Chapter 16 Back Then Forward

Sunday December 8, 2013

Haley sat in her house, sprawled out on the couch with a cool cloth on her forehead. She'd been lying there for an hour, trying to relieve a massive headache.

The dress that she'd picked out for her wedding was supposed to have been shipped to Tree Hill yesterday. She'd flown down to her childhood home to pick it up and to get things ready. The wedding was in two weeks and she'd felt like she was on top of things, and then the caterer had cancelled on her and the dress had arrived in tatters. Apparently it had been next to a container full of dye that had broken open.

Haley had stood in the post office with a look of horror on her face as the manager mouthed apologies that she barely heard.

Even though she'd be reimbursed, that didn't leave Haley with a lot of options—at least if she wanted a special, one-of-a-kind, perfect dress.

She heard a knock at her door and dragged herself up to answer it.

Brooke stood there with a concerned look on her face.

"It can't be as bad as you think it is."

Haley didn't say anything, she just stepped to one side so that Brooke could see the dress.

"Oh, shit!" Brooke stared at it with dismay. "When you told me over the phone that it had been destroyed, I didn't think that you actually meant 'destroyed.'"

"Yeah, well." Haley slumped back down onto the couch. "I think that Mark and I are just going to forget about what we planned and drive to Vegas."

"Have you talked to anyone else yet? Maybe Mark's mother can do something?"

Haley snorted. "Diane booked my appointment with the dressmaker eight months in advance."

Brooke studied the dress. "A fancy New York designer, huh?"

"Yep," Haley sighed. "It's not that big a deal, I'm sure I can find something that will be okay, it's just that things just aren't falling into place."

"Haley James," Brooke said sternly, "we're talking about your wedding day. It should be more than 'okay.'"

"I'm hoping for 'okay' because right now it looks like the entire thing is going to be a complete disaster."

"Look, everything's going to be fine. What do you need?"

"I need a new dress, a new caterer, and a new venue."

"Is that all?" Brooke scoffed. "I can do that in my sleep."

"Things are completely booked, with the number of Fowells and James coming I have no idea how it's going to work out."

"I have a couple ideas, and I can make you a dress."

Haley sat up. "You can make a dress? Since when?"

"I've always been fashion talented."

"Yeah, but . . . when did you learn how to sow?"

"I just picked it up."

Haley's look of confusion deepened. "You're telling me that you didn't need the years of education and training, or the experience that most people need to be able to just whip up a garment . . ."

"You're just going to have to accept the fact that I have skills on faith, Hales." Brooke grinned. "I have the perfect dress in mind for you. Maybe this is a blessing in disguise, I know that this thing," Brooke nudged the dress mottled with patches of indigo blue with her toe, "isn't what you really wanted."

Haley shrugged. "Diane was so happy to be involved I kind of let her run with it. I do love it—I did love it—but there were a couple things that I wanted that weren't possible with this gown."

"Well, I'm thinking a tiara would be nice . . ."

"No, no, no."

Brooke looked offended. "What do you mean 'no'?"

"Brooke Davis, if you want me to wear a tiara let me know now so that I can run down to the bridal shop and pick something off the rack."

"Fine," Brooke huffed. "I can take suggestions, but leave everything else to me."

Monday December 16, 2013

Lucas walked briskly out of the airport parking lot towards the terminal. Brooke had had him running everywhere during the last week so that Haley's wedding would actually happen.

He stepped through the automatic doors, felt a rush of warm air on his nearly frozen face and sighed with relief. He was exhausted and Nathan—damn him!—had been no help at all. He knew for a fact that his brother's schedule would have allowed him to come down to Tree Hill last weekend to help out, but he'd been holed up in Durham for a couple weeks. Probably out drinking and partying with his teammates because of the string of victories that the Devils had earned for Duke.

Lucas grimaced at himself. That wasn't really fair. Nathan had just played a game less than a week ago and he was scheduled to play another one only a few days after the wedding. He needed the time for rest and practice—but couldn't the guy phone once in a while to ask what was going on?

Lucas glanced around the baggage claim, looking for Mark and his brother. He finally caught sight of them and walked forward.

Mark saw him coming and looked at him quizzically. "Lucas?" They shook hands firmly and Lucas gave him a friendly smile. "I thought Haley was coming to pick us up."

"I know, but my fiancé had other plans for her so she sent me instead," Lucas said.

"Oh," Mark looked amused, "did something else go wrong? Haley's got me thinking that there's just one crisis after another."

"No, we've downgraded from a crisis to a predicament."

"Good to know. Lucas, I don't think that you've met Parker, my brother."

"It's a pleasure." Parker was a little taller than his brother, blond and handsome. Even though he was the elder brother he appeared to be younger than Mark because of the mischief twinkling in his eyes and his careless air.

Lucas shook his hand, too. "The car's not far, is this all your luggage?"

"Yes," Mark answered.

"Let's go."

Mark shivered and rubbed his hands together. The jacket that he was wearing wasn't warm enough for the weather and he was nearly hunched over because of the chill.

Lucas saw it and turned the heat up in the car. "Sorry, man, it'll be warmer in a minute."

"I can't believe how cold it is." Mark breathed into his cupped hands.

"Neither can I, we've never seen this much snow before. But Haley loves it, she's always wanted a white Christmas." Lucas glanced out the window at the unaccustomed sight of snowdrifts piled up on the side of the road.

Parker looked around Tree Hill as they drove through it. "So, Haley grew up here?" he asked his brother.

Mark nodded. "She insisted on having the wedding here. It's a beautiful town."

Parker grinned. "I'm surprised that Mom couldn't convince her to have it in New York."

"Don't underestimate how stubborn Haley can be." Lucas looked at his watch and made a turn.

"Oh, I won't. Anyone who can say no to my mother isn't to be taken lightly. Lucas, do you think we can stop somewhere and pick up some burgers? I'm starving."

"Don't worry"—Lucas glanced at Parker in the rearview mirror—"Haley's been cooking and she's got something ready for you at her house."

"Oh, we're not staying in a hotel?"

"Haley nearly bit my head off when I suggested it," Mark said. "'My brother-in-law is not staying at some hotel when there's plenty of room here,'" Mark quoted, making his voice artificially high.

Lucas laughed. "That sounds like Haley."

"That's really sweet," Parker said.

"She doesn't realize what a pain-in-the-ass you are," Mark retorted.

"You're just afraid that I'm going to tell her all the reasons why she shouldn't marry you. You really lucked out when she said yes."

"Tell me something I don't know."

"So you have met Haley before?" Lucas asked.

"Sort of," Parker answered. "I mean, we've spoken at the few family dinners that Mark brought her to but we've never really been able to sit down and talk. Mark's afraid that she'll realize that I'm the better man and run away with me."

Mark got a look on his face that indicated that he would like nothing more that to turn around in his seat and punch Parker in the chest.

"Keep dreaming," he said.

Parker grinned, delighted that he'd gotten a rise out of his brother.

Lucas pulled up in front of Haley's house and she appeared in the doorway as Mark and his brother took their luggage out of the trunk.

"Mark!" Haley rushed down the steps and almost jumped into his arms. He picked her up kissed her thoroughly before setting her down.

"How are things going with the wedding? Is there anything I can do?" Mark asked.

"No, Brooke is a miracle worker," Haley sighed with relief. "Almost everything's in place." She turned to smile at Parker and moved away from her fiancé to give him a hug. "Welcome to Tree Hill."

"Thanks." Parker's smile was wide. "I almost can't believe that I'm here, it feels like just yesterday you were announcing your engagement. The time has really flown by."

"Tell me about it," Haley said wryly. "Anyway, come inside. I hope you all like Chicken Marsala."

Mark shuddered. "As long as it's hot I'll have no complaints. Please, let's go inside before my parts fall off."

Everyone laughed; Haley and Parker walked in the house arm-in-arm, leaving Lucas and Mark to follow behind.

Almost right after dinner Haley had excused herself to go to bed. All the preparation work had left her exhausted, she'd begun nodding off at the table.

"Night." Mark kissed her briefly.

She waved to the others and left the room.

As soon as Parker heard the bedroom door close he turned to Mark with a grin. "So I've got some great ideas for the bachelor party—"

"No." Mark's tone was as final as a door slamming shut.

"Come on . . ."

"Parker," Mark said warningly, "I want to get married this week, okay?"

Lucas eyebrows rose with surprise. "Is there some history I need to hear about?"

Parker rolled his eyes. "Mark still blames me for something that happened years ago. One of our friends called off his wedding—"

"He didn't call it off, his fiancé did after she found out what Justin had been doing the night before they were supposed to get married!" Mark glared at his brother.

"Justin and Justine were in trouble long before what happened at the little party that I threw. I swear the only reason that they got engaged is because everyone expected them to and because they had matching names. Think about it, man. Justin and Justine. How could that possibly work out?"

Mark stared at his brother as if he'd lost his mind. "You hired five strippers and Justin slept with one of them!"

"I just hired them to dance. Justin is the one who decided to engage in extracurricular activities."

"And you don't think that's your fault?" Mark demanded.

Lucas' head turned to watch Parker. His head was swiveling back and forth between the brothers as if he was watching a tennis match.

"No, it's not my fault," Parker said easily. "All I wanted to do was have fun. Justin was looking for a way to get out of his wedding and he found it. If he hadn't done it then, he would have found another way to do it. If I'd tied Justin down, given him Viagra, and thrown that woman on top of him, then you could say it's my fault—but I didn't. Personal responsibility, little brother. You can't make someone do what he doesn't really want to do."

Mark glared at Parker but remained silent.

"Well," Lucas said lightly. Both men turned to him, a little surprised. They'd almost forgotten that he was there. "You guys don't need to worry about anything happening this time."

"I would never—" Mark started.

"No, no, I know that." Lucas waved his hand, trying to calm Mark's agitation.

"Hey, if you guys aren't up for strippers, that's fine with me. We can gamble and drink all night instead." Parker yawned.

"What is wrong with you?" Mark asked.

"You are the most uptight person I've ever met," Parker retorted. He turned to Luke, "Does your girlfriend have any objections to getting drunk and losing money?"

Lucas laughed. "Fiancé. And I'm more worried about what Brooke's got planned for Haley's party than anything we could pull off."

