Ch. 5 – Stifle
"You," he repeated himself, sounding shocked.
Haley shook her head slightly, in disbelief. "What are you doing here?" she asked, her voice finally coming out, sounding strangled and foreign to her ears.
He smiled slightly, the little creases at his eyes showing. He looked older, a little more tired since the last time she had saw him. "I'm here to pick Mike up," he pointed at the boy holding Haley's hand.
Haley looked down at Mike, his words at last registering in her mind. "Is- Is he your son?"
He followed her gaze to Mike, smiling again when he looked at the boy. "Well," he paused, looking up straight into her eyes. "What's it to you?"
She shuddered a little when he looked straight into her eyes. It was as though he could see right into her and read her innermost thoughts, and she hated that. She would not let him intimidate her. "He's a very talented kid."
"He's got good genes."
She didn't answer, and merely looked away, as her hand crept to the ends of her long blonde hair, fiddling with a strand like how she always did when she was nervous.
He looked at her jumpy stance, telling that she was getting more and more disturbed by the second. Finally, his smile widened, going from polite to sinister, a move he was very familiar with. "You'd hope he was mine," Dan finally said. "But, he's my grandson." He laughed a little under his breath, the famous Dan Scott chuckle, and continued. "He's Nathan's."
"Drink up, Haley James. Coffee's getting cold," he said, his voice pretentiously pleasant.
Haley glared at him across the table, wondering for the umpteenth time why she had agreed to coffee with him. Perhaps it was when he said he wanted to tell her about what had happened since she'd left. But since they'd been here, he hadn't said a thing about Nathan or Mike, and it didn't look like he was going to. Mike played by himself on the swings in the park across the street from the café where they were sitting, laughing loudly as he ran around, chasing a few birds. "Haley James-Scott," she corrected absent-mindedly, without even thinking.
"Well, well," Dan snickered. "Haley James-Scott?"
She looked fiercely at him, not backing down. "You know what? Forget it, I don't know what I'm doing here with you."
He laughed again, as she stood up. "You must have forgotten, Ms. James, that the young man playing there across the street, is my son's."
She grabbed her bag from the chair next to hers, and threw a few crumpled bills onto the table. Taking one last glance at Mike, she started to walk away from him.
Dan reached out, catching her. "You leave, and you'll never know."
She looked down at her hand, where his big, callused hand encircled her wrist tightly, roughly. His touch was forceful, aggressive, nothing at all like the gentleness of his son's. "Don't touch me," she hissed back at him, through clenched teeth.
"Then sit down." He nodded towards the chair, his grip not loosening one bit.
Haley knew very well that she should walk away, and pretend like she had never met Dan Scott again. But she couldn't, not when there were so many questions unanswered. She had seen his ugly manipulations and force-holds on Nathan back in Tree Hill, and it scared her to see what he might do to harm the young innocent boy across the street. Emotions overcame her senses, and she sat down, reluctantly. "Make it quick," she snapped, pulling away from his grip, feeling the blood rush back to her hand.
"Good girl," he smirked, taking a sip of his black coffee. "Nathan's going to be playing for the Celtics."
"So, he finally made your dream come true," Haley stated coldly, looking ahead defiantly.
Dan shrugged slightly, not answering the question. "He nearly ruined it all for himself."
"You nearly ruined it all for him too," she shot back. She had been there, and had seen Nathan fall apart. And as difficult as it had been for him, to have been pushed to the brink like that by his own father, he managed to rise up again. Nathan had started to play basketball again, and had started to dare to dream again, and she had been there to see all that.
"No, this time, it was all him," the midnight blue in Dan's eyes darkened, bearing a scary resemblance to how Nathan's looked like when he was troubled. "He got Mike."
Haley steeled herself, bracing herself for what was to come. "It's a blessing," she mumbled softly, but with every word she said, she felt as thought she was taking a slash at her own heart. Mike was a blessing, a blessing to Nathan and his wife, but it was a blessing she only wished she could have shared with Nathan.
"A blessing?" Dan laughed. "You saw him, he was working at the pretzel place, not earning enough to raise a kid. So what did he do? He ran back to daddy dearest."
She stared at him in disgust, not knowing what to say or do.
"I made a deal with him. If he would move back to Deb and I, I would pay for the child," Dan continued. "After all, I couldn't turn away the kid. He's a Scott."
"You mean like how you turned Lucas away?" Haley said under her breath, just loud enough for him to hear, and just loud enough to let it get to Dan.
He ignored her jibe at him. "If you hadn't left, he would have nothing now. He wouldn't be playing for the Boston Celtics. You'd both still be holed up in that rat's nest in Tree Hill. You probably wouldn't even have graduated," he said easily.
