Happy New Year everyone. Thank you very much for the last chapter's reviews. I'm sorry this one is quite a bit shorter, but I hope it's enjoyable. Please Read and Review.

Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill or any of the characters and such.

Bold face is reality with Haley in a coma, Normal is the dream world, and Italics are the thoughts

The next installment of the story shall now begin, in a sweaty gym, full of damaged love….

Hell's Own Heaven

Both felt like they were in some form of heaven, not the perfect masterpiece that many envision, it was rougher, but it was still heaven. The two maneuvered themselves on a workout mat, which was a little bit more comfortable than the hard floor of the gym. Their frenzied make-out session was quickly accelerating, it wasn't long before Nathan's practice jersey was completely off, and Haley's shirt was unbuttoned. Nathan was kissing her neck. His hands roaming all over her, and she was running her hands through the short bristles of his black hair and over his bare chest. They were both extremely into it and enjoying themselves. After several more minutes, Nathan murmured into Haley's neck, "Gah Haley, I've missed you so much."

Haley's hands stopped their exploring, she dropped them to her sides. Nathan stopped kissing her neck. He slowly, and fearfully, lifted his head and they made eye contact.

"What are we doing?" She whispered, vulnerability surrounding her.

"I don't know." Nathan replied quietly, he was obviously vulnerable too. Nathan stared deep into Haley's chocolate eyes. Ever since her return, he had noticed in them a sort of guard that was almost always up, especially when she would notice Nathan nearby. Now, Nathan noticed her eyes mirrored the way they looked when he had proposed to her that one glorious rainy day.

"I can't do this Nathan, I can't torture myself like this." Haley was using all of her willpower to say this. She was trying just as much to convince herself as Nathan, "I'm leaving right after graduation, you want nothing to do with me, I just can't do it." She maneuvered herself out from under him and began to walk away, buttoning her shirt as she walked. Halfway done she was at the door, she would rather walk out of the gym with her shirt partially unbuttoned than stay longer with Nathan, but just as she was about to open the door, it opened. Lucas and Brooke walked in, smiles on their faces. They froze when they saw Haley, hastily buttoning the final buttons on the top of her shirt.

"Tutor-Girl?" Brooke asked, her left eyebrow raised further than Haley had ever seen it before.

"I gotta go Brooke." Haley said quickly, her face as red as a cherry. She ran out of the gym faster than she had ever run in PE.

Lucas and Brooke walked slowly around the corner of the bleachers, scared to see what had made Haley partially naked. They saw a facedown Nathan, half-naked himself, on a mat.

"Nate?" Lucas asked when he got near him. Nathan just waved his arm, signaling them to go away. "Nate, what happened?" Nathan raised his arm again, Lucas knew there was no point in trying to find anything out, at least now anyway. "C'mon Brooke, we'll talk to him later."

Brooke nodded, but she mouthed "Go on without me, I'll be there in a minute." Lucas looked perplexed, but all the same, walked off. Brooke took out the now worn piece of paper with the lyrics, and placed it next to Nathan, "I know you're hurting, but read this for reassurance Nathan."

Brooke turned around and walked silently out of the gym.

"So Brooke what did you do?" Lucas asked, curious.

Brooke just shook her head, she had just seen something that really upset her. She had just seen Nathan Scott crying.

"Nate…" Brooke said quietly as she got to the doorway of Haley's room, "How are you holding up?"

Nathan tore his eyes away from his love to look at Brooke, "Better than Haley, obviously."

"Any news about her?"

"Nope, she's still fighting for her life because of me…"

"Don't do this Nathan, don't start blaming yourself again!" Brooke pleaded. She walked quickly into the room and sat in the chair next to Nathan, she placed a comforting hand on his arm.

Nathan was staring down at his knees. He wasn't able to look at Haley while once again confessing his guilt, "Why not? It's all my fault…Haley…Lucas…they're both in danger because I couldn't earn money."

"Lucas is awake Nathan."

"What?" Nathan looked up at Brooke's face.

Tears of relief were beginning to fall from Brooke's eyes, "He woke up, Lucas is fine…Just like Haley will be soon."

"What if it was a one for one situation though?" Nathan asked, his voice cracking. I can't get away with as much wrong as I have, the universe won't allow it.

The tears somehow stopped falling from Brooke's eyes as the tone of their conversation changed, "What do you mean Nathan?"

