I am the worst updater for this fic ever. I'm really sorry. This one keeps getting left behind. However, I hope you enjoy it anyway and I promise updates will be much swifter in the future.

Chapter Five: The Honeymoon's Over

Haley straightened her blouse with a sigh. This hadn't exactly been part of the plan. Lucas was supposed to be the one doing all the dirty work for her. That was why she had hired him, so to speak. She smirked, well bribed... hired... they really were one and the same in her books.

Still, here she was, about to speak to Brooke off her own bat.

Men really were useless, she mused.

Pushing the door open, she plastered a smile on her face. "Oh Brookie?" She cooed in that sickeningly sweet tone she'd all-but-patented. "You home?"

Brooke popped her head from out of the bathroom and frowned when she saw the girl. Self-consciously she tightened her hold on the towel around her body and brushed the wet hair from her face, "Can I help you, Haley?" she asked masking her dislike for Haley James with a sweet voice. It was one of the lessons Brooke was taught when she was young. Even if you don't like somebody, always talk to them as if you did.

The other girl grinned, reminding Brooke of a rabid dog. "I've just come to talk," came the smooth response, "so don't freak out just yet."

'Wait a few minutes first,' was left unspoken, but was quite obviously there.

Brooke debated whether to leave the girl waiting while she changed or to let her talk while left in her towel. She decided against the latter. "Please excuse me for a few minutes," she requested politely, hoping that Nathan would come back from his first class quickly and save her from her... step-sister-in-law. She shuddered as she disappeared back in the bathroom before realization hit her. Did Haley know?

"Take your time," Haley responded, inspecting her nails. She looked up and flashed the girl yet another predatory smile. "Actually, I suppose that, for now at least, it'd be appropriate to say: 'Take your time… sis-in-law,' right?"

Well, that answered that question.

While Brooke quickly dried herself off and pulled on her clothes, doing her best to make herself look halfway presentable, the girl in the bedroom was walking around the area, looking at the stuffed animals scattered on the floor, the posters branded with inspirational messages like "There is no 'I' in 'Team'". She rolled her eyes. The bed was still unmade and a quick glance in the wastecan made Haley raise her eyebrows in both satisfaction and disbelief at the lone condom wrapper lying there between tissues and pieces of paper.

"Enjoying married life?" She asked, her eyes glinting.

Brooke didn't appreciate the innuendo that statement carried as she emerged pulling her hair up into a ponytail.

"It's a change. I take it Nathan told you," she replied crossing her arms over her chest.

"Sadly, yes." Haley was now trying her best to sound sympathetic. "He... asked me to speak to you this morning, actually." She sighed, hoping it sounded somewhat sad. "I suppose because this sort of conversation needs a woman's touch. Men can be..." she waved her hand about, as if searching for the right word, "...insensitive, about such things."

Brooke began to panic. Nathan wanted Haley to talk to her! But he had told her he had English! "Nathan had a class this morning; he had no time to talk to you."

"He's not in class, sweetie..." Now Haley reached out and awkwardly pulled her step-sister-in-law into a hug. "I hate that I have to break this to you..." She was grinning manically as she began to pull out all the stops, weaving her magic, playing her music. This would be her opus! Putting a quaver in her voice, she added. "I tried to talk him out of it..."

She saw Brooke's expression turn to one of concern, horror and regret. "Out of what?" Brooke demanded, trying her best to remain strong in front of Haley but beginning to fail miserably.

"Oh Brookie, you'd best sit down. This isn't easy for me..."" In fact, it was fun, but the other girl wasn't to know that.

Brooke obliged the girl's request, having no control over her actions as her body slowly began going numb. What was happening?

Haley realized that her song had reached its crucial peak and said the words she'd been longing to say for the last five minutes. "Nathan has always been known to be a bit impulsive. It was never his intention to hurt you, but... well, the annulment will be for the best, you'll see."

"Annulment?" That word was supposed to have been repeated in her head but Brooke spurted it out in shock. "Nathan wouldn't do that; he loves me."

"Unfortunately, he seems to only love himself..."

This was brilliant. Killing two birds with one stone. But what had he been thinking eloping with this drip anyway? Haley decided that - though he'd complain - she really was fixing his mess for him. He'd come to appreciate it. Perhaps even thank her for it.

