Chapter 2

/Flashback/

"Haley?" Nathan called to an empty house. He walked into the kitchen and found that the stove was not on, which was odd because when Haley came before him, she usually had some food in the oven. He walked further into the house and went to her office. He turned on the light and felt a stabbing feeling when he saw that she wasn't in it. He went to their bedroom and once again, no Haley.

Nathan walked further into the room and opened the closet and was unnerved by the fact that her clothes were gone. A gripping fear took possession over him and he walked through the house and found that the majority of Haley's things were gone. Where was she? Then he walked back in to the kitchen to get a beer but was stopped when a paper with her handwriting caught his eye. He picked it up and sighed as he read it.

Nathan,

I'm leaving you. Don't try to find me. It's over.

Haley

She had left him. The contents of the letter made him want to hit himself in the head for being so stupid. He'd destroyed her, he realized.

/End of Flashback/

"What are you doing here?" a pregnant and furious Peyton asked Nathan when she opened her front door to find him outside.

"I came to see Haley," he said.

"Haley's in Tree Hill?" Jake asked him. Then he looked at Peyton who shrank back and headed up the stairs into the kitchen. Nathan and Jake followed her. "You knew she was back and you didn't tell me?"

"I knew you would tell Nathan," Peyton replied.

"And you don't think I deserve to know that my wife is back in town?" Nathan demanded. Peyton laughed cruelly.

"Soon to be ex-wife, Nathan. You and Haley are over," she reminded him. Nathan shrugged.

"Maybe we are and maybe we aren't," he said. Peyton shook her head.

"You don't seriously think Haley came back to work things out, do you?" she asked.

"I don't know what to think of her coming back. I would like to hope that she came here for that but it doesn't seem likely," he said. Peyton nodded in agreement.

"Likely? Try impossible. Haley is beyond furious with you. In fact, she's afraid that if she sees or talks to you, you'll hurt her again. And even if she did come here for that reason, I guarantee you she'll change her mind when she learns the identity of your new roommate," Peyton said. Nathan sighed.

"Keep twisting the knife, Peyton," he said. Peyton raised her eyebrows at him.

"Don't you think you deserve it, Nathan?" she retorted.

"Peyton, come on. Ease up," Jake said.

"No! I will not EASE up on him. He deserves everything I say and more," Peyton said.

"You're out of line," Nathan reminded her.

"No, you're out of line!" Peyton exclaimed. "Coming here, expecting to talk to Haley when you cost her, her son?"

"He was my son too," Nathan said. His anger was mounting.

"Well, you should've thought about that before you decided to fool around, thus causing Haley to deliver a still-born," Peyton said. Nathan deflated.

"I'm going to find my wife," he said, leaving.

"I believe Rachel is at your house," Peyton called after him. Of course she knew that Nathan and Rachel weren't married. Nathan denied that he and Rachel were still sleeping together, but Rachel was closer to his wife than Haley was right now.

Haley sighed as she walked up to her old front door and knocked on it. She was hoping Nathan wouldn't turn this into a big thing. She just wanted to pack the rest of her things up and go to her apartment. Instead, Rachel Moore answered the door. She smiled. "Well, this is certainly a switch," she commented. Haley rolled her eyes. "I seem to remember that I was on the other side of the door and you were the one answering it not too long ago."

"That was a lifetime ago," Haley stated. Rachel smirked at the anger in her tone.

"Nathan's not here," Rachel said.

"I'm not here to see him. I'm here to get the rest of my things, that's all. So, if you don't mind," Haley said, trying to walk by her. Rachel blocked the doorway.

"Actually, I do," Rachel said.

"That was a formality, Rachel. See, personally, I don't care what you think and even if I did, it still wouldn't matter. This is still my house and I have every right to be here," Haley said.

"Well, you should care because unlike you, I live here now," Rachel pointed out. Haley would've gasped if she had not heard that already.

"Goody for you," Haley said, coming up and pushing her out of her way. She walked to her and Nathan's old room. There were boxes in the corner. She walked over to them and when she opened them, her things were inside. "Is this all of it?" Rachel was standing in the doorway.

"Yes," Rachel replied. Haley nodded, grabbed the boxes and carried them one by one to the front door and then hoisted them into her car. Just then, Nathan pulled up. He got out of his car and walked over to the two women who were standing by Haley's car. Rachel was actually helping Haley put boxes into her car.

"Can we talk?" Nathan asked, coming up behind them.

"No," Haley replied sharply. He looked at Rachel who shrugged and walked back into the house.

"Hales, come on," he said. Haley slammed the rear passenger door and turned around to face him. Fury didn't come close to describing the look of rage in her eyes.

"Don't call me that," she said. He tried to grab her hand to soothe her, make her see that he still cared but she slapped his hands away from her.

"Haley," he said.

"I don't want to hear it, Nathan," she said, attempting to get in her car but he grabbed her arm and twirled her around to face him.

"Yes, you do," he said, looking at her intensely. He could see that she still loved him and he knew he still loved her. Then, the love vanished and it was replaced by an overwhelming sadness.

"No, I don't. Because no matter what you say, it's not going to make up for all the things you've done," she said.

"If you could find it in your heart to forgive me about Rachel the first time, why can't you do it now? It doesn't have to be over. If we just talk about it, I know we can work this out or you can tell me why we can't," he said. She scoffed and then she laughed bitterly.

"You want to talk? You want an EXPLANATION?" Haley demanded angrily. He looked at her in shock. "Well, you turned your back on me, Nathan!"

"I didn't turn my back on you…" he started to say but she cut him off.

"Yes, you did with your affair and that disgusting make-out session in the lobby of the jailhouse. That I had to watch on TV!" Haley exclaimed. He looked at her in shock. "Now, I might have walked out the door, Nathan, but who left who first?"