Chapter 12

Hey guys! So I hoped that you enjoyed the last chapter and I hope that you will like this chapter!

Visitors

December 26

Haley sat up in bed and reached over to get her vibrating phone. She didn't know why it was on vibrate, and figured that Jay must have changed it while he played with it on her last doctors' appointment. Before flipping it open, she glanced at the time on the clock that sat on her table and was bewildered at the fact that someone would call her so early. Yesterday had been so much fun, but also draining as well. Dan and Deb had come over first thing in the morning to open present with herself and Jay, and later Lucas, Brooke and Drew joined in as well exchanging gifts.

They were all shocked to hear that Nathan had been home the day before and as much as they all wished they could have seen him, their jealousy was instantly washed away when they saw the glow not only present on Haley's face but also on Jays'. The small boy talked nonstop about seeing his daddy and spending Christmas Eve with him, and everyone was so happy for him. Haley was nearly in tears just seeing how happy her little boy was.

It was a little after four when Dan and Deb packed up their car and headed back home. Knowing Brooke and Lucas wanted to get their home back to normal, they took Drew with them, planning on seeing them later that night when they arrived. Haley laughed at the grandparents once they were gone knowing they had no idea what they'd gotten themselves into offering to drive hours with a four year old. Jay's Christmas excitement hadn't died down until much later that night before Haley put him to bed, and she welcomed sleep with open arms.

"Who has the nerve to call me this early" she sassed out sleepily into the receiver.

"Oh wake up and come open the door dork" the voice was immediately recognized.

"What are you talking about? Peyton go away, and call me back when I won't want to kill you"

"Listen, me and Jake are outside on your porch freezing our ass off, so you need to get your butt out of bed and let us in."

Shutting her phone, she slipped on her robe and made her way to the front door. She wouldn't believe it until she saw it with her own two eyes. Jake and Peyton were here in San Antonio? Her city? Yanking the door open, she saw the dark blonde loose curls sitting atop her friends' petite body that was covered in a leather jacket while her husband stood wearing an apologetic smile. She heard the small woman let out a screech and was immediately smothered in a bone crushing hug.

"Let go you crazy morning person. Help your husband or something."

She stepped aside and let them both in.

"Come in, let me go look presentable, take a seat, and Peyton do not wake Jay up, he's asleep in his room."

She walked down the hall into her room, knowing they knew their way around her house. Besides, they were family. While Jake took out some of the presents they brought, Peyton excitedly strutted down the hall to wake up her not-so-much-of-a-morning-person 'nephew' despite Haley's warning.

She walked into the room, and smiled, remembering when she painted the room herself for the young boy. She sat on the edge of his bed, and ran her fingers through his long silky hair.

"Jason, wake up. It's time to wake up buddy"

"But I'm still sleepy, where's mommy?" he said looking up at the familiar face of his Aunt Peyton.

"She's getting dressed, me and uncle Jake bought you some Christmas presents."

He simply looked up at her and gave her the look she dreaded. It was the same one that Nathan would give her when she was 'too excited' and he didn't feel like putting up with her. It was the 'you're not gonna give up are you' look. He climbed off his bed and didn't say a word as he walked out of the room leaving her sitting there.

"Damn that Scott charm" she muttered once he was out of the room.

A few minutes later, Haley walked towards the couple carrying Jason in her arms. He had gone to use the bathroom, and then climbed up on her bed fully intending on going back to sleep, but had no suck luck.

"Hales! You're gonna kill yourself girl, give him to me. Do you always carry him around during the day?" Peyton scolded out.

"No, he's usually still asleep, but someone woke him up. I'm happy you're here, really I am, but why are you here? Like in San Antonio the day after Christmas?"

"Well, Jake just got done touring with John Mayer, and Colbie Caillat, and we were going to take a small vacation. Well I've been doing so good at the record label that my boss wanted me to come down here and give me a chance on running most of what comes out of this office. Like we have our major one in LA, but we have a sister site based here, and the president of the label quit, and they have another one but she's not used to having such a big job, so I'm basically bringing her up to speed with everything the job entails since she's from such a smaller label. It's for a few weeks and it's not like there's a guarantee that this will promote me anywhere, but it's such a great opportunity for me either way!"

Haley couldn't believe that she basically said all that in one breath, and had to take a minute to let it all digest.

"So how long will you be in town for?" she was still sort of confused.

"Maybe two months, give or take a few weeks" she said smiling.

"Oh my gosh! You could be here when she's born? Where are you staying?"

"Well the label has us at the Marriott downtown so we will be there, but we'll also just stay here too some days. I think it'll be fun, Brooke can come over and it'll be just like in college."