"I need to talk to Nathan," Brooke muttered aloud as she reached for her cellphone and dialed his number. There was no connection - just a dial tone. She looked up questioningly at Haley.

"He changed his number, Brooke. I'm sorry." Haley bowed her head to reflect the apparent regret and sadness she felt inside. She was a brilliant actress and thanked her father for having sent her to all those drama classes when she was a freshman.

"Changed...number?" Brooke felt faint. She was being dumped. Worse; she was getting divorced! A glorified divorce; that was all an annulment was, after all. Oh, God, he really had just been after the sex.

Haley watched the emotions play out on the younger girl's face, and had to fight the grin that threatened to show itself when she noticed the realization dawning on the naive features. "Brooke, you deserve better than him anyway." Haley went as far as putting a comforting hand on Brooke's shoulder, "I only wish I could have warned you earlier of his plan. I just didn't know he'd go this far to win."

Brooke's head snapped up, "Win? Win what?"

"The Bet, of course."

"Bet?" The sadness was slowly being drowned out by anger. Haley put a hand to her mouth.

"Oh honey, don't tell me no-one told you. Well, it was a stupid bet, really. And I can't help but blame myself a little."

"A bet between who? For what?"

"Just a silly, stupid bet between me and him. If he won, he was promised a spot in the High Flyers...if I won, well it doesn't even matter since now he's won. It was only a harmless bet but Nathan, as usual, took things far."

"High Flyers? A basketball camp? I was a pawn in his bid to get into a basketball camp?"

Vaguely miffed that she'd been cut off, Haley sniffed. "He's male, Brooke. You were warned. Quite a few times, in fact."

"You've never said a wor—" she stopped and closed her eyes tightly. "Lucas."

"Lucas." Haley grinned. "The poor, devoted puppy that you kicked, time and time again. But I'm not blaming you," she rushed to add, realizing that Brooke was turning sour on her, and she wasn't one to ever like to accept blame. "Nathan can be very persuasive. I know it, believe me."

"I think you should go." Brooke stood up abruptly.

"I don't think you should be alone right now."

"I won't be. Just... go." Brooke struggled to regain her composure. She wouldn't cry - not in front of Haley - she needed the girl out of her room. She needed to get herself out of this room. And out of this place. She needed answers. And Lucas would be the one to provide them.

Haley frowned, but nodded. She'd get a front row view to the action anyway. There really was no use sitting around and watching the girl blubber; that would only be entertaining for a few minutes at best. "Okay," she replied softly, "Remember, though, I'm always around if you need to vent."

The second the girl left Brooke alone, she was straight onto her cellphone and dialing another number.

"Brooke." The reply was somber. "Where's the husb—" Lucas stopped when all he heard was sobbing down the phone. He had no idea how Haley had done it, but she had remained true to her word. "I'll be right there." He knew that he should feel bad for his best friend being duped several times by three different people - including himself - but instead he smiled. High Flyers was in his sights.

-----

Haley waited outside Nathan's last class of the day, knowing full well that Brooke was too broken up to even venture outside her room. Lucas had called earlier and informed her that Brooke had called her and that the second part of their plan was already in progress. She just had to fix him High Flyers. Catching sight of her step-brother walking out of the classroom, she put on a sickly sweet smile and cooed.

"Oh Nathan…" she wiggled a finger at him from across the hall and the boy seemed to resent her presence. "I need to talk to you."

He approached her, "I need to talk to you too." After being in lessons all morning, he'd barely had a chance to himself, let alone to drop by and see Brooke, who he assumed had also been in classes. Before he had left that morning, they had agreed not to tell anyone until they had spoken to their parents.

"Ah," she put a finger to her lips, "I bet you want to discuss your payment. After all, you did win…"

"You know?" he frowned.

"Of course I know. I know everything." She grinned cockily. "Let's take a walk, shall we?"

As the two walked towards her study, Nathan stopped her. "Listen, Haley, I know that I won the bet but I really need your help." She let him continue, "I need you to convince the Parental Units to let me stay married to Brooke."

"Oh really?" she seemed surprised.

"Yeah. I know it might look like I only did it to win the bet but I realized that I really do love her and I want to keep her. Maybe we shouldn't have gotten married but I know we can make this work. I just need your word that you won't tell her anything about the bet. Let me do it to try and fix this."

