Sorry I took so long, but then one's kind of long. Thanks for all the great reviews. Man, you guys are gonna give me a big head. LoL. Hope you guys like this one too...and thanks for that error thing, krissie. ;)
The Wrong Kind of Wrong
Brooke opened the door and rushed in, her heels tapping rapidly on the floor. She threw her hand up in protest. "Please tell me that this is some bad joke." Seeing Haley sitting on the stool as Lucas tended to her wounded head made her face fall in sadness. "Oh my goodness, Haley."
Haley pushed a piece of her disheveled hair behind her ear as Lucas cleaned her cuts and bruises. "Nope. Not a joke, Brooke." She sniffled with an embarrassed smile.
Brooke looked to Peyton, surprised to see the girl looking worried let alone there. "What happened?" She frowned tearfully.
"I ran into her after her encounter with Chris." She whispered in what sounded like remorse. "I can't believe he did this."
Lucas' face was steady as he cleaned up the open wound above her eyebrow. "This wasn't the first time, was it?" He asked her tightly.
Brooke's face drowned in recognition. "Of course." She breathed, looking to Peyton. "I told you. The night that I brought you you're keys." She remembered her suspicions, looking back to Haley. "That jerk!"
"Why didn't you tell anybody, Haley?" Peyton asked sorrowfully. "We would've helped you." Her lifeless, nervous smile spoke volumes of guilt for not believing Brooke.
She shrugged lightly, as if not to mess up Lucas' work. "He promised to leave if I didn't say anything." Her voice was low and grief-stricken.
Lucas' struggled to swallow as he heard the news. He'd blackmailed her to get another shot at hurting her. "I'm going to kill him." He admitted somberly.
"You and Nathan, both." Brooke snorted in disbelief, her face creased as if she was forcing herself not to cry. "I kind of knew something happened and I talked to Nathan about it yesterday." She shrunk back as Lucas' eyes bore into her.
"What, you just forgot to tell me?" He spoke incredulously.
"I was going to come to you next, Luke. I swear." Brooke pleaded softly. "I just wasn't sure…" She looked away and to the door when they heard it open.
Haley looked up slowly, in some way feeling uncomfortable around him with her situation. And, there he was, storming through with panic painted on his face. His eyes met hers and his face furrowed over with dread and most of all, sadness.
He swallowed, he was already half way to her. "Haley." He breathed the words in something that sounded like relief as he scooped her up, oblivious to Lucas' who had been wiping the cut clean. He held her to him for dear life, like there'd never be another day he'd get the chance, and she clung tearfully to him just the same, unspoken promises fleeting between them. He murmured soothing words in her ear, that only the two of them could hear and understand. Words of his love and her beauty. She cried with tears of resolve.
His hand smoothed over her hair and he lightly kissed her forehead, but fierceness was in the action. He finally opened his eyes, focusing on Lucas'. "I'm gonna go look for him. You?" He spoke evenly with gritted teeth, his eyes saying everything else.
Lucas' eyes said the same. "Yep."
"You guys," Peyton stood up, shaking her head, "shouldn't we call the police instead?"
"No." Haley spoke up, wiping tears from her face. "We should just leave it alone."
"So he can get away with it?" Nathan argued, shaking his head, pulling back to look into her face.
"Or so he can do it to the next girl?" Brooke added in disagreement to Haley.
"Something has to happen to the guy, Hales." Lucas' said from behind her, looking at the blood that matted hair to the back of her head. "And you should go to the hospital." He walked closer to her and brushed his fingers over the wound. "The blood's dry, so the bleeding's stopped but…" He shook his head and sighed, poking a hand in his pocket. It was unbelievable that this had happened to her.
Nathan followed his line of vision, moving his hand over the wounded spot in the back of her head also. He winced with concern. "I'm taking you."
"I'm fine." She protested softly.
Nathan examined her body and ruffled clothing, noticing the marks on her neck, the cut on her forehead, he wanted to throw himself off of a cliff for letting this. "What happened?" He asked in wary gloom. Miserably. Gazing into her broken brown eyes.
Looking down at her lap, she sniffed and shook her head. "Nothing I want to relive, that's for sure."
He bit his bottom lip to contain anger and hugged her close again. "I'm gonna kill him, Luke. I am." His eyes meeting his brother's.
"And where's that gonna land you, Nathan? In jail?" Haley chuckled humorlessly, pushing away to look in his face. "Let's leave it alone, guys."
