I'm sorry. I don't know why you guys put up with me…I've been so busy with school, college applications, work, and just life that I have gotten no time to write at all. I wrote the second half of this chapter today actually (I never write and publish on the same day, I edit a couple of days later and publish but I don't think I'll have time and you guys have waited long enough).

The next chapter is where the drama is really going to pick up just so you know…

Anyway, please Read and Review. I know I don't deserve it, but the reviews are what make me feel so guilty for not updating that I make myself find time to write…

Oh and Happy One Tree Hill Premiere Day! If you feel like reviewing the episode if you review my story that's fine, I like hearing other's opinions about the show.

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 on a night where things started out so great….

Scott Family Treatment

The mood was ruined. There was no way Brooke and Lucas were going to get their game on that night and neither were Nathan and Haley. The four drove Herc Donavan to the hotel he had mumbled when they asked where he was staying. Then, Brooke had driven Lucas to his house. Nathan had volunteered to stay with him and explain to Karen what had happened since he had been the one to punch Lucas.

Neither Brooke nor Haley kissed the guys goodnight. They simply waved half-heartedly before they drove back to the apartment in silence. Once they got back they got ready for bed in silence too, both dreading the next day when there would be a confrontation with Peyton.

Brooke crawled into her bed and discovered she couldn't sleep. Her thoughts were too overrun with the possibility that her friend had done something so horrible it could ruin Haley's music future or her future with Nathan, or both.

Haley faced the wall as disappointment washed over her. She remembered Peyton earlier at the beach where they had teased Nathan and Jake, Haley couldn't see that Peyton calling a magazine. However, Haley also remembered the vengeful Peyton from when she first returned from tour and the seed of doubt spread.

Brooke knew Haley wasn't asleep. "Tutor Girl…Peyton didn't call the magazine. She wouldn't do that to you. Or maybe she would have when you first came home, but not now."

"What if she didn't think of it until just now Brooke? What if she's only pretending to be my friend to get more insider information on Nathan and me?"

"Peyton isn't that convincing of a liar Haley."

"She convinced you that she wasn't stealing your boyfriend for a few weeks," Haley pointed out.

Brooke pushed back the memories and fears she hid everyday of what had happened and what could happen between Lucas and Peyton.

"I'm sorry Brooke," Haley said after a moment's silence. "That was uncalled for…I'm just so worried." Haley sat up and ran a hand through her long blond hair.

Brooke got up off her bed and sat on Haley's where she put an arm around her rock star friend. She didn't need to ask Haley questions, she just needed to listen.

"If the magazine paints me like the town saw me, I might not have any fans left. Everyone will think I'm a cold hearted bitch who only cared about myself and denied my husband on national television." Haley leaned her head on Brooke's shoulder, desperately needing the comfort. "If the magazine shows Nathan and me as this happy couple, the record company is going to pull me out of Tree Hill and then my future with Nathan is going to be wrecked."

"What are you going to do Haley?" Brooke asked quietly after a few moments of quiet.

Haley seriously considered the question and thought back to how she had been behaving since her return. She had let the words in the gym the night of return hurt her, she had just let the boy in the hallway ask her for sex, she had let Nathan manipulate her to spare his own heartbreak, Haley had let Peyton, Damien, and Red walk all over her ever since she came home. Haley realized she was tired of being the doormat.

It was time for her to take a stand. All Haley knew was that whoever, Peyton or anyone else, had called the magazines was not going to get away with it.

Nathan looked at the clock. It was two a.m. Has it really been three hours since Lucas and I told Karen what happened and crashed? Have I really not been able to sleep for two hours? Nathan partially wanted to get plastered just so sleep could finally overcome the worry he felt for his future with Haley and the concern he was feeling for how Haley was doing now.

Sighing, Lucas rolled over and asked, "Alright Nathan, what do you think about this whole thing?"

Nathan only ignored Lucas. He might get along just fine with his older brother, but that didn't mean he was in to the whole heart-to-heart thing.

"I know you're awake Nathan. You haven't mumbled in your sleep about how much you miss Haley lying next to you and grossed me out at all so I know you're thinking about what happened tonight."

Sill, Nathan didn't say anything to Lucas and desperately hoped sleep would come over him so he had a reason not to talk to him.

Lucas' bed creaked as he moved so he could see Nathan prone figure. "Nathan, there's no point in worrying. What's done is done."

"Are you saying I shouldn't even try to make things better?" Nathan finally answered him.

"I'm saying you can't stop the presses from rolling and you can't stop what people are going to think about her or what the record company is going to do. The only thing you can stop is all the bad things you might want to say to her when this whole mess is going on."

Nathan didn't like that answer, that was putting power on something other than him; that was leaving Haley vulnerable to the town all over again. He would be failing to protect her. Nathan didn't agree, but he wasn't going to let Lucas bug him about it all night so he changed the subject. "Who do you think snitched to the magazines Luke?"