"I won't say a word," Haley promised. "Speaking of fixing things, the Parental Units are here."

"What?" Nathan asked. Haley nodded.

"Yeah, they flew in from New York an hour ago. I wonder what is so important that they had to fly in so hastily." She mused as she opened the door of her study and pushed Nathan in… having him faced to face with his mother and his step-father.

"Nathan," Deb bit out. "Please take a seat." Nathan glanced at his step-sister who gave a small shrug and acted as if she had no idea what was going on.

"Mom…"

"We got a very interesting phone call telling us that you had gotten married." Deb sighed in disbelief. "I know you've done some pretty impulsive and stupid things in your life but this one definitely beats them all. Even the time you stole your father's boat and went to Cuba for two weeks!"

"I know this seems like it was a stupid idea—"

"It doesn't sound like a stupid idea, it is a stupid idea. What the hell were you thinking running off and getting married like that? You are barely eighteen!"

"And! You don't think I can make my own decisions? I'm an adult!" Nathan reminded them.

"You haven't even graduated, how the hell do you think you were going to survive?"

"Trust Fund," he replied simply.

"Like we're letting you have your trust fund after pulling a stunt like this. Honestly, Nathan. Do you not even think?" Deb sighed, "And to do this to win a stupid bet?"

Nathan shot a look to Haley who shrugged innocently, "You were in class and they asked…"

"It's not what you think. I really do love her."

"No, you love High Flyers. I can't believe you'd manipulate and use an innocent and sweet girl like Brooke Davis for your own gain." His mother glanced at her husband. "Anything to add, Larry?"

"Only that I think Nathan should be able to explain himself properly." Larry said, "Maybe he really is in love."

"Oh like that matters…" Deb sighed heavily before turning to her son, "Go ahead, Nathan. Explain."

"Thank you," he said to his parents, "Look, you guys think that I'm a huge screw-up and a big waste of time. I've let you down countless times and I know that. And yes, I went after Brooke for all the wrong reasons but after getting to know her and spending time with her, I realized that I had these feelings for her that I've never felt before. I was falling in love with her and I didn't even realize it until last night. I didn't just marry her to get into High Flyers. I married her because it felt right and I just knew I wanted to spend my life with her. I'm going to change, I promise you. I have to change because I love her. I know that I'll hurt her when I tell her the truth, but I'm ready to face the consequences because Brooke is the one thing in my life I'll fight to keep. I've already let her down by not being honest with her, but I am determined not to let her down again. I'm going to prove to you all that people can change and they will change. You just have to give me a chance." As his speech came to an end, Larry and Deb cast a glance at one another.

"Impressive speech," Larry said finally. "But I'm afraid it's too late." Nathan frowned in confusion.

"We got a call from Brooke's parents earlier. Brooke told them everything and they're taking her out of the school."

"They can't do that!"

"Yes they can, Nathan. They've already drawn up annulment papers and Brooke's preparing to leave for California this afternoon."

"She wouldn't do that! Brooke loves me. She wouldn't leave without telling me."

"It was Brooke's choice. She said marrying you was the biggest mistake of her life and none of the Davis family wants anything to do with you. We'll be hearing from their lawyers." Deb explained. "I think it's best if you did the same and signed the papers when we receive them. Maybe we can all forget about this and you can move on."

"But I love her."

"Oh, honey, you'll find somebody else. All that stuff about changing can still happen without her. This is just what she wants."

"This is insane. Half a day ago I was happily married and after school I find out that you guys have flown in, Brooke's packing up and leaving the state, and she wants an annulment?" He put a hand to his head, "This couldn't have happened so quickly unless…" he spun around to where Haley stood. "You."

Haley gave him a look, "This is for the best, Nathan. I was just protecting you."

"No, you were trying to win your stupid bet. Did you tell her?" he demanded to know. Haley crossed her arms and nodded.

"Of course I told her. Like I was going to let you both go off and be happily married. She had trapped you, Nathan. I was simply giving you a way out."

"Maybe I didn't want a way out," he challenged. She scoffed.

