I know I'm such an idiot for updating late! When I said I wouldn't but I've been really busy. But this chapter has got 7,340 words, not including authors notes:)

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Chapter 35

''Hello?'' a girls voice answered.

''Millie?'' Haley asked, Whys Millie answering Nathan's phone? she wondered.

''Haley, Nathan.. he, um.'' Millie stuttered.

Haley froze and she came overcome with panic, what if something bad happened. Why else would Millie have Nathan's phone? What if he's hurt? Is he in the hospital?

''Spit it out Millie.'' she barked, right now she doesn't care if she's being rude.

''He got into a fight and he left his phone on the table.'' she said quickly, not wanting Haley to snap at her again.

''He got into a fight? Is he okay?'' she demanded.

''Yeah, he's fine. He's just got a busted lip, you should see the other guy.'' she giggled, replaying the fight in her head.

Haley gasped, ''But Nathan hasn't got into a fight since... before the wedding.'' she paused, ''Who did he have a fight with?''

''Vegas Underwood.''

Haley felt sick at the name, but she quickly recovered, she doesn't want Millie to suspect anything. ''Why?'' she asked, not really wanting to know the answer. It's clear it made Nathan mad, so it was probably just make her upset, but she needs to know.

Millie coughed, ''Vegas made a comment about.. you.''

Haley quickly wiped the tear from her eye, ''About me?'' she asked as if she didn't know that Nathan would get into a fight over her, especially with Vegas Underwood.

''Yeah, Vegas said something about Damien, he used to go to Oak Lake. Did you know who he is?''

Haley wiped another tear, ''I've.. heard of him.'' she lied, hoping that he voice didn't break, she feels like she's going to burst into tears any minute.

''Any he said something about coming to Tree Hill and 'comparing notes', and Nathan just lost it. I always knew Nathan didn't like Vegas, but I didn't think he'd beat him up.''

''Oh, okay. Um, thanks for telling me. When Nathan gets his phone back please tell him to call me, okay?'' she asked quickly desperately wanting to get off the phone. ''And sorry for being snappy before, I was just worried about Nathan.''

Millie laughed, ''Yeah, I'll tell him. And don't worry about it.''

''Thanks, Bye Millie.''

''See you Hales.'' she said and then hung up the phone.

The second she heard the dial tone she let of the sob that had been stuck inside her when she was on the phone. She couldn't stop crying. Nathan was in trouble now because of her, she felt so horrible. She was getting over the attempted rape, she was starting to not think about it everyday, she was starting not to feel so disgusting. But now all those horrible feeling are back. Fear, disgust, caution. Damien's friends know what school she goes to, they know who she is, they know about her. They know who he boyfriend is, they know who her friends are. What if they come back to finish the job.

''Haley?'' a voice said from a distance.

She lifted her head and saw Skills through the tears. He quickly ran over to her and sat on the bench and cuddled her. He stroaked her hair and shushed her while she cried in his arms. He didn't know why she's crying, but Haley James is one of his close friends, so he's going to help her in anyway he can. Right now all he needs to do is hold her and make her feel safe.

Karen and Brooke and in the kitchen washing the dishes. The Scott family plus Brooke, Peyton and Jake have just had dinner. Kieth, Lucas, Peyton and Jake are upstairs painting the babies room. Karen is due next week, so they did leave it abit late. But atleast it's getting done now.

Karen dropped the plate she was cleaning and held onto her stomach as pain rushed through it.

''Brooke, you're such a klutz!'' Lucas shouted from the bedroom, he heard the plate smash, and immediatly thought it was Brooke, she always ends up breaking the dishes when she cleans them.

''Karen? Karen, are you okay?'' Brooke asked panicking, ignoring Lucas' comment.

''No,'' she said through her teeth as the pain got worse ''I'm having the baby!'' she shouted.

''Kieth! Lucas! Come down here now, she's in labour!'' Brooke shouted, her hands flying about like a crazy person.

Karen quickly grabbed Brooke's hand and squeezed it as she had another contraction. Brooke screamed too at the pain, damn, Karen is strong.

