A/N: Hi everyone. Sorry for the delay. Here's the next chapter. This chapter gives you a little more information on the past. Thanks to everyone who left reviews. I hope you'll do the same for this chapter.

kutebloo:I've never watched CSI but considering that its one of the highest rated TV Shows today, I take that as a huge compliment. Thanks

M.A: Your interpretation of Haley is dead-on. I agree, its like Haley had to face too much at the same time. Being so young, it was all a bit too much to handle for her. But as they say, you learn from your mistakes and look how far she's come. I love the maturity and growth Haley has displayed on the show from season 2 till now. She's the perfect wife, mother, mentor, friend. I really wish she had more storylines on the show. I feel like she is always ignored in favour of Brooke and Peyton.

Disclaimer: I don't own One Tree Hill or any of it's characters. If I did, the story would be about the fab five, not the rest of the ridiculously boring secondary characters (Hint: Mia, Mouth, and company).

Next on the list: Deb Scott, scratch that, Deb Lee. Dan and Deb had gotten divorced shortly after Haley left.

Haley knew that this meeting wouldn't go as smoothly as it did with Kieth. The last time she'd seen Deb, the woman had been furious with her. She blamed Haley for her son's broken marriage. In fact, it was because of her that Haley had decided to leave Tree Hill.

After signing the divorce papers, the implications of her actions finally sunk in. She couldn't even get past the Scott property. She sat the footstep and just broke down. She simply couldn't understand how Nathan could throw away their relationship like that. Given the history between Nathan and Lucas, they'd really had to fight for their relationship. After all of that, how could he just give up them?

It was a beautiful night, the wind was blowing, and the stars seemed to light up the night sky. It was the kind of night where couples would go out to take a stroll. Haley wished she could be one of those people. At the sound of the door creaking open, Haley quickly wiped away her tears. She wasn't going to let Nathan have the satisfaction of seeing her cry over him. Except it wasn't Nathan. It was Deb.

"Can I sit here?" asked Deb cautiously.

"Of course, it's your house", replied Haley with a sad smile.

Deb had always been really nice to her. Haley really looked up to her.

"Look Haley, I suppose I could be more sympathetic toward you but to tell you the truth, I don't think you deserve it."

Haley was stunned; she thought that Deb had come here to console her. Now she knew she was wrong to assume so.

"My son has had enough taken away from him. When you came into his life, I really thought you'd be good for him. Now I realise I was wrong. I hate to admit it, but Dan had been right all along. When you left Haley, Nathan was absolutely devastated. It took him a long time to finally get past you. And just when he's finally begun to move forward with his life, what makes you think you can just waltz in here to ruin it for him?"

"I'm not ruining anything. I love your son and I'm willing to do anything to make our marriage work. It's your son who is at fault here. It's absolutely fine for him to go off to high flyers and what not and me? I can't go after my dreams? Don't you think that's kind of selfish?"

"No. selfish is you abandoning him. If you'd asked, I think Nathan would have gone to the end of the world and come back if it meant that he could make you happy. We can argue about this all night and we'd never be able to agree on whose fault it is. I know my son is not perfect but he's a hell of a lot better than you are. As far as I'm concerned, he's better off without you. This is a check for $100 000, take this maybe get a proper education or something. In exchange, I ask that you leave Tree Hill and not try to contact my son. You may not agree but this really is the best thing in the long run."

On one hand, she was absolutely disgusted at the thought the Deb would try to bribe her like this. But the realist part of her knew that this really was the best thing. Who knows if she'd ever be able to get Nathan to forgive her, but with this money, her future would be secured. She'd be able to pay her way through college, get a new life, move on.

Thus, she took the money and according to the agreement, left Tree Hill shortly after.

1717, chapel Hill, the address Deb's secretary had given her turned out to be the headquarters of Phoenix enterprises, the company that owns Karen's Café and a series of other establishments. It was large white building, built around circa 1870's. The entrance opened to large hall, lavishly decorated with marble flooring, and unique sculptures. At the end of the hall hung a large portrait of Karen and Deb side by side, sharing a knowing smile. It wasn't like any other office she'd visited before. In spite of its grandeur, Haley felt completely at home in this place. If anything, she knew it was all of Karen's doing. Back at Karen's Café there used to be a sign reminding them that everyone inside was like a family. The concept of having a professional relationship with one's customers was simply unfathomable to Karen. Haley was happy to know that success of her business hadn't gotten to her. That Karen still upheld the values she'd instilled in those around her not so long ago.

"Excuse me, I have an appointment with Deb Lee, my name is Haley James".

The girl in front of her, she couldn't be more than 16. In fact, the entire staff seemed to be around that age; moreover they were all either teenage mothers or fathers. Karen had always been an inspiration for Haley, it ceased to amaze her as to how caring the woman could be.

