Find Our Way Back

Chapter 18

A Friend to Me

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these OTH characters, as much as I'd like to. And none of these songs are mine.

Well you and I
We're buddies
And we've been since we first met

Haley sat in Nathan's living room, relaxing. She'd been cleaning all day and was dead tired. Nathan was coming home in a few days so she'd come over to his apartment, after dropping Jimmy at school, to tidy up. She really hadn't spent much time here, and had never noticed all of the pictures. Most of them were of her or Jimmy. 'He must've gotten these from Brooke,' she thought. There was one of him with Jimmy at the zoo stuck to the fridge. And he had one from their wedding stuck to the inside of his medicine cabinet. It made her smile. But it also gave her an idea. She'd called Brooke right away, realizing as the phone rang, that she'd be at school.

"Hello?" Brooke answered groggily.

"You're not at school?"

"No. I wasn't feeling to hot, so I called in."

"Must be something going around. I've been sick the last few days."

Brooke smiled, thinking about the suspicions she and Lucas had, "I don't know what you have. But mine's called pregnancy."

"Oh, right, sorry."

"It's okay babe. What can I do for you?"

"I was wondering if you got back your pictures from Chicago yet."

"They're waiting to be picked up."

"Really?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I want to do something to surprise Nathan."

"We can go pick them up if you want to."

"I'd love that. I want to finish cleaning here first though, so how 'bout after lunch."

"Sounds great."

Me any you
Well we've sure been through
Our share of laughter and regret
Lord knows we've had our bad days
And more than once we've disagreed
But you've always been a friend to me

That night, Haley stayed up after Jimmy went to bed working on her project. On a large piece of foam board she attached photos taken since Nathan's move to Nashville. Large in the center was one of their small family. Brooke had insisted on taking it Sunday morning at brunch. And it was perfect. She couldn't wait for Nathan to see it, it would be his welcome home. All of the sudden, her busy day, and what had quickly become a late night, caught up with her. Leaving her project on the table, she headed to bed.

Jimmy woke up in the morning, wondering why mommy didn't wake him up. He padded to her bedroom and saw her sleeping. "Mommy," he whispered, and shook her lightly.

"Hmmm…" Haley saw her son looking at her, 'God,' she thought, 'I need to get him ready for school.' She looked at him, "Baby, mommy doesn't feel good. Can you go get dressed and I'll get breakfast for you on the way to school."

"Okay," Jimmy hugged his mom. He went into the kitchen and picked up the phone and dialed, "Uncle Luke?"

Lucas looked at his watch, "Jimmy? Are you okay?" Why wasn't he at school?

"Mommy's sick and forgot to wake me up. Can you take me to school?"

"Sure, I'll be over," Lucas hung up the phone and grabbed his coat. From the car he called the school to let them know Jimmy would be there in a little while. Then he called work to say he wouldn't be in, and the doctor's office to make an appointment for Haley. He knocked softly on the door when he got to the house.

Jimmy opened the door, "Hi," he smiled.

"Where's your mom?"

"Sleeping."

"Did you eat?"

"No."

"Brush your teeth?"

Nooo…I do that after I eat."

"Go brush. We'll stop at McDonald's before school."

"Yay!"

While Jimmy brushed his teeth, Lucas looked in on Haley, she looked really pale. He went to the kitchen and jotted her a quick note, in case she woke up, telling her he'd taken Jimmy to school then would be back.

You can be so stubborn
There's times I think you just like to fight
And I hope and pray
I live to see a day
When you say I might be right

Haley woke up and dashed to the bathroom where she threw up. 'I don't know what I've got, but hopefully I'm better by the time Nathan gets home.' She stood in front of the sink and splashed her face with water. Noticing the time on the clock, she jolted to Jimmy's room, 'Why didn't he wake me?' Not finding him there, she went to the living room, expecting to find him watching Nemo. But there was no sign of him. The kitchen was her next stop. It was there that she saw a piece of paper with familiar chicken scratch on it.

