Chapter 20

Nathan POV

Nathan felt the cold wind in his lungs as he raced back towards home. It wasn't very cold in Tree Hill, but early in the morning, with the sun just starting to rise, there was a coolness in the air.

He'd been running for an hour, and if yesterdays practice was any indication, he should've been running even longer. The image of Whitey telling him not to get his personal life in the way of his play on the court passed his mind a dozen times since he'd woken up.

He shrugged it off every time, but it did hold some truth. He wouldn't dwell on it so much; just work that much harder in maintaining both. He wouldn't slip at either, he couldn't afford to, and he didn't want to.

A balance between the women he loved and the sport he loved would be ideal, and he'd do anything to make that happen. So if it meant waking up at 5 to run, then so be it. He knew in the end it would be beneficial.

Except for the reaction his wife would give him when he'd come strolling in through the door. Which was exactly what he got an hour later.

"Where have you been?" Haley asked, arms crossed.

"Running," Nathan answered, short on breath. He walked passed her towards the fridge. He'd take the scolding; he just needed some water while doing it. "What's up?"

"Clearly you," Haley answered, following him. "You could have written a note. I thought something happened."

"Hales, I run everyday."

"Yes, but not that early."

He saw her concerned face. It scared her and he never wanted her to feel that. Going over, he pulled her into a hug. He felt her shoulders drop and she relaxed into the hug.

"Sorry."

"You're forgiven," She mumbled into his chest.

Smiling down at her, Nathan wondered what she was doing up so early. "So what's the plan today?"

"Well we have the party," Haley explained.

The others had been planning the surprise wedding party for the two and they couldn't have been more thrilled. It showed how much their friends cared about them. They just wished they did a better job at not telling the whole school about it.

It took barely a day until Nathan heard Tim talking about it with some guys on the team. After that, Haley had overheard some girls talking about a party as well, and then the rest was history.

Throughout the week they must have caught dozens of people discussing it. Haley had said after the party she'd tell Lucas to do a better job at handling the word 'surprise'.

Still, they'd agreed for the benefit of their friends, when they'd show up to wherever it was, they'd act surprised.

"Ah yeah, should be fun," Nathan mumbled, nearly forgetting that was today.

"Oh come on," Haley whined. "You use to be Mr. Party back in the day."

"That was before I got married," Nathan joked. "Besides, are parents are going to be there. That's a whole other disaster waiting to happen."

Haley nodded, agreeing with him. "That is true. But think of it this way, Lucas will be there, Tim, Peyton and Brooke. They guys on the team, and the boys from the river court. I'm sure even Whitey will make an appearance."

"Hmm, partying with my coach," Nathan pondered. He rolled his eyes. "Not the best idea Hales."

"Okay then," Haley smiled, walking towards him. She threw her hands around his neck. "Then how about this. Jack might be there. It'll be the first time you him and Luke could just hang out for a night. That doesn't come around very often when you grew up without either of your brothers."

He didn't know what he did to deserve being so lucky, and honestly he didn't care. Haley was right, although that wasn't news to anyone. He was lucky enough to have earned her love, and for that he was being rewarded with celebrating that amongst his friends and family, and in attendance, possibly both his brothers.

"You think he'll come?" Nathan asked.

Haley smiled. "I count on it. Besides, he'll want to celebrate once we tell him the good news."

"Oh yeah," Nathan remembered, the other reason he'd woken early. He'd be meeting Keith soon. "You want to come?"

"Bet your ass I do," Haley laughed. She gave him a quick peck before heading to their room. "Give me 10 minutes."

General POV

Keith and Jack drove silently to the address Ed had given Jack that morning. It was still early, but Keith had been in touch with the landlord and asked for an early meeting. Jack knew it was probably for the party Keith had to get to afterwards. He still wasn't sure if he was going, but he wouldn't want Keith to miss out on Nathan's party.

"So," Keith spoke, his eyes never leaving the road. "Excited?"

Jack shrugged.

It really hadn't sunken in that he was getting a place to his own. For a while he'd never thought he'd live anywhere but his car, but things had changed. Now he was almost used to Peyton's house.

"I guess," He answered. "Gonna be strange waking up to an empty house."

"Yeah I'd miss the pretty girls too," Keith laughed, before looking over at his nephew seriously. "We're still here though. Phone call away and will be there."

"Scared I'll be robbed?" Jack joked.

Rolling his eyes, Keith spoke. "I've seen you train. I feel for the guy who comes to your home picking a fight."

The apartment wasn't very far from Peyton's. Must have been 10 minutes when they found themselves turning into the parking lot of the place.

It seemed nice enough. Parking spots for the tenants, a two story building, a convenient store down the street. All in all it seemed all right. Better then what Jack had in New York that's for sure.

Getting out of the car, the two spotted some familiar faces making there way over.

"Morning strangers," Haley smiled, walking over towards them. She gave Keith a big hug before looking over at Jack. "Big day huh?"

"I'll say," Jack said, nodding towards Nathan. "You guys here for moral support?"

"Actually," Nathan trailed off, not knowing how Jack would take the news. He'd been optimistically cautious of the plan. "We kind of had some help finding the place."

