The night after her wedding Haley never expected to be waking up in a hospital room. She imagined to be lying in bed next to Nathan watching him sleep and happier than ever from the events of the prior night, but her old fantasies became her worst nightmares. Her ugly reality was waking up in the seat on the side of Nathan's unconscious body in hospital room 2230. Haley couldn't help but feel guilty. He used too much energy and his heart was weak
I should've thought about that… god I'm so stupid
Every time she closed her eyes all she could see was Nathan's face right before passing out. His eyes so lifeless, and face so pale. She swallowed hard at the image. All she knew was that she'd do anything to see a smiling and healthy Nathan.
"Mrs. Scott?" the doctor said as she knocked on the door.
"Y-yes?" she said as she wiped away her tears.
"How are you doing this morning?"
"Not good," she answered honestly.
The doctor simply shook her head and gave her a sympathetic smile.
"Is everything that happened to Nathan my fault?" Haley blurted.
"Why exactly do you think this is your fault?" the sweet doctor questioned.
Haley looked down at her feet embarrassed by the question.
"Well… it was right after we had sex" she let out.
The doctor's eyes widened.
"I didn't know that this would happen to him! It was my first time and it was right after our wedding reception and if I knew I would've never done it with him." Haley rambled as she began to cry again.
"Mrs. Scott please don't cry" the doctor said as she rubbed her back.
"This isn't your fault… completely."
"But part of it is my fault, right?" she said as she looked up with puffy eyes.
"We're not entirely sure yet…"
"I feel so guilty, this isn't how we're supposed to be spending the day after our wedding" she complained.
"I know, there there, things will be alright" the doctor said as she continued to comfort her.
"How long have you known about his HCM?"
"I don't remember exactly but 6-8 months…"
"I see, well has he been taking his medications daily?"
"I'm not sure, God, I've should've been making sure he was taking his medicine every day!" Haley cried as she continued to beat herself up about this.
"Mrs. Scott please… calm down."
"I'm sorry."
"Now, other than the heart defect does he have any other major illnesses?"
"No... not that I'm aware of"
"By the looks of things Nathan will be fine"
Oh thank god…
"He just cannot miss a day with his medication. Mrs. Scott you must stress to him that he takes them every night" the doctor said strictly.
"I will" Haley said tearing up again.
"Thank you so much doc" she said as she hugged her tightly.
Haley sat in the chair she has been sitting in for three hours now waiting for Nathan to wake up. She tried to study but every time she looked at the words in her book she'd look up at Nathan to see if he was ok.
She held his hand and started playing with the wedding ring on his finger.
"Natey, you have to wake up soon so I can take you home and treat you like a baby and coddle your cute self" she said as she continued playing with the band.
"If you keep having heart attacks after sex I don't think we'll get very far in this marriage" she teased the unconscious Nathan.
"H-huh?" he questioned as his eyes opened.
"God Natey… why must you scare me like this all the time?!" she said as she hugged him.
"What were you saying earlier?" he questioned as sat back down.
"Nothing…" she said embarrassed by the plain words.
"Come on Hales…"
She had to ready herself for this one. While she was waiting next to him the night before and the morning after she was trying to think of ways to explain this to him.
"After the reception we had sex…" she said trailing.
"Yes…and?" he asked confused.
"Well, um—after, you sorta passed out."
"What? I don't understand"
"You had your heart attack after we had sex, there I said it" she said her cheeks three shades redder.
Nathan's eyes widened, he couldn't believe what she just told him.
"You're lying, right Hales? This is all some joke you thought of for when I woke up?" he said in disbelief.
"No Nathan, it's not… it's the truth" she said not able to make eye contact with him.
"Oh" he let out trying to take in everything she just admitted to him.
This can't be happening… not only is that embarrassing for me but Haley must feel guilty and humiliated as hell! He said beating himself up.
"Well, did you not take your medicine or something?" she questioned him.
"I may have taken just one instead of two…" he said scared of his wife's reaction.
"Nathan, why in the world would you do that to yourself?"
"I wanted to be more lively for our wedding day, I knew it'd be a long day, and night…" he said trailing again.
