June 1st, 2005

Haley James Scott was not sure what she should expect by showing up on his doorstep. Last time they had spoken, he had told her not to come back home to Tree Hill. He had said to her that he didn't want her to come home. He didn't want her here. None of it would ever be enough without him, though. None of the celebrity, none of the applause, none of the beautiful melodies would ever fill the void in her heart that was Nathan. None of it would ever matter without Nathan by her side. He also had a right to know about the other secret she had been keeping.

Haley subconsciously rubs the small bump that was beginning to form on her stomach and tries to work up the courage to knock on the door in front of her. Before she could get the chance though, the door opens. Haley is met with the stunned face of Nathan Scott.

"Hi," Haley says softly.

"What are you doing here?"Nathan asks.

"I wanna come home, Nathan," She tells him, and he appears even more surprised.

Nathan sighs, "This is really bad timing. I-"

Before he can continue, Deb comes rushing towards them.

"Nathan, we have to go!"Deb tells him, walking past Haley towards her car.

"What's going on?"Nathan asks.

"It's urgent! It's your Father! We have to go now!" Deb calls back.

Nathan closes the door behind him and walks past Haley.

"Sorry."He says as he walks past her.

Haley sighs and runs her hand through her hair.

So much for this.

"Haley!" Deb calls, and Haley looks up. "Come with us,"

Nathan gives no reaction to Deb's words as he gets in the car. Haley jogs towards the car and gets in behind Nathan.

Nathan ignores Haley's presence during the car ride and asks Deb where they were going and what was going on.

They soon arrive in front of Dan Scott motors, and to everybody's horror, it is completely engulfed in flames.

As the three of them stood in front of the burning dealership, Deb points out Dan's car to Nathan and states the fact that he was planning on working late that night.

Haley reaches for Nathan's hand and gently squeezes it. To her surprise, he glances down at their intertwined hands but does not jerk his hand away.

"Mrs. Scott," A fireman addresses Deb.

"My husband was inside," She tells him.

"They didn't tell you? Wait here, "He tells her.

He yells something to the captain, and Dan Scott is brought into sight, an oxygen mask over his face. His eyes scan the three of them, flashing with anger when he spots Haley.

Deb rides to the hospital with Dan while Nathan drives Haley and himself back to the house. The car ride is silent. Upon arriving back at the Scott house, Nathan goes upstairs without a word to Haley.

A little while later, after speaking on the phone to Deb, Haley ventures upstairs to talk to Nathan. She finds him in his bedroom, staring out the window. She can't imagine all of the things that could possibly be going through his mind at the moment between the dealership fire and her surprise return to Tree Hill. She knocks softly, and he turns.

"Hey," She tells him, "That was your Mom. She said she was going to spend the night at the hospital with your dad,"

Nathan laughs without humor "Yeah well maybe we should have a Scott family discount,"

"I'm really sorry, Nathan," Haley says softly.

"About my Dad or about us?"

"About everything"

Nathan shrugs.

"So what are you doing here anyway? Tour playing Tree Hill?"

"No," Haley replies, "They wanted me to become a solo artist. Record a record or something. It didn't matter without you, though. None of it mattered without you."

Nathan had no reply, so she continued "I've made a lot of mistakes Nathan-"

"That's right. If you left the tour for me, you made another one. I'm leaving in the morning. I'm going to High Flyers."

This wasn't going to make the pregnancy bombshell any easier.

"Oh well, good. Good, you deserve to have it. You deserve to have whatever you want." She tells him with a soft smile.

He nods.

"Well, listen, there's no more apartment, and I put all of your stuff in storage. So you can spend the night in the guest room if you want,"

Haley nods and turns to walk away from him. She gets halfway to the door and turns back around.

"Nathan, there wasn't a moment when I was away that my heart wasn't with you in Tree Hill.

"That's great," Nathan replies, "I'm still leaving tomorrow, though, and unlike you, I'm taking my heart with me."

With that, Nathan turns back around to face the window. Haley nods and heads towards the guest room.

A little while later, Nathan comes in to check on her.

"I just wanted to make sure you had everything you needed," He tells her.

"You mean other than you," Haley replies without thinking.

She sighs a moment later and apologizes, "Sorry, that wasn't fair."