"Yeah, of course you didn't. The infamous playboy Nathan changing because of some virginal girl? Please!" her frown softened, "Come on, this was a stupid bet. I don't see why you're whining about it. Be a man and get over it. You'll be over this silly infatuation tomorrow and back to your old ways. Leopards and spots, right?" she gave him a grin to indicate that she was enjoying this.

Rage boiling over and frustrated with everyone's incapability to accept that he truly loved Brooke, Nathan aimed straight for the grinning auburn-haired girl, taking her by her shoulders and pushing her against the wall.

"Where is she?" he said through grinded teeth.

"Nathan! Let her go!" his mother shouted at him, amazed at the act of aggression displayed in front of her. But Nathan didn't relent; he kept his eyes fixed on Haley's silent expression as Larry pulled him off his daughter.

"That is just enough, young man! You're in enough trouble as it is; do you want to add abuse among them?" Larry grunted. "This annulment is going ahead, unless you can get Brooke to change her mind. And even if you do, which I highly doubt, there's still a little matter of getting her parents to consent to it. I'm almost certain they want nothing to do with you, us or this school. A little contact as possible would be the easiest for everybody."

"I need to see Brooke!" Nathan insisted. "Is she still here?"

"Nathan…"

"Is she still here?" he demanded but when no answer came he stormed out of the study and raced towards the dormitories, determined to stop Brooke from leaving.

Haley watched him go before pulling out her cellphone and dialing Lucas' number. "Nathan's on his way. He's mad that she's filing annulment papers before him and I told him that you've got High Flyers. I think he might hurt her to get to you. He's on his way to you now! Get her out of here."

-----

Nathan finally reached Brooke's halls of residence, cursing whoever had placed her on the other side of campus. Panting heavily he knocked on the door urgently. "Brooke!" he yelled through the door, "Let me in, I have to talk to you!"

There was no answer and Nathan didn't have a key.

"Brooke…" he sighed, "I know you're in there. Just give me a chance to explain myself. I'm so sorry you found out this way. I know I made a mistake by lying to you and using you but I know that now and I really do love you. I never lied about wanting to marry you. I should have just been honest when I had the chance. Please just give me one more chance." He begged hoping that she'd at least open the door – even if it was to yell at him. He just had to make sure that she'd heard that and knew how sorry he really was.

Without warning the lights in the hallway were cut out, leaving the young man in darkness. Brooke's hall of residence was situated on the east and so it got dark quicker than where Nathan lived… and in these winter months it became darker even earlier.

Only able to make out slight shadows through the light coming from the windows, Nathan struggled to find the light switches.

"Crap!" he exclaimed loudly before hearing the scuffling of footsteps somewhere behind him. Spinning around, he barely had time to make out the figure in front of him. Nathan's eyes drifted to the shadow of the object held in the figure's hand and before he could do anything, the object came swinging down and connected with Nathan's leg, sending the boy falling to the ground with a thud and a scream of pain. In an effort to stop Nathan's yells of help, the figure swung his weapon once more, this time aiming for his head. The weapon silenced the boy and the figure, satisfied, went running off in the other direction before anyone could come and see.

Nathan lay on the floor, his last thoughts before the weapon had rendered him unconscious were of Brooke and the soaring pain raging through his body.

With one fell swoop, Nathan had lost both High Flyers and the love of his life.

-------

Brooke awoke slowly, drowsiness still surrounding her and the pain in her head still throbbing. Through the darkness, she made out the person sitting in the chair next to her.

"Lucas?" she whispered, still not fully awake and under the effects of the sleeping pills Lucas had given her to help her sleep and calm her down. She had been crying non-stop since she'd called him earlier that day, and the tears had not stopped until she'd fallen asleep.

"Yeah?" he whispered back.

"You're still here?" she asked suppressing a yawn.

"Of course I am. I told you I wouldn't leave you. You're with me now." He gave her a smile and kissed the top of her head, "You better go back to sleep. We're leaving in a couple of hours. It's a long flight to California."

She gave him a grateful grin, "Did I tell you how glad I am you're with me? I'm sorry for being so stupid. I really thought I loved him."

"Shhh," he coaxed as she began falling asleep again. "Just get some rest. Everything will be okay." As she quickly fell back into deep slumber thanks to the sleeping pills, Lucas sat up straight in his chair and looked over at the corner where his baseball bat stood against the wall.

A small smirk crossed his lips.

He'd won.

To Be Continued…