Chapter 12a

"It is better to be off with the old love before you are on with the new" – Unknown

Fireworks.

It felt like fireworks.

Her body was tingling…

She never knew you could get so much feeling from a single kiss.

His lips moved over hers urgently. Hard. Fast.

One of his hands was running through hair, the other holding her firmly at the waist, her back still pressed up against the wall.

His tongue ran across her lips begging for entrance, she granted it immediately.

"Oh god…" she moaned as Nathan's tongue began teasing hers. Her arms moved wrapping themselves around his neck. They continued kissing passionately until air became an issue.

"Damn Haley," he murmured.

Before she could utter a response he moved in and started pressing kisses down her neck.

"Nathan," she moaned as he reached a sensitive area.

Hot damn! How many times had he imagined her moaning his name over and over again in his fantasies? To hear her actually out loud was more amazing than he could've imagined. It spurred him on, sucking and biting at her pulse point, making her almost whimper.

She'd never felt this hot before in her life. God this guy could KISS! Missing his lips on hers, she pulled them back up. He smirked having no problem with that at all.

She ran her hand through his hair, making him moan deeply into her mouth. She smiled at that, glad she had some effect on him.

Suddenly a loud ringing broke the moment. They pulled apart, realizing it was Nathan's phone. He ignored it and moved back in,

"Shouldn't you get that?" she said in between kisses.

"I think this is much more important," he responded loving the way she ran her hand through his hair.

The consistent ringing was becoming a bother though.

"Dammit," Nathan pulled away, and took out his phone. "Yeah?" he responded slightly out of breath.

Haley was trying to catch her own as she watched him. His other arm was still holding her around the waist, his fingers stroking her skin softly where her top didn't quite meet her jeans. She wondered if he even realised he was doing it.

She watched a frown take over his face.

"Alright, I'll be right there." Damn.

"You have to go?"

"Yeah, but I don't want to. Trust me," he smirked looking down on her flustered form.

"So erm…we should…er…or should we?…maybe…" his smirk grew wider at her stuttering. She was so adorable sometimes.

He gave her a soft peck on her lips to stop her rambling. He shouldn't have since one feel of her gentle pliant lips under his made him want to go for round two there and then, but he had to get going. If it weren't for the urgency of the phone call then rest be assured, he and Haley wouldn't be leaving this room anytime soon.

"I have to go now, but we'll definitely be meeting later." He grinned on seeing that infectious smile of hers.

"To talk?" despite the encounter they just had she was still unsure on where they stand. Were they a couple now? Was he her boyfriend? Did he want to be? Or was this just a one-off thing?

"Well I guess we can talk too." He winked as he let himself out.

Haley followed a few minutes later, having composed herself, but not losing that huge grin on her face the whole way back to her dorm.

As soon as Nathan entered the room he sorely wished he hadn't. The shrieks of the tiny infant in Luke's arms were loud enough for bats to hear. He was sure of it.

"Ok, what the hell is going on?"

"Nathan! Don't say H-E-L-L" Jake admonished, taking the baby into his own arms.

"Right, like she can hear a damn curse right now." He muttered.

"How long has she been at it?" he directed to Skills who was massaging his temples nearby.

"Too long…"

Jake scowled in their direction, "Look I can't help it, I don't know what's wrong with her! I've tried rocking her, feeding her, changing her, burping her…" he proceeded to ramble on about how his baby was beyond help.

Nathan sighed; this is SO not what he signed on for. Why the hell did Jake call him anyway? Out of the lot of them, he was probably the one who knew least about babies and this kind of stuff. But one look at Jake's desperate face and he bit his tongue from saying any of that out loud.

"Hey Nate, where were you exactly?"

"Around, why?"

"Nothing, just…" Skills smirked slightly, "You seem a little…ruffled."

The guys suddenly all started staring at him and Nathan began to feel a little uncomfortable under their probing gazes.

"What are you talking about?"

"He's right, you hair for starters is completely out of control…" Lucas squinted at him

"And your shirts all messed up," Skills eyed how creased and out of place it looked

Even with a crying baby in his arms, Jake managed to point out that his face looked kinda flushed.

"Wait a minute," Lucas smirked, one painfully close to his own, "You were with a girl weren't you?"

Nathan rolled his eyes, "Aren't we supposed to be focusing on Jenny here?"

"Avoiding the question? That's unlike you Nate," Skills said and Nathan wasn't sure he liked his tone.

Or that look that the guys suddenly all shared.

He cleared his throat, which only seemed to fuel Jenny on. That seemed to snap everyone back into business.

"You know sometimes babies cry for no reason, they're just colic." Lucas offered and they all looked at him with similar 'What the fuck?' expressions.

Rolling his eyes he continued, "I watched a documentary with my mum once. They said some babies were colic; it's a condition in young babies, where they keep crying for hours at a time. There isn't an actual reason for it, they just do."

Silence.

Then…

"Man, you need to get out more!"

"This is what you do in your spare time?"

"You watched a baby program with your mum?"

"Hey! I don't see you guys coming up with anything!" Lucas argued; though he knew it was futile, he wasn't gonna hear the end of this for a while.

