The Risk

Thanks again for all the feedback. I hope everyone will be happy about where this chapter is leading.

"I gave you a piece of paper with 'n ss!w !' written on it. It didn't meant anything to you, until you turned it upside-down."-Unknown

Chapter 14

Bevin and Brooke were clearing the table when Haley returned from seeing Cooper Lee to the door.

"Guys, I can do that."

"We've got it, Hales. "Brooke said. "This is really becoming a nightmare."

She could only nod in agreement.

"Winter break starts next Friday. Why don't you get away for while?……. The school will be closed for two weeks. How about a cruise or that spa in Arizona we saw on Oprah?" Bevin suggested once they were all lounging in the living room.

"Laying out on a tropical beach, shopping, and major food buffets sounds awesome, Hales! We could make it a girls getaway." Brooke squealed.

"No. I know either of you want to be away from your families at the holidays. Besides, I would be too worried about what's going on here. I couldn't enjoy myself ."

Brooke and Bevin eyed each other. Brooke said " For the last time, Haley James, this isn't your fault so get that through your thick skull! Stop blaming yourself!"

Haley gulped, trying to make herself believe her friends words. "I not, honestly! It's just-"

Bevin intervened. "Yes you are! Skills has talked with all the children. Smith doesn't seem to have had an adverse effect on any of them."

"See. There's nothing to worry about." Brooke insisted.

Haley's throats clumped with a knot. "You're right. The children are fine."

"The learning center is a big asset to this community, not to mention how you've enhanced our lives personally. We're a family. You guys are the sisters I never had. We're going to get through this together." Brooke ended with a dimpled smile.

Haley knew she had no logical reason to feel guilty. However, she wouldn't rest easy until Tim Smith was behind bars where he belonged.

"This may not be the right time, but I have an announcement………. It's good new, the best news ever!" Bevin spoke, clasping her hands together nervously but a bright smile evident on her pretty face.

"Are you kidding, this is exactly what we need." Haley urged, not wanting the sweet blonde to hold back because of her situation.

"Remember the five year old Skills and I tried to adopt two years ago, Trevor? Then his natural father found out about him and took him to live with him in Fayetteville. He was a cop?"

The girls nodded, recalling how heartbroken the Freeman's had been. Bevin didn't get out of bed for a week and Skills wasn't much better. It took them a long time to heal. They had spent a year getting to know the cute kid, with curly dreadlocks and his father's blue eyes. It had been so heart-breaking, they didn't consider another child.

"Mr. Grisham was killed in the line of duty a couple of weeks ago. Since he has no other family, he requested that Skills and I get custody of Trevor in his will. He'll be moving in this weekend…… I can't wait. I want his room to be perfect. We're going to be parents!" She said dreamily.

Brooke and Haley attacked her with a group hug. Everyone talked at the same time.

"That's wonderful!" Brooke giggled

Haley declared. "We're going to have a party to welcome him after he gets adjusted."

"I know it's going to be hard for him at first, he just lost his father. But we'll give him lots help and understanding." She choked emotionally. "We already love him so much."

They were engrossed in a discussion of Trevor when the telephone rang.

Excusing herself, Haley went over to the coffee table and picked up the receiver from it's mount. "Hello?"

"Tell me you were lying in bed naked and dreaming of me?"

"Nathan." The name came out slow and wispy, leaving her breathless with pleasure. "How are you, Sweetheart."

"Missing you, Beautiful…..and you?"

"Same here." She reported softly, oblivious to her audience.

"That's nice to hear." His voice was deep and intoxicating. "Hales, come be with me."

" Wwwhaaat…Bbbut-I…I…I," She stammered with confusion.

"I want you here in New York. I'll have an Continental Airlines e-ticket waiting for you at the airport for the noon flight……… Bring your sexiest gown, it's black-tie at Anne Sawyer Exhibit Hall. I think you know the photojournalist on display." He chuckled anxiously, fearful she might not take him up on his last minute offer.

"So you're going to the show now?" She muttered, wondering if the attractive gallery owner had anything to do with his change of heart? Luckily, she was smart enough not to ask.

"Will you come?" Nathan persisted, he was a man on a mission.

"Yes. Of course." She declared without hesitation, disregarding her hurt feelings. Did some other woman have so much power over him, he would alter his plans. Yes, he was personally inviting her. But what about Peyton Sawyer? Was she the reason he was still in New York in the first placed instead of on his way back to her in Tree Hill?

