Chapter Four.

xXx

What the hell was he doing? Was the only thought going through Nathan's mind. Wasn't it enough that he'd saved her from certain death? No. Now he was walking her home, too. She had been really shaken up by her fall. She... Haley. As he now knew her name. Haley had kept mumbling to herself about things that made no sense to him. The rain had finally eased up, so at least there was that. Didn't change the fact that they were both freezing and soaked to the bone though.

They both continued walking in silence, until Haley spoke. "Can I... tell you something?"

"...I guess." Haley stopped walking, which made Nathan stop walking. He watched her bite her bottom lip, while shifting her eyes to look around.

She looked terrified.

Haley hesitated, unsure whether she should say anything or not. After all, Nathan was a stranger, who she'd only ever seen around campus before last week. But that stranger did save her life earlier. And she really needed someone to talk to "I overheard something I shouldn't have..." she started, keeping her voice low. "Someone killed my cousin. And I'm scared they're gonna come for me and my Uncle next."

Nathan was really confused. So he said the first thing that popped into his head. "Huh?"

"I was in her apartment. I felt sick, so I went into the bathroom. Then I heard some guy and he was talking on the phone. He said as long as they paid him. He'd kill whoever. I panicked and climbed out the window."

"And that's why you fell?" he was putting the pieces together.

Haley nodded her head. She could feel tears stinging her eyes. "I don't what Peyton was involved in. But that guy was looking for something." She started pacing up and down. "I know we don't know each other. I know I shouldn't be telling you any of this. But I don't know what to do. I can't go to the police. There's no proof. They wouldn't believe me anyway. They're pretty much convinced it was a suicide. I can't talk to my Uncle about this, he's going through enough as it is. I can't tell any of my friends either, they'll have me committed..."

Nathan listened to her rambling to herself.

And he thought ghouls had problems.

Haley stopped pacing. "You probably don't believe me, right? I mean why the hell would you." She ran her fingers through her wet hair in frustration. "I sound crazy."

"Yes you do." He couldn't help but agree with her on that. "But. I believe you."

"You do?" she looked at him with disbelief.

"Sure." He shrugged. Why not. If Nathan and the other ghouls were constantly looking over their shoulders worrying about him finding them. Then why shouldn't Haley be worried about someone after her, too.

"Oh my God. Thank you." She quickly wrapped her arms around his neck. "Thank you."

"Um... Okay?" Wow. She sure was a hugger, this one. Nathan wasn't sure what to do. Then that floral scent on her skin hit him again. Harder this time. What was that? It made him feel... Kind of...

Strange.

He slowly hugged her back, as he closed his eyes and breathed her in. "Do you wanna come back to my place?" he asked. The second those words left his lips, Nathan's eyes shot open in shock. Where the fuck had that come from?! He never let anyone come to his apartment. Let alone a freaking human!

Shit.

He couldn't take it back now. Otherwise she'll think he's the crazy one. He gently pushed her away from him. He didn't want to give her the wrong idea. But what could he say?! "To dry off...?" he cleared his throat. "I m... meant to dry off."

Haley looked surprised by that. She didn't know Nathan, but she got the impression he was rather... aloof. "Oh?"

Please say no. Please say no. I don't know why the hell I said that, but please say no. Nathan kept on repeating inside his head.

"I appreciate the offer. But I can't. Sorry."

Yes! Thank you.

"I really need to get home and check on my Uncle."

Nathan nodded in agreement. "Yes. You should."

"Will you still walk with me, though?"

"...Yeah."

And with that, the two of them started walking together again in silence. They hadn't even noticed the girl with long dark hair, carrying a jacket in her hand; that was far too big for her, watching them from across the street.

She did not look happy.

xXx

Lucas had spent the last three hours going over the files in front of him. It didn't make sense. Why hadn't his old partner informed them about this? Was he hiding something? And why Tree Hill of all places? Lucas had gotten in touch with an old contact earlier. She told him that if he wanted to talk, they would be better off meeting face to face. She wouldn't say anymore than that and hung up on him.

What was going on in that town?

Making a tough decision, Lucas stacked all the 'Tree Hill' files into one pile, before getting up from his seat. Grabbing the pile, he quickly made his way out of his office and towards the elevators. He was going to talk to his boss about a transfer.

It was funny how life turned out.

After all these years of trying to get away from that town and it's bad memories, Lucas 'Scott' Lee was finally going home.

xXx

Closing the door behind him with a soft thud, Nathan was glad to be home. After dropping Haley off and making sure no one had followed them, he went to the cafe to pick up his jacket. Karen told him that Lily had already taken it with her to give to him.

Sensing someone was standing behind him, Nathan quickly turned, only to have his 'missing' jacket thrown in his face. Pulling it away from him, he saw his sister standing there with her arms crossed, glaring at him. "Damn it, Lil." He said annoyed, as he hung up his jacket. "How did you get in here?"

"Picked the lock." She replied like it was the most obvious thing.

"Not again." He sighed. "I told you to stop doing that."

"Why? It's not like you have a girlfriend." She watched her brother take a seat on his beat-up old tacky looking couch. "Or am I missing something?"

"What are you talking about?" Nathan looked at her confused.

"I'm talking about your little human friend, Nate. The two of you looked pretty cosy together."

"Are you spying on me?" he sounded annoyed.

"No. I'm worried about you."

"Well don't. Because there's nothing going on. She was just thanking me for helping her. That's all." He decided not to tell Lily anything more than that. Why should he? It was none of her business. He was so sick of his sister acting like she was years older instead of minutes.

"Okay. If you say so." Lily turned to leave.

Nathan got up to follow her to the door. "Wait, that's it? You're not gonna give me some big speech about how 'you're always too soft when it comes to the humans..." he was doing his best impression of her. "Or about 'how careful you need to be around this girl. What if you start spilling all our secrets to her? Oh Nate, what will I tell Brooke and Julian? Do you want those bastards from the organization to find us? Do you want him to find us? You're so careless little brother. Why would you do something so stupid...?'

Lily stood there with her hands on her hips, glaring at her brother as he continued to do a horrible impression of some of the things she would have said to him, had she not been running late for something. "Are you done?"

"Yes." He cleared his throat. He may have gotten a bit carried away.

"Good." She lifted her arm, like she was about to give him a one-armed hug or something, only to smack him hard up-side the head."

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Three reasons. One, I do not sound like that at all. Two, I think you gave yourself the speech for me. And three, I'm already late for a job interview."

Nathan scoffed. "Another one? You know, if you tried being nicer to people, you wouldn't get fired from every job you get." He chuckled.

Lily mocked chuckled along with him, before giving him another hard smack up-side the head."

"Ow! Stop hitting me."

"Stop being a dick." She told him, opening the door. "I'll see you later."

"Yeah fine." He grumbled, rubbing the back of his head. "Just do me a favour and not break into my apartment next time." The only reply he got was Lily flipping him off as she walked away from his place. "Love you too, sis." Nathan rolled his eyes at that as he shut the door.

xXx

A/N- Okay, that's done. On to chapter five...

Happy New Year Everyone.

Here's hoping it's a hell of a lot better than the last for me and mine... lol.

xxx