The people upstairs quickly came to the kitchen, Kieth immediatly ran to his fiancée. Brooke continued to curse under her breath about the pain in her hand. Lucas stood completely still, in shock. Peyton and Jake were just stood at the door, trying not to get in the way.

''We have to get to the hospital.'' Kieth said.

''I know, my hand is killing me.'' Brooke moaned, she saw all the angry looks she was getting. ''And to get the baby out, hurry up people. Karen is in pain!'' she recovered.

Kieth helped Karen to his car. Lucas and Brooke got in his and followed them behind. Peyton and Jake offered to stay behind to continue on the babies room. The truth is Peyton doesn't want to be in a hospital, it reminds her of her mom. And Jake just doesn't like to think of how babies are born. Gross.

Nathan knocked on the door. He got suspended for a week, he asked them to call Cooper to get him. It would be better than Dan, he's not in the mood to deal with him today. Now Vegas is making stupid threats he has to come home, so he came here. He knows it's a long shot, but maybe he can get away from Dan if this works.

A woman in her forties answered the door, she gave Nathan a disgusted look. ''Get away from my house.'' she demanded and shut the door.

Nathan put his hand on the door and stopped it in it's tracks. ''Please, here me out.''

''No, I saw what you did to your father. Your own father, it's disgraceful.'' she spat.

''I know, and I'm sorry you had to see that. But I want to explain to you why I did it, then maybe you'll think of me differently.''

She continued to glare at Nathan. ''Dan Scott is such a lovely man, and you're lucky enough to have him as father. I heard shouting that night, so I came to see if I could help out. And I walk past the window and see you kicking him, and he's wailing on the floor in pain. You deserve to be locked up.''

''Please, you don't understand.'' he pleaded. His throat went dry, this was the only idea he could think of. Visit the witness and make her understand why he did it, and maybe she'll retract her statement. If she says no he has no idea what he's going to do, he can't stay here much longer. ''Please, just let me give you my reasons. Then I'll go, I promise.''

The woman sighed, ''Fine, come in.'' she pushed the door open further to make room.

''Thank you so much Mrs Norton.'' he said as he walked through the door.

She lead him to the living room and ushered for him to sit down, he sat on one of the sofas.

''I'm not going to offer you a drink.'' she stated.

He smiled, ''I wasn't expecting you to Mrs Norton.''

''I don't like you, but Mrs Norton makes me sound old. So call me Rebecca.'' she told him, sitting across from him.

''Rebecca.'' he repeated so he could remember, he's not so good with names.

''You were friends with my mom weren't you?'' he asked her softly.

''Yes, I was until the... drugs.'' she whispered the last word.

Nathan sighed, ''You can say it you know, I know she was an addict.''

Rebecca felt embarressed, the guy is seventeen, he's not stupid, he'd know what drugs are when he see's them. ''She just stopped talking to people, when she did she insulted them.'' she coughed, regaining composure. ''Now tell me, why did you do it? That is why you're here waisting my time.'' she said rudely, just because he's her friends son she's not going to be nice, not after what he did.

''I remember this one summer, I was playing little league baseball, and I was the pitcher, and my dad was the coach. Anyway, this kid, Billy Lyons, he was a great hitter. Everything he hit was a homerun. So, you know, he got up to the plate and there was nobody on base, so I just walked him. Four straight pitches, nothing even close to a strike. So my dad calls a timeout, comes to the mound, and I'm thinking he's gonna say like, smart move or good thinking son, something like that. But instead... instead he grabs me by the arm, and he kicks me in the ass as hard as he can. I mean, he literally took me by the arm so that I wouldn't like, go flying, he kicked me so hard. Then he brought Stevie Planking in to pitch, sat me on the bench, never mentioned it again.'' he remembered staring into space. ''That was the day it started.''

''When what started?'' she asked, more sensitively this time.

''When I started to doing anything I possibly could to make my dad proud of me.''

''What did you do?'' she asked.

''I practiced more, we have a weight room in our house, since I was 12 I was in there everyday. I practiced free throws and dunking all the time, my dad never noticed. Then there was a basketball summer day camp for boys when I was 13, Lucas was there.''

''Who's Lucas?''

