One phone call. That's all it takes for her to realize that her world is falling apart.
"Jenny, Nate's in the hospital, and it's bad." Chuck explains over the receiver. She rushes over to the hospital where her fiancée is laying practically dead. The moment she sees him she starts crying. He has scratches and bruises and broken appendages. He doesn't open his eyes even though she begs him to. She stays with him all night begging and praying that he'll wake up soon. But he doesn't wake up, instead he gets worse. Less then seventy-two hours later she gets the news. He's dead. Gone. Forever.
"We were going to get married." She explains silently at his funeral. The more she thinks about it, the less she can take the fact that he's gone. Forever. But he is and even though her family tries to comfort her, they can't erase the pain that has all of a sudden taken a spot in her chest. Excruciating pain that constantly reminds her that Nate Archibald is gone. Forever.
She remembers one evening a promise he made to her long ago as she starts packing away his stuff. He promised her when their relationship had gotten more serious that he'd be with her not matter what. He promised that he'd never let her go; that no matter what happens to her he'd never leave her. Back then, he gave her the promise of forever. But forever doesn't mean what it used to because he's gone now. Forever. And that forever means something different.
She was twenty when he died. Now as a twenty-three year old she still carries the burden of his death around with her. The gleam from her eyes has completely disappeared and juts the thought of having another man in her life is something she won't forgive herself for. Her family tries and tries, but they can't get her to move on. She chooses not to move on because he promised her forever. And she promised to wait around for him. Even if it takes forever.
At twenty-four she finally decides to give dating a shot. She goes out to dinner with a handsome lawyer named Matthew and finally lets her guard down and starts to enjoy herself. The date goes well until he starts asking her about her previous relationships. She had finally forgotten about him until that moment and she's stuck stuttering an explanation about a guy whom she loved, but she couldn't be with anymore. Matthew, oblivious to her unease, keeps pestering her about that guy and so she decides that dating is not something she'll do anymore. She makes up a lame excuse about a family emergency and leaves the date and hour early. She goes home to the emptiness of her house and the loneliness in her heart. That night she decides to forget men and their stupid promises of forever.
Now at twenty-seven, Jenny has finally gotten some peace in her heart. The light in her eyes has returned and her smile has finally gotten bright and joyful. She's grown to accept the fact that Nate will be gone for an eternity. But she refuses to believe that she will never see him again. In time, they will be with each other. So for now, she goes out on dates and has fun with friends and accepts her family's invitation to breakfast and dinner. But in the back of her mind he will always be there and his promise of forever will be etched in her brain eternally. Because the truth about forever is that it does not always last an eternity. It could, but not always. Forever is always changing. It could last ten minutes or a decade, but in reality your forever with a person is not the forever we are all led to believe. In the matter of a millisecond forever can change and it could end abruptly. Jenny Humphrey thought forever with Nate Archibald would mean they would be together for all their life until the end of time. He would physically be with her forever. She now realizes that her forever with Nate was the time span between the moment she met him and the last moments she had with him before he died. That was her physical forever. Because in the future, Jenny will meet Nate in whatever afterlife they end up in and that is when their real forever will begin. Whether as spirits or angels, she doesn't know, but she knows in her heart that it will happen. They will have their forever.
A/N: another one-shot of Nate and Jenny. tell me what you think? hope you enjoyed it! :)