A/N: Hey guys, here's the next chapter. There was supposed to be more to it but it was getting way too long so I had to break it up. Thank you, as always, to everyone who is reading this story. Reviewers, good and bad, special thanks to you. I generally like to respond to reviews but I can't send personal messages unless you're signed in when the review is left. Therefore, nightfall and -NaleyFan1, thank you so much for your encouragement. I just wanted to let you know it means a lot. And to all guests, thank you as well, whether your comments are positive or negative. I appreciate that nobody is bashing my writing skills, including those who don't approve of the basis of this story. And now, onto the next chapter.

...

Haley raced around frantically, losing her battle with the clock. So much to do still. Jamie had already missed his bus because she'd woken up late, therefore waking him up late, so she would have to drop him off at school on her way to work. If she wasn't out the door within the next twenty minutes, they'd both be late. Considering she gave out detention slips to students for being late-without a valid reason, of course-it wouldn't be right if she, the teacher, was tardy.

This was all Nathan's fault, keeping her awake on the phone until nearly 2:00 a.m. this morning, causing this flurry of activity because she'd been too tired to get up. She vowed to give her husband a good tongue lashing when they spoke next. Well, not too much of one, she immediately reconsidered. She had, after all, been happy to chat with him well into the night.

She rushed down the stairs, relieved to see that Jamie was already dressed and had even made himself his own breakfast cereal, which he was currently eating. What an absolutely great son she had.

"I made you breakfast too, Mama," he told her sweetly, indicating a bowl he'd left on the counter. "But I didn't put any milk in it cause that makes the cereal all soggy and gross."

She stopped dead in her tracks, moved by the considerate gesture. Ok, yeah, all he'd done was put cereal and sugar in a bowl, but it was the thought that counted, and her heart was genuinely warmed. "Yes, it does," she agreed, going to the fridge and grabbing the carton of milk. She just had to sit and eat now that her son had 'made' her breakfast. "Thank you, sweetie," she said before taking a bite.

"It's okay," Jamie shrugged off. "I know sometimes you skip breakfast if you're in a hurry, but Dad said breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and Mom, I need you healthy if you're going to keep taking care of me."

Haley chuckled. An ulterior motive at eight years old. Too cute. "Oh, don't you worry, buddy. Mama's not going anywhere."

"Well, Dad also says that I'm the man of the house when he's not here so I guess I'm taking care of you too."

"You sure are, sweet man," Haley told him. "Best cheerios ever right here."

He smiled at his mother. "Well, I do take my responsibilities seriously."

She chuckled once again but before she could respond, the phone rang.

"I'll get it," Jamie offered, already standing. "Mom, it's for you," he said a few seconds later. "It's Clay."

She stood up, instructing Jamie to go brush his teeth since he was done eating, and took the phone, putting it up to her ear. "Clay? Hi," she said. "What's up? Is everything okay?"

"Hey, Haley, yeah, everything's fine," he replied, cursing himself for causing that small sound of alarm in her voice. "I was just calling to make sure that Nathan did get in touch with you last night."

"Oh," she said with relief. "Yes, he did, thank you," she added, silently wondering why he didn't just ask Nathan that question. "Hey, listen, sorry for bothering you with that yesterday. I must have sounded like a crazy, paranoid wife trying to keep tabs on her husband."

"No, not at all," Clay said. "And if you did, it's understandable."

"Thank you for saying that," she replied with a soft laugh. "Even if you are just humoring me."

"So he did call, you said. That's good."

"Yeah, turns out he fell asleep right after dinner, so all my worrying was just silly."

"Fell asleep," Clay deadpanned. "Is that what he said?"

"Yeah, but hey, I hate to be so abrupt, but is that all? Because I'm in a bit of a rush and..."

"Oh, ok sure, no problem," he said. "I'll let you go and hopefully we can talk soon."

"Umm, yeah," she replied, still finding it odd that he wouldn't just talk to Nathan about this. But there was no time to ponder the situation. She had ten minutes to get out the door. She hung up the phone and went back to her cereal. Ugh, soggy. She pushed it aside and hurried to finish getting ready.

...

Clay put the receiver down and shook his head. Fell asleep. What a deceitful, two-timing jackass his best friend was. He didn't deserve a wonderful woman like Haley. He didn't deserve her at all.

...

