Hi guys! Have I mentioned before that you guys are just the most awesome readers? Well, you are :) Thanks so much for the reviews and I can see that there are new readers and reviewers for this story. Welcome aboard! I was actually quite surprised that this story is doing better than "Patience" in terms of the number of reviews but I'm glad that both stories are doing pretty good. Anyway, I won't be able to update this story and "Patience" this week coz I've got relatives coming over so that's gonna take up most of my time but I promise I'll update next week ok. So here's the latest chapter. I hope you'll like it. Cheers! ;)

Chapter 16

Nathan sank into the comfort of his bed and sighed. He couldn't believe that Rachel had been so understand when he told her the news. He knew that it wasn't an easy thing for her to do, and he was grateful that she was happy for him and Haley. He took out his baby's photo and looked at it for the millionth time. He could never get tired of looking at it and felt his heart swell as he stared at the picture of what he and Haley had created. He thought of their lives who would never be the same after this. He was so lost in his thought that he didn't hear his mom enter his room.

"Whose picture is that?" Deb asked as she sat on his bed. She looked at her son and smiled. He was already becoming a man and yet, to her he would always be her baby boy.

"Mom! Have you heard of the word knock?" Nathan asked as he quickly hid the picture behind his back.

Deb rolled her eyes and said, "I did knock. Five times."

"And did you hear me say 'come in'?" Nathan asked as he sat up. Telling Rachel that he was about to be a father was nerve wrecking enough and he had been waiting for the right moment to tell his parents. It looked like his time was up.

"Oh come on Nathan. Whenever I knock and you don't answer, it could only mean two things. It's either you have a girl in here somewhere, or something's bothering you. Since I didn't see you come home with a girl, something must be bothering you. Wanna tell me about it? Or rather tell me whose picture that was?"

He looked at her and knew that she wouldn't be satisfied until he told her the truth. He reluctantly pulled out the photo and handed it to her. She took it and her eyes immediately went wide.

"Nathan, whose baby is this?" she asked slowly, although she already knew the answer.

"It's mine," he said in a small voice.

"Oh God," Deb exclaimed as her hand flew to her throat. "Dan!" she yelled. "Come in here! Nathan got somebody pregnant!"

"Mom! Will you stop yelling? The whole Tree Hill can hear you," Nathan said worriedly. A warning look from Deb quieted him. A moment later, he could hear the sound of shuffling feet and felt a sense of dread as Dan entered his room.

Dan looked first at his wife, then at his son who was trying to avoid his eyes. "Did you say Nathan got somebody pregnant?"

"Here," Deb said and handed him the photo. She then turned her attention back to Nathan and asked, "who is it?" She knew that Nathan was not very discreet when it came to women and her worst fear was that this girl could be taking advantage of him because of his money.

Nathan realized that he couldn't prolong it any longer. "It's Haley," he said quietly.

"What?" both Dan and Deb yelled at the same time. "Haley? Our Haley?" Deb asked and Nathan nodded to confirm.

"Oh," Dan said simply and smiled inwardly. For the first time since he heard the news, he felt relieved. Relieved that the mother of his soon to be granchild was the girl whom he had known all her life and whom he cared for as their his daughter.

Nathan looked at him in surprise. "Oh? That's all you can say? Oh?"

Deb exchanged looks with Dan and grinned. "What do you want us to say Nathan?" she asked and took another look at the photo. "Oh look at that. That's our grandchild," she gushed.

"Oh my God, this is too weird. Are you sure you're alright with all this? Aren't you gonna yell at me? Tell me that I was irresponsible for letting this happen? I think you misheard me the first time. I said I got Haley pregnant," he said, still puzzled at his parents' reaction.

Dan looked up from the photo and said, "we heard you the first time, son. Yes, you were irresponsible for letting this happen but we're not gonna yell at you."

"You're not?" Nathan asked, thinking that he had misheard Dan.

