A/N: I would just like to say that the reviews for this story have really been amazing. Thank you to everyone who takes the time out to leave a review!

Also I'm kinda on holiday now, so expect another Chapter up soon.

On a side note, if you feel like it, you should read this Chapter while listening to the Ryan Adams version of Wonderwall. I love both the original and this version, I feel like each version is very raw in it's own way. But for this Chapter you want Ryan Adams.

AND I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas.

Anyway, enjoy! And review please. :) As always italics are flashbacks.

Chapter 6: There are Many Things I would Like to Say to You

'That's my number.' Nathan roughly said.

'Yeah,' Haley turned her head to look at him. 'Yeah, it is.'

This had to stop. Nathan forced his eyes open and scolded himself; he had to stop replaying that moment. Ever since it happened, whenever he wasn't careful, his mind would go back to that day at the lake when he saw the 23 on Haley. Forcing his attention elsewhere Nathan watched as people bobbed in and out in front of him. He leaned against the table, drink in hand, and for the first time in awhile didn't want to participate, he just wanted to observe. The truth was he was a having a hard time these days. Haley pitching up unexpectedly had thrown him, but Haley having his number tattooed on him, created a whirlwind. He couldn't settle on any action, on any thought and certainly not on any feeling. He'd tried to just carry on afterwards, still attempting to acknowledge her as little as possible, but truthfully he couldn't stop noticing her now. And it was painful. He closed his eyes, he had hoped that tonight would have been different with so many people around he figured the last thing on his mind would be Haley. Yet, again, he was wrong. He placed his drink down on the table he had been leaning on and pushed off. Determined to distract himself for just a moment. He walked easily through the crowd and stopped in front of a small group of people that he knew. Immediately the two girls in the group turned to him and smiled. The one closest to him instantly begun flirting and Nathan angled his body toward her, he was just about to respond to her comment too when he felt a hand on his arm. He knew that touch, his body never forgot it. He froze and then without a second glance at the girl he was about to talk to, he turned around. Haley didn't drop her hold on his arm.

'Nate,' she said his name with such relief that he knew something wasn't right.

'Haley, what's wrong?' he said. She shook her head.

'I don't feel well,' she looked up at him, her eyes were watery and she was clearly flushed. Nathan reacted instantly, he grabbed her hand and began moving her out of the crowd. 'I was looking for Brooke-' Haley stumbled and Nathan caught her.

'Haley, what the hell?' Nathan stopped and righted her. 'How much have you had to drink?' Her head shot up at the accusation behind his words, behind his tone.

'One drink and it wasn't alcoholic,' she snapped back and then instantly felt dizzy. She shut her eyes. 'I just need to go back to my dorm,' she paused for a moment and with an immense amount of effort opened her eyes. 'Please, can you find Brooke?' Nathan studied her, something about this situation really angered him and he had a funny feeling it had to do with the fact that Haley was asking for Brooke. He pushed his feelings aside though, and took a step forward, without really thinking about it he brushed aside some of Haley's hair and rested his hand on her forehead. She was burning up.

'You have a fever,' Nathan said and again took hold of her hand understanding that she really was sick.

'Nathan, please get Brooke,' Haley murmured again but let him pull her along.

'Haley,' he paused for a split second. 'I'm taking you back.' Nathan watched as she readied herself to protest but before she could say anything, he stopped, took her shoulders and looked directly at her. 'This isn't up for negotiation. I will let Brooke know you left.' He added the second part as a way to placate the situation. Haley merely nodded, honestly she didn't have it in her to fight much now, she just felt so sick. Her head was pounding, her throat dry and her stomach did not feel great. She felt flushed and desperately needed to be in an environment where her senses weren't over stimulated. She needed calm, not chaos right now, even if it was organized chaos.

Nathan had her outside within a minute, immediately the air brought a moment of relief to Haley. He walked her over to his car, and opened the passenger door for her. Haley got in and Nathan quickly made his way to the driver's side. This was the second time Haley had been in his car since appearing at Duke, and both times the situation was less than ideal. As soon as he was in, he looked over at her. She was curled into a ball and her head was leaning against the window, her eyes were shut and her forehead scrunched. Nathan reversed out.

'Thank you,' Haley roughly said, she didn't move her head or look over at him but there was no mistaking the genuine appreciation Haley felt. Nathan kept glancing over at her.

'How long have you felt sick for?' He again looked at her and watched her take a deep breath.

'On and off the whole day,' she stopped and took another breath. 'But it wasn't this bad until just now.' They really weren't far from campus, and Haley noted when Nathan started to slow down, a few seconds later the car came to a complete stop. She finally opened her eyes.

'Thank you,' she said again, unbuckled her belt and opened the door. Nathan jumped out at the same time. He walked over to her side.

