This is it guys, last chapter before the epilogue. I hope you all enjoy it and let me know what you think.

Chapter 19

As Haley sat in her hospital bed watching Dr. Sheppard sign her discharge papers she felt a wave of happiness sweep through her. After being conscious in it for less than twenty four hours, she couldn't wait to get out of it. Everyone had been great since she woke up yesterday, but she couldn't help feeling like they were walking on egg shells around her as though she was some fragile child. It wasn't completely obvious, but sometimes it became clear that her loved ones were tip toeing around her, for reasons beyond her.

When she moved to put on the pair of shoes Karen brought for her Nathan stepped forward and immediately slid them on her feet and tied them up. Normally, she might tease her boyfriend for being so whipped, but right now it was only serving to back up her fragile child treatment argument.

"I can put on my own shoes, you know," she objected with a roll of the eyes.

"I know, I just don't want you to be straining yourself doing something I could easily do for you," Nathan defended his actions.

"I'm pretty sure bending over to tie my shoes isn't strenuous."

Doctor Sheppard chuckled softly at the bickering couple. "Nathan has a point, Haley. You need to be taking it easy and focusing on healing yourself, so for now just sit back and let people wait on your hand and foot."

Haley grumbled something under her breath and Nathan smiled triumphantly. "See, Hales? Just let me help you, I wouldn't be doing it if I didn't want to."

Haley stubbornly remained silent which caused the two men to laugh a little more. "Alright, you're free to go Haley. If you don't take it easy though I'm sure Nathan will not hesitate to call and let me know?" the older man turned to the younger with a questioning gaze to which Nathan nodded promptly.

"Fine, I will," she begrudgingly agreed and the doctor smiled at her before exiting the room.

"You ready to go?"

"I've been ready to get out of here since the second I woke up."

Nathan chuckled in agreement. "Okay, let me help you with your crutches."

"Nathan," Haley said sternly when he kept an arm around her waist while she tried to stand up. "I know how to walk with crutches, I've had a broken ankle before."

"Alright, sorry!" he threw his hands up in surrender. "I just want to do anything I can to make this easier for you."

"It's a broken ankle and some stitches on my stomach, I don't have some crazy brain injury or something," she pointed out with a small laugh.

"You're still injured though," he said as he watched Haley expertly maneuver herself on her crutches and over to the door. "You weren't joking when you said you know how to walk with crutches."

"Nope. When I was eleven Jake and the guys made me climb trees with them and I fell off the branch I was sitting on and broke my left ankle.

Nathan winced, imagining how painful it must have been to fall out of tree. "That had to have hurt."

Haley nodded fervently. "So much, I cried the entire way to the hospital. I had to use the crutches they gave me for like a month, so I got pretty good at going about my normal life with them."

"So basically I don't have to worry about your klutziness making an appearance because of them?"

Haley stuck her tongue out at Nathan. "I'm not that much of a klutz, but no, I should be okay."

"Good. I can't have anything more happening to you."

She smiled at the protectiveness in his voice, but it dropped when they made it to the waiting room and she saw that Karen and Keith were nowhere to be found. "Where are my aunt and uncle?"

"Oh, they're at your house getting everything ready for when you get there."

Haley cut her eyes at him suspiciously. "Is there anyone else there?"

"Maybe," Nathan smiled conspiratorially.

"Come on, Nathan. You know how much I hate surprises! Who else is there?"

"Just Lucas, Brooke, Peyton, and Jake. Brooke pretty much insisted on throwing you a welcome home party."

"That's nice of her," Haley smiled and actually allowed Nathan to help her into the passenger seat of the SUV his father gave to him to bribe him into forgiveness.

"Yeah. I told her to not go too big, because you wouldn't want anything huge, but who knows what she cooked up. It's Brooke Davis after all."

Haley laughed and shrugged. She didn't respond and the couple allowed the car to taken over by a comfortable silence until they finally arrived at Haley's house. "It feels so good to be home."

"I can only imagine. Come on; let's get you inside so this welcome home party can start."

Haley slid out of the vehicle and Nathan was immediately at her side with her crutches. He passed them to her and carried her bag of stuff up the porch as he walked in step next to her. Not bothering to knock or ring the door bell, he twisted the knob and walked into the silent house. Haley led the way into the dark family room and as Nathan stopped behind her and turned on the lights, six people jumped out of their hiding places.

"SURPRISE!" they yelled with excited smiles on their faces. Each of them were trying to gauge Haley's reaction and she had the good sense to look like she had no idea what was awaiting her when she walked into the room.

"Wow! Thank you guys so much. You didn't have to do this for me, but it means a lot," she spoke and surprised herself when she was fighting back a few tears.

