Disclaimer: I do not own OTH

Hey guys here is another one for you. I just had to say I'm so excited that I have 100 reviews :) Also to answer naleyluv's question, Lucas is staying on couch even though it's his childhood home... Nathan is after all injured :)

Chapter 14: Waiting For The Fall

Nathan had surprised himself. He had managed to make it all the way to the local bar by himself. The sharp pains that had shot through his body had now happened so often that he had come accustomed to it. It had been 8 days since he had woken up in the hospital after the accident. A few days ago he had thrown the wheelchair he had been using out the front door and had told Lucas he wasn't going to roll around anymore, he was now on crouches. Lucas had tried to talk to him out of it saying that it could do more damage and he needed to be careful so that he would heal as soon as possible. But Lucas didn't know. He didn't know that it didn't matter anymore.

"Whisky" Nathan said to the bartender once he had taken a seat at the bar. Haley was at work right now. Nathan missed her when she wasn't around. They had been spending a lot of time together over the past eight days. The relationship had turned into a great friendship with the occasional kiss, nothing more. Nathan figured it was for the best to not rush into anything and Haley seemed to agree with him. But the more time he spent with her, the harder it became for him when she wasn't around. Nathan found himself needing to get away when Haley wasn't there. He had convinced Lucas that he should spend time with Brooke during the day since they were not living together anymore. This made it easy for Nathan to hobble his way down here for a drink

He downed the whisky in one go when it arrived and then ordered another. They were only two things the made him stop thinking about the loss basketball. Haley and booze. Nathan was still angry at his mother, she should have told him as soon as she found out instead of letting him believe that he would be back on the court in a few months. Nathan hated this. Why should he be the one to suffer all the time. Growing up with Dan. His mother leaving for that summer and then becoming a pill junkie. Haley leaving him. And now the only thing he could always turn to when things got bad was also gone. He loved the game, he loved it more then life it self. Basketball was a huge part of who he was and now without it, he felt hollow and alone.

"Nathan" Jake said a little surprised. He walked over and sat next to him.

"Jake... Hey" Nathan said also with surprise, "What are you doing here?"

"My band is playing here tomorrow night. I'm just dropping off some stuff now to lighten the load" Jake told him as he watched the bartender put down a glass of Whiskey beside two already empty ones. "What are you doing here?"

"Just relaxing" Nathan said to him before he sipped his drink.

"So how are you anyway?"

"Fine" Nathan replied with disinterest. Jake could see he wasn't paying any attention to his presence.

"Are you sure?" Jake asked with concern.

"What... Yeah Jake. I just have a lot on my mind right now" Nathan told him as he nursed his drink.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Deb can I ask you something?" Lucas asked her. They were in the cafe. Haley was working and you could feel the tension radiating around the small business.

"Sure" Deb replied. She hadn't spoken much to Lucas or Karen over the past few days. She rang them once a day just to make sure Nathan was still alright but that was the extant of their conversations.

"What happened between you and Nathan. He doesn't want to talk about it but I can tell something is really bothering him at the moment" Lucas told her.

"It's up to Nathan to tell you. I don't want to interfere with his life" Deb replied.

"You mean more then you already have... I'm sorry" Lucas said when he saw the hurt look on her face, "I know he should be the one to tell, but he won't. And I think I should know. I don't know whats wrong so I can't try and help to fix it".

"Lucas... Nathan is upset with me because his doctor told me some things and I didn't tell him".

"What things?" Lucas asked her with concern.

"He won't be able to play pro basketball anymore Lucas. His knee his to damaged" Deb said with a sad expression, "I was trying to save him the pain. I wanted to wait until he was feeling a bit better and would be in a better condition to handle the news".

"It must be killing him" Lucas said more to himself then to her. Lucas knew how much Nathan loved basketball, how he lived for it. Lucas sometimes felt that a basketball was a part of Nathan's body, some times for weeks you wouldn't see him without one in his hand. It was almost like an extension of him.

"I'm surprised he didn't tell you" Deb told him.

"So am I" Lucas replied.

-------------------------------------------

"Nathan!" Lucas called when he walked into the house. He saw his brother asleep in front of the TV. He walked down and sat next to him and lightly shook him.

"What... Hey" Nathan said in a drowsy voice. He rubbed his eyes and yawned.

"Nate, sorry to wake you but I wanted to talk to you" Lucas said to him. He still had no idea how he was going to approach this conversation.

"It's cool" Nathan said as he sat up a little.

"... I talked to your mom today. She told me about basketball. I just wanted to know if your okay, really okay I mean" Lucas said as he looked at him with a mixture of concern and sympathy.

"She can tell you, but she couldn't tell me" Nathan said with an annoyed tone.

"I asked her" Lucas simply replied as he waited for Nathan's answer.

"I'm fine Lucas, stop looking at me like I'm about to fall apart".

"I'm just worried Nathan. I know how much basketball means to you" Lucas said to him.

"Seriously it's okay... I mean in reality I have nothing left now. Basketball was the only good thing I had going for me and know it's gone... But hell, I'm great" Nathan said sarcastically.

