Author's Note: Well, howdy ya'll. I know it's been awhile, but hopefull you'll forgive me! Thanks again for comments, guys! Appreciated. Hopefully this story will continue to stay updated, hah. Let's see, this next chapter, well, I kind of accidentally published it before really reviewing it, but ah! What the heck, here it is. I hope you enjoy it! It's really a set-up.

Now, since I've somehow finally gotten back to writing, hopefully I can re-fix the past stuff. Sorry if any of you have forgotten what happened in the past of this story!

Much love.

-8-

"Nathan!" Haley yelled after her husband who was walking into the gym from the parking lot.

"Haley?" Nathan said loudly, turning around at the familiar voice. "Wh- Huh? Hi. What are you doing here!?" He said, a huge smile on his face as he noticed both Haley and Jamie walking up to him.

"We came to see you and Auntie Taylor, daddy!" Jamie exclaimed.

"Taylor?" Nathan asked Haley, his jaw almost reaching the pavement.

"Mhmm. We're going to be picking her up from the airport soon. During your practice."

"Really?" Said Nathan, "You got any more surprises for me?"

"Are the three of us not good enough-"

"I guess so," Nathan said slowly and confused, looking past Haley and Jamie and through the parking lot and to the latest car to arrive. "You brought him?" He asked, looking straight back to Haley. Nathan was a little disappointed now.

"Who?" Asked Haley as she turned around. Chris. Chris?! What the..!? Once again he was invading her thoughts. She looked back to Nathan showing an expression on her face to suggest that this was not planned. He understood and just shrugged and gave an irritated smile back.

"Momma, why's he here?" Asked Jamie.

"I don't know, baby." She said, looking down at him. "I'm going to go find out."

She walked over him, annoyance growing within her. She was starting to regret being so nice to Chris now. He didn't seem to stop interfering with her plans with her family. It was going to be a special weekend; one that rarely ever got to happen. By the time Haley had reached Chris, he was about halfway through the parking lot between his car and the building.

"Chris? What are you doing here? This is really taking it too-" She stopped her ranting when she sighted Leila. Great. Now she was going to have to censor herself around Chris again. People with arrogance such as Chris' should not have to be censored by, she decided. Leila, as sweet as she seemed to be, was getting in the way of Haley really getting feisty.

"I have Leila for the day." He said simply. "I was going to take her out, but I just wasn't sure where. When I saw you at the gas station before you left Tree Hill, it occurred to me, 'Why don't I just do what Haley's doing?' You're so good with Jamie, Haley. I thought that, if you think this is a good idea, it would be a good thing for Leila and I to do, too." He smiled, not thinking that this was a problem at all.

He was flattering, certainly, but despite the sweetness, he was still getting on Haley's nerves. She was looking away from him, processing all of this information. Finally and thoughtfully, narrowing her eyes, she asked, "What do you mean, 'at the gas station'?"

"Well, I saw you there when you were getting ready for the trip to come here. I already had Leila in the car and we were about to go find something to do. So, when I saw you, we just decided it would be a good idea to follow you here. I didn't realize the you were driving this far though. Otherwise, I'd have not come, but, by the time I realized how far we'd driven, I just decided it would take awhile to drive back and so I just decided, 'Why not just-"

"You 'FOLLOWED' me?" She was in disbelief. Was he serious?

"Well, yeah. Is that a problem?" Chris was obviously confused. He thought he and Haley seemed to be growing a mutual bond; one that meant they enjoyed time together..

"Is that a problem? Is THAT a problem?" Haley didn't care about Leila being there now; at least, her arms flailing up and down seemed to show that. "Chris, you can't just 'follow' people. This is crazy. I'm sorry, but I just don't know what to do with you being here." She looked at him, realizing that he was just being sweet and for Chris, sweet was a big deal. Even if sweet for Chris was some form of stalking… which was an even bigger deal. Maybe it was selfish to exclude him now that he had already driven all the way to Charlotte?

"Yeah, it's not seeming like a pretty good idea anymore." Said Chris, making a hopeful, but regretful look on his face that involved a lot of teeth.

She looked at him, her eyes soft and a small smile on the side of her mouth. Chris was surprised when Haley started laughing.

"Wh- What's so funny, Haley?"

She was really cracking up. Her eyes opened to look up at him. "You."

He'd joined in with the laughing.

"What's so funny, Mama?" Asked Jamie, who had just came over with his father. Nathan was even more confused. He figured it would be a good idea to come over when he saw Haley's body language growing angry, but he didn't expect her to be laughing by the time he had come over.

"Chris is funny, baby."

This remark caused Chris took look straight at Nathan and shrug. He'd stopped laughing which probably was a good thing, seeing as he didn't know what he was supposed to be laughing at or what it was that he did that was so funny. Everyone around Haley seemed to be confused, looking at each other to see if anyone else knew what caused Haley to be laughing so hard.

Leila, who was standing behind Chris the entire time, likely cowering away from Haley, had taken notice of Jamie at that moment. She waved at him and he waved back. Both children then went back to listening to the adults.

