Chapter 17-Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
A/N: hey everyone, thanks for being so patient with me, and this story, I have been busy catching up on all the uni stuff I missed. Now that it is (almost) over, I can get back to the stories. I hope you like this chapter, it is full of Naley goodness . Please review; you know how much I love them-Lydia
Haley was in trouble. Typical she thought. Of course she would have put the peanut butter on the top shelf before she had her accident. Not that she thought she would ever be in this situation. Holding into her wheelchair with one hand, and reaching for the peanut butter with the other, Haley tried to grab the jar again. She had been at this the last 5 minutes and determined not to call for help. Almost….almost. Haley all of a sudden felt her body propel forward…towards the cold hard kitchen floor. She barely had time to react before she was about to connect with the hard surface. Just as she was about to collide painfully with the floor, strong muscular arms caught her.
"What are you doing?" he asked
"Trying to get the peanut butter" she said meekly
"You know that's why I'm here" Nathan said as he gently placed her back in the wheelchair.
"I'm perfectly capable of making myself a sandwich" she replied stubbornly
"I know that, but you have two broken legs and had major surgery to recover from" he reminded her as he reached for the peanut butter and put it on the nearby counter.
"Yeah whatever" she grumbled as reached for the bread on the counter.
"Hales…."
"Hmm…" she said focusing very hard on the task in front of her
"Are we ever going to talk about what happened?"
Haley gave him a strange look.
"I was in a car accident, Nathan. It happens everyday"
"You know perfectly well what I am talking about"
"Nathan, it's not an issue, ok? We're friends aren't we?"Haley said picking up the plate, put it on her lap and mauvered the wheel chair out of the kitchen.
Nathan leant against the tabletop, staring Haley's retreating form.
"Nathan?" she said, briefly turning around in the wheelchair
"Yeah?"
"We are friends aren't we?"
"Yeah…"he said hestintly "of course we are"
He watched Haley move out the room, and he looked out of the kitchen window. Her San Diego house overlooked the ocean. He understood what drew her to the place; it had an instantly calming effect. However, it was nothing compared to the feeling he had when he was in the same room as his ex wife. His heart beat rose, and his mind became cloudy. All the thoughts of what she said in her letter he found in New York filled his head when he saw her. Nathan sighed, put on his sneakers and decided to go for a run.
Haley looked behind her, making sure Nathan hadn't followed her into the lounge room. She reached for the cordless phone and dialled an all too familiar number.
"Hey Grammy Girl" Brooke said tiredly
"Hi Brooke, were you sleeping?"
"Yeah, I would have screened you but I'm guessing something is wrong" Brooke stated knowingly
"How did you know?"
"Hmm…well you have been living with your ex husband for a week now, after spending nearly 2 months in hospital recovering after a major accident. You are probably not letting him do anything, so therefore you are both acting like strangers"
Haley scoffed in response
"Am I right? I'm right" Brooke said smugly
"It's just weird you know…"
"Well what did you expect, Haley? The boy has given up his life in Charlotte to stay with you."
"But I didn't ask him to do that, Brooke"
"You don't get it do you?" Brooke said
"Get what?" Haley said frustratingly
"He may be 10 years older, but he is still the same Nathan. He would do anything for you, Grammy Girl. He loves you that much"
"I don't know what to do Brooke" Haley sighed into the phone
Brooke sighed.
"Maybe start with the basics. A lot has changed since you were 16" Brooke said
"Is there something you're not telling me?"
"Like I said Grammy girl, a lot has changed in 10 years, and it doesn't matter what I know, it's Nathan who should tell you"
"Since when have you been so wise, Tigger?"
"Hmm, I think its motherhood" Brooke said
"How is my goddaughter?"
"Growing bigger everyday. Her eyes are so blue, just like Lucas'"
"How's he adapting to fatherhood?"
"Loving every minute of it, I think" Brooke said, giggling slightly
"I'm glad you're happy, Tigger"
"I hope you are too, Grammy Girl"
Haley sighed once more.
"I will be. Someday"
Once she hung up, Haley transferred herself onto the couch and turned on the television. She lay back on the couch, and started watching Pearl Harbour.
Nathan walked into the lounge room, sweat dripping his temples. He saw Haley surrounded by tissues.
"Hales"
"Hmm?" she replied sniffing, and reaching for another tissue.
"Is everything ok?" he asked, moving across the room to sit next to her.
"Yeah…its just it's so sad" she sobbed
"What is?"
Haley continued to hiccup, so she pointed to the screen
Nathan recognised the movie instantly.
"Hales, you shouldn't be watching this" Nathan said, shaking his head slightly
"Why?"
"Because you know how much you cry."
"I don't cry!"
Nathan gestured to the array of tissues surrounded her
"Well maybe I cry a little" she admitted "Did you go for a run?" she asked turning off the television.
"Yeah, it's a nice area" he stated, staring out to the ocean.
"Yeah it is…" she said trying to transfer herself back into her wheelchair.
"Here let me"
Nathan picked Haley up, and lifted her over his shoulder and carried her out of the lounge room.
"Where did you want to go?"
"Actually, outside"
"I don't think your wheelchair transits very well on grass, Hales"
"Well, how else am I supposed to get out there?"