Parker looked intrigued. "I suppose that it wouldn't be a good idea for me to take her on for the title of 'Best Party Planner' then, huh?"

"If you want to take her on"—Lucas shook his head—"the only thing I can do for you is get out of the way." He stood up and stretched. "And if I want her to let me outside to play tomorrow I'd better get home."

"Thanks for the ride," Mark said.

"No problem. I'll swing by tomorrow and we'll go out to dinner. Parker can tell me everything that he has planned then."

Mark walked Lucas to the door and after it shut behind him he turned around to glare at his brother. "Thanks a lot."

"What?"

"Lucas is Haley's best friend and you just made him think that I'm going to be cheating on her before we even get married."

"Hey, you're the one who told him about what Justin did, not me."

"You brought it up!"

"Yeah, but I wasn't going to go into details."

Mark fell back onto the sofa. "You are such an asshole."

"Relax, Lucas' opinion of you isn't going to suddenly change because of me." Parker smirked. "Anyone can tell that you've never cheated on anything in your entire life."

"After the crap you pulled Mom and Dad weren't about to let me follow in your footsteps."

"Too bad."

"You know that it's not too late for you to be more involved with the family."

"You mean it's not too late for me to stuff myself into a suit six days out of the week for the sake of the company Dad started. No thanks. You two think accounting is exciting"—the look on Parker's face said that he thought that was insanity—"and good for you, but I'd rather swim in a piranha tank with meat underwear."

"Creative." Mark couldn't help smiling.

He'd been trying to convince his brother to come back to the family business for years—with no success. He gave up for tonight.

"The guest room is made up for you," Mark said as he left the room. "Goodnight."

Lucas arrived the next morning with Brooke. Haley helped them both out of their coats and they stomped the snow off their boots before taking them off and following her into the kitchen.

"Morning all." Brooke looked extremely efficient, she had a pencil behind her ear and she was looking at her clipboard as she sat down at the table. "Lovely to see you again, Mark," she murmured as she checked a few things off her list. Done for the moment, she looked over at Parker. "I hear that you think you can top what I've put together for the bachelorette party."

"I've been warned by everyone that I shouldn't challenge the master." Parker's tone was light but the thought of a competition put a spark in his eyes.

"Pancakes anyone?" Haley asked. "If you're determined to have some kind of contest you should do it on a full stomach."

"Nothing for me, thanks Hales," Brooke said.

"I'll have some." Lucas' voice lowered with disappointment. "I didn't have anything this morning except granola and yogurt"—off of Brooke's look he said—"and I loved it! But I'm still hungry."

Haley set a plate in front of Lucas. It had a stack of buttermilk pancakes dripping with real maple syrup, scrambled eggs, and perfectly crisp bacon. He smiled his appreciation at her and dug in.

"Don't expect me to be doing this after we're married," Haley said to Mark as she sat down. "Once I've got that ring on my finger I'm not getting up before noon. You're going to have to make your own breakfast and feed me bon-bons."

Mark leaned over to kiss her lightly. "As long as I can look at you in the morning, I don't care."

Everyone groaned with mock-disgust and Haley looked at them all smugly. "Watch with envy, my friends."

"If you two are done grossing the rest of us out, maybe we can get some work done. The wedding is in six days," Brooke said.

"What do we need to do?" Mark asked.

"You guys can get down to Lacrosse Men's Wear and get your suits. Other than that, you don't need to do anything, I've got everything under control. You, Lucas, and Parker can go out and try to have as much fun as Haley and I will."

Lucas swallowed and spoke up. "That means, 'Stay out of my way.'"

"I'm going to need you to come in for another fitting for your dress," Brooke continued as if Lucas hadn't spoken.

"Really?" Haley took a sip of orange juice. "I thought everything was almost done."

"Well, it was . . . but I was thinking I could add a little more detailing around the bust and along the hem—"

"No way, Brooke. The dress is perfect as it is, I don't need any more needlework. It's simple, it's elegant—"

"It's boring!" Brooke exclaimed.

Haley stood up. "Excuse us, gentlemen, Brooke and I have to go rip each other to pieces."

Brooke argued with Haley all the way to the door, at least, she tried to argue with her. Haley just looked at her patiently and didn't give one inch.

They pulled on their winter gear and went out the door. Lucas turned to the guys and said, "Is there anything you feel like doing today?"

"I'd like to see what kind of restaurants Tree Hill has to offer," Parker said.

In the afternoon after they were done with their fitting Lucas had driven them around to a couple different eateries. Parker had seen a small place by the water that Lucas didn't recognize.

"What about this one?" Parker pointed at the building with a hand-painted sign: Bob's Crab Shack.

"I don't think it's a good idea to eat crab prepared by someone named Bob," Mark said.

"Where's your sense of adventure?"

"I've never even heard of this place." Lucas peered at the restaurant. "It must be brand new."

"So the health inspectors haven't had time to shut it down yet," Mark said under his breath.

Parker hopped out of the car and headed towards the door, the snow making crunching noises under his boots. Lucas and Mark reluctantly followed, taking note of the fact that the place didn't seem to have even one other customer.

When they walked inside it was clean enough. The waitress waved at them and said, "Sit down anyplace you want, I'll be with you in a minute."

Parker shrugged off his coat, hung it up on a hook on the wall, and made his way to a table.

Mark sat and looked at the plastic plates and paper napkins and shook his head. "I have a bad feeling about this."

The waitress came over to take their order and Parker was the only one who chose something. The other two men just asked for drinks. They sat around sipping their beers while Parker knocked back two shots of whiskey.

Mark glanced at he menu and then looked at his brother. "I don't trust seafood when it's that cheap."

"Oh, remove the stick from your ass." Parker was slightly tipsy. "It's not going to kill me."

"Fine. Risk your health if you want to."

Parker shook his head. "He has never taken a risk in his entire life," he confided in Lucas. "Not one. His last girlfriend left him because she realized how boring he was."

Lucas laughed—Parker's tone was playful—but when he looked at Mark he didn't seem amused.

"Your last girlfriend left because she couldn't stand how you never took anything seriously." Mark wasn't snapping but the strain in his voice revealed that he wanted to.

The waitress came back and placed a plate of fried calamari and a shrimp cocktail in front of Parker.

"True enough." He dipped his shrimp in the cocktail sauce and flourished it under his brother's nose.

Mark lifted his hand to push Parker's hand out of his face but before he could his brother ate the shrimp with obvious relish.

"Mmm," he murmured. "So good."

Mark sat back in his chair and crossed his arms. "You're going to get sick."

"So what?" Parker ate two more pieces of shrimp. "It tastes good now."

Mark pushed away from the table but before he could get up to leave Lucas said, "You know the only reason he's doing it is to stick it to you. I have a little brother, I know what I'm talking about."

"Where is Nathan?" Mark asked.

"He's going to be coming down tomorrow, hopefully. He keeps saying that he's going to be here and then something turns up."

"Nathan plays basketball for the Devils, right?" Parker asked.

"Yep, the team has had an incredible winning streak this season." And it's going straight to his head, Lucas thought. He's so caught up in the partying that he's been no help to us at all. Brooke is going to rip him a new one when she finally sees him—if I don't get to him first.

"I hope he can make it," Mark said. "I hope that Haley's family will all be able to make it."

"I'm sorry, I keep forgetting all their names," Parker said apologetically.

"Don't be," Lucas reassured him. "Haley's mom used to joke that the only way she could remember how many children she had was to keep all their names tattooed on her forearm." Matt and Parker both laughed. "There's Quinn, Brian, Jen, Matt, and Taylor. We're still a little iffy on Brian and Taylor, they're both trying to get their families down here."

"Brian has four kids, right?" Mark asked.

"Five now," Lucas answered. "Whenever he goes anywhere it becomes a military operation. He'll be here if he possibly can, though."

"And Taylor?"

"She's got two daughters under the age of five. Traveling is not really a problem for her, she practically raising those girls on the road. She bought a 'land yacht'"—Lucas smiled as if he was enjoying some private joke—"and she's following her parents all around the country. But she's not sure if she wants to drive down here with her girls considering how bad the weather has been lately, so she's looking for a place to stash her RV. Brooke's helping her find something."

"And she doesn't need us to do anything except buy our suits?" Parker asked. "And she's planning a party for Haley?" he continued incredulously. "She must be a superwoman."

"More like Wonder Woman," Lucas said proudly.

"Are you done with that so we can go?" Mark asked impatiently.

Parker gave his brother a slow smile. "I think I might need a take-out bag."

Haley was trying on a few different shoes that she thought would be perfect with her dress and Brooke was taking calls on her cell phone. She snapped it shut and checked two more things off her list.

"Brian and Taylor are definitely coming, I was able to get a hold of a babysitting service and we're going to have a room where all the kids can hang out during the wedding. Your brother sounded a little too excited about having someone to hand his kids over to."

"Brooke, you're incredible," Haley said.

"Don't thank me for that one, Deb's the one who actually made the calls. Turn around."

Haley obliged her and Brooke looked critically at the length of the heels. "Too high and the color's not quite right."

Haley kicked them off and sat down to pull on another pair of shoes. "What about Nathan?"

"What about him," Brooke grumbled.

"Take it easy on him, it's been huge year for Nathan. He can't just drop everything and go where he wants to anymore."

"If you say so. I called him and he said that he'd be down here later today."

"Good, everyone who matters to me will be here by Saturday. What about this pair?" Haley raised her leg so that Brooke could see the white pumps she was wearing.

Nathan drove down the road, staring blankly ahead. He'd stayed in Durham for as long as he could, keeping himself busy with partying and drinking, but he couldn't avoid Tree Hill any longer.

He watched the highway stretch out in front of him and listened to the hypnotic hum of the engine. He wished that he could just keep on driving.

Katie had had to fly home to Nevada to be with her family—they were starting their holiday celebration a little early this year. In her absence Nathan felt a little adrift; it was harder to maintain his detachment from the upcoming wedding when she wasn't around.

The last time he'd seen Haley his feelings had been running hot, but thankfully his agitation had eased when he'd fallen into his routine at Duke.

He was worried. He didn't want to put his objectivity to the test by going back home—but there was nothing for it. He'd been fielding calls from his brother, his mother, and even Brooke. Haley had been so busy that he hadn't spoken to her in weeks.

