The New Girl

by ytsgrl

When the population of Tree Hill is confronted with The New Girl in town, nothing will ever be the same.

36. Chapter 34: Christmas Day

Author's Note: So sorry it has taken forever for this chapter. I lost a bit of my inspiration, started writing another story, found my inspiration, lost it again... It's been rough, but I finally think I got this chapter where I wanted it to be. I hope you all like it. It's kinda long but it includes everything I wanted it to. There is a pretty GRAPHIC SEX SCENE at the end, so please, if you are offended by that type of stuff, don't read it! Other than that, I would really really appreciate any reviews you feel like giving me. Thanks so much! Enjoy! :)

Chapter Thirty-Four

Christmas Day

General POV

At 4 am, the Carter household was silent and still, the residents and visitors all sleeping soundly in their own rooms. Christmas had officially begun just 4 hours earlier and yet no one was yet aware of it.

Deacon Carter wore ear plugs so that if his children were having sex in the other rooms he could pretend to know nothing.

Mariah Carter snuggled closer to her Greek god Theo, content to rest in his arms, a smile playing on her lips even in sleep.

Nathan Scott was frowning, as if he were having a dream which angered him. The truth was he was dreaming, but he wasn't angry. He saw only her eyes. Eyes which confused him, haunted him… he tossed and turned, trying to erase the eyes from his mind but they wouldn't go away.

Savannah Carter sighed in her sleep. She too was having a dream. If she had to describe it, it wouldn't have been a bad dream, but it wasn't a good dream either. It was indifferent. It was peaceful. It was staring at her.

Savannah's eyes fluttered open for a second and her heart stopped when someone else's eyes met her own. She was terrified for a moment and then she recognized him, and she was able to breath again.

"Jesus Christ Bryan!" Savannah hit him in the chest as she sat up and turned on her bedside lamp, "You almost gave me a heart attack."

"Sorry." Bryan smiled at her, contemplating her early morning hairdo as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and peered at the clock sitting next to her, "It's 4... AM."

"What are you doing here?" Savannah yawned and stretched, finally taking a good look at the man who was laying in her bed, "You're not supposed to be here until like… I don't know. Later."

"I came to give you your Christmas present." He set a small rectangular wrapped box in front of her, "I wanted it to just be us when you opened it and I had a feeling we wouldn't get a moment alone later so I came early. I have to drive back before anyone realizes I'm gone so, you should open that."

Savannah contemplated the box and Bryan, raising her eyebrow but nodding slowly as she began to unwrap it. She took her time, careful not to tear the wrapping paper. Normally she would have torn it to shreds but she knew if she took her time, it would drive Bryan crazy.

"You are killing me." Bryan groaned and she smiled because she knew she would be.

She pulled the wrapping paper off the box finally and folded it, laying it on the bed next to her and then leisurely undid the fastening of the box and opened the top to peer inside. She saw something wrapped in bubble wrap so she pulled it out carefully and when she finally removed the last piece of bubbled wrapping paper, she gasped.

The blown glass art piece wasn't amazing or particularly pretty. It was nice, like a souvenir you pick up in a city you have never been to before. A piece that will remind you of the feelings you experienced when you bought it. Remind you of the things you did on your vacation. Of the people you were spending your time with.

This one was a piece of mirror on top of which was a blown glass palm tree and a blown glass dolphin which was jumping over her name, hand blown glass standing up across the mirror.

But again, it wasn't the beauty of the piece that had made Savannah gasp. It was what the piece reminded her of. The feelings she had experienced several years earlier, when she had seen it for the first time. The things she had done on her vacation. The person she had been spending her time with.

"I can't believe you remembered." She said quietly, turning to Bryan and smiling, "It was so long ago."

"I don't forget anything about you Savannah Mercedes Carter." Bryan sat up and moved closer to her, brushing a stray piece of her hair from her face before he leaned in and kissed her softly, "Sea World San Diego, June 14th. You were 15 years old and completely in love with me."

"Conceited much?" Savannah teased him but she sat back with a grin, waiting for him to continue the story.

