A/N: Thanks for the awesome reviews. And Leeese for editing the chapter.


Chapter Thirty One

"It feels weird that we're not going to be at the family gathering this year," Quinn told Haley as they carefully carried the heavy boxes from the closet to the den. "I know Clay and I can go, but it wouldn't be the same without you and the Scott family there. Are you sure you don't want me to try and talk to Dad for you?"

"No, you shouldn't have to get in the middle of this," Haley said quickly. She was grateful for her sister's help, but it wasn't her problem. "Let me handle it, okay?"

Quinn gave her a look as she put the box down on the ground. "Do you remember last time you wanted to do that? You left the state."

"Well, my days of running away are over," Haley assured her as she opened up the box to see what Christmas decorations were inside. She carefully pulled out a snowman and put it on top of her bookshelf as she realized that her sister became quiet. She turned to her sister, who looked unconvinced. "What? You don't believe me?"

"Well, you are still here in Charleston instead of Tree Hill with your boyfriend," Quinn pointed out. "Why haven't you moved back yet?"

"Because I haven't been offered my job back yet," Haley replied as she continued to pull out the decorations from the box. Quinn frowned as she wondered how that was possible. "I think the school board members are still trying to get over the shock that Victoria wasn't who they thought she was and possibly figure out who was telling the truth in this mess."

"I'm sure if the students had any say in that decision, they would choose you in a heartbeat," Quinn told her. "What about the new principal? Does he or she have a say in who to hire? Isn't that how you got the job in the first place? So maybe this person is willing to give you a second chance. I'm sure any principal is better than the one that the high school just had." Haley had to agree with her sister. "Do you ever think that you'll ever want to become a principal of the school?"

Haley was taken back by the question. She had always wanted to be a teacher, but principal was a different story. "I don't know. That's a really big responsibility. Besides, I can just imagine my students wanting to take advantage of me. Or even my kids and their friends." She paused for a moment as she realized what she had just said. There was silence before she spoke again. "I suppose it's a little too far to be thinking about that. My point is that I don't want to be principal."

Sensing Haley was uncomfortable with talking about kids, Quinn changed the subject. "Is there anything special you want for Christmas?" she asked. "I know we're too old for presents, but there must be something that I can get you."

Haley shook her head. "No, my family and friends are good enough for me," she assured her. Once again, Quinn didn't believe her. She knew her sister well enough to know that something was bothering her. She just wished that she knew what it was.

After visiting Haley for a couple of more hours, she drove home alone. When she arrived back, she saw that Nathan and Clay were putting up lights up around her house. They were so busy that they didn't even realize she was home until she called up to Clay. "Be careful up there. I'm not sure if I will come to the rescue if you fall off of that ladder."

"You have nothing to worry about," Clay called back before he began to climb down the ladder. He jumped off the last couple of steps and landed on the ground. "We're done. So what do you think of our work?" he asked as he proudly showed off the light display.

Nathan pretended to look mad. "I don't know why you're smiling. I'm the one who did most of the work because you were too afraid of going up on the ladder." Clay didn't answer as he grabbed one of the ladders and headed towards the garage. There was silence between Nathan and Quinn before he began to speak. "How is Haley doing?"

"When it comes to keeping feelings bottled up, Haley is still the number one girl," Quinn admitted. Nathan let out a heavy sigh. "You two may be together, but she still has a lot of confused feelings to sort out. I offered my assistance to help her reconcile with my dad, but she wants to handle it."

"Thanks for the warning," Nathan replied. "I'll keep an eye on her this weekend." This weekend was his birthday. Despite last year's disaster, he was determined to make sure that this birthday was perfect. That meant no drama and no uninvited guests like Rachel. He was going to have to face her soon enough. He didn't want her to stop by and ruin the party by confronting Haley about their relationship.

On that particular day, Nathan had his birthday party at the club. His invite list included Dan and his new wife Deb, Lucas, Brooke, Haley, Quinn, Clay, Peyton, Jake, Whitey, Cooper, Andy and a few other friends. Lucas and Brooke were the only minors in the room and Lucas was disappointed that he couldn't take a small sip of alcohol. They also felt a little out of place and Nathan gave them permission to leave early to go off with their friends.

"You know, I have a lot of students who are participating in sexual activity, but I never would have thought Lucas Scott and Brooke Davis would be the ones who end up married and pregnant while they were in high school," Peyton told Haley after Lucas and Brooke left. "In fact, I never believed that they would end up together. But I have to admit that they do make a cute couple. I just hope that they make it, especially with a baby on the way. I can't imagine how they are going to do it with Lucas attending Duke next year."

Haley frowned. "I didn't realize that he had applied already." She knew how much Lucas had been wanting to go to Duke, but he had begun to rethink his plans once he found out about Brooke's pregnancy. Nathan was trying to encourage him to pursue his dreams. He would help him and Brooke with taking care of the baby.

"He hasn't yet, but he is seriously thinking about it," Peyton told her. "He wants to go for a business major so he can take over for the café and possibly the club someday." Haley wasn't surprised since she knew how much he loved the café. "He has been trying to convince Brooke to attend community college, but she doesn't think she can because of her grades and the baby."

Haley realized where this was going. "Lucas wants me to try and talk her into it, doesn't he?" she asked. It was obvious that Lucas needed help persuading Brooke to attend college.

