'm sorry for the 2.5 weeks since my last update. My excuse is probably dumb, but here it is:

Last week my English teacher was kind enough to give me an early birthday present (my birthday is today by the way :) ) and tell me that I have no writing ability. Maybe I'm weird, but this took away any sort of creativeness I had for any of my stories. I finally forced myself to sit down and write, and I kind of got back into the groove of it. If this chapter seems off though I'm sorry.

Next chapter will be really long, I promise.

Anyway, please Read and Review. The reviews really do encourage me when I have people like my English teacher telling me "I haven't seen any writing ability from you."

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 and memories.

The next installment of the story shall now begin in a Karaoke bar…

Hang-overs

Nathan pulled back slightly so Haley's head came off of his shoulder. He made eye contact with her brown eyes, the eyes he was always so drawn in by.

He bit his lip and slowly moved his head in.

"And when I kiss your soul"

Haley stood still as Nathan's lips briefly and lightly touched hers, creating a rush of feelings. Her mind on the other hand, was in overdrive, or well as much overdrive it could manage in her intoxicated state.

"your body'll be free
I'll be free for you anytime"

Nathan stared into her eyes again, searching for a reaction. He saw confusion, shock, and….happiness. Nathan smiled, but he did nothing more. He would wait for Haley's reaction, she had to make the next move. It was how it always was in their relationship. She would put her heart out, he would screw up, make a move, and then wait to see what she would do.

"I'm going to love you more than anyone
I'm going to love you more than anyone"

The disco ball began to flash again and the dim lighting brightened slightly so that it was at its normal level. The spell Nathan had cast on Haley with the brief kiss was broken.

She quietly told him, "You shouldn't have done that Nathan."

"But I wanted to," he said, pleading slightly.

"Yeah," Haley ran a hand through her hair and took a breath to gather her thoughts.

Nathan slightly expected her to throw her arms around him and kiss him just like she had so long ago in front of her house. Instead, she said, "I think you should call someone from DWnotI to take us back now." With that Haley turned and ran to a different part of the club, but instead of going to the bathroom—which is where Nathan thought she was running to—she went to the bar. There she ordered the strongest drink she could find, Haley wanted to clear her head as fast as she possibly could. Screw the consequences, Haley thought as she waited for her drink.

Nathan stood in the middle of the dance floor, unbelieving. He had made a move. He had begun to finally put his heart back out on the line only to see it rejected already. A guy bumped into Nathan as he danced with a girl and woke Nathan out of his reverie.

Nathan pulled out his cell phone and called the DWnotI program to come pick up he and Haley. He waited a few more minutes so he could get himself and his emotions in check before going to look for her.

There was no way he was going to let Haley know she had already crushed his heart…again.

A few minutes later, Nathan's plan of not letting Haley see how affected he was by her, was completely shot. Haley wasn't where Nathan thought she was—or where his second choice was. Nathan began to panic. He looked around and ran to Mack.

"Mack! Have you seen Hal—Trudy?!"

"Not since I threw the creeper out, why?"

"I can't find her!" Nathan heard the desperation in his own voice, "I can't lose her Mack."

"Shh, you didn't lose her. Go sit at the bar, she'll come back to you," Mack said in his most soothing voice. "Everything is fine and will be fine, I promise."

Nathan shook his head, Mack didn't understand the situation and it wasn't like Nathan could sit down and explain it to him.

He turned around and went back inside the club. After running around one more time he went to the bar to question the bartender.

Nathan leaned against the bar to look for the bartender and what he saw made his blood freeze. The bartender was handing a shot to a woman who looked ready to pass out. The woman was none other than Haley.

"Haley! No!" He shouted, but she didn't hear him. She swallowed the shot in one long gulp. Nathan ran through the crowd to where she was and glared at the bartender. "What the hell man!?" He asked, furious.

"What? She orders, she pays, I give. I'm not the usual bartender here, I'm just a sub and that's my rule. Get over it."

Nathan glared at the man until he walked over to the next customer.

"Haley are you alright?" Nathan asked. "Haley!" He said more urgently when she didn't reply, "Haley!"