Deb went up to him and took his face in her hands. "Nathan, we've always known that you and Haley would be together, and now you two are bringing another life into this world. Nothing could make me happier."

Nathan pried her hands away from his face. "Sorry to burst your bubble mom, but just because me and Haley are having a baby, it doesn't mean that we're together." He sat on his bed and watched his parents' reaction carefully

"What do you mean you're not together?" Deb asked.

Nathan rolled his eyes and sank back in his bed. "What else can it mean? She doesn't feel that way about me Mom."

"And how do you feel? Do you love her?" Dan asked, although he already knew the answer.

"It doesn't matter how I feel Dad. Don't worry, we're gonna make this work." He stole a glance at his parents. "So how do you guys feel about being grandparents?" he asked grinning.

A smile broke out on both their faces. "Well, it's pretty cool to be a young grandma actually. I'm gonna be the hottest grandma in Tree Hill," Deb joked.

Dan pulled her closer and kissed her on her forehead. "You got that right, honey. By the way, what did Jimmy and Lydia say?" he asked, referring to Haley's parents.

"Oh, you know them. They're just happy that their daughter is not a virgin anymore. Go figure," Nathan said. Haley's parents were a mystery to him although he loved them like his own. They were not like any other parents and right after Haley graduated from high school, they decided to go on a road trip across the country. In a way, he was glad that they were not here. He didn't think he could handle another set of parents gushing over the two of them.

A few days later, Haley was already back at work although Peyton insisted that she took a few days off after all the drama of the previous days. But Haley knew that it was of no use moping at home. She would rather drown her misery in her work. It was the only way for her to forget about her problems with Nathan. They had not spoken much during the last few days, except for the times Nathan came over to check how she was doing, or rather as he made it perfectly clear to her, how the baby was doing. She realized that she was much to blame for his behaviour but it was getting pretty frustrating to see her once best friend act this way around her.

"Hey babymama, how are you feeling today?" Peyton asked as she stood at the doorway to her office. She walked in casually and sat at the edge of her table while looking at the stacks of CD's on her table.

"Not too bad, except that I have to run to the toilet every few minutes to throw up. This baby is sure gonna be a handful when he comes out," Haley said, giving her a small smile.

"He?" Peyton asked excitedly.

Haley was quick to answer. "Oh, no. We haven't found out the sex yet. To be honest, I'm not sure if I want to know. It would be nice if we just leave it as a surprise," she said with a rare smile.

"What does Nathan think about this?" Peyton asked, knowing that he was a sore subject for Haley.

Haley just shrugged and instantly retreated to her sombre mood at the mention of his name. "I don't know. We haven't really talked much since that day."

Peyton looked surprised. "Really? You guys are having a baby together and you haven't talked much?"

Haley simply dismissed it and pretended to be busy. "Well, this is still pretty new to Nathan. He just needs some time to get used to it." A while later she could feel Peyton standing next to her looking angry.

"Haley, this is bullshit. How long are you gonna let him bully you like this? How long are you gonna beat yourself up over this?" she said angrily.

"Peyton, stop. He has every right to be angry at me. First, I withheld the fact that I'm carrying his baby. Then he found that I was gonna skip town. Who in their right mind wouldn't be upset?"

"It's been almost a week Haley-" Peyton's angry rant was cut short when they heard somebody at the door. "Well, speak of the devil," Peyton muttered as Nathan walked in. "What are you doing here?" she hissed angrily at him.

"Whoa! Retract the claws Sawyer. What's going on?" he looked first at Peyton's angry face and then at Haley who was looking down at her table.

"Nothing, Peyton was just leaving," Haley said and gave her a meaningful look. She was about to say something when Haley raised her eyebrows which quieted her.

"Fine, I'll go," Peyton said defeatedly. "Just remember what I said Haley. And if this dickhead over here can't be supportive of you, you know who to call," she said and left, but not before giving Nathan a last angry look.