''Dan's son. Bet you didn't know that huh?'' she shook her head and he chuckled ''No one knew, it would ruin his image. Lucas is older than me, by three months. Dan got his high school sweetheart Karen pregnant, he just left her alone for college. Then he met my mom, and got her pregnant, he decided to stick around. Lucky me. Dan's brother Kieth and Karen were friends, so he helped her raise Lucas. They're getting married soon, and she's pregant again, Lucas got lucky.

''So at this basketball summer camp I meet Lucas, we just thought it was just a coincidence that we had the same last name... it's a common name. But when my dad picks me up, and Lucas mom picks him up they see eachother. She walked right up to Dan, and slapped him in the face.'' Nathan laughed at the memory, even Rebecca giggled. ''Me and Lucas wondered what happened, my Dad wouldn't tell me what it was about. Karen told Lucas, that I'm his brother, well half-brother. So he told me. We were actually cool with it, we always wanted a brother. Karen was actually happy with me and Lucas getting along, Dan wasn't. He told me not to speak to him. I told Lucas what he said, so we agreed to be secret brothers, it was fun.''

''So then what happened?'' Rebecca asked, she was totally in the story now.

''Dan noticed how good Lucas was at basketball, he was actually better than me. At the end of the summer there was a game, Lucas was on the red team, I was on the blue. Red's won. I scored the most out of all my team and they only beat us by one basket. I ran over to my Dad, because I played one of my best games yet. I start jumping about and reminding him of all the great things I did in that game. He just shook his head at me and walked to the car.''

''That must have been hard.'' Rebecca sympathized.

Nathan shrugged and continued. ''After that I practiced twice as much, went in the weight room twice a day. This time Dan was there with me, forcing me to work harder. At first I loved it, it was like father son bonding. But then I had no time for school work, and my grades dropped. And I was exhausted all the time. Everytime I'd complain Dan would just say, 'you're being weak'. And make me run ten laps around the garden.

''When I got into high school it got much worse. Dan would pay a kid to record practices, seen as he wasn't allowed in. Then he'd show me how better everyone else was, and he'd make me improve. I worked so hard, I was drained all the time. I didn't want to have bad grades, so I had to juggle, practice, homework and Dan's practices.

''I thought he was proud. We won almost all of our games, when I first joined the team I'd run to him as soon as we'd won. I wouldn't celebrate with the team, I'd run to my Dad. I'd expect him to say 'good job son', but he never did. He'd just say 'you could have scored more, extra practice tomorrow'. After a couple of weeks, I knew he was never going to say it, that's when I started celebrating with my team mates, which wasn't a very good choice.'' he sighed.

''Why? What are they like?'' she asked. He's not waisting her time anymore, she really wants to know what Dan Scott is like. Not to be a gossip and tell people, but to maybe help this boy.

''They get caught up with all kinds of crap. Drinking, drugs, parties. I just wanted to get away from Dan, you know forget about him for a night and have some fun. It was murder in the morning but totally worth it, atleast I thought it was. So, I felt like crap most of the time, there is a party every night in Charlotte, I went atleast four times a week. So I was adding more pressure on my self.''

''What about your mom, what was she doing while all this was going on?'' Rebecca wondered, she always wanted to know why Deb killed herself, she couldn't ever figure it out. Again, she wasn't trying to find this out for gossip, she just wanted to make sure she was safe in her neighbourhood.

''She was trying to stay away from the house. Dan was always in a foul mood and he took it out on her alot. He didn't like, hit her.. I think.'' he cringed at the thought. ''So they used to fight alot, so she would go away alot to get away from the stupid arguments. When my Dad went away we would always spend it with eachother doing anything we thought was fun. Even whe I turned into an ass, I always had those fun days with my mom when Dan wasn't here. She also went away on buisness, she worked for a charity company.''

''She quit her job a few months before she.. you know, started taking them. Why was that?'' Rebecca asked.

''Um, something happened last year. It got a little out of control, I'm not proud of it. I took some performance enhancers, I got them of my friends brother. They gave me more energy and it improved my game. But they made me all shakey and tense. My best friend Peyton noticed something was up, and we had a massive fight. I felt really paranoid all the time, so I just snapped at her. That night at the game, I collapsed on the court because I got dehydrated and the drugs were taking up all me energy. I was in hospital, but I walked out to apologise to Peyton. She is my best friend, she was the only constant thing in my life, I needed her to forgive me.

