AN: Hello readers! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday! I didn't get as many reviews last chapter which is disappointing but I know all of you are wanting another chapter so here it is! This chapter is a BIG one. It steps up for what's to come and we also find out some things from Nathan's past! Let me know how you like! Enjoy!!

Review please! Thanks xoxo!

Chapter Four

There's a moment in time when everything that you've every believed to be fictitious turns on you. It's realized that not all things are broken, or tortured, or ruined. It's realized that love does exist. It exists for everyone who believes in something that's bigger than themselves. Whether it's good or bad, love will always be the guiding force in our lives. And sometimes you find it's the imperfect love that lasts.

Nathan was flawed and Haley was flawed. There is a chemistry between them that is irrefutable. A spark marked by irreplaceable spark. They need each other, like the trees need wind and sun and water, if they have any hope of living. Most people call it fate and maybe it is. However, fate was the normal way of putting it. Nathan and Haley weren't normal and what they were feeling definitely wasn't normal.

The sky was clear tonight, almost bright in the dark. Haley and Nathan were lying on a blanket that Haley always keeps in her car for nights like this. She always wanted someone to share this with and now she had Nathan.

It was slightly windy which caused a chill in the air. Nathan wrapped his arm around Haley so she could lean into his embrace to get warm. They were on the roof of Karen's Café. It was Luke's mother's café so Haley knew where they hid the emergency key. She would sneak up to the roof whenever she felt like escaping from reality. It was a secret though. No one knew she did this. It was almost thrilling to know that she could get caught. In some ways, Haley had always belonged in Nathan's world. Given the opportunity she processed a wild spirit. Nights like tonight were rare and so her attempts to break away were also.

Haley wanted Nathan to experience this. She knew he needed to break away from it all, at least for a little while he could be free but what was better was that he could be free and be with her. He could have both. Just like she had both from the moment Nathan came into her life.

"I like hiding in the darkness with you. If I have to live a life filled with darkness then I'm happy to do it if it means you'll be there too."

"Nathan, I can't seem to find the words to tell you how I feel. But I'm going to try. Whatever shadows you're haunted by, I wish them away. I will repair your soul if you promise to repair mine. Just breathe your life into me."

"What are you doing to me Haley James?" Nathan rhetorically asked, resting his other hand across her stomach and looking at her while she gazes at the stars. "I keep falling, falling faster every day. All my life I've gone untouched. I've never felt anyone before, but I feel you." Haley ran her hand up and down Nathan's arm while he confessed his thoughts to her. "I use to be this guy, a lesser guy then even you know now."

"Nathan, stop. You aren't inferior or vindictive. It's just the fear talking."

"Baby, I'm so into you." Nathan kissed the side of Haley's neck, once, twice, three times. "It's strange though."

"What is?"

"I've never known what it means when people say 'It's good to be home.' Nowhere was my home but instantly you became my home. You're home to me."

"It's such a tragedy, being lonely. I grew up with a loving family Nathan and the house I grew up in is beautiful but I don't call it my home. It takes more than love to build a home. You have to feel safe in a home. I never felt safe growing up but I do with you."

"I'll never be able to follow through Haley. No matter how hard I try to wash my hands, I can never get them clean. I'll always be scratched up."

Haley sat up and moved one leg across Nathan's body so she could straddle him. She forced him to sit up too and captured his face in her hands. "If you only knew that only you is good enough."

It had happened all so fast, but fast seemed to work for them.

Needing to feel Haley's lips on his, Nathan, without delay, fused his mouth onto hers in a fiery kiss that brought a wave of weakness to the shore. It was a weakness for each other. Nothing could be deprived from them any longer. It was official. Haley was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with Nathan Scott and he too, was taken, mind, body, and soul.

Nathan never knew that life could be this way. Haley thought she could only yearn for it. Neither believed they were the kind of people that could attract love. Yet, their beliefs proved to be otherwise.

"You know I could use somebody like you."

"You have me, Nathan."

"I've been roaming around, continually looking down at all I see. I used to kill myself from the inside out…I just don't see how someone like you sees something in me, but I like it."

"Somebody like me, or me?" Haley joked.

"You already know the answer to that." They shared a tender kiss as Nathan opened his blue orbs slowly to look at the beautiful girl in front of him. "I'm ready now."

"You make feel alive. I've been ready for you."

"You're my life now."

"I love you."

The next day, Haley spent at home, worrying. She hadn't heard from Nathan all day. Ever since that night by the river they had been inseparable, so it was strange to not have seen or heard from him by now. It wasn't that she didn't trust Nathan, because she did, more than anyone she had every known but the idea that Nathan was in trouble had played through Haley's mind all morning. She couldn't understand it and she certainly couldn't explain it, but she knew in her heart that something was wrong. Call it a lover's intuition, call it whatever you want but one thing was certain, Haley couldn't, wouldn't wait around to find out.