Nathan stood facing Haley with his arms folded in front of his chest. "What was that all about?" he asked.

"Nothing, it was nothing," she said quietly.

"It didn't look like nothing to me. Why did she looked so pissed?" he prodded.

She sighed and said, "Nathan, it's nothing. What are you doing here, anyway?"

"Lunch," he simply said.

"What?" Haley said, not understanding.

He gave her a wry smile. "I'm here to take you out for lunch. My baby needs to eat," he said.

"Oh," she said. "You're just concerned about the baby."

"Yeah, now come and grab your coat."

She still didn't budge from her seat. "I'm not hungry Nathan. I was gonna go out with Peyton anyway," she said and returned to her work. She looked up and noticed that Nathan was still there, watching her. "What now?" she asked impatiently.

"Nothing." He wanted to tell her that she looked beautiful. He had noticed that she was starting to show her baby bump and although things were not ideal between them right now, her pregnancy made her glow. "You look beautiful," he said, voicing his thoughts.

"What?" Haley said. He caught her off guard, and for a minute all their anger and disappointment disappeared. "Thank you," she said quietly. "I don't look fat?" she asked grinning.

Nathan laughed. "No, you don't. You can never look fat."

She suddenly turned sombre and looked at him. "Hey, you never told me what happened between you and Rachel," she said carefully.

He instantly sobered up. "We broke up," he said nonchalantly.

"You what?" she exclaimed. "Oh my God Nathan, I'm so sorry."

"Well, what did you expect was gonna happen. The guy you were dating showed up and told you that he was having a baby with another girl, her decision was obvious."

She came over to him. "I'm really sorry. I never wanted this to happen."

"Yeah, well. It did," he said. "Hey, can I ask you something?" he asked and looked at her face.

"Sure what is it?"

"Are you sorry that we, you know, slept together that night?" he asked and held his breath as he waited for her answer.

She took her time as she contemplated his question. "No, I'm not," she said softly. "It gave us this baby, didn't it?" she said and touched her stomach gently. "And to be honest, I'm glad I lost my virginity to you," she added shyly.

He smiled at the memory of that night. He still remembered the way her body felt when they moved together. How his heart was still racing when their bodies finally joined, how it still raced even long after that. He was suddenly jerked out of his reverie when he heard her squeal.

"It moved!" she said and felt her stomach. "Nathan, the baby moved!"

"What? Where?" he asked excitedly. She took his hand and gently placed it on her bulging stomach. He fought back tears as he felt the tiny movement of the baby. And then he said something unexpected.

"Marry me Haley."

She instantly pulled back, shock registered all over her face. "What?" she said, her voice trembling.

He took her hands in his and looked her in the eye. "Marry me. Haley, I felt our baby move and I realized that I never want to miss that. I told you that I want to be here for you, every step of the way. And think of it this way, you don't want our baby to grow up with his parents living separately, do you?"

"So, it's a marriage of convenience?" she asked.

For a minute he looked puzzled. "Yeah, sure. If you want to call it that," he said. To be honest, he surprised himself by proposing to her but as the words came out of his mouth, it felt right.

"Look, I know this is not how you picture your proposal to be like, but can you honestly tell me that this is what you picture your life to be like? Nothing about this is normal Haley but I'm serious. Marry me and we can be a real family. Let me make an honest woman out of you. What do you think?," he said.

She stepped back and leaned against the table, her mind still reeling from his proposal. "I think we should talk about this first. This is all so sudden," she said.

He took her hands and said, "I know it is. But what is there to talk about?" He saw the hesitation in her eyes. "Okay, I'm gonna give you some time to think about this. Let me know when you decide," he said and squeezed her hands gently. He then turned to leave. "I should go. Make sure you take your lunch. I'll come around tonight," he said, giving her a chaste kiss on the forehead before leaving.

Haley stood there, still stunned from his sudden proposal. Her mind went blank all of a sudden. "Peyton!" she yelled.