''My mom was away when it happened, she got the first flight home. It wasn't that far away so it didn't take her long for her to get here. When I wasn't there she freaked, she thought I'd died. When I got home that night she went mad, I felt so guilty. Dan was out doing damage control, to make sure people didn't know that his son had taken drugs. She asked me why I did it, so I told her why. That it was because of Dan and the pressure. So she quit her job and stayed home, to keep an eye on me and constantly make sure I was okay.''

''You're mom was a lovely woman.'' Rebecca commented.

Nathan nodded in agreement. ''Dan didn't like having her around so much, so he got even more annoyed. And took it out on her again. Sometimes she'd take us to stay at my Uncle Coopers, but he'd come over and make some excuse about taking me to basketball practice, then my mom would come home too. She never wanted to leave me alone with him. I guess it got to much, and she started taking drugs.

''I don't even know how she could get them you know, it's not like she has friends who use it, most of her friends are older than her.'' he said, a tear now running down his cheek.

Rebecca grabbed a box of tissues and handed him one, he took it and wiped his eye. ''Sorry.'' he mumbled.

''It's okay, just carry on when you're ready.'' she encouraged.

''Every Christmas, Thanksgiving, Grandparents birthdays. We had to spend it with Uncle Kieth, which obviously meant Karen and Lucas too. I was happy you know, I got to see Luke and we could secretly hang out again. But then my Dad told me I had to be mean to him, because he's not good enough to be Dan Scott's son. I started to believe it too, I remembered when I had to do those extra training sessions to be better than Lucas. So it wasn't that hard to be mean. I did feel guilty afterwards though, but I could never put it right. Because I didn't have a phone number, I didn't know where he lived. I did find out though, we played against his team last year, and we won. I tried to go over and apologise to Lucas, but he didn't listen and ran over to the bleachers.'' Nathan froze, something just clicked in his head. When Lucas ran over to the bleachers, he ran over to Haley and hugged her. He remembered that, he remembered being jealous of Lucas', because he had a beautiful girlfriend who supported him. That's who he thought she was at the time, Lucas' girlfriend.

He then snapped out of it and continued. ''It was wierd, Karen and my mom actually became friends. My mom had their number so they'd talk alot, Karen was the only person she wasn't mean to. Then one night, when my Dad was away. She told me were moving to Tree Hill, she's getting a divorce and were going to live with Karen, Kieth and Lucas. We were going to be this big, slightly strange family. I was so happy, I was finally going to get away.

''A couple of weeks later, I walked into the kitchen and she was just lay there, not breathing atall.'' Nathan was getting shakey, trying not to cry again like he did when he told this story to Haley. ''When she finally got to the hospital, she was already gone.'' he continued to take deep breaths, to calm himself down so he wouldn't cry.

''How did your dad handle it?'' asked Rebecca.

''He was... happy. When we got back from the funeral he said, 'thank god that's over, I didn't want to spend more time pretending to be sad that the whore's dead'.'' his blood boiled and his hands clenched into fists.

''Did you hit him when he said that?'' she asked, she assumed he would.

He shook his head, ''I was to upset to care. So after that I was so depressed for months, I couldn't concentrate on school, basketball, anything. Of course that got my Dad mad, he would just shout all the time, saying I'd never be good enough. I just didn't care, about anything. Then my grades got so bad I got kicked off the team. He disowned me, we completely ignored eachother all the time, it was great. But he'd started drinking more, because his dream had gone. He practically lived his dream through me, and now the dream was gone, he was acting perfetic.

''I came home from Peyton's one time and he was drunk. I tried to walk up the stairs but he wouldn't let me passed. He just talked about basketball and how stupid I was, I just ignored him and tried to walk past him. Then he said my mom would be ashamed, and how she died because of me, and that it was my fault, I drove her to drugs. He didn't know my mom, he didn't know what her favourite food was, or her favourite colour. So I lost it, everything what he did over the years had been piling up, and I just snapped. I just kept hitting him and hitting him. Then you called the police, I'm glad you did though.'' he said.

