Chapter 4

A/N: Hey everyone, I hope you guys enjoyed the last chapter. It was a chapter that would not be continued, but was an event that happened in Naley's life s is this chapter. Now this one is much shorter, but after this, we skip ahead and things get pretty steady timeline wise. Enjoy and please remember to review.

"…Yea he's really not doing to well, so I'm not going to be in today. I'm really sorry for doing this again, but Nate can't get off, and he's just really not feeling any better ," Haley explained to her boss as she walked round and round the room. She then sighed when she hung up the phone, very grateful that her boss hadn't fired her yet.

During the summer, she worked part-time at Gold's Gym, where she was assistant manager. Though, that meant nothing. All she had to do was put in at least twenty hours a week going over the equipment and every Saturday morning before opening, she needed to clean. It wasn't a difficult job, and although they were comfortable with Nathan's income, her twelve dollars an hour allowed the family to live a little lenient.

Turning the humidifier up to the next level, Haley silently prayed that it would help her sickly child. Jason had seen the doctor a day ago when he couldn't seem to get over the cold he had. After the drastic visit to the pediatrician, the parents were everything but relieved to find out their baby had bronchiolitis. The doctor explained to the two that an infants' airway is smaller, therefore the symptoms, i.e. lungs becoming inflamed, swelled and filled with mucus etc., would affect the baby's airways more than an older child.

To break it down, her baby couldn't breathe clearly.

She looked down in the crib and saw his tiny chest cave in as he fought to get a good breath, yet failed miserably. As much as Nathan and Haley hated that their little man was up half the night with trouble breathing, it was worse on Jason. Since he had to breathe through his mouth, it was difficult for him to eat, and the cough he had irritated him more. He'd been given so much medication, that they weren't sure if it was legal to give him anything else. But nothing worked. Cool baths, massaging his small body with the vapor rub, several rides in the car, and constant fluids forced down his throat only pissed off their son even more.

Before her second foot was out the door, the wailing that she'd recognize anywhere filled the small nursery.

Nathan snapped his head up as he heard his name being shouted by his co-worker.

"You hear me Scott? We're going out for some drinks. You in?" Larry asked. He was a fat Spanish man that Nathan had become friends with instantly. The only bad thing about Larry was that he was a constant alcohol-addict with a loud mouth. A loud daring mouth.

Nathan paused to think. "Just one man. I can't be out to late. Jay's still sick"

"Man, he'll be alright," he said to Nathan. He afterwards turned to their other co-workers. "First two rounds on me, guys, okay!"

Ever heard of the phrase double or nothing?

Haley closed the door to her apartment for the fifth time that night. Mr. Watson, her neighbor, had come over to check on the family after hearing the baby crying for so long.

He was in his mid-forty's and was really nice to the young couple. He was also very fond of Jason, never having any children himself.

Because of this, Haley tried her best not to get annoyed at his worrisome expression, let alone worried herself.

After trying Nathan's phone for over an hour, she finally gave up, realizing that he wouldn't answer. She knew that he and his friends sometimes went to get a drink on Thursday's, but he also knew that his son had been sick all week. Not one excuse that she came up with seemed to justify him not being home at that very moment. She'd been home with Jay all day long. Ever since he'd woken up, all the boy did was scream at the top of his lungs from anguish and pain. She knew he wasn't feeling well and that crying was his only way of communicating to her, but damn, she was frustrated.

Haley walked over to the couch and sat down holding Jason. After a second, she allowed her own tears to escape her eyes. She'd held them in for as long as she could, and now everything she was feeling was coming out in this cry. Anger towards Nathan, sorrow for Jay being miserable, and lastly frustration with herself for not taking better care of her own son.

Moving the child up to her chest, Haley sang to him calmly, allowing him to feel her chest move up and down with every breath. Thinking that he'd finally calmed down- once he grew silent, Haley pulled him away from her chest, and saw that he was trying his best to get a breath in. She looked at him closely for a minute, and rushed the baby into the kitchen where the bright light was on. She then examined his tiny face. Around her baby's mouth, she noticed the color change to a light blue, slowly getting darker. Taking his small hand into her larger one, she saw the shade of blue also surrounding the tips of his fingers.

He couldn't breathe.

As she let out a disturbed sob, she quickly grabbed his blanket and diaper bag, and ran to Mr. Watson's door, banging loudly.

Lucas walked into the bar and scanned the area, anger evident in his eyes. Hearing the loud cheers from one corner, he knew there was the person he was looking for. He made his way over and pushed through the crowd before him, finding his brother cheering for someone.

When Nathan saw him, he walked towards him, until Lucas swung back and knocked him off his feet. The guys he had been cheering with just seconds before, scattered away, not wanting to get involved in the brawl.

"What the hell was that man?" he said getting up, wiping the blood off his lip.

"Nate, it's fucking one o'clock in the morning! Is this where you've been? At some bar?"

"I'm just having a little fun man, is there anything wrong with that?" he carelessly asked.

That just ticked Lucas even more. "A little fun Nate? A little fun? Well while you've been off having your little fun, your wife has been in the emergency room with your son since nine o'clock!"

Lucas could have sworn he saw all the color from Nathan's face drain, as tears immediately coated his eyes. "Wha… what happened? Is it Jason? Lucas, what the hell happened?" he asked outraged and shook his half-brother tremendously.

Lucas ignored him and pulled him by the arm to the car, and speedily drove off to the hospital.

Seconds later they were gone.

"Haley! Haley!" Nathan ran through the ER searching for any sign of his wife. He stopped mid-run, when he spotted her cradled in Brooke's arms, her sister-in-law. That should have been him. He walked over to her and pulled her up to his body and hugged her.