The wall seemed suddenly very interesting to Lucas as he thought of the best way to answer Nathan's question. "It could be anyone who's been mad at you. It could be Damien West," Nathan cracked his knuckles at the thought of Damien telling the magazines about anything related to Haley. "It could be that cheerleader girl, Red, it could be Dan, or Chris Keller. Or even…"

After a moment of silence Nathan lifted his head, "Who Lucas?"

"It could have been Peyton."

The red letters burned in his mind. 4:01 A.M., the digital clock on Lucas' desk read. Nathan still had yet to fall asleep. Lucas, meanwhile, had drifted off soon after talking to Nathan and discussing what they would do if Peyton was the one who sicked the magazines on Haley and him.

Nathan rolled over a few more times. The red letters now read 4:03. Frustrated, Nathan threw the sleeping bag off of him. He pulled a shirt on and climbed out Lucas' conveniently open window. Nathan took off running down the empty streets. He had to see Haley.

Haley was in the weird place between sleep and consciousness. Her thoughts were muddled with images of Peyton betraying her and Nathan hitting Herc Donovan with a giant balloon hammer as she tried to drift into full sleep.

In the current half-dream, Peyton was tapping on the local newspaper's office while the hammer was pounding Herc inside. However, Peyton's tapping didn't stop even though the image had swirled and faded.

Eventually, Haley realized the tapping was real, not crafted by her overactive imagination. Immediately, Haley sat up bolt right, glancing around for a sort of weapon and where the tapping might be coming from.

Her eyes landed on the lamp which burned out just the day before so she and Brooke had unplugged it. Haley picked the lamp up and then walked to the window where she had decided the tapping was coming from. She opened the window and readied the lamp only to hear a voice that belonged to a man she loved, "Hales! It's me!"

"Nathan!" She whispered. Haley backed away from the window and put down the lamp on a nearby table. A second later she found herself in Nathan's strong arms.

The couple stood in the bedroom in silence, just providing solace through knowing that they were still there for each other.

Eventually, Haley pulled away but kept one of her hands in Nathan's as she led him out of the bedroom with Brooke and to the living room.

"What are we going to do Nathan?" Haley finally asked.

Nathan looked down into Haley's face, into the brown eyes that were growing more like the ones he used to see everyday, the kind, naive, chocolate eyes he loved so much. "We'll get through it," He assured her. "No matter what Haley. Nothing can destroy us after everything we've been through."

Haley hugged Nathan tighter. He knew exactly what to say to her to make her feel better.

After a few more minutes of comfortable silence, Nathan stifled a yawn. Haley smiled and led him over to the couch where he collapsed. Haley placed her legs over his lap and her head onto his shoulder. Their arms wrapped around each other lovingly.

Finally, Nathan and Haley were able to fall into a deep sleep, listening to each other's heart beats, comforted by each other.

The issue came out two days later. Mysteriously, Peyton, Jake, and Jenny had all left town to visit Peyton's dad who was up north for the week the day after the picnic. In the magazine, there weren't any photos from the picnic, however there were some from school, the beach, and the championship game. The article told all about who Nathan Scott was and what Haley had done to him. There was even a mention of her kissing Chris Keller. Oh and the article happened to somehow be the front page story.

Haley was furious. Never in her life had she been so embarrassed, not even when Taylor had once announced at her tenth birthday party that after watching the creepy clown episode of Are you afraid of the dark? Haley had wet the bed.

"Shh Haley, it's all in the past now." Nathan would always say to try to soothe her whenever she saw a copy of the magazine. "We're good now and that's all that matters."

Those words were good enough for Haley when she was only with Nathan, Lucas, and Brooke, but during school they brought no comfort.

"Hey look it's the rockstar! Tell me, are you a heartless bitch whose philosophy is 'out of sight, out of mind' or are you a tortured artist who loves her husband dearly but also values her dreams?" A skinny blond girl yelled at Haley in the hallway one day when Haley had no friends near her. "Running away from me like you ran away with that Keller guy?" The girl laughed as Haley ignored her and walked away down the hallway.

Haley stopped walking and slowly turned to face the girl, a menacing glare on her face. "You have something to say to me?" She asked evenly.

Already a crowd of people had circled around Haley and the girl. They were like sharks and had smelled blood from a mile away.

The girl looked around and seemed to draw confidence from the crowd, assured that they all hated Haley too. With a smirk she said, "Yes. How does it feel to have the whole nation know you are a dirty rotten slut who will never sell another record and die alone?"

"Not as bad as you're about to feel." And with that, Haley dropped her bag and finally went with the Scott method of solving problems: she lunged for the girl.

"Yo Nate, did you catch what went down with Tutor-Chick today?" Tim asked when their Math teacher turned his back to write a problem on the board.

Nathan rolled his eyes at Tim's words. Tim probably didn't have anything important to say. "What Tim?"