Jack tried to remember what Ed had said, but was pretty sure he never mentioned Nathan and Haley looking for places too with him.

"Ed didn't mention that," Jack said, a little confused.

Keith smiled at his nephew, putting an arm over his shoulder. He noticed the excitement bursting from Haley's face, and decided to give her the baton.

"Haley, you wanna tell Jack?"

"We're neighbors!" She yelled, running over to her brother in law and hugging him tight. She felt him shift uncomfortably but smiled nonetheless. "Sorry I'm just excited."

Jack looked between the three of them, wondering if they were kidding. Haley's excitement told him everything he needed to know. It was legit. Somewhere in the complex in front of him, Nathan and Haley also lived.

His brother looked a little hesitant whereas Keith was smiling lightly, probably hoping for a good reaction.

They were probably thinking he'd freak out over the close proximity to his family as if they were forcing it on him. He smiled at the thought, before finally looking down at Haley and smiling.

"Let's go check out the place."

Haley POV

"So this is where we live."

Haley opened the door to her apartment as she stepped in followed quickly by Nathan and Jack. Keith had taken off after meeting the landlord, explaining that he had some errands to run.

"Wow, you weren't kidding," Jack whistled, looking over the place. "We really are neighbors."

Her husband looked a little guilty as he answered. "Sorry about the bomb. We thought it'd be a nice surprise. You sure your cool with this cause…"

"It's fine Nathan," Jack reassured. He'd noticed the glances he got from him during the walkthrough of the house. "It's more then fine. You guys found me a place. What more could I possibly ask for?"

"You do realize it means you live next to her," Nathan gestured towards Haley.

She tried to hide the shock from her face but was caught off from the laughter of the two. Nathan had a nasty streak of making jokes at her expense, but seeing the two brothers laugh, it didn't matter.

This is what she'd hoped for as the endgame of bringing Jack home to Tree Hill. She'd seen how strong Lucas and Nathan were together, and adding another piece to that, it made it all the better.

Jack didn't know it yet, probably neither of them, but he was slowly becoming part of their family. Two weeks didn't change much, Haley knew, but they were on the right path.

She understood what Jennifer had been talking about when she said how easy it would be to accept him.

"I could think of worse people to be neighbors with," Jack said after he stopped laughing. "I grew up in New York, and my last place wasn't exactly a 5 star hotel."

"We know," Haley groaned, remembering the landlord. "We passed by your place asking for you. Met your sleezy plumber landlord."

"Samuel," Jack remembered. Wasn't the greatest landlord, but he couldn't really complain, he wasn't the greatest tenant. "Yeah he was kind of…"

Jack tried to find the right word but Haley beat him to it. "Gross? Vile? Rude? Any of the above. He actually spat on me."

Haley shuddered at the thought. She remembered taking an extra long shower that night after remembering where she'd been.

"Yeah it was a dump," Jack summed up. He noticed some boxes littered across the floor. "You packing?"

"Unpacking actually," Nathan explained, kicking the nearest box. "You don't realize how much crap you had once you move out."

"Speaking of," Haley remembered. "Jennifer called yesterday. They're going to be sending some things for the house. Thought you should know."

"Those people are too good to me," Jack mused. He looked at a photo of Nathan and Haley on the wedding day. They seemed happy.

God knows I don't deserve it. Jack thought.

"Anyways," Jack continued, looking over at them. "I should head back, start packing up my stuff. I'm sure Peyton's sick of me. She'll be glad to get the news."

"Doubt it," Nathan smiled grabbing his keys. "Let's go. I'll see you afterwards Hales."

"Bye," Haley waved at the two before closing the door.

Turning around, Haley laid her back against the door. She was glad everything had turned out the way it had. There was a good chance that it could have had the same affect on Jack like when Nathan and Lucas broke the news to him at the diner that very first night.

Ed and Jen had warned them that Jack had tendencies to close off everyone when things got serious. They hadn't seen that yet, and the latest news was a sure fire test.

Glad that everything was okay, she turned her mind to other things, more specifically the party tonight. If she was a betting girl, she knew her parents would show up, probably Deb too which was a whole other problem in itself, and all her friends.

She was a little bummed that her sisters weren't here to celebrate. All of them would surely freak out, but they'd come around eventually. Still, there were times she wished her sisters were here now. It would have been nice to be like Lucas Nathan and Jack. The three didn't really hangout, by they would have so many chances going forward.

It made her a little envious at first, but then she realized that technically they were her family too. Her sisters were out there, but for now, she at least had her husband and brother in laws.

That was a pretty good alternative for her.

Peyton POV

It'd been an early morning for Peyton, and almost mid day now, she was starting to feel it. She still had some things left to do for the party so she'd spend the first half of the day there. The music was almost complete, and she'd gone through the guest list with Junk who'd met her there.

The list was pointless, but Lucas had insisted. She'd been to enough parties to now that if there were one happening, more likely then not, people would find a way in. Junk and Fergie bouncing wasn't exactly Fort Knox.

"Hey Peyton, where do you want that last of this?" Junk asked, approaching her at the bar.