"We stopped at one of those little stands they have everywhere in Sea World and we stood there for at least twenty minutes, just watching the person working there who was blowing glass into something that would end up beautiful. You were so mesmerized that you didn't even realize, right next to you on the counter was a hand blown piece of art, just like the one you are holding in your hand now, with your name on it, literally."

"And I couldn't believe that they had my name." Savannah continued for a second, "No one ever had my name, not spelled the right way or at least not custom made, like this was."

"So we bought it and you carried it around with us for the rest of the day, content, happy, and I'll remind you again, completely in love."

Savannah giggled and nodded.

"But when we got home and you opened up the box to place it on your dresser, you found it had broken on the way home. The S had toppled and a leaf from the palm tree had broken off. You were crushed and despite me assuring you that we could order another one, it didn't matter. You didn't want it because it wasn't the same."

They sat, staring at each other in the silence, grinning. Savannah clutched her new piece of art like it was the last gift she would ever receive.

"No one has history like we do." Bryan said quietly, placing another soft kiss on her lips, "I love you Savannah."

His words seemed to spur Savannah from her bliss and her smile fell as she placed the sculpture carefully on her bedside table before turning to Bryan and looking him straight in the eye, contemplating him, studying him.

"I don't think we can see each other anymore." She said definitively.

Bryan leaned away from her a little, as if her words had burned him and he needed to take a step back. His eyes narrowed, his features clouding over with an emotion somewhere between fear and anger.

"I tell you that I love you and you break up with me?"

"Bryan I…" Savannah struggled with her words and she groaned, "I love you too. I do. I have always loved you, for as long as I can remember. You are a huge part of my life but this non-exclusive thing we have going here, it doesn't work for me."

Savannah's thoughts floated back to her birthday for a minute and she felt the sting of him rejecting her advances so that he could get sleep for his date the next day. She could handle him seeing other people when she wasn't around, as long as it wasn't flaunted in front of her. She was ok with it when she didn't have to hear about it. She couldn't handle it when it came in the way of them being together.

"You…" Bryan seemed at a loss for words, and he stuttered for a minute before taking a deep breath and seemingly formulating his words, "Savannah, you knew when we started this it was going to be non-exclusive. You agreed to it. You sort of forced it. I thought anything was better than nothing."

"It is. I did. I agreed to it and I know that I have no right to decide differently now but, my birthday Bryan? You rejected me on my birthday so that you could make sure you were rested for your date the next day. Do you have any idea how badly that hurt me?"

"We agreed to date other people. Was I supposed to lie to you that night? I was being honest. It's not like you didn't know I was dating." Bryan was truly exasperated now and he was trying not to raise his voice but it was becoming harder every second.

"Honestly, I didn't know you were dating Bry! I didn't know! I mean, we said we would date other people because that's what non-exclusive means, but I wasn't dating anyone else at the time. Just because we said we could date other people, I didn't know you actually were."

"But you…" Bryan groaned, "I'm sorry. What do you want me to say Savannah? I didn't mean to hurt you ok? I, I just figured that since we had agreed to… we said that it was ok if we dated other people, I didn't realize that if I actually told you I was you were going to break up with me."

"Is it really breaking up if we're only together non-exclusively?" Savannah tried to laugh but Bryan didn't find it funny in any way.

"Fine." He removed himself from her bed and made a production of putting his jacket and shoes on, "Merry fucking Christmas."

"Bryan, please don't be like that." Savannah threw back the covers and slipped out of bed too, moving to where he was sitting and standing in front of him, her finger resting underneath his chin applying light pressure so he was forced to look up at her, "I'm sorry too. Maybe I'm overreacting. You're right. We did agree to date other people and… I'm sort of seeing someone else too so you're right and I have no right to end this just for you doing something that we had agreed to do in the first place."

"You're seeing someone else?" Bryan gulped and Savannah spotted a flash of jealousy in his eyes before he looked away, "You're right. That hurts."

