Chapter Eight

Disclaimer: I own nothing but this plot

Nathan just stared for a minute as the words sunk deeper and deeper into his skull, sending shock waves through every muscle in his body. It couldn't be true. He refused to admit that it was true. She couldn't be dead, not when he still needed her so much. He didn't just want her to live, he needed her to live. It was the thought she was alive somewhere in the world and might one day come back to him that had kept him going all the lonely years without her by his side. His heart was crying out for the Doctor to laugh and say that he was only joking, but it never came. Instead the Doc just stood there and waited for a response from the shocked youth in front of him. Dr Kensington his name was and this was one of the worst reactions he had ever seen since starting at the Hospital a year beforehand. It was as if the news was killing Nate from the inside and it was so very clear in his eyes it was almost painful to look there and so the Doctor just looked down at the floor instead.

"She's… She's dead?" Nathan's voice shook violently as he tried to breath normally. This wasn't how the story went. Him and Haley always had to have a happy ending. It couldn't end with one moment of stupidity, one moment of lapse in judgement. It wasn't right and he refused to believe that God was cruel enough to tear her away from him completely. Life wasn't fair but this went so far past unfair it just couldn't work.

"I'm afraid she is."

"No… No she can't be dead."

"There was just too much damage… There was nothing more we could do."

"There must have been something!" His voice rose in anger as it took over from the confusion. There was no point in life if Haley wasn't out there, somewhere someplace.

"I am sorry but there wasn't anything…" He trailed off as another man that Nathan recognised raced up to him. Chris Keller. Nate's blue eyes flew open in surprise at the blonde man. Was he here for Haley? How had he known? No one had heard from Chris for years so why was he in the Hospital. It was the words that came out of his mouth that confused Nate even more however. "How's my daughter?"

"Your daughter?" Asked Dr Kensington.

"Yes… My daughter Haley James." Answered Chris. Nathan's brain sped into hyper-drive. Everything jumbled as he tried to search for some kind of sense in the entire world that was spinning around him. Chris hadn't registered that Nathan was there and so Nate just stood dumbstruck as the Doc delivered the bad news. He watched Chris' face crumble as if he had been physically stabbed in the heart, a mirror of his face earlier. After the Doctor had finished Nathan finally found his voice and questioned. "So there are two Haley James in this hospital?" The sound of his familiar voice finally poked through Chris' thick skull and he turned in surprise to Nathan. "What are you doing here?"

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An hour later the entire story had come tumbling out. Chris had explained that he married a young woman who's last name was James and had therefore taken the name as his own as it was her wish. They had then went on to have a daughter and named her Haley after the only other girl Chris had ever truly loved with all his heart. She was but one year old when they were told she had a brain tumour growing and was unlikely to live past three, unless the Hospital performed a risky operation that had an 80 chance of killing her. Unfortunately the odds had not tipped in their favour. Little Haley had died and there was nothing anyone could do about it. After the initial shock of having her ripped away so prematurely Chris seemed to take upon the thought that at least she was free of pain and suffering wherever she was.

Nathan however was still waiting for news on his Haley, however the thought that it wasn't her that had died in surgery gave him a guilty relief. He hated the fact that a young life had been taken away so early but in the back of his mind he was jumping for joy at the thought that it wasn't the love of his life laying in the morgue. Chris disappeared from his life as suddenly as he had entered it, leaving to say his final goodbyes to Haley Jr. Thus Nathan was once more left to sit, next to Brooke who had been impossibly silent for her, and continue to wait.

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Finally news came of Haley and Nathan's heart sped up at the words that fell from the Doctor's lips. "She's fine." Nate felt like hugging the man in front of him and jumping for joy. She was ok. She was alive. She had fought to come back, hopefully to him. This was his chance to set right his life and he was going to take it no matter what came to get in the way. Haley would soon bare the last name Scott again, if it was the last thing he ever did on the earth, she was going to be his wife again.

He felt his feet following the white coat down the twisting and turning corridors. Brooke and Lucas hot on his heels as he made sure to remember his route so that he would know where to come to next time. Finally after about five minutes they came to a stop outside a room numbered '395'. The Doctor opened the door and looked at the three of them. "One at a time please, she's still very weak therefore she'll wake up when she wants to."

"But she is going to wake up right?" Asked Lucas.

