A/N: Hey guys. Here's the first chapter of my new story, Echoes. Leave some words and enjoy. xxKatyxx

Summary: He left her and their marriage to have a life with a woman he was seeing on the side. Now she's about to crash back into his life with the other woman, bringing the chaos that her life has become along with her.

Chapter One

The past

Tree Hill, North Carolina

"Haley?" Nathan Scott called for his wife when he came home and found three suitcases stuffed to full capacity against the wall. A few minutes later, she came out of the bedroom and entered the kitchen without so much as a glance in his direction or any indication that she was aware he was home.

The hair on the back of his neck stood up as she turned to face him. Before her gaze would be warm and full of love but that was then. Now she wouldn't even look him in the eye; her gaze rested on his left shoulder and he could feel the sadness radiating off her. "What's this?" he asked, gesturing to the suitcases.

Haley took a deep breath and finally raised her gaze to his. "I've packed my things," she replied sadly.

"Why?" he asked.

"Why?" she repeated incredulously. His mouth parted as if he was going to say something but no words came to him. "I find divorce papers in your bag, then you tell me you're leaving me so you can be with her and you're wondering why I'm packing?"

"I meant why are you packing when I'm the one who's leaving you? You can have the apartment. I'll stay with my parents," he said.

"How generous of you," Haley remarked.

"I'm just trying to make this less harder for you," he said.

"Oh, really? So you think that living all alone in the apartment that we shared would be easy for me?" Haley shot back.

"I didn't think of that," he replied. Haley nodded to let him know that she was aware of that. "I just thought that since it's close to Duke, it would be convenient."

"Oh, so you're offering me the apartment because it's close to Duke?" she asked.

"Yeah," he replied.

"Well, then it's really unnecessary because I won't be at Duke," Haley replied.

"What?" he asked completely caught off guard.

"I'm going to Stanford," she added simply.

"Since when are you going there and not Duke?" Nathan asked. Haley grabbed a Coke from the fridge and opened it. She took a swig, then put it on the counter and shrugged at him.

"Well, I was only going to Duke for you so that you could go to the college that you wanted. Once again I gave up what I wanted in order to keep us together and since that's no longer an issue, why not?" she explained.

"Haley, don't feel like you have to leave Tree Hill because of me," he said.

"But I do, Nathan," she interrupted. He looked at her in confusion. "If you want to be with Rachel instead of me, that's fine. I'm not happy about it but I've accepted it."

"Haley," he started to say but she kept on going.

"But expecting me to stay here and watch you be with her is asking too much of me," she finished.

"I understand," he said agreeably. Her face darkened.

Haley was determined to make a clean break from Nathan because she had come to terms with the fact they were not going to be together anymore. Their marriage was over except for the paperwork, which was being filed in the morning by the mayor Dan Scott also Nathan's father.

She was hoping she could keep things civil so that she could leave with her dignity intact. She was not usually the type to lose her cool and get emotional or make scenes. Most of the time, she was able to keep her cool but the way he was acting was really starting to annoy her.

He wasn't being mean or indifferent- that she could live with but instead he was being nice; agreeing with her, trying to comfort her and apologizing to her in an attempt to keep from hurting her but he was only hurting her more with his kindness. It showed that he still cared about her, which did nothing but confuse her. If he cared about her so much why was he doing this to her? Why was he leaving her to be with someone who might as well be a stranger to him? Why was she being punished for his sins?

"Stop doing that," she ordered in an angry voice.

"What am I doing?" Nathan asked, replaying their conversation in his head.

"What I do with my life is none of your business anymore," Haley said.

"I'm only trying to support your decision," he pointed out.

"Well, don't because I don't want it!" she exclaimed.

"Then, what do you want?" he asked and then cursed himself for being so stupid.

"I want my life back!" she admitted in an angry scream. Her eyes watered and her usually calm and collected manner disappeared as tears poured out of her eyes.

"A week ago, I was happy and in love. Things made sense then and now I feel lost. I don't understand what I did to deserve this," she told him in between sobs. He came closer to her and put his hands on her shoulders.

"You didn't do a thing," he assured her.

"Then why am I the one in pain?" she demanded. He was searching for an answer to give her some peace but she didn't wait for it. She shoved him off of her and finally exploded. "This is your fault. You're the one that cheated on me. You're the one that walked away from us. And yet somehow I'm the one that's suffering? Does that seem fair to you, Nathan? Do you think I deserve to be punished for your mistakes?"

"I never wanted to hurt you," he reminded her.

"Oh, well, then all is forgiven," Haley retorted.

"I know it's not much, Haley but it was never that I didn't love you because I do. I just," he started to say but shut his mouth as he realized what he planned to say would only make her angrier. Possibly turn her violent.

"You just what?" she prodded.