"You're such an idiot you know that?" she said as she laughed at him.
"I know, who was the girl stupid enough to marry me, oh yeah you, Haley James Scott" he smiled at her.
"Don't scare me like that again, I don't care what the occasion! You take your full dose of medicine every night Nathan! I'll never forgive you if I find out you're doing otherwise!" she threatened him.
"Ok ok I will; Mrs. Scott please don't spank me" he teased.
Mrs. Scott has such a nice ring to it…
"Actually you can spank me I take that back" he smirked at her.
"You've only been awake for 5 minutes after being comatose and you're already acting dirty with me, I see you move quickly" she giggled.
"Alright, Mr. and Mrs. Scott you two are free to go" the doctor announced.
"Thanks for everything doc, who knew doctor's could make such good therapists too?" Haley smiled back at her.
"It's refreshing to see someone so in love with someone." The doctor replied.
"Thanks" Nathan answered surprised at the doc's remark.
"You take it nice and slow Mr. Scott, there's no need to rush things; summer is just around the corner… you don't want to be in a coma then"
"But Haley…" Nathan whined to Haley as she didn't let him leave to go out with Lucas and the guy's.
"I said no, you just got out of the hospital and they expect you to party all night? Nu-uh, no way, you're not going out" she said scolding him like a child.
"Fine, I guess I can just sit at home all day and sulk around until I possibly have another heart attack due to NON-activity" he retorted.
"That is not funny! Who do you think takes care of you at the hospital all day when you do have heart attacks, yeah not so funny now faulty-hearted boy!" she said angrily.
"Yeah, because sitting around a guy who's in a coma is such a hard task!" he yelled back at her.
She looked at him with the 'what the hell is wrong with you?' face. After practically getting zero hours of sleep and not to mention immense amounts of guilt from what happened to him, this is what she gets? Low blows because she cares too much for him not to go out this one measly night.
"Hales… I'm sorry I didn't mean it" he said knowing he said the wrong things.
"I hate you!" she said as she slapped him by surprise and stomped up to their bedroom.
"Open the door Haley" he found himself begging for forgiveness now.
"It's only our fifth day married and we're already fighting" she cried in the room by herself.
"Come on, open up and let's talk about this baby"
"No" she said spitefully.
"Hales… look I'm really sorry, now open up or I'll knock the door down… you know I can" he said laughing at his own ridiculous threat.
**ring**
"Hello?"
"Hey Luke"
"So, what'd she say?" Lucas asked
"Not tonight man, maybe some other time?"
"Ahh, alright. I'll tell the guys."
"Thanks dude, I'll talk to you later"
"Later"
"See Haley, I'm not going out tonight you have nothing to worry about"
As he tried the knob again it miraculously opened.
"Oh my big crybaby" he said as he hugged the sobbing Haley on the bed.
"Don't call me that" she pouted.
"You're being a big baby" he teased some more.
"No, you are. Acting all bratty because I didn't want to let you go out."
"Hales… arguing for the rest of the night isn't going to solve anything" he chimed in.
"I'm sorry for calling you faulty-hearted boy" she said as she looked up at him with her tear stained lids and cheeks.
"And I'm sorry for saying you taking care of me didn't mean anything… I know that's not true" he said as he gave her a peck on the nose.
He looked deep into her eyes and all he wanted to do was to ravage her. His heart was beating so quickly at the sight of his innocent Haley. She was all his and he wanted her to know that he was all hers.
"Nathan…" she moaned out lightly as he began to kiss the side of her neck.
He began feeling up her shirt and quickly tore the piece of clothing off of her body and to the ground, leaving her in only her bra.
His teeth practically glided across her stomach as he began to place kisses on her skin. She felt her whole body react to his touch and this was all still new to her. As much as she was enjoying she couldn't help but keep the fact that Nathan had a heart attack the last time in the back of her mind.
"Baby…" she cried out to him.
"What is it, love?" he asked as his eyes fell onto hers.
"We can't do this" she said bringing his head back up.
"What, what do you mean we can't do this?" he asked bewildered by the sudden hindrance.