As she gathered her things to leave the house, there was a knock at the door. Believing that it was Nathan, Haley rushed to the front door and opened it. Only the person at the door wasn't Nathan and he wasn't someone she particularly wanted to see at the moment, especially since their fight the other day.

"Clay, I can't talk right now. I was just heading out."

"Going to see Nathan." When Clay spoke, it didn't sound like a question, it sounded more like a statement.

"Yes, as a matter of fact I am. Now, if you'll excuse me, I really have to get going."

Clay moved forward in an attempt to stop Haley from exiting her house and instantly put his hand upon hers. "Please, Haley. Just give me five minutes. I really miss my best friend."

Looking at the boy in front of her, Haley remembered their past and how much they have been through together and began to see the real Clay, her Clay again. Haley nodded a yes, and motioned for Clay to come inside. He followed her into the living room where pictures of the James family were scatter about. He stopped in front of the fire place where there stood a picture of him and Haley at last year's Winter Formal. He smiled at the memory and turned to face Haley sitting on the couch.

"That was a great night." He pointed to the picture to show Haley what he had been looking at. "I remember how nervous you were. It might have been the cutest thing I've ever seen." Clay chuckled silently.

"Well, you know me. I don't do well with taking compliments so you can see why winning Homecoming Queen was a bit hard for me."

"Those other girls had nothing on Haley James."

Haley glanced to the side bashfully before meeting Clay's gaze again.

"Everything used to be so much simpler when it was just you and me, Hales."

"Yeah but that's a crappy way of looking at things Clay. I mean think about it. Would either of us know Luke or Brooke right now if you had never joined the basketball team? I think our lives have turned out okay, for the most part at least."

"And you would have never met Nathan." Clay mumbled but Haley still heard him.

Haley stood up from her place on the couch and walked over to Clay who now had his back towards her, looking at the other pictures placed on the mantel. Haley looped her arm through his and tilted her head slightly so it was now resting on his shoulder.

"Nathan means a lot to me Clay. It would be great if I had my best friends support. You know it wasn't too long ago you thought the same things about Lucas and look how close you two are now. All I'm asking is that you give Nathan a chance."

"Damn it, how do you do it? One look from you and I cave. Alright, I'll give him achance." He then gave Haley his signature Eskimo kiss. He had been doing it to her ever since they were five. "For you." He added.

"There's the Clay I love."

"Hold on, I'm not done yet."

Haley laughed, knowing what he was going to say next.

"The kid has one chance with me. If he blows it, well, it won't hurt me none."

"I'll take what I can get, I guess." Haley unwrapped her arm from Clay's and suggests that they go see a movie. She, too, has missed her best friend. However, there was one thing she had to do first. She had to find Nathan.

On the way out, Clay debated on whether or not he should tell Haley about Nathan's visit yesterday. He knew he promised her he would give Nathan a chance but something about Nathan just didn't sit right with him. Clay took a deep breath. He figured Haley would react in one of two ways: believe him or believe Nathan, either way, he knew deep in his heart that Haley would still be in Nathan's arms at the end of the day. Nevertheless, Clay had always been the type of guy who rooted for the underdog, and so he decided to tell Haley.

"Wait, Haley. I think I should tell you something. Nathan came to my house yesterday…it didn't go well."

Four guys stood at the back of an empty garage over-looking a dead end stream. To say the place was sketchy was an understatement. A lot of disturbed events have happened there. It was a place Nathan was familiar with but he always felt uneasy whenever he did something like this. Mostly because he knew that these guys weren't people even he should be messing with but now a part of him felt uneasy because it wasn't just him he had to think about anymore, he had Haley to consider now. Haley. Just the thought of her made Nathan feel alive. She couldn't find out about this. If she knew where he was right now, she would try to come after him and Nathan wasn't going to allow that. Putting Haley in any kind of danger wasn't even a consideration. The thought of hurting her or losing her made his heart hurt.

He missed her. It was odd to him really, to miss someone this much but it was what it was. His life was better and he wanted to be better, for Haley. He knew there was a risk in coming here today but he dug himself this hole a long time ago and he was in too deep now to try and climb his way out. Once a vow is made you can't take it back. If he tried to run away now, it would just be suicide. Nathan cursed this place, this ruling, this gang, now that things had changed for him. No one here could know about Haley for if Nathan decided to do the unthinkable and leave, they would come after the ones Nathan loved. And the only person that matter to him, the only person he couldn't live without, was Haley.

Nathan eyed the leader of this organization. Rick was ruthless and the crimes he committed were revolting. Owen and Ian stood next to Nathan, yet they weren't afraid, it seemed. Nathan wasn't meant to be here, not then and not now. People say you always have a choice, well for Nathan that stood untrue. He never had a choice.

Barely turning his head to the left, Nathan looked at Ian. The same blood flowed through each of their bodies. Ian was his brother –technically. However, the two boys were nothing alike. Nathan's heart was wholly filled with compassion and tenderness. It devastated him to know that he came from a scandalous family, a family of villains. But this was the path he was given from the moment he was born. He believed he had nowhere else to go and he didn't, until Haley.