Hey, thanx for the great reviews and thanx for reading. This is a little fluffier than the other chapters, it wraps everything up. Hope you like it!

Slower, Slower

Haley smiled softly when Nathan crept into her room. He was still wearing the tuxedo from the wedding and it had been about five days since the accident. He looked tired and wore down and she'd been telling him to go home and clean up but he refused to leave her side. "I'm awake." Her scratchy voice informed as he tip-toed closer.

"Did I wake you up?" He questioned worriedly.

She frowned and shook her head. "No, no. I just can't sleep."

"Do you need anything?" He questioned, running to her side.

She shook her head. "I'm fine."

The doctor had just left the room after checking on the status of their child growing inside of her. He told her that if the baby was okay, she'd be leaving no later than tomorrow and if not, she would be staying. Then, he gave her the results on her baby's condition and now she was to tell Nathan. Nathan had been downstairs on the phone, explaining Haley's status to Deb who had called, seemingly worried about Haley and surprised and even more worried with the news of her unborn grandchild.

And now, he was afraid to ask what was going to happen to their child. "So, what'd he say?"

Haley smiled waveringly, as if she didn't know whether he'd be happy or not. "He said that the baby was going to be just fine."

Nathan let out a breath of relief and then smiled happily, wiping his hands over his face. "That's...great." He answered for a lack of better words. "That's so great, Hales. What about you? Are you gonna be alright?"

"Yeah," she waved at him dismissively. "I'll be fine. But supposedly, I have a lot of bed rest I'll need to be doing when I get home." She rolled her eyes, they both knew how she hated just sitting in bed all day.

Nathan nodded vehemently, running a hand over her tousled hair. "Well, you have to do it if the doctor says it'll help you get better, Hales. Don't worry. I'll be right there. I'll do anything you need me to do." He clarifed seriously.

"No, Nathan. Stop." She demanded quietly, gently stopping the movement of his hand on her head. "You don't owe me anything."

He frowned at her, her words putting him in a baffled state. "Haley," he started seriously, "I owe you everything." Their eyes met and he held her gaze. "I owe you my life."

Haley's eyes stubbornly watered. "No, really--"

"Haley, when you were in that coma, I couldn't do anything but think about all the things we hadn't done yet." He sat in the chair beside her and grabbed her hand, bringing it to his lips and reveling in the feel of her soft skin. His eyes slipped closed and he took a deep breath. "And the first thing that came to my mind was that, I want to have a family with you. Go to college where you went to college. I want to grow old with you." His eyes opened and his own tears pricked at his eyes as they met hers. "Haley, I wanna die with you." He paused and inhaled a shaky breath. "And you, you came back to me. Haley, I owe you everything."

Haley didn't believe she'd ever heard anything sweeter. "So the baby," she covered her mouth with her hand and looked away from him, trying to hide her tears but failing miserably. "This makes you happy?" Her free hand fell unconsciously over her stomach.

His free hand covered that one. "When you first told me, I was confused and scared," he shrugged slowly, showing that he was still a little scared, "I don't know what kind of father I'm going to be to my kid. And that scares me so much because I've only had one example and it wasn't really a good one." He chuckled nervously. "I really don't know what to expect from myself."

"Nathan, that's never scared me." She told him truthfully, looking back at him. "I know what kind of father you'll be. You'll be...great." She smiled softly at him and rubbed his face with her hand. "Look at what kind of husband you are."

He stared at her for a moment before dropping his head on the bed and sucking in his tears. "Hales, I was so scared I was going to lose you." His voice cracked and he looked up, his own tears were falling. "Just hearing your voice right now, makes me so happy." He smiled through his tears and swallowed. "We're going to have a kid." He told her, sincere happiness glinted in his eyes as he kissed her hand again.

Haley smiled. "I know. And as long as we have each other, we'll be fine."

"We'll be fine." He repeated, losing himself in her eyes as the doctor walked back in. The both of them wiped tears from their faces as the older man approached them. The doctor obviously gave them a moment to compose themselves before speaking.

"Mrs. Scott," he started smiling, "you're being released today."

"Wow, really?" Nathan was shocked that everything was happening so fast.

"Yep. Your wife's a strong woman, Mr. Scott. I've had patients who've gotten less damage than this and have died." He informed with true remorse. "But she stuck it out through the surgery and all."

Nathan gazed at his wife proudly. "Haley's always been pretty strong."

"Can I talk to you outside for a moment, Mr. Scott?"

"Sure." Nathan walked towards him.

The doctor saw Haley's worried gaze. "Mrs. Scott, it's nothing bad. Don't worry about that."

She looked only mildly relieved as they walked out. "What is it?" Nathan wondered nervously.