'Which dorm are you in?' Nathan asked her softly and watched as she steadied herself against his door. She pointed at her building; Nathan looked behind him and then back at her.

'Come on,' he stepped forwarded and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, Haley automatically leaned into him. After all, it was a position they were so familiar with.

Nathan picked up his gym bag and walked out. He spotted Haley, Brooke and Lucas and immediately walked over to them.

'That was a good game,' he heard Brooke say as he neared them. 'But the night is still young, what are we going to do?' Nathan came to stand in between Haley and Brooke. Haley looked up at him, smiling.

'You were another level tonight, Nate,' she said and grinned. The truth was the whole team was working harder, playing better, they were in their senior year and they wanted to go all the way to the finals and win, again, like they had the previous year.

'Yeah,' Nathan casually replied and grinned at Lucas- they really had played well- and then looked back down to Haley. 'Come on, let's go get something to eat.' And then without another word, Nathan wrapped his arm around Haley's shoulder and steered her away, she leaned into him. It was so natural, something Nathan did since he could drive and had been given a car. At the end of every game, every party, every outing, whenever they were leaving he wrapped an arm around Haley's shoulder and she leaned into him, while he walked them over to his car. Brooke and Lucas were always right next to them, holding hands, with Brooke wrapped next to Luke so he could place a kiss on her head. The habit was so easy, so natural, that they hardly ever noted that before Nathan could drive, Haley used to walk out with Luke and Nathan with Brooke.

Nathan came back to the present, wondering why that specific evening came back to him. There were a lot of moments he could have remembered but he stopped himself. Concentrating on the now, they halted in front of a door and Haley quickly opened it. She turned around to face Nathan who was standing just in front of the door. She opened her mouth to say something but stopped short. She raised her hand, dropped it, turned on her heels and made a beeline straight for her bathroom. Nathan watched as she disappeared behind a door, without hesitating he stepped inside and shut the door. He looked around and knew that this was Haley's dorm, there were books everywhere and it smelled like coffee. The familiarity was unsurprising but it didn't dispel the awkwardness Nathan was feeling. He walked towards the bathroom and knocked softly.

'Hales,' he said carefully. He could hear her groan. 'What can I get you?' She didn't respond. Nathan waited a few minutes debating whether to go in but eventually decided against it. He took a few steps back and leaned against the wall opposite the bathroom door and waited. About 15 minutes later Haley emerged. She looked awful. She noted Nathan, paused for a second and then walked passed him to a cupboard, she opened it and took out medicine, she went to the kitchen took two pills with water and then leaned against the counter.

'Nate,' she finally acknowledged him. 'Thank you for bringing me back but you don't need to stay. I think it's a bug.' Nathan nodded.

'Ok.' There wasn't much else for him to say, he started towards the door and Haley followed behind him. He stopped in front of the door and turned around, at the exact time that Haley swayed, he immediately grabbed her elbow and steadied her.

'Hales,' he said and a stab of panic mixed with concern filled him. With his other hand he felt her forehead again, she still felt hot. 'Take a shower and you need water, if it is a bug this fever is making it worst.' She nodded. 'And then you need to sleep.'

'I will. I'll be fine.' She managed a small smile. Nathan nodded and turned back to the door, he wanted to stay, wanted to make sure she got into bed but he knew he should leave. He glanced back once more, and against his better instincts walked out the door and let it shut behind him.

Nathan had just emerged from his shower and put sweatpants on when his phone rang. He picked it up, it was Brooke who was calling.

'Hey Brooke,'

'Nate, where did you guys go?' she cut to the chase. The background noise on Brooke's side was overpowering and Nathan had to focus all his attention on her voice.

'Haley wasn't feeling well, so I brought her back to campus.' The explanation was simple, not something that he thought would strike a massive response from Brooke. He was wrong.

'What? What's wrong?' Brooke's voice was higher now, it almost drowned out the background noise.

'She think it's a bug,' Nathan paused as Haley's flushed expression popped back into his mind. 'She has a fever too.'

'How's she doing now?'

'When I left she had just taken some medicine, I'm sure she's sleeping now.' There was a long pause after Nathan's words. He would have thought that the call had cut if not for all the noise he could still here coming through the line.

'You left her?!' Brooke's voice really did drown out the background noise now.

'Yeah, I mean she said-'

'Nathan Scott!' Brooke yelled cutting him off. 'Have you completely lost your mind? This is Haley we're talking about! HALEY.' Nathan sighed into the phone and sat down onto his bed.

'Brooke, she pretty much asked me to leave.'

'Nathan,' Brooke paused and he could hear the exasperated breath she let out. 'When has that ever stopped you?'

'Haley,' the sound of her name didn't stir her. She just kept sitting on the bean bag on the roof. Eventually a figure stood in front of her. She looked up to see Luke and Nathan. Luke dropped down and placed his hand on her knees.

