Title: Always Hope
Rating: K+
Disclaimer: Nothing but the plot is mine. First line taken from Episode 4x20
Summary: Directly follows on from the scene where Nathan comes home from work in Episode 4x20. Nathan contemplates his day, and what it meant, whilst Haley tries to make it a little better.

Authors Notes: I've been struggling a bit with my writing lately, not being satisfied with anything I've written and so it was suggested to me to try something completely new. I know I'm not the only one who was disappointed that this scene cut off so quickly, so here's my version of what might have happened. It's pretty fluffy!

Big thanks to Brittany and Lori for encouraging me to write this and holding my hand a little! And to Zee and Leanne for helping me with the title! Britt gets double thanks for beta-ing. Love you hon!

"…Now is the time for us to become the people we've always dreamed of being…" The words died on Haley's lips as she turned, taking in her exhausted husband's appearance. Studying him for a second, she took in the almost apologetic smile he gave her. Placing down her mug and papers, she shook her head and walked or more aptly, waddled out of the kitchen over to where he sat, their eyes never leaving each other. As she stood in front of him she smiled, using her fingers to brush away the hair on his forehead. "Are you okay?"

Her voice was soft and quiet, barely breaking the stillness in the dimly lit room and as Nathan looked up at her, her stomach jutting out between them, he could clearly see the concern in her eyes and it angered him a little. Not toward her, but himself. He didn't want her to worry about him; she didn't need to be worrying about him. Unconsciously, he leaned into her hand as it stroked through his hair, closing his eyes for a moment. "Tired."

"C'mere." She held her hand out and tugged him from the seat when he took hold of it. Leading him out of the room she smiled over her shoulder at him, her eyes willing him to go along without question.

"Where are we going?"

"Upstairs, come on." Wondering what exactly she was doing, Nathan decided it was best to just follow her lead. He let out a low laugh when the thought that he hoped she wasn't playing seductress popped into his head; he was just too tired.

"What?" Stopping at the top of the stairs, Haley turned to question his random laughter.

"Nothing, just thought something I never thought I would."

"Okay..." Her brow scrunched in confusion she shrugged and led him into their bedroom, shoving him lightly onto the bed.

"Uh, Hales, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I don't think I can do this tonight."

"Do what?" The pregnant blonde eyed her husband curiously for a second as he glanced from her to the bed, and back to her. She let out a giggle, shaking her head as his assumption clicked. "Oh babe, no, that's not why I brought you up here."

"Then why…"

"Strip," she ordered standing before him, one hand resting on the base of her spine.

"I thought you said you didn't want to have sex." He smirked up at her, feeling himself start to relax just from being around her.

"I don't." She turned to walk toward the adjoining bathroom, glancing back at him when he let out a laugh that rang with disbelief, watching him slip his shirt over his head. Maybe that wasn't exactly the truth; she kind of always wanted to have sex with him.

Nathan watched her move through the door and out of the room; even 8 months pregnant she moved with an innocent yet seductive grace he'd never understood. Slipping out of his work pants, he dropped them on the ground.

"Hamper!" He smiled a little at Haley's shouted instruction and bent down to retrieve them, balling them up and throwing them across the room into the wicker bin. Hearing the thud as they landed at the bottom, a bittersweet smile graced his lips. Basketball. This was the first day of the rest of his life without it. He'd never thought about what else he'd do. School. College. NBA. It had been imbedded in his mind since before he'd even got the chance to form dreams of his own; he'd never consider anything else. He loved the game and he was good at it. As long as he worked hard, his dream had always been within reach, until now. He knew it was his own fault; he knew from the get go he shouldn't get involved with someone like Dante, but he hadn't felt he had any other options.

He was shaken from his thoughts by the sound of water running and his wife's voice saying something he couldn't quite hear. Probably talking to the baby, he mused and felt a genuine smile stretching across his features. She'd been doing that more and more lately, ordering him to do the same at the most random moments, saying she was determined that their son would be completely familiarised with their voices by the time he came into the world.

He stood up from the bed and made his way toward the bathroom, watching his wife as she picked up some of the bath salts he'd used to ease his muscles after games and pour them into the tub, her hand indeed resting on her bump as she addressed the baby inside. His dealings with Dante could have cost him so much more and if giving up basketball was his payment to God for allowing his wife and son to survive that accident, he'd do so in a heartbeat. He wished he was a big enough person to say he'd do it without question or complaint, but he definitely wasn't the martyr Peyton had claimed him to be weeks before.

"Let me do that. You shouldn't be on your feet."

Startled by his boxer-only clad presence, she awkwardly maneuvered herself back into a standing position from the way she'd been resting against the towel rail in order to lean over as far as she needed. "I'm fine, you've had a really long tiring day. Let me do this for you."

He began to open his mouth to respond, but she cut him off. "It's not very often I play the Stepford wife, Nathan, and I can tell you now it'll be even less often once this baby of yours arrives, so go back into the other room and I'll call you when its ready." His protest died on his lips when she added a now on the end, using the mommy tone he knew she'd be secretly practicing. Smiling, he closed the distance between them, pressing a quick kiss to her forehead before nodding, unable to stop the yawn that escaped as he walked out of the room.

"Do you think this will cheer daddy up?" Haley tilted her down so she was directing her voice down toward her protruding stomach as she moved to sit on top of the closed toilet seat, watching the water filling the large tub. Her eyes focused on where she could just make out Nathan laying on his back on top of their bed, his eyes shut. The baby kicked, responding to her voice and Haley smiled as she rubbed circles over the place she'd felt the movement. "Does that mean you think it will? I hope so baby, I really hope so. Your daddy's going through something really hard right now, sweetie, but I promise I'm trying to make everything okay for when you get here."