"Your heart…" she let out flatly.
"Hales, my heart is fine" he said grabbing her hand and placing it atop of his chest.
"We can't prove that for sure, plus I'll worry too much" she said with sorrow.
"Hales come on…" he complained as he felt the bulge in his pants grow bigger.
"I'm sorry, just not tonight" she said as she put her shirt back on.
"Fine…" then he went into the bathroom to 'fix' his problem.
"Hales honey," he shook her arm gently as she slept like a baby next to him.
"Hmm?" she replied not opening her eyes.
"I'm gonna go have breakfast with Lucas and Brooke, wanna tag along?" he smiled as he realized she wasn't budging from her comfy position.
"Tell them I'll see them some other time" she groaned as she tossed to her other side.
"What a grumpy little girl I married" he teased her as he was still sitting next to her sleeping body.
"Yeah, yeah, go get breakfast while I get some sleep"
"I love you" he said as he kissed her on the cheek.
"I love you too, bye Natey"
She's so goddamn cute…
"So she like refuses to sleep with you now?" Brooke said as she stuffed her mouth with pancakes.
"Yup, she's totally against me even kissing her because she thinks I'll get too 'excited'" Nathan complained to Lucas and Brooke.
"I mean… you did have a heart attack, her first time Nate. She must feel responsible, you know how Haley is; a worry wart"
"I know, I know, but why must I be punished like this! I've waited for so long and now she doesn't even want to, this has got to be some joke." He said as he gulped down some of his orange juice.
"Nathan… you have to understand where she's coming from. Imagine if you were Haley, would you really want to risk that?"
"I guess so… but how long is this going to last?"
"Who knows… she's Haley, she never loses a fight" Lucas added.
Nathan let out a frustrated sigh.
Just my luck… he thought to himself.
"So Nate, thinking about High Flyers?"
"How could I when I have a heart like mine?
"Hey, don't think like that!"
"Even if I got accepted as a finalist they will never choose me once they find out about my HCM"
"You do realize getting into High Flyers can change your life forever Nate?"
"What about Haley?" Brooke asked worriedly.
"I'm sure your doctor can arrange some sort of plan for your meds and this case."
"I don't know Luke… Brooke's right, I can't just leave Haley"
"If you get into this camp it's almost an ensured spot into your choice college"
"Haley's his wife Lucas" Brooke said angrily at Lucas.
"Well, there's no point in having this conversation because I haven't even received a letter from them yet. So when the time comes that's when we'll worry about this."
"With your HCM aside would you go?" Lucas asked.
"Of course." He answered quickly.
"See," Lucas said boasting to Brooke.
"But Haley!" Brooke exclaimed yet again.
"It's only six months right?"
"Wait, it's six months, I thought it was only for the summer?" Nathan asked confused.
"They've changed their itinerary quite a bit this year, this only means a better camp" Lucas said excitedly.
"And what about you Nate, are you considering going?"
"If they take me, hell yeah I'll go"
"This idea really does not sit well with me… I can't help but think how upset Haley would be with this"
"And why is that?" Lucas asked.
"Remember that story you told me about how you asked her to be your girlfriend the summer Nathan was away for basketball camp?"
"Yeah…? Oh! I didn't even think of that…" Lucas replied.
"What?! What's going on?" Nathan asked completely baffled.
"Haley never told you this but she was miserable that summer…"
"She told me she spent a lot of time with you"
"Yeah, she did."
"So?"
"So… she was still miserable without you. You were her absolute best friend, nothing, not even me can change that."
"Now I'm not so sure if I want to get into High Flyers…" Nathan looked down at his half eaten food.
"It's a lot to consider… let's just see how things go" Lucas said optimistically.
"Yeah… let's go with that."
A/N: Sorry for not being able to update every two days like I used to be able to! I'll try my hardest to update more often, but no promises. I don't think once a week is too much of a wait, right? Well I hope you liked this chapter. I've noticed for the last few chapters that reviews have gone extremely down and it's kind of discouraging but then I remember my loyal readers and supporters and it makes things better. So please review. I'd really appreciate it!