"Yes, Ms. Lee has been waiting for you. Right this way", said the girl as she led Haley to Deb's office.

At first sight, Deb looked exactly the same as she'd been the last time she'd seen her. But as she got closer, Haley noticed the slight changes. She'd grown out her hair; there were even strands of the occasional grey hair. But her eyes were still the same, crystal blue, like Nathan's. Except, unlike his, there was no fire in them, they were just … blank. As if the years of turmoil had finally gotten the best of her.

"Why Haley James, I figured you'd show up sooner or later" said the women with a peculiar smile.

"Here, here come sit, it's been a while. We have lots to talk about", continued Deb as she ushered in.

"I see you've outdone yourself. What is it 130 cafés, countrywide?"

"Actually more like 150 but who keeps count these days" replied Deb with a million dollar smile.

To the outsider, this conversation would seem nothing but ordinary. But to Haley James, it was anything but. Had Deb finally come to terms with what happened so long ago or was this all some sort of a façade?

"Look Mrs. Scott –"

"Lee, its Lee now. I went back to using my maiden name."

"Okay Ms. Lee, I'm here about Nathan –"

"Come to rub it in have you. By all means feel free to gloat."

Now that's the Deb she'd expected. All those years with Dan, she'd definitely picked up on some of his qualities. Paranoia, being one of them.

"Look, I'm not here to gloat, or so as you say. Contrary to what you might think, I'm actually here to save your son. Now if you'll please, just cooperate with me, we can just get this over with".

"The sooner the better."

***

The more she investigated, the more puzzling this case was becoming. As the days went by, the more and more confusing it got. Everyone she interviewed had the same thing to say. Dan had invited them to the party, said he wanted a second chance. No one had seen anything peculiar. How is it possible that everything was perfectly fine, not a single person had anything bad to say about Dan and yet on the night that he finally decides to change his ways, someone poisons him and leaves him to turn into a pile of dust. Was everything really fine and dandy or was it all part of a large cover up?

She'd been on this case for days, and not a single clue had come up. There were no new evidence to connect Nathan to the case but then again, nothing had been uncovered to prove that Nathan was innocent either. It was beginning to look like she was going to lose this case, something that would be a first in her career. As the abundance of questions plagued her mind, she found herself at the river court. It was just after four and bunch of kids had just arrived. As they played she found herself lost in her memories again.

"Luke come on, don't make me play. You know I'm going to fall flat on my face."

"You're not going to fall. And even if you do, that's just more entertainment for us", grinned Lucas

"Nathan you suck. You're my boyfriend, you're supposed to be on my side."

"Sorry babe, we need another player and you're the only one around at the moment. Try not to embarrass us okay."

That had been a wonderful day. It was the last week of school and they had held a slave for a day event where people got to buy the Raven's Cheerleaders for a day and have them do whatever they were asked. Nathan and Lucas had bought her and they'd tortured her the entire day. From playing basketball, to watching boring action movies, she'd had to endure things that no self-respecting girl would ever have to do. And looking back, she wouldn't give it up for the world. That was one of the best days of her life, she'd do anything to have another day like that.

For a long time, she'd been terrified at the thought of coming back but now that she was here she regretted not having come here sooner. In spite of living in the city for so many years, she was still a small town girl at heart.

HALEY'S POV

Coming to Tree Hill was good on a personal level, it helped me get in touch with my childhood, something I lost along the way. But when it comes to a professional level, it was a waste of time. Everyone I've talked to says the same thing that they were at the party but left long before the murder took place. This investigation was going nowhere and the date of the next hearing was fast approaching. There was no option other than to face what I was least looking forward to, talking to Nathan first hand. From my experience, in these sorts of cases, the tiniest bits of information can have the greatest impact. It was absolutely imperative for Nathan to cooperate, if not, he would be sure to go to prison.

Haley's thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of her cell phone.

"Hello"

"Hi, is this Haley James?"

"Yes, this is she"

"Hi, this is Jake Jagielski from People Magazine. I was hoping we could schedule an interview?"

"Really, with me? I thought you'd be more keen on interviewing my client, ."

"Yes, we did contact him but we were told to contact you if we wanted to discuss anything related to his case"

"right"

It figures that Nathan would do that, leave all the dirty work to me while he went about pretending like nothing had happened. I would love to refuse the interview and let Nathan fend for himself, but unfortunately this wouldn't go well with the bosses. Refusing such a high profile interview was as good as admitting that Nathan was guilty. If we had any chance of winning the case, I'd have give the public the impression that we were confident of Mr. Scott's innocence, this interview was the best way to go about giving it.

"Yes, Ms. Jagielski, I'd be happy to meet you"

The interview was set for Friday, exactly a week after the first hearing.