"I didn't plan on it. I wasn't looking for it," he quickly said.

"If you weren't looking for it then why did you go through with it?" she asked.

"I don't know why I did it. I just know that I developed feelings for her and it wasn't fair to stay with you knowing I cared for someone else," he said.

"But you still stayed with me. You continued seeing Rachel behind my back even though you knew it would kill me," Haley pointed out.

"I didn't want to hurt you. I never thought it would get serious with her but it did. I felt like I didn't have a choice at the time," he said.

"Don't give me that. There's always a choice. You could have told me that things weren't the same and that you didn't love me anymore," she said.

"But I did," he said.

"Don't interrupt!" she exclaimed. He bit his lip. "You could have done that but you didn't. Instead, you selfishly decided to have your cake and eat it too."

"No, that's not true," Nathan insisted.

"Don't talk to me about truth! As if you know the meaning of the word," she said.

"Fine," he relented.

"If you had done the honourable thing, I would've been hurt- there's no denying that- but I'd like to think that in the end, I would have respected you for having the decency to be honest with me but you weren't. You lied to me. You shattered my world. You pulled the rug out from under me. You made me hate you," she said.

A horn honked from outside. They both turned and saw a yellow cab parked outside through the window. Haley swallowed all of her emotions down. She walked over to the door and picked up her suitcases. She was about to walk through when Nathan stopped her. "Don't go yet. I don't want to leave it like this," he pleaded.

Her throat constricted with pain and she almost gave in but then she remembered why this had all started. She turned to him and shook her head. "You should have thought about that before," she said and walked out the door and his life for the last time.

--

The present (6 ½ years later)

Tree Hill, North Carolina

"Nathan!" Rachel Gatina exclaimed as she walked in the door of her boyfriend's house.

"Hey, honey," Nathan said as he came out of the kitchen to meet her. He pulled her to him and put his arms around her as much as he could as he hugged her.

They walked into the kitchen where she put her purse down on the counter and grabbed some ice cream. When her bowl was filled with chocolate mint ice cream, she found a spoon and joined him at the table. "How was your day?" he asked.

Her eyes narrowed. "I had to dodge reporters on the way out of the courthouse. Then a paparazzi followed me to the grocery store hoping to get a snapshot of me."

"Sorry," he said. He knew that Rachel hated the press as it was because she had to deal with them in most of her cases but they usually stayed out of her personal life. Their on-again-off-again relationship only added to her amount of press coverage.

"It's not your fault that those people can't get a life of their own. The guy was so hot for a picture that he blocked me in with his car," she said. His eyes widened and narrowed slightly at the same time. "I threw a bag of apples to get him to move it."

He chuckled softly. "You didn't knock someone unconscious again, did you?"

"Unfortunately, no," she replied.

"Good. The last thing my lawyers need is another assault case to deal with," he said.

Rachel shrugged carelessly. "That asshole is lucky I didn't run him over with my car after he blocked me in, never mind what damage the apples could have done to his face."

"Rachel, we've talked about this," he said.

"I know we have but talking doesn't make the migraines I get from flashes of cameras go away," she said.

"What if you get a chauffeur to drive you around in a limo and a bodyguard? The windows are tinted and you wouldn't have to deal with the press so much," he suggested.

"No way. I'm a grown woman and I can take care of myself," she said.

"The bodyguard would actually be protection for other people," he joked.

"I didn't hurt them… much," she argued.

"But you did hurt them," he said. She rolled her eyes. The doorbell rang a few times. They both turned to look in the direction of the door. She turned back to him. "Expecting someone?"

"I was just about to ask you the same thing," he replied.

"All the people we know are at work right now," she said as she started to get up to answer the door. He was already up and at the front door by the time she got out of her chair.

He opened the door and felt like someone punched him in the guts. The person on the other side was none other than Haley. Or at least he thought it was. She looked different. Her hair was dyed blonde, she was thinner and her eyes were darker than he remembered.

"What, don't I get a hug?" she asked and flashed him a mocking smile.

"What are you doing here?" he asked. Haley shrugged and then turned around. Nathan just noticed that there were two man dressed in black suits standing behind her. One was blonde and the other one had light brown hair.

"That's a good question. Why don't you tell him what I'm doing here?" she asked.

"Mr. Scott, do you mind if we talk about this inside?" the blonde asked as Rachel came to Nathan's side.

"What the hell are you doing here, Haley?" she demanded angrily.

"Not until you tell me who you are," Nathan replied.

"We're from the FBI," the brunette replied.

"You're FBI now?" Rachel asked Haley in disbelief.

"No!" Haley exclaimed and then started laughing at the thought. After a few minutes, her expression grew serious. "I'm dead."

--

A/N 2: Like it? Hate it? Let me know. Bye for now.