They all stepped forward and hugged her briefly and whispered how thankful they were that she was okay. When all the hugs had finally been given Nathan stepped forward and addressed the group. "Haley has strict orders to take it easy and get plenty of rest, so I'm gonna take her upstairs now."

Before they had a chance to leave the room though, Karen spoke up. "Are you hungry, Haley? I can make you whatever you want."

"Oh my gosh, I'm starving, hospital food is disgusting. I really want mac n' cheese right now," she said and Karen smiled.

"Mac n' cheese coming right up," she said and walked into the kitchen with Keith happily following behind her.

"Alright Hales, let's go," Nathan said and started ushering her out of the room.

"Don't be such a party pooper, Nate!" Brooke complained.

"Haley needs to rest, Brooke."

"Fine, but Peyton and I are coming up to keep her company."

Nathan knew better than to object to Brooke and simply grumbled as he continued leading Haley out of the room and up to her bed. When she had gotten completely situated and comfortable Nathan kissed her cheek. "I'll come see how you're doing later."

"Okay. I love you, Nathan," she smiled.

"I love you, too," he replied happily and Brooke started pushing him out of the room.

"Peyton and I love you both, too, but you can go now Boy Toy. We need girl time!"

"Alright, alright, I'm going Brooke!

As soon as Nathan's form had crossed the threshold into the hallway, Brooke slammed the bedroom door. She smiled widely at her blonde friends and plopped herself on the bed next to Haley. Peyton took her seat on Haley's other side and took a few black markers out of her purse.

"After today, you are officially going to have the coolest cast in Tree Hill."

"Just don't go all dark and twisty on Tutor Girl's cast, P. Sawyer."

Peyton stuck her tongue out a Brooke. "I won't, B. Davis."

"So Hales, how does it feel to be out of that hideous hospital gown and back at home?"

"God, so much better than I can tell you. I pretty much never want to set foot in a hospital for the rest of my life. It's weird though, everyone's acting differently around me since I woke up."

"We were all just worried about you Haley, and now that you're awake and going to be fine we're trying to protect you from anything that might hurt you so we're kind of tip toeing around you."

Haley sighed and rested her head back on her pillow. "I get it, I really do. I just can't help like feeling out of the loop or something, like something is deliberately being hidden from me."

Brooke and Peyton shared a discrete glance at each other. They had a feeling they knew what Haley was being kept in the dark about, but they both knew it wasn't their place to tell her. "Maybe you should talk to Nathan about that, Hales. He would probably know better than we do."

Haley furrowed her brow. "So there is something then and it has to do with Nathan? Should I be scared about this? I have to talk to him," Haley said quickly and made a move to get off the bed and find Nathan.

Her two friends grabbed onto her arms and gently pulled her back. "Calm down, Haley. It's nothing that directly concerns you, I'm sure Nathan will tell you soon and was probably just waiting because you have a lot going on right now."

"I don't care what I've had going on lately, he's my boyfriend and should tell me what's going on with him!"

"Haley, you need to calm down. The doctor told you to rest and take it easy and you need to listen to him, okay? Nathan will tell you what's going on in time and everything will be fine. Just wait and give him time. I promise," Peyton said seriously.

Haley sighed. "Why can't you two just tell me?"

"It's not our place to tell you, Tutor Girl," Brooke said regretfully. "Okay, new topic!"

Peyton started to say something to bash Rachel but a knock on Haley's bedroom door halted her. "Come in!" Haley called out.

Jake poked his head into the room and smiled at the sight of his best friend. "Hey, do you guys mind if I talk to Haley alone for a minute?"

"Sure, no problem," Brooke obliged and Peyton followed her off the bed. Haley watched them leave and her eyebrows shot up when she watched Peyton kiss Jake's cheek with a seductive smile when she passed him. Jake's smile widened and he closed the door behind the two girls.

"Okay, what was that?" Haley asked curiously.

What was what?" Jake feigned innocence.

"Don't play dumb with me, Jake Jagielski. What was that between you and Peyton?"

Jake shrugged and Haley swore she saw him begin to blush. "Peyton's a really cool girl and she helped me a lot while you were in a coma. I asked her to be my girlfriend yesterday."

"No way!" Haley exclaimed and threw her arms around Jake. "I'm so happy for you, Jakey! Distance is going to be hard though. When are we losing you?"

"Actually, that's what I wanted to talk to you about."

"What is it?" Haley asked in confusion when she took in the broad smile spreading across his face.

"Do you know how much my parents love you?"

"Yeah. They used to always joke that they wanted me as their daughter, why?"

"I called them and told them what happened to you before you woke up. They send you their best and if I were you I'd expect some sort of lavish gift in the next couple days."

Haley laughed and nodded her head. "What do your parents sending me an awesome present have to do with anything?"

