He returned to her house the next morning and tossed rocks at her window to get her attention.
"Trying to wake up my parents?" she asked, coming up behind him. "That's their room."
"Look, Haley, I wanted to talk. I – I heard what your mom and last night and I wanted to tell you that you can trust me."
"Like I trusted you to leave Lucas alone? You guys beat each other up on the court at the away game. Or how about at your dad's party, when you passed my note around?"
"But Haley," Nathan cut in. "I didn't even –"
"I know you didn't, Nathan. But the point is you could have. Last night was a mistake, Nathan. I should never have trusted you with something so important."
"Haley, please, just listen to me. I know that I haven't always been the best guy, all right? I screw up a lot. But you can trust me, okay?"
"Nathan, I just, I can't do this. We aren't –"
He cut her off as he leaned down and kissed her.
After a second she pulled back. "You shouldn't have done that, Nathan."
"I wanted to," he said, looking into her scared eyes.
"Yeah," she whispered, then reached up and threw her arms around her neck, kissing him forcefully, willingly, desperately.
She watched him at school the next day as he joked with his teammates in the hallway. For a moment she thought that this was how it would be, so kind to her in private and then ignoring her whenever one of his buddies could see. But just then he saw her and their eyes met. A small smile formed on his lips, becoming a grin as he jogged down the hallway towards her. He gently tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear.
The next day he pulled her into an empty hallway and kissed her passionately.
"Nathan, we can't do this here, right now," Haley said.
He grinned cockily. "We just did. All right, I'll kiss you later." With a gentle laugh he walked away. Neither knew that later everything would have changed. Neither knew that later, they would come very close to losing everything.
She was leaving him another message on his cell when he showed up in her doorway. The first thought was, Why aren't you still in the hospital? Her second thought was, Thank God he's here, still breathing. When he collapsed at the basketball game she had panicked. She assumed it had been the stress, after all he had been lashing out all week and blamed it on pressure from his dad and from himself. It was a long time before he admitted that it was drugs.
"Nobody answered the door." He said hoarsely.
"They're gone for the weekend…how are you?"
"Not so good." He answered and he sounded like a lost little boy, about to cry. "It's just, I've made a lot of mistakes, Haley. Sometimes because of my dad, sometimes by choice." Nathan sat shakily on her bed, staring at his hands. "Sometimes I can't do it anymore."
"It's okay." Haley reassured him, afraid for him.
"No. It's not okay. I'm not okay. When I fell on the floor tonight, I was so scared. I was so terrified. And I saw you, and I promised myself that if I could just get up I'd walk over to you and tell you how much I need you, how much I want you. And nothing else matters." She kissed him then, and in that kiss was a promise that she would always be there when he needed her, that she needed him just as much, and that together they would get through this.
"Haley, would you stay with me tonight?" He asked her slowly, hoping she'd say yes, afraid she'd say no. But she knew that he needed her and that she would be there for him like she had just promised with that kiss; she nodded yes.
The baby started to cry in the next room and she went over and fetched him from his crib. She quickly warmed a bottle for him and returned to her room with Tyler in her arms. Haley sat on her bed, leaning on pillows set against the headboard and began to give Tyler his bottle.
"Can – Can I?" Nathan asked. She looked over at him and silently held the whimpering baby out. Nathan took him; Tyler's whimpers subsided as Nathan held him close. Nathan touched the bottle to the baby's lips and he took it eagerly, until the room was filled with silence except for the loud sucking noises of Tyler eating.
"He likes you," said Haley, and Nathan smiled weakly.
"I've never been around babies before." He confided. "I mean, I've never really had the chance, especially not having any sisters or brothers."
"Except Lucas." Haley cut in.
"Yeah," grimaced Nathan. "Except Lucas. But then, he's never really been my brother, has he?" He sighed, wondering what life might have been like if Dan hadn't rejected Lucas. But then, if he hadn't abandoned Karen when he found out she was pregnant, he, Nathan, might not be here at all. The whole situation was screwed up, really.
Haley and Nathan sat companionably in silence, with Tyler drinking his bottle in Nathan's arms. When Tyler finished and Nathan had awkwardly burped him, he tried to hand him to Haley.
"No, she said, "He's comfortable with you." She laid her head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat. They snuggled Tyler between them as all three drifted off to sleep.