"I can't wait. I'll pick you up at baggage claim. Bye, Beautiful"

"Well…." Bevin prompted after Haley hung up the phone.

"That was Nathan."

"Noooo. I would never have guessed." Brooke teased playfully.

"You guys want me to start another pot of coffee?" Haley asked, trying to hide her confusion.

Why hadn't her asked to the show earlier, before he even had to go to New York at the last minute? A one-man show is a big deal. She should know about things like that in his life…….. Why had he changed his mind? Her thoughts kept racing back to his phone call yesterday with the gallery woman. The assertive way she requested Nathan showed Peyton Sawyer was use to having her way.

Brooke and Bevin elbowed each other. "Should I shake her or should you?"

"I always go first," Brooke volunteered confidently. "Haley James, you have ten, no five seconds to tell us what's up with you and Mr. Blue Eyes…..one….two……three…"

"Who says there's something to tell?" Haley stated simply but unconvincingly.

"Hales!" The friends shouted at once.

"You already know I've been madly in love with this man for years." Haley blushed in spite of herself. That night of passion had been mystical.

"Cut the bullshit! That phone call was super coupley because you were being so evasive. You didn't say anything we could misconstrue as flirting. It's a trick of the trade." Brooke insisted.

"First, Coupley is not a word." The little blonde smarted and her secretary gave her the finger.

"Alright!…..I've been dying to tell you anyway!……. Thursday night I was upset after finding out about the Smith fiasco. Then when Nathan told me about the bus accident, I broke down . He tried to make me feel better, but it was just so overwhelming…..Later, he heard me crying in my room and came inside to comfort me…… Long story short, we ended up sleeping together, in the biblical sense." She grinned at her admission. "I couldn't fight my feelings for him anymore and apparently his walls were down too. Plain and simple, we wanted each other. Now he's sending for me to come to New York in a couple of hours."

"Haley got her some!" Bevin high-fived Brooke as their faces lit up with excitement. Ms. James could only giggle.

"It's about time you jumped him, he's too damn hot to lying around here unused." Brooke added, "I told you that man was way into you!"

"Forget that, what it worth the wait?" Bevin asked recklessly.

"Absolutely!" Haley's sighed and licked her lips. Her answer elicited even more giggle from the threesome.

"And now he's flying you New York. That's hot, girl!"

"I don't know. Maybe she's taking things too fast. She doesn't want to look clingy or eager and scare him away." Bevin argued, chewing her top lip.

"Bevin, don't help…… That fine piece of man candy wants you in New York, Hales. You're going and you're going to look hot doing it!" Brooke demanded.

"I'm not talking about New York, but the future. Has he made his intentions known?" Bevin wanted to know.

"Do you mean, did he get down on bended knee or am I picking out china patterns….it's not in the card. We have very separate lives…… Nathan travels the world most of the year and my life is here, in North Carolina, at Mr. Waffle's Learning Tree with the children……. I just want to have him whenever I can." Did Peyton Sawyer fit into his life the same way? Was she also in love with him?

"What does Nathan think? I think he bwill/I mind all the time apart from you." Brooke speculated. "You can tell by the way he looks at you, talks to you and treats you like a princess. He wants more."

"Well, what we have is enough for me," Haley accepted not wanting to get her hopes up over Brooke's thoughts. "He wasn't the one that wanted to change the relationship we had for so long in the first place. He doesn't think I can handle the risk and time apart his job entails."

"Long distance relationships are hard. He could be right, Hales." Brooke said, watching her friend closely. "If you eventually gave up no one would blame you. How long would be long enough?"

Bevin chimed in, "She in love with the man, Brooke McFadden! Of course she wants to settle down one day, wear his ring and take his name."

Pensive, Haley walked over to the unlit fireplace and absently traced the veins of the mantle. "Someday maybe…." She finally stated with troubled eyes.

Brooke and Bevin gave each other looks of concern.

Trying to change the subject, Bevin threw out. " Does Marcus know?"

"Santos?" She grimaced. "About me and Nathan?"

Bevin nodded.

"Noooo and why would I tell him? We were never more than friends."

"That's what you said about Nathan and you two got freaky." Brooke played devils advocate. All three girls laughed.

"Come on." She headed for the stairs, her buddies in tow. "You can help me pick out a gown. Nathan's taking me to a showing at the Anne Sawyer Exhibition. I want to be the only thing he's eyeing."