"It's up to her, we've done all we can." Brooke, Luke and Nate all nodded and they seemed to come to a silent agreement that it was Nathan that should be the first person inside. Simply to set his racing mind at ease.

The room was dark as he entered and his eyes immediately latched onto the little figure lying in the bed. Her blonde hair was splayed out over the white pillow and she seemed to match the colour of the sheets under which she was laying. He crossed the room in a matter of strides and took a second to simply look at her, to see what the damage was. There was a thick bandage wrapped around her head and a cut across her cheek. Her arms were black and purple with bruises where she hit the ground but the monitors she was hooked up to were bleeping almost merrily in his mind. Just assuring him of the fact her heart was beating. He watched as her stomach rose and fell as she breathed and the sight was enough to make him cry. Sitting down in the chair next to her bed to stop his legs giving way he seized the hand nearest to him and stroked the smooth skin with his thumb. Electricity racing through every nerve of his toned body. How long had it been since he felt the little hand clasped in his own? Far too long. He had almost forgotten just how perfectly it fit within him, as if she were designed for him and no one else. She was his special gift from God and now she'd been given back as far as he could see. With Jesse out of the picture there was no problems in the way right? His eyes caught the engagement ring glistening on her wedding finger and gently slid it off, placing it on the bedside table he was about to return to his staring when he heard a cold voice from the door. "I'd put that back on if I were you."

Nathan turned to see Jesse standing in the doorway and felt his blood rise in anger at the man's audacity. It was his fault that Hales was in the Hospital in the first place, he had no right to come and see her, to even breathe the same air as her. She was something higher than him, something perfect that he could now only dream of possessing. Nate stood up but made sure not to let go of the hand that he was now holding slightly tighter. "Get your hand away from my fiancée."

"You don't have a fiancée anymore."

"I beg to differ."

"Whatever happened between you two was enough to make her so upset she stepped out in front of a car, I doubt you're going to be able to go back a lovely happy relationship."

"That ring is a contract, Haley has to follow it through."

"Haley can do whatever the fuck she wants, this ain't the 1600's anymore Jesse."

"I am the heir to the throne of Denmark, I get what I want and what I want is to have Haley as my wife."

"Then you'll have to go through me first, because if I have anything to do with it you'll never even be in the same room as her again."

"What can you do to stop me? You're a commoner."

"A commoner that loves her, that gives me an advantage above everyone else."

"I doubt it. Now get out of my fiancée's room."

"Yeah like that's going to happen…" Nate replied sarcastically as he stared at the blonde man in amazement at the sheer way he spoke. He was acting as if Haley had no choice but to forgive him whatever he had done. Nate knew Hales well enough to know that wasn't going to happen. For a little girl she could sure as hell hold a grudge well. Nathan was so busy arguing with Jesse that he didn't notice the fluttering of Haley's eyelashes as she stirred at the sound of voices. One voice she had latched onto and allowed her to pull herself back to the world where she belonged and that voice wasn't Jesse's to say the least.

She blinked once against the bright light as the world tried to swim into place, the two guys were too wrapped up in being the bigger man to notice that she was awake. As her eyes adjusted to her new light she flicked them from Nathan, holding hand so lovingly, and Jesse standing in the doorway as if he owned the place. Haley felt as if a weight had been lifted from her hand as she realised that she was no longer wearing the heavy rock that had sat within her engagement ring, her chain as she was beginning to see it.

Nathan was the first to notice that she awake and his eyes met with her soft honey ones. His blue orbs were shining with love, it wasn't hidden in anyway, through his eyes he was baring his soul and a small smile flicked her features. Her throat was soar and she was unable to talk so she moved her eyes to indicate the glass of water. Nate grabbed it and held it to her lips, the two appeared to have forgotten the other man for a brief moment that was until he spoke sternly. "Get out of my fiancées room or I swear I will have security evict you." It was at this, after a drink, that the young woman within the bed found her voice. "Get out of here Jesse."

"Haley darling I'm truly sorry but surely you can't be serious…"

"I'm deadly serious, get out."

"I'm not going anywhere Haley, we're engaged therefore I have a right to stay here to make sure you're all right and being cared for."

"Consider out engagement terminated so to speak. I can put up with a lot of things but betrayal is not on that list. So. Get. Out."

A/N Reviews are a like Haley's heart monitor, they give me reassurance… Like it? Hate it? Review it!