Nathan's cell phone rang so pulled out his earpiece and switched it on.

"I heard about you beating San Jose State. Congratulations, man," Tim said.

"Thanks."

"It makes me wish that I'd stuck with basketball," Tim paused, "nah, that's a lie. I'm too lazy for that. I wish that I'd gone to Duke so that I could be on a winning team and let you do all the work."

"How would that have been any different from high school?" Nathan teased.

"Kiss my ass."

Tim and Nathan had kept in touch, off and on, over the past two years. Tim had gone to Columbia and after his freshman year had dropped out of the team to focus on his major: international finance.

To his father's great surprise Tim had shown that he had a gift for business management when he'd taken on a summer internship at a colleague's company. Pleased with his son's initial success he'd taken on a more active role in his life than ever before; Tim was attending a business seminar that his father had insisted he participate in to get him some experience out in the world and to network.

"How are things going out there?"

"Great. I had my picture taken in front of the Library Of Congress and I've been shaking hands with politicians all day."

"Sounds fun."

"I'm bored out of my fucking mind. I like working with people, but dealing with management is always a pain. Hopefully I'll be done by next week. Enough about my boring-ass life. What are you doing?"

"I'm driving down to Tree Hill."

"Yeah? What for?"

Nathan hesitated. "Haley's getting married."

There was a thunk on the other end of the line, as if Tim had dropped the phone. After some fumbling noises he heard Tim's voice again.

"Crap. Are you serious?"

"You think I'd joke about something like that?" Nathan asked, irritated.

"No. Damn, man. I—"

"You didn't know? I'm surprised your mom didn't tell you about it."

The silence stretched out as Tim searched for something to say. "I'm sorry, Nate."

"It's fine," he said shortly. "Listen, I've got to go. I'll call you later."

"Sure."

Nathan stepped out of his car and just stood for a moment. He stared up at his house and looked at the glowing windows as his breath became a white fog in the air.

It was night, it was freezing, but he still hesitated before grabbing his duffel bag out of the back seat and walking through the door.

He took off his boots in the entranceway and stepped into the living room. His mother sat there with Brooke, Haley, Lucas, Mark and some blond man he didn't recognize.

"Nathan!" His mother jumped up to give him a hug and he smiled, genuinely glad to see her.

"What's with all the affection, Mom?" he teased. "I haven't been gone that long, have I?"

"Yes you have, you brat."

Nathan kept his eyes on his mother but he knew that Haley was standing at his elbow, he didn't even need to look to know she was there.

He turned and hugged her too, while he saw Mark stand up out of the corner of his eye.

"About time little brother," Lucas said.

"Nathan, let me introduce you." Haley wrapped on hand around his arm and tugged him forward. "Mark you already know, but this is his older brother, Parker."

Nathan eyed the three men standing in front of him. He was struck by the odd similarity between them: Lucas was blond and fair-skinned; Mark bore some resemblance to Lucas but his hair was much darker, more brown than blond; and Parker could have been Luke's cousin, he had the same color hair and eyes as he did—but what set him apart was an aura that said he was always ready for a party.

Lucas and Mark were both very serious men; but he thought that Luke had a better sense of humor—he'd probably had to develop one over the years because of Haley's presence.

Parker looked just like the kind of guys he'd been hanging out with for years and he relaxed slightly.

"Nice to meet you," Nathan said.

Parker shook his hand firmly. "Likewise."

"Your mom was nice enough to order in for us," Brooke said. "Nobody has the energy to cook anything anymore."

"I know I don't." Haley sat back on the couch.

"I hope you boys like Italian." Deb walked into the kitchen. Parker, Lucas, and Mark trailed eagerly behind her.

"Are you coming, Haley?" Mark asked.

"Maybe later, I just want to veg out for a minute."

Nathan sat down next to her as Brooke said, "I think I'm almost too tired to eat, too."

"You've got to let me help with something," Haley insisted.

The brunette shook her head firmly. "No way. You're doing enough already. But you"—Brooke turned to look at Nathan sternly—"haven't."

"Brooke, he just got here—" Haley started.

"What is it you want me to do?" Nathan said with resignation.

"First thing tomorrow morning I want you to go and pick up your suit. I was lucky that your mom still has all your measurements or it might not have been ready on time."

Oh, joy, Nathan thought. Out loud he said, "Of course."

"And while Lucas is out with Parker and Mark, I want you to pick up the shoes I bought for all of you at"—Brooke picked up the clipboard that was never far from her side and checked the name—"Taryn's by nine-thirty tomorrow morning."

"Brooke—" Haley said.

"It's two things," Brooke shushed her. "He can do two things."

"That's fine with me," Nathan said mildly.

Brooke's cell phone rang and she picked up. "Hi, Lydia. Did you get a chance to talk to your florist friend?"

Haley held out her hand and Brooke reluctantly surrendered her cell. "Hi, Mom."

"Hi, baby. Would you mind putting Brooke back on the phone?"

"Oh, you don't want to talk to your own daughter?" Haley pretended to be outraged.

"You know I love you, honey. Now put Brooke back on the phone."

Brooke practically snatched the phone from her hands and went into the other room to talk.

Haley turned to him. "It's like this wedding is a runaway train and I don't have any idea where it's going to stop."

"That bad, huh?" Nathan settled back onto the cushions.

"You have no idea. I had everything planned and set months ago, but there's just been one surprise after another."

"It looks like my lovely, lovely sister-to-be is on top of things."

"I swear that woman could be the next president."

"What about you? You're not feeling too stressed are you?"

"Not anymore. I was freaking out a couple weeks ago but I've found the secret."

"The secret?" Nathan smiled at the contented look on Haley's face. "What secret?"

"The secret to all existence."

Nathan leaned forward to whisper, "What is it?"

"What's going to happen is going to happen," Haley leaned in, too, her voice low, her eyes laughing, "and there's nothing I can do about it."

Nathan looked into her sparkling eyes and gave her a twisted smile. "I suppose that's true."

The next morning Nathan drove down the street to the shoe store and pulled into the parking lot. He slammed his door and hurried up to the entrance, only to find it locked.

He looked into the storefront window and saw that the lights were off and there was no one there. Nathan cursed to himself and checked his watch. Nine-fifteen.

He returned to his car and sat there for a minute before deciding to drive down to the bookstore a few blocks down and wait there for a while before coming back to see if the store was open. He considered waiting in the car a little longer but the thought of their gourmet coffee on this cold morning was too tempting to resist and he put the car in gear.

Nathan settled into an overstuffed chair with a magazine and a coffee, enjoying the heat that warmed his chilled fingers. He found an article on the new talent to come into the NBA, set his cup on a side table, and began to read.

Some time later, Nathan woke up with a jerk. He yawned, stretched, and felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Flipping it open he saw no fewer than fifteen missed calls, all of them from Brooke. He groaned softly and reluctantly pressed the talk button.

"Hello?"

"Nathan?" Brooke said, surprised.

"Yes?"

"What the hell! Do you know what time it is?!"

She was so loud that Nathan moved the phone a little farther from his ear.

"No . . ." He was still a little slow, he felt like his mind hadn't completely woken up yet.

"Don't you have a watch on you?"

Nathan glanced at it and sat up abruptly. "Oh, shit. It's Four-twenty."

"Four-twenty-three," Brooke gritted out. "Is this your way of being funny? Are you trying to piss me off?"

"Look, I'm sorry." Nathan surged out of his seat and accidentally knocked his coffee cup over. Luckily the liquid was cold so it didn't scald him when it landed on his pant leg.

"Dammit!" he cursed. One of the teenagers behind the counter brought out a couple napkins and a rag to clean up the mess and Nathan tried to help as much as he could.

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing. Look, the place was closed when I got there so I decided to wait in a store down the road—"

"For seven hours," Brooke finished sarcastically.

"I fell asleep!" Nathan threw a ridiculously large tip at the server and rushed outside, fumbling for his keys. "I'm sorry I can't just hang upside down in cave for three hours like you do—"

"Shut up." Brooke was furious. "This is what you're going to do. You're going to go back to the store, tell the woman behind the counter that you have an order to pick up for Brooke Davis, and then you're going to bring the package that they give you straight to Deb's house and drop it off. Then you're going to drive down to Karen's house because we're all meeting there for dinner—and I swear if you mess this up I will disembowel you and use your guts for party favors."

Nathan clenched his teeth. "I'm sor—" Brooke had already hung up.

Nathan got behind the wheel and hit it once with his fist before driving off quickly.

Nathan arrived at Karen's in a foul mood. He'd picked up the package from Taryn's and as he was walking out he'd heard their phone ring.

The cashier had picked up and said, "Yes, Ms. Davis, he's heading out the door with it now."

And after he'd dropped the shoes off with his mother, she'd gotten a phone call from Brooke, too.

"Yeah, he's here." Debwalked briskly through her house, throwing different wedding paraphernalia into a bag—probably for Brooke.

"Yep, I'll check each one to make sure they're all the right size and color." Deb laughed at something Brooke said and hung up, turning to look at her son with an eyebrow raised. "Is there something you want to tell me?"

Nathan rolled his eyes. "Can we get into it later, Mom? I'm starving and I haven't had anything all day except half a cup of coffee."

"Okay, I've got a ton to do. Why don't I just meet you there?"

Nathan had nodded and headed back out into the cold.

He sat there with some of the best lasagna that Karen had ever made and couldn't even enjoy it. Brooke kept glaring at him when she wasn't eating or leaving the table to take phone calls.

"I'm here!" Deb rushed in, breathless and rosy-cheeked from the cold. "Tell me you saved some for me."

"Please, it's me," Karen said, and handed Deb a plate piled high with lasagna, garlic bread, and salad while Keith helped her out of her coat.

Haley and Mark were engaged in what looked like a fairly intense conversation in the corner, while Lucas and Parker watched a taped game on the television.

"We're finally all here, captain," Keith said to Brooke with a smile. "Give us your orders."

Everyone sat down around the table.

"Thanks." Brooke gave Keith a fond smile that fell off her face when she turned to look at him. "I was hoping that we'd have a full dress rehearsal this afternoon so that I could make sure that everything fit but since that's not possible"—she paused dramatically while Nathan resisted the urge to say something in his defense—"we'll just have to do it before the rehearsal dinner tomorrow."