"What she means to say Haley is that we're booked already downtown, but if it's okay with you, we'd love to stay here some nights, especially when the baby comes and help out however we can."

"Yea, what he said. Can we Hales?"

"You're about as bad as Brooke is. Of course you guys can stay whenever you want. But as always there are rules to living under my roof, especially for the two of you. NO sex within mine, or Jay's earshot, or if I'm not asleep. If I'm not getting any, neither are you. No crazy music and dancing for Jake. I know how you are Peyton, I lived next door to you for five semesters. No walking around in the middle of the night, it's just creepy, and no walking around nude."

"Okay, deal, but I must tell you the nude thing is really comfortable."

"Whatever weirdo. I'm so happy you guys are here. So my first favor of helping out since you mentioned it, one of the gifts I'd gotten for Jason and Nathan were tickets to the Spurs game in a few weeks, and Luke isn't free that night and I clearly..."

"I would love to take Jay to the game. We'll have our fun, and you guys can do your strange girl things"

"Thanks Jake "she said finally being able to hug him. Jake was one of her closest guy friends in college. Peyton was the first of them to actually find their Mr. Right, and they had been together since sophomore year in college, and married three weeks after graduation.

"Hales, he won't talk to me" she heard Peyton call from where Jay was lying down on the couch.

"That's because he's like his father, and is not a morning person. I told you not to wake him. Come here baby"

She went over and sat on the couch beside him, and he crawled into her lap and laid partially on her stomach ad the rest on her chest. Using his hand, Jay felt around his mommy's stomach for the baby, knowing it would put him in better moods.

"Did you find her yet?" he heard his mom ask him.

He nodded his head and started to push harder on the spot where he felt her.

"Good morning. Wake up. It's me your big bwroda Jason. She kicked mommy!"

He bent down and kissed the spot he saw and felt moving.

"I know! She missed you last night. You hungry, you want some Lucky Charms?"

"Yes, but can you make me some eggs mommy, Sissy wants them too"

"Oh she does huh?" she said while walking in the kitchen and starting on the eggs. Her son was simple, so it took no time to crack open one egg and add a little pepper to it.

"Yep, can I call daddy?"

After being told he could once he ate, he ran back into his room and came back a few minutes later carrying his new favorite photo.

"Aunt Peyton, look at my puppy" he said shoving the picture in her face.

"Hales, you got him a puppy? She said not noticing any sign of a dog before.

"Well we're gonna get her in two months, she's still too small to be away from her mother. Jay go put that up and come eat. And walk Jay before you fall."

He ran back into the room and once he placed the picture on the dresser, his mothers' words registered in his head. He peeked down the hall and got down on all four and crawled to the living room. Looking around he saw his mom putting eggs on his plate, and wondered if she actually saw him running down the hall. He walked up the two steps that led up to the kitchen and climbed into his chair innocently.

Coming to stand in front of him, Haley placed his plate of eggs down in front of him before taking her hand and lifting his small chin upward to look at her.

"I saw you running back in your room Jase"

"I'm sorry mommy, but if you stay mad at me, there's a good chance I'll develop a studdor' p,p,p,please don't do that to me"

He stood up in the chair and pulled her face down to his level and kissed her loudly on the lips, followed by a huge smirk. She hated when Nathan taught him that stupid line. She realized he constantly taught their son how to basically get away with murder. She knew that was like one of her favorite lines to use on him, and now he'd used it against her with their son.

"You're too smooth for me. I'm not mad at you, but walk Jay I mean it. You're gonna bust your head open when you fall one day."

She patted his bottom and he plopped down in his chair and ate his eggs. Wanting to make sure her guest had everything they needed, she made her way towards their room, but stopped short when she heard them giggling an obviously making out.

Besides Brooke and Lucas, not too many people had been around her long enough to make her jealous, but hearing the two love birds down the hall was enough to make her really miss her husband.

"Hey if you guys want any breakfast, help yourself"

She walked back into her room and picked up the phone, dialing the familiar number.

Crap she muttered under her breath.

This was the first time that she called his phone and heard it go straight to voicemail since he'd left. It took everything in her to not cry while she left him a message to call her back when he got the chance. Hanging up, she felt herself start to hyperventilate, and begin to slowly breath in and out, not wanting to stress herself out. Once she was calm, she picked up the phone and searched through her contacts before calling Tonya's house.

Unlike Brooke, or Peyton, she knew that Tanya would first let her get out everything she was feeling, then try to calm her and get her to think rationally. That's why she loved her so much. Not that her best friends didn't know or understand her, but with Tanya's husband also being in the army and having been sent away, she understood where Haley was coming from. She would usually spill everything to her, and Tanya would respond with a "been there, done that girl" and would gladly give her some great advice.

