Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill or any of its characters.

A/N: Hey everybody. I know I was really mean last chapter with that cliffhanger…lol, and I know many of you were anxious for the next one because of it so I tried to put it up as fast as possible. Here it is and hopefully you all like it. And as always thanks to everybody who keeps on reading this story and especially to those of you who comment. You guys/gals are awesome.

"Peyton, hold on," Ellie said, grabbing her arm just as her hand reached for the door handle. "It's 3:00 a.m. You can't just open the door."

"I can't just leave him out there," Peyton argued. "He needs me."

"For what, Peyton?" Haley asked. "A drunken, late night booty call?"

"Look, you don't know him, ok. This isn't about sex."

"Fine," Ellie said. "But he is clearly drunk."

"You don't know that."

"Peyt, I know you want to defend him, but it doesn't take a genius to figure out he's been drinking." Haley rationalized.

"I agree," Ellie stated. "I've had my share of drunken visits and trust me, they never end well. I say we call the police and have him removed."

"No!" Peyton exclaimed in horror. "I would never do that to him," she added, pulling free of Ellie's grasp.

The knocking had stopped and she feared Nathan had given up so she hurried to open the door. He wasn't standing there so she quickly glanced around past the porch light, the darkness making it difficult to see. Finally she spotted a shadow sitting against the railing, slumped over, his face buried in his hands. "Nathan?" she called softly.

"Peyton," he said in relief, sitting up as best he could. "The door was locked. I thought…you didn't…you didn't answer. You never lock the door. I thought…"

"My dad's home," she said. "He keeps it locked at night." Even in the darkness, she could hear the tremor in his voice. "Nate, what's wrong?" she asked softly, crouching down beside him. The smell of alcohol invaded her nostrils so Ellie and Haley had been right to say he'd been drinking, but Peyton knew it was more than that. She'd seen him mildly buzzed to completely intoxicated and every stage in between, but she'd never seen him like this – shaken to his very core. When she touched his arm, she could feel his entire body quivering. "Nate?"

He shook his head vigorously, either unwilling, or unable, to bring himself to speak the words. Peyton guessed it was the latter.

"Ok," she whispered. "You don't have to talk about it."

"Peyton, can I…? I mean, do you think…?" He took a deep breath, trying to form the right words in his head. "Can I stay with you tonight?" he finally settled on.

"Nathan…"

"I won't bother you to take me back or anything. I know how much you hate that…"

"Nate…"

"But I can just…maybe just sit in the chair or…something. And you can sleep or, or, draw, or, whatever you want. I won't try anything, Peyt. I won't even make a sound. Is that ok?"

"Nathan, you can't," she said regretfully. "I told you my dad…"

"Kay," he said, using the railing as he struggled to pull himself up. "I'm bothering you, I'm sorry."

He was incredibly unsteady on his feet and it occurred to her that the alcohol he'd consumed must be hitting him harder than she'd first thought. She also realized that nothing she'd said, beyond he couldn't stay, had penetrated through the haze and his cloudy mind had made up its own reasons for why she wasn't allowing it.

"No, you're not," she assured him. "It's just…"

"Peyton, it's ok. I get it. I was a jerk to you. Why should I expect you to help me?"

"It's not that…"

"I don't blame you for hating me. I deserve it."

"Nathan…"

"It was my fault that I lost you," he acknowledged. "Everything's my fault."

She narrowed her eyes, having a strong feeling that by 'everything' he wasn't speaking of just their relationship. But she had no time to dwell on it when she heard the jingle of his car keys as he fished them out of his jacket and turned away from her with another heartfelt apology for coming.

"You drove like this!?" she shouted, pulling him roughly back around. He may be already upset, but no way would she let that go. "And you're planning to do it again!? Right in front of me!? Did you not listen to a word I said when we were dating!? Do you have a death wish or are you just so much of an idiot that it doesn't register with you that driving while intoxicated is like going on a suicide mission!?"

He tensed at her word choice and his mind instinctively replayed the moment he'd opened the door of his house. His heart pounded painfully and, all of a sudden, he couldn't seem to get any air in his lungs. The images were so vivid; it was like reliving it all over again.

"Nathan!" Peyton shrieked in panic. At first she thought laying into him so hard had caused this violent reaction, but she quickly remembered that was pretty routine for her and he never reacted like this. "What's wrong? Please talk to me," she pleaded, letting go of her earlier comment that he didn't have to speak of it.

"She's dead," he managed to croak. "And it's my fault."

"What are you talking about? Who's dead?" she asked desperately. "Nathan!" she urged when he didn't respond. "Who's dead? What happened?"

