Title: Like the Rain
Pairing: Nathan/Haley
Author: Kristen (oth. daddy'sgurl. 06)
Rating: K+
Summary:"I never really liked the rain...But it's not like that anymore. Now I hear the rain, or I see it or smell it, and I smile. Because it makes me think of you." NH drabble, set in 3.13.
Disclaimers: I don't own a thing.
A/N: I'm really not sure where this came from. One minute I was complaining about writer's block, the next I was writing. Big thanks to Emma, Dawn, Molly and Lor who encouraged me in my writing endeavors. Thanks buches girls.
She was pretty sure she was in Heaven. Curled into her husband, her gloriously naked husband, with her head pressed to his chest hearing the slightly accelerated strong beat of his heart as the rain pitter pattered outside on the window sill. Snuggling further into his embrace she giggled quietly.
"What are you laughing at?" he asked, his voice husky with sleep and complete contentment as he wrapped his arms tighter around her, pressing a kiss to the top of her head, inhaling her scent as he did so.
"Nothing." She said on another soft giggle. "Its just…what is it with us and the rain?"
Smiling, he couldn't seem to help doing that when he was around her lately, he looked down at her curiously. "What do you mean?"
Rising on to her elbow, she propped her head in her hand, looking down at him as her other hand traced idle circles on his chest. She couldn't prevent the smile that spread across her face as her eyes met his. She'd missed this, him. Even when she returned home from the tour she missed him; missed lying next to him in bed, snuggled up, talking and flirting and touching. She'd hate to say that she'd given up hope, but there were some nights that she laid in bed, in the small apartment she once shared with her husband, that she wondered if they'd ever get back to this point, back to who they were.
"Hello? Where'd you go just now Hales?" Nathan asked, eyes dancing with amusement as he watched her she shake her head as if to join him back in reality.
"Sorry." She apologized with a smile. "My mind wandered."
"My little space cadet." He quipped with a laugh, letting out an 'oomph' when she popped him in the stomach with the back of her hand. "Easy slugger. Now, what's this about us and rain?"
"Oh!" she exclaimed, eyes relighting as she remembered what she was talking about. "We totally have a rain thing!"
"A rain thing." He slowly repeated, not any less confused than he was when she first brought it up. He watched her, smiling as her eyes danced with excitement, not sure if he should question her again or wait for the rambled explanation he knew was coming.
"Yeah! Like when we were dating and we had the argument about um," she started, the blush on her face getting deeper by the second. "you know, the uh-"
"The porn, Hales?" he supplied for her with a smirk, not able to hold in his laugh as she nodded and blushed further. "You can't say porn without turning red as a beet but you can all but maul me outside and then lay here, in bed, pressed up against me, naked?"
Scoffing at him she pulled away slightly. "Are you complaining Nathan Scott?"
"Oh no." Grappling for her quickly, pulling her ever closer into him. "I like you all naked and pressed up against me. No complaints here baby." He assured her, hands slipping beneath the thin sheet to run his hands over the soft skin of her torso.
"That's what I thought." She quipped, biting the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling at his antics. "Anyways, so when you came to apologize for the porn-"
"That sounds deliciously dirty coming out of your mouth Haley James." He growled lecherously, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively for added effect.
"Hush you." She swatted at him, willing away the blush she could feel once again flushing her face. "Anyways." She started. Again. "When you came to apologize for...that…it was raining. And when you proposed, it was raining, and then we had that gorgeous night on the balcony. And now, we're…" she trailed off, her gaze leaving his to study the pattern of the comforter, shyness hitting her like a freight train as she searched for words.
Unable to ignore her sudden discomfort, he placed his finger under her chin, bringing her eyes shining with uncertainty back to his. "Now we're what Hales?"
Her eyes searched his for an answer, not wanting to say the wrong thing. As he continued to watch her, his bright blue eyes holding nothing but a mixture of love and concern and sincerity, she took a deep breath and said the words she felt in her heart were true.
"Now that we're…us again," she hedged softly, confidence growing as an agreeing smile crossed his handsome face. "We're back together, and it's raining. It just seems like a good sign."
Leaning down, she pushed a gentle kiss to his smiling lips before resting her head back on his chest. Closing her eyes, she felt herself once again being lulled to sleep by the rhythm of the rain and his steady beating heart. However, her eyes shot open as she felt, rather than heard, him laughing quietly.
"And what are you laughing at mister?" she asked, unable the help the small smile on her lips at the sound of his laughter.
"Well, I never really liked the rain." He said, the laughter coming to an immediate halt as she once again propped up on her elbow, looking down at him incredulously.
"What do you mean you don't like the rain?!" she asked, her tone shrill. "You, I can't believe – the rain is our thing Nathan!"
He watched her, silently, carefully, not quite sure how seriously she was taking this. Haley hardly ever freaked out about little things; was never the kind of girl that got upset if he didn't remember every detail of every story she told, or if they didn't have a "couple's song". But this, she seemed pretty damn upset about this rain…thing.
He watched her, her glare half playfulness, half disappointment that he wasn't getting it. But he was, he'd just never really thought about it before.
"I get it baby." He said quietly, giving her a small smile which she returned.
"No you don't," she laughed, almost embarrassed as she lowered her eyes to the idle shapes she'd gone back to tracing on his chest. "But it's okay, I'm probably just being a dumb girl."
"Now wait a minute, no you're not. My girl is anything but dumb." He retorted, pulling her face back to his. "I do get it. It may not have been something I'd ever realized on my own, but that's why you're my tutor." He smiled largely at her, winking when she shook her head at his silliness.
"I just thought it was kind of cool, special, you know?" she asked shyly, leaning into his hand when he grazed it along her face, nodding in agreement.
"Yeah." He agreed, smiling at her softly. "For me, in the past I mean, it was just always this negative thing. If it was raining I either had to miss my daily run and Dan would punish me for it, or I'd have to run in it. It just always brought this sense of…I don't know, doom I guess?"
"Oh, Nathan. I didn't think-" she started, feeling bad for giving him a hard time about it. Of course, leave it to Dan Scott to ruin something as simple as rain for his son.
"But it's not like that anymore. Now I hear the rain, or I see it or smell it, and I smile. Because it makes me think of you." He said, smiling softly at the expression on her face; eyes wide with curiosity and wonder. "I hear the rain, and I think of you standing across from me in that gloriously thin blue top, hair drenched from standing out in the storm listening to my sorry ass apologize for the millionth time. I remember the rain was falling so hard you could barely look up at me through it, but you did. Your gorgeous brown eyes never left mine, and I just knew I had to kiss you." He continued on a whisper, stretching up to kiss her lips before resting his head back on the pillow, looking up at her gorgeous face shining with emotion.
"I hear the rain and it makes me think of you laying above me, just like you are now, saying that you'd marry me. It was the best thing I'd ever heard anyone say; apart from when you first told me you loved me."
"Nathan-"she said softly, taken aback by his sweet words and the sincerity shining up at her through his eyes.
"You're right Hales. The rain is special, it is our thing. And now, after tonight, I'll hear the rain and think about the night that we became us again. The night that after all of our mistakes and everything we've been through, we managed to work it out and pull through. And we always will." He finished confidently.
She looked down at him in amazement. Amazed that, not only had she been lucky to have met, fallen in love with, and married him, but she was beyond blessed that after all of her short comings, after Chris, and the tour and everything in between, he loved her enough to let her back into his life. Leaning down towards him once more, she pressed her lips to his, deepening the kiss as he brought his hand up, threading his fingers through her hair, the rhythm of the rain playing softly around them. She was going to cherish him, love him…and the rain, always.