"Omg, that's Peyton Sawyer's gallery. He work is amazing!…. You know I have one of her pieces hanging in my living room." Both Bevin and Haley looked impressed.

"Wow! That's a P. Sawyer? It's beautiful, Brooke." Haley admired.

Brooke beamed with pride. "I saw her picture in a magazine a couple of weeks ago. She's talented and gorgeous."

"And rich. Not as rich as Haley, but I wouldn't mind trading bank accounts with her" Bevin concluded.

"Hush up." Haley hated talking about her wealth. It made her uncomfortable.

She refused to give in to her worries. Their relationship had changed drastically. They were lovers now. There was no turning back. She was going to him because she needed to be with him just as much as he wanted her there. If Peyton Sawyer wanted him, she would have to get through Haley to get him.

"I can wear the dress you bought for that new hospital's charity ball in Charlotte with Marcus." Haley surmised, it was brand new.

"and Versace." Bevin praised in admiration.

"I can't believe he didn't tell you he planned to stay overnight or that he expected you to share a single room with him for the rest of the weekend until you stopped for gas halfway to the event. He planned all that romantic stuff." Bevin shook her head. "I don't think I've ever seen you that pissed.

"I don't blame you for asking me and Bevin to come pick you from that Exxon in Rockingham to take you back to Tree Hill. Asshole!" Brooke frowned as she marched to Haley's walk-in closet.

"Remember, Sheriff Gary stopped us for speeding through down town Tree Hill? He said he wouldn't give us a ticket if Haley went to the Policeman's Ball with Gary Jr. the next weekend." Brooke and Bevin were cracking up. Haley shivered. "He is so crushed out on you."

"Whatever. You still owe me." She snickered, pointing at Brooke. "It wasn't that bad. He was polite and he didn't say much. He's a good dancer. He walked me to my door. I shook his hand for being a gentleman. I thought he was going to piss his pants he was shaking so hard. He couldn't even get out a good-bye."

"With the selection around here. Thank god you have, Nathan."

Only after his hand began to cramp from being clutched around his Blackberry mobile, that Nathan finally put it down on the kitchen counter. He hadn't considered Haley's reaction to his invitation to the gallery showing. Nor had he let himself dwell on the fragileness of the bonds holding their new relationship together.

He was distressed. What he had not divulged to Haley was the news out of the Sudan was disastrous. He would be taking a plane back tomorrow. This would be their last night together for what looked to be a very long time.

The timing couldn't have been worst. Not for a moment did he delude himself into thinking the relationship wouldn't be effected by his abrupt departure. It could destroy it.

He had seen too many solid couples fall apart, he wasn't foolhardy enough to think they were the exception. There were no guarantees. Time and time he again he watched the decision be made; journalism or family. It wasn't only the ever present element of danger but the separation that made them casualties of the job. Some woman/men put up with the lifestyle for a while, stuck around as long as they could. Over the years, Nathan had found it safer just not to get involved with anyone. Yet, that all changed two nights ago when he an Haley became lovers. She alone could touch his soul, take him the highest peaks of eroticism, and fill his heart. Haley…..

"Son-Of-A-Bitch!" He snarled at the chirping bird peeking his head out of the German Cuckoo clock beside the memo board in his kitchen. He had no time…..they needed more, lots more…..to love each other….to understand each other…..to settle into a comfortable rhythm of acceptance. That couldn't happen overnight.

He slowly scanned the high tech room done in stainless steel and black, except for the only adage he had made to the room, that stupid German clock. In the study was an intricately woven Persian rug. The living room was full of handmade African artwork. The china cabinet in the dinning room had crystal from Russia and bone china from France. His bathrooms were a replicas of a Roman baths and his bedroom was Asian themed with lacquer and jade furnishings. All had been collected during his travels in a vain attempt to make a real home for himself, just as the sound investments he made over the years were an effort to prove he was worthy of a James.

Although Nathan was a wealthy man, the money no longer was of interest to him. He was the best in his field and paid handsomely for the risk he took. He had nothing to prove. Maybe that's why his thoughts were elsewhere and not on the journey ahead.

After nine grueling and lonely years, he allowed himself the privilege of making love to the only woman he has ever care for completely. Had come to terms with what all that required? Perhaps he had watched over her and been a friend for too many years. Suddenly, he was ravenous for so much more.

Haley assured him she was tough enough to deal with the long separations and the constant possibility that this was the time he wouldn't return. She would be given a chance to test her strength all too soon……

Pamela