Nathan doesn't say anything.

"This is really weird, Nathan! You know I can just call Peyton or Lucas or something-"

He cuts her off. "No, Haley it's late. Besides, what's the difference? When you turn the lights out, its all the same darkness, right?"

He moves to leave the room but stops when she says his name.

"Nathan, you know when you took those drugs before the game when you collapsed?"

Nathan looks somewhat curious as to where she is going with this.

"You made a mistake, but I know you promised yourself that if you had a second chance, you would do things differently" Haley continues "I know that I hurt you, but I promised myself that if I could get you to listen I would tell you that there was never a day on that tour that I didn't think you were the best part of my life."

"You can't just say that, Haley. Not after months of silence." Nathan tells her.

"Why? Its the truth."Haley argues.

"Really?"Nathan asks, raising his voice a bit.

"Yeah," Haley says softly.

"What about the day you signed the annulment papers?"Nathan questions.

"The papers that you initiated!?"

"Yeah! After I drove a thousand miles to see you and you didn't even call me after I left! Must have been a hell of an encore!"

"Nathan, you just walked away!"

"Well, it beats running away." Nathan bites back.

"I did call," Haley points out to Nathan a moment later.

"You called our answering machine, Haley!" He exclaims.

"Because I knew that you were gonna hang up on me anyway, so I had to leave a message!" Haley says, raising her voice a bit.

"Well, I didn't even play it," Nathan tells her, intending for his words to hurt her "I deleted you."

Haley sighs, "Well, then you deleted this. I was being childish when I walked away from you for the tour. You gave me an ultimatum the night that I left, and I fought back for all the wrong reasons. And I was being stubborn, and I can't take that back. I wish that I could."

Nathan simply nodded at everything she said. Even though he was showing a lack of care for everything she said, she continued with what she had to say. He needed to hear it even if he didn't want to.

"Did I want to go? Yeah! I loved it! I loved every night of it! But I want you to know something, Nathan. There was never a night where I loved it more than I loved you!"

Nathan nods and turns to walk away again. It was now, or never so she said two words she knew he wasn't going to want to hear.

"I'm pregnant."

Nathan stops in his tracks. He turns back around, and Haley sees that all of the color has drained from his face.

"What?" He asks even though he knows he hasn't misheard her.

"I'm pregnant," She repeats herself "Three months."

"Is it mine?" Nathan asks.

Haley doesn't respond. Instead, she walks up to him and slaps him clean across the face. He recoils, looking quite shocked and holds a hand up to the spot where Haley had just slapped him.

"It really hurts me that you would even have to ask me that," Haley tells him while holding back tears.

"Not as much as it hurts me, "Nathan says before turning his back on her to walk away.

"Really, Nathan!? You're just going to walk away?!" Haley yells at him.

"Not now, Haley!" He snaps over his shoulder "I just need to process all of this!"

With that, his bedroom door slams shut. Haley falls onto the bed and sobs into the pillow. She knew his reaction was going to be bad, but that didn't make it hurt any less. Somehow Haley is able to pull herself up to put on her pajamas and get ready for bed. At some point, she hears Nathan's door reopen. He doesn't come to check on her, though. He doesn't come to ask how she's been feeling or even if she's okay. Not that she deserves it, but it still stings.

Around 3 AM, after realizing that sleep wasn't going to come, Haley makes the short walk to Nathan's bedroom.

"Are you awake?"Haley softly asks, leaning against his door frame.

"Yeah," Nathan responds softly.

"Will you talk to me, please?" Haley asks, slowly making her way towards his bed.

"I don't know what to say to you Haley," Nathan sighs "Part of me wants to find the right words to hurt you, the same way you hurt me,"

"I am hurting, Nathan."She tells him.

Nathan sits up and looks her in the eyes, "You mean because I made out with Chris? Because I turned my back on us and walked away? Oh, wait? That was you." Nathan lays his head back down on his pillow and looks away from her.

"Always and forever," Haley whispers to herself, mostly for her own comfort.

Nathans eyes dart back to her "What?" He asks.

Haley shakes her head, "Nothing." She turns around to leave. She wasn't going to get through to him tonight.

"Hales." Nathan says as she's turning to leave, "Is it really mine?"