"Hey," Peyton said as she sat in the booth across Brooke the next morning at a small diner of Brooke's choosing. "Thanks for getting back to me."

Brooke shrugged her shoulders and took a sip of her coffee.

Peyton glanced around the cafe. "I've never been here before," she commented. "It's cozy." It kind of reminded her of Karen's back home. "How's the coffee?"

"Lacking," Brooke replied. "Kinda like yours and Nathan's morals."

Peyton's face fell. When Brooke had texted her to meet her this morning, she'd hoped it meant her best friend had calmed enough since last night to at least hear her out, but apparently not.

"Speaking of Nate, is he coming?" Brooke asked in the same dry tone.

"I have no idea," Peyton answered, still feeling more than a little irate with him. "Is he supposed to?"

Brooke shrugged. "I texted him too, but he never replied. I figured you would know if he plans to show up or not."

Peyton shook her head. "I don't," she said. "He went back to his apartment last night and we haven't spoken since."

"Huh, trouble in adultery land?"

Peyton sighed softly at the sarcastic question. "Yes, as a matter of fact," she answered, even though she knew it wasn't really meant to be answered. "Does that make you happy?"

"Peachy," Brooke replied dully. "You gonna take me to your place now to listen to new music? You know, like you used to do in high school when you and Nathan were dating and constantly fighting?"

"Brooke, I really wish you'd try to understand. We're best friends."

"I've seen the way you knock out your friends when they've got something you want, so no thanks."

Peyton looked down guiltily. "I love him," she spoke softly.

"So you've said."

"No, I mean the real him, not the guy he had to turn himself into to fit Haley's idea of what a man should..." She cut herself short, not having meant to let that slip.

Brooke stared at her with eyebrows raised. "Did you seriously just make Haley the bad guy here?"

"No," Peyton denied, wishing she could put those words back in her mouth.

"Oh, I see, you're just saying you love him more than his wife does."

Peyton let out another sigh and figured she may as well just say it. It was half out now. "I'm saying I love him for who he is. She loves the mould she created of him."

"Unbelievable," Brooke muttered. "From what I saw last night, looks like she ran out of mould."

"And why do you think that is, Brooke?" Peyton put out there. "Why do you think he messes up so badly and so often? Because he tries so hard to be the guy she expects him to be, but he falls short a lot of the time, which is inevitable when you're trying to be someone you're not just to please somebody else."

"Is this what he's telling you?"

"He doesn't have to tell me. I can see it. And you should be able to see it too," Peyton went on. "You knew him before Haley came along. The difference in him came practically overnight, and it was like day and night."

"He needed to change, Peyton," Brooke said. "If you'll recall, he was a giant ass back then. Not that he's any better now. But then I guess she could have done like you did; stay with him while he did whatever he wanted and hope one day he'd miraculously change."

"He didn't need to change everything about himself," Peyton argued. "She took him away from his parents and his friends..."

"Ok, hold on, she never did that."

"No? She's the one who put the emancipation in his head, and other than Tim, did you ever see him hang out with the guys anymore after she came in the picture? No. She secluded him from everyone but herself and Lucas, until it was ingrained in his head that they were his family now and he didn't need anybody else."

"Oh yes, that evil Haley is quite the brainwasher, isn't she?" Brooke came back with. "Rescuing him from his unfit parents like that and steering him away from his asshole friends. What a bitch."

Peyton crossed her arms over her chest. "I know you know what I'm saying, Brooke," she said flatly. "The only thing Nathan managed to hold onto of himself is basketball, and do you know that even after ten years of being with him, she still doesn't understand the simplest basketball lingo?"

"Oh my God, quick get a stone," Brooke returned with exaggerated anxiety. "Death on the wife who can't comprehend basketball terms. Pure evil I tell ya."

"Brooke, I'm serious. It might seem trivial to you, but it's the one thing he's passionate about and she can't be bothered to learn even the basics. If you think that doesn't get to him, you're crazy."

"Huh, and how well do you suppose he understands music notes?" Brooke countered.

"You're done then?" Brooke asked next when Peyton didn't respond.

"Not even nearly, but I'm obviously just wasting my breath," Peyton replied. "So, you win, Brooke. Okay? You win. Everything's sunshine and roses at home and Nathan and I, we're just two horrible people ruining lives."

"That's exactly what you are," Brooke agreed. "And what you're doing now, making excuses, is what selfish people like you do when they're trying to validate their behavior by shifting the blame to the ones being cheated."