"See…" Savannah sat on the bed next to him and sighed, placing her hand on his knee, "I'm sorry. Bryan, I'm really sorry. I didn't want to hurt you and I know you didn't mean to hurt me."

Bryan nodded but he wouldn't look at her anymore. His head was bowed and his breathing was uneven.

"Can we just pretend for today?" Bryan asked quietly, "My parents they… they are really excited that we're back together and I just don't want to disappoint them on Christmas. I know it's not gonna be easy but just pretend for one more day to love me?"

"Hey." Savannah lifted his head again to make him look at her, "I never have to pretend to love you. I always love you."

"I love you." Bryan leaned in and kissed Savannah, his kisses searching her mouth as if he was certain he'd never get the chance to kiss her again and wanted to get every last kiss in that he could.

They parted and sat in silence. Savannah stared at Bryan and he stared at the ground. He knew he needed to leave to get back to Chapel Hill but he was scared that if he left this room it would be true. He wouldn't have her anymore.

"We could be exclusive." Bryan blurted suddenly, looking up and directly into Savannah's eyes, "We could be exclusive. That's the problem right? It hurts you to know I'm dating and it hurts me that you're dating so, we stop dating and it's just us. I know I didn't want it before but now…"

"Stop." Savannah put a finger to Bryan's lips and shook her head, "No. I can't do that."

"Then we stay non-exclusive and we don't tell each other about dating. I mean, that's what hurt you right? I told you I had a date and you were hurt because it came in the way of us. And I didn't realize how that would feel until you told me you're dating someone too and so I get it but if we don't tell each other, problem solved. We just make sure that we don't let dating others get in the way of dating each other. It can work."

"Bryan." Savannah groaned and turned away from him, "Please stop. This is hard enough."

"Savannah please, I can't lose you right now. I was stupid to give you up in the first place and I won't do it again." He pulled her into his arms and this time he forced her to look at him, "Please?"

If she was honest with herself, she knew she was going to cave, probably before the conversation had even started. She always caved when it came to Bryan. She could go into it 100 determined to stand her ground but when he looked at her with his gorgeous blue eyes and begged her like he was begging her now, she always caved.

"I have your present in my closet. One of your presents anyway. Hold on a second."

Savannah slipped from his grasp and went into her closet, returning with an unwrapped manila envelope with his name scrawled across the top of it. He frowned at her but she smiled and spurred him to open it.

"I didn't have time to frame them but I thought you would like them."

He pulled three 8x10 photograph's from the envelope and his mouth fell open. In the first she stood as if she had been superimposed on a snowy rooftop, wearing nothing but a black bra, black panties, black stiletto heels and a fur mini-coat. She looked like a superhero, standing there, tanned and beautiful. Her super power must have been the art of resisting the cold.

"Are these from a professional photo shoot?" Bryan asked as he turned to the next picture, the same outfit popping out at him. This time she stood with one leg up on a nearby chair, one hand on her hip. All attitude and legs.

"Yeah." Savannah nodded, "My last photo shoot. I just got the proofs a couple days ago. I made copies so that I can obviously keep them for my portfolio but you could have copies too."

"Your other boyfriend get copies?" Bryan joked and Savannah sighed.

"I thought we weren't going to talk about dating other people."

"So you're agreeing not to dump me?"

"You knew I would." Savannah rolled her eyes and pointed to the pictures, "There's one more."

Bryan switched to the last picture and immediately began to cough, turning away from it as he began to choke.

"Bryan." Savannah tried to pat his back, not sure what had caused the sudden coughing fit, "You ok? Breathe."

After a second Bryan took a deep breath an stopped coughing, closing his eyes for a second before he dared to look at the last picture again.

"Jesus…" He hissed, staring at the image in front of him, "That took my breath away."

"Coughing?" Savannah frowned, clearly confused as Bryan began to laugh.

"No, the picture." He held up the last print. In it she was wearing the same outfit as before, the hood of the jacket now down and her hair spread out around her as she lay flat on a plush white carpet, her eyes closed as if she were sleeping, "I'm blowing this up to like, I don't know, wall size, framing it, and putting it in my house. I don't know where yet, but somewhere that I can show every person who walks in how crazy beautiful you are."