Haley turns back around, tears welling up in her eyes. She nods.

"Yeah," Her voice cracks. Something inside her breaks, and Haley throws herself into Nathan's arms.

"Nathan, I'm so scared!" She cries into his shoulder.

Surprisingly he wraps his arms around her and rubs her back soothingly. As much as he hates to admit it, it feels good to have her back in his arms.

"It's all going to be okay," Nathan says to her gently.

"I'm sorry!" She cries, "Nathan, I'm so sorry!"

Haley kisses his neck then his lips. He responds to her lips almost immediately, and they engage in a passionate kiss. Then to her heartbreak, he pulls away and removes his arms from around her.

"Haley, I can't do this," Nathan tells her, "I'm sorry, listen you need to go. Alright?"

She pulls away and stares into his eyes.

"Please," He begs.

Haley sits herself up at the edge of his bed "I understand if you don't love me anymore."

She blinks away tears before turning to run out of the room. Nathan sits up.

"Always and Forever!" He calls after her, and she turns around. "That's what sucks Haley. I still do love you. I always will. I'll love our baby too. I just can't trust you."

Haley blinks away tears, and Nathan puts his head down sadly. Haley leaves his room and cries herself to sleep. When she wakes up the next morning, Nathan is long gone. Before she can even think about crying again, the horrible morning sickness that she has been having gets the best of her.

When she is finished throwing up, Haley looks up to see a figure standing in the doorway of the bathroom. Deb is staring down at Haley sadly, and by the sad look she is giving her, Haley can tell that she just knows. She knows Haley is pregnant. Haley wipes her mouth and stands up. She is unsure of what to do at first. Despite Deb being kind to her last night, Deb hadn't been the nicest to Haley before she had left for tour.

To Haley's surprise, Deb opens up her arms, and Haley runs into her mother in laws embrace gratefully. As Haley sobs in her arms, Deb keeps reassuring Haley that things would be okay. She kindly tells Haley that her job at the cafe was there whenever she was ready to come back.

Haley nods and thanks her through her sobs. She makes an offer for Haley to stay at the house with her until Dan gets out of the hospital. Haley politely declines claiming she would stay with Lucas or Peyton.

In the end, Haley stays with Lucas for a few days before joining her parents for the summer. Lucas gave his support on her pregnancy, but she could see the disappointment in her parents' eyes when they looked at her as much as they tried to hide it. Haley knew they were more disappointed in what she had done to Nathan more than her pregnancy. They oddly enough seemed happy about having another grandchild despite the fact she was only seventeen. She got married at sixteen, so what difference did a baby at seventeen make?

August 2nd, 2005

Come early August, Haley found herself back home in Tree Hill. Unsure of where to go first, she finds herself back at Nathan and her's old apartment. She wasn't sure why she ended up there. Nathan had moved out before he left for camp and put her things in storage. There was nothing there for her.

The first thing that catches her eye when she walks into the apartment is the portrait of herself on the wall with pink paint smeared all over it. As she stares at the painting, she has a heavy heart. Just by looking at it, she can feel Nathan's pain. The pain that she had caused.

Haley isn't sure how long she has been standing staring at Nathan's pain stain before she hears somebody come up behind her. She turns around to find none other than Brooke Davis standing behind her. Haley looks at her in confusion.

What was Brooke doing here?

Brooke stares at the pain stain. "Pretty angry, huh?" She asks Haley.

"Yeah," Haley says, "You think they would have painted over this by now,"

"I don't think that's ever going away," Brooke says.

Haley closes her eyes and lets out a breath. "You can probably tell that Nathan's not here. He moved out before he left for camp,"

Haley turns to face Brooke, and Brooke eyes her pregnant belly curiously. Haley figures Brooke already heard the gossip on her pregnancy from Peyton.

"Yeah, I know," Brooke says, shockingly not commenting on Haley being pregnant "I'd say welcome back, but I don't suppose you're staying."

"No, I am," Haley tells her, placing a hand on her stomach. It was something that she was finding herself subconsciously more and more.

"Oh well you might be staying, but you aren't staying here," Brooke says, "I just rented this place. For me." With that, Brooke walks away. Haley sighs and runs a hand through her hair. Brooke was just another person she had hurt by leaving. Realizing she has no place there anymore, she leaves.