"No, we won't leave it alone. I say we call the police." Brooke raised her hand in dispute.
"So do I." Peyton muttered lowly, stepping to stand next to Brooke.
Nathan looked down at Haley and sat across from her on the next barstool. Slowly, he brushed the hair out of her face and cupped her cheek, his eyes meeting hers. "I'm so sorry, Haley." He looked down in thought for a moment before looking up at he, finally understanding. "This is what happened the other night, isn't it?"
Haley looked away from him with a tired sigh. "I… Nathan…" She looked back up at him. "He said he'd leave if I didn't say anything. He…" She covered her face, crying softly. "I didn't think," she started, removing her hands, "I didn't think he'd do it again." She composed herself forcedly, inhaling. "I thought he'd leave."
He grabbed her hand and ran his thumb along the top of it before bringing it to his lips and kissing it gently. He let her skin linger there as he sighed. "Come on." He stood up and led her with him by her hand. Swallowing back the lump in his throat, he looked over at the other three standing there. "I'm gonna take her to the hospital…I'll call the police from there."
"I'm coming." Lucas said walking towards them.
"Yeah, so are we." Brooke spoke for her and Peyton, standing in front of Haley and putting a hand on her arm. "I'm so sorry this happened." She said compassionately, pulling the shorter girl into a hug.
Haley hugged her back, letting out a deep breath into her hair. "At least he didn't get to finish what he wanted to."
Nathan felt a breath he didn't know he was holding fly past his lips at her muffled words. He had been afraid to ask, afraid he'd hear the wrong thing. The thing that he didn't know if he could handle. He put a hand around her waist as the two pulled apart. Then, he watched her, her tear stained face made his heart break. She was trying to be stronger than she really was and he just wanted to let her throw out her defenses and break down on him. Therefore, he could pick the pieces up for her. No matter how long it took, he would.
With those thoughts swimming in his head, it forced him to pull her into another hug. "Let's go." He whispered brokenly into her ear.
Lucas shook his head at Brooke as he drove, eyes squinted in disbelief. "I can't believe you didn't tell me."
She rolled her eyes at the recurring subject. "Lucas, get over it already. Please."
"You told Peyton, Nathan. Just not me. Why?" He asked, honestly peeved about it. "I thought we were close."
"Lucas, I wasn't sure of what went on myself. And I knew what you would do." She admitted in a mutter, lowering her lids as she looked out of the window, a lack of better places to look.
He looked over at her expectantly, one hand on the wheel. When she didn't continue, he waved his free hand through the air. "And that is…?"
"Go to Chris first, Haley second." She said in a huff. "And what if I had been wrong? You would've totally kicked his ass for nothing." Shaking her head dismissively, "Besides, Nate's her husband."
"I'm her best friend." He defended, glancing at Peyton in the back seat to see whose side she'd silently taken.
"Luke," Peyton met his gaze with a resistant one-sided shrug, "it's…it's her husband, dude."
Taking that as his sign to give it up, he sighed. "This just really sucks, you know. I knew something was wrong with her, but this?"
Brooke crossed her arms over her chest and looked out of the window sadly. "You know what even sucks more than that?" She scoffed in spite of herself. "I made her pick Chris for that Fantasy Boy Draft thing."
Peyton looked down at her own lap. "That's not as bad as me." She smiled sarcastically. "I picked Nathan to piss her off."
"Hey. You guys." Lucas spoke up, interjectionally. "Don't even blame yourselves. It is not your guys' fault. It's all at the blame of Chris Keller." Who he wanted to decapitate right now, he added to himself.
"That's what they say on movies." Peyton started, clearly blaming herself. "You know, the martyr of the group tells the other kids who obviously did something wrong to 'not blame themselves'," her fingers moved in exaggerated, makeshift parenthesis, " but in the end, who do you blame when that one thing that those kids did could've changed a whole series of situations?" She plopped back against the seat, her arms crossed too, her eyes rimming with unshed tears. She looked out the window in the back, hoping to hide her despair.
"I just wanted to pick you for the draft." Obviously agreeing with Petyon, Brooke glanced out of the window. "I didn't know this would happen." She whispered, tightening her jaw, hoping to stop the sprint of oncoming tears.
"That's why it's not your fault." He said lightly, then looked at Peyton in the rearview. "Or yours."
Peyton swatted the tears on her cheeks away as if they hadn't been there. "Whatever." She muttered, constricting her arms around her. "I just wish I could've done things differently."
