Chapter 9

In the driveway of Nathan Scott's house, sat an expensive looking car. Haley sat in that car waving to her daughter who was heading into the house waving over her shoulder as she went. During the drive Ollie had gotten more and more talkative, to the point where most of the awkwardness had vanished. Haley had loved it, being able to just chat with her daughter.

She saw the door open, a manly figure behind it, Ollie disappeared inside leaving only the manly figure. The man was unshaven and had about two days worth of fuzz covering his face. He just stood on the doorstep glaring out at the car.

The car windows were tinted, but not enough that he couldn't tell it was her. Not enough to block out the icy cold of his glare. Any courage she had built up toward talking to him since she got back burnt out in that one second of his anger fuelled stare.

Frantically, not able to stand the cold radiating from him, she put the car into gear and accelerated, flooring it to get away from his disapproving coldness as quickly as she possibly could.

Tears pricked in her eyes as she drove. It wasn't Nathans fault, it was hers. She was the one that left, it was her fault and she hated herself for it. Balling one of her fists against the steering wheel she raked away her tears with the other hand, refusing to let herself cry for the thousandth time over what she had completely brought upon herself.

At least Ollie was starting to like her. That was the only thing making her hold on. And who knew how long that would last, as soon as Ollie learnt the truth, that Haley was her mother, her daughter would probably hate her as much as her husband did.

Legally she was still Haley James Scott, even though for professional purposes she hadn't gone by it for years. Everyday, for ages she had checked the mail expecting divorce papers to show up, but they never had. She and Nathan were technically still married. Unbeknownst to the world, she even still wore her wedding ring. Just like she had never stopped loving him or their daughter.

Seconds after Nathan shut the door the fiery stench of alcohol struck Ollie. He was drunk, again. No, not again, still. He sat down at the table a beer in his hand.

"Dad, what are you doing?" she worriedly asked, sitting across from him and forcing him to look at her, "I'm worried about you. All you do is drink."

"I don't want you seeing her," he grunted, ignoring her worries.

"What? Seeing who dad?" her voice raised a little bit.

"That lady you were just with. She's trouble." He refused to say Haley's name.

"Haley? Why not?" Ollie's voice sounded slightly confused.

"Because I don't want you to?" He said abruptly and loudly.

Ollie's voice rose slightly too, "But she's going to help me with my music!"

"No! Stay away from her Olivia." Nathan bellowed, standing, his hands firmly on the table.

He glared angrily at her once more before sculling the rest of his beer and walking into the bathroom, slamming the door heavily behind him.

Ollie was shocked. Her dad almost never shouted at her, only if she did something really, really bad, and she hadn't done anything. He was acting so strange, yet he wouldn't let her in, he was only drinking and pushing everyone away. Everyday, she could tell he was drunker than the previous.

He had told her once, that when he was a teenager, his mom, her grandma Deb had become addicted to pills, and how horrible it had been. Now, to Ollie, it seemed he was becoming the same if not worse, than he had described her grandmother during her addiction. Ollie feared he was becoming an alcoholic.

The sound of the shower running broke the silence, and sent Ollie running to her room, to be safely away from him when he emerged. She couldn't handle seeing her dad like this.

For the first time, Ollie truly felt like she had no one.

Nathan was pissed, in both senses of the word, angry and drunk. The water from the shower ran over his toned body soaking into every crevice. She had come to his house, parked in his driveway, dropped off his daughter. He had every right to be angry, she was the one that left, and it was her choice. The first time she came back, during senior year, he had let her back in. He wasn't going to make that mistake twice.

For Ollie's sake, he wouldn't let Haley into either of their lives. Already she was poisoning his daughters mind with her bullshit. Trying to drive them apart. He knew what she was up to. And he wouldn't let her get away with it.

To him, Haley was just like his father, Dan Scott. Just like Dan had abandoned Luke and only come back when it suited his selfish needs, she had abandoned Ollie and come back for the same reasons.

Shouting at his daughter was horrible for him, but he had to get her to see that Haley couldn't be trusted. It hurt him to shout at Ollie. The alcohol helped numb that pain a little.