"That's not what I'm doing," Peyton denied. "Nathan and I both know what we did was wrong. We're not trying to blame anyone else..."

"Well, he may not be, but you definitely are. At least all he's doing is pathetically begging me not to tell on him, not coming up with a million and one excuses for why he did what he did."

Peyton shook her head. Of her and Nathan, she was the one who wanted to come clean. He wanted it kept secret. So how did she somehow become worse than him? "Brooke, you don't even know the half of it."

"You're wasting your time, Peyton," they heard. It was Nathan, and he slid in the booth next to Peyton. "Narrow-minded people have a set idea in their head and there's no changing it, no matter what you say."

...

Lucas picked up his ringing telephone, checking the caller ID before answering. "Yeah?"

"Nice greeting," he heard from the other end.

"Sorry, Hales. I'm kind of in a writing zone and I don't want to break it."

"Ohhh," she exclaimed. "I'll be quick then. I'm only in between classes anyway. My next one starts in...three minutes."

"Okay."

"I have a proposition for you. If I take Sawyer for the entire weekend, could you maybe watch Jamie for me tonight?" she asked. "Your mom called me and apparently one of the bands cancelled last minute so she asked if I could play a set and I didn't want to say no. I wouldn't go on until 8:00 so he'll already have eaten dinner and done his homework, but he would have to stay overnight at your place since it'll be late for him by the time..."

"Haley?" he cut her off mid-rant.

"Yeah?" she said, taking a breath.

"You had me at 'if I take Sawyer for the whole weekend'."

"Yeah? You're not too busy, being in the zone and all that?"

"I always have time for my favorite nephew."

"Only nephew."

"For now. "You and Nate ever gonna have another one or what?"

"Umm, yeah, eventually. I hope. Anyway, I won't keep you. You're sure you don't mind?"

"Not only do I not mind, but I'm happy to have him. Besides, Jamie's a bigger help than anything."

"Oh, thank you, thank you. You're the very best friend a girl could ask for."

"Let's see if you're still saying that this weekend," he jeered.

"I will. Sawyer's a doll. Anyway, okay, so I'll drop Jamie off before I head to Tric, and then we can sort out the rest later. I gotta go."

"Sounds good," he said agreeably, smiling when he hung up the phone. He was going to get so much writing done this weekend.

...

Narrow-minded? Brooke huffed at the dark-haired Scott. She'd never been called narrow-minded in her life. "If by that you mean there's no talking your way out of an affair, then you're right. There's nothing you can say that will convince me you two aren't the backstabbing whores you are."

"See?" Nathan responded. "No why, or how, or what lead up to it, or even, hey, you screwed up, let's figure out the problem. You see what you see and that's it, we're judged and crucified without even getting a say."

Brooke crossed her arms over her chest. "Huh, shifting blame. I guess you do do it too," she said. "Does that help ease your conscience or do you even have one?"

"What do you want, Brooke?" he asked impatiently. "Why'd you call me down here?" When he'd first gotten her message he'd hoped she had calmed down and was possibly now open to the idea of keeping what she'd seen to herself, but when he got there and heard the tone of voice she was speaking to Peyton in, he knew that wasn't it.

"I called you both here to tell you that I'm not telling Lucas and Haley about you two."

Both Nathan and Peyton's heads shot up.

"You're not?" Nathan asked, hopefully, but skeptically. Peyton, on the other hand, seemed a bit disappointed.

Brooke shook her head. "No. You guys are going to tell them yourselves," she said. "But not after basketball season like you originally discussed." She turned to Peyton. "Yeah, I could tell by your face that asshat here was lying when he said you hadn't."

Peyton didn't respond, and Nathan just rolled his eyes.

Brooke looked at Nathan now. "Just like I know it wasn't a one-time thing like you'd have me believe, but more like three months like your fellow whore said."

Nathan sneered at the comment, angry by it. "She's not a whore, Brooke. As her best friend, you know that. And what kind of best friend are you even? She makes a mistake and you turn on her? How's that any better than what we did?"

"When a mistake is made repeatedly," Brooke began, "it's no longer a mistake, but a conscious decision to do the wrong thing. Real sweet of you to jump to her defense though," she added bitterly. "The one stand-up thing you do and it's to protect your mistress' honor."

"Why are you such a bitch, Brooke?" he asked, his body tensing with suppressed rage.