"What bugs you more Dan? The fact that your son once got married to me, or the fact that you like Elvis?" she replied smoothly, putting on a bold façade when actually, inside, she was anything but. She felt like shaking, like throwing up in his face, just like she had before. He disgusted her, so terribly.
He laughed for awhile. "You've got some spice to you, girly. I didn't expect that. So maybe I can get down straight to business."
"I've not known you for a man to beat around the bush, Dan Scott."
"Fine. Where are the papers I sent you a year after you left?" he asked, his voice deepening dangerously, while his eyes lost all the sparkle in them.
"I've burnt them."
"You wouldn't."
She raised her chin up, insolently. "Wouldn't I? The papers don't exist, Dan, and even if they did, I wouldn't have ever signed them," she said, holding up her left hand. "I'm still Mrs. Nathan Scott, and I have never doubted that."
"He never got married to Mike's mother, because you didn't send those papers back."
"I don't care, Dan. Unlike you, I take my marriage vows, seriously."
He snickered. "You do? Could've fooled me."
Haley's blood boiled at his condescending tone. "How did you know where I was? How did you send the papers to me?"
"I have my ways, Haley. Don't think for once I didn't know where you were. I just never let Nathan know that I knew," he grew angrier. "I knew you never went off with Chris, I knew you left Tree Hill, I knew you were in Boston all along. I just never thought that Deb would have enrolled Mike at the music school where you teach. That was," he paused. "A small oversight on my part. But don't ever think for a moment that I'll pull my grandson out of your class, Haley. I'll let you continue to teach him, as a reminder to you, of what you don't have and never will have. Nathan's son."
"You're a sick bitch, Dan," she said, her voice edged with resentment, her heart sinking to her stomach.
"Nathan is in town. And I don't want you near him," he snarled in answer, his voice taking on meaning.
"And how are you going to do that by letting me teach his son?"
Dan smirked. "Go near Nathan, and the next time you see your student, there'll be a bruise on his arm."
She stared at him, the revolt in her throat rising nauseatingly. "You sick crazy bastard. You wouldn't. That's your grandson, for fuck's sake!"
"Wouldn't I?" he replied purposefully, sadistically smiling when he watched her flinch at his words, the very words she had uttered to him a while ago. "Looks like you don't know me very well, do you? Well, I know you very well, well enough to know that you wouldn't risk it. Nathan's got so much now. Don't ruin things for him." He stood up and picked up his coffee. "Thanks for the coffee, Ms. James," he held the plastic cup up as though toasting her. With that, he left, crossing the road to get Mike.
Haley started, out of old habit, to correct her last name, but stopped. Too much effort had been made over the years to correct everyone who got her name wrong. Maybe it was time for someone else to make the effort this time round. "Hit him, goddamnit." she muttered under her breath, as a black SUV drove dangerously near Dan as he crossed the road. No such luck.
She sat there for awhile, not knowing what she wanted to do, or where she wanted to go. Nathan was back. And so was all the drama that came along with him. Did she still love Nathan? Sure, she did, without a doubt. She could still say that in a heart beat. But sometimes, love just wasn't enough. She loved him, so much that it hurt inside. But at the same time, he had hurt her so much. It had been ages ago, but the pain was still as fresh as though it had only happened yesterday. She had gotten used to the pain; she could go about her everyday, sometimes even pretending like it wasn't there, but once she was alone at night, cold under the covers with no one else to keep her warm, the pain emerged, sometimes even more pain than it ever had been. Love with Nathan had been easy. Back when they were young, it only involved the both of them, and nobody else. It had been him, and her, standing alone. Now, there was another woman and their son in his life. It would be easy to see him again, and it would be easy to continue to love him, but it wouldn't be as easy to ruin a family. She couldn't do that, and she wouldn't.
But maybe, there wasn't a choice to see him again, after all. She already knew the answer to that. Dan was crazy. Chills ran down her spine as his threat echoed in her mind. She'd seen what he had done, what he could do, and what he would do. He would do exactly what he had said. She wouldn't put it past him; if he could hurt his own son, and abandon another, he could and would do the same to his grandson. And she wouldn't let him do that. She knew it was hard, but inside, she knew she loved Nathan enough to let go.
Finally, she stood up and sighed, left the money she had tossed on the table awhile ago, and walked off. This time, aimlessly, not knowing where she was headed.
It was a warm evening on the boulevard. The sun shone brightly, breeze blowing through their hair. Flowers bobbed merrily in the cool air, while birds sang their songs. Cars drove by, and busy people walked past her on the sidewalk. All of them had a destination, a purpose, but not her.
A/N: Hey everyone, just like to thank all you guys for the great reviews, and I hope this chapter was a shocker for you guys, did any of you think it'd be Dan? LOL. Here's to wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and happy holidays! Will be back with more chapters soon. :)