"Look, It's not your fault that Chris Keller's an ass." He argued in conclusively. "If it hadn't been Haley, it'd have been some other girl."
Brooke looked over at Lucas with a half smile, taking his words in thought. "I guess you're right."
He smiled back at her. "I am."
But Peyton didn't feel too sure.
Her head was leaning back, the icepack that Lucas had given her right before they left stuffed neatly between her head and the headrest. She had hardly looked at him, she could hardly face him. She felt so stupid for being damaged like this, for him knowing that this had happened to her. Rubbing at her exhausted face, she looked over at him and forced a small smile when she saw that he was watching her.
He reached over and grabbed her hand. "You know, Haley. Nothing like this is ever going to happen to you again. I promise."
"Nathan, it's alright." She whispered, looking at their joined hands.
"Stop saying that! It's not alright, Hales!" He spat angrily. Not angry with her. Of course, he just wanted to get to Chris. To snap his neck. To punch him until he was satisfied.
"Wh…what am I supposed to say?!" She countered in defeat, throwing up one of her hands. Tears clouded her eyes and she looked out of the window, she hated crying so much.
Abruptly, he pulled over to the side of the road and cut off the car. "Say…say that it hurts, Haley. Tell me how scared you are and how much you hate him." He squeezed her hand in encouraging affection. "Say that…you wish you never met him." He shot her a pained look but she wasn't looking at him. "Say anything. Just don't tell me that it's alright because it's not...alright."
With her free hand, she covered her mouth, still not looking at him. She cried quietly. "What if…what if I couldn't say all that?" Finally, with a determined intake of air, she looked to him. "What if all I could say is that…I feel like this is entirely my fault? Like I provoked him? Like…" She covered her mouth, but sobs still were seeping through. "Like I deserved this?"
She tried to look away from him but he caught her face with his hand, holding her gaze to his. His face was furrowed in heart wrenching ache. "Haley, what?" His tone was incredulous. "No." He told her, desperate that she believe him. "None of that is true. You, you're so amazing Haley," he felt like his own eyes would water, "you deserve nothing but the best things out of life. You don't, you could never deserve this." He stroked her face with his hand, staring at her as she looked down. Then he felt it, his own tears were prickling at his eyes. "This is all my fault."
"No. No," Haley shook her head to disagree. "No, it's not."
"Yeah." He clenched his teeth. "It is. See Haley, I…I paid Chris to come back. To help you with your music. Brooke told me you hadn't been writing like you wanted to and I just…" He looked down, feeling unworthy of looking into her eyes. "I wanted to help you."
Haley gazed at him in utter surprise.
"I know, it was stupid and-"
"You did that for me?" She said quietly.
"-it was the biggest mistake I-" He was cut short by heavenly lips crashing into his mouth. It soothed her, he could feel it. Moving his hand to cup the back of her neck, he moved gracefully into the kiss, the lost feeling that had been settled into the pit of him for so long suddenly evaporated. After moments of soaking in the beautiful feel of her, he slowly broke the kiss, sighing against her face as he rested his forehead lightly on hers. "Haley, I'm-"
"Nathan, don't apologize. This isn't your fault. I," closing her eyes to revel in the moment, she smiled softly, "I think you're the one thing in my life that could make me smile right now."
"That's what I want." He whispered, holding her face between his hands. "I want to be the one to make you smile right now. Tomorrow. Forever." When she tried to look down, he ducked his head, keeping his eyes leveled with hers. "I don't want us to be apart anymore, Hales." He urged her to look directly at him. "I just…I want us to be together again."
"Nathan," she shook her head in mild objection, "I don't want this to be the reason we get back together. I want you to want me because-"
"Because I love you and you're the most wonderful person I know? Because I hate it when we're not together?" He placed a sensual peck on her lips. "Because I need you more than I need anything in this world?" His eyes held the most vulnerable look known to mankind. "Hales, for too long now we've been apart. I want to wake up with you in my arms again. I want to go to sleep knowing you are right there beside me. I want to," he swiped her falling tears from her cheeks with his thumbs as he spoke, "know that I have you to come home to." A sad, sheepish half smile formed on his face. "And if you want, Hales, you can have me forever, because I love you." He reached up and brushed his lips across her forehead. "And I don't see myself stopping anytime soon."