''What happened after that? Did you go to prison, you were away for a couple of months.'' she asked. Now completely understanding why he did what he did, she knew what she was going to do know.

''Nope.'' he said in a happier tone, popping the 'p'. ''My Uncle Kieth came down from Tree Hill, he convinced my dad not to press charges. And I moved to Tree Hill with him.''

Rebecca looked at him in confusion, ''So why are you here now?''

Nathan sighed, ''My Dad, he's blackmailing me, he said if I don't live with him then he'll press charges. Because he's got hospital reports and you're a witness.''

She smirked, ''So that's why you're here, so I'll retract my statement?''

''Yeah.'' he admitted. ''I also wanted to apologise for what you had to see that night, and for ruining your evening.''

She smiled, ''It's okay. After what you just told me, it was nice to see Dan Scott get beat up. And I was just watching 'Desperate Housewives' on boxset, I didn't miss much.''

They both laughed. ''Thank you, for forgiving me.''

''No problem. Why aren't you in school?'' she asked after she looked at the clock, she realised there was still some time left until school was over.

''I kindof, got... suspended.'' he admitted hesitantly.

Rebecca nodded, not really wanting to know more.

Haley calmed down, it's been silent for a while. Skills doesn't want to say anything to set her off again, he just wants to wait for a while, hopefully she'll talk first. Because he doesn't have a clue what to say.

''I'm so sorry.'' she whispered, another tear fell down her face.

''Hey,'' he hushed wiping it away. ''What's the matter, you can tell me, J.''

Haley smiled weakly, Looks like everyone's got nicknames for me now, maybe I should be called Nickname Girl.. but that would just be another nickname. ''I was almost raped.'' she admitted. She didn't know why she said it, she just did. She just didn't want to lie, she's never technically lied to her other friends, it's not like they asked her if it happened to her, or why she was distant after her first time as a cheerleader. She'd just avoided telling the truth, there's a difference.

Skills froze, did she just say what I think she just said?

''Almost? When? Why? Who?'' he asked trying to get his head around it. He squeezed her tighter, in a way to make her feel better.

''Rememer the first game after you and Bevin got together, the one against Oak Lake?'' she asked, her voice still in a whisper.

''Yeah.''

''I was walking home and Damien West had followed me. I tried to get away, but he slapped me a thrown me on the floor. Clay and Nathan saved me.'' she told him, tears now falling freely down her face.

Skills throat went dry, how could someone do this to Haley? Haley James, his friend. Haley James, sarcastic girl. Haley James, book worm. Haley James, rockstar. Haley James, mother of their friendship group. And in the future, Haley James Scott. He just couldn't imagine how someone would want to hurt her like that. He couldn't imagine who would do something that sick and twisted. Not just to Haley, but to other innocent girls.

''They've caught him though right?'' he said trying to make her feel better, he remembered the artical he read in the paper.

She nodded, ''Yeah, but the weekend we went to Charlotte. The weekend you called Bevin once every five minutes,'' she said jokingly, but still couldn't manage to smile. ''his friend started talking to me. I got so scared so I just ran to the toilet, Lucas said Nathan almost killed him for talking to me. But he just said something about him being too over protective.''

Skills gasped, ''Lucas doesn't know?'' he guessed.

She shook her head, ''No, no one does. Except Nathan and Clay, they were the ones that saved me.''

''Then why did you tell me, J?'' he asked. Him and Haley used to be really close, but as they've got older they got closer to other people. You couldn't call them best friends, but they were close ones. He just didn't get why she told him and not Lucas, or Brooke. Even Jake.

''I wanted to let it out. Nathan doesn't like talking about it, it gets him really upset. Because he wasn't there sooner, he thinks he could of stopped what happened. Even though he already did before it could have actually got worse. Clay is so happy at the moment, and it makes him feel bad when I talk about it, because he feels like he's lying to Quinn. If I told Brooke she'd cry, her and Lucas got together two days after it happened, I couldn't bring her down. Lucas would just be over protective like Nathan was, and then he'd be with me more than Brooke. Jake would feel guilty because we broke up the day after, and I wasn't close to Peyton then. And you rivercourt guys are so happy, I didn't want to burden you. My mom's never around, niether is my dad. There was no one to talk to.''