"I'm getting late for practice, Hales." Said Nathan. He had to but into her unexplainable laugh attack to tell her.

Her laughing died down as she came back to reality. "Okay, babe. It was good to see you before the game. I'm glad we caught you. Plus, I guess we should be heading for the airport soon."

"Ah, yes. The airport." Said Nathan. There was so much going on, he'd forgotten about it. Looking down at Jamie, he started saying his goodbye. "Alright, Jamie, I'll be seeing you soon. You better give Auntie Tay a big hug for me, alright?"

"Yes, daddy. I'm extra lucky today. You're gonna win!"

"Well, alright, man!" Said Nathan, crouching down and nodding to Jamie while holding his hand out for him to high five. Jamie quickly reacted by slapping his hand, which gained smiles from all Scotts around. Nathan got up from his crouching position to look at Chris.

"Chris." He said, and that was all he said. Chris being there was very weird, but Haley seemed to be okay with it. At least, she was amused by it. Turning towards Haley, he wrapped one arm around her and rested it on her lower back. She gave him a quick kiss and smiled.

"Good luck with your game tonight, Nathan."

"You know I'll be playing extra hard." He winked at her. "I gotta impress my ladies."

She laughed while he wiggled his eyebrows. "Okay, babe. I love you."

"Love you too." He agreed. "You too, Jamie!"

"I love you too, daddy."

Nathan briefly laughed. "Well, alright then. Later." He waved to Chris and smiled to Leila before walking away and back to the building, leaving the four of them alone.

"So, uh, Jamie, this is Leila." Said Haley, trying to not have the four of them in an awkward silence.

"Hi." Said Jamie.

"Hi." She replied. "Leila's going to see a basketball game!"

"Oh." Said Jamie, thinking that it was weird she talked like Chris. He didn't know how to talk in third person.

"So, what was so funny?" Asked Chris, still confused.

"You're kidding, right? This is ridiculous! I mean, you followed me, Chris. You're needy. And you know what? The seats we have at the game are in a full section. You won't be able to sit by us. You came all this way, and for what? You didn't even know what was really going to happen!" She was smiling, causing Chris to now be annoyed with her.

"Are you serious?"

"Mhmm, but, you know, you could get seats somewhere else."

"Nah, that's okay. Basketball's not really my thing and… I really should have thought the whole seating thing through before deciding to come."

"You could, maybe, join us for dinner tonight? We can get you a chair for that."

"Dinner, huh? Chris Keller can do dinner."

"Okay then." Said Haley, nodding happily. "Anyways, until then, I'm not sure what you two can do. Jamie and I will see you until then. We've got stuff to do and we're losing time."

"Sounds good. Sorry I didn't think this through. I know it's kind of crazy and random. I'm just used to getting my way, I guess."

"Okay." She, once again, nodded at him. "Jamie, let's go hunny."

"Bye." Jamie said to Leila. "Bye, Chris." He said to him, too, remembering his good manners.

"See you guys." Said Haley, walking away with Jamie and waving.

"Bye." They both responded. They were now alone, once again not knowing what they could do with their time, but at least now, they had plans for later on.

***

Of course a plane with Taylor on it would be late. Late, late, late, late. What were Jamie and Haley to do? Nathan's game was soon going to start, but they told Taylor they'd pick her up. Specifically, they told her they would pick her up on time. But, storms will come, and as romantic as Haley's experiences found them to be, she wondered how this night would turn out with Nathan if she missed his game.

She and Jamie were sitting together, playing tic tac toe, 21 questions, contemplating the rabbit afterlife and doing everything else that came to their heads to pass the time. Finally, when Nathan's game was about to start, she decided that she wasn't going to be able to make it to the game. Taylor's flight arrival time kept changing a half hour later, and it took a half hour to make it to the basketball court. So, she knew what she had to do. She had to wait for Taylor, and her seats needed to be filled. After she told Jamie what the outcome of their circumstances was, she grabbed her phone and let it dial.

"Hey, Haley."

"Chris! Hey. Um, so I'm not going to be able to make it to the game tonight and I'm wondering-–"

"Are you asking me if I'd like to go?"

"Yes! And, since I don't have the tickets already and needed to pick them up at the stadium, you can easily get them if I call some people to tell them it's okay."

"Well, it's not like they won't recognize me if you just tell them to give them to Chris Kell—"

"Right… Well, anyways, so you think you'll do it?"

"Watch Nathan play basketball? Well, it would give me and Leila something to do. So, sure." He wasn't too keen on seeing the game. Actually, he knew seats would have been easy to get without Haley's help, but decided to take them seeing as he still wanted something to do with Leila and the offer was right in front of him.

"Okay, I'll make some calls. See you after dinner, too. Bye." Kind of an abrupt goodbye, she couldn't help but thinking, but at least she was pleasant.

"Bye! Thanks Haley!" And with that, Chris hung up the phone and left Haley smiling, thinking it was good to be called "Haley" by him.

