The last chapter's song was Better Days by Goo Goo Dolls
This chapter's song is Stay with Me by Josh Gracin. Enjoy.
Chapter 22: Stay With Me
Baby, the clock on the wall is lying
It's not really that late
It's too cold outside to be walking around
the streets of this town
Anywhere if you think you have to be, can wait
"You, you what!" Haley gasped, pulling away from him. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Unexpected, yes, but not unbelievable. She knew she loved him, at least that much was obvious to her. But she figured he had long since moved on from her, seeing as he had been through more women in the last few months than she had men in her entire life. Not that saying that meant much, however, she could count the number of men she had been on even one date with on one hand.
"I said I loved you, Haley." His voice hitched slightly, but his expression played it off. Her eyes were flighting his stare and she was biting her lip. He knew she was caught with her guard down. He could almost laugh at her mannerisms, they never changed.
"I, I heard what you said, but you don't mean that... you can't." She stuttered, shaking her head like the idea was absurd, ignoring his outstretched hand and pulled herself off of the ground.
"I can't?" He challenged, a smirk playing at his lips.
"No, you cannot," she confirmed, "because, because..uh we..." She mumbled, her sentence trailing off as he moved closer to her. She closed her eyes as she felt his breath on her skin.
"What were you saying again?" He breathed huskily, causing her to shudder.
Her lips collided perfectly with his. He placed one hand on her lower back, pulling her hips closer to him, as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
-.--.-.-.-.-
Why don't you stay with me?
Share all your secrets tonight
We can make believe the morning sun never will rise
"I told you!" Hannah smiled as she and her drowsy sister watched the scene below from their bedroom window.
"Holy crap." Nicole mumbled, rubbing her head in the spot where her headache was forming. "Just, wow. That's about all I can say."
"See, maybe our plan did work!"
"Shut up, Hann. Our plan did nothing. It barely even "went into effect." So just shut up. They did that," She told her, waving her hand in their direction tiredly, "by themselves. Which is actually the way I prefer it." She finished, walking back to her bed.
Hannah made a mocking face as she continued to gaze at her parent making out in the front yard. "This is going to be interesting." She smirked at no one in particular, turning away from the window and following her sister back to bed.
A few minutes later Nicole got the strength to mumble, "You do realize we've like totally switched roles here, right?"
-.-.-
Come and lay your head on this big brass bed
And we'll be alright as long as you stay with me, yeah
It was still snowing blissfully the next morning, and Haley opened her eyes, aware of the content smile playing at her lips. It took a minute for her to take in her surroundings. Plain white sheets, plain white walls with a few scattered frames and posters hanging, regular wood dresser, a stereo, a plasma tv, Nathan's arms wrapped around her semi-naked body.
She turned over to look in his eyes, but he only held on tighter, burring his head in the crook of her neck.
She laughed."Merry Christmas, sleepy head." She whispered in his ear.
"Mmmm..." He moaned indistinctly.
"It's Christmas, Nathan. Wake up!"
"No."
"The girls are going to be up soon." She informed him.
He lifted his head to look at the clock, shooting Haley a death glare, then dropped his head back to it's resting place.
"It's nine o'clock you big baby." She smiled. "Get up now and maybe I'll reward you."
One of his eyes peeled open in consideration.
"Fine. Don't get up. Miss Christmas and the presents, I don't care."
"Presents!" He exclaimed, springing to life. "You got me presents!"
"You'll never know, you wanted to stay in bed, remember?"
"Nah, I'm out of bed, see? Now let's go wake up the girls." He told her. He took a giant step toward the door, but his left foot got stuck in the sheets and he ended up falling face first to the floor, creating a large thud.
"Oh, Nathan." Haley giggled. "Are you okay?"
"FINE." He muttered.
"Shhh... You'll wake the girls." She laughed.
"SO? It's Christmas morning!"
"How about we just go make some coffee and cuddle up on the couch together until they wake up?" She suggested, pulling the sheets off of his foot.
"You tricked me." He muttered, watching the sly smile on her face spread.
-.-.-
Baby, there's just no use in hiding
The way that I am feeling right now
"Good morning, Jenny. Merry Christmas." Peyton smiled at the teenager who had just entered the room. Jenny however, didn't smile back. She wore a scowl with her messy hair and crumpled pajamas. She stuck to laying down on the couch opposite Peyton and covering her head with a throw pillow. Jake came in moments later, handing Peyton a mug full of steaming tea, and sat down on the couch with her. He threw questioning eyes at Jenny's form and Peyton merely shrugged.
"Merry Christmas, Jenny." Jake spoke loud and clear.
"Yeah, yeah. Merry Christmas. Look, can we just get this over with? I have a, I have to meet someone at two forty five."
"A guy?" Jake demanded.
"Yes. A guy." She tried to mock in cover up of her blushing. Not successfully.
Jake's whole body stiffened. "I have to meet him before you go out."
"Dad, no, please. You're going to embarrass me." Jenny protested.
"Jenny, you are only fourteen years old, no guy is that important at fourteen. Besides, I just want to meet him." He responded, and Peyton nodded her head in agreement.
"I'm so sick of this! All of my friends don't have fathers that interrogate their friends!"
"I don't interrogate ALL of your friends, just the guys. I know guys, I am one. And I don't understand why you are getting so upset, you had to of expected this."
"See this is why I don't tell you guys anything anymore. God! Just go have more kids and forget about me!" Jenny yells, stomping out of the room as she fights back tears.
"Merry Christmas to you too honey!" Jake calls after her. "I'm sorry, Peyton. I don't know what's gotten into her lately."
