. And Mrs. Scott," she said shyly.

"Thank you Haley, it's nice to meet you as well," said Keith. Karen analyzed the girl for a moment.

"You live here, in Tree Hill?" she asked eventually.

"Yes. I'm actually Davis' cousins' best friend," said Haley.

"Ah. I was born here too," said Karen. Haley looked between the two and wondered how they had created three blondes. Or however many blondes.

"Mom, where's Leigh?" asked Ryan. Ryan stood and Haley noticed how much taller Nathan and Ryan were than Karen, who was around Haley's height.

"Oh, did we lose her again? Kid's more curious than that monkey," joked Keith. Karen smiled.

"Asleep in the car. Where's Luke's room?" asked Karen. Haley and Nathan exchanged significant glances.

"Luke doesn't stay at the hotel," said Ryan, intercepting their looks, interpreting them, and deciding on what needed to be said.

"Where does he stay?" asked Karen.

"He's shacked up with his gi…" Ryan yelped in surprise as Nathan clamped a hand on her mouth to shut her up.

"You know, Lucas will explain, so let's all just head over there. Ryan you ride with Mom and Dad, and Haley'll come with me," he said.

Karen Scott watched as his son walked hand in hand with Haley in the opposite direction. Besides thinking that the new girl was slightly too young and perhaps innocent, she approved. Anything was an improvement after Davis.

Nathan turned to Haley immediately as they got into his car, ready to resume their previous activity.

"Wait a sec. Why aren't your parents more worried about the you getting shot thing?" asked Haley.

"Oh. Lucas just told them that I was in the hospital, and then later on he told them that it was no big, so they wouldn't worry," explained Nathan. Haley frowned.

"Nate, you got shot. Don't you think they'd at least care?" she asked.

"Yes, they would. Enough to freak out and pull a twenty-four hour watch and go insane. I'm a big boy, Hales," he said.

"You think it's because of them, isn't it?" she asked, looking into his eyes.

"It's related. I would be no one if they weren't so successful and rich. They'd blame themselves. It's being kept out of the papers. Calm down," he said.

"I don't agree with you," she said stubbornly. She was surprised when he covered her lips in his, but she quickly reciprocated and drew him against herself.

"I know. That's why we work," he whispered, nibbling on her earlobe before his lips traveled down her neck.

Haley and Nathan were surprised to find his sisters and his parents with Brooke and Lucas in their home when they joined them twenty minutes later.

"Brooke! When did you get back?" asked Haley, lunging for her friend and throwing her arms around her neck.

"As soon as I heard," she whispered into her friend's ear. She spoke again, louder, for the benefit of everyone else. "Mr. And Mrs. Scott told us they would be in town and we thought we'd swing by."

Brooke blushed as she saw the three newcomers blatantly analyze her. Haley took advantage of their gaze and analyzed them in turn.

Leigh Scott looked very much like her big sister, but without Nathan's blue eyes. She was an inch or two taller, and equally slim. It was obvious that at one point she'd had her sister's long blonde hair, but it was dyed darker, at a sharp contrast with her fair, lightly freckled face. She was dressed simply in a black tank top and blue jeans that tightly fit her legs and accented their slimness. She had two piercings in her left ear, and when her shirt briefly lifted Haley saw that her belly button was pierced as well.

Karen Scott was dwarfed by her four tall children, standing at around Haley's height. For some reason, this made Haley much less scared of her. In the ten minutes she'd known her, Karen had made many analytical glances in her and Brooke's direction, but she endeared herself to Haley nonetheless.

Keith looked nothing like any of his children, but something in his voice, in his manners, linked all of them. He was tall and fairly athletically built. Haley was fairly sure she liked him the best.

"So you two live together in LA," said Karen in surprise. Haley zoomed back into the conversation.

"Yeah. It's a recent thing," Lucas assured his mother.

"And you two live at the hotel together?" asked Karen worriedly, turning to her elder son.

"No. She was just visiting. We don't. We haven't. Yet," said Nathan awkwardly. Haley covertly poked him hard on his back.

"Do you have anything to tell us, Pumpkin?" asked Keith in bewilderment, turning to his eldest daughter. Ryan smiled at her father.

"Don't worry, they reserved all the heart attacks before I got the chance to," said Ryan.

"This one freaked us out enough two weeks ago, and now this…" said Karen, smiling slightly.

"Come on, get over it. It's just hair," complained Leigh, speaking for the first time. Haley glanced over at her and smiled a smile that the other girl did not return.

"It was hair. Now it's a sign that you worship Satan and stay out of the sunlight," said Karen, faux sternly.

"Wow, dramatic much?" asked Ryan.

"Haley, are you going to school next year?" asked Karen, ignoring her daughter.

"Yeah. I'm going to be a freshman at Brown," she said. Karen raised her eyebrows at "freshman", but said nothing.

"Congratulations, that's a great school."

"Thank you," said Haley, smiling nervously. Suddenly she noticed that all the attention had shifted back to her.

"I'd love to get to know you better Haley. How about we have lunch sometime before we go back to New York?" suggested Karen.

"Sounds great," said Haley, already dreading the hour she would spend with the mother of the boy she was dating.