"Why are you a cheating ass?" she countered. "I guess we are who we are, no matter who we try to be," she went on. "Now, as I was saying, you guys are gonna tell Lucas and Haley ASAP. And you're still gonna do it face to face. To make sure of that, I've booked us all flights to Tree Hill at 4:00 this afternoon."

Nathan and Peyton took on identical shocked expressions, but it was Nathan who spoke first. "You're kidding, right?"

"Do I look like I'm kidding?"

Getting angrier by the second, Nathan snapped. "Brooke, I can't just leave like that. I have a game tomorrow night, practice tonight..."

"Return flight for you two is tomorrow at 11 A.M. Plenty of time to get to your precious game. As for practice, I guess you're gonna have to skip it."

"I can't do that, Brooke. This is the NBA, not high school."

"I can't either," Peyton piped up. "I have a meeting with my manager this afternoon."

"You know, I don't remember asking what you guys have going on," Brooke replied firmly. "Work it out, both of you. I'm not going to let you put off what you should have done three months ago. It's time to do the right thing. Today."

Peyton nodded, agreeing it was high time.

Nathan, however, shook his head. "Forget it," he balked. "I'm not rearranging my schedule to fly home to lose everything. You want to play miss moral compass and rip my family apart, I guess I can't stop you, but I'm not about to stand there and watch it happen."

He was on his feet now, furious and ready to walk out. It was either that or choke the daylights out of the girl who was trying to back him into a corner.

"I didn't do the ripping apart," Brooke stated sharply. "You did."

His fists clenched, literally hating Brooke at that moment. "Don't fuck with me, Brooke," he said through gritted teeth.

"Oh, I'm not," Brooke replied coolly. "That would be Peyton, and, oh yeah, about two dozen or so other girls, so I've heard."

"Oh yeah?" Nathan responded, suddenly remembering what he'd seen on his way over here. "Say anything to Haley about any of this, and maybe I'll tell her this morning's newspaper clip is true, minus the prostitute part of course."

"What are you talking about? What clip?"

"Oh, you haven't seen it?" he scoffed. "You should check it out. It's pretty funny, actually. The press is really starting to get creative."

"What is it?" Brooke asked suspiciously.

"Find out for yourself. Just know, if I go down, you're coming with me."

"Nathan," Peyton admonished. "That's cruel," she told him, clearly having seen the article.

"And she's being Mary Poppins?" he countered.

"It'll just make things worse with Haley if she doesn't believe you," Peyton reasoned. "Hell, even if she does believe you. At least by telling them the truth, there's a chance that she'll forgive you."

He shook his head again and closed his eyes in dismay. "She won't, Peyton. You know she won't. She already told me with Carrie that she won't do infidelity."

"Oh my God, don't tell me," Brooke scoffed. "You actually did screw the nanny."

"Why don't you shut up!?" Nathan snapped, losing grip on the little bit of control he had left. "Ok, just shut the hell up and mind your own damn business!"

His sudden outburst caused Brooke to flinch slightly, but she wasn't backing down. "Look, Haley's finding out today. Whether it comes from me or you is your choice."

"Whatever, you do it then," he returned, turning around and heading out the door. He had to get out of there or he swore he would hit her. He'd never hit a girl in his life, but she was pushing his buttons and he didn't trust himself not to make her the first. He really didn't want to be that guy on top of all his other flaws. It didn't help that she was calling him a coward on his way out.

Brooke turned to Peyton. "You'll be there this afternoon?" she asked, pushing aside Nathan's display of temper.

Peyton nodded her head. "Yeah, I'll figure something out for my meeting," she said. "Oh, and I wouldn't cancel Nate's flight," she advised. "Something tells me he'll be changing his mind by then."

Brooke simply nodded back and left the diner. She went in search for a newspaper stand, curious to know what Nathan had been talking about. She found the gossip magazine in a nearby convenience store. On the front cover there was a picture of Nathan, Peyton and herself in the hotel lobby last night. That was fast, she thought to herself, not recalling seeing anyone else or any cameras flashing.

She proceeded to read the headline and her mouth dropped open as she did so.

'Nathan Scott and Peyton Sawyer spice things up by bringing in third party prostitute for steamy threesome.'

"Un-freaking-believable," Brooke muttered in awe. Prostitute? Seriously?

Like Haley would ever believe that.