She finally turned her head, "Nathan….You make my head hurt…did you know that?"

"Hales, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make your head hurt."

"You ignore me, you treat me like crap, you try to make me jealous, you apologize, you almost get in a bar fight for me, and then you kiss me….simply saying that makes me want another drink."

"Haley, I'm sorry. You're too good for me, and so I push you away. I'm sorry that I've confused you and made you feel bad. I know you're too good and I want you to know that, but then there's this selfish part of me that wants to keep you here. This selfish part that wants you to stay here, but my head knows you need to follow your dreams."

"Make up your mind Nathan…but you wanna know something?"

"What?"

"Tonight…even though you made my head hurt….and made me spend my whole savings….I'm glad I came back from tour….even if this is the only good night for us….It's been amazing…"

Haley smiled at Nathan and then passed out cold on the bar.

"No! Haley! Don't leave! Come back to me!" Nathan was practically shouting at her unconscious form, but Haley didn't move again.

Nathan picked Haley up in his arms and carried her out of the club. He was barely holding it together.

"Miss Trudy!" Mack shouted when Nathan made it outside.

Nathan didn't say anything to the man who had promised everything would be alright when it so obviously wasn't.

"Do you want me to call an ambulance?"

Nathan answered flatly, "No."

He looked around and saw the DWnotI car parked on the curb. He walked over to it and saw Mouth as the driver. "We're your passengers," Nathan said.

Mouth's face turned into a mask of worry, "Is Haley alright?"

"Yes."

"Nathan, I think we should call someone…" Mouth said as he started to drive.

"You know what would happen if you did that right Mouth? She would get arrested for underage drinking, her flawless record would have flaws, she'll be considered a Lindsay Lohan, and it would be all my fault. I can go down, but I will not let Haley go down."

"What if she isn't okay Nathan? What if she has alcohol poisoning?"

Nathan glared out the window. He had seen enough cases of the sort to know they only ended badly, "I'm taking her to Brooke. What Brooke says to do, we'll do. Deal?"

Mouth simply nodded as he continued the drive to the apartment.

Brooke sat on her couch with a broad smile. She and Lucas had had a great night together.

"Thank you Brooke."

"For what?" Brooke asked. They had arrived at Lucas' home to drop him off.

Lucas smiled a little. "For reminding me of some pretty important things. I needed it, so thank you."

"It was no problem Lucas."

Lucas gave her another small smile and he leaned in slightly. "It's the rules right?"

Brooke carefully nodded. She had been dreading this kiss and looking forward to it all night. Brooke didn't want to know what would happen once she kissed Lucas again, but then again she wanted to know how she truly felt about him at the same time.

Lucas' and Brooke's lips carefully touched. She felt a rush of feelings envelop her and she wanted to do a little cheer, she still did love Lucas Scott.

Brooke expected the kiss to last for only a second, but it didn't. Lucas actually deepened the kiss.

"I miss you pretty girl," He said when he pulled back a couple of minutes later.

"I'm right here Lucas, I always will be."

"Thank you for staying by my side even though I didn't deserve it."

"You deserve more than you think you do Lucas."

Lucas let out a small laugh, "I doubt that." He gave Brooke a sincere smile, "Honestly, thank you for tonight."

"It was my pleasure."

Lucas climbed out of Brooke's car and, for the first time in quite a while, happily walked into his own home.

Brooke couldn't wait to tell Haley the details of her date and hear the details of Haley's with Nathan.

She was surprised to hear a knock on the door around one in the morning. If it was Haley she would use her key.

Brooke apprehensively opened the apartment door, ready to swing her fist if it was a bad guy. Instead she dropped her fist and jaw, "Nathan what happened!?"

The sight meeting Brooke's eyes was that of Nathan with the most concerned expression Brooke had ever seen on his face, holding Haley, passed out with her head leaned against Nathan's chest. Mouth was anxiously standing in the background.

Brooke opened the door wider and moved out of the way as Nathan entered the apartment and answered Brooke's obvious question, "I made her head hurt so she decided to make it stop."

"She threw up twice in the car Brooke," Mouth said nervously.

Nathan walked into his old bedroom and laid Haley down on her bed.