"It's my fault," he repeated.

"Did you get in an accident?"

"No, it wasn't an accident."

She heard his voice crack and she knew he was trying to hold back tears. "Nathan, you're scaring me," she said truthfully. She'd never seen him on the verge of crying. He was always strong and whenever his emotions did get the best of him, they were always displayed through anger. Always. That she could deal with; she was used to his temper tantrums and knew how to handle them. But this? Broken down, barely-holding-it-together Nathan was new territory for her.

"I didn't mean to," he whispered and she wasn't sure if he was referring to scaring her or whatever had gotten him so spooked in the first place.

Her heart leading her actions, she reached for his hands, sliding her fingers in his as she started walking backwards. "Come inside, ok," she said, pulling him along gently.

He nodded, though she couldn't see it, and willingly followed where she led him. They were nearly inside when Nathan stopped dead in his tracks and stared at the doorway.

Peyton turned around to see what had halted his movements and noticed the three figures standing there, watching them. She shook her head, but chalked it up to the fact that they were worried about her. They didn't know Nathan like she did so they would feel like they were somehow protecting her from him. They didn't understand that, even under the influence, he posed no threat to her. She'd have to set the record straight about that, but it would have to wait. Right now her main concern was Nathan. It seemed he hadn't realized they weren't alone even though logically he should have known. She'd outright told him about her dad, and the cars in the driveway were a clear indication that others were around. But logic never did coincide with alcohol and, as emotionally distraught as he was on top of that, it was understandable that he wasn't thinking clearly.

"It's ok," she said softly, tugging at his hands.

"Actually, no, it's not," Larry piped up sternly. "Boy, you got a hell of a lot of nerve showing up here in the middle of the night. Whatever mess you've gotten yourself into, my daughter is not your angel of mercy and this house is certainly not going to be your hideout."

Peyton pursed her lips together and turned on her father. "Daddy…"

"Don't Daddy me, Peyton," he said. "This is not a safe haven for criminals."

"Well then I guess it's a good thing he's not one, huh?" she said tightly.

"Oh, but he is," Larry returned. "Go on inside. I'll drive him home."

Peyton could only nod because if her father wasn't going to allow Nathan inside, which wasn't at all surprising that he wouldn't, then she was happy that he'd at least recognized that he was drunk and was willing to see him safely home. She couldn't argue with that. At least then she could rest assured that Nathan wouldn't be taking the wheel.

Nathan, however, became increasingly agitated with the idea. "No," he said as he started backing up. "I'll just go, ok?"

"Nathan, it's ok," Peyton said soothingly. "He's just gonna take you home."

"No, I don't want to…I…I c-can't," he sputtered. "I can't go back there."

"Hey, hey," she spoke quietly, touching his face softly in an attempt to calm him down. When she did so, her eyes narrowed as her fingers ran over the undeniable texture of broken skin. Suspiciously she yanked him toward the porch light, until he stood directly beneath it.

Her mouth fell open as she took in the sight of him. His left eye was swollen, scrapes and bruises covered his face, more prominently on the left side, but with a few abrasions on the right as well, and his bottom lip was split. "Nathan, what happened?"

He shut his eyes tightly, willing the image away. 'Look what you've done, you little shit! This is your fault. If you weren't such a mouthy little prick all the time…" His eyes opened just as the large fist came toward him and the memory engulfed him.

"It was my fault. I'm sorry," he said, to whom Peyton wasn't sure. He was looking at her but at the same time he wasn't. His eyes were unfocused and he seemed to be looking right through her, living in a different moment.

"Nate?"

"He needs to get cleaned up," Ellie interrupted to say. "Take him inside," she told Peyton.

"Oh no, you don't," Larry growled when Peyton was about to do as Ellie said.

"Daddy, he's hurt," Peyton pointed out beseechingly, her soft green eyes pleading.

"And you want to nurse him to health? No. Not happening."

"Larry," Ellie said patiently. "Those cuts will get infected if they're not treated."

"That is not my concern," Larry fumed. "He wants to get himself in a scrape then he can suffer his own consequences. But not in my house."

"Fine, then I'll take him back to my apartment," Ellie stated stubbornly.

"I can't let you do that."

"Do you honestly think you have any say in that?"

"I think I should, seeing as you seem to think you have a say here."

She motioned for Peyton to go ahead and take Nathan in, silently letting her daughter know that she'd take care of her father.

"Ok, who do you think you are?" Larry muttered through gritted teeth after the three teens were in the house. "You show up a few weeks ago and think you can just take over…"

"It's the right thing to do and I think you know that."

