A/N: Thank you all for the awesome reviews. And thanks to my beta: Leeese.


Chapter Thirty

After the rough night, everyone was looking forward to settle down and have a nice Thanksgiving dinner. However, Lucas and Brooke had now declined the invitation and decided to spend the evening alone. They wanted to work out their issues before they went any further with the baby planning, hoping that Nathan and Haley would take the hint. Despite Nathan's affair, their friends and most of the members of their families was rooting for them to get back together.

In fact, most of them were more surprised to hear about Haley's miscarriage than their affair. Peyton had a feeling that there was something going on between them more than just being friends, but she knew better than to say anything. Both Nathan and Haley were grateful since neither had been ready to deal with Rachel again so soon.

Since Victoria was finally arrested, Dan, Deb, Cooper and Whitey were invited over to Nathan's house. He thought it was about time to meet the woman his dad was really in love with and learn more about her than just being a social worker. He was just nervous in meeting Whitey since he had never really met the elderly gentleman before. Sure, they were neighbors, but Nathan had always stayed away since it seemed like Whitey didn't want to be bothered.

"You know, I met Whitey and he didn't seem that scary," Quinn told Nathan as she watched him make the food for the dinner. "Of course, he was unconscious at the time. But I'm sure he would have thanked you guys if he was awake." There was a short pause before she spoke. "I'm sorry my parents didn't take the news well."

"You have nothing to apologize for, Quinn," Nathan replied. "I should have expected it. I was the same way when I found out that Lucas got married to Brooke. I was hoping I wouldn't have to hear that until he was out of college. And now I'm going to be an uncle. At least, I think so. I'm not sure what Lucas and Brooke are planning to do with their unborn baby yet. I haven't talked to Lucas since the café. And he was still adjusting to the shock that I had an affair with his former teacher. It's funny. He seemed okay with it when Haley was dating Clay, but I think he didn't expect to hear that I dated her without him knowing about it."

Quinn stayed quiet. She was hesitant before she spoke again. "I know you were planning to spend the holidays with my family, but it might be a good idea for you not to go this year. My dad still hasn't come around the idea of you and Haley yet. And I'm not sure if he will get used to it by Christmas."

Nathan nodded understandingly. "Don't worry about me. I'll have a nice quiet Christmas here."

Quinn then excused herself and left the kitchen. Clay waited until he was sure she was out of earshot before he spoke. "You know, maybe I shouldn't propose to Quinn during the holidays. I don't want to cause more drama with her parents."

"No, you should propose to her," Nathan insisted. "Besides, they like you." Clay gave a smile to his best friend as Nathan continued with his good points. "You're not married to another woman. You don't bring any drama from your work to your personal life. So I don't see why they won't let you marry Quinn." Clay knew he was right. "By the way, my dad doesn't know anything about my relationship with Haley. So I don't want you or Quinn to say anything about it."

Clay frowned. "How does he not know that you had an affair with Haley? You practically announced it to the whole world the other night at the café."

"Because he was by Deb's side that night," Nathan told him as Quinn returned to the kitchen. She didn't interrupt Nathan as he continued his explanation. "I don't know how he will react to me dating Haley while I'm still legally married to Rachel. And I can only handle one set of parents' disapproval at a time."

Clay gave him a look. "You do realize that he was cheating on his girlfriend with another woman, right? I don't think he will be too upset that you moved from Rachel so quickly, but you know him better than I do."

Ringing of the doorbell interrupted their conversation. Nathan gestured Quinn to answer it for him, believing that it was Dan and Deb. However, he was proven wrong when he heard an angry voice demanding to know where he was. He recognized the voice and was ready for an attack. However, Charlene was too quick for him as she stormed into the kitchen. "I don't know what kind of game you're playing with my daughter, but I want it to stop."

"I have no idea what you are talking about," Nathan said innocently as Clay slipped out of the room, knowing that the two needed to talk privately.