Brooke looked down at her notes as Haley said, "My parents told me that they're going to get here early tomorrow morning."

"I've booked a room for them at the hotel."

"They can stay with me, I still have two empty rooms."

Brooke shook her head, "If they really want to, I guess that's fine but all the James' and Ascots are going to be at the hotel, it might be easier to make get them all from place to place if they're all together."

Haley shrugged. "They won't care. I'll call and tell them where the Radisson is."

"Your families, will all be here"—Brooke crossed her fingers—"by noon tomorrow, and the rest of the guests will hopefully be here by Friday night."

"Do we have to do anything on Friday?" Nathan asked his brother quietly.

Brooke caught what he said and gave him an annoyed glance. "If everyone just wants to rest in their rooms they can but I've got a few things planned for them for Friday, and the hotel restaurant is giving us a great deal on providing meals so we don't have to worry about cooking for everyone."

Brooke pulled out a small gift bag and drew a program out. "You two," she looked at Nathan and Lucas, "will be handing these out to every one of our guests."

"Are you sure you have enough?" Lucas asked.

Brooke stepped to one side and he saw the grocery bags stuffed full of the party favors and leaned back in his chair.

"Of course you do."

"What about us?" Parker indicated himself and his brother. "Don't we have anything to do?"

"I was hoping you two would be willing to make sure that everyone knows when things are going to happen. Making announcements about when breakfast starts, when the different activities are going to happen, that kind of thing."

"No problem," Mark said.

Haley was reading one of the programs and was surprised to see all the activities that had been arranged for the guests.

"Sleigh-riding, Brooke?" Haley asked incredulously. "How did you pull that one off?"

"Skill and natural talent." Brooke sat down. For the first time she looked a little tired and she hid a yawn with her hand. "Late Friday afternoon you, me, and a few select women will disappear for the bachelorette party. Karen, Deb, prepare yourself for a night that will be burned into your minds forever."

Parker looked amused. "Maybe you should let us come, too."

"Sorry, no men—at least, no men with clothes on."

Haley, Deb, and Karen laughed while their sons and significant others exchanged looks that were a little freaked out.

Brooke sat down and polished off the rest of her salad, while everyone else talked around her. She saw Nathan say something to Lucas and she wanted to pull him aside so she could yell at him in private—but there was no way that she was going to do it in front of Haley since they were so close to the wedding. It looked like that was going to have to wait until later, because she needed at least seven hours of sleep. Tomorrow morning she'd be ready to tear into him.

Karen looked at Brooke's face and leaned down to say something into her son's ear.

Lucas stood up and led his fiancé into his old room, coming out a minute later and shutting the door firmly behind him.

"Is she okay?" Haley looked a little worried.

"She's fine." Lucas put an arm around her. "She was out the minute her head hit the pillow. I think we're going to just crash here tonight instead of going home."

"Don't let her push herself too hard, Luke."

"I won't."

Parker rubbed his hands together. "Nobody tell Brooke, but I have something planned, too."

"Parker," Mark said warningly.

"Calm down, unlike Haley's party, ours is going to be completely PG."

"That sounds a little boring." Haley stood up and wrapped her arms around Mark.

"Boring?" Parker was almost insulted. "I'm just as capable of good, clean fun as anybody."

"Sure you are." Lucas pointed a thumb at his brother. "And Nathan spent the last couple weeks sipping tea and eating scones with his teammates."

They all laughed and Nathan smirked to hide his annoyance.

Parker got up to leave with Haley and Mark; his mother took out her car keys and rubbed the back of her neck tiredly.

"Are you ready to go, Nate?" Deb asked.

"Yeah, it's been a long day."

Thursday December 19, 2013

When Haley's alarm went off the next morning she knocked it off the nightstand and burrowed further under the covers.

"Haley?" Mark said groggily.

"There is no one named Haley here," she replied.

He laughed a little and said, "Really? Because if I didn't wake up next to her, Haley's going to be furious."

She pulled a pillow over her head. "It's warm in here and cold out there. Logic dictates that we should stay put."

"Unfortunately, everybody's coming today. Therefore logic dictates," Mark sat up and blinked the grit out of his eyes, "that we have to get out of bed."

"I don't even know what day it is anymore," Haley groaned.

"It's Thursday."

"And when is the wedding again?"

"Saturday."

"Wrong. We're driving down to the courthouse, getting married, and leaving the state before anyone realizes that we've gone.

Mark slid over to her side of the bed and pulled her pillow away. "That's an idea. But if we do that then we should plan on never coming back, because I know for a fact that Brooke would kill us both. Quickly, if we're lucky."

Remembering all the work her friend was putting into her wedding finally got Haley into the shower; then dressed and ready to go.

Haley was standing in the lobby of the Radisson when she heard a familiar voice behind her. She turned and saw her brother Matt struggling to get his rolling suitcase through the door.

"Matt!" Haley hugged him and he laughed with surprise.

"Am I the first one here?" he asked. When Haley nodded he added, "Of course I am. And my status as the most punctual James remains unchallenged."

"I think you mean the second most punctual," Haley said primly. "Besides, you don't have kids to slow you down."

"Not yet," Matt said casually.

"Not yet?" Disbelief colored Haley's voice. "No! Barb's pregnant? Does Mom know?"

"We just found out ourselves a couple days ago."

"Oh my God!"

"Ssh." Mark looked around. "The only reason that I told you is because I didn't bring a wedding gift." Haley hit at him but Matt deflected the blow easily. "Don't tell anyone, okay? We want to wait a little longer to spread the news, and we wouldn't want to steal your thunder anyway."

"I don't care—"

"Promise me, Hales."

"Fine," Haley said reluctantly. "But I'm going to be making calls right after I get back from my honeymoon if you haven't told anyone by then. So I guess this means that you and Barb will finally be getting married?"

It was a matter of intense speculation in the James family: Matt and Barb were clearly crazy about each other, but for one reason or another they'd decided to date for the last six years instead of taking the leap.

"You're starting to sound like Dad," Matt said warningly.

Haley pretended to zip her mouth closed and throw away the key.

"Have you and Mark decided on whether or not you're moving to New York? I'd love to be able to show you around my city."

"Your city?" Haley pushed his shoulder lightly. "We were talking about it yesterday and I think we're going to do it. Mark's parents might be moving there too."

Matt looked surprised. "How do you know?"

"I phoned his mother yesterday and she told me that they have a partner who's been setting up a branch of their business in the city or maybe even in New Jersey. They were planning on staying in Montana but I guess they're tired of wide open spaces."

"I know I'd miss the smell of the subways."

"Ick, Matt."

"So where's Mark? I'd like to actually lay eyes on the guy who's marrying my littlest sister."

"What are you talking about? You've met him before."

"Talking to someone for the five minutes while he has free between business meetings is not 'meeting someone.'"

"He's upstairs getting his assignments from Brooke."

"She the ringleader, then?"

"It's definitely not me, I'm just the bride."

A couple hours later Lydia and Jimmy arrived, and when they walked through the door it was like a signal was sent out because all of the James' came in after them en masse.

Haley's brothers and sisters, all their spouses, all the children, and a few extra in-laws crowded the lobby.

The noise and chaos was incredible but Brooke waded through it all with a calm that Nathan couldn't help but envy, directing everyone to their rooms.

The parade of bodies made Nathan feel a little like a trapped animal—even though he loved Haley's family. He just wasn't used to being around so many people, his mother had only one brother. Growing up he didn't see the family that he did have all that often—which was a shame since they were great people.

"You're getting that look," Matt said.

Nathan turned around and raised his eyebrow. "What look is that?"

"The look Barb gets on her face whenever she walks into a room with my family in it. Do you know what she told me once? 'I love them but I need to stand outside for a minute.'"

Nathan laughed. "I do love them, but I don't need to stand outside. It's just that I feel a little like I'm back in junior high and I'm waiting for an assignment from a teacher. I've only been exposed to the wedding planning thing for a few days and I'm already feeling the burn."

"Ouch." Matt winced in sympathy. "At least you're not the groom, I remember Brian nearly having a breakdown the week before his wedding. Nicole pulled him through that ordeal."

"Come on," Nathan said, disbelieving. Brian was one of the most physically imposing men that he knew. "Breakdown" didn't even look like it was in his vocabulary.

"Oh, yes. If I had to bet on who would come out on top in a knife fight—my brother or his wife—I'd double down on Nicole."

Nathan snorted as Matt waved at him and went up to find his room.

Mark's side of the family trickled in steadily, two or three at a time. He was able to pick out Mark's parents instantly; he was nearly the image of his mother: a handsome older woman with an air of class and breeding. His father came in a well-tailored suit and was clearly happy to see Haley when he stepped in from the cold.

He and his brother made sure that everyone got an itinerary; Nathan handed each bag out with a distracted smile, barely looking or listening to the people who came in and forgetting their names the minute they left his vicinity.

After everyone had been taken care of, their small group retreated to the waiting room and collapsed into the chairs. Brooke only sat for few moments before getting up again.

"We'll give them a couple hours to get settled but then we can let everyone know that we've arranged for a light lunch before the rehearsal dinner tonight."

"Do we have anything planned for them after we eat?" Deb asked.

Brooke shook her head. "Everyone's probably so jet-lagged or tired from sitting in their cars that we're better off cutting them loose for the rest of the day."

"That's a great idea," Parker said. "I feel ready to pass out right now and I haven't been on the road for eight hours."

Brooke looked at him. "I rented an extra room in case any of you need to crash for a while."

"You've thought of everything, Brooke," Karen said, impressed.

"Do you mind if I use it?" Parker asked.

Brooke tossed him the key card and he caught it in midair.

"Be back for lunch," Brooke said.

"I think I might skip it." Parker got up slowly. "If someone could come wake me up before we leave for dinner that would be great."

"I'll send someone up for you." Brooke wrote a note to herself on a post-it and stuck it on her clipboard. "Hales, can you get your sisters to get over to your mother's room in about an hour so that they can try on their bridesmaids dresses? We can have you try on your dress too." Haley nodded she turned to Lucas. "And I need you, Mark, and Nathan to put on your suits so I can see everything together." She added to herself, "I can have Parker dress up later."

"Anything else commandant?" Keith asked.

"That's all for now," she said to him sweetly.

