8 Million Minutes

Summary: Sometimes people come back. But forgiveness isn't that simple. Haley James is about to realise how hard it is to be forgiven as she returns to the lives of the husband and daughter she abandoned 15 years ago. Naley.

Note: Everything that happened on the show up to the episode 'Songs to Love and Die By' season 4, happened in this fic. Except Haleys pregnant with a girl not a boy and Daunte never ran Haley down so he didn't die.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters you don't recognize.

Songs will always be in italics.

Flashbacks will always be in bold italics.

Prologue

The last two days had been the best two days of Nathan Scott's life. He'd graduated high school, his wife Haley had given birth to a beautiful, healthy baby girl, and in just an hour, he was able to take his perfect little family home.

In his hand he held a disposable camera he had purchased at the hospital gift shop. The sight in front of him was the most wonderful vision he had ever seen, his wife was sitting up in the bed staring down at the little girl in her arms. Slowly lifting the camera, he quietly snapped a picture of them. Hearing the click Haley grinned up at her Husband. Nathan leaned down and kissed her on the forehead before doing the same to his daughter.

The little girl opened her eyes wide, in the way that only babies can.

"She has your eyes," Haley whispered.

"All babies have blues eyes" Nathan softly replied smiling, knowing full well that it was Haley herself that had originally taught him that.

"You wanna hold her?"

He nodded

Bringing his tiny daughter up into his arms, looking into her shiny blue orbs, one single tear of joy fell, from Nathans own eyes.

"What about Sarah?" Nathan asked.

"Too common".

"Issabella?"

"Too long."

"Kim?"

"Too short".

"Elisabeth?"

"Too old fashioned"

Nathan groaned and flopped back into lying position on their bed. The couple had been home for two days and the baby was sleeping soundly in the nursery in the room next door. The still unnamed baby, that is. Hayley and Nathan were together in their own bed, still trying to think of names for their daughter and it wasn't going so well. Nothing seemed perfect enough for their baby.

Nathan noticed Haley yawning, "Get some sleep." he said softly stroking her cheek. "We'll think of something tomorrow."

She looked into his eyes, "I love you, Nathan." She said the most seriously he had ever heard her.

"I love you too", He closed his eyes and enveloped his wife tightly in his arms before drifting off to sleep.

His breathing was steady, as was the rise and fall of his chest. Watching him with the knowledge of what she was about to do broke Haley James Scott's heart into a million pieces. Kissing him for the last time, she left the room and her sleeping husband behind. As she grabbed her packed suitcase and guitar from the coat cupboard where she had hidden them earlier, she heard a small whimper coming from her daughter's room. Setting her things down, she entered the nursery and looked down her tiny sleeping daughter.

Taking the baby in her arms and lovingly cradling her, Haley whispered, "I know that you're probably going to hate me from now on, but I just want you to know that I love you so much and I always will no matter what." Haley put her lips to her daughters scent inhaling her sweet baby smell and for the second time that night her heart broke into another million pieces.

Before she could let herself change her mind Haley set the baby down, collected her bags and without a backward glance disappeared into the dark night.

Loud crying rang through the apartment causing Nathan to jerk awake. The first thing he noticed was the empty bed, the second was that it was morning. Throwing on a shirt he quickly made his way to his daughter's room, thinking Haley must have heard the crying and already be in there. She wasn't. Puzzled, he picked up his daughter and swayed her in his arms talking to her in baby voices. When she'd settled he carried her with him to go look for Haley.

"Hales?" he called, receiving no answer he started to worry. Then he saw her guitar was gone from it place in the lounge. Panicking he went to the bedroom wardrobe, his fears being confirmed when he saw none of her clothes were there. She was gone.

Refusing with everything in him to break down, he looked down at his baby girl, all that he had left.

"Olivia" he whispered, "Olivia". It wasn't too short or long. Nor was it too common or old fashioned. It fit her perfectly.

As if responding t her name being said for the first time, Olivia opened her eyes, and instead of the baby blue that had been there the day before, their real colour, that she would have forever, showed for the first time. It was a deep brown that only one other person in the world had. Haley.

Holding his tiny daughter in his arms, looking into her now, deep brown orbs, and one single tear of sadness fell, from Nathans own eyes.