She eyed the contents. "Beer behind the bar inside the third door once you walk in."

"No prob," Junk saluted. He shuffled around the bar, finding the spot. "You know what's the worst part about handling this liquor?"

"You can't drink it?" Peyton answered.

"You can't drink it," Junk repeated, getting up from his spot. His eyes passed Peyton and noticed someone behind her. "Incoming."

Peyton turned to see her best friend walking towards her with a smile. "Hey I missed you this morning."

Brooke sighed. "Don't remind me. Woke up like at 6. Had an appointment for my hair. Now I just want to sleep."

"Join the club," Peyton pushed out a chair for her friend who gladly accepted. "So?"

"So?"

Rolling her eyes, Peyton answered. "Am I really going to have to pull it out of you? How was last night? You have fun?"

She watched as her friend thought for a minute before smiling. "Surprisingly yeah, I did. It wasn't as bad as I'd thought it'd be. I even learned a bit about him."

"See," Peyton smiled, happy to see she was right. "I knew you'd have a good time."

"You were right."

Smiling one last time, Peyton turned back to her computer. The two sat comfortably in silence for a bit, doing their own thing. Peyton typed away on her keyboard, trying her best to finish this, but found herself distracted. Something was still bugging her.

Looking up, she saw Brooke texting away on her phone, not paying any attention to her.

"So I gotta ask," Peyton started slowly. She saw her friend look up with a bright smile. "Anything happen?"

"Happen?" Brooke repeated.

"Oh come on," Peyton pleaded, seeing the smirk on her friends face. "Something did happen didn't it?"

"Yes, that's why I woke up in bed with you," Brooke answered sarcastically. Titling her phone towards her, Brooke showed her what she was looking at. "I actually met this cute guy yesterday at the bar. Apparently he goes to Tree Hill too."

Grabbing the phone, Peyton eyed the Facebook profile her friend had opened. She was a little confused looking at the face of Chase Adams. This wasn't what she expected when she sent Brooke out last night.

Her endgame wasn't hearing about crazy sex between her and Jack. She just thought Brooke should get to know the eldest Scott brother seeing how she hadn't really been close to him compared to the others.

So hearing how she met a guy was a little confusing.

"You went out with a guy but ended up meeting another one?" Peyton finally said. She shook her head. "I'd say wow but this wouldn't be the first time I've heard this story."

"Play nice," Brooke smiled, smacking her friend on the arm. She expected the confusion. "I didn't go out and purposely try and meet someone P. Sawyer. We just bumped into each other, introduced ourselves, and spoke for like a minute. That's it."

"And now you're Facebook stalking him?"

"Like I said, he was cute," Brooke ignored her comment.

Relenting, Peyton let it go. "Hey if you're happy. Although I'm sure Felix won't be so pleased."

Brooke rolled her. "Maybe in another life. He's hot, but I'm not in the mood to play his games. The only games played are mine, and he isn't invited."

"No complaints from me," Peyton remembered dare night. "I can still taste those eggs."

The two laughed at the memory. As much as a pain that night was, they both had to admit that they had their own moments of fun. Hopefully the night ahead would be even better.

A loud slam alerted the two of another person as they turned to see their friend Mouth head towards them with a big smile.

"Hey guys," He waved. A camera was pointed towards them as he gave them a thumbs up. "I'm taping the night. Seeing if people want to give their own congratulations to Haley and Nathan."

"Oh that's a cool idea," Peyton said, eyeing the camera. "I'll have to think about it. Any kind words Brooke?"

"Absolutely," Brooke turned the camera towards her. "Haley, Nathan, I have one thing to say. Next time use protection. I'm to young to have a friend who's pregnant."

"You will not let that go," Peyton laughed.

Brooke shrugged. "What's a night without a few jokes and surprise's? Speaking of…"

Closing the camera, Brooke pulled Mouth closer to them. "Sit Mouth, we gotta talk."

"Am I in trouble?" He asked, a little worried.

"No way," Brooke smiled at the boy's concerned look. "We're just curious to know what happened with the hot bartender.

The girls laughed as their friend blushed.

"I haven't called her yet," Mouth admitted. He'd wanted to, but someone had held him back. "Felix said I shouldn't call until after three days. Says I don't wanna come across as desperate."

Peyton frowned. "Don't listen to him Mouth, he doesn't know what he's talking about. If that girl didn't want to give you her number to call, she wouldn't have given it in the first place."

"Peyton's right Mouth," Brooke added. "That's stupid advice. You got that hottie's number fair and square. Call her."

"I….I'll think about," Mouth smiled nervously. "Let's just have fun tonight right?"

Peyton felt a little sorry for her friend's hesitance, but understood it. He didn't want to screw it up. He was probably over thinking it, but Peyton would let it be. She was sure he'd do the right thing eventually.

"Mouth's right," Brooke answered. "We're going to have a blast tonight. Maybe will try and find another girl for you."

Mouth blushed again, secretly glancing towards Brooke. Peyton held back a laugh, seeing how oblivious her friend was. There was literally a guy not two feet from her who was head over heals for her.

Never change Brooke Davis. Peyton thought happily.