Charlene raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Do you mean to tell me that you didn't have an affair with your next door neighbor in retaliation of my daughter having a one night stand?" she demanded.

"No, I didn't have an affair with Haley just because Rachel slept with Owen," Nathan replied. The months of trying to keep his relationship a secret from Charlene made it to he was able to prepare for this moment – the moment where he told her the truth. "I did it because I realized how much I loved Haley." The words came easier than when he was announcing it to Jimmy and Lydia. "I love her and there isn't anything you can do to change that. Tell Rachel to charge me with adultery if she wants. I don't care anymore because Haley is all I want and need."

He just hoped that she felt the same way about him. Of course, he couldn't blame her for being confused. Their relationship was complicated with him still being a married man. And then she had the miscarriage and he wasn't there to help her get through her grief. There were also several people who were against their relationship and he could understand why. It wasn't right for him to fall in love with Haley, but he couldn't help what he felt about her.

Nathan continued his speech. "If I was planning to punish Rachel, I would put the blame all on her affair when it comes to filing for divorce." Charlene was about to interrupt when Nathan spoke up. "I'm not going to. All I want is us go through the divorce as quickly as possible so I can be finally free of Rachel, okay? No offense to your daughter, but I deserve someone better who doesn't lies to me about what she wanted in life. Like kids. Or money."

"Are you saying that my daughter was a gold digger?" Charlene challenged him. "Because I can assure you that she certainly wasn't. Whether you believe it or not, my daughter did love you. And she was willing to make you happy. But I can see that it wasn't enough for you."

"Rachel should have been working on making herself happy," Nathan replied. "Now if you don't have anything else to say, I think it's time for you to go. I have other guests to attend to." Charlene looked at him, but she didn't respond as she marched out of the kitchen. That was when Nathan noticed Dan standing in the doorway. "Dad," he breathed. "I didn't know you were there."

"Clay and Quinn made sure that you and Charlene weren't disturbed," Dan explained. Nathan was quiet as his father gave him a smile. "So you and Haley have been seeing each other? Well, I can't say that I'm surprised. You two have been really close since she had moved here last year. And you were more than unhappy when she moved away."

"Did I really show that I was that devastated?" Nathan asked.

Dan laughed. "Yes, you were." Nathan knew he had more and was curious to hear about what he thought of his relationship with Haley. "Although, I would have preferred it if you had waited until after your divorce was final, you're an adult now. You can make your own decisions. It is clear to see that you really love that girl."

Nathan nodded. "I do. I really do, Dad. I'm just not sure if she still loves me." He let out a heavy sigh. "Our relationship is so complicated right now that I don't know if we will be able to recover from this."

"If you two really love each other, you guys will make it work," Dan assured him. "Now are you ready to meet my wife?"

Nathan frowned. "Your wife?" he asked in surprise. Did he hear correctly? He had a new stepmother? Dan nodded. "You two got married already? When the hell did that happen? And how come I wasn't invited?"

"It happened right after Victoria was arrested the other night," Dan explained. "I'm so sorry that we didn't invite you, but we've been planning this for awhile. And we didn't want to wait any longer. To tell you the truth, we didn't really want a wedding. I've been through the whole planning of the wedding once and I didn't want to go through it again. We just wanted to finally get married and that's what we did."

Nathan let out a heavy sigh. "I guess I can't blame you for not inviting me. After all, we haven't been exactly close for the past couple of years with me being married to Rachel and you working with Deb and Cooper on getting Brooke away from Victoria. It's still weird to find out how cruel my boss really was with her daughter. I'm glad that we were able to stop her though."

Dan didn't respond as they heard footsteps and his other guests entered the kitchen. Deb spoke up first. "Nathan, I suppose you know my dad, but I would like to properly introduce you to Whitey Durham. We both want to thank you for saving our lives. I don't know where we would be if you hadn't come into the house."

"No thanks necessary," Nathan replied as he gestured them to sit down. "I would have done it for anybody."

