Chapter 3

Nathan walked into the jailhouse where Rachel had gotten arrested for yet another drug possession. He had come to post bail because he felt partly responsible for the state she was in. If his father hadn't been crazy and possessive, Rachel would probably be in New Jersey living a pretty good life. Instead, she had been pulled into his father's web and forced to do his bidding, which unfortunately, was to destroy Nathan's marriage to Haley.

Nathan felt his blood boil at his father when he remembered just how far his father had gone to destroy his marriage. He had gone so far as to try and kill Haley. Now, of course, he denies ordering Rachel to push Haley out that window, but Nathan didn't believe him. He had to believe that Rachel never really intended to hurt Haley the way she did. So he followed the guard over to Rachel's cell. It had been three months since he'd seen her. She looked a mess.

Her hair was in disarray. It had been obvious that someone had taken a pair of scissors to it. He looked at her. "What happened to your hair?" he asked. Rachel scoffed.

"Some lunatic tried to cut it all off," she replied. Nathan walked with her as they went to collect her personal items.

"Why would they do that?" he asked. Rachel stopped walking.

"The women in here don't like it when others try to mess with a marriage, which is exactly what I did. They're even less thrilled when there are children involved. So they decided to teach me a lesson," Rachel said.

"By cutting off your hair?" Nathan asked. Rachel shook her head.

"By robbing me of my dignity. Cutting off my hair is hardly the worst thing they did," Rachel said. She did not sound bitter.

"Are you ok?" he asked. Rachel nodded.

"I'm perfectly fine. So where is your wife?" Rachel asked. Nathan looked at her in confusion.

"Why do you ask?" he asked.

"Well, I can't imagine she'd be pretty happy if she knew that you were down here with me," Rachel said. Nathan smirked.

"Haley and I are… drifting," he said softly. Rachel stopped walking and turned around.

"I don't believe it. You have a child together," Rachel said. Nathan stiffened. "Don't you?"

"No," he replied. Rachel looked at him in confusion. "Haley's been in the hospital. She delivered our baby. He was still-born." Rachel gasped.

"What happened?" Rachel asked. Nathan felt the tears coming and he breathed in heavily as they started to flow.

"I messed up. I cheated on Haley. She caught me, got upset and then she went into premature labour," Nathan replied, the tears coming down his face still. Rachel looked at him sympathetically. "She refuses to see me. She won't even talk to me. What am I going to do?" Rachel pulled him into a hug and muttered a few soothing words to him. It wasn't long before Nathan felt himself looking for solace in Rachel. The solace that Haley had refused to give him. He pulled Rachel tighter against him and then leaned her against a wall. Then he leaned down and kissed her firmly on the lips. Rachel, at first was surprised by the kiss, but then responded, deepening the kiss as she rammed her tongue into his mouth. It wasn't long after that that the news crew had shown up when they heard some felon was going to be released. They were in for a much bigger story as they did a live broadcast, filming "Basket Ball Star Nathan Scott's Extracurricular Activities".

"What happened with Rachel was not what it looked like," Nathan said. Haley scoffed as she looked at him in disbelief.

"Really? Because it looked like my husband was making out with the woman who tried to kill me," Haley said.

"I wasn't making out with her," Nathan said defensively.

"Nathan, I saw you. In fact, the whole state saw you!" Haley exclaimed.

"I was looking for comfort, Haley. Comfort that you weren't willing to give me," Nathan replied. As soon as the words left his mouth, he knew they were the wrong ones. Haley recoiled and then slapped him.

"Don't you dare blame me for your failures. I didn't force you to kiss Rachel," Haley said. Nathan looked at her. "I sure as hell didn't force you to go sleep with that other girl either."

"I already paid for that mistake, Haley," Nathan said. Haley's face crumpled.

"No, Nathan. We both paid for that mistake. That mistake was what cost me my son and if you think for one second that I'm going to sympathize with what you were going through, you've got another thing coming. What you went through was completely different from what I went through," Haley retorted.

"Haley, I know and you have no idea how much I wish I could take that back. How I could take everything back…" Nathan said.

"Who cares? I really don't care about how sorry you are or what you were going through at the time because you sure as hell didn't give a damn about me!" Haley exclaimed. Nathan's head shot up in disbelief. "I'm the one who was cheated on. I'm the one who had to go through labour and deliver our dead son. I'm the one who had to watch my husband kissing another woman on national television afterwards! So don't tell me how you feel because I do not want to hear it!" Nathan grabbed her arms and pulled her to him and kissed her. Haley wrestled against him at first but then responded to the kiss.

"I felt that and I know that you did too," Nathan said against her lips when the kiss ended. Haley shook her head.

"It doesn't matter how I feel about you, Nathan. What matters is that you destroyed me and I won't put myself through it again. It's over; we're done," Haley said, pulling away. She walked back to her car, opened the door and turned around to face him. "Get used to it."