"I've done so many bad things Brooke, so many horrible things. I've brought pain to everyone I've ever met, I've brought the most pain to those that I love. After all I've done wrong there has to be consequences, maybe not enough for both Lucas and Haley to die because of my sins…..but enough for one of them…." Nathan laid his head down onto his knees and began to break down once more.

"Nathan, you did all those horrible things before Haley. She changed you. She made you a good person."

"But I still screwed up…Fate gave me another chance with life by giving me Haley and I screwed that up….Fate gave me another chance with Haley by having you and Lucas bring her home and I obviously screwed that up…"

"No Nate, you didn't. You had Haley in your heart the whole time, you thought it would be in the best interest of both of you to shave points. You never meant for her to get hurt."

"That doesn't change the fact that it happened Brooke." Nathan finally raised his head again to stare at Haley, "I used to wish so much for her to be hurt like she hurt me. Now that she's hurt in so many more ways than I was, I just want to hold her in my arms and trade places with her. I would do anything for her to be alright."

"Younever wished for this Nathan. We both know that deep down when Haley came back you just wanted to fix everything between you two, which is exactly what you guys did."

"Yeah, I fixed it so well that now she might die because she came back from the tour to be with me."

"It's better than the life she would've had if she didn't come home at all Nathan."

"How can we be sure Brooke?"

"Let's wait for her to wake up so she can explain it to you herself."

That night as Nathan tried to sleep he kept remembering the feel of Haley's creamy skin under his hands. The feel of her lips against his own. He remembered the crazy feeling she could always inspire inside of him. He had thought he had lost the feeling forever, but Haley had proven him wrong, as usual. He remembered reading the piece of paper Brooke had placed beside him, and the stupid hope that had risen because of it. Most of all, he remembered her small hands, exploring his chest, running through his hair. Nathan groaned and rolled over onto his stomach, trying to escape the memory. He began holding his breath, hoping he would soon pass out and be able to sleep. I can't let myself get my hopes up. Just because she said she still loved me doesn't change anything. She's still leaving at graduation, she's still going to leave me again. I can't let myself fall for Haley again…as Nathan finally passed out due to the lack of oxygen one last thought ran through his mind, I can't let myself fall further for Haley…

In a small apartment Haley was also trying to sleep, but thoughts of her encounter with Nathan in the gym kept replaying in her mind. His confession that yes, he did still love her, even after everything she did to him. The feel of his chest, with the—though she didn't think it was possible—even more defined muscles than when she had last ran her hands over it. She couldn't seem to get Nathan's expert hands out of her mind either. As she lay in bed she kept feeling his long absent lips against her neck. Only Nathan could create the wishing for more of this when Haley knew she shouldn't be wishing for it.

Coming back to Tree Hill has been like my own personal hell, but the time in the Gym with Nathan had been—as much as I would like to deny it—Heaven. I guess even hell can have a Heaven sometimes.

Haley couldn't take it anymore, she glanced around and noticed Brooke already asleep. She quietly got up off her bed and walked into the front room of the apartment where her paper and pen were still sitting by her guitar. Haley began to write new lyrics about how she was crazy for wanting Nathan now.

Lucas heard footsteps outside of his room, he knew it would be his mom. He took a deep breath and as soon as she entered the room he rushed out, "Mom, I'm sorry I didn't take my meds tonight. I just wanted to play to the best of my performance, I didn't know…I didn't know my best friend would get hit by a car right in front of the café…."

Karen looked past her son, "It's okay Lucas. If you weren't talking to me right now, it wouldn't be okay, but it is now. Just promise me…"

"What?"

"Promise me you won't ever do something like that again."

"I promise Mom." Karen smiled briefly at her son, but then he asked a new question which wiped the smile off her face, "Mom, please say Brooke was lying. How's Haley?"

"Lucas…she's still fighting for her life. Nathan is a mess, he's blaming himself for everything." Of course he is, Lucas thought, "He's in Haley's room now, I think Brooke was going to check on him."

"When she gets back could you get her take me down there too?"

"I don't know if that's such a good idea Lucas….you're still recovering from a heart attack…"

"She's my best friend Mom….the girl in there isn't just an acquaintance…it's the girl who's been hanging out with us since we were nine. It's Haley in there Mom."

Karen sighed, "If the doctors say it's alright I'll tell Brooke to take you to her."

"Thank you."