So, turning off the shower, he went and got another drink.



Darkness had fallen a little over half an hour ago. She had been driving, just driving since seeing Nathan. Not once however had she driven outside of Tree Hills boundaries. Currently she was in her old neighbourhood, near the house where she grew up. Peering out her side window she happened to see Peyton exiting a house with 2 young children, before getting them into the car and driving away. Haley pulled over onto the side of the road outside the house she had just seen Peyton leave and put her car into park.

On the letterbox, was the word Scott. Knowing that it wasn't Nathans house, it had to be Lucas'. She smiled knowing that he and Peyton must have worked out, even after all the drama senior year. Approaching the door she let out a nervous breath, hesitating for just a second before knocking.

The door flew open revealing a skinny girl who looked about 13. She had blonde hair and green eyes, covered by glasses. She was holding a book in her hand.

"Hi." Haley smiled at the girl. "Is your dad home?"

The girl turned, "Daddy, there's someone here for you." She called.

Lucas appeared round the corner, his face developing a stunned expression when he saw her standing there.

"Hey Elise, do you think you could go upstairs for a while?" He said to the young girl, never taking his eyes off Haley.

Elise Scott, Lucas' oldest daughter nodded and ran upstairs, curious but still doing as her dad said.

Once he was sure his daughter was gone he spoke.

"Haley James Scott" was all he said.

As soon as he said her name, her full name, he saw tears well up in her eyes. All his anger and upset toward her melted in a second and he pulled his best friend into his arms.

"Oh Hales," he said as she wrapped her arms tightly around him, scared that he would let go. "Come on"

He led her into the lounge and sat her down on the couch. Pulling up a chair so that he could sit opposite her, he sat himself.

"Why'd you leave Hales? You know it crushed so many people."He said it gently, not wanting to scare her away.

She knew exactly who he was talking about. "I had to Luke. I had no choice." Haley said barely louder than a whisper.

"Why not?"

She shook her head looking at the ground, "I can't".

"You can tell me Hales". She just kept shaking her head, tears spilling silently into her lap.

Knowing that she wouldn't, maybe even couldn't yet talk about the reason why she left he decided to just be her friend, not the one she left behind, just the friend he had always been to her.

"That was my oldest daughter Elise that opened the door." He said, smiling when Haley glanced up with a small teary smile on her own face.

"She looks just like Peyton" Haley replied, knowing that even if Luke hadn't forgiven her, he wanted to.

Luke chuckled. "I know, but she's just like me, always reading. I have two more as well, Penny and Larry." He stood up and pulled down a photo album and showed her his two youngest with a proud look on his face.

"They're great Luke."

"I know. Your kids not so bad either you know?"

Haley grinned, finally able to talk to about Ollie as her daughter. "I know. She came over today." she told him.

"What? I thought she didn't know about you."Luke asked puzzled.

"She doesn't. I'm just her favourite singer who offered to help her out with her music." Haley smiled wryly.

"Are you sure that's a good idea Hales?

"Probably not, but I couldn't help it. I have to know her. She seems like such a good kid."

Luke chuckled, "She is. Ollie's just like you." He took the photo album and flicked through until he found what he was looking for. Placing it on Haley's lap he glanced up at her to catch her expression.

The page of the album he had turned to was full of pictures of Ollie growing up. When he had taken the photos, he had told himself it was just the Uncley thing to do. But now, he knew the real reason. He had been taking them for his best friend, in the hope that one day this moment would come.

Haley was running her finger over pictures from all the years that she had missed. Her eyes were laced with tears of wonder.

"There perfect Lucas." She whispered in awe, her eyes never leaving the page.

"Hales?" She looked up at him, into his eyes. "You can have them."

He gently pulled the photos out of the album and handed them to her.

"Thank you Lucas. You have no idea what this mea..."

"Shh", He cut her off by pulling her into his arms once more. "It's nothing. Just promise you'll make everything right".

"I promise Luke"

And she meant it with all her heart. She would do everything she could possibly do to fix this.

A/N: sorry for the slow update. I know you all wanted a Nathan and Haley confrontation but its not quite time yet so sorry.