Me, You, and We

"That's not fair."

"What are you talking about?" Lucas snorted.

"You cheated. You made me go fish when you had it."

Lucas looked at his brother and back at his cards. "You can't prove it."

"Ha! See, I knew it!"

Lucas placed his cards down, adding to the rest of the pile. "Sorry, I was just getting bored."

Nathan chuckled and laid his cards down as well. "That's okay," Nathan said as he sighed. "I was too."

"So, are we gonna talk about the elephant, or just admire its ivory?"

"Seriously, man, you've been married to Hales way too long. Ivory?"

"Not the point. So?"

Lucas shifted. "What do you want to know?"

"There's something you're not telling me."

Lucas hesitated. Going for shock value, he belted, "I slept with Haley."

Nathan studied his brother's face, ready to laugh. When there wasn't any indication that he was joking, Nathan stammered.

"Luke, uh? When-"

"It was a memorable night. I'll never forget it. It was amazing."

Lucas suppressed the rising laughter desiring to escape and continued, urged by Nathan's shocked expression.

"But, don't worry. It was a long time ago."

Nathan closed his mouth to open it again, still not entirely convinced but nonetheless intrigued. "When was this?"

Lucas grinned. "6th grade."

Nathan matched Lucas' grin, but not before he threw a couple of cards at him.

"You know, they used to call me the jerk. I think you've taken over that occupation."

"Hey, spend enough time with you and it comes naturally." Lucas laughed. "I had you going there for a minute, didn't I?"

Nathan smirked. "A little. I knew it wasn't when we were married, but still…It was good."

"That's what she said."

"What?"

"Nothing, I didn't say anything at all."

"Yes, yes you did," Nathan pressed, "Now tell me."

Lucas put his hands up. "I didn't say anything Nate."

"Sure," Nathan remarked.

"She said that too."

"Okay, that's it."

Nathan was about throw a pillow at Lucas when Brooke, Peyton and a nurse wheeled Haley in.

"Hey, you guys are left alone for an hour and look at you," Haley chuckled.

"Talk about brotherly love," Peyton chimed.

The boys broke apart when Brooke added, "Honey, should I be worried?"

The girls laughed while the boys stood speechless, and very much unnerved.

Once the nurse got Haley all hooked up, she squeezed the nurse's hand and looked at her warmly. "Thanks Carol."

"You're welcome Mrs. Scott," Carol said, returning the smile.

The girls fussed a little over Haley, still not hearing a word from the men. Haley addressed them after Brooke gave her some water.

"What's up boys?"

Lucas still was confused, as was Nathan, but he spoke first.

"Babe, what are you doing?"

Haley answered as if it was obvious, "What does it look like?"

"Did the doctor say you can move?" he asked, making his way to Haley as Brooke went to Lucas.

Haley pointed at Nathan, "You are wrong, you know that?"

"Why?"

"Oh, I don't know," Haley sighed. "Maybe because you forgot to tell me my best friend was in the hospital because he had a heart attack!"

Nathan gulped as he tried to calm her down. "Hales, you shouldn't get upset, the doctor said-"

"I don't care what they said. They're wrong. I really wasn't supposed to make it after the delivery either, but here I am."

The room fell silent. No one really wanted to talk about how close she came to dying. It was a miracle she was ranting before them.

Noticing that she was being way too hard on her husband, she grabbed his hand. "Babe, I'm sorry. None of this is your fault."

Nathan nodded and kissed her forehead, taking a seat on her bed beside her.

"So, Luke, gonna say hi to your bestest friend, or are you going to lie there with your mouth open?"

Lucas closed his both while the four laughed. "Are you sure it's okay for you to be here?"

Haley smiled. "Yes Luke, I made sure."

After the two friends shared a moment, Brooke jumped in. "Hey Broody, guess what I am?"

"Hot?"

Brooke smiled, "Yes, that too, but no. I'm an aunt!"

"Speaking of which, when do I get to meet my nephew?"

Haley's smile faltered a bit, but she forced her features to relax, explaining to both Nathan and Lucas.

"He's still a premie, but nothing too bad. He just has to stay in the NICU for a while until he's a bit stronger. I still get to feed and hold him sometimes though. I promise, next time you can hold him."

Lucas nodded. "Well, good; can't wait to spoil him and all of that."

"Isn't that our job?" a voice asked from the doorway.

"Mom," Lucas replied.

"Hey there hun, glad you're awake."

Lucas smiled warmly while Keith and Karen, accompanied by the rest of the group, hugged and kissed their son and did the same to Haley. Many 'heys' and 'glad you're okays' went around. Eventually all but Nathan and Brooke were ushered out as the nurse informed them that visiting hours were over. Brooke was lying with Lucas, Nathan with Haley.

"So, Broody, now that we're all alone…"

"You are not all alone! I'm so not hearing that right now," Haley groaned as she gently snuggled against a chuckling Nathan.

"Hey, there's a divider," Lucas said, kissing Brooke.

"Dude, it's made of cotton, still hearing sounds…" Nathan retorted.

Brooke pulled away from Lucas. "You guys are no fun."

"And you guys are horny. Get a room."

"I had one, but you took it."

