Believe In Me
Title: Believe In Me
Author: Diane
Pairing: Nathan/Haley
Rating: Teen Rated
Disclaimer: I don’t own a thing!
Spoilers/Warnings: This is an extension to episode 7.04 ‘Believe Me, I’m Lying’ so it’ll probably help to watch the episode before reading this.
Summary: Hadn’t they been through enough over the years without having to deal with yet another crazy causing trouble and trying to wreck their family?
Author’s Notes: This has been written especially for Kristen as a belated birthday present, and a big thank you has to go to her for reading over this and giving me a confidence boost. Love you, girlie! *hugs*
Sitting on the couch with a throw blanket wrapped around her, Haley stared off into space. The only thing she could feel right now was the slight throbbing pain in her hand from what had taken place a few short hours ago. The rest of her felt completely numb… well, except for the disgusting words that… that slut had spewed which were whirling around and around in her mind.
Leaning forward, she picked up the mug of hot chocolate from the coffee table that she’d made herself when she’d first come downstairs, her hand trembling as she did so. She tried to steady her hold on it as she brought it up to her lips and took a long sip before setting it back down. The beverage was doing little to warm her up and she snuggled further into the blanket, although she knew it wouldn’t do much good since the chill was inside her heart.
She believed Nathan was innocent… she truly did but… she couldn’t shake those words that were reverberating inside her head. God, everything had been going so great for them and she couldn’t understand why this was happening to them. Hadn’t they been through enough over the years without having to deal with yet another crazy causing trouble and trying to wreck their family?
“How’s the hand?”
Haley startled at suddenly hearing Nathan’s voice and shifting her position slightly so she could face him, her breath caught in her throat at seeing him standing there clad in just his black pyjama pants, his hair all mussed from sleep. “A little sore,” she replied quietly.
“Want me to get you an ice pack?”
She shook her head. “It’s not that bad. If only the same could be said for this whole mess though.”
“Hales—”
“Don’t, just… don’t. What I did tonight has made things so much worse than they already were and I can’t even begin to think about what’s going to happen with Jamie. How do we explain this latest development to him?”
“I’m sorry,” Nathan said, running a hand through his hair, his shoulders sagging under the weight of guilt he felt.
“Do me a favour, okay. Stop saying you’re sorry ‘cause it’s not helping.”
He nodded, feeling even worse. “Uh, Clay called while you were in the shower and—”
“You know what? I really don’t want to hear his name right now or what he thinks,” Haley cut in.
“Haley, c’mon, he’s just doing his job.”
“Right. It was his job to throw you a party where gold-digging groupies were present, just waiting for the perfect opportunity to get their picture taken with you so they could later claim they’d slept with you and you’d gotten them pregnant.” She didn’t bother waiting to hear his response to that. Letting go of the blanket, she got up from the couch and walked towards the patio doors, her gaze fixed on the swimming pool which was shimmering in the moonlight. Feeling him come up behind her, she said, “It’s already all over the late news and I’m sure it’ll pop up in tomorrow’s papers, too.”
“What did she actually say to you?” Nathan asked. When she’d arrived home in tears and had told him she’d been confronted by his accuser, confessing to having struck her, she refused to say what the other woman had said to garner such a reaction and had, instead, locked herself in the bathroom and turned the shower on. She’d taken so long in there that he’d eventually fallen asleep waiting for her and when he’d woken up without her beside him, he’d gone looking for her.
“It doesn’t matter,” she whispered. The words were still echoing in her ears and she felt the prickle of tears behind her eyelids. Squeezing her eyes shut, she willed them not to fall.
“Of course it does! What did that bitch say to provoke you into hitting her?” Placing his hands on her shoulders, he felt her shiver before she moved away from him and that little movement made him feel sick to his stomach. Any other time, she’d let him wrap her in his embrace. “Haley…”
The sound of his quiet, broken voice was her undoing and a single tear rolled down her cheek. “She said you didn’t love me… you apparently told her that while the two of you were mak—”
“NO!” he exclaimed, cutting her off before she could finish. “That never happened! You’ve got to believe me, Haley. Please!”