"Wait a sec" Nathan placed Haley carefully in her wheelchair and disappeared
"Nathan?" she called
Nathan walked back in with a blanket and a flask
"Come on" he said taking the brakes of Haley's wheelchair and pushing her towards the front exit
"No I want to go out the back" Haley said
"Ok" Nathan said, changing the direct of the chair
Nathan pushed the wheelchair to the backdoor and put the breaks on, and knelt down in front of the wheelchair
"Hope on" he said, smirking slightly
"You have to be kidding me"
"No, how else are you going outside"
"But I way a ton"
"Haley, you do not way a ton, you're as beautiful as ever. Now get on"
"Um..ok" she said hesitantly. Haley awkwardly climbed on Nathan's back, roping her arms around Nathan's neck.
"You on?"
"Yep"
Nathan walked out onto the beach, while Haley hung tightly him. Nathan craved the closeness. The feeling of her hair against his neck, the feeling of her heart beating rapidly against his back.
Nathan reached a spot close to the shore, pulling the blanket from underneath his arm and threw it on the ground.
He placed her gently on the blanket, and sat next to her, stretching his legs out.
"Fun flask?" Nathan offered
"What's in it?" Haley asked sceptically
"The Scott Special"
"I don't know the last time I had the 'Scott special' I ended up throwing up in Dan's lap" she replied rolling her eyes at the memory.
Nathan chuckled.
"I'd forgotten about that" he said giving it to her
The alcohol burnt her throat, but loosed her up. Particularly when sitting so close to Nathan. He always had this effect in her. She felt like a giddy school girl when she was near him. Haley thought it was almost ridiculous that at the age of 26, she was acting this way, but she couldn't help it. Even just smelling the cologne he wore made her go crazy.
She took another gulp of the liquid before handing it back to Nathan.
"So why are we out here?"
"It reminds me of home" she said shivering slightly.
Nathan took his jacket off and put it around her shoulders.
"How?"
"When I came to look at the house, I walked out here, and I looked over there" Haley said pointing to a cliff close to where they were sitting.
"There were all little daisies growing within the grass, and the waves were crashing below. It just reminded me so much of…" Haley trailed off
"Of where we go married"
Haley just stared off into the distance, not able to look at Nathan
"You know there wasn't a moment in the last 10 years where I wasn't proud of you" he stated quietly
"You don't have to say that"
"But I mean it"
"No you don't"
"Yes I do"
"Well why didn't you come for me, Nathan? 10 years! It's been 10 years" Haley yelled, a single tear slipping down her cheek.
Nathan reached over and wiped the tear away.
"I was hurt, Haley. But I never stopped loving you."
"What about Peyton, Nathan? Do you love her, too?"
Nathan thought for a moment, partly due to the alcohol slowing his thought process, partly because it was such a loaded question.
"There's a part of me that will always care for Peyton, we have been through a lot together"
"I still don't understand, why leave me the necklace when you were already married?"
Haley asked a question that had been nagging her since he told her the necklace was from him.
Nathan took another swing of the fun flask.
"I bought it for you a long time ago, Hales. And it was just burning a hole in the drawer it was in, you know? Then when I read an interview you did once I thought maybe there was a chance you still loved me, so I went to Madison Square Garden…"
"Oh." She said thumbing the edge of the blanket.
"Yeah"
"Hang on, what interview did you see?"
Nathan took his wallet out of his pocket, and pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to her.
She unfolded the page and started to read.
Haley James is like every other 21 year old. She likes to read, listen to music, and travel. Other then the fact she is a multiple Grammy Award winner, and is about to release her second album, Always and Forever. Jane Morris spoke to Haley on her recent success, her friends' reactions and how a small town girl made it big.
Haley scanned the article, to a part that was underlined. She remembered doing that interview
Haley sat on the bed, dressed in a large blue woollen jumper, and slim fitting jeans, she sat cross legged, answering the interviews questions with ease, after all years of practice, it was almost like an automated response.
The woman questioning her sat across from Haley, scribbling pages of notes.
"I have to say, Haley I particularly loved your song, "All I Can Do Is Love You". It seemed so honest."
"Thank you. I really had to fight to get that track on the album, it was one of the hardest tracks to record" she said her eyes downcast
"Is it based on life experience?"
"Yes. The song at its core is about love, and how it can come from the strangest places. Its about loving and losing your first love, to the point you don't think you could love anyone as much as that person until you realise they're gone."
"It sounds like you have been in love in the past"
"Yes, once. He was my first love"
"What do you say about the rumours that you're romantically linked to Jensen Ackles?"
"Jensen and I are old friends. Any rumours about me dating celebrities are completely false."
"Are you saying you would never date someone well known?"
"No I wouldn't. My heart has always been in my home town, with a boy who kissed me in the rain in front of my parent's house at 16"
"How did you find this? It was in Cosmo Girl" she asked amazed
"A little birdy sent it to me"
"A little birdy named Brooke"
"Something like that"
"And you kept it…"
"5 years"
"Wow"
"Did you mean what you said in the article?" he asked softly, that Haley almost dint hear him.
Haley looked Nathan into the eyes, and leant towards him.
"I meant every word"
"Even now?"
Haley felt the words tumble out, before she could stop herself.
"I will always love that boy"
Before Haley could take back what she said Nathan's lips crashed into hers.