'Come on, Hales,' Luke soothed. 'You need to go home and sleep.'

'No, I really don't.' Luke sighed and looked up at Nathan, his eyes were on Haley. 'You guys really don't need to be here. I just need some time to process.' It had been a month from hell and the wear of it was finally starting to show on Haley. 'Besides I really don't feel like being at home, my sister is back.' The boys kept quiet.

'Ok,' Luke finally conceded. 'Then we'll just stay here.' Haley's eyes grew.

'Oh, no you won't,' her voice was suddenly very stern. 'You have plans with Brooke.'

'But-'

'Lucas Scott, you leave right now and get your ass over to Brooke's. I'm not having a mental break down, I just need some time. I'll be fine.' She leaned down and gave Luke a kiss on his cheek. 'You don't always have to worry about me.' She added and pointed to the door, nudging Luke with her foot. He looked hesitant but stood.

'Hales…'

'Luke, I'll find you later, ok?' Haley managed a meagre smile. She then looked over at Nathan. 'You should head out too, Nate.' Nathan stepped forward and went to sit in the bean bag next to Haley's. He placed his hands behind his head and made a show of settling in.

'I could use some time to process myself.' He simply said while looking at Haley. Luke gave a small laugh. He knew his brother had this. Luke nodded and after one quick kiss on Haley's head he left. Haley eyed Nathan. She was about to say something when Nathan held up his hand.

'I like to process in quiet,' he smiled over at Haley. His comment, although cheeky, made it clear that there was no point in arguing. Haley raised her eyebrows and shook her head- that was that and she knew it. She didn't say anything but she shifted closer to Nathan and leaned her head on his shoulder.

The memory stung. Nathan clenched his fists, stood up, threw on a shirt, shoes and grabbed his phone. He was out the door within seconds. He reached Haley's and just stood outside the door, without over thinking it he turned her door handle. It clicked open, and relief fluttered through him. He stepped inside.

'Hales?' he called out but stopped himself from repeating her name when he saw her curled up on the couch sleeping. Her one hand was under her head and her knees were pulled up.

'Luke!' Nathan called out while entering through the front door. He beelined for Lucas's room, threw the door open and was about to call out his brother's name and wake him up when he stopped short. There curled up on the one side of Luke's bed was Haley, one hand under her head and her knees were pulled up. Luke was on the other side, sprawled out as usual. Nathan back tracked and immediately went to the kitchen.

'Aunt Karen,' he said as soon as he entered the kitchen. 'Luke has a girl in his room!' Karen turned to Nathan- not at all surprised to see him- he came around every Sunday for pancakes, which is what she was currently preparing. She chuckled at the shocked look on the little boys face.

'I know,' she said and walked towards Nate, placing a kiss on his head. 'Haley's sister had to leave again. So she's staying with us for a bit.' Nathan sat down at the table.

'Oh. Will Haley's sister be gone for long?' Nathan said as Karen handed him some juice. She looked back over at Nathan.

'I'm not sure.' Karen said evenly trying to keep the anger from her voice. A few days ago Karen had stopped by Haley's house to check up on her, it had only been a few months since she had moved to Tree Hill and only a few more months since her mother had passed away. Karen couldn't help it, she made a point on checking up on Haley. She was surprised to find that Haley's sister wasn't home. She was even more shocked to find out that her sister did this often and that Haley just stayed home by herself. It angered her to know end. Karen had insisted Haley pack a bag, and that she would be staying with them until her sister returned. When Luke found out he immediately insisted that he and Haley had a sleep over, last night Karen watched as the two played endless games, never tiring of each other before they collapsed sound asleep on Luke's bed. Nathan finished his juice.

'Can I go wake them up?' Nathan asked with the biggest grin on his face. Karen chuckled.

'Sure.' She replied and watched as Nathan zoomed out of the room. He quietly opened the door, and again looked at a curled up Haley and a sprawled out Luke. He only took in the scene for one moment longer until he ran and jumped onto the bed.

Always curled up- Nathan thought to himself as he made his way over to Haley. She had clearly showered because her hair still looked damped and she was in a very long t-shirt. Nathan stopped in front of her and crouched down, carefully he placed a hand on her forehead. She was still burning up but shivering at the same time.

'Hales,' he said softly and she began to stir. She opened her eyes, registered Nathan and sat up a bit.

'Nate,' she grumbled. 'What are you doing here?'

'I came back to check up on you,' he said simply- he was still crouching in front of her.

'I'm fine.' She replied groggily.

'You are not fine,' Nathan was stern. 'And you need to be in bed.' Haley's eyes searched him and she merely nodded. He took hold of her hand while trying to ignore the tingling sensation actually touching her stirred in him. He stood up and so did she. He lead her to her room and once inside Haley dropped Nathan's hand and got into bed. Nathan let her and then returned to the kitchen, he got some Aspirin for her in the hope it would ease the fever and water. He brought it back to her. She was already curled up, with her eyes closed.