Hours later Haley was back in the lobby, looking into the fireplace. The dresses fit her sisters perfectly and when Brooke had finally brought out the dress that she'd be wearing for the ceremony even she'd been stunned by how beautifully it had turned out.

She nearly felt like crying when she saw how much time Brooke must have put into it. It had fitted fit her like a dream but there'd been a small tear in the waist where the stitching had come a little loose. It was barely noticeable but when Brooke had seen it Haley could practically feel her blood pressure rising.

Haley had bitten her lip, sensing that Brooke really wouldn't be open to hearing her "what will happen, will happen" philosophy. Brooke had taken the dress back, promising to have it fixed right away—but Haley had taken her hands and forced her to sit down and put her feet up, threatening to elope with Mark if she didn't take some time to rest.

After everyone had gone on to lunch Haley fixed up a plate for Brooke, brought it back to the room, and forced her to take the time to enjoy it.

After her mother had assured her that she would sit on Brooke if she tried to anything but lay back and watch TV, she went to the lobby downstairs to be alone for a while. She loved how everything was happening all at once—her wedding was definitely not going to be boring—but she'd suddenly felt the need for some solitude.

She stared into the fireplace and then heard someone walk up behind her.

"What are you doing here?" Nathan asked.

Haley turned to look at him and she sat down on the raised hearth, keeping close to the warmth.

"Nothing, just thinking about what I have to do tomorrow."

Haley shivered and he took his coat off, put it around her, and sat in front of her in one of the chairs.

"Aren't you cold?" she asked.

Nathan shook his head. Even though he was a little chilled and there was plenty of room next to Haley, he sat back and looked at her. The firelight cast moving shadows over her face—which looked tired.

"I bet you'll be glad when this is all over with," Nathan said. "I'm sure that Brooke will probably stay in bed for a solid week after it's done."

"She'd better." Haley wrapped his coat around her tighter. "I swear, I'm thinking about sending her with Mark on my honeymoon. She could use the break."

Nathan laughed and against his will he felt himself relax. He couldn't stop the snickers that kept escaping his throat and Haley smiled, pleased at the success of her joke.

He knew it was so, so wrong, but the idea of Brooke and Mark running away together—leaving Haley with him—was so funny that he almost felt hysterical. Stop it, Nathan, he said to himself. Think about what it would do to Lucas. He felt guilty when he imagined how devastated his brother and Haley would be and then rolled his eyes at himself. He was feeling guilty about a hypothetical situation that would never, ever happen.

That sobered him up. It would never happen. Even if the wedding didn't go off as perfectly as he knew Brooke wanted it to, it would still happen. Nathan took a deep breath and felt some of the perspective that he'd been able to get during his self-imposed separation from Haley come back. Continuing to wish for her was something a child or an adolescent would do. She was happy and if he loved her, he'd let her go. She loved him, in her way, he knew she would want him to move on if she knew what he was going through. Nathan felt tension that had been running through him for the past couple weeks ease a little.

Haley saw the change come over his face but before she could ask him what he was thinking, Mark stepped into the room.

"There you are," he said. "Everyone's on their way down so if you want to use the elevators you're probably going to have to wait half and hour or so."

Haley stood up as her parents walked into the room with Brooke.

"You two know the area so I'm hoping that you would each drive one of the vans and everyone else can follow in whatever they drove up here," Brooke said.

Lydia nodded and Jimmy grinned. "Can I really say no?" he asked.

"I wouldn't test her if I were you, Dad," Haley said.

"I raised four daughters, your brothers and I were completely outnumbered in my own house, and you think I can't survive her too?"

"No."

"Can you go upstairs and get Parker, Nate?" Brooke asked.

"Sure." Nathan braced one hand on his knee and stood up. He watched Haley talk to her father, still wearing his coat, as the elevator doors closed in front of him.

Nathan walked down the hall to the room and knocked on the door. When Parker didn't answer he knocked harder but didn't get any response. He waited a little while, listening, and knocked once more. He made his way back downstairs, thinking that Parker might have left the room already, and ran into Lucas in the lobby.

"Have you seen Parker?"

"I think I saw him leave with Mrs. James in her van," Lucas said.

"Good." Nathan looked around the room for his mother.

"You can ride with me, everyone's already left. And"—Lucas pulled his coat off a chair—"Haley said to give this back to you."

"Thanks."

The wedding rehearsal had gone off without a hitch and Brooke breathed a sigh of relief. She pulled out her clipboard and the huge three-ring binder that she used to keep all the wedding plans in order. She slipped into the office to look over a few details so that Haley wouldn't see her—she knew that her friend would insist on helping her and she was already doing too much.

In the church basement the rest of Haley and Mark's friends and family sat around the huge rectangular table set up in the middle of the room. The children sat at their own table off to the side.

It was fairly busy: people moving in and out of the room to make calls, talk to their children, or chat with their new in-laws.

Karen had arranged a wonderful meal; Haley glanced down at her plate. There was stuffed chicken breast, salad, and green beans. She took a bite of her chicken and closed her eyes in ecstasy. Everything was delicious but Haley didn't feel all that hungry. She was full of nervous energy, which she supposed was normal.

Mark seemed like he was still exhausted from all the running around they'd done today and even though he was smiling and talking, she could tell that he'd be out the minute he laid down tonight.

Her brothers and sisters were sitting farther away from her so that they could be closer to their children, who were starting to get a little rowdy now that they were with their cousins. On her end of the table was her mother, Mark's mother, and Lucas to her right, and her father, Mark's father, and Nathan to her left.

The buzz of different conversations was low and pleasant, and Haley had to fight to stay awake.

"So Diane," Lydia said, "Haley tells me that you're thinking of moving to New York."

"They haven't decided anything yet, Mom," Haley said.

Mark looked over at his mother. "Really? You didn't tell me that."

"We haven't made any firm plans," Diane said, looking at her husband. "Isn't that right?"

"No, but it would be nice to be back in the city again." Paul took a sip of his wine. "We used to live there before we moved out to California."

"And when California didn't work out for us we found a place in Montana that we thought was perfect," Diane said.

"But it turns out that we've gotten too used to the noise." Mark's father had a low, deep voice. Haley always enjoyed listening to him talk, even though the topic of choice was usually accounting—which bored her to death.

"I didn't mind moving but I miss the action of the city," Diane grinned, "everything moves so fast and it's so challenging—"

"And nobody is more suited to it than my mother," Mark said teasingly. "She moves faster than any of us can."

"Jimmy and I love visiting New York but now that we've retired I have no desire to enter the workforce ever again. I look forward to being lazy for the rest of my life," Lydia said.

Jimmy grabbed some bread and buttered it. "Amen."

Taylor heard them from where she was and snorted. "Lazy? I'll have you know that they've got me running around working with them for this charity and that charity. My girls and I have done it all, building homes, serving soup, holding clothing drives, collecting cans . . ."

"Just think of it as building up your good karma, Tay," Matt said.

"Why would I need good karma?"

Haley pretended to study her nails when Taylor looked her way and so did everyone else in her family.

Taylor glared at them and opened her mouth to say something when her daughter ran up to her and shook her arm.

"What is it Athena?" she asked.

She leaned down and the little girl whispered something in her ear. She got up and took her by the hand and led her out of the room.

"Saved by the potty break," Quinn said, pretending to wipe sweat from her forehead.

Everyone in Haley's family, including Lucas and Nathan, started to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Diane asked.

Keith answered for them all. "Let's just say that Taylor has a . . . colorful . . . history."

Mark leaned over to talk to Haley. "Did I hear you sister call her daughter 'Athena'?"

Haley turned to him with wry smile. "Her real name is Callie but Taylor wants her daughters to 'embrace the goddess within' so she calls her oldest Athena and her youngest Artemis. The rest of us just use 'Ena' and 'Ris' because we can't quite bring ourselves to use those names for our nieces."

Mark nodded thoughtfully. "Wow."

"I know."

Mark turned to talk to his father and Haley let her eyes wander around the room. She managed to catch Barb's gaze, grinned widely at her, and glanced down at her stomach.

Barb cocked her head quizzically and then realized that Haley knew. Her mouth dropped open slightly with surprise and then she smiled and shrugged before turning to her boyfriend and hitting him hard.

Matt rubbed his arm and looked at Barb with a bewildered expression, and then looked over at Haley. He narrowed his eyes at her slightly, as if to say "I'm going to get you for this," and put an arm around his girlfriend.

Brooke finally made her way downstairs and sat down next to Lucas.

"Let me get a plate for you," Deb said.

"No, I'll grab something later," Brooke waved the offer away, "it's almost time for us to leave anyway."

About twenty minutes later everyone was finished and moving towards the door.

Brooke glanced down at her notes, unable to shake the feeling that she was forgetting something but remembered everything she had to do tomorrow and shrugged it off.

When they got back to the hotel, Brooke looked around at everyone in the lobby and then turned to Mark.

"Where's your brother?"

"I haven't seen him all night, I figured he was just sitting with someone else." Mark glanced around. "If there's a single woman anywhere near him chances are he's going to find a way to disappear with her."

"Nathan!" Brooke flagged him down. "Did you wake up Parker?"

"I went up to his room but there wasn't anyone there. I figured that he must have come down on his own."

Haley appeared at Mark's side. "Is something wrong?"

"Uh, no." Brooke frowned. "It just looks like we've lost Parker for a minute. I'll go check his room."

Haley, Nathan, and Mark followed Brooke into the elevator and stood outside the door while she knocked. She didn't get an answer she pulled a spare key card out of her pocket and let herself in.

"Parker?" Brooke said.

There wasn't anyone in the room. Haley heard something in the bathroom and opened the door slowly. She gasped with shock and Mark pushed in behind her.

Parker was slumped over in the tub, naked. He was hanging over the side with a towel under his head. He looked awful, as if he'd been vomiting and judging by the smell in the bathroom he's he'd been in there for some time.

Nathan drew Haley and Brooke out of the room and stepped inside with Mark, shutting the door firmly behind him.

A while later he emerged with a worried look on his face.

"What's going on?" Brooke asked.

"I'm not sure," Nathan said. "But Mark's helping his brother clean up a little before we take him to the emergency room."

"Should we call an ambulance?" Haley asked.

"I don't think so."