"So say she is this colon thing…"

"Colic Skills"

"Whatever dawg…how long does it last exactly?"

"From what I remember, about 3 weeks give or take"

"What?" Jake practically screamed himself, "3 WEEKS? I can't handle this for one night let alone 3 fricking weeks!"

"Language Jake…" Nathan reprimanded ignoring the death glare he was given.

"Or you know the program also said that sometimes babies just like to be rocked…" Lucas began

"What do you think I'm doing Luke?" Jake whisper-yelled furiously. Nathan raised his eyebrows; he'd never seen calm, rational Jake so frazzled before.

"…well it said they usually look for comfort in their mother…" he trailed off uneasily

"Well that's gonna be kinda hard, considering well the mother…oh yes that's right…she LEFT!"

"What difference does it even make?" Nathan asked

"Do you have breasts?" Lucas pointed out

"If only…" Skills sighed not realising the odd looks he received from the rest of them.

"Urgh, just…here Nathan you try!"

"Wait what?"

Before he knew it, he had a baby in his hands and Jake next to him instructing on how to hold the little girl.

Great she clearly has Jake's musician lungs…

Rocking slightly shakily, he started panicking. It's not like he'd had experience in this kind of thing before. Babies were generally something he stayed away from. There was just something so fragile looking about them…

Ok Nathan just calm down

Jake was trying to tell him something but he wasn't concentrating with all his thoughts directed on the tiny soft person enfolded in his arms.

Support the head. Support the head. Support the head.

He was nowhere near feeling comfortable at that point. He could even feel a trickle of sweat working its way down the back of his neck. She wasn't getting any less loud which didn't help either.

Am I even doing this right?

Shifting his arms slightly, so that his left hand was under Jenny's head and his other was supporting her on her lower back.

Frick she's TINY!

Oh god Oh god Oh god

She looked like she was in pain. Why was she crying exactly? WAS she in pain? Was it him? Was he doing something wrong?

Is this what a panic attack felt like?

Jake! I need Jake!

His eyes flitted around in a panic spotting the brown haired boy collapsing on the couch.

What is he doing? He watched as Jake got all nice and relaxed on the cushy seat and totally ignored Nathan's existence.

That pissed him off. He knew Jake was more attentive than that. His daughter was screaming bloody murder and the guy looked like he was ready to just lie there and have a beer.

Wait, he WAS having a beer!

Did he not care about Jenny at all? What, one tiny-yet-slightly-deafening crying fit and all of a sudden he was disowning the kid? Great, poor Jenny – now she had two absentee parents. And Skills and Lucas didn't seem to fussed either. Just fuckin' perfect. That just left him and what the heck did he know?

"Thanks Nathan, you're doing great" Jake sighed while rubbing his eyes.

Huh?

"Yeah who knew you'd be such a natural" Lucas said perplexed.

"Dawgs got it down!" Skills looked something akin to proud.

Nathan looked down at the tiny infant in his arms. She just looked back up gurgling and cooing. Not a single cry coming out of her. And hadn't been for the last ten minutes if he'd been paying attention.

He smirked, more than a little chuffed at his accomplishment.

"Well you guys always knew I had skills with the ladies" he waggled his eyebrows at her. Lucas chuckled, Skills snorted, Jake narrowed his eyes.

And then kindly informed Nathan that he could use his skills and watch her until she slept then.

Three hours later, Nathan was still waiting.

Brooke was rambling. And Haley wasn't listening.

It had been this way the whole way through their little girl date. It started at the gym, then when they went for ice cream and now sitting on a bench in the grounds.

Brooke was not a rambler by nature. Haley knew this, considering she was. So to have her sitting there in complete silence, smiling at the air around her and Brooke Davis sitting there stumbling over her words…anyone could see something was not right.

"And I have no idea why I said it, but it just came out…of course it's not like it was actually a lie, I AM on a date, just not with the right species-"

"Gender."

The abrupt interruption finally stopped Brooke mid-spiel.

"What?"

"We're a different gender not species." She chuckled light-heartedly still staring at the world around her. It looked simply glorious in the light of the late afternoon. She sighted contentedly.

"Ok what is WITH you?"

"Sorry?"

"There's something wrong. You keep smiling!" Haley almost laughed at that. "And sighing all dreamy-like. And you're staring at the grass like a goofball on crack!"

Now she had to laugh. And though Brooke had no idea why, it was so infectious that she couldn't help herself either. They both ended up lying on the grass from laughing so hard.

"Ok ok…" Brooke calmed down, "Now you have to tell me. Something's up, and I wanna know what"

Propping her head on her elbow she gave Haley her undivided attention.

"What makes you think something's up with me? And didn't you want to talk about what happened with Lucas?"

"Lucas Schmucas" Brooke rolled her eyes, "It's the same old thing. We have some weird moment, he gets sad puppy dog eyes and I look like some cold-hearted bitch."

Haley could tell despite the nonchalant attitude Brooke had on, she felt more than she gave away. It was a tough situation, and hard to be on any side of it – but particularly hers.

She mimicked her friend's position and decided to get her mind off things with some good old distracting gossip.

"Nathan kissed me."

Brooke's eyes almost popped out.

"Explain NOW!"