"Please don't." Savannah laughed, "God, that would be embarrassing. I'm practically naked in these pictures. I gave them to you for your viewing pleasure. Not everyone else's."

"Well they are going in your portfolio too Savannah. It's not like other people won't see them." Bryan smiled at her and set the photos on the bed behind him, "Come here."

He pulled her onto his lap and placed quick kisses along her collarbone and shoulder, smiling at her when she giggled.

"Thank you for the pictures. I will make sure to masturbate when I get home and thank you for not breaking up with me because if you had, I might have cried. I was debating it towards the end there. Tears or no tears? That was the question."

"You're retarded." Savannah rolled her eyes and sighed, leaning her head back to rest on Bryan's shoulder, "Are we gonna be ok you think?"

Bryan contemplated the question and finally, after a bit of thought, nodded.

"I think so." He said softly, letting his head fall forward to rest on her shoulder, "All we can do is try right?"

"Right."

Savannah moved off of Bryan's lap and let him stand, watching him collect the pictures from the bed and stash them back in his envelope before turning to her, hugging her tight and placing one last long lingering kiss on her lips.

"I'll see you later."

"I'll be here."

When Bryan was gone, Savannah sighed and fell back into bed, laying on her side and staring at the present he had brought for her. She smiled, again remembering the day they had spent at Sea World three years earlier. She was just about to turn off the light and go back to sleep when there was a very soft knock on her bedroom door. She frowned, wondering if Bryan had forgotten something, but when the door opened Nathan stood there instead.

"You too?" Savannah smiled at him, "I'm popular this morning."

Nathan frowned at her, closing the door behind him and moving closer to her bed. He didn't have to voice his question. Savannah knew what he wanted to say.

"Bryan was just here." Savannah laughed and patted the bed next to her, "Come on."

"Bryan was here and yet you're clothed. Interesting." Nathan commented as he climbed into the bed.

"Ha ha, very funny." Savannah glared at him and wrinkled her nose, "He came to give me my Christmas present and I tried to break up with him."

"Tried? Not successful?" Nathan questioned.

"Not successful." Savannah replied, "I have this weakness for him. He could tell me to jump off a cliff and I would know with all my heart that I shouldn't do it and it would be stupid to do it and I would say no."

Savannah turned to look Nathan straight in the eyes, establishing what she believed to be an accurate representation of how Bryan looked at her when he wanted something.

"And then he'd look at me, his freakin' gorgeous baby blue eyes staring straight into my soul, and he'd go 'Please?' and I'd jump right off the edge of that cliff." Savannah groaned, turning away from Nathan and letting her head fall backwards against the headboard, "I'm so stupid."

"You are not stupid." Nathan grabbed her arm and pulled her down under the covers with him, wrapping his arms around her so she was forced to lay with half of her body on top of his, her head resting on his bare chest as he ran his fingers through her hair, "You love him right?"

Savannah took a few minutes to debate her answer. She knew the truthful answer was yes. She did, even though her common sense told her it wasn't smart to love him. The answer she wanted to tell Nathan was no, but she didn't ever lie to Nathan, so she couldn't start now.

"Yeah." She sighed, "I do. I'm stupid for loving him because I know he's just gonna shatter my heart like he did last time but I love him and as previously illustrated, I'm a complete sucker for doing whatever he wants me to."

"Hmm…" Nathan contemplated that, "Might be nice to have that kind of power over you. I can definitely see the perks. I have baby blue eyes. Do I have that power?"

Savannah grinned, moving her head to look up and into Nathan's eyes. He smiled back at her and for a second they just stared at each other.

"Will you jump out the window with me?" He asked quietly and although she began to laugh, eventually Savannah nodded.

"Yes Nathan Scott, I will jump out the window with you."

Nathan laughed with her.

"Yes!" He pretended to celebrate, "I have the power!"