Once Tanya answered her phone, Haley went on to tell her everything; starting from her unexpected guest, to Jay's Nathan-like comment, to her getting very jealous and missing her husband. As usual, Tanya let her vent, and then calmed her down when she started to cry and get upset again. She also let her in on a few secrets like whenever they would be heading out to the field, there were many times when the men had no idea and it would be a surprise drill. So there was a possibility that Nathan was out there and wasn't able to give any prior warning. It wasn't that she didn't know these things, but Tonya knew they'd reassure her nonetheless.

Before they could get any further, her other line beeped, and she glanced at the caller ID to see her husband's name flashing. Quickly ending the call with her friend, she switched over.

"Nathan?"

"Hey baby, what's going on? I got your message, you okay?"

"I guess"

"You guess? Haley, what's going on"

Haley started to tell Nathan exactly what she told Tonya just a few minutes ago; everything from her new house guest, to her getting jealous of them. Towards the end of her telling him about Tonya's information on the random field runs, she'd finally broke down crying.

It was easy for Nathan to tell that his wife hadn't gotten enough sleep, and would clearly be down for her afternoon nap a little bit early today. With the baby up randomly throughout the night, Haley always had to take an afternoon nap, and he was glad that Jay was always content on watching a movie with a snack next to his sleeping mother.

"I'm sorry about all this Hales. We got called in the field, and I'm not gonna have my phone on unless we're at a rest spot. But whenever we do stop, I'm gonna make sure I call you, then just turn it back off so it'll last."

"I just miss you Nathan. Like I really miss you right now, and it's hard without you here. I mean, I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't this. I don't even know what to do anymore Nathan. I was thinking about only being a couple of weeks away from her due date and I can't imagine going through the first weeks let alone months with you only here on the weekends."

"I know, and I'm sorry. I know this is killing you Hales, it's killing me too. I can barely sleep at night, and I miss Jason so damn much. I never wanted to be away from you or him, hell it's like he doesn't even have a father anymore"

"Hey now don't say that Nathan, you're his father!" she hated when he doubted himself, and didn't want him being away to make it even worse. "I know it, you know it, and more importantly, he knows it. He wanted me to call his daddy after breakfast. You mean the world to him Nate, so don't ever think that you don't matter to him and that you're letting him down. Just like your love for him is unconditional, well so is his love for you"

"I know I'm his father Hales, it was stupid to say that."

"It's okay"

"So how's my baby girl?" he said changing the subject slightly.

"Good, really active. Jay woke her up this morning, and it was so cute. He's been calling her Sissy lately and it's so precious watching him talk to her."

"Well when I come home next weekend, I will see it for myself, and I can't wait to see you guys'

"Me either. So I took the liberty of making a list of things I want to do every time you come home."

"Really? Well I hope at least half of that list involves you being naked and on top of me"

"NATHAN!" she gasped out looking around as if someone was right there listening. He loved that she seemed so innocent to everyone else, but he knew the truth. His wife was anything but innocent when it came to happenings in their bedroom. On their honeymoon, he'd given her the name Wildcat after noticing all the scratches he had on his back.

"Hales!" he mimicked her. "You gonna purr for me Wildcat?"

Before her blush set deep into her cheeks, she could hear a few men in the background laughing and cheering her husband on. "Nathan, stop that! I don't want you friends thinking I'm some horny freak, that's having dirty phone sex with her husband"

"But that's exactly what we're doing Hales, besides, phone sex is so hot"

"Oh yea? And how would you know that?" She said knowing that she had never had phone sex before in her life, and she sure as hell never planned on it.

"Ummm... it was um, a joke Hales." He said not wanting to upset his pregnant, tired, and hormonal wife. "Tell me what you really have on the list"

"Well, we could take Jay to the park, then maybe out to dinner, and once he's in bed, I was thinking a nice hot bubble bath. Just some family time together, without stressing for time and everything"

That sounded perfect to Nathan and he couldn't wait for next Friday. "I can't wait to do all those things. It's perfect Hales"

She could actually hear the smile in his voice and wished she was there to kiss him.

"How long will you be out in the field" she said wondering how low his battery now was.

"Until Thursday morning, we head back at four am"

"Then you should save your battery. I'm gonna rest for a while but you should call tonight before I put Jay to bed"

"Alright babe I will. Give Jay a kiss for me"

"I will, I love you"

"Love you too Wildcat." He said smirking.