***

Present day (A few days after the first hearing. I.e. a few days after the very first scene of the story)

Beverly Hills, California

Speaking with Nathan's assistant and long time lackey Tim Smith. I'd been able to find out that Nathan was taking a week long vacation. He'd sent away the entire household staff. Apparently all this media attention was getting to him. Who knew that Nathan Scott would ever get sick of the media. For as long as I'd known him, Nathan had loved the limelight. I guess even Nathan Scott can act like a human being once in a while.

So anyway, the only way to get Nathan to talk me was to set up an ambush. Not very professional I know, but Nathan wasn't exactly cooperating now was he?

Nathan was staying in Beverly Hills this week. It figures that he would go there to evade the media. Yes, the hills boasted of the largest concentration of celebrity residences in the entire country but if you ask me, its not as great as people make it out to be. The area is practically a forest, you can barely see anything because of the large expanse of trees. Oh and the cameras and the threatening messages in front of the houses, are downright intimidating.

At first the plan was to project myself as one of the many female companions, Nathan chose to be surrounded by. But then it occurred to me that considering the fact that I had managed to make it on the cover of Time and god knows how many other magazines, the security guys would probably recognize me and send me on my merry way. That's why I enlisted the help of Lucas. He was Nathan's brother after all, surely he'd be able to get in.

And that's how I did it. I hid in the back of Lucas's car until we'd safely entered the Scott estate. Lucas waited until I'd entered the mansion and then he left me to fend for myself.

To say that Nathan's house was big would be an understatement. It was like a different world in there. People were dying of starvation and Nathan was spending his money filling his home with things he couldn't possibly want or need. I swear to god, I thought I was going to get lost in there.

After searching for God knows how long. I finally found Nathan in what looked like the tenth living room I'd seen so far. He was on of those oversized Italian leather sofas that I'd been eyeing for the longest time. The problem is, they cost something like $10000. But I suppose to Nathan, it was as good as a plastic pool chair. The last I heard, he was earning something like $500 million in 5 years. What he could possibly be doing with all that money, I could never figure out.

So anyway, when I found Nathan, he was asleep. I couldn't help but notice how cute he looked.

Nathan was asleep on the living room couch. He stayed home from school because he hadn't been feeling very well. His legs were sprawled on the lengths of the sofa while his head hung midair, with the slightest hint of drool shining under the afternoon sky. Haley carefully slid on to the couch, turned off the television and proceeded to kiss her husband. Nathan slept like the dead, alarms, telephones, yelling in his ear, nothing worked. The only thing that did was Haley's kisses. At first, Nathan wasn't responding, he must have been really tired. Just as she was about to give up, she felt him deepening the kiss.

"Hey babe, when did you get home?" he said, barely above a whisper

It's strange how you can know them so well and yet not know them at all. As I sat beside him, thinking of ways to wake him up, I really looked at him for once. Not as my client, or my ex-husband, I really noticed him as a person. In spite of the new haircut, further enhanced body structure, not to mention the complete change of personality, Nathan was still the boy I fell in love with. I didn't know what he liked or didn't like, I didn't know who his friends were, I didn't know anything about his life and yet it felt like I knew him better than anyone ever could. I knew all the curves of his face, his nervous habits, his innermost secrets, everything and yet there was no denying that we were practically strangers.

"How'd you get in here?" said a voice, clearly annoyed by my presence.

I broke out of my daze just in time to see Nathan glaring at me. And boom, it was back to normal. I'd gone from admiring him to hating him all in a matter of seconds.

"That doesn't matter".

"To me it does" he retorted.

"If you must know, Lucas dropped me off. Now before you go off spouting insults of various kinds, I should let you know that this case is getting very much out of hand".

It looked like he had something to say but I ignored him. Smartass comments were not needed at the moment.

"Your prints were found on the bottle of champagne that supposedly held the poison and you were the last person seen at the location prior to the discovery of the Senator's body".

"You speak as if he's just some stranger. All things aside, he was still my father."

I couldn't help but laugh. He was the last person to give a damn about his father. For the longest time, he'd spoken of Dan as if he were dead so what gave him the right to criticize other people's manner of speaking?

"Oh like you care. I'm pretty sure you're happy that he's finally gone. No one to pick your sorry ass apart, no one to blame you for your shortcomings, I mean it must be a relief right?"

"You did not just say that. You come into my house, you have the nerve to insult me, my father, who's next? My mother? How about uncle Keith?"

"Look –"

"You know what the best thing about divorcing you is? I don't have to listen to your crap any more."

That was the last straw. I was sick of everything always coming down to this one thing that happened so long ago. I was tired of everyone blaming me for following my dreams; I was tired of having to justify my decisions.

Just as Nathan was about to get up and leave the room, I decided then and there that I would get it all out in the open. Everything I'd been holding in for all these years, it was finally time get them out.

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