Turning around to face him, she saw his beautiful blue eyes glistening with his own tears. “I do believe you, Nathan. I do but… It was so hard hearing those words coming straight from her mouth. Seeing her smirking face as she said them.”
He ached to hold her but she hadn’t taken a step towards him and since he couldn’t bear her moving away from him again he stayed rooted to the spot.
“I shouldn’t have lost control but when she said…” Haley trailed off as the memory hit her full force again, making her stomach roil.
“When she said what?”
Releasing a heavy sigh, she knew she had to tell him everything. “After she told me what you’d supposedly said to her, I called her a slut and she… she then said that maybe she was a slut but that’s what you’d liked about her. That… that you’d had her do all kinds of stuff to you that you said I would never do.”
“And that’s when you belted her?”
“Yeah,” she whispered.
Closing the distance between them, Nathan cupped her face in his hands and looked her straight in the eyes, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips as he said, “That’s my girl!” Seeing the slow half-smile that crept onto her face, knowing she was remembering another time when he’d used those same words, he ducked his head and sealed his mouth over hers, kissing her long and slow.
“Nathan…” she half-whispered, half-moaned when the kiss broke several moments later.
“None of what she’s said is true… you’ve got to believe me,” he said, repeating his earlier words.
“I do,” she promised. “I just haven’t been able to stop hearing those words since she first said them.”
“I wish I could do something to help with that.”
“You can,” she said, sliding her arms up his bare chest and around his neck as she pushed herself up onto her toes. “Kiss me again.”
More than happy to oblige, his lips found hers once more and he kissed her harder, pouring everything he felt for her into it. His own arms banded around her waist as he pulled her body flush against him. “I love you so much,” he told her. “You’re the only one I’ve ever wanted… the only one I will ever want.”
Haley’s eyes filled with tears as she heard the sincerity in his voice. Swallowing past the lump in her throat, she stated just as firmly, “The same goes double for me.”
Nathan smiled at that. “You’ve always got to go one up on me, huh?”
Pressing a kiss onto his lips, she rested her head against his chest as her hold on him tightened that little bit more. “What are we going to do?”
Lightly stroking his fingers over her auburn hair which had returned to its wavy state after her shower, he replied, “I don’t know, Hales. And I know you don’t want to hear it but—”
“What did Clay say?” she interjected, having a pretty good idea of what he was going to say next.
“He suggested we should both keep a low profile while we wait and see what her next move is.”
“Great,” she said, sighing as she drew back from him. “She’s the one who started all of this and yet we’re the ones who have to hide. I know I shouldn’t have lashed out and hit her but… I just lost my temper when she said all of those things and all I could see was red. The next thing I know she’s on the ground and all of these flashbulbs were going off.”
“There was a lot of media there for the fashion show but it sounds like she might’ve tipped some of them off before confronting and provoking you.”
“Yeah. I’m not sure she was expecting that reaction from me though.”
“It serves her right! She chose the wrong people to mess with.”
“This is really bad though, Nathan. I mean, there’s video footage and photos of me slapping a pregnant woman so hard she ended up on the floor. That doesn’t look good for either of us.”
Rubbing a hand over his face, he nodded. “Yeah, I know. Look, it’s getting late so why don’t we go to bed and deal with all of this in the morning. There’s nothing we can do right now.”
“Okay,” she agreed, slipping her hand into his and intertwining their fingers. “I-I’m sorry I was so harsh with you before.”
“You haven’t got to apologise for anything, baby,” he said, smiling down at her warmly and giving her fingers a gentle squeeze before leading her out of the room.
As they climbed the stairs, Nathan felt a swell of pride in his chest that his girl didn’t take crap from anyone and could give as good as she got. He had a feeling things were about to get a whole lot worse for them but as long as they stood together, as a couple and as a family, he was sure they could get through anything and that was all that mattered.
Fin