"I do." Peyton tells him. "It's pretty obvious actually. She thinks that since she's technically not my child, that we'll treat her differently when the baby comes."
"But.. That's crazy. Jenny's my baby girl. She knows I'll always love her."
"Okay, so maybe she thinks that I will. You know, now that I have my own, I won't care as much about her. I'm going to go talk to her. We'll be back."
-.-..-.
With you standing there baby I swear I can't help but stare
Girl you're wearing me out, wearing me out
"Brooke? Where are you?" Lucas called up the stairs. He was cooking her breakfast, they had been up for a while now, thanks to Brooke. They had opened their gifts and Brooke went upstairs to shower, but that was almost an hour ago. "Brooke?" He called again, slightly worried, taking the stairs two at a time. "Brooke?" He questioned softly, knocking on the bathroom door and pressing his ear against it.
A feeble "huh?" Came from inside and Lucas opened the door, only to see Brooke hunched over the toilet.
"Hey, baby, what's wrong?" He soothed, running her back.
"The test... the test... it had to be wrong..." Her voice wavered as tears started to stream down her face.
"Brooke, I told you, we will go to the doctors as soon as we can. If you want, I'll even take you to the hospital today."
"No. No, no. No. No hospital." She confirmed. "I can wait."
"Good, so, are you done in here? I made breakfast."
"Yeah, just let me clean up a little and I'll be down."
"Okay. I love you."
"Love you too." She whispered as he closed the door, she leaned back against the bathtub and ran a hand over her stomach.
-.-.--
So why dont you stay with me share all your secrets tonight
We can make believe
the morning sun never will rise
Peyton crept up the stairs silently, retrieved a book from underneath her bed, and softly knocked on Jenny's bedroom door.
"Hey, can I talk to you for a second?" Peyton asks, coming into her room and sitting down next to her on her bed. Jenny was hugging her pillow and had been noticeably crying. She nodded when she noticed the book Peyton was holding. Pages were falling out and edges of various things were sticking out in all directions.
"I wasn't going to show you this until you were older, and I had finished it." Peyton explained, opening the binding to reveal the first page.
"Is that me?" Jenny asked, pointing to a picture of their gang on graduation. Jenny was resting on Peyton's hip and Jake was kissing her cheek.
"Yep. And that's Haley, in case you couldn't tell. She was so pregnant, poor thing." Peyton laughed, remember the day. She turned the page to show various pictures of the three that summer.
"Why is everyone crying on this page?" She asked.
"That was moving day. Everyone was being scattered all over the country. That was the last day that we were all together for a really long time. After Nathan and Haley divorced, it seemed for a while that everyone kind of took sides, except us."
"My birthday?" Jenny asks, looking at the next page.
"Yep. Three years old." Peyton smiled. "This, was our wedding day."
"You looked beautiful." Jenny commented.
"Yeah, well, I was a wreck. It's funny, I remember every minute of that day, yet I still have no idea how it all happened. It was like we were just laughing about it one minute, then the next we were at city hall getting a marriage licence." Peyton laughed, shaking her head.
"Peyton? Why are you showing me this?"
"Because, I wanted to show you that you can't be replaced. Your father and I love you, and this baby is just going to add to our family, not take away you."
"I know, I was being stupid, it's just, I can't help but think that everything is going to change."
"Yeah, it is, and trust me, I hated change when I was your age, but maybe it's for the best."
"Or maybe it's for the worst."
"Or MAYBE! You are turning into me, god help us all!" She laughed.
"I'm not so sure that would be a bad thing." Jenny disagreed.
"You didn't really know me back then, and I think that might be a good thing. Anyways, you should have this book, and we'll work on it together."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. Just remember, the blank pages at the end are going to fill up sooner or later, but only you can decide if they're happy or sad." She wisely stated, "now come on, we've got gifts to open."
-.-.-.
Come and lay your head on this big brass bed
We'll be alright as long as you stay with me
Baby don't go it looks like it's starting to rain
And it's so warm here in this apartment wrapped up in this blanket
"God, doesn't anyone understand the concept of sleep around here anymore?" Nicole grouched, she was the last one to wake up.
"Yeah, we do. You just don't understand to concept of waking up." Hannah told her, handing her a coffee cup as she sat down next to her on the couch opposite Haley and Nathan.
"What is going on with them?" She asks to Hannah as if Haley and Nathan couldn't hear her.
"Not sure."
"Yeah, well, it's freaking me out."
"You don't remember last night at all do you?"
"Yeah, you woke me up you bitch."
"Hey, language." Haley scolded. Nicole glared at her. Nathan kissed her temple and rubbed her back.
"Hey, no PDA." She mocked. "Especially since... wait. You two aren't like... together or something now right?"
"I thought we weren't going to talk about my love life as long as they were over 25 years old." Nathan smirked.
"Whatever, It's about time you too got together." Nicole grumbled as Hannah nodded in agreement. "So? Presents?"
"Go ahead and open them. I've only been waiting two hours." Nathan laughed bitterly.
"Oh please, you act like the wait was unbearable." Haley rolls her eyes.
"Close enough." He says, she pinches him. "Ow. Sorry." He said, giving her a quick kiss. The rustling of paper stopped and they looked over at the girls who were looking at them blankly.
"That's going to take a lifetime to get used to." Hannah muttered.
"Totally. You think they're going to be doing that all the time?"
"God I hope not." She says, going back to her present.
"I love you." He whispered.
"I love you too."
Thanks to all of the reviews. I got the most ever for the last chapter!
3 Katie