Skills squeezed her sholdours. ''You could never be a burden, J. We're here for you, always. We've been friends since we were young, you can talk to us. I've got your back.''

Haley smiled, ''Thanks Skills. You wont tell anyone will you?''

''Nah, it's not my secret to tell.''

''Love you Skills.'' she said sincerely, they've been friends for years. She can't imagine her life without him as one of her friends, he always cheers he up, he doesn't even know how he does it.

''Love you too, J.'' he said and squeezed her sholdour once more.

''Where is Tree Hill? I've never heard of it.''

''It's near Wilmington, it's a small town. Real small.'' Nathan answered.

''So why didn't you come to me earlier? I did see you last week, why did you only come now to explain?'' she wondered.

''I'm desperate, something happened today and I need to get home. I thought it was a long shot, but it was worth a try.''

''May I ask what happened?''

''I got suspended for having a fight, it was with a bad guy, a really bad guy. You heard of Damien West?'' Nathan's blood boiled when he said the name.

''Yeah.'' she shuddered.

''It was his friend, his best friend. I have this feeling that he does the same thing. Did you read that out of all the girls that Damien attacked only one got away?'' he asked. He didn't really understand why he was opening up to her, he just never really talked about it with anyone. He wouldn't dare talk about it with Haley and if he tried with Clay he'd just say that he didn't want to talk about it because it made him angry.

Of course it made Nathan angry, he just wanted to let out how he felt. But Haley didn't want people to know, Haley doesn't know his next door neighbor. Rebecca seems kind, she's like a mother figure. Her son is in one of his classes, he's not had a mother figure since Karen. He just wants someone to listen to him and not pass judgement.

''Yeah I did, she is one lucky girl, concidering.'' she shuddered again.

''Yeah. She's also my girl. Her name's Haley. I met her on my first day at Tree Hill High. I went to my aunt Karen's cafe, where she works. I sat in the corner and there she is, she was just wiping the counter singing. She has the most amazing voice in the whole entire world. She wasn't facing me but I swear I fell for her the second she turned around. She's crazy, she started asking me about love and wondered if boys believed in it, I didn't know what the hell she was talking about, but I couldn't stop smiling.

''It turns out she's Lucas' best friend. I eventually stopped smiling, when her boyfriend walked through the door.''

Rebecca giggled, ''I thought you weren't a one woman type of guy? That's what Mike said.'' she said, referring to her son.

''That all changed when I met Haley, I never even looked at another girl, not in that way anyway. She made me a better person. I didn't want to join the basketball team, because of my mom, I thought she wouldn't want that. But my uncle Kieth told me she would have wanted it. I was scared that I wouldn't have my game, I lost it when she died. But one day, I was on the rivercourt, thinking about Haley, and the coach walks over and offers me a spot on the team.

''She became a cheerleader, that was our deal, I join the team, she becomes a cheerleader. Her best friend has been begging her for years, I was proud that I was the one to convince her.'' he chuckled. ''The first game of the season was against Oak Lake, against Damien West.'' all the laughter had completely gone now. ''I walked out of practice and he was talking to her, it looked like flirting. She was completely uninterested, she had a boyfriend, but he wasn't there because they'd had a fight the day before. So I walked over and made an excuse to get her away, then I never really thought much of it.

''We beat Oak Lake. Haley walked home that night after her car broke down. I did to, because Lucas was taking to long in the locker room. I bumped into this guy as I walked home, Clay, and we were talking when we heard this scream in the distance. We ran to where it was coming from, we ran to an alley and Haley was on the floor, Damien was on top of her.'' he started shaking with rage, it was so hard to say this out loud, but he needed to get it out. He had to much anger in him, it wasn't healthy.

''Thankfully both of there clothes were still on. Clay pulled Damien off her and started hitting him, I just held Haley while she cried. He hit her, she had a red mark on her face, she used makeup to cover it.'' he was practically seething by now, but kept on telling the story. ''Me and Clay walked her home, I stayed over that night. Her parents aren't there alot and she didn't want to be alone. The next day we took the day off school and Clay took us to the police station. We gave our statements and the police said they'd 'deal with it'.'' he said using airquotes.