He smiled at him happily and then handed the clipboard to Nathan. "Just fill out these forms and she's free to go." He looked at the raven-haired boy in front of him as he lapped his hand over the other and motioned towards the door. "But she is to stay off of that leg for at least four to six weeks. Get lots of sleep and no stress at all."

He nodded, her orders becoming emblazed in his mind. "Alright. I can see to that."

"I tried to explain it to her earlier, but she looked quite partial to the news so I wanted to tell you to let you know." He briefly explained before patting him on the shoulder. "And congratulations on you and your wife's pregnancy. She's a lucky woman." He scratched at his temple. "I didn't want to scare her by telling her that no stress is nearly mandatory, that usually seems to scare my patients. But even though everything seems fine, we still need to be really careful. So, the less stress, the less worries we have about her carrying the baby."

Nathan nodded, taking all of the words in. "I got it. I'll look after her."

"I know you will, son." He smiled then motioned towards the door. "Let me just go say goodbye to her. She's one of my most quickly recovering patients."

"Yeah, I'll be right there." He said, pulling his cell phone out. He quickly dialed his brother's number. Lucas answered immediately. "She's getting out right now, so tell Brooke to go ahead."

"Really? That was fast." Lucas answered.

"Yeah. I know." Nathan was happy though, he hated hospitals. "But I have to go."

"Alright. See you in a bit." Lucas replied before hanging up.

When he walked back Haley was small talking with the doctor, but when she saw the eased look on Nathan's face, it made Haley's worries fade away. "Everything okay?" She asked him.

He nodded surely. "Yeah, everything's fine."

Dr. Graham decided to elaborate. "I was just explaining to your husband the guidelines of your bedrest." He clarified with a bright smile. "You are not to walk on your leg for four to six weeks, like I said." He repeated again.

"Yeah, about that. What happens if I just...do it anyway?" Haley asked with an innocent half smile.

"You won't." Nathan replied in the same tone as her, smirking softly.

"You can't watch me forever." She singsonged, looking away.

"I have been since the day we started going out." He retorted in a softer tone.

The doctor just smiled at their interaction. "Just bring those papers up to the front desk when you're done."

"No problem." Nathan had already began filling them out.

"Take care, Mr. and Mrs. Scott."

"You too, Dr. Graham." Haley called and Nathan gave him a friendly wave.

When he walked out, Haley turned to Nathan with a small pout. "Natey," she started, attempting to try and get her way, "are you really gonna make me lay in bed for a month?"

He half rolled his eyes, knowing what she was doing. "Yep." He answered quickly.

"Nathan, that'll stress me out." She complained. "I'm sure I shouldn't be stressing while I'm pregnant." She continued.

He dropped his head back in defeat, momentarily stopping the paperwork. Then, he looked at her. He didn't want her stressing at all. "Fine. What if I carry you around for like an hour a day?"

Her eyes lit up. "You would?"

He nodded. "Of course. And I'm sure you'll get a wheelchair, I could take you out for walks at the park, around the block..." He started, watching as she smiled, her smile was clearly contagious because before long, he was beaming.

"Anything to not be cooped up." She said with a satisfied sigh. "Where's everyone at?"

Inwardly, he winced. He knew he wasn't supposed to tell her, but he knew how much she hated surprises. "Um..." He cleared his throat and avoided her, putting extra concentration on the papers at hand.

Basically, giving himself away in Haley's eyes. "Nathan..." She started warningly. He mumbled something incoherent and she frowned. "What?"

He sighed, knowing that Brooke was going to kill him if she knew that he was going to tell her. "They're throwing you a surprise welcome home party." He repeated reluctantly, again taking a break from the release forms.

Haley looked on in appalled shock, raising up quickly--ignoring the mild pain that shot through her. "Please tell me this is not one of Brooke's brilliant ideas?"

"I don't wanna lie to you..." He started indecisively. "But maybe you should just calm down."

"Ugh! Brooke!" She screeched, sure she'd strangle the girl if she was there. "Does she want everyone to see me looking like some whacked out crash dummy?!"

Nathan stifled a laugh. "Hales, you look beautiful."

"You live with me. You have to say that." She murmured to him, glaring.

"No, I don't." He stood up and sat the papers on the chair, moving to sit on the bed next to her. "I say it because it's true."

"I'm so gonna kill Brooke." She admitted in a whisper, flopping back.

"Well, do me a favor and pretend to be surprised or Brooke'll kill me." He said half jokingly.

"Don't worry, I'll kill her first." She said sweetly smiling at him.

Nathan chuckled and pulled her into his side. "She's just trying to do something nice for you, Hales."

"I know. I just," she snuggled more into him. "I feel like just going home and hitting the bed with my husband."

