The first thing Haley heard when she got out of the shower was Nathan talking to Jamie from the living room. Curious, she tied up her robe and shook out her hair, stepping out of the steamy bathroom and down the hall to where Nathan was bouncing their son on his legs and watching what seemed to be a home video on TV.
"This is our second wedding though, Jamie. And at this time, Mommy was pregnant with you but she didn't know it yet. And then she kept it a secret for me and let everyone think that Aunt Brooke was pregnant instead. Wasn't she mean?" He cooed, running a hand over the seven-month-olds head of blonde hair that was sticking up in a tuff.
Haley scoffed, coming to sit on the arm of the couch. "Well, you slept with Aunt Brooke and never told me. So how's that for mean?" And then she slapped him on the back of the head.
Jamie grinned as she did that, showing off his two new teeth and said, "Bah!"
"Would it help if I said you looked extremely beautiful?" Nathan murmured, kissing his wife on the shoulder. "In the video and right now. I would so yank that robe off of you…"
"Nathan!" Haley exclaimed, laughing at the same time that Lucas walked in and said "Oh god."
Walking past them into the kitchen, he mumbles, "I'll never get used to that."
Haley shot Nathan a look, to which he shrugged innocently and said, "What?"
"You're too much." She laughed, reaching over to snatch up Jamie. "Nap time for mister monkey right here. Say goodnight to Daddy." She stretched out her arm and waved, which Jamie attempted to imitate by opening and closing his hand.
Nathan stood up and kissed him on the head. "Night little buddy." And then he kissed his wife on the cheek and turned to head into the kitchen. "Oh babe, don't forget about the award ceremony and dinner tonight."
She stopped in her tracks, turning to face him. "Nathan, I really want to go but since Luke and Whitey are both going to the dinner tonight and Deb is working, there's no one to watch Jamie. I'll have to stay home with him."
"Why don't you just bring him?" Lucas shouted from the kitchen, sounding like he had a mouthful of food.
"I don't know…" Haley trailed off, looking down at her baby who had quickly dosed off. "We don't want to bother you."
Nathan raised his eyebrows. "Bother me? Hales, you and Jamie are the best and most important part of my life. Not only do I want to show off my beautiful wife…" He mumbled against her lips as he kissed her softly. "But I would be honored to show off my adorable son, especially because they've only seen him in pictures. Besides, we know Jamie is normally well behaved and Luke and Whitey will be there too, like you said. Between the four of us, I think we can manage."
Haley nodded. "Okay, you're right. We'll bring him." She smiled down and kissed the top of his head. "I'm going to go put him down and then maybe you can come help me decide what to wear?"
He trailed behind her, smiling in good spirit. "I don't know if I'll be much help, Hales. If it were up to me, you'd go naked."
"Oh god." Lucas muttered again, as he walked by them.
Haley tried to control her giggles as Nathan said, "Hey, it's not my fault you walk by at the worst times."
"Why did I agree to move in here again?" Lucas teased, only half kidding as he shut the door to his bedroom.
A couple hours later, Nathan was sitting on his bed, amused, watching his wife tear through everything in her closet. He looked down at Jamie, who was playing on the bed next to him with all of the discarded dresses that Haley had thrown towards them. He smiled, this moment reminding him of the time that she was trying to find a prom dress during the middle of her pregnancy with their little guy.
After watching for a few more minutes, he got up and took her face in his hands. "Hales, just relax. You are going to be the best looking girl there, no matter what you're wearing." He kissed her on the forehead. "But, if it helps…" He trailed off, reaching into her closet and pulling out a silky navy blue dress. "I would love to see you in this."
She took the dress from him, giving him a half smile, half pout. "What would I do without you?"
"I ask myself that question everyday. What would you do without me?" He laughed and expertly ducked out of the way of the swing that he knew was coming, and grabbed Jamie. "Come on Jimmy Jam, let's leave Mommy to get ready and go get you nice and clean."