More tears fogged her eyes as she sniveled. "I love you, too, Nathan." She leaned forward and kissed him once, looked up, glancing into his eyes to make sure it was what he wanted before moving in and kissing him again.
"Hey, Nathan." Lucas called, walking out of Haley's room. The girl's were in there with Haley and he needed to slip out and catch Nathan. He'd seen the look in his eyes. The hard look that promised to those that could read him that this wasn't over. "I called my mom; she should be here any minute." He said when he caught up to him, mostly for small talk purposes.
Nathan nodded his head sadly. "That's good." He said awkwardly, stopping and poking a hand in his pocket and looking at his brother expectantly. "So…?"
Lucas gave him a biased look. "Nathan, I just want to tell you that…"
"Are you with me or not, Luke? I'm going to beat the hell of the asshole either way." He looked sternly at him. His mind had been made up the moment Lucas' called him.
"The police said that they're going to handle it, Nate. Maybe we shouldn't do this." But his words secretly betrayed him, he wanted to handle it himself as much as Nathan did.
"Yeah, that's what they always say." Nathan scoffed heartily at the law, then looked back to his brother as his staid laugh simmered. "You know what? Seeing him in jail wouldn't satisfy me much right now."
"Me either, man, but-"
"Yes or no? That's all I need to know." Nathan raised a brow, giving Lucas a defiant glare. He wasn't backing out.
Reluctantly, Lucas nodded. "Yeah, man. I'm with you." He held out his hand and gripped Nathan's when he hit it in a pact. A secret promise to handle this the Scott way.
Nathan looked around dully. "I'm taking Haley home so if you guys wanna go home…" He led, knowing that it was late.
"Yeah, we better. It's getting late." He glanced at his watch quickly before giving Nathan a pensive stare. "Thanks, Nate."
"For what?" Nathan asked a little confused.
"For looking after Haley." He said lowly but earnestly.
Nathan snorted at the honor he was offered. "I didn't do that good, did I? Look what happened." He looked down at his shoes in self-loathing.
Patting his younger brother's shoulder, he smiled proudly. "I think you did just fine." They hadn't really been getting along that well, but he was sure that this had brought them together again. Nathan must have been thinking the same, because he returned his look intently.
The meaningful eye contact fled in a few seconds. "I should be thanking you for what you did for her." Nathan said, breaking the growing awkwardness.
Lucas shook his head with a soft sigh. "I don't need any thanks. Haley's my best friend." He stared at his dejected brother before heaving out a bigger sigh. "But I'm gonna take Brooke and Peyton home now. You gonna be alright?"
"Yeah." He nodded once and then pointed his thumb down the hall. "I'm gonna go get Hales her coffee."
"Alright, later man." Lucas raised his head in riddance as he walked away.
Nathan watched him for a while before going on his own way.
Karen knocked twice before opening the door, a sad smile on her face. "Haley?"
Haley smiled softly. "Hey Karen."
"Lucas called me." She explained briefly. An apprehensive look on her face, "Are you alright?"
"Yeah." She nodded comfortingly. "Few scrapes and bruises but, I'll be okay."
Karen smiled, happy with the news, but sad at the situation. "I'm sorry this happened to you."
"It's not your fault." Haley shook her head.
"I know but, I just feel like, I should've been there or something." Smiling proudly, she pulled the girl into a hug. "I'm so happy you're alright."
"I am." Haley reassured.
Pulling away, Karen smiled into the girls face. "Do you need a lift home?"
"Nathan's gonna take me." She said partially, not wanting to be rude. "But thanks for offering."
"Oh no, it's okay." Karen patted Haley's hands. "I just wanted to make sure you were alright." Nathan walked in and Karen turned to face him. She smiled. "Hi Nathan."
"Hi." He smiled in greeting, handing Haley the cup of coffee he'd been intent on giving her since they got there.
"Well, I'm gonna go then." She hugged Haley again and placed a kiss on her cheek. "I love you, Haley. You don't have to come to work tomorrow if you don't-"
"I'll be there." Haley promised blankly.
"No, don't. Take time off if you…" She motioned to the girl. "You know, need it. I insist, actually." Karen smiled before opening the door. "Call me."
"I will." Haley promised. "Love you." She waved gently.
"See you, Karen." Nathan called, sitting on the bed next to Haley.
"Bye." Karen gave one more wave before walking out.
"You ready?" Nathan asked softly, grabbing her hand.
"Yeah." She nodded and they both stood. He grabbed her things and they headed out the door.