Tim smiled, glad to have Nathan's attention. "Well, this chick who has this humongous thing for me but I keep tellin' 'The Tim needs to concentrate on basketball'—"

"The point Tim," Nathan said, already bored.

"I was getting to it dawg. Anyway, apparently your hot stuff wife—"

Nathan glared, "Haley."

"Yeah whatever, Haley, punched Kenzie in the face today and it was sweet!"

Nathan's jaw dropped. "Haley was in a fight?"

"I can't believe you haven't heard Nate! They say Haley launched herself like she was some sort of heat-seeking rocket and flew at the girl! Kenzie didn't stand a chance."

"Mr. Scott if you could please answer the question," their short, gray-haired, horn-rimmed glasses-wearing math teacher asked with a small smile.

"Yeah sure," Nathan replied with a glare. "The answer is that you're a loser nerd who enjoys torturing your students. Oh and you're probably a virgin."

Nathan was on his way to right where he wanted to be, Turner's office. He walked into the main office, smiled a charming smile at the secretary and went over to the small hallway that led to Turner's office.

Sitting outside the door on the bench, tears falling out of her eyes, was exactly who he wanted to see.

"Hales," Nathan said as he ran towards her. She saw him and stood while he ran to her and enveloped her in his arms.

"What are you doing here Nathan?" She asked him.

"I heard you got in a fight," he said quietly.

Haley sighed. "It was stupid. I shouldn't have let her words get to me. I'm above hitting people just because they hurt me—"

"Yeah, that's my job," Nathan interjected as he tried to cheer Haley up.

"I just started remembering everything everyone has done to me since I got back and how I decided I wasn't going to be anyone's doormat and I hit her."

"I heard you were more like a missile and that you have quite a punch."

Haley mockingly glared at Nathan and pointed a finger in his face, "Watch it mister."

"Oh my girl has it out for me," he laughed.

Suddenly, another voice entered in the conversation. "Tutor-Girl! I heard you beat up that blond skank and all her ho friends!" Brooke exclaimed as she walked up to Nathan and Haley who pulled apart a little so they could talk to Brooke.

"Just Kenzie, sorry Brooke," Haley smiled.

"Oh well, that's alright. I never liked her anyway."

"Why not?" Nathan asked. "I thought she was a cheerleader with you."

"Yeah one who always watches Lucas during practice. It's totally obvious she has a thing for him, it's disgusting to watch her drool. So thanks Tutor-Girl for putting that whore in her place!"

"No problem Tigger," Haley said quietly.

A door creaked open and Kenzie walked out. Above her right eye a giant purple bump was forming. Kenzie glared at the three friends who all glared back as she walked away.

"Remind me never to piss you off Hales," Nathan said with awe in his voice a second later.

"Seconded," Brooke added in the same impressed tone.

Haley just gave them an embarrassed smile as Mr. Turner called from his office, "Mr. Scott. What did you do this time?"

"I told my math teacher he was a virgin, which he is, is that a problem?" Nathan answered.

Haley playfully punched Nathan in the chest. "Nathan! You did not make fun of poor Mr. Twitty!"

"Ow Hales!" Nathan said rubbing where she hit him. "You really might want to learn your own strength."

With a quick peck on the cheek, Nathan turned away from Haley and walked into Mr. Turner's office, his old smirk playing across his lips.

"What's your punishment anyway Tutor-Girl?" Brooke asked as the pair walked back to class.

"I have to tutor Kenzie until the end of the year starting tomorrow," Haley replied nonchalantly.

Brooke's mouth fell open. "That sounds like pure hell!" She exclaimed.

Haley shrugged, "Better than a suspension. That would go on my record."

"And you're record is your biggest worry?" Brooke asked in shock.

"Of course, I'm Tutor-Girl after all," Haley laughed.

"You did it didn't you?" The blond eighteen year old said with the most intense glare he could muster.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" The one he was intimidating exclaimed, panic in his voice.

Lucas hit the closest solid object next to his suspect. "You know exactly what I'm talking about! I know it wasn't just you. Whose idea was it?"

The interrogee stared at his friend and felt horrible about what he had done. "It was her idea…She called the magazine first. She wanted revenge. I tried to talk her out of it, to explain that Haley didn't deserve this, that she's a good person who just wanted to follow her dreams. But Luke…she's so persuasive…I couldn't help it. Then she called the reporter and he was asking me all these questions about when Haley left and I just had to tell him, I didn't even mean to but it all spilled out. I'm sorry Lucas."

"You're a spineless idiot!" Lucas shouted, rage flowing through him. Nobody hurt his sister-in-law, his best friend, and got away with it. He punched his "friend" square in the face. "How could you do that to Haley!? After all she's done for you! For everyone!" He shouted, his voice cracking at the disappointment and anger he felt. His voice quieted as he let go of the one he had just punched, "Don't talk to me ever again. As far as I'm concerned, we were never friends."

Lucas Scott shook his head and walked away from the slumping figure of the one person he thought he could always depend on.