Haley held the dress up against her in the mirror and smiled, before going into her closet and picking out a pair of black heels that made her look taller next to Nathan, but that she would still be able to walk and carry Jamie without falling on her ass. She curled her hair loosely, pulled it back with a black headband and put on some light makeup.
After she was made up and dressed, she made her way into the living room to find the men in classic black tuxes, and Jamie playing on the floor in a navy blue cardigan, khakis and converse. She couldn't help but aw as she went over and sat down next to her son on the floor. "Nathan!" She said in awe. "Where did he get this?"
He shrugged. "Beats me, I just found it. I bet my mom bought it for him and shoved it in the drawer when she was babysitting. You know how she loves to do that."
There was a knock at the door just at that moment and Haley grabbed Jamie off the floor as she went to answer it. She knew it was probably Whitey, and she knew how much Jamie adored him. Sure enough when she answered the door, his arms immediately stretched out for Whitey and Whitey immediately took him out of Haley's arms.
"Well, well," He said to Haley. "If it isn't Avril Lavigne."
Haley rolled her eyes as she went to go grab her purse and shoes. "I'm hardly Avril Lavigne anymore, Coach." But she smiled good-naturedly as she went through her bag. Diapers, wipes, bottles, a few toys, his favorite bear and… She turned towards her husband. "Where's his pacifier?"
Nathan shrugged. "I have no clue." When he looked up and saw his wife's narrowed eyes, he jumped up. "I'll go find it."
Once he had finally found it and she checked her bag again, they were ready to go. Haley sat in the back with Luke and Jamie, who babbled away the entire ride, while Nathan chatted up front from the driver's seat with his coach.
When Haley got out of the car, she could feel the stares on her back when she pulled Jamie out of the car. Everyone knew about their high school marriage and pregnancy, especially because of the small university and the fact that everyone knew who Nathan was, the guy who was going to bring the basketball team to fame. But Haley was still nervous, because up until now she had never met anyone on the team. Between class, homework, tutoring and Jamie, she had never had the chance and frankly, she had never wanted to.
She had basically reverted back into her old, pre-Nathan high school self when it came to meeting new people. Her old fear of being judged bubbled straight to the surface and she self-consciously held Jamie a little closer to her body.
Nathan, feeling her nerves, came over and squeezed her hand. "It's okay baby, just breathe. They're going to love you."
She stood up straight, hoisting Jamie higher up on her hip and still holding her husband's hand, and they trailed behind Luke and Whitey, who were chatting about basketball plays. As they walked into the hall, Nathan was surrounded by his teammates.
"Yo dude! What's up, playa?" Said a guy who reminded Haley a lot of Skills. After they did their man hug, he turned towards her. "Damn, Nate. I completely understand now. If I went home to that every night, I wouldn't want to come out either!"
The other two guys next to him laughed. Nathan let go over her hand and pulled her into his side. "Knock it off guys. This is my wife Haley and my son Jamie. Hales, these are my friends Devon, Ricky and Ron. Unfortunately they don't know how to behave like proper gentlemen."
"Oh stop." Haley laughed nervously, elbowing him. "It's very nice to meet you." She said, reaching out and shaking their hands. "Can you wave hi, Jamie?" She imitated his wave, but instead of waving like he usually does, he whimpers and reaches out for Nathan.
He immediately takes him, and Jamie buries his face into his shoulder. "Stranger anxiety, sorry guys." He reaches for Haley's hand again and starts to lead her away. "We should probably go find our table now Hales. See you guys in a bit." They all nod and he leads her away. "See, was that so horrible?"
She smiles, trying to hide her blush. "Devon really makes me miss Skills. When do we play him?"
"Two weeks, baby. I'm sure he'll be happy to see you." He smiles as they get settled, Jamie happily playing with one of his toys. After a while, he got bored and went over to sit with Lucas. As Whitey stepped up to the podium and starting talking, Nathan stood up and leaned over to whisper in his wife's ear. "I'm just going to go to the bathroom."
