Thanks for the reviews you guys! Enjoy the Naley fluff! ----Sera
The weekend seemed to be slower than usual for Haley, and she didn't really wonder why. She had spent the last two days crying, moping around and trying as hard as she can not to care about Nathan's explanation. Her thoughts were spinning in circles and as usual, it was the same old argument.
It was accident.
Accident my ass. He can just go to hell with Brooke.
He didn't mean to hurt you.
Wow, I've never heard that one before.
He loves you.
If he really did, he wouldn't have made a jackass of himself and hated his child while he was at it.
He doesn't hate the child.
He doesn't want the child, either.
This is getting old. Just forgive him so you could be happy again.
That part was true. Haley was so miserable that she was in no mood for anything, not even to eat. When she tried to sleep, all she could think about was Nathan. Her eyes were practically slits now because of all the crying she'd been doing.
She had been tempted to call him a couple times – oh, who was she kidding, she was tempted to call him ever since she sent him away. It was pathetic, but as much as she hated him and everything he had done, she still wanted him – wanted them together again – wanted their family together.
"Hey you," a cheerful Nathan told Haley.
She looked up from the couch, moving so he could sit. He leaned down to give her a kiss then sat down so she could rest her head on his shoulder.
"You're awfully happy today." Haley observed.
"I'm just glad to get home to you. I've missed you. How are you feeling?" He asked worriedly. She was sick with a slight fever last night and he absolutely forbade her to go to school.
"I'm fine – like I was fine for the last five times you called and asked me if I was," Haley teased. "Your cell phone bill is going through the roof this month."
"Hey, I was just checking up on you. How sure am I that it's not going to get worse?" Nathan asked defensively.
"Because I'm sure it's not. Relax, baby." She pushed herself upward so she could kiss him gently.
"Well, you seem to be kissing as good as usual – so I don't have anything to worry about." Nathan said, grinning.
She laughed. "Of course not. In fact, I actually think that I can go to school tomorrow now so don't try handcuffing me to the doorknob again."
"Hey, if I'm this protective now, imagine how it would be if you're pregnant."
Haley's brows shot up, as she recalled their disastrous pregnancy scare. "You really want to go to that topic?"
He shrugged. "Well, we're married. We're bound to talk about it sometime."
She frowned at him, slightly suspicious. "Did you happen to read a parenting book today by accident or something?"
Nathan laughed. "No, but I don't see anything wrong with having kids. In fact, I don't mind have a dozen of them."
Her eyes widened. "Nathan Scott - we can't have a dozen kids."
"You're right. We can have two dozen kids instead."
She gasped, playfully swatting his arm. "Have mercy on the poor mother, Nathan."
"That's true . . . when you breastfeed all twenty-four of them, they're going to get more action that me - and that can't be good." Nathan teased.
Haley laughed. "How about we start with one?"
"Well, okay - but we have to call him Nathan Jr."
She snorted. "How original."
"Oh yeah, can you come up with something better, Tutor Girl?" He challenged.
"I want to call him Lucas."
"Lucas? He's not even Luke's kid and you're gonna give our son his name?" He demanded indignantly.
"Hey, if it weren't for Lucas, we wouldn't have met." She explained.
"Yeah, we have. It's written in the stars."
She mimicked gagging, while he playfully rumpled her hair. "Okay, how about we make it a second name?"
"Haley, 'Nathan Lucas Scott' isn't really good." Nathan pointed out.
"Hey, we didn't agree on giving him your name." Haley said.
"That's not fair!" He whined.
"I like the name Sartre." She said thoughtfully, recalling a literary piece she read a few weeks ago.
Nathan burst out laughing. "Haley, any boy with that name is going to get beaten up - and I don't want my son to be a loser."
"It's unique." Haley said, sticking her tongue out at him.
"And bully-prone. There's no damn way we're calling him that. I'm telling you, Nathan Jr. is still our best bet." He insisted.
She rolled her eyes at him. "How about we just decide on the name when we actually get there?"
Nathan grinned. "Since we're talking about names now, we could always get started on the procreating part - you know, just to get ready."
Haley parted her lips as he kissed her deeply, making her arch against him. Her fingers wound themselves through his thick, dark hair, her tongue making love to his. She could feel him hips grinding intimately against hers and she thought she would go insane.
Suddenly, she breathlessly pulled away. "I've got it..."
"Mm, got what?" He murmured as his lips trailed down her neck.
"A name . . . we can call him James Lucas Scott."
He stared at her for awhile, then his face broke into a smile. "I like it."
Haley smiled back. "I knew you would."
Nathan began to lift her top. "Now if only I could convince his mommy about the other twenty-three of them..."
Haley's flashback was then interrupted by her cell phone abruptly ringing. "Hello?"
"Hey, bub."
She recognized the voice right away. "Oh my God, dad!"
"Are you okay, bub? You sound like you haven't had a peaceful sleep in ages." He asked worriedly.
"It's something like that," she said admittedly. "How have you and mom been lately?"
"We're fine - but I think we need to go straight to the point."
Haley frowned. "Is there something wrong?"
"Well - sort of. Remember how we said that we're sort of backpacking right now?"
"Yeah...?" Haley was getting concerned.
"We're coming back."
"That's great - but I don't see anything wrong -"
"We found this great house in San Francisco. Isn't it great?! Now you'll be much closer to Stanford!"
"B-but dad, what about graduation?" She stammered.
"We already talked to Principal Turner about that. It's all settled. You don't have to worry about anything."
The rest of Jimmy James' words faded away as Haley stood there, rooted on the spot.
Nathan and Haley were in the middle of the River Court.
"I still can't believe Duke accepted me!" Nathan said happily.
"Of course they would. You're an amazing basketball player, Nate." She said as he hugged her.
"I love you so much, Haley. It just sucks that I can't be with you in college."
Haley smiled. "Actually, I filed for entrance to Duke, too . . ." she reached into her bag and pulled out a letter. "And they accepted me. Looks like we'll be together after all."
"We'll pick you up in a couple days, bub."
(ta da da da duuuuuummmm.) Any thoughts? Let me know!