"Does she have alcohol poisoning?" Brooke asked. She had followed Nathan into the bedroom.

Nathan sighed, "I'm pretty sure she doesn't... I really hope she doesn't."

Brooke stayed in the bedroom as Nathan went to the living room and sat down on the couch. He asked Mouth, "You know I'm drunk too right?"

"Yeah, I uh guessed that. Besides, I can't really see Haley drinking and you not."

Nathan ran his hand through his dark hair with frustration, "It's all my fault Mouth. Had I not given the money to Red, Haley never would have bought me. She wouldn't be passed out right now in our old bedroom. She would be talking to Brooke about her date with Lucas or something."

"I hate to break it to you Nathan, but even if you hadn't paid Red, you would've been paired with Haley."

"What do you mean?"

"Uh, Brooke kind of paid me off to write down that Haley bought you, no matter what."

"Does everyone want us back together?"

"I don't think Chris Keller does," Mouth pointed out.

Brooke quickly came out of the bedroom. "Nurse Brooke has reached a diagnosis. Haley will be fine, it will be a rough night for her, but I've seen worse cases. I've been a worse case."

Nathan breathed a sigh of relief, but he couldn't shake the guilt or concern for Haley.

Mouth's phone began to ring. He pulled it out and said, "Hello?"

After a few minutes of one-sided conversation he hung up. He turned to Brooke and Nathan, "Hey guys I gotta go, there's been another call. This girl is really wasted down at the park, if I don't go soon she could get arrested."

"Alright see you later Mouth. Thanks for all your help tonight," Brooke said gratefully.

Mouth nodded and with a small wave, left the apartment.

"Do you mind if I stay here tonight?" Nathan asked Brooke quietly after a few moments of silence.

"Why?"

"I want to make sure Haley is alright."

"Where did Haley keep all her money?" Nathan asked Brooke later that night.

"I don't know. I didn't even know she had that much money. I mean seriously, we could've gone on a nice little shopping spree with those funds, not designer labels of course, but nicer than that poncho of hers."

Nathan wasn't even listening to Brooke, he was thinking about Haley and her habits. He tried to remember where she used to hide her belongings and realized the only thing she ever hid from him was her music. He had no idea where she would ever hide things.

He suddenly smirked as he thought of the one place Haley would expect nobody to ever go.

"I'll be back, I'm gonna go check on her."

"But you checked on her ten minutes ago! And ten minutes before that!"

"Things can happen in ten minutes Brooke," he said as he walked into the bedroom.

He carefully closed the door and walked to Haley's drawers. He refused to look at her because he knew if he did he would be overwhelmed with guilt. Nathan opened the drawer where he figured she would keep her socks. As soon as he saw the contents of the drawer he felt a sense of longing. On the right half of the drawer was her socks, but on the left was none other than her underwear.

Of course she would put a lacy pair right on top, Nathan thought to himself as he tried to peel his eyes away and stop remembering their nights together.

Nathan quickly put the money into one of her socks along with a little present for her and shut the drawer. Without meaning to, he looked over at Haley.

"Hales," he whispered instinctually. His voice was full of concern.

Nathan slowly walked over to bed and sat down on the edge of it. He ran a hand through her long blond hair. I have missed this. Nathan thought as he kept running his hand through her silky tresses.

Haley opened her eyes slightly and squinted at Nathan. She saw the look of concern intermixed with desire and felt raw happiness inside of herself.

"Nathan…thank you," she whispered.

"Haley?" He responded, joy clearly on his features. He quickly removed his hand from her hair though.

"Thank you Nathan for being here when I don't deserve it."

"Haley you do deserve it. You deserve a happy ending, whether it be with music or something else." Or someone.

Haley smiled, but her face suddenly changed into a funny expression.

"Haley?" Nathan asked for a second time, once again concerned.

Haley replied by sitting up and then throwing up right onto Nathan's lap. Haley groaned and laid back down on the bed, once again falling into unconsciousness.

"Serves me right. I have been acting like Dan. It figures you would throw up on me in the same place," Nathan mumbled.

"Tutor-girl! You're awake!" Brooke shouted early the next morning.