When he walked away, she waited a minute and turned towards Luke. "Can you watch him for a minute? I'm going to run to the bathroom." He nodded, completely oblivious to what was really going on, and she tiptoed away from the table and opened the door to the men's bathroom. "Nathan!" She whispered-squealed as he spun her around and kissed her. "What are you doing?"
"I'm sorry," he whispered harshly, kissing her neck as he backed her into one of the stalls. "But you just look so sexy in that dress. I had to have you." He went back to kissing her as she began to un-tuck his shirt from his pants, and then he lifted her up and pressed her against the stall.
He began to run his hand up her dress and then they heard the bathroom door open and they both froze. "Nathan, Haley!" It was Lucas. "I know you're in here, so don't even try to hide." Nathan put Haley back on her feet and opened the stall door. "What the hell are you doing!?" He half yelled, Jamie in his arms. "Whitey just called your name to give you the rookie of the year award!"
"Shit!" Nathan cursed, rushing out of the door while trying to tuck in his shirt and straighten his jacket at the same time. Haley came out of the stall, pushing her headband back in to fix her hair and quickly reapplied her lipstick. She rushed past Lucas, who gave her a disapproving look and ran out into the hall just in time to clap with the rest of them as Whitey recalled his name and he stepped up to get his award.
As he stepped up to the podium, his teammates immediately started laughing. "Yo Nate, you still got a little lipstick on your face there!" Devon shouted between his laughter. "What have you been up to?"
All Nathan said was, "Have you seen my wife?" And then entire room broke into applause and laughter. Haley sunk down into her seat, mortified as everyone looked over at her. "All jokes aside, basketball wouldn't even have been possible without the support of my wife, who supports me and does an amazing job raising my son. I also want to thank my brother Lucas for helping us out and for being an amazing assistant coach. But mostly, I want to thank my coach Whitey Durham for making it even possible for me to be playing basketball right now. He has been with me since my freshman year of high school even when I was a complete asswipe- sorry Jamie. None of this would have been possible without him, so let's all give it up for Coach Durham."
He stepped away from the podium to hug Whitey, who couldn't have been more proud, and then he walked back to his seat through the thunderous applause and sat down next to his wife, who had stopped hiding and who was holding their sleeping son in her lap and kissed her on the side of the head. "I'm so proud of you, baby." She whispered. "We both are."
"I meant what I said. Thank you for everything. I love you, Hales."
He leaned over to kiss her on the lips, and then he kissed the top of Jamie's head. "I love you too Nathan Scott." She murmured.
"Get a room!" Ricky called from the table beside them, causing everyone to break into laugher again and Haley to bury her face into Nathan's shoulder, who was also shaking with laughter.
Back at home, with Jamie tucked into bed, the three of them sat around the TV together in their pajamas, watching the highlights of one of the games that they had missed that night. Haley was curled up in Nathan's side, with her feet in Lucas' lap, smiling sleepily at something they were arguing about. "I love you guys." She murmured sleepily as her eyes started to close.
"Love you too, Hales." Luke said, patting her foot. He looked over at his brother. "So we play Skills in two weeks, and I do believe Peyton is going to try and come down for the weekend."
Nathan smiled. "That's great Luke. I know Haley will be happy to see both of them."
"I'm going to head to bed, I'll see you in the morning bro." Luke said, heading into his room.
Nathan looked down at his wife, debating on whether he should carry her to bed and then decided against it. He ran his fingers through her hair as she slept in his lap, feeling amazingly content with his life.
When Jamie started to cry from his room, he slowly slid Haley's head off of his lap and crept into his room to grab him and get a bottle for him.
Okay, maybe he could do without Jamie waking up in the middle of the night. But they'll work on that.
OTH Quote of the day: "There's no shame in being afraid. Hell, we're all afraid. What you gotta do is figure out what you're afraid of because when you put a face on it you can beat it. Better yet, you can use it." - Coach Whitey Durham, 1x02