"Lord." Brooke closed her eyes for a minute and then opened them.

"I'll go get his parents," Haley said.

Brooke stopped her. "I'm not sure where they are but let's not waste any time looking for them. Why don't you go get your car and we'll drive Parker to the hospital. We can call everyone when we get there."

Haley nodded and left the room.

"Salmonella poisoning," Mark said with relief as he walked into the hospital waiting room. "The idiot. I told him that he shouldn't have eaten that shrimp."

Haley let out the breath she'd been holding. "So he's going to be okay?"

"He was a little dehydrated, so that made it even worse, but the doctor told me that he should be fine by next week. They want to hold him for a couple days for observation and give him fluids."

Nathan stood up and flipped his phone open. Luckily the Ascots had great insurance (the admitting nurse had practically laid down a red carpet for them) and they'd gotten in to see a physician in record time. Before they'd been able to contact anyone they'd already found out that Parker would be fine.

Mr. and Mrs. Ascot were coming down to check on their son but otherwise everything would be moving forward—minus the brother of the groom.

Haley put her arms around Mark and he rested his head in her hair.

"I'm beginning to think that eloping isn't such a bad idea," he said.

"Too late now," Haley pulled back to look into his face, "you should have taken me up on my offer when you had the chance."

"That's right." Brooke stood up out of the uncomfortably hard chair she'd been sitting in and stretched. "Besides, after everything that's happened I want to see somebody walk down an aisle, and at this point I don't really care who it is. If Nathan wanted to marry Mark I'd hand him a bouquet and walk him to the altar myself."

Haley and Mark laughed. Brooke's cell phone rang and she picked up, walking out of the room.

Haley turned to Nathan. "Why don't you go home and get some sleep? It's been a long day for you."

Mark put a hand on the back of Haley's neck. "You should too, Haley. You have a lot to do tomorrow."

"I don't want to leave Parker here by himself."

"Don't worry, I'll stay with him until our parents get here."

"But—"

"Go." Mark pushed her gently. "You're practically falling off your feet."

Haley tried to hide a yawn but was unsuccessful. "Okay," she relented.

"Tell Parker that I hope he feels better soon," Nathan said. He didn't think he'd ever seen a man more miserable than Parker had been in that bathroom.

"Thanks, man," Mark said.

Haley and Nathan walked out of the room and ran into Brooke. She snapped her phone shut and looked over at them.

"I just talked to Luke. He and Keith are holding things down over at the hotel but I'd better get back there."

"I think everyone will be fine. Why don't you and Luke go home and we'll just take care of things in the morning," Haley said.

"But I wanted to make sure everyone knows what's going to happen tomorrow—"

"Don't worry about it," Nathan said. "Everyone's got a program and they asked me and Luke plenty of questions. We should be fine."

Brooke sighed. "Okay."

"Come on," Haley pulled out her keys, "I'll drop you two off."

Friday morning Brooke, Jen, and Haley knocked on her brother hotel door. Brian's wife, Nicole, answered.

"Come on, everyone's ready to go already," Jen said. "Tell my brother to get his lazy butt out of bed."

Nicole ignored her. "Thank you so much for this, Brooke," she said. "The kids have been excited about this sleigh ride all week." She turned around and raised her voice. "Tina, Helen, Jimmy Junior, Paige, Damien—"

"Dasher, Prancer, Comet, Donner, Blitzen and Rudolph," Jen interjected with a grin.

"—front and center, now!" Nicole finished. She glared playfully at her sister-in-law. "You forgot Dancer, Vixen, and Cupid." She turned to look at Brooke. "Promise me that you'll never marry into a large family, there's always at least one person getting on your nerves."

"I'll do my best," Brooke said.

"Behave, Jen." Haley stared her sister down.

Jen held up her hands in surrender and backed up down the hallway. "Hey, I can say whatever I want because guess who gets stuck with all of the kids when Brian and Nicole want to go out? Me. Moving out to Washington near them was the biggest mistake of my life."

Brian emerged from his room with bleary eyes and rumpled hair. "You moving into our neighborhood had been a disaster of epic proportions."

Nicole laughed and took his arm while their children followed them out like a group of baby ducks. Once they saw their aunt they took off after her as she pretended to run.

"Auntie Jen! Auntie Jen! I wanna ride on the horse!"

"Can you take me to the bathroom?"

"I'm hungry, can you make me some eggs?"

Jen gave them all a big group hug then gestured at her brother. "Why are you asking me? Your parents are right over there."

Haley grinned. Her sister was great with kids, but for some reason hadn't had any of her own and had remained unattached.

"Everyone get downstairs, breakfast is almost over," Brooke said.

They all managed to stuff themselves into one elevator. Once they reached the ground floor they spilled out and made their way to the dining room.

Tina, Brian's oldest daughter, broke from their group when she saw Nathan and sped over to him. He saw her coming and crouched down with his arms wide open. Her enthusiastic greeting nearly bowled him over and he stood up with her in his arms.

Brian rolled his eyes and went to retrieve his child.

Jen put one hand on his arm and smiled. "Tina and Nathan, back together again."

"Yeah, whatever," Brian grumbled.

"Come on, Brian," Haley said, "you're not still jealous, are you? She's only ever going to have one daddy."

"She'd trade me in for Nathan in a second."

Haley laughed as her niece talked to Nathan animatedly and he nodded with an expression of perfect concentration. Even though Haley's family ran up astronomical phone bills talking to each other, it was a little harder to get them all together. They'd managed to get together at least twice a year—it had dwindled to once a year when everyone had started settling down. When people had started having children they could go three to five years a time without seeing each other.

Tina had only met Nathan twice before today, she was seven when she'd seen Nathan for the first time and she'd fallen instantly in love. Incredibly, she'd remembered him when she saw him again two years later when the family had gotten together in Tree Hill for her mother's birthday.

"It looks like nothing's changed," Haley said.

Brian walked up to Nathan and held his hands out to Tina. She climbed into his arms, reluctantly.

"Hey, we've been keeping up with you on ESPN," Brian said. Tina laid her head on her father's shoulder.

"What? You mean you actually caught those five seconds?" Nathan grinned.

Jen ushered the rest of Brian's clan into the dining room along with Brooke while Haley, Nicole, Nathan and Brian kept chatting.

"Don't be modest," Nicole said. "You've improved your stats across the board, especially your field goal percentage. I'm guessing that Lucas is helping you out there, am I right?"

"Yeah," Nathan admitted. "My three-pointers are still looking rough though."

"You definitely need to work on it—but you have good shooters on your team. I'm surprised that you guys haven't brought home a championship yet."

"Trust me, so is our coach."

"Your problem is that you start out the season so strong that you lose steam towards the end. You need to pace yourselves better."

"I don't know about that, hon." Brian shifted Tina in his arms. "Everyone knows that the Gators and the Buckeyes have been powerhouses for the past three seasons."

Nicole shook her head. "Everyone always thinks this team or that team is unbeatable until they aren't."

"How's your team?" Nathan asked. Nicole was a chemistry teacher and an assistant coach for the girls' high school basketball team at Bremington High.

"Good, they working really hard—thank you so much for coming out last year." Nathan had visited Nicole's school when the team had flown out to Washington to play a game.

Nathan shrugged off her thanks.

"Daddy, I'm hungry," Tina said.

Brian set her down and took her hand in his. "Okay, sweetie, we're going."

The morning and afternoon had been a whirlwind of activities and Haley sank onto a bed in Jen's room with her arm thrown over her eyes.

"That bad, huh?" Jen asked.

"I am never having children," Haley moaned.

"Amateur. I have Brian's kids over at my house for entire weekends and you can't handle a couple hours?"

"It was exactly seven hours, twenty-three minutes, and fifteen seconds. Plus it wasn't just Brian's little monsters, Quinn's and Taylor's were both thrown into the mix."

"So you're here with me because I'm the only one with a room to myself?"

Haley lifted her arm a little and peered at her sister. "Exactly."

"So it's not because I'm your favorite sister?"

"That honor belongs to Taylor."

"Are you kidding me? There is nobody in this family that you fight with more."

"She took her kids back to the hotel early so they could have a nap, ergo, she is my favorite."

There was a knock on the door and Brooke walked in, still cool and collected after having to wrangle arrangements for around fifty people—and their children.

"How did you know I was here?" Haley asked.

Brooke gave her a look that clearly said "please."

"Are you about to go to sleep?"

"Why, do you need anything?" Haley sat up on her elbows.

"No, you should get a few hours in." Brooke turned to Jen. "You should too, the bachelorette party's tonight and you're going to want to be well rested for that."

Haley flopped back onto the bed. "As long as I don't have to move for at least two hours, I'm good to go."

Jen hid a yawn behind her hand.

"Oh, is the Incredible Babysitter tired?" Haley asked wickedly.

Brooke smiled. "No arguing. Just get in bed and don't get out until I come back to get you."

Haley saluted Brooke, rolled over, and closed her eyes.

Downstairs Lucas was trying to work up some excitement for the bachelor party.

"Are you ready to have fun tonight?" he asked Mark. "I've got some things planned."

Nathan just looked at his brother skeptically. He loved his brother, truly, but he wasn't really the partying type. He didn't even go to that many parties—how did he expect to be able to organize one?

"Oh, that's not necessary." Mark smiled weakly. "I was just planning on getting some rest before tomorrow."

"I'll try and come up with something interesting for your bachelor party," Lucas said. "You can't just sleep tonight!"

"Yes, yes I can," Mark said wryly.

"We're going to be the only guys there," Nathan said. "Haley's brothers are going to be too tired." Brian and Matt had been effectively abandoned by their significant others and they'd spent the entire day watching the children and trying to be in three places at once. "And Mark's dad is spending the night at the hospital with Parker—and you know we're desperate when we're trying to get the groom's father to come to this thing."

And he had no real desire to be there either. He would have loved to have spent the rest of his night in his room at home.

"You two are going to be down here at eight whether you like it or not," Lucas said.

Nathan rolled his eyes.

Nathan sat the hotel bar with his brother and Mark, sipping an Amaretto Sour. He'd never had that drink before but he thought that he might try something new.

Lucas, Mark, and Nathan had started their bachelor party early. Nathan looked at the other two men and thought, Calling what we're doing a "party" is stretching the definition of the word. Three men drinking in the hotel bar wasn't really his idea of an exciting time.