'Haley,' he said once more and her eyes opened. 'Just drink this.' She groaned but did.

'Nate,' she said as she lay back down. 'Thanks for coming back.' Nathan didn't reply, instead he went and sat at the foot of her bed. Fighting the memories off but failing.

Haley walked up her to her house and then stopped. She was surprised that there was a car in her driveway. She walked over to it as if to make sure, but she already knew that it was Nathan's car. He had literally just been given it days before, as a present for passing his driver's test and gaining his license. It was pretty late and she wasn't sure why Nathan would be at her house but slowly she made her way inside and stopped in the lobby.

'Nathan?' she called out. No response. She called out again and this time a soft, 'I'm here!' reached her ears. She walked upstairs and to her bedroom, pushing the door open. There she found Nathan sitting on her bed. Fists clenched at his sides.

'Hey,' she said and stepped into her room.

'I'm sorry that I let myself in,' Nathan motioned to his keys. They all had a spare keys for each other houses. 'I know Taylor's away again and I thought you may be at Luke's-' Nathan was rambling.

'I was,' she said and took a step towards him. Anyone who could decode Nathan knew that he was upset.

'What happened?' she said and went to sit next to Nathan. His head shot up but he didn't look at her.

'Dan.' Nathan harshly said his father's name. 'I just needed to get out of the house. I thought about going to Brooke's but Dan makes her furious and then I thought about heading to Luke, but I knew he would want to come up with a plan. And I just couldn't. I needed somewhere I could just breathe. So I came here.' At this Nathan finally looked over at Haley. She studied him. She knew how much Dan got under Nathan's skin; she knew how uncomfortable his home situation was. But this was the first time that Nathan had come to her directly.

'So, I'm your last resort?' Haley joked and nudged Nathan. He gave a soft chuckle.

'No, you were my first choice.' He said seriously and Haley paused.

'Well, in that case,' Haley started taking her shoes off. 'We best make a night of it.' She winked at Nathan who again laughed. She walked over to her table and got her laptop. 'Horror movies?' she asked him and he nodded. She set her laptop up and then left the room only to return with some drinks and snacks. She could feel Nathan watching her as she arranged everything. She turned back to him. Walked to the side of the bed she normally slept on and settled down. Nathan turned around to look at her, unsure of what to do.

'You won't be able to see the laptop if you sit so far down on the bed,' Haley casually replied. She had the laptop on her lap currently. Nathan seemed hesitant, this was unchartered territory, he hardly spent time alone with Haley like this. Luke and Brooke were always around. But he knew that this was the only place he wanted to be right now. So, he removed his shoes and made his way to sit next to Haley. She grinned at him.

'This movie is seriously gruesome,' she said as she pressed play and set the laptop down between them. Haley glanced at Nathan out of the corner of her eye, she could tell he was finally starting to relax. She understood why Nathan had come to her, he had just wanted a place to be normal a place he didn't have to recap everything right away. A place he could just be, so that's what she let him do. Half way through the movie, Nathan turned to her.

'Thanks, Hales.' He caught her gaze and held it.

'Anytime, Nate.'

Two hours later they had both fallen asleep without realising it. Nathan woke up startled until he saw Haley sound asleep next to him. He moved the laptop off the bed and settled back down again, turning off the one bedside lamp they had on. As he shifted down, he felt Haley's hand wrap around his arm. She nudged slightly closer to him but didn't stir after that. Nathan fell asleep within a minutes, comforted by the warm hand on his arm.

Nathan looked back at Haley now- who had fallen asleep. He took his shoes off and moved to the side of the bed next to her. He had no intention of sleeping or going back to his dorm. He settled down and closed his eyes thinking about those past nights.

That first night, when he had appeared at Haley's house had sparked something, it was the first night of many that Nathan spent at Haley's when he needed a break from Dan. They always fell asleep, and Haley always ended up placing her hand on his arm. When he thought back, he knew that those nights had shifted them. It was no longer just Haley and Lucas with Brooke and Nathan. It was Haley and Nathan. He noticed her more, always making sure he took her home and plainly aware of the other attention she was receiving. He shifted down a bit more, trying to reconcile everything, trying to understand why they had to end up here, so apart. So painfully fractured. His forehead scrunched and he was about to move when he froze- Haley had placed her hand on Nate's arm. He looked down at her, down at her hand, felt her presence and felt every painful stab of his heart shattering all over again.

A/N: I really wanted a Chapter that just focused on Nathan, the previous ones we learn how Haley feels and only glimpse how Nathan does. So, I wanted a Nate centric chapter. In a bit there will be a Brooke centric chapter too, divulging a little bit of the Brucas side of things. As always please review! :)