"Okay children," Nathan refereed, "to your respective corners."

A hour later Nathan and Brooke were kicked out. They promised to sneak back in when they could. In the meantime, they went to the NICU to visit Aiden.

"Carol?" Haley caught the nurse as she was leaving.

"Yes Mrs. Scott."

"Call me Haley."

The nurse smiled. "Haley."

"Do you think we could, sleep together?"

The nurse frowned while Lucas looked amused. Quickly clarifying the situation, Haley spoke up.

"Not like that Carol," Haley laughed. "He's my best friend. Could you put our beds together? I'd sleep a little better."

Carol laughed, "Sure Haley, I'll be right back. I'm going to need some help."

"So, you want to sleep with me?"

"Out of the gutter, Scott."

Lucas laughed, "No, really, I'm flattered. I was just telling Nathan how much I enjoy sleeping with you."

Haley looked pensive, smirking, "So that's why he was trying to kill you when we walked, well, when they wheeled me in."

Lucas nodded. The nurse and orderlies put the beds together, lowering the bars that were on Lucas' left and Haley's right.

"Good night Scotts."

The two said goodnight as the lights dimmed. As their adjusted to the darkness, Lucas grabbed his friend's hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. Haley lay on her back, attempting to get comfortable. Accidentally moving too much, Haley applied a little pressure to Lucas' hand.

"Hales?"

Haley didn't answer for a moment, attempting to find her voice. "Umhmm?"

"Are you okay?"

"Yes," she replied, tears evident in her voice.

"You don't have to lie," his heart going out to her. "Do you want me to call a nurse?"

Haley shook her head. Lucas could see her response, their eyes well adjusted by then.

The two lied in silence for a bit, Haley attempting to breathe through the pain while Lucas doing his best to be there for her. Due to his limited movement, comforting her was a bit hard to do.

"Has it gotten worse?"

"Huh?" Haley replied.

"The pain, has it gotten worse?" Lucas restated.

"Yes." Haley didn't want to sugar-coat things with Lucas. She didn't want to betray Nathan, and she never would, but she felt a little guilty by sharing a little more with Lucas than she did her husband. Lucas somewhat could relate to her; Nathan couldn't it, and she prayed he never would.

Lucas picked up on her pensive silence. "What is it?"

"I want to tell Nathan, but I don't want him to worry. He has enough to deal with." Haley paused, "He's really in love with Aiden, you know? I think he'll be alright if I-"

"Stop Hales."

Lucas knew what Haley was doing, rationalizing and putting things in order. "You're going to be fine. I'm going to be fine. We're both going to make it, grow old together, and have lots of sex with Brooke and Nathan, separately."

Haley chuckled, slowly returning to her somber mood. "Lucas?"

"Yeah?"

"You can't die before me. I couldn't handle it."

Momentarily at a loss for words, Lucas wiped away a tear. "That's a little morbid Hales. Not to mention a bit selfish," Lucas joked.

Haley played with the hand that was entwined with hers. "Yes, but you're stronger than me."

"No, I'm not," Lucas responded. "I'm just a little better at deceiving than you are. I'm naturally broody. People don't question the norm."

Haley carefully scooted next to Lucas, throwing her arm around his waist.

"I love you Luke."

"I love you too Hales."

"I love Nathan so much," Haley blurted out.

"Way to ruin the moment. Here I have a beautiful woman in my arms and she's talking about her husband. Great."

"Like you aren't thinking of Brooke right now."

Lucas smirked. "So I am," he sighed. "Guess we're hopelessly in love, huh?"

"Yup, but mine's legal."

Lucas laughed and reached for the lamp above him and turned it off. "Hales?"

"Yup?" Haley sleepily replied.

"Don't give up."

"I'm not. As long as I have you, I'm not. I have too much to live for. I could never leave Nathan. Ever. My son's not going to grow up without me either."

Lucas smiled into her hair. "That's the spirit."

"Luke?"

"Yeah?"

"You either. We're both going to look back in a year and be grateful. We'll look back on a yacht from the Caribbean, you me Nate and Brooke. Deal?"

"Deal." Lucas hesitated, "You're paying for it, Ms. Basketball Player's Wife."

The two laughed. "Okay, I guess I could be your Sugar Mama."

Daymiracle: Thank you! I think we're safe on the namesake, . I thought they should be together (NON-romantically), you know, full circle. I'm SO glad (cross your fingers) that the writers of Tree Hill don't make them get involved romantically!

Naley: Glad you liked it! I decided to put a little more hope in this one, even though it's a little tainted.

xNaley-2158: Don't worry about not reviewing…you're doing it now! Thanks…glad the scenes came through! (I like the baby's name too…I want my kid in the future to possibly have Aiden has a first or middle name.)

courtneylovejason: Thanks! I promise, Lucas will see his namesake next chapter!

Brucas3: A little more health info for you, next chapter!

Ell6ange: Glad you see that!

Scott-bruthr-lvr3-23: Like the name as well. Thanks for the encouragement!

HJS-NS-23, Krizue: Lol. Glad you liked it as a middle name. More medical drama next chapter. No worries about not reviewing before… you rarely don't and when you do, you always make up for it!