"Sorry about this guys," Mark said. "I know that Parker would have put together something more interesting for us to do if he hadn't been knocked out."

"Don't even worry about it," Lucas said. "I'm sure that whatever Brooke has planned isn't that interesting."

"We're talking about Brooke Davis, right?" Nathan asked.

"Yes, we are. But the one thing we can do is to try and drink just enough alcohol to forget that our women will probably be partying with men better looking than we are."

"Here, here." Mark tapped his glass against Lucas' and downed the shot in one gulp.

"And here," Lucas held up his glass, "is to not having food poisoning. Like Parker. Poor Parker."

Mark hiccupped softly. "Speaking of my brother . . . he's not going to be able to make it to the wedding." He turned to Nathan. "Would you mind filling in for him?"

Nathan stared at Mark blankly, for a moment he thought that he hadn't heard him right.

"Sorry, what was that Mark?"

"I was wondering if you could fill in for my brother. Parker's not going to be able to leave the hospital for at least a week so I'm missing a best man."

For a minute Nathan wondered what would happen if he just took the elevator to the roof of the hotel and jumped off. It would be an end to his misery and it's likely that it would postpone the wedding. Every single time he thought he'd gained some acceptance of the situation, something else happened.

Rolling his eyes at himself and his dramatics he said, "I'm flattered, really, but I think Luke deserves this more than me, he's the one who's been running around getting things done."

"True." Lucas glared playfully at his little brother. "Lazy ass here hasn't done a thing to help."

"Haley keeps talking about how happy she is that everyone could be here for our wedding, especially since things have been so busy that she hasn't seen her friends as much as she would like," Mark said.

"Maybe Parker will get better—"

"I don't think so. Besides, you don't know my brother. He's a unbelievable hypochondriac, he'll probably stay another week if he can."

Nathan could see that Lucas was beginning to wonder why he was so hesitant and he sighed inwardly. He really didn't want to sit through another lecture from him about being more supportive, more available, or more friendly. Luckily Brooke had been too busy to tell him off the way she wanted to, so she sent her man instead. He was here for Haley because he knew she'd be hurt if he didn't come, but that was as far as he wanted to go with this.

"If Nathan doesn't come through then I'm still available," Lucas teased. "I'm really the better man anyway, in more ways than one."

Nathan smiled sourly at his brother and then said to Mark, "Let me think about it, I wouldn't want Parker to think that he's that easily replaced." He'd make up some excuse before the end of the night and have Lucas or someone else step in for him. He really didn't care who it was as long as it wasn't him.

Mark looked a little puzzled at that but just shrugged it off.

Haley walked through the lobby with her mother, Karen, Deb, her sisters, and two friends. Brooke had sent them downstairs to get into the car that would take them to the bachelorette party—wherever it was. Brooke refused to tell her.

They bumped into Mark and Lucas on their way upstairs. Before Haley could actually look at her fiancé her sister covered her eyes.

"Jen, what are you doing?"

"You can't see Mark the day before the wedding, it's bad luck," she said.

Haley would have rolled her eyes if she could, instead she reached out and felt Mark take her hand.

"What are you guys doing? Are you having fun?"

"Oh, tons," Mark said.

"We're just going upstairs to grab a deck of cards," Lucas said.

"What!" Taylor gasped, trying to hide her grin. "It's like you're a pair of wild animals."

"Ha, ha." Lucas glared at her.

"Do you guys want us to stay and hang out?" Haley asked.

"Don't you dare, Haley," Taylor said. "I've been looking forward to this and you are going to party at least one time before you get married."

"I party," Haley said defensively.

"Partying doesn't involve reading a book." Taylor grabbed Haley's other hand and pulled her out the door while Jen kept her from looking back at Mark.

Lucas snagged his mother before she could leave. "Have you seen Brooke? I need to ask her something."

"She's still upstairs, if you go up to Lydia's room you can probably catch her," Karen said.

Brooke stepped into the bar and saw Nathan sitting alone.

"Hey, I've got to run, Haley's waiting for me, but I wanted to ask you if you could help make sure that Mark doesn't drink too much tonight and that he gets to the church tomorrow by nine."

"Shouldn't you be asking Lucas to do that? He's the responsible one."

"He's already had too much to drink." It had become obvious to Brooke—when she'd run into Lucas and Mark—that her fiancé was a little too tipsy when he asked her to give them her keys so they could drive down to the local drugstore to buy balloons and party favors.

"Fine," Nathan said colorlessly.

"Mark tells me that you've stepped up as the best man—which is great. It's one less thing I have to worry about."

"What?" Nathan's head snapped up. "When did he tell you that?"

"I just talked to him a minute ago. I was finalizing the seating chart and—"

"Mark told you I was the best man?" Nathan interrupted, his voice rising slightly. "I barely know him, why the hell would he tell you that?"

"I don't know." Brooke was starting to get annoyed. "The same reason women go on dates with you: their choices are limited."

"Find someone else," he snapped. Nathan's sense of humor was completely defunct.

"Why?" Brooke was aware of the assorted family members and friends milling around just a few feet away so she didn't raise her voice, but there was enough venom in her tone to flatten a horse. "You haven't done one goddamn thing to help and all we want is for you to wear your suit and stand next to Mark. Are you telling me that you can't do that?"

Nathan glared at her and opened his mouth to say something—and then shut it. He opened it again and said, "I'm here aren't I?"

"Barely," Brooke hissed. "I will never understand why Haley has such a high opinion of you, you act like a damn teenager. Almost everything that could possibly go wrong has gone wrong; Karen, your mother, and Haley have been running around like crazy women for the past two weeks. And in the middle of all this she's worried about you!"

Nathan's face fell. "What are you talking about?"

"You've barely spoken to anyone and she's thinks that you don't want to be here. Like you have something else going on that's important. Is that it? Is there some kind of emergency elsewhere that you need to deal with?" Brooke's voice became milder.

Nathan hesitated for a long moment. "No."

The understanding left Brooke's eyes. "So you're bored? You want to go out with your frat buddies and drink?" Nathan thought about pointing out that he didn't belong to a fraternity but decided against it. "Too damn bad. For the next two days you're going to smile and act like a normal human being or I'm going to stick my clipboard up your—"

"I'll do it." Haley deserved to have her day without having to worry about him or anyone else. "You're right, I'm being an ass."

Brooke looked at him with surprise. She felt a little let down, she'd been gearing herself up for a fight and Nathan's quick capitulation took the wind out of her sails.

"Well . . . good." Brooke was genuinely glad Nathan was participating but she couldn't help adding sarcastically, "You've gone above and beyond with all the help that you've given us."

Nathan watched Brooke walk away, her heels clicking on the tile floor.

He couldn't fault her opinion, he'd been completely useless. But watching the final preparations had been harder than he'd realized. His mother had been assembling gift bags to give to the guests and watching her drop little favors and scented soaps into small silver bags had almost destroyed his calm.

As the day approached his awareness of the larger issue—Haley officially being someone's wife—had thankfully faded. But now the most minute events would set off an attack of nerves: seeing the RSVP envelops envelopes arrive, getting a phone call from the minister with a question, or seeing the wedding photographer's business card laying on the kitchen counter.

Each detail was like a pinprick on his skin and as the wedding day approached it felt like his entire body had been worked over with needles. He was bruised and bleeding—but no one could see it.

The best man. God help him.

Friday December 20, 2013

Haley couldn't see a thing through the blindfold that Brooke had tied on her and she was beginning to get a little nervous.

"Are you ready?" Brooke asked.

"I'm sure that I'm not."

She laughed, whipped the blindfold off, and Haley's jaw dropped with amazement. They were in Karen's café but Brooke had completely transformed it.

The walls were covered with red satin, which made the room look like some kind of old-time bordello. Large pillar candles in tall holders were lit in every corner of the room

There was a table set up with food: sinful desserts and aphrodisiacs. Another table was piled with gifts. Her sisters could hardly believe what they were seeing and Brooke gestured to the ring of chairs set up in the center of the room, they were completely white with elaborately carved backs that looked like climbing vines.

"Sit down ladies. We are going to start the night with a little entertainment."

Taylor laughed. Being a mother had really grounded her, but Haley could see the old twinkle in her eyes return and felt a little stab of fear. If Brooke and Taylor joined forces then there was no hope for any of them.

Haley sat down and accepted a plate piled with chocolate-dipped strawberries and a slice of blackout cake. She was about to sample some of the delicious desserts when Brooke shook her head at her.

"That's not for you, Haley."

She looked around at everyone and then back at Brooke. "Who is it for?"

Brooke paused dramatically. "It's for our special guests. I would like to introduce you all to . . . the Thunder From Down Under!"

Music suddenly blared into the room and seven men appeared. They must have been waiting in the kitchen, Haley thought to herself. They were all wearing different costumes; one was dressed like a cowboy, the other in a police uniform. The Village People are here.

Taylor cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled, "Take it off!"

Haley laughed and laughed, covering her face with her hand. One stunning man with deep green eyes and jet-black hair stood in front of her, dancing and gyrating his hips.

Haley held out one strawberry and he ate it from her fingertips, kissing her fingers when he was done.

"Lord have mercy, we are all going to hell," Quinn said. The sentiment didn't stop her from giving a forkful of chocolate cake to her dancer.

Jen couldn't stop giggling and saying "this is so wrong" over and over again.

Haley saw, to her shock, that Karen and Deb were completely at ease. She stared as Karen let her young man draw her to her feet and waltz her around the room.

"I swear, Brooke, sometimes I think you have magic powers. How did you ever put this together?"

Brooke grinned. "I've been planning this from the minute you told us you were engaged. I'm just lucky I was able to get it all together before absolutely everything else went wrong."

Haley hugged her tightly and then laughed when one of the strippers put his arms around them both.

"Share the love ladies," he said.

Nathan stood in the small room that served as the minister's office, watching people file into the church and take their seats.

After a long and boring night with Mark and Lucas he'd driven back to his mother's house and crashed for the night before getting up the next morning and dragging himself back to church with his brother and Mark in tow.

They were getting dressed upstairs; Karen and Brooke were conferencing behind him.

"The caterer just called," Karen said.

