AN: Hi everyone I just wanted to take a second and thank you all for your amazing reviews for the last chapter. I appreciate each and everyone. OH and mayjune. I haven't forgotten your pm I just haven't had a chance to reply. I'll get it done as quickly as I can.

On with the story......

Chapter 18

I Should Be Lost Without You

I fight enough with myself
I give it up when you're not here
I've lost your touch
And I need to feel

I feel I'm watching myself
From high up above the consequence
It shouldn't take hurt
To make me feel

I should be lost without you
I should be lost without you
Am I so comfortable with me?

I want to see in your heart
But I'll settle for the mystery
I've spent all my time avoiding this

I want to know what I want
And I envy you
For not knowing what I wanted to say

I should be lost without you
I should be lost without you
Am I so comfortable with me?

I should be lost without you
I should be lost without you
When I can't hear a word you speak

I've fallen enough

I should be lost without you
I should be lost without you
Am I so comfortable with me?

I should be lost without you
I should be lost without you

David Condos

Nathan had finally gotten Haley to calm down and take a nap. She was upstairs on their bed sleeping peacefully. Nathan was heating Jamie up some soup in the microwave.

"Microwave soup?" Jamie asked.

"What's the problem?"

"Nothing, Nanny Deb always makes me sliders for dinner."

"Well Daddy Nathan makes you soup." Nathan smiled as he ruffled the little boy's hair.

Nathan still couldn't believe what had happened. It had been an awful day. Lindsay had left Lucas standing at the altar and Nathan had walked in on his Mom kissing Skills which was one of his best friends.

"Daddy?"

"Yeah?"

"Why are you so upset?"

"Jamie, let's not talk about this ok? Everything is ok."

"Is it because of Nanny Deb always kissing Uncle Skills?"

"You knew about that?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah"

"And how does it feel to be scarred for life?"

"It's ok. I like Nanny Deb and I like Uncle Skills so what if they like each other?"

"Well you know your Nanny Deb is also my Mom?"

"Yeah but I let you kiss my Mom" Jamie smirked the best Scott smirk he could manage.

Nathan stopped and looked at his son. 'Why in the hell did he have to be so damned smart?' "Just eat your soup" he finally said and walked back to the kitchen.

He hadn't even thought about how Jamie felt about his relationship with Haley. He hadn't considered it as any of his business. Maybe Skills and Deb wasn't any of Nathan's business either. As much as he didn't like the fact that they hid it and went behind his back maybe he should just want his Mom happy. That was after all how he wanted Jamie to feel about him being with Haley.

….

While Nathan was cleaning up the dishes a knock came at the door. As he made his way over he could see Lucas standing on the other side.

Opening the door Nathan looked at his brother, "Luke? What are you doing here?"

"I came to check on Haley."

"She's asleep. Are you ok?"

"Yeah, in time I guess."

"Did you talk to Lindsay?"

"She was packing when I found her at the house. She's gone."

"Lucas man, I'm sorry. I don't know what to say. I can't imagine what you're going through"

"Nathan, I never took the time to make her comfortable with my history like I told you at the church. This is all my fault."

"Lucas I know you don't want to hear this but you don't seem as upset as I thought you'd be man. Are you sure this isn't for the best?"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"You know what it means. Lucas, I know that your heart still belongs to Peyton. It has since high school and I don't mean senior year. You've had feelings for Peyton since before she and I dated. Until you deal with that your heart's going to be flawed man."

Lucas stopped and looked at his brother. Hell maybe he was right. "Nathan what would you have done if Haley had left you like this?"

"Haley did leave me Lucas you already know what I would do. I would self destruct."

"I need to talk to Haley" Lucas said as he stood up.

"If you wake her, I'll beat your ass man." Nathan said as he pointed at him. "It took me two hours to get her calmed down. She's worried to death about Lindsay and you. Lucas you promised me you'd fix this shit man and you didn't. She cried so much this afternoon that she was exhausted and now you just want to go and wake her up to talk? HELL NO!"

"Nathan I won't wake her. I promise." Lucas said as he looked at his brother's scolding gaze.

Nathan nodded. "You better not!"

Lucas moved up to the master bed room and Haley was as Nathan has said still asleep. He sat in the chaise lounge that was beside their bed and watched the girl that had been his best friend for most of his life. After an hour or so Lucas began to notice that Haley had occasionally moaned in her sleep every few minutes, he had been timing it and it was like every twelve minutes. He kept watching her as he continued to count. Nathan finally came in to see if they were finished with their talk and Lucas held up his hand to stop him from saying anything.

Lucas stood up and pulled his brother out of the door and closed it behind them. "Nathan, has Haley been having any pains today?"

"She didn't mention it why?"

"I noticed she moaned like she was in pain in her sleep about every twelve minutes. Man I think she's going into labor."

"Oh god! Lucas this is too early."

"It could stop on its own Nathan but we need to keep watching her. If it continues you should probably take her to the hospital. Maybe they can do something to stop it if it's labor. I'll stay here with Jamie."