"Hey, I don't think we can do any of that right now." Nathan smirked as he pressed a kiss to her head after she playfully swatted his leg. "Well, maybe I should call and get them out of there."

"How'd they know I was getting released?" She asked completely confused, raising up.

Nathan dodged her gaze. "I don't know. Brooke's psychic." He mumbled, examining his fingernails too much to be innocent.

She pushed him in his chest lightly--not that her current state would've allowed her to do it any harder. "Nathan, you knew I was getting out?!"

"No, I said you might be getting out today." He explained in surrender. "And I might've told Brooke that, and she might've told half of Tree Hill to be ready for her to call when I called her and confirmed the information."

"Ugh!" She flopped back on her pillow again. "This is insane!"

"If you want me to tell her to call it off, I will." He told her seriously.

"No, no." She said reluctantly, sighing. "I guess Brooke's just trying to be," she glared at the thought, "nice."

He chuckled. "Yeah, she is." He decided in agreement. "But I'll make sure they don't stay that long." He told her, rubbing his thumb along her wedding ring. "Besides, we have a lot of baby planning to do."

She let a small smile creep up on her face. "Maybe that's what I'll be doing when I'm confined to the bed for the next month and a half of my life." She said halfheartedly.

"Hey, don't hog all the baby planning." He joked with a smile. "I want to get him a crib with little basketballs painted all over it, that's so cool." He said, truly excited.

Haley watched him with slightly narrowed eyes. "Okay, maybe our daughter won't be a basketball freak like the Scott's, Nathan."

He laughed and shook his head. "It's so not a girl."

"Yeah, it is. And before we know it, she's going to be dating and kissing boys." She watched as his amusement quickly turned into fatherly worry. "And then we're going to have to have the talk with her because she's gonna be interested in sex." She hid her smile by turning her head.

"I really hope it's not a girl." He said darkly in thought.

Haley couldn't hide it anymore and then laughed. "Maybe she might even meet a womanizer like you."

Nathan smirked at her. "Are you trying to tease me?"

"It's working." She prided in herself as she leaned up to kiss him softly. "But seriously, if I have one more basketball obsessed male around me, I might go crazy."

Nathan laughed and pulled her into a hug. "You love us."

She looked up at him, a mixture of amusement and a glare. "You're right, I do. With the exception of Dan." She quickly pointed out before crinkling her nose. "I guess one more little Scott boy wouldn't hurt." She settled with a shrug of her shoulders.

He smiled happily. "We'll be good parents."

"Yeah, we will." Haley nodded and rested her head against his shoulder. She stifled a yawn as she got comfortable up against him. "You think they'd let me take a little nap in here before I'm released?"

"Yeah, go ahead. I'll just hold off on filling out those papers." He said, getting comfortable next to her also. He let his eyes slip close while he rested his head on top of hers.

She was almost asleep until one last thing crossed her sleepy mind. "Nathan?"

"Hmm?"

She smiled softly. "I never said thank you."

He frowned and opened his eyes. "For what?"

She tightened her arm around his waist. "You saved our lives."

His face took on a grave expression. "You don't have to thank me for that, Hales. I love you. I love our unborn child."

"I know, but you risked your life for us." She said quietly.

He pulled her closer, the memory flashing before his eyes. "I'd do it again." He pressed his lips to her head again, remembering just how lucky they were for her being here. "When I saw you go over, it was the scariest thing I'd ever been through." No one had told her about Lucas' heart attack yet. Since he was okay now, they were going to pick a time to tell her when she could deal with a little stress. "All I could think about was saving you," he brought one of his large hands to her stomach, "saving our baby."

"Who was in the car?" She questioned curiously.

He cleared his throat a little. "Rachel and Cooper."

Her eyes widened as she raised up. "What?"

"Haley, calm down." He said urgently, fearing for her health. "They're fine. Rachel grabbed the wheel while he was driving."

Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "Why?"

He shook his head. "Long story. But don't worry about it. The important thing is that you and the baby are fine and that it stays that way."

She laid back down slowly, reclaiming her spot on his chest. "I can't believe it. She's a psycho."

"I know." He agreed darkly. Rachel was lucky she hadn't ran into him yet. He was going to tear her a new one.

"Were you hurt?" Her voice was weak and childlike. To think that he could've gotten hurt for the likes of her made her stomach turn.

"Nope." He reassured.

She smiled softly. "I think I felt you grab me while I was...drowning." She admitted quietly.

"Really?" He asked disbelievingly.

"Yeah, you grabbed me right before I went unconscious." Her eyes fell closed again and she stifled another yawn. "I knew you were going to rescue me."

He grinned at that, loving that she knew she could depend on him. His eyes reclosed too. "You can always count on that." He told her before they fell asleep.