Nathan was true to his promise. Two weeks after that night, Tyler smiled for the first time – at Nathan. He was there when Tyler rolled over for the first time and to soothe him when he began teething.
When Tyler was almost four months old, Jake told the town his secret about his daughter, Jenny. Lucas tried to convince Haley to use the opportunity to tell everyone about Tyler, but she wasn't ready.
A week later, Nathan told Coach Whitey about Tyler. Whitey helped him to understand that he was in control of his life and his priorities. Nathan admitted that he loved the game, but that he couldn't do it anymore. And Whitey watched him walk away from the game that they both loved so much, because it was no longer the game that they had once loved. It had become something else – a source of competition, pressure, bitterness, and rivalries. And he went to Haley and to Tyler, because they were what made him truly happy.
Lucas and Nathan's relationship slowly improved as they both tried to be there for Haley and Tyler. "Look man, you don't have to be nice to me because I'm going out with Haley." Nathan told Lucas one day.
"I'm not," Lucas insisted, but Nathan wasn't sure. He didn't really deserve Lucas's friendship after being such an ass for all those years.
It was February when Lucas nearly died. Suddenly Nathan realized that their lives were hanging by a moment, so precariously placed that with one wrong move they could be destroyed. Haley couldn't bear to look at Lucas after their previous confrontation.
"Don't lecture me, Haley!" yelled Lucas. "I know that!"
"So stop it!" she screamed back.
"I can't; it's complicated!"
"It's not complicated. It's simple. It's really simple. What you're doing is wrong! And if you can't see that, then I don't like the person you're becoming!" she spat at him.
"Okay, the person I'm becoming?" he asked furiously. "What about the person you're becoming?"
"What does that mean?"
"You know what it means, Haley! Nathan says a few nice things to you to get back at me, and you fall for it!"
"Oh my God!" Haley cried. "I did that for you!"
"You did that for me?!"
"Yeah!"
"Is that what you tell yourself every time you kiss him? That you did it for me and Ty? You know, just because he's helped you with Tyler it suddenly erases every jackass thing he's done in the past!? You're the one that's lying! If you're looking for betrayal, look to yourself!"
"You know what, Luke? Next time you see me, don't talk to me!"
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
Now, the next time she saw him he wouldn't be able to talk. He lay there bloody and unconscious in the emergency room, she knew, and now she might never get a chance to say how sorry she was. After a lifetime of being best friends, of it being them against the world, how had it come down to this? He was right, though, she knew. What she had with Nathan had happened too quickly. She had agreed to tutor him so that he would stop hazing Lucas and spontaneously she had told him about Ty. She had fallen in love with him when she saw how sweet and gentle he was with Tyler. But maybe it had been too fast. After all, they were sixteen. What could they possibly know about love? When she had confronted him about it they had fought. Now she had lost the two boys that meant more to her than anything, except, of course, Tyler, and she didn't know what to do about it.
Peyton confronted Nathan on his driveway as he played basketball.
"What are you doing here?" he asked. They were better friends than they'd been lovers, but it wasn't like they hung out together all the time.
"Haley, actually." Nathan sighed and looked away. "Listen, I don't know what you did to her," Peyton continued, "but I do know she's the best thing that's ever happened to you."
"You including yourself in that?"
"Yeah." She nodded. "I am."
"Yeah, she is," agreed Nathan. "She just doesn't believe me."
"So what happened?" Peyton asked curiously.
"I told her that I only went after her at first to screw with Lucas."
Peyton laughed. "And now?"
"Now, it's about us…and – and her son."
"Haley has a baby?"
"Yeah…he's her sister's biologically, but her sister split, and now Haley is taking care of him."
"How long have you known, Nate?"
"Three months. Since he was six weeks old."
"Wow."
"That's what I said. But Peyton, I can't lose them. Haley is my life, and so is Tyler. And Ty has Haley, and he has me, but…he needs his Uncle Luke to be there for him, too."
"Then maybe you should go tell Lucas that."
"Peyton, he's in a coma. He can't hear me."
"Nathan, when my mom was in the hospital, I was so lost. My dad was in his own world and I had no one to turn to. I spent a lot of time sitting by her bed, just talking. I told her all my problems. Even if she couldn't hear me, it helped me feel better. And who knows, Nate. Maybe he will hear you. It's worth a try, anyway."
And Nathan talked to him, and Peyton was right. It did help. For once, he was spilling his feelings to Lucas – some forbidden, some not – and they didn't end up wrestling on the ground as they had so many times before. But he doubted Lucas would be able to wrestle right now. Hell, he might not even wake up again. And just as he thought that, Lucas shifted his hand onto Nate's and his eyes opened slightly.
"Hey." Said Nathan. "We missed you, man."
"Water," Lucas croaked. Then, "What are you doing here?"
"It's a long story. Let me get your mom." And Nathan knew that however messed up everything was, whatever the future would hold and however the past had impacted them, that it would all be okay.