"You have good things in your life Nate" Lucas said to him. He tried his best to seem reassuring but he knew he was failing.

"Good things... Like what. I have fucken nothing and we both know it!" Nathan yelled at him.

"You have friends and family who love you" Lucas said as he tried to place a comforting hand on Nathan, but Nathan moved away.

"That's a joke Lucas. My dad is the devil, my mother is a liar. I don't see or hear from Peyton and Jake. And you and Brooke are moving here... Didn't think I knew about that did you. Were you going to tell me?" Nathan asked him.

"We were only thinking about we didn't make a decision until the morning before your accident" Lucas said to him. He knew that Nathan wasn't upset because they were leaving, he was upset because they didn't tell him.

"You've had eight days to tell me Lucas. Your as bad as my fucken mother" Nathan told him.

"Nathan I'm sorry I didn't tell you okay, I love you. Your my brother and I would do anything for you. But I have to live my life" Lucas said to him.

"I get that Lucas. I'm happy for you and Brooke and I'm fine with you living here, it has nothing to do with me. But you could have told me, and you didn't and it pisses me off" Nathan told him.

"Do you think maybe your getting angry and me and your mom because you haven't faced the truth about basketball yet" Lucas said.

"Fuck you Lucas. I'm angry at you two because your liars. And I know that my career is over I'm not in fucken denial about it. I think about it all the time. My life is over, i get it trust me. I'm nothing now, I'm shit and I'm worthless. The only thing that I was ever good at is gone. I might as well just jump of a bridge. There is nothing for me anymore" Nathan said to him. Nathan had never needed a drink more in his life. He looked around the room and spotted a bottle of scotch. He made his way over to it and then took a swig straight out of the bottle.

"What are you doing?" Lucas asked him. He didn't like the way Nathan was talking, it scared him.

"What does it look like... I'm sick of this, I'm out of here" Nathan said to him as he slowly tried to make his way to the door.

"Nathan" Lucas said as he jumped up and stood in the door way, "Every thing will be okay. You still have things, you have me and you have Haley. You two have been getting along so great lately".

"Haley... Was right when she cheated on me. She did the right thing. She deserves better then a loser like me" Nathan said. He mustered up all the strength he could to push Lucas out of his way. Lucas hit the ground with a loud thump. Nathan walked away.

--------------------------------------------

Haley walked into the bar and slowly scanned the room until she spotted the head of black hair she was looking for. Lucas had called her and told her everything that had happened earlier that say. She had told him she would talk to him, he had suggested she check the bar. "What are you up to?"

"Drinking" Nathan simply replied as she sat down next to him. He loved Haley, he really did. But right now he wasn't in the mood.

"Can I have a vodka and orange" Haley said to the bar tender and Nathan looked at her with surprise, "What... I'm 23, I do drink you know".

"I just... Can't imagine it" Nathan said to her with a small smile. "So did Lucas send you?"

"Yeah. He's worried about you, so is Jake, he saw you here earlier today, and I'm worried about you Nathan" Haley told him.

"Well you don't have to be" Nathan replied.

"I don't believe that" Haley said as she looked at the man she loved. She could see the sadness in his eyes. Even after all this time she could still read him like a book. She could also tell that he wasn't in the mood for a chat. So she decided instead to leave it for now and just sit here with him. She knew that alcohol couldn't fix his problems but she also knew that if she pushed him before he was ready he would pull even further away. So for now she would just keep and eye on him and wait until he was ready.

After a few hours she could tell that Nathan was getting pretty smashed and figured it was about time to try and get him home, "Nate, maybe we should go".

"Nah... I like it here... The alcohol is here" Nathan said in a happy voice as he smashed down another drink.

"I think you've had enough alcohol for one day" She said with a worried tone. This was not going to be easy.

"Your not my mom" Nathan snapped at her.

"No... No I'm not. Please Nathan can we just leave" Haley just wanted to get him away from here.

"I said no!" Nathan yelled at her, "I'm staying you can do whatever you want".

"Nathan stop acting like a child. You have had to much to drink already" Haley was trying anything and everything, even anger.

"I'll stop acting like a child when everybody stops treating me like one" Nathan spat back at her. "You all tiptoe around me and treat me like glass... I'm not that fragile Haley".

"Nathan... This is not helping you, please come with me" Haley said. Nathan looked at her and saw it in her eyes. She was scared, scared for him. Her eyes were pleading with him to just say yes and leave.

"Fine" Nathan said in a defeated tone.

"Thank-you" Haley said as she went to try and help him get up but she stopped when she saw the look he shot her.

"Let's go" Nathan said once he was ready to start walking. Haley slowly walked beside him, her head was full of thoughts. She knew that Nathan was going through a hard time. She had been lucky that he had given up so easily this time, she wasn't sure that he would next time. She knew that Nathan still loved her, she also knew that Nathan loved his booze. What she didn't know was which one would win in the end.

TBC

As always thanks for reading and please review :)