Seeing that the water level had rapidly risen, she let out a groan of regret at ever sitting down in the first place and used her hands to push herself back up onto her feet. Turning off the water, she tested the temperature, smiling at the thought of doing the same for her child in a couple of week's time.

"Nathan..." She stood in the doorway watching for any sign that he'd heard her. When he didn't move she slowly made her way across the room and sat down on the edge of the bed. Repeating his name, her hand went to his hair, running her fingers through the thick locks as she tried to coax him awake.

"Hmmm?" His eyes fluttered open and she immediately regretted waking him as she noticed how clouded with sleep they were.

"Your bath's ready, but if you want to sleep..." His hand wrapped around her arm lightly and he smiled up at her.

"No. I'm coming." Resisting the urge to turn over and bury his head into the pillows and succumb to the sleep that was calling him, he released her arm and moved to get off the bed. Husband of the year he might not be, but he wasn't going to turn his nose up at his pregnant wife's efforts to cheer him up.

Once they'd both moved into the bathroom and he'd climbed into the tub, he realised just how much he actually needed this. If you'd ask him yesterday, he would have assured he worked every muscle group equally, now as he leant his head back and shut his eyes he felt sore muscles where he wasn't even aware he had any.

"You just relax okay? I'm going to go make you some dinner. Anything special you want?"

"Forget about dinner for a minute, Hales, come sit with me." He patted the wide deep ledge that his head was perched against and she nodded, moving across the bathroom before awkwardly pulling herself up so her back rested against the wall and her feet just dangled off the end.

"You do realise you're probably going to have to get out of the tub to help me down from here right?" she half joked as she shuffled around trying to get comfortable, moving over a little so Nathan's head rested against the side of her thigh.

"I can deal with that. Thank you for doing this, I didn't realise I needed it."

"That's okay, my dad always used to come home from work and get into a hot bath. He said it was the only thing that rejuvenated him from the day, so I thought it was worth a shot." Her fingers had once again worked their way into his hair. She hadn't been particularly fond of the longer look he'd been sported lately to begin with, but she loved the way it felt in her hands. "How was it?"

"Okay. Skills' dad is great."

"Isn't he? I love him."

"He seems quite fond of you too." Nathan turned to smile back at Haley who beamed in response.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, told me some interesting stories too. I never really you were such a violent child, Haley."

Her hands stilled in confusion and he let out an unhappy moan at the loss of the soothing action. "What are you talking?"

"Oh just a certain thing that happened in the Taylors' backyard between you and Junk."

"Oh." Haley giggled at the memory. "In my defense, I was about 8 years old and my brothers told me that's what I was supposed to do if a boy tried to put his tongue in my mouth!"

"Good thing I let you do that first then – or we probably wouldn't be having this baby, or any other."

"Hahaha! And you kissed me first, Nathan Scott!"

"Yes, I did, but you, Haley James Scott…" She rolled her eyes at his mimicking. "Were the first to bring tongues into the game."

"Oh whatever."

"You know it's true."

"Shut up." He let out a loud laugh and all embarrassment was forgotten. His mood was definitely picking up and if she had to suffer a little teasing for that to happen, so be it. Picking up a cloth she'd made sure to set out, she dipped it into the soapy water and began rubbing it up and down his arms. "Feeling better?"

"Definitely." He nodded against her, his head laying back, eyes shut.

"Good."

"What did you do today?" he asked, relaxing into her touch

"Worked on my speech mainly. Oh, and Whitey stopped by."

"Oh. Do I need to call him?"

"He didn't come to see you." Twisting his head, Nathan gave her an intrigued look. "He came to see me."

"What for?" She bit her lip to stop from laughing when his eyes popped open, giving her a curious, confused look.

"None of your concern."

"Haley."

"Nathan." She responded shaking her head at his curious nature, at least when it came to her. She just knew he was one of those kids who you had to watch every second or they'd get into everything you didn't want them to. She wondered if their son would be the same way. "We went for a walk that's all, had a nice chat."

"Since when do you chat with Whitey?"

"Since now I guess." She shrugged, leaning over to run the cloth over his chest.

"Did you talk about me?"

"A little, more so about me."

"You?"

"Yes me, you know, your wife."

"You're doing that on purpose, aren't you?"

"Doing what?"

"You know what. Why won't you tell me what you're talking about." She rolled her eyes at the bite his voice was getting, obviously getting annoyed. Bringing the cloth back up, she started rubbing his shoulders, massaging them lightly, the tension disappearing beneath her touch.

"Nathan, it was a conversation between me and him, nothing bad was said. It was nice. He's nice."

"Whitey doesn't do nice."

"I guess I must be special," she joked, rubbing at what was exposed of his back.

"You are." His tone completely changed as he tried to convey just how special was to him.

"I am, aren't I?" She dropped the cloth back into the water and shuffled her body off the edge and onto her feet.

"Where are you going?"

"To make you something to eat. You can clean yourself, Nathan."

"Yes, but its so much more fun when you do it." She laughed at the twinkle in his eyes that no longer seemed to be fighting to stay open and he just smirked back her.

"I thought you were too tired for all that."

"I didn't say anything about sex, Haley, you have a dirty, dirty mind, Mrs. Scott."

"Wonder where I picked that up from." Grinning, she walked out of the room and headed downstairs to fix her husband's dinner.

If he came home to her everyday, it really wasn't that important what he was doing, he thought to himself sliding down to dip his head under the water.

"Hey Nathan?" Haley's voice brought him back to the surface as she reappeared in the doorway. "Don't give up just yet okay? Who knows what's around the corner."

He nodded and she turned to walk away. "Hey Haley?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

"I love you, too." He felt his heart swell as she sent him a dazzling smile. "Oof." She rubbed her hand over belly where the baby had just given her a swift kick. "And so does he."