Haley's body went frigid against Nathan's once she realized who was holding her. She tried to move away from his embrace, but he was too strong for her; not to mention she was exhausted. Using all of her strength, she pulled out of his embrace and looked him in the eyes angrily.

"Hales I'm sor.."

SLAP!

"I know you're…"

SLAP!

Her slaps to her husbands' face soon turned to punches towards his chest.

"I hate you! I hate you, Nathan! Where were you, huh? Our son couldn't breathe! He couldn't breathe, Nathan! He still can't!" She continued pounding on his chest, crying out in frustration. "He was blue. YOUR son was turning blue because he couldn't breathe! And his father didn't even care enough to come home when he KNEW he was sick!"

She finally gave in to his attempts to stop her fist from moving and slumped down against his chest. She let him hold her right there on the floor in the corner of the ER until the doctor approached the somber couple. They stood up, praying for good news.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Scott that you weren't able to be with your son, but we had to work on him at once. We drained the mucus from his lungs, and the swelling is going down. We have Jason on an IV, giving him plenty of fluids. He wasn't dehydrated when he was brought in, so you must have done a good job at keeping him hydrated. Also, his coloring is back to normal, as well as his temperature."

"So is he fine now? There isn't anything else wrong?" Haley asked hopefully.

"He seems to be fine, however, there's always a possibility that it could happen again once he's older, but that's with anyone. I assure you that it wouldn't be as severe as it is now. He's small so he couldn't handle it, but there's no reason to believe that he won't be fine. We tested him for RSV, and the results were negative, so we're very happy with that."

"Can we take him home tonight?" Lucas spoke up, seeing that Haley was too dazed to say anything.

"Well I would like to keep him here overnight as a precaution and to make sure he easily gets a lot of fluids in him. Just for tonight I assure you, his stats are improving tremendously. Besides, as bad as he was, I'm sure someone had to have been up with him just about all day," he started as he saw Haley who looked even more drained than when he first saw her. "Take advantage of the break. I'm sure you'll want to stay overnight with him, so I can give you an overnight pass. Do you need two or just one?"

Before anyone could say anything, Haley spoke up loud and clear, "Just one please"

Nathan's worried eyes traveled to his wife's sad ones when he heard the words come out of her mouth. The doctor looked at the two before writing Haley her pass, and left them alone.

"Lucas, Brooke, thank you guys so much for coming. I'm sure you need to go get Drew. Can I call you tomorrow when they discharge Jay? I don't have my car," she said directing her question towards her sister in law. She decided to just ignore Nathan, who could easily drive her home.

"Haley, I can-" Nathan started.

"Brooke? Please?" she asked while her voice cracked. She couldn't even look at her husband right now. She was just plain hurt.

Brooke was of course on Haley's side. "Yea Hales, just give me a call and I'll bring your car up and take you guys back home." Both she and Lucas hugged Haley, then left.

Haley stood next to the oversized, gated crib that her sleeping son lay in. Resting her hand above his chest, tears ran down her cheeks from the feel of his even breathing.

Happy Tears

"Thank you God. Thank you so much for watching over my little boy. I love you so much, baby. Mommy's right here and she's not going anywhere. I promise," she whispered over the baby. She pulled the blanket over him a little tighter and walked out of the room quietly to where Nathan was sitting on the floor.

"I don't really have anything to say to you Nathan," she uttered coldly as she walked pass him.

He stood up to follow her. "I know sorry doesn't mean anything right now Haley, but I am. I'm so sorry I wasn't here. I was just so tired and stressed…" he tried, but Haley cut him off.

"Stressed? You were stressed Nathan? I was home with him all damn day stressed out, ALONE! You KNEW he was sick when you left out for work, and it didn't matter to you that I was alone with him? Even if I wasn't alone Nathan, you should love and care enough for your son to want to be there regardless of how many people are with him."

"Haley…" he tried yet again.

Still he miserably failed.

"Do you know what it was like Nathan?" she cried, tears flowing down of her cheeks so fast. "Mr. Watson drove us to the ER while I held our blue son in my arms! All I could do was hold him and tell him that mommy was here! You know how hard it was not to cry when all I could feel was his chest contracting because he couldn't breathe? I wanted to die, Nathan, because I just knew I was losing our little boy. I knew it! And all I wanted was you! I needed my husband Nathan, and Jason needed his father. But where were you?"

As much as she wanted to, she really couldn't hate him. But she wanted to so bad. "Go see your son, Nathan. Put your hand on his chest, and feel his heartbeat. Let him know you're there with him."

Nathan walked into the small room that had a bed set up next to his son's temporary crib and finally let his own tears escape his eyes. Like Haley told him, Nathan placed his hand over the baby's chest and felt his consistent heartbeat. It was beautiful.

"Jay, daddy's here, buddy. I know I wasn't before, but daddy's here now. And I'm so proud of you. You're so strong Jay, you're my strong big boy, remember. I love you so much buddy, and I promise I won't let you or mommy be alone like this again. I promise Jay." He leaned down and placed a soft kiss on the sleeping boy's lips that resembled his own. Leaning back up, he heard a sniffle at the door, and saw Haley who'd obviously heard his one-sided conversation. He walked out the door after her.

"I meant what I said Haley. I'm so sorry. But I promise it will never happen again"

"Never again Nathan," she pointed out. "I don't ever want to face something like this alone. I can't and I won't. You need to figure out what's important in your life."

"You and Jason," he said without hesitation. "I promise Hales. I promise"

Slowly, Haley walked into Nathan's embrace, fiercely hugging him and finally letting her guard down crying. It had been such a long day.

Another milestone…. We made it

Thoughts? Hit that button! Thank you to everyone that's added this story to their alerts and author alerts and favorites! Means so much to me! Next chapter will skip ahead into the future so be prepared for that! Please leave feedback! I love it and it really motivates me!

Until next time,

Jennifer