"Brooke does look up to you," Peyton reminded her. "And it will give you something to do over the holidays until we convince the school board and the new principal to give you your job back." Haley was ready to respond when Peyton didn't let her interrupt. "We need you at the school. I like English, but I'm more of an art teacher."

"Who knows what this new principal will do?" Jake added as he joined the two women at their booth. He gave his wife a smile as he spoke. "He or she might make a rule where there can't be any relationships between coworkers. So you might lose your job and have to stay home with the baby. That way, you can pursue art full time."

Peyton rolled her eyes as she turned to Haley. "Jake thinks that the only reason I went into teaching was so we could work together."

"You should see her drawings," Jake bragged as Peyton turned red. "They are really good."

Haley looked at Peyton in amazement. "We've known each other for nearly a year and a half and I'm just now finding out about this?" she exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me before?"

"Because my art is just a hobby," Peyton insisted as Nathan came over to them and listened to the conversation. "It's more for fun than anything else."

"It's like Haley and her music, right?" Nathan asked. Jake and Peyton turned to her in surprise. Haley turned red from embarrassment as they started asking her questions. "Yeah, Haley is pretty good on the piano. Why don't you play a song for us now?"

Haley adamantly shook her head, but her friends pressed her until she finally agreed. Nathan gently brought her to the stage as the rest of the guests turned their way. Jake was right behind her and they waited until everyone was quiet before Haley grabbed the microphone and began to speak. "It looks like I'm going to sing a song." She turned to Nathan. "This one is for you." She took a deep breath before she began to sing "Halo".

As Nathan watched her on stage, he couldn't stop smiling at her. He could tell that she was really in her element. It was good to see her smile again. Seeing her happy made him happy. He hadn't seen that from her in a long time. He hoped that it would last because he hated seeing her so sad and depressed.

When Haley was finished with her song, her audience clapped and cheered. She blushed as she took her bows before hopping down from the stage. Compliments and praises went around as she went through the crowd. Haley suddenly stopped when she saw an unexpected person in the crowd. Haley took another deep breath as she took Nathan's hand and went over to the person, who wasn't alone.

"Dad, what are you doing here?" Haley asked nervously, not even acknowledging that her mother and sister were standing with him. She wanted to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible.

Nathan knew that he couldn't keep this a secret from her. "I invited them," he explained. "I thought it would be the best time to try and talk things out with your parents."

Haley wasn't sure if that was even possible. She knew how furious her dad still was and she didn't want him to ruin his birthday party by confronting her about her relationship with Nathan. As much as she was grateful to Nathan for trying to bring them together to reconcile, this wasn't the right place or time to discuss it.

Her father turned to Nathan. "Actually, there are a few things I want to discuss with you first." Nathan was prepared for that answer and nodded his head. However, Haley wasn't convinced that her dad just wanted to talk. She wanted to go with them, but Lydia gave her a comforting smile. Nathan led him past his guests to the office upstairs. He shut the door for privacy and waited to hear what he had to say. There was silence for a few minutes before Jimmy spoke again. "As you know, Haley is my youngest daughter and I want the best for her. She deserves it after the way Julian treated her."

"I understand that, sir," Nathan agreed, doing his best to show him respect. "I would never push her into doing something that she didn't want to do. Or dump her to go back to Rachel. Rachel and I are done."

Jimmy scoffed at him. "My wife and I treated you and your brother like family. And you betrayed us by trying to use my daughter and her baby to replace the family you lost."

Nathan shook his head. "It may have looked that way, but that's far from the truth." He could see that he wasn't winning him over. He took a deep breath before he tried again. "Look, I didn't expect to fall in love with Haley so fast either. I was still trying to get over Rachel's betrayal. Yes, I wanted the baby – my baby with Haley. Of course I wanted the baby. I've always dreamed of being a dad. And I understood the complications if it was revealed that the baby was mine."

Jimmy raised his eyebrows. "So what were you going to do if Haley hadn't lost the baby?"

Nathan didn't know what the right answer was, but he did have an answer. "I wouldn't have done anything without Haley's input," he admitted. "The baby was ours. I wasn't going to abandon her or the baby in her time of need. I know how important it is for me to listen to what Haley wants. And if she really believed that the baby shouldn't come out when our relationship was complicated, then I would have driven her to the clinic. If she wanted to try and make it work, then we would raise the baby. I didn't care as long as we were together."

Jimmy could tell that he was being serious. "Oh my god! You really do love her, don't you?"

Nathan nodded. "Yes, I do with all of my heart. I know she loves me too. It was just hard for her to admit it because she didn't want history to repeat itself. I'm sure she's also afraid that I would change my mind and reconcile with Rachel. I know there are people who have had affairs and claim that they would leave their spouse when they really wouldn't. But there was no way of that happening. Rachel has hurt me way too much that I would never ask her to come back to me. I will be filing for divorce from her in a couple of days."

Jimmy looked hard at the young man before he began to speak. "Can you guarantee Rachel won't drag Haley into your courtroom drama? You've seen what Haley went through with Brooke and Mrs. Davis. I don't want that to happen to her again."

Nathan nodded understandingly. He didn't want Haley to go through that either. "I will make sure Rachel gets the message." He could see that he was slowly earning that trust back with him. "Now shall we go back to the party? I believe that you guys are just in time for cake and ice cream." Jimmy managed a smile as he followed Nathan back out to the party.