While Haley made calls, Jamie played with a public toy set that was near by. It wasn't long after that Taylor's flight was actually confirmed to be coming at it's set time. Forty-five minutes later, Taylor was there, hugging her and kissing Jamie all over his face.

"It's good to see you guys!" she said as she hugged Haley once again.

"We know." Jamie replied. Haley and Taylor looked at him, but all they did was laugh.

"So, Nathan's playing, you say? I'm sorry about the storm, guys, really…"

"It's okay. Nathan will understand. We're going to grab dinner after, but that won't be for another hour or so, what would you like to do until then?"

"Well, I'd like to go see the game if it's possible."

They went. Haley knew tickets were easy to get seeing as the games always had empty seats. The ones empty wouldn't be as good as the one's she'd had before Chris took them, but they'd suffice. They'd made it there about half way into the game and Haley had texted Chris at that time in the game telling him to just meet him at the hotel afterwards because they had reservations that they might not make if they'd met up afterwards. Plus, they came in separate vehicles anyways.

Haley, Jamie and Taylor all went to pick Nathan up after the game outside of his change room. One of Nathan's teammates saw Jamie and asked if he wanted to come inside the changeroom to see his father. He, of course, said yes and went in to see him, but Haley and Taylor stayed behind and sat on a couple of steps at the end of the hallway that went down to one of the stadium's entrances.

"So, how's the little squirt these days? Do you think he'll get the sporty gene like me or end up playing instruments like his mamma?"

"Well, I'd like to think both, but I—"

"Mmmm, BABY, hello!" an unfirmiliar voice greeted from behind the sisters.

"Can I help you?" Taylor sneered, looking at the man that was wearing the Jersey of Nathan's opposing team.

"Why, you sure can! This here sexy woman next to you, well, I see we're meant to be together!" He exclaimed, looking right at Haley.

"Excuse me?!" Haley responded. Despite Nathan, Haley still had such an annoyance with jocks.

"Why, honey, don't be playing that game with me, I see my number right where I really like my number to be." He was clearing looking right above her ass. It wasn't long before Haley pulled her shirt down to cover her tattoo, or tramp-stamp, and it also wasn't long before Taylor stood up, ready to defend her sister.

"Listen, here, buddy. My sister here, you know, she's married to number 12 on the other team, and uh—"

"Number twelve! Well, that just don't make any sense, you know. Number twenty-three, you see, that's my number, and seeing my number on that fine woman is driving me crazy!"

"Hey, twenty-three, really, I'm not interested in you."

"Man! Well, alright then," said the man, who was actually quite handsome. His eyes moved from Haley to Taylor, just then. "Say, you wouldn't mind going out with me, would you? Ya'll look real alike, actually. Wow. I'll definitely take you, too, and we can work this whole tattoo thing out together, later."

Taylor's defensive behaviour became noticeably flirty. "I wouldn't mind that, and, I could add a twenty-three to this lovely scorpian tattoo I have." She said, now showing him the tattoo. His eyes looked very pleased.

"Taylor!" Haley had to intervene. Really, Taylor just couldn't help herself could she?

"Well, my sister, you know, she's kind of bossy, but if you meet me at the Irish pub down the block tonight, I'll be there." Taylor said, while Haley grabbed her arm and started walking away, bringing her into the woman's bathroom to have a little chat.

When Haley and Taylor left the bathroom, Nathan and Jamie were near the entrance of the stadium, waiting for them. Luckily, number 23 of the opposing team was out of sight.

Haley walked up to her husband, giving him a kiss and after a little pout. "Hey, baby, sorry 'bout your loss."

He smiled at her and made a conscious effort to show that he was fine with his loss in front of his son. "It's all right, right Jamie?"

"Dad, Aunt Taylor!"

Taylor smiled at him and they exchanged a hug that was quite awkward. But, in front of Jamie and Haley, they knew it was best. "Why hello there number 12. I have to talk to you about changing that number later." She looked at her sister, but Haley simply rose an eyebrow at her.

The group continued to converse the way to their car, and awhile in their car, but after half way back to the hotel, the conversations got a little less easy. Finally, they made it to their hotel and got to their table which was in a small backroom that was more private. Nathan wanted to treat his family, and when he saw Chris Keller already sitting in the room, talking to Leila, he was a little disappointed, but continued his second(or however many)-chances behavior towards Chris and simply nodded while saying hello to the man.

Chris smiled at the group, and in doing so he said "Why, I was beginning you guys wouldn't— Taylor!?"

"CHRIS!??!" Responded Taylor. This was awkward.

"What?" Asked Jamie.

"Chris Keller!" She was not expecting him. "and Leila too!? Hey little one!"

"You know Leila?" Asked Haley.

"Yes." Taylor responded. "Um, actually, Nathan and Haley… Jamie, Leila… you wouldn't mind if I talked to Chris… alone… would you?"

"Why, I guess not." Nathan responded. Haley was suspicious.

"Good." She said. "Chris, come with me, we need to talk."

The two left the room and went up to Chris' hotel room that he'd gotten, leaving Nathan, Haley, Jamie in curiosity with Leila.