"What are you thinking about?" Brooke asked Lucas quietly, the sleepiness evident in her voice. They'd just dropped Peyton off, who Brooke reminded herself to talk to tomorrow. She could tell that Peyton hadn't been satisfied with Lucas' attempted persuasion of whose fault it was.
He looked over at her, his voice breaking his reverie. "Nothing." He said distractedly.
Brooke laughed sheepishly, shifting so that Lucas' sweater covered her more. "Yeah, right. Try again, and this time, make it believable."
He glanced over at her and then back at the road. "It's just hard to know that someone like that was around you guys'."
Brooke smiled proudly. "It doesn't make it as bad knowing that we have a guy like you around."
Smiling in unfocused thanks, he shook his head. "I just, I want to be more alert for things like this. You know, you grow up with someone and you think that nothing like this could ever happen and then…it does."
"At least she's okay." Brooke reassured, staring at him.
He looked over at her, blankly. "He's still out there, Brooke."
"I know. Which is like, really creepy. But I doubt he'll do it again." She closed her eyes for a second and then they snapped open, worriedly. "Do you think he'd try to do it again?"
Wanting to assure her that he wouldn't, he shrugged, going for honesty. "I honestly don't know."
She lifted her knees to cradle in the seat. "Lucas, could I…stay with you tonight?"
He looked over at her in dumbfounded shock. Finally, he recognized the look on her face. "Brooke, are you scared?" He asked doubtfully.
She looked away from him with a nervous, tell-all chuckle. "No." She answered unconvincingly.
He smiled lazily at her. "Yeah, you can stay with me tonight." He whispered softly.
She smiled back at him. "Thanks."
Haley sat on the couch with Nathan who had insisted he stay there until Brooke got home. Haley rubbed at her sleepy face. "She probably stayed with Lucas tonight or something." Haley told him. "You can go."
"I don't want to go." He told her quietly.
"Are you sure?" She didn't want to make him stay there to look after her. Of course, she was scared, but she was willing herself not to be.
He nodded, pulling her to him so that her head was tucked beneath his head. He pressed a kiss to her temple. "I'm more than sure."
Haley sighed in relief and let her eyes close. "Nathan…thanks for…everything."
"Haley, no. Don't thank me." He ran his hand up and down her arm.
"I have to." She told him, scooting up so that she was sitting on his lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck. "You're always there for me."
"Because I love you." He promised, pushing her hair out of her face before kissing her. When he pulled away, he looked into her eyes. "I don't wanna…ask this, but…what happened?"
Bracing herself, she took a deep breath and brought her hands to rest in her lap. She looked away from him. "Well…"
"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." He reminded softly, wrapping his arms snuggly around her waist.
"No, no." She frowned in thought, looking down as she twiddled with her fingers. "Um, wow. Where do I start?" Forcing a smile, she glanced up at him. "Uh, the night of the Fantasy Draft thing, well, we went back to his place to work on my song." She cleared her throat softly and shook her head. "He kissed me and I tried to push away and he just…he wouldn't stop."
Nathan let out a deep breath, trying to contain his anger. "Why didn't you tell me then?" He wondered aloud.
"I don't know." She weakly justified. "I was so scared, Nathan. I couldn't even think straight. To feel so helpless and overpowered is so…scary. I physically couldn't move and I…" Finding it hard to continue, she looked up at him. "I felt like he got the best of me or something."
His leg bounced briefly in a method to restrain his rage and he looked away from her. "Asshole." He muttered. He was going to be getting the best of him.
"But the second time, I fought back. I refused to let it happen again." She continued, somehow hoping it would make him feel better. "And I got away."
"Every time you say that, it makes me so happy." He breathed the words happily, pulling her head to his so that he could rest his forehead on hers. His eyes slipped closed at the calming feel. "I mean, I hate that all of this happened, but to know that he didn't get to do that to you…"
"I know." She nodded against his head. She brought a hand up to his face and smiled caringly. "Just promise me that you won't…do anything stupid, Nate."
He opened his eyes and met hers. He didn't want to say it. "Haley…"
"Nathan." She whined sternly. "Please?"
He shifted his eyes away from her. "I promise." He mumbled.
"Good." She nodded and leaned up to kiss his forehead. "Now, want to go to bed?"
"Yeah." Smiling softly back at her, he lifted her in his arms as he stood. "I love you, Hales."
She kissed him deeply in return, and that said enough for him.