"Let me guess, he's been hit by a meteor," Brooke joked. When Karen didn't laugh she said, "Try and tell me what's wrong in a way that will soften the blow."

"He told me that he's going to be late and that he's not sure he'll be able to make it at all. And you're looking beautiful today."

Brooke rubbed her forehead. "Gimmie the phone." Brooke dialed the number and waited for the man on the other end to pick up. "You listen to me. If you don't get down here by two, I'm going to talk to every single woman and every single wedding planner I know and tell them that you completely ruined this wedding. Then I'm going to sue you for four times the fee you're charging us, because I had you sign a contract, remember?" Brooke nodded at whatever the man was saying. "Yeah . . . yeah. Thank you."

Brooke turned to Karen. "He'll be here by noon."

Brooke sighed to herself. In a couple hours Haley would be safely married to Mark and they could all relax and take a couple years to recover.

Lucas walked up behind her and hugged her. "The church looks amazing, Brooke. It's so beautiful."

Brooke sighed and leaned back against him. "Thank you."

"I can't believe all the work you did."

"Trust me, I had some serious help. Without your mom, Deb, and Lydia I would have pulled all my hair out."

"You want me to take care of the planning for our wedding?" Lucas asked.

"I am more convinced than ever that we are not having a big ceremony. With our luck someone will probably drop dead on the altar."

Lucas laughed but inwardly he winced and reached out one hand so he could knock surreptitiously on the wood paneling that covered the walls.

"It's time, why don't you go down and stand with the guys while I go check on Haley."

Lucas gave her a quick kiss and left.

Nathan looked at the rising where Haley's sisters were standing. He had to hand it to Brooke, she knew her stuff, they looked stunning. He hadn't given much thought to all the preparation work that she'd done for this wedding. He'd been trying very hard not to think, at all. He hadn't talked to Katie in days and he was thinking about her a lot lately. About her and a lot of other things, his mind kept jumping around. Probably so he could avoid reflecting too deeply about any one thing.

Mark was standing in front of him and Lucas was right behind him. He watched Mark readjust his tie and he suddenly felt like his own was too tight.

Lucas watched his brother with a little concern as he readjusted his tie for the third time. Nathan had been a little on edge all week—like he'd been-but he'd seemed to start taking things a little easier once all the James' had arrived.

"Relax, man. You're beginning to make me feel nervous," Lucas said as looked out at the faces in the church, the talking had started to die down and there was an expectant hush falling over the crowd.

"I just can't believe that today's the day."

"I don't either Nate. I have to say that I'm a little upset that I'm not the best man."

"Hey," Nathan had that smirk on his face that always made Lucas want to punch him in the gut, "I really had no say in it. You know I don't control who's picked for the wedding party."

Lucas snorted. "Don't think I didn't notice your part in it though."

"Hey, if you could've been the maid of honor I'm sure Haley would have made you one. It's not to late to ask her sister to step down and give you the privilege."

Lucas thought that his brother seemed more at ease and went on distracting him. "I would have made a great best man, you're the one who probably demoted me."

"Look, being a groomsman is an key part, you should feel . . . special."

"Whatever."

Lucas studied Nathan-he didn't seem worried anymore. In fact, his brother looked calmer than he was feeling at the moment.

Haley's brothers hadn't arrived until two days before the wedding and they'd all been so busy with the rehearsal dinner, last-minute arrangements, and all of the family activities Brooke had crammed into their schedule yesterday that none of them had had a chance to have "The Talk" with Mark.

He'd meant to pull Mark aside but he forgotten it in the middle of all things he'd had to do.

Lucas had been debating whether he should use the more hard-line "if you ever hurt her I'll snap your spine in half" conversation or the more brotherly "marriage is a difficult journey" discussion, but he supposed it was too late. They were at the eleventh hour; the organist had sat down at her bench and started to play.

He watched his best friend walk down the aisle with her father and stood up straighter. He thought about the time when it used to be just him and Haley; now she was getting married and soon it'd be his turn. As she made her way towards them, he knew that nothing would be the same.

The reception was in the building next door, and the guests walked along a covered path: a series of canopies with white Christmas lights wrapped around their poles led from the church to the hall. The snow was just beginning to fall, there were only a few flakes drifting in the air, and it created a beautiful atmosphere as they reflected the light.

Haley and Mark led the way, the wedding party and the guests trailed behind. As Haley stepped inside she could hear soft R&B music in the background. The tables were set up with rose centerpieces and waiters were setting down plates of food and drinks on snow-white tablecloths as everyone took their seats.

Haley sat down at the head table with Mark and glanced around her. A festive spirit had infected the mood and she felt the wedding anxiety that had followed her all week finally fade away.

Lucas was sitting next to her and she leaned over and gave him a one armed hug.

"We did it Hales," he said softly.

"Yeah we did."

"Listen, you know how Nathan was the best man . . ."

Haley laughed. "You're my best man, so I suppose that means you and your brother can share the title."

Lucas grinned. "So that means that I can make the speech, right?"

Haley shook her head slowly. "You two would compete over anything."

"I'll take that as a yes."

Lucas stood up and tapped his champagne glass with his knife. All the guests quieted down and he looked at Haley once before facing the crowd.

"I'd just like to wish Haley and Mark the best."

People clapped and raised their glasses. Nathan, who'd been making his way towards his seat, stood in an inconspicuous spot near the wall. As his brother went on he breathed a sigh of relief, grateful that it wasn't him standing up there.

"I've known Haley practically my whole life, and I'm glad that she's found someone who can help her be happy. I'm a little upset that I'm going to have to actually like Mark now," Lucas paused as everyone laughed, "but he's not that bad, so I suppose I can put up with him. I'm not married yet so there isn't really any great advice that I can give you, but I will say that honesty is always great-"

"Yeah, right!" someone in the crowed yelled.

"Honesty," Lucas glared, "patience, a willingness to admit when you're wrong, generosity, and love. As long as one of you has those qualities you'll be all right. And since Mark has all those traits I guess Haley's got nothing to worry about."

Everyone roared as Haley stood up and hit Lucas on the arm before hugging him.

As Lucas danced with Brooke he could see that she was feeling incredible. She'd changed out of the dress gown that she'd worn at the ceremony into a simple white dress that flowed with every movement.

Brooke wrapped her arms around his neck; he held her tightly around the waist and whirled her in a circle.

"I feel like ten tons have been lifted off my back," she said.

"Yeah?"

"Definitely. All I want to do now is dance, drink, and later on tonight we are going to get naked and stay naked for at least two days."

"Oh, now you want to get naked?" Lucas pulled back a little but kept his arms around her. "I couldn't get naked time this week to save my life."

Brooke laughed. "That was for your own good-I've been so frustrated that I might have accidentally hurt you."

Lucas waggled his eyebrows at her suggestively. "Why don't you hurt me right now?"

Haley was waltzing with Mark, which was a little strange since the DJ was playing pop songs, but she went with it. He was a great dancer and handled her expertly.

"Where did you learn how to do this?" she asked.

"My mother forced me and Parker to take dance classes. She was punishing us both for stealing my father's briefcase and dropping off the roof of our high rise."

Haley laughed. "You did that?"

"It was all Parker's idea, but I got in trouble anyway."

"Remind me to thank your mother."

"Hey, can I cut in?" Jimmy asked.

"Sure, Dad." Haley smiled.

Nathan saw Mark making his way back to their table took a drink and got up. After dinner he'd danced with all of Haley's nieces, her sisters, her mother, a few other in-laws, and he was completely beat. His teammates would be laughing their asses off if they could see how worn out the guy who could party all night had become.

But he was done and thankfully he could finally slip out without too much fuss.

Brooke sat down to rest and took a sip of her water. She glanced around the room, everyone looked like they were having a great time. Haley's brothers and sisters were all out on the dance floor, their kids had finally been tired out and had gone upstairs with the babysitter.

Keith and Karen were laughing over something Deb had told them. Jimmy and Lydia were dancing with each other and Brooke hoped that she and Lucas would be grinding on each other like that after they'd been married as long as those two had.

Mark's parents were over in their own corner, talking. But where were Mark and Haley?

She looked around and near the exit doors she saw Nathan hugging Haley. She smiled and turned back to look at her fiancé, he was trying to start up the electric slide on the dance floor and she rolled her eyes.

When she towards the door again she saw Nathan putting on his coat and walking out the door.

She glanced at her watch, frowned, and rose halfway out of her seat. She was about to walk over and ask him why he was leaving so early but then brought herself up short. This is not my problem, she thought. She sat back down and pulled her clipboard out from under her chair, got up, and tossed it into a large garbage can.

"Have you talked to Mark yet?" Diane said to her husband.

"No, lets wait until they get back from their honeymoon before we tell them that we're definitely moving back to New York."

"I am so excited about this," Diane smiled, "I swear I feel like I was wasting away in Montana."

"What? I thought you liked it there."

"I did for the first few years but I'm ready for a change."

"Hmm." Paul looked over at Haley and Mark. "Don't they look great together?"

"They do make a beautiful couple." Diane leaned her head against her husband's shoulder. "I can't wait to send our friends the photos."

Paul glanced at his watch. "I'd better call Dominick and tell him that he's not going to have to start up the new branch in New York on his own."

"Let's ignore the business for one night, call him in the morning."

"I now pronounce you husband and wife, you may kiss the bride."

Husband and wife. The minister's words rang in his ears as Nathan stared out of his windshield, remembering the last night that he spent watching movies and eating popcorn with Haley. He'd barely been able to spend any real time with her since, he was busy with school and the game, and she was getting ready for the wedding. Had been getting ready for the wedding.

The sky was starting to lighten, how long had he been sitting here? He got out of the car and crashed in his old room. He'd been able to get through the past couple months with a combination of wishful thinking and deep denial but he couldn't fool himself anymore.

Nathan shut his eyes and tried to drift off but after an hour of tossing and turning he gave up and stared at his ceiling.

It was time for him to really be on his own. When he'd left for Duke the first time it hadn't really felt like a separation, more like a natural extension of his life in Tree Hill-but that was over.

Suddenly he really wanted to call Katie and hear her voice. He glanced at the clock on the table, saw that it was nearly five in the morning, and decided against it. He'd call her when he got back to his dorm. Knowing that he had a long drive ahead of him, he finally forced himself to sleep.