"Brooke, can you do me a favor and not scream?" Haley asked.

"I'm sorry, but it's so good to see you're alive!"

"I sure don't feel alive."

"Well here," Brooke said and she went to the kitchen counter. There she grabbed a funny-colored juice, "Drink up. It tastes like Chris Keller's hair product, but it works."

"How would you know what his hair product tastes like?"

"I tried to sabotage it once and got some in my mouth by accident."

"When did you do that?"

Brooke quickly changed topics, "Spill Tutor-girl, how did your date go last night?"

Haley remembered singing songs, hearing Nathan attempt to sing, having Damien's hands on her, and Nathan briefly kissing her. She groaned in response.

"That bad?" Brooke asked sympathetically,

"Brooke I got drunker than I have ever been in my entire life, how do you think last night went?"

"Well what happened?"

"Nathan paid Red to piss me off at the auction last night."

Brooke faked shock. Nathan had told her the whole story the night before, she wanted to hear Haley's side now though.

"Yeah, only I didn't know that. I took him to this karaoke bar that Lucas and I used to go to all the time last year—"

"Oh yeah, Luke told me about that place. He thought it was a lot of fun, but he refused to there without you."

Haley continued with her story, "I tried to make Nathan jealous by dancing with this attractive guy and it worked. Unfortunately, my plan was interrupted by Chris and this girl who asked me to sing. I sang a song and when I got off the stage Chris asked me to dance and I saw he had a broken nose so I agreed. Then Nathan," Haley's face broke into a soft smile as she fondly remembered Nathan tipsily getting up onto the stage and beginning to sing.

"What did he do?" Brooke prodded. Nathan had skipped this part in his own late night sharing.

"He sang "The Reason" in front of everyone."

"Wow. Nathan Scott singing, that would have been a great sight to see."

"It was," Haley laughed, only to place a hand on her head. "Okay, laughter isn't good."

"What happened after Nathan sang the song?"

"Red went up to him."

"You guys had the best luck with people last night didn't you?"

"Yeah well, the bouncer took her away. Only I was still mad at Nathan so I went to dance with another guy. Except this time it didn't turn out so well. The guy turned out to be a creeper who crossed a line and wouldn't let me go."

"I bet Nathan wasn't very happy."

"He almost got in a bar fight with the guy, except the bouncer interrupted again. After that Nathan and I went to the bar and had a few drinks, then they asked me to do a set. So I sang three songs and while I did that, Nathan apparently requested the DJ play More than Anyone."

"Oh I love that song!"

Haley remembered all that had happened during the song and didn't continue with her story.

"Tutor-girl! You can't leave me hanging! What happened next?!"

Haley took a deep breath and said as fast as she could, "Nathan kissed me."

Brooke's anxious expression disappeared and didn't say anything.

"Brooke, what does that mean?" Haley asked. She was afraid for the answer, that it would mean Nathan wanted her to stay even though he had been so nasty to her lately.

"Haley….it was the Boy Toy Auction…"

"So?"

"A kiss at midnight is the rules."

"Oh yeah," Haley said with a fake happy voice, she was obviously trying to hide her disappointment. Why am I sad? That's good it means Nathan doesn't want me to stay…that's a good thing right?

Haley's headache suddenly came back stronger than ever, "I think I'm going to lay down again," she told Brooke a minute later.

"Tutor-Girl!" Brooke called, but Haley just walked right into the bedroom without giving a response.

Brooke sighed and pulled out her cell phone and called Lucas, "Luke, we got damage control duty. You and Jake need to go find out what's going on with Nathan. He kissed Haley last night and I'm thinking it wasn't because of the rules."

Lucas sighed. Nathan can't make things easy can he? He hung up with Brooke and pressed his speed dial for Jake.

"Hey Luke," Jake answered sleepily.

"Jake can you meet me at Nathan's in ten minutes?"

Jake groaned, "What happened this time?"

"Apparently he kissed Haley and she's really torn up about it. I have a feeling things didn't go as Nathan planned. We need to talk to him before Dan does."

When Jake answered his voice was noticeably more awake, "I'll be there in five, can you make it?"