"Wipe that cocky smirk off your face Scott. You're not really Mr. Hotshot, and all of your buddies are probably picturing me naked right now"

Click

She laughed when she could hear him scoff right before she hung up the phone knowing that got under his skin.

Going to peek in on her son, Haley opened her bedroom door and stopped short when she saw a note taped to it.

Hales, took Jay out with us to see the studio. We'll see you later, so relax – Jake and Peyton

She loved her friends.

Going into her closet, she hung her robe back up and looked up when something caught her eye. She pulled the semi-heavy box down from it's shelve and opened it to reveal her college year books. Taking two of them back to her bed, she got settled in before opening one and reliving some college memories. Flipping through the pages, she stopped on one picture that immediately made her blood boil. It was of her and one of her ex-friends that lived on her hall for three years.

Tracy Baker and her met in her freshman seminar class, and were happy to find out they were on the same hall. No one knew why she was ever friends with Tracy, but Haley always saw the good in people. Everyone knew that Tracy slept around and went out with any and every boy that she saw. With her blonde hair, and long legs, the guys were usually lined up outside their window throwing rocks, and waiting to be picked.

After a couple of real crushes and broken hearts, Haley went to Tracy and actually got her to change her ways. She wasn't sure how she'd gotten through to her, but she seemed to change over night, refusing to date just any guy and actually started a real relationship with this one guy in her class.

****FLASHBACK****

Although they were off campus for senior year, Haley still introduced all her friends that lived on campus to Nathan. She was glad that they all got along with Nathan, but was weary of letting him around Tracy. She'd heard that her friend had slipped back into her old ways and was always hunting for a new prey.

Brooke and Haley had gone to a party the night that Lucas and Nathan flew in and were hanging out with Peyton, and Jake when Nathan noticed that Haley wasn't feeling good.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked concerned.

"Yea, just give me a minute" She had Brooke and Peyton accompany her to the restroom and really hoped they could help her.

"What's wrong Hales? You okay, you've been weird all night"

"Hold that thought" she said before going in the stall to use the bathroom.

Shit! The blonde and brunette looked at each other immediately knowing what was going on.

"Do either of you have a tampon or anything?" she said praying no one else was in there. This would never stop being embarassing.

"Sorry Hales, we don't. Do you need us to run and get you something?" Peyton said after Brooke shook her head. It was only last month Haley's cycle had her vomiting for hours and in bed for two days.

"No, but screw living in a dorm room." A few minutes later, she reappeared in front of them, and washed her hands.

"You sure, we can come with you" Brooke was worried the last time Haley had gotten really sick no matter how much she assured her it happened every few months.

"I promise its fine, if its gets bad, I'll call you, I promise. I'm just gonna head back. I've had cramps all night, and they're not going away. I'm a week early! I need to stop hanging around with damn girls, I always know my cycle"

She hated that her night with Nathan was cut short.

Walking back out to the party, she took her boyfriend by the hand and led him to an empty hallway.

"Babe, I'm just gonna head home. I'm not feeling very well, and I'm gonna get to bed. But you can stay here with Luke and Jake if you want"

"Hell no! I'll come with you, what's wrong? I can take care of you Hales"

"Nathan... I umm... I just started my period." Her cheeks turned a deep red before she could even attempt to finish. "I have serious cramps, but I'll be okay, I'm pretty used to them. You should stay and have fun. You can even drink beer without me getting nauseous from it."

He laughed at that. She was such a lightweight and could barely stand the smell of beer, let alone drink it. He was also glad that she changed the subject from her being on her period. They hadn't gotten to the point where she could make a comment about her menstrual cycle and him be comfortable with it.

"Well are you sure? There's nothing I can do?"

"Nope... I'm gonna get my heating pad, open a can of soup, take some Midol and pray to God I'm not bloated when I see you tomorrow"

Leaning down, he kissed her lips gently, and hugged her goodbye after giving her the keys to her car.

****END OF FLASHBACK****

Haley ran her hands through her head, and made herself stop there. Those were memories she couldn't dig up and deal with while she was so hormonal and alone. Slamming the book shut, she threw it on the floor beside her bed, and laid down, knowing that she definitely needed a nap after traveling down memory lane.

A memory lane she wanted to forget forever

A/N: Okay... so I hoped that you enjoyed that... I'll tell you... .I had to do a lot of thinking and planning in this chapter. Things that will happened later were expected and understandable with the story being about me... but now that it's Naley... there were things that had to be talked about and thought of, before I could even think of continuing. But don't worry... I won't destroy anyone or make you guys hate me... YET! But I really hope that you enjoyed this and that you will review! Jen!