"Well, if you'd let me finish my story I'd tell you! Anyway, while I was talking to them I mentioned how I didn't know when I would be able to go home because I wasn't leaving until you woke up. Then they said how maybe it would be good if I could stay in Tree Hill on a more permanent basis because best friends belong together."

"Are you getting to what I think you're getting to?"

"My parents offered to buy me an apartment here and let me transfer to Tree Hill high for the rest senior year."

Haley's smile dropped in shock. "You're joking."

"No, I'm serious."

Haley screamed shrilly and hugged her best friend as tightly as she could. "This is so awesome!"

"I have to go back to California next week to pack all my stuff up and get it shipped back out here. Then you're stuck with me for good, Haley James."

"I can't believe this is actually happening!"

"So you're happy? You aren't mad that I didn't ask if it was okay with you?"

"Seriously, Jake? I'm ecstatic! You are my best friend and there's nothing I could want more than having you in the same town as me again."

"I love you, Haley," Jake proclaimed and hugged her tightly again. "I'm so glad you're happy."

"I am happy, Jake and I love you too," she said and tried to suppress a yawn.

Jake chuckled and stood up. "I'll take that as my cue. Sweet dreams, Hales."

"Thanks, Jakey," she said with a sleepy smile and closed her eyes.

A few hours later, Nathan slipped into Haley's dark bedroom. Her party had wound down and after playing video games with the guys for a little while he figured he should go check on her and make sure everything is alright. He smiled softly when he saw her peaceful form. He sat down on the bed next to her and caressed her cheek lovingly. A smile spread across the blonde's face and eyes fluttered open. She saw her boyfriend sitting above her and also noticed the plate of mac ' cheese sitting on her night stand.

"I love that you want to take care of me, but you have to go home, Nathan. You need to take a break from looking after me and get some sleep. No offense, but you really are starting to look like crap."

Nathan scratched the back of his neck nervously. "Actually, I can't go home."

"What do you mean?"

"After the accident when everyone was at the hospital waiting for news about you, my dad and I got into a huge fight and afterwards my mom basically took his side. I moved out and got a restraining order against him and Karen and Keith have been letting me sleep on the couch."

"What?" Haley asked in shock. "So this is what you've been hiding from me, right?"

The raven haired teen winced and looked pleadingly at her. "Don't be mad, Hales. I just didn't want to tell you about my family problems when you woke up and pile onto everything you had going on."

"I'm not mad, Nathan, but I can't help but worry about you. I think you should at least talk to your mom, there's no way she would ever deliberately choose Dan over you."

"Yeah, well she did and I don't want her in my life if she'd do something like that to her own son."

"Okay! I'm not going to fight with you about this. Right now, I'm tired and just want to cuddle with my big, sexy boyfriend."

"Oh really?" he asked flirtatiously and watched Haley nod and bite her lip. "I think I can handle that then," he said and slid under the covers next to her. She saddled up as against his chest and kissed him softly but the young couple didn't have a chance to go any further before Haley's bedroom door swung open and Karen walked in.

"Oh no no no no. As long as Nathan is living here, there are rules. Rule number one is no being alone in a room together with the door closed. Rule number two: no cuddling or doing anything elseunder the blankets in any bed," the women listed sternly. "The rest of the rules I'll explain tomorrow when we're not all exhausted."

Haley lifted her head from Nathan's chest. "Aunt Karen, can he stay here for tonight please? It's too hard to sleep without him with me," she said persuasively and Karen sighed.

"Fine. This is a onetime thing, though. And don't think about using the puppy dog eyes on me ever again, Haley James."

Haley laughed and smiled. "Thanks, Aunt Karen! Good night."

"Good night, Haley," the older woman said with a shake of her head and made sure to leave the door wide open as she left.

"You really are quite the little manipulator, you know that?" Nathan said and squeezed Haley's waist.

"Oh, shut up, you know you love it."

"I do love it, and I love you."

"I love you, too," Haley smiled and pecked his shirt clad chest. "Did you hear that Jake's moving out here? His parents are buying him an apartment and letting him transfer to Tree Hill high."

"That's awesome, Hales!"

"Yeah, it is," she said contently. "You know, when I first moved to Tree Hill I thought my life was over. My parents were gone and I was being taken away from the only other person I had that felt like family to me. Now, I couldn't picture my life being any other way. Tree Hill is home and you, along with everyone else I've connected with here are my family. You make me so happy, Nathan and I can't imagine what my life would be like without you."

"You're my family too now, Haley, and you don't ever have to worry about living life without me. I have a feeling we're going to grow old and grey together and I can't wait to be with you the rest of my life."

Nathan and Haley shared one last kiss before dozing off into what would be the first of many, many nights next to each other.