The three found seats around the table with the newlyweds sitting next to each other. Clay and Quinn soon joined them as Quinn told the group that Haley was on her way over. She had been watching little Ryan while Peyton and Jake went out for the afternoon.

When Haley finally arrived, Deb introduced her to Whitey. Nathan was surprised when he saw Whitey and Haley exchanging smiles. He cleared his throat before he spoke. "Did you hear that I have a new stepmother?" he asked her. "That was another wedding I missed."

Whitey spoke up. "You and me both, kid," he added. "But I guess they didn't want an old grump like me to spoil the party. And they won't have to worry about returning the wedding gift."

Everyone just laughed and Nathan could see that Whitey had changed. He was no longer a gruff old man, but one who had a gentler heart. Dinner went smoothly after that and everyone got to know Whitey and his family better than before. Haley was surprised, but pleased when she heard that Whitey had been on her side the whole time during the whole Victoria deal.

Haley gave him a grateful smile. "Well, I appreciate the support," she told him. "Especially since Victoria did her best to turn everyone against me."

"Mrs. Davis had no right to fire you," Whitey said. "She did it under false pretenses and you should have sued the school."

"I could never have done that. And Victoria did offer me my job back. However, I refused to come back unless she wasn't there anymore. Now I'm not sure if I want to return to the high school after what I did to their boss."

"I'm sure the students would love it if you came back. Well, I know Lucas, Brooke and their friends would love for you to come back," Nathan said. He then told the story about her English class going over to her house in protest of her being fired. "I was never so proud of Lucas before that moment. You've made a difference in those kids, Hales. You could do that for the future generations of Tree Hill High Students. You should do that for the other kids."

Haley knew what he was doing and she wanted him to stop. "You know, I really don't want to discuss this right now," she said. "Can we talk about something else?"

Quinn came to the rescue and went onto a different topic. However, Haley couldn't get what Nathan had said about what she had accomplished with her former students out of her mind for the rest of the dinner. This was what she had dreamed of ever since she had been a little girl. She wanted to make a difference in young adults and she had done it with the Tree Hill High students. Why was she running away to another town when she knew that she belonged in Tree Hill? Was it really because she didn't want to cause any more drama between Nathan and Rachel?

As much as she believed it was the reason, it wasn't the truth. But was it time to face the music? Should she really wait until after the holidays to discuss their relationship? Or would it be too late by then? After all, this was the third time she had asked him to wait for her while she worked on her feelings about Tree Hill and their relationship. It was so hard to do it when she knew that he loved her and was ready to be with her.

After everyone had left, Haley stayed behind to help Nathan with the dishes. There was silence between them before she finally spoke. "Nathan, I know you love me. And you're willing to tell Rachel about our affair. But what does this mean for us?" Nathan frowned in confusion. Haley changed the question around. "After your divorce, are you expecting to propose to me and marry right away? Or did you want us to move in together? Because I really need to know."

Nathan tried to calm her down. He couldn't believe that he had been so stupid. Of course this was her fear. She was afraid that he wanted them to settle down and get married when she wasn't near ready. "Hales, is that what you've been worried about all this time?" he asked as he gently pulled her into a tight embrace. "Look, I'm sorry I gave you the impression that I wanted to rush into things like getting married and having a baby. I guess it was because we were already dating before Rachel and I were even divorced." Haley couldn't argue with that one. "Not to mention finding out that we were pregnant before we were really ready to be parents. This time, we'll take our time and not rush into things."

By looking into his eyes, Haley could tell that he was being serious. "You promise?"

Nathan gave her a smile. "I promise, always and forever." Leaning in for a passionate kiss, she followed his lead and they were soon making out. Nathan pulled away for one moment, surprising Haley. "Is this moving too fast?" he asked. "Shouldn't we slow down?" Haley shook her head as she gave him another kiss. That led to a make out session on the couch before cuddling up next to each other and drifting off to sleep.