Hales,

I took Jimmy to school. Be back soon.

Lucas

She thanked her son silently, for knowing that mommy needed to sleep, but still got herself to school. She was still sitting in the kitchen when Lucas came in.

"Hey," he gave her a half-grin, "You're awake."

"Yeah," she stood up and hugged him, "Thanks for taking Jimmy to school. I don't know what's wrong with me."

"I'm sure you're going to be fine. But, just to be safe, I called the doctor's office and made an appointment."

Haley despised going to the doctor. She glared at him, "Just because I overslept?"

"No, because after your son woke you, you went back to sleep instead of helping him get ready. That, and Brooke mentioned last night that you weren't feeling well. Oh, and no offense, but you look like crap."

"Thanks Lucas," she tilted her head in disgust. "But I'm not going to the doctor."

"You're going Haley. Don't fight me."

And there's times I'd rather kill you
Than listen to your honesty
But you've always been a friend to me

Haley sat nervously in the examination room, waiting for the doctor to return.

Lucas looked at her and could see she was scared. "Everything's going to be fine Haley, I promise."

The doctor entered the room and sat on his little stool, "Well Ms. Scott."

"Am I going to be okay?"

"What's wrong with her?" Lucas questioned.

"Well, Ms. Scott, it looks like you're pregnant."

Haley sat stunned, she couldn't believe it, "Are you sure?"

"100 percent."

"I wasn't this sick last time."

"You're still taking birth control pills, correct."

"Yes," Haley paused. "Wait a second, how can I be pregnant? I'm on birth control."

"You're a smart woman. You should know that it isn't always 100 effective," he paused, "But there's another problem. The reason you're so sick is because of your birth control. It's trying to kill the baby. You need to stop taking it, immediately."

Haley sat in shock, she had her son to blame. Him and his dumb wish. She shook her head at the thought, knowing that really, only she and Nathan were to blame.

Lucas stood, "Thank you doctor." After the man left the room, he looked at his friend, "Are you okay Haley?"

Haley gave him a small smile, "Can we go home?"

"Of course."

You've always been
Time and again
The one to take my hand

Sitting in the living room, Lucas was unsure what to say.

"I can't believe Jimmy was right."

"He just got lucky, that's all."

"But I yelled at him, then denied it profusely."

"It's okay Haley. He'll understand. Besides, you didn't know."

"I should've."

"You had no reason to believe you were. Nobody expects their birth control to fail," he paused, "So, are you going to call Nathan?" Lucas knew his brother was going to be ecstatic.

"No. He'll be home the day after tomorrow. I want to tell him in person," this made her smile.

"He's going to be super excited."

"Maybe I can get him to move in early," there was a twinkle in her eyes.

"I don't think you could stop him from doing so, even if you wanted to."

"What about Jimmy?"

"I'd wait to tell him until after you tell Nathan. Otherwise he'll spill the beans."

"Right. but do you think he'll be okay with the pregnancy, then a new baby."

Lucas laughed, "I dunno Haley. It's not like he wished for it or anything."

She smiled again, "Okay, so he'll be cool with it."

"My guess is that he'll be excited, just like his daddy."

"Thanks Lucas. I'm glad you made me go to the doctor."

"I'm glad that kid of yours was smart enough to call me."

"He is smart, huh?"

"That he is." The pair sat silently for a moment before Lucas spoke again, "Why don't you let me pick up Jimmy from school, and he can stay with Brooke and me tonight."

"Lucas, you've done enough already."

"Don't worry about it Hales. It was no big deal. Besides, he hasn't stayed over in a while."

"He might want to come home."

"I'll bring him by to see you. Then we'll leave you to sleep."

Haley kissed Lucas on the cheek, "You're the best."

And show to me it's okay to be
Just the way I am
With no apology
Oh you've always been
And you will 'till God knows when
Yes you've always been a friend to me