"The hell it is! That kid is bad news. I knew it from the start and, quite frankly, I don't want him anywhere near my daughter."

"I understand that…"

"No, apparently you don't."

"Look," Ellie said. "Put aside your own feelings for a minute and try to see this through Peyton's perspective. The boy she loves is hurt and reaching out to her."

"No, what he's doing is taking advantage of her love and kindness."

"Ok, let's say you're right," Ellie challenged. "What do you think's gonna happen if you send him away in his current condition? I may not have met her that long ago, but even I know that she would resent you for a long time, maybe even forever."

Larry just sighed because he knew she was right. That damn Scott boy had his daughter doing back flips for him and whenever Larry so much as commented on it, Peyton would either go ballistic or give him the silent treatment for days. "Fine," he surrendered. "He gets cleaned up and then he's out of here."

Ellie nodded. "You won't regret it."

"Wrong," he muttered. "I already regret it."

"Keep in mind, he's just a kid too," Ellie said. "And by the way," she added just before they went inside. "Take a look at his knuckles. You'll notice they're mark-free. He didn't get in a scrape, Larry," she told him confidently. "Somebody beat him."

"You mean someone beat me to it?" Larry asked blithely. He knew it sounded cold, and he would never actually do it, but neither could he take pity on Nathan because someone had given him what he deserved. The boy had probably pissed off the wrong guy and finally got what he had coming.

––––––––––

"Your dad wants to hit me," Nathan said as Peyton urged him onto the couch and sat beside him. Haley, feeling awkward with just the two of them, had volunteered to fetch the supplies needed to clean Nathan's wounds.

"No," Peyton denied. "Why would you say that?"

"Because he does." The thick fog of his mind had lifted slightly, just enough to start being aware of his unwanted presence, yet not enough to be uncomfortable with it unless her father was in his direct view. "I know he doesn't want me here."

Peyton's first instinct was to ask him what his first clue was, but she left the thought unspoken, knowing that, in his state of mind, he'd likely actually answer the question. Besides, he had enough on his plate right now without her unnecessary sarcasm. "Don't worry about him," she said instead. "Ellie's got him. Do you want to tell me what happened tonight?"

He stiffened and she instantly regretted pushing the issue. She should know better that he wouldn't open up to her until he was ready. "Ok, you don't have to," she told him softly even though what she really wanted to do was scream at him to tell her. But she knew that wouldn't do any good. He would only close himself off more if he was feeling cornered.

"I didn't mean it," he surprised her by saying. "But she took me serious and now she's dead."

"Who?" she prodded gently.

"My mom," he said, looking over at her. "She killed herself."

Her mouth fell open again but before she could comment, Larry and Ellie came inside. She tried to discreetly question him, but he looked away, avoiding eye contact. So when Haley came in with a small bowl of water, a wash cloth, some disinfecting ointment and band aids, Peyton set about quietly cleaning his sores and the blood that had drizzled from them.

He didn't even flinch as she did so. "That doesn't hurt?" she asked him as she dabbed at the open wounds.

He shook his head. "I can't feel it."

"The upside of being trashed," she responded, keeping it light due to the others around them.

His cell phone rang three times during her ministrations and she was pretty sure it had gone off a few times outside as well – all with the same ring tone, which she recognized as the one he'd set for his dad. She didn't wonder why he was avoiding his father. He did it all the time when he wasn't in the mood to deal with him so she didn't think anything of it.

But Larry, annoyed with watching his daughter play nurse to a boy who'd done nothing but break her heart, came out with a smart remark about Nathan not wanting to answer his other girlfriends' calls while with Peyton.

"It's his dad," Peyton snapped irritably.

"All the more reason to pick it up," Larry shot back.

"I don't want to talk to him," Nathan said by way of explanation.

"Of course you don't. And why would you?" Larry asked. "Wouldn't want him to find out about the bind you've gotten yourself in?"

"Daddy!"

"It's much easier to just hide out here with my daughter, isn't it?"

"Dad, stop! That's not what he's doing."

"The hell it's not…"

"Larry," Ellie admonished lightly, while Haley remained uncharacteristically quiet, just taking everything in.

"No, look, you're done here," Larry retorted sharply, his eyes on Peyton. "I agreed to have him in to get cleaned up, but you're done. It's time for him to go."

"I haven't even applied the ointment yet," she argued lamely.

"He can do that himself at home. His home."

Peyton shot her father a look that clearly indicated how unimpressed she was with him at the moment. But though she normally had him wrapped around her finger, for this Larry would not budge and kept insisting that Nathan go. With a strict order for Nathan to stay put, Peyton all but dragged her father into the kitchen, ready to lay into him for his treatment of Nathan.