''She didn't want anyone to know, she said she didn't want people to pity her. So we went to school the next day and we acted as if everything was okay. It was hard for her, it didn't help that her and her boyfriend Jake broke up. She seemed okay with it, and I can tell when Haley's lying. She seemed almost relieved. So I hung out with her more, she told me I made her feel safer because I was there and I protected her. That's not why I hung out with her though, I really wanted to be around her, even when she's sad she has this glow, that everyone wants to be around. I loved being with her, I loved every second that we spent together. I just hated seeing her in pain.

''A month later we saw Clay again, that made her feel better. She was back to normal, but they still hadn't caught Damien, so she was always on edge. That night the police called, and told her Damien's in prison. She was so relieved. A week later I told her I liked her, she said it back, and we've been going strong ever since. Until Dan came and told me I had to move home, she was hurt, and I told her I love her, and she said it back. She came to visit this weekend too, we think we can make it work.

''But now Vegas has been making comments about going to Tree Hill. I can't let that happen to her. I need to get away, my uncle says he's woking on it but he's not thinking fast enough. I need to get home, I need to make sure she's safe.''

Brooke was pacing, pacing, pacing. It turns out Karen didn't break her hand when she squeezed it so tight. Only two people were allowed in the room with Karen, so Lucas and Kieth were obviously there. As much as Lucas didn't want to be, he had to. Peyton called her earlier and said she's almost finished the room and her and Jake will be there later. She's tried calling Haley but her phone is off, and Quinn said she's not at home when Brooke tried calling there. There's nothing for her to do but, pace.

Haley walked into her house an hour later. Skills promised not to tell anyone and he told her lame jokes to help her feel better. Then they played a game of one on one, Skills of course won. But she felt better, it helped her take her mind off it.

She walked into the living room and saw Quinn staring blankly at the television, clearly upset.

''Quinn honey, what's up?'' Haley asked sitting next to her.

Quinn snapped out of her daze and looked at her sister, ''What? Oh, nothing, I'm fine.'' she said trying to sound convincing.

''I know you.'' she pointed out. ''Tell me what's up?''

''Clay had to go to Wilmington for a couple of days, there's a football player he wants to sign. He has to stay there for a couple of days, even though he could drive back.'' she sulked.

''Quinn, this is important for his career.'' Haley told her.

She sighed, ''I know I just miss him.''

''Why do you care anyway, are you official now?'' she asked, excitement evident in her voice.

''Maybe.'' Quinn answered coyly, with a smile that definitely said 'yes'.

Haley screamed, ''Oh my god, congratulations!'' she squeled jumping about on the couch.

''Thanks.'' she said quietly, kindof scared by her sister's reaction. Her phone rang and Clay's face flashed on her screen, she grinned and looked at Haley, ''Speak of the devil.'' she quickly walked out of the room into the kitchen and flipped the phone open. ''Hey boyfriend.''

''Hey girlfriend.'' he answered, they've been calling eachother that all the time now.

''How did the meeting go?'' she asked nervously, she knew how important this meeting is for him.

''It's not over yet, the guy's just gone to the bathroom. So I thought I'd call my favourite person and tell them that I miss them.'' he said sweetly.

''I miss you to babe.'' she answered. Haley walked into the kitchen and saw Mia grinning like Chase, she smiled knowing how happy Clay makes her sister.

''No not you, I was going to ask you to put Haley on.'' he joked.

''Ha ha.'' she said drily, but giggling.

Clay sighed, ''I'm sorry, I've got to go, he's back. I'll call you later. See you soon.'' he said disappointedly.

''Good luck!'' she said quickly before he hung up.

Haley looked at her sister, judging by the big smile on her face she could tell how much her sister liked Clay, she decided to test that theory. ''You really like him don't you.'' she stated.

Quinn let out a dreamy sigh, ''Yeah, I really do.'' she said.

Haley knew there and then that her sister was falling hard and fast for Clayton Evans.

(AN: Full credit for this section goes to Quinn James, I din't know what to write and she helped me told me this idea, I just edited it. Thanks again Kassi:))

Nathan and Rebecca have been talking for about an hour. She's told him about her, and he's told her abit more about Tree Hill and his friends. It was nice, he felt like he was talking to his mom in a wierd way. Deb and Rebecca are so alike.