"Yeah, Ill be there," Lucas said as he already climbed into his car.

"How did I get home last night?" Haley asked Brooke when Brooke joined her in the bedroom.

Brooke looked out the window. She wondered if Haley knew Nathan brought her home and merely wanted confirmation or if she really was clueless enough to not know how much Nathan cares about her. She finally replied, "Nathan. He carried you in his arms. Mouth says on the whole way over he never stopped holding you."

"I don't understand him Brooke," Haley said as she sat up. Immediately, she started to run a hand through her hair. "He treats me horribly for days and then takes care of me when I'm in trouble even though I had rejected him only a few minutes before."

"Do you really not get it Tutor-Girl?"

Haley shook her head.

"I can't give you the answer Haley, but I'm pretty sure if you put all your fears aside and truly think about you question, you'll figure it out. You are Tutor-Girl after all."

Haley laid back down and buried her face in her pillow. She could think of no reasonable explanation for Nathan's behavior.

"Think about it Haley…Please. He really needs you to figure it out," Brooke said quietly before she left the bedroom again.

"Nate?" Lucas asked quietly once he entered the Scott household.

"He never locks his doors does he?" Jake whispered.

"He figures if anyone wanted in they would go ahead and break in, so he figures he should save the damage on the window and simply leave the door unlocked," Lucas explained.

The two boys slowly walked into Nathan's room, both on the constant lookout for Dan.

"Nathan?" Lucas asked again, with concern in his voice, when he saw his little brother face down on the bed.

Jake walked forwards and tapped Nathan on the shoulder.

"That's not going to work," Lucas said. "Haley told me she was the only one who could ever wake Nathan up besides himself."

"What did she do? Maybe we could imitate it."

Lucas blanched, "I don't want to think about what she did! She's like my little sister, and I don't think either of us wants to imitate it either."

"Oh!" Jake exclaimed when his light bulb of realization off.

"I know Deb used to keep odd things in the guest room because Dan never really went in there," Lucas said as he came up with an idea, glad to change the topic. "Do you want to go check to see if she stashed a blow horn or something in there?"

"Yeah sure, I'll be right back." Jake turned around and crept to the nearby guest room.

Lucas walked over to Nathan and said at a normal level right in his ear, "Nathan, why can't you wake up easily?"

Nathan didn't even stir. Lucas took a breath and smelled the alcohol on Nathan's sleepy breath.

"You just had to get drunk didn't you?" Lucas asked, frustrated at how stupid Nathan could be sometimes.

"Luke! Come here! You gotta see this!" Jake shouted. Lucas and Jake had come to the conclusion that Dan wasn't there.

Lucas jogged into the guest bedroom and looked around for Jake, but did not see him. "Jake?"

"I'm in the closet."

"What the hell are you doing—Holy shit."

"Yeah."

All over the closet walls were newspaper clippings. In the corner was a shelf of DVDs and a few VHS'. Lucas took a closer glance at the newspaper articles, all of them were about Haley while she was on tour.

"What do you think are on these?" Jake inquired as he threw one of the DVDs to Lucas. There was no sort of labeling on the case except for a "4" on the corner.

Lucas walked out of the closet and back to Nathan's bedroom as Jake followed. He noticed Nathan was still passed out facedown on his bed. Lucas shook his head and placed the DVD in Nathan's playstation.

After the warnings and such passed by, a menu started to slowly come up with The Wreckers playing in the background.

"You don't think—" Jake began, but his question was answered within a second.

A picture of Haley and her guitar flew up on the TV screen. Lucas moved the cursor to the play button on the DVD and fast forwarded through the introductions. Sure enough, Haley appeared on the screen with a broad smile on her face.

As Haley started to sing her song "Devil's Archerists" Lucas dropped his jaw and Jake asked, "So Nathan, even though we all thought he hated Haley and the tour, bought all of her concert DVDs, recorded all her TV appearances, and collected all the newspaper articles from her tour."

"I guess so," Lucas whispered. The surprise was evident even though his voice was quiet.

"Well well, my other son and his teenage daddy friend, what do we have here?" A voice interrupted from the doorway.