"He doesn't want to go home," she practically hissed.

"Peyton, I don't care where he goes but he's not staying here."

"So you're just gonna send him away?" Peyton asked, her voice rising. "Daddy, he's been drinking!"

"Oh, he's been doing a lot more than just drinking," he said in rebuttal. "You see his pupils? He's on something more than alcohol."

Peyton wanted to disagree but she'd noticed it too. "Well so? Isn't that all the more reason to let him stay? Would you really want it on your conscience if he got in an accident?"

"I'll call him a cab," Larry countered. "Hell, I'll even pay for it."

"Fine," Peyton shot back, all but stomping her foot in rebellion. "Then I'm going with him."

"The hell you are!" he thundered.

"If he has to go, then so am I," she said. "And you can't stop me."

"As your father, I sure as hell can stop you. And don't your forget it."

"No," she insisted irately. "You can try but that doesn't mean it'll work."

"Peyton, if I have to lock you in your room…"

"I'll climb out my window."

"To a two-storey drop?"

"I don't care."

"You will after you break a few bones."

"No, I won't," she returned hotly. "His mother committed suicide tonight and I don't care what you say or do, I am not leaving him alone."

"Suicide?" Larry asked, his features instantly softening.

Peyton sighed. She hadn't meant to reveal that to her father, but he was being so stubborn and she needed to make him understand. "Yeah," she replied softly. "And, for some reason, he's blaming himself." Hell, she may as well tell him the whole story now. "From what I can gather they got in an argument and he said some things and…well, I don't really know anything else. He stopped talking when you and Ellie came in."

Her father wasn't answering and she chose to take that as a good sign. "So, can he stay?" she nearly whispered.

"Honey, as much as this is a tragedy, I really don't like the idea…"

"Just for tonight? He can't be alone right now."

"No, he needs to be at home, with his family. That's the best way to deal with something like this. It won't do him any good to run away from it. He's got to face it sooner or later."

"Well, maybe he's not ready to face it. I mean it just happened," Peyton reasoned. "And who's to say he's not facing it? Just because he needs comfort and support doesn't mean he's running away."

"No, but ignoring his father's phone calls indicates that he is."

"Not really. He ignores his dad's calls all the time because he's a major jerk most of the time. He's always on Nathan's case about something or other."

"Even so, I still think the best place for him right now is at home," Larry insisted, though his tone had softened considerably. "I know that's not what you want to hear, but…"

"Umm, sorry," Haley interrupted, coming into the kitchen. "Just thought you should know that Nathan's about to take off…"

"What? I specifically told him…"

"Yeah, Ellie's trying to stop him but he says he doesn't want to cause problems between you two."

Peyton sighed in frustration, rushing past Haley toward the living room, not even hearing the ring of the telephone. "Nathan! Seriously, you cannot drive!" she scolded, her voice coming out much harsher than she'd intended. But damn if he wasn't the most obstinate guy on this earth. Two things she'd asked of him tonight – to stay put on the couch and not to drive. He'd ignored both. Well, one he'd ignored and the other he was about to.

"I won't," he answered. "I'll walk."

She rolled her eyes. Like he could pull that one over on her when he was standing there, car keys in hand. "Yeah? Where to?"

"I don't know. The beach house? I don't know."

"Give me the keys," she instructed, holding her hand out.

To her surprise he dropped them in her hand without a word and turned to leave.

"Where are you going? Nathan, the beach house is an hour walk and you're in no shape…"

"Peyton, you're fighting with your dad because of me. And I'm not worth it."

"Don't say that."

"Why not? It's true. I'm a horrible guy. I even killed my own mother," he said, causing Ellie and Haley's eyes to widen in surprise.

"Stop it!" Peyton screamed. "You didn't kill her. She killed herself."

"Because of me," he hollered back, unable to contain it any longer. Once Peyton had gone into the kitchen, he'd inevitably replayed the argument with his mother in his mind and the guilt was beginning to eat away at him. "Because I was pissed off and told her to go away and never come back." Angrily he brushed his face with the back of his hand to wipe away the involuntary stray tear that had fallen. He hated being weak but right now he was feeling anything but strong. "I said she was a bitch trying to be a mom."

"Nathan," Peyton whispered, on the brink of tears herself at seeing him like this. She reached out for him, wanting to hold him and make all the pain go away.