Nathan looked at his brother and nodded. He turned to move into the master bedroom and sat on the bed beside his wife. His concerned eyes searching her face praying Lucas was wrong. Sure enough he saw Haley's face contort with a pained expression and her hand moved to her very swollen stomach and she moaned. His eyes reached Lucas' and they waited. Twelve minutes later she did it again.

Nathan reached over to her shoulder and lightly shook her to wake her up. "Hales? Baby?"

"Mmmm" she muttered.

"Baby wake up. Are you ok?"

Haley's eyes slowly fluttered open and she met Nathan's gaze. "Yeah I think so why?"

"Hales I think you're having contractions baby."

"What?"

"About every twelve minutes you moan and reach for your stomach. Hales we need to get you to the hospital. It's too soon."

"I'm fine and you promised Nathan"

"Hales if you're going into labor they may be able to stop it baby"

Haley sat up and just now realized that Lucas was in the room. "How are you? Have you seen Lindsay?"

"Yeah I talked to her at the house. I'm ok. I'll be fine. Right now I'm worried about you"

"You two are going to drive me crazy" Haley said as she moved to get up. Just before she made it to the bathroom a gush of water came from now where and was all over the floor. "Nathan…."

Nathan had seen what had happened and was moving to her side when she called his name. He placed his hand at the small of her back and again his eyes searched hers. "It's ok. It's going to be ok. Get changed and I'll get your bag ok?"

…..

Nathan and Lucas were in the waiting room of the hospital. Haley had been taken back and they were waiting for word on how she was. There was no prayer to stop the labor now. Nathan knew that but he was worried for his daughter and his wife. This would be considered premature labor and Nathan didn't know a lot about that but he certainly knew it wasn't the most desired situation. As he sat there with all of these what if's going through his mind, Lucas watched him.

"Nate? Man you got to calm down. She's going to be fine. They are going to be fine."

"Lucas this can't be good. You know that."

"Yeah ok, this is not like perfectly normal but it's not the worst case scenario either."

"I just…. Lucas I want this baby and I want our lives to be good again"

"And they will!" Lucas said to his brother as he grabbed his shoulder. As Lucas watched Nathan he couldn't help but think what he would do if that were Peyton and his daughter in there. 'Wait, Peyton? No I meant Lindsay.' And that's when it hit him. Lucas was still in love with Peyton. Everyone had seen it but him. He cared about Lindsay sure, but he wasn't in love with her. It was Peyton that he wanted and it was Peyton that he was meant to be with.

……

Finally forty five minutes later the doctor came out. "Haley Scott"

Nathan jumped up. "A yeah I'm her husband, Nathan"

"Nathan let's sit down" the doctor told him.

Nathan moved to sit back on the couch he and Lucas had been sharing, dread filling his every thought. 'This could not be good.'

"Nathan I'm sure you already know your wife's go into premature labor. I wanted to talk to you about what to expect before the delivery"

Nathan nodded.

"When a baby is born premature, there can be all kinds of complications. Luckily your daughter probably won't have to face a lot of those since Haley's in her eighth month. But I wanted to prepare you. The baby will probably at the very least go to the neonatal unit for observation. We'll just have to see what the situation is once the baby is born. At this point the baby hasn't turned. She's breech. I've tried to turn her but have not been successful. If that does not correct itself as the labor moves along, we'll have to do an emergency C-Section."

Nathan closed his eyes as the doctor continued to fill him in on the status of Haley and the baby nodding his head in answer since he was unable to form words. Finally the doctor was if he was ready to go see his wife and Nathan again nodded.

As he moved into the room, Haley saw him and her eyes filled with tears. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry"

Nathan moved beside her and leaned down to kiss her forehead. "Don't! Please don't do this. Everything is going to be fine" he whispered in every effort to calm her down. As he was starting to stand up Haley was consumed with another contraction.

"AAAHHH" she moaned and clenched her hand around her protruding middle.

"Ok Hales, breathe baby. Breathe through it." Nathan coached as he smoothed her hair back from her forehead soothingly. "I know baby" he murmured. He had been looking so forward to having their second child he had forgotten the pain Haley would have to go through. The sight broke his heart. She'd been through enough. She'd suffered enough.

Nathan knew enough from Jamie's birth that he had to remind her to breathe during the contractions. She had been in so much pain holding her breath was a normal reaction. So that was how they made it through the next six hours.

Finally a nurse came in and told them that the doctor was on his way to do an ultrasound to see if the baby had turned. While they were waiting though the contractions didn't stop, they kept coming and seemed to be coming closer and closer together. Nathan felt panic take him over.

"Where in the hell is that doctor. You've got to do something. She's going to deliver before he even gets here if someone doesn't do something." He screamed as he continued pushing Haley's hair back away from her forehead. The pain was now horrible and he hated seeing her going through this. They had left her here in labor fighting through the pains and didn't even know if they would have to do a surgical procedure. Nathan was furious as he thought. 'They could have spared her this. They could have saved her from this pain.'

As the most recent contraction was trailing towards its end the doctor walked into the room, just in time to hear the monitors go bezerk and Haley's screams get louder.

"What's happening?" Nathan screamed.

The doctor never answered. "Get her up to OR! STAT!"