Haley finds herself at the rivercourt. To her joy, she finds the person that she needs the most at that moment. To her alarm, he appears to be bent over in pain.

"Hey? Are you okay?" Haley asks, worry in her voice.

"That depends?"He asks her panting"Are you home for good."

"Or for bad?"

Lucas laughs, pulling her into a hug, he laughs harder when he feels her growing belly in between them.

"Ah, good!" He says, pulling away to rub at her belly. They both laugh.

They spend some time catching up at the river court before making there way to the cafe for some lunch.

"Hey, can a girl get a decent cup of joe around here?" Haley asks as she walks through the door. Karen jumps up in excitement and pulls Haley into a hug. Deb is right behind her.

"Oh, one song per cup! I've missed you, kiddo!"

"I've missed you too!" Haley tells her. Like Lucas, she rubs Haley's stomach in excitement. "Oh, look at you! You're getting so big! How far along are you now?"

"Twenty weeks," Haley says with a smile.

"I could use a cup of gin. I mean, coffee, myself." Deb says from behind them, "Karen?"

"Oh yeah, please!" Karen calls to her, "Coffee, not gin."

"Coffee, please!"Haley calls, "Just a small cup!"

"So what brings you around, Miss Jet-Setter?"Karen asks.

"Uh, well, um. Considering what they pay the opening act and how much a kid costs. I was kind of hoping for a job." Haley says sheepishly, laughing nervously.

Before Karen can say anything, Deb speaks up from behind the counter. "I asked Haley to come back to the cafe if it's okay with you."

"Oh, of course," Karen says kindly, "We'd love to have a big pop star performing in our new hip cafe!"

"Actually, I was just kind of hoping to waitress like before. " Haley says, shrugging her shoulders.

"Oh," Karen says, looking at something behind Haley. "Well, table five needs a cleanup. Let's see what you've got." Karen tosses a rag at Haley.

Haley gets straight to work, clearing off the table. As she begins to wipe the table down, something behind the table catches her eye. She zones out on the piano and is brought back to the first night that she ever sang for Nathan. She is broken out of her reverie when Lucas sets down her coffee in front of her.

"You know, um, I had my very first performance right here. Just for Nathan." Haley proudly tells Lucas with a smile.

Lucas is quiet for a moment before asking, "Have you talked to him since he left for camp?"

"No, he never picked up, so I sent letters. I sent him updates on my pregnancy and an ultrasound picture."

For the next few days, Haley stays with Karen and Lucas. She spends the majority of her time working at the cafe. Both Karen and Deb warned her about overworking herself, but she needed the money. She wanted to save up for an apartment for her and the baby to live in. After all, she couldn't live with Lucas and Karen forever. No matter how many times Karen reassured her, it was fine. Deb offered to pay for anything the baby needed. After all, it was her grandchild. Haley didn't feel right taking her money, though. She wanted to do everything on her own.

Haley got a surprise one day when Brooke sought her out at the cafe.

"How much for a broken heart with a side of regret?" Brooke asks, leaning over the counter.

"Uh, more than you want to know." Haley answers.

"So when you're done here, bring your stuff to the apartment."

Haley looks at her in surprise, "Why?"

"Because you're moving in with me," Brooke says plain and simply.

"Why would you do that? Are you sure you want to do that?" Haley asks Brooke. Looking at her like she is mildly insane.

"Because you need a place to live and I need rent money to pay for my new back to school wardrobe," Brooke explains while Haley is still staring at her like she is insane "So the way I see it, I look hot, and you don't get crabs at a shelter. Works for me!"

Before Haley could remind Brooke that she would have a baby in a few months and may not be the best choice for a roommate, Brooke is gone. Deciding she doesn't have a much better option at the moment, Haley takes Brooke up on her offer and brings her things to the apartment later that evening.

Once again, Nathan's painting on the wall captures her attention.

"Okay, here's the deal," Brooke tells Haley when she catches her staring at the painting in sadness "I've got room for you, but not a lot of pity. You did what you did, and it's done. Take it or leave it."

"I'll take it," Haley says with a smile.

"Alright, come on in roommate," Brooke says, and Haley follows her down the hallway towards the bedroom.

Boy, did she have a long road ahead of her.