But he jumped back from her touch. "No. Don't you see, Peyton? It's my fault. I told her to stay out of my life and she…"

"Listen," Ellie cut in. "I don't know a lot about suicide, but I do know that to commit it, you'd have to have some deeper psychological problems, far bigger than a couple cruel comments from a rebellious teenager."

"Yeah?" Nathan scoffed disbelievingly. "Well, what about a whole string of cruel comments? You don't know how much of an asshole I can be. But just ask anybody in this room and they'll tell you."

"Being an asshole doesn't make you responsible for a suicide."

"Make that attempted suicide," Larry said, coming in still holding the cordless phone. "That was your father on the phone," he told Nathan. "He's at the hospital. They've pumped your mother's stomach and she's going to be just fine. At least physically."

Confusion marked Nathan's beaten, yet still handsome, features as he tried to comprehend what had just been told to him.

"Nathan!" Peyton exclaimed heartily. "She made it!"

"No," he denied, seeing the image vividly in his mind. "I saw her. She was just laying there, not moving."

"But she pulled through, Nate."

He shook his head. "My dad said she OD'd."

"She did overdose on pills," Larry said. "But the doctors managed to get them out of her system."

Nathan was still shaking his head, hell-bent on the idea that his mother had died, until Peyton put her hands on both sides of his face and forced him to look at her.

"You trust me, right?" she asked him.

"Yeah," he answered without hesitation.

Her eyes bore into his, silently pleading with him to believe her. "Your mom made it, Nate. She's alive."

He swallowed hard and then nodded because, despite what he saw, or thought he saw, there wasn't much she could tell him that he wouldn't whole-heartedly believe.

"And now," Larry piped up. "You might as well go sit back down because your dad'll be here in twenty minutes to pick you up."

Nathan's eyes left Peyton's, but not before she caught a glimpse of fear reflected in them. He tried to say that he would just walk home, that he needed the air, that it warm outside anyway, that it wasn't that far.

But Larry shot down every excuse and stood firm. "If I have to physically put you on that couch, you're not going to like it."

Peyton placed a hand on Nathan's arm, urging him to the couch before he could make some smart-ass, cocky remark like, 'try it, old man'. She could totally picture him saying that and it definitely wouldn't go over very well.

He went with her silently and stayed that way for the next twenty minutes when, right on time, the door bell sounded. Not unnoticed by Peyton, Nathan didn't move, but rather froze on the spot.

Larry answered the door, and Nathan and Peyton both expected that, any minute, he'd come into the living room to tell Nathan it was time. But instead, when he came in, he was carrying a blanket and a pillow. He tossed both items at Nathan but looked at Peyton to say sternly. "One night. And he stays on the couch."

Peyton smiled appreciatively and nodded her head, her blonde curls bopping up and down.

"How come he changed his mind?" Nathan asked once Larry had left the room.

"I don't know," Peyton admitted, just as surprised as Nathan was. "Maybe you're starting to grow on him," she teased lightly.

She knew that wasn't it, which is why it had come out as a joke, but Nathan was still out of sorts and hadn't caught it. She was about to clarify, but when he smiled for the first time all night and softly said that that would be cool, she didn't have the heart to take it back.

"Yeah, it would," she said agreeably.

–––––––––––––––

"So, why'd you do it?" Ellie asked Larry as they sat in the kitchen together. Peyton was still with Nathan in the living room and Haley had gone up to Peyton's room for the night. "Send his father away."

Larry sighed. "Because of something you said earlier," he told her. "I looked at his knuckles."

"Nathan's?"

"Dan's."

She nodded sadly, catching his meaning. "That's too bad. No kid deserves that."

"No, but if there were ever one who came close to deserving it, it'd be him."

"Oh come on, you don't mean that."

Larry just shrugged because no matter his personal feelings, he really didn't mean it. At least not from a parent, or any adult.

"So, what did you say to Dan?"

"Just that Nathan had fallen asleep and would be home tomorrow. I didn't want to accuse him without proof."

"Totally understandable. What are you going to do? Anything?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna talk to the kid tomorrow and try to get to the bottom of this. No sense trying to talk to him tonight while he's still out of it."

"True. He's flying high on something."

"You noticed too, huh?"

"Hard not to."

"So, can I interest you in an all-nighter?" Larry asked with a grin. "I'll put on a pot of coffee."

"Well that depends," Ellie said, pretending to ponder her decision. "Would I be here for the company or to be put on guard duty?" she asked knowingly.

"You caught me," he admitted. "Well how about a little of both? We'll keep each other company while we both perform guard duty."

"You got yourself a deal," Ellie responded.

"Good, because someone's got to keep an eye on those two."

"Oh yeah, absolutely," she agreed.