There was a knock on the door and Rebecca stood up. ''One minute, I'll see who's there.''

Nathan nosily listened, to see if he knew who it was.

''Hi! Are you Nathan Scott's neighbor? I have his phone and no ones at his house so could you give it to him when he gets here? I've left him a note.'' a familiar sweet voice said.

Nathan walked to the door, ''Millie?''

''What are you doing here?'' she asked.

''I got locked out,'' he lied ''why are you here?''

''You left your phone on the dinner table, I thought I'd bring it to you but you weren't home. So I brought it here. Oh, Haley and Peyton called.'' she said nonchalantly handing him his phone.

''Wait, you didn't tell Haley about the fight did you?'' he panicked. If Haley found out about what Vegas had been saying she'd be so scared, and he's not there to comfort her.

''Yeah, was I not supposed to?'' she asked, she didn't see what the big deal was. She heard Nathan punched a guy in TRIC right in front of Haley, and Nathan used to get into fights all the time. And Haley knew that, so what's the big deal?

Nathan ignored her question, ''What exactly did you say to her?'' he demanded.

''I just told her what Vegas said.'' she shrugged, still not seeing what the big deal was.

''What did she say?'' he asked. He knew Haley would definitely be upset, and scared. It made him feel like the worst person in the world.

''She just said thanks for telling me and hung up.'' she answered, cutting out most of the conversation. ''I've got to go Nathan.'' she said.

''Bye Millie.'' he mumbled, to wrapped up in his own thoughts. He didn't even notice her walk out of the door.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when his phone rang, it was Peyton.

''Hello?'' he answered.

''Hey Nate. I don't know if Luke called but Karen went into labour this afternoon. I just thought I'd tell you.''

''Seriously? I'm on my way.'' he said quickly and hung up the phone.

He turned to Rebecca, ''Thanks for listening, and thanks for the coffee.'' he said. When they were talking Rebecca did offer him a drink, this woman is helping him out, the least he can do is be polite.

''No problem Nathan,'' she answered sweetly. ''I'm definitely retracting that statement.''

Nathan grinned for the first time today, ''Thank you, thank you so much.'' he said in a hurry.

She giggled, ''You're welcome, now go, it's obvious you need to be somewhere.''

He quickly hurried out of the door, ''Bye.'' he called over his sholdour and hurried to his car. Tree Hill here he comes.

I know, your probably sick of Nathan talking about his past, I was getting bored writing it. But I wanted to show how much Nathan hates his Dad, and show how grateful he is for having Lucas in his life. I also wanted to show how he was effected by Haley's attack and how scared he is for her to get hurt again. If you didn't understand what happened basically, Nathan went to see the woman who was a witness for when he attacked his Dad, so he needed her to retract her statement, the only way to do that was to tell her how bad his life was and to get her to understand he needs to get home.

Also, I got some feedback about the new story that I'm starting after I finish this one. Here's the plot:

FOREVER IS A VERY LONG TIME: AU. Brooke, Haley, Peyton, Nathan and Lucas are all best friends. They made a oath when they were seven to stick together, and always be best friends. Ten years later they've all stuck to it, they even have to vote if someone new wants to sit on there table at lunch. They are the most popular kids in the school, no one messes with them, if you mess with one, you mess with them all. What happens when Brooke starts to have feelings for the new boy? How will her friends react? He is the mathlete of the school after all.

Main Character pairings: Brulian, Naley, Leyton. Minor- Jeyton and Haley/Chris.

Other Character pairings: Clay/Quinn, Skills/Bevin.

THERE WILL BE ALOT OF NALEY IN THIS STORY, WITH QUITE ABIT OF LEYTON TOO. I'M NOT 100 PERCENT SURE ON THE SAME EITHER, I LOVED WHEN JULIAN SAID IT. SO I WANTED TO NAME THE STORY AFTER IT, WHAT DO YOU THINK? PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK OF IT, WOULD YOU READ IT?

Next chapter will be more Naley. And the new Scott:)

Please review:)!