"You're a dork." Savannah went back to laying with her head on his chest and became quiet as she fell into thought.

Nathan let his fingers travel across the small piece of exposed flesh at the small of her back as they just lay there in silence, both of them thinking about the things they thought of often. The future, their friendship, their relationships with others.

"What'd you come in here for?" Savannah asked a few minutes later, her hand tracing circles on his abs lazily, "Just to cuddle?"

"Actually, I was going to see if you would go downstairs with me so you and I can open presents together, before everyone else wakes up." Nathan replied, "But I'm kind of liking this cuddling thing so I assume we can always just open presents later."

"Yeah…" Savannah's eyes began to close and she found herself beginning to drift back to sleep, "It's too early."

Nathan smiled down at her, knowing she was falling asleep. He moved a little bit and was just able to reach the lamp to turn it out, careful not to disturb Savannah as her breathing began to even out.

With Savannah asleep, the darkness and quiet began to surround Nathan, and he found himself too drifting to sleep. In her arms his dreams were not haunted by the same eyes from earlier. His smile stayed on his lips as he began to dream again. No, this time he was not haunted by chocolate brown eyes. They had been replaced with the blue eyes of an angel. His beautiful, sleeping angel.

A few miles away, Haley laid awake, staring at the wall in front of her, not able to go back to sleep. She had woken up to a random picture message from Ben of him with a girl she didn't recognize in a bar. The accompanying message said "Merry Christmas from Tokyo." She had done the math in her head and realized in Tokyo it was already almost 6 pm even though it was only 4:30 am in Tree Hill.

She had quickly sent him a text back that said Merry Christmas but since then, had not been able to drift back to sleep.

Jake slept soundly next to her, not stirring even when her phone had loudly alerted her to the picture message. She knew that she should probably get up since she was awake but she didn't want to. Getting up meant that the day would have officially begun.

She wondered what Nathan was doing at that moment. Was he awake? Was he asleep? Was he alone? She doubted the answer to her last question was yes. After seeing what she had seen at the river court the night before, she doubted he spent any of his nights alone anymore.

Not wanting to think about Nathan anymore, she decided it was definitely time to get up. She wasn't sure what she would do but she knew she couldn't just lay in bed thinking anymore.

"Where are you going?" Jake asked, clearly still half asleep as he slightly opened his eyes when Haley left the bed.

"I don't know." Haley answered honestly, "I can't sleep. I thought I'd go for a walk or something."

"Alone?" Jake frowned. Even though Tree Hill was small, it wasn't without it's crime. He worried that Haley walking alone might be detrimental to her safety, "What time is it?"

"Probably about 5 am." Haley replied without looking at the clock as she slipped her jeans over her body, "Go back to sleep. I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?" Jake wanted to protect her but he also wanted to sleep, "I'll go with you if you want me to."

"No." Haley smiled as he clearly did not want to get out of bed. She leaned over the bed and placed a quick kiss on his cheek, "Sleep. I'll be back in a little while."

Once Haley had slipped on her t-shirt and sweater over it she quietly opened and closed Jake's bedroom door, tiptoed through the house, and then slipped out the front door unnoticed. She still didn't know where she was going to walk but at least she was out of the house, out of that bed, and out of her thoughts.

She walked for awhile, no specific aim for where she was going, just walking in a general direction, so it surprised her when she ended up standing in front of the Sawyer residence, currently housing Larry Sawyer, Karen Roe, and Lucas Scott. She smiled, wondering if they actually locked the door now that Peyton didn't live there.

Not wanting to risk anything, Haley pulled out her cell phone and dialed Lucas, waiting for him to answer as she stared up at the window where she knew he would be.

"Haley?" Lucas answered sleepily, "You ok?"

"Yeah." Haley replied nonchalantly, "I'm outside. Can you let me in?"

She saw him open the curtains and peer down at her curiously then closed them as he began to laugh.

"Yeah, hold on. I'll be down in a second."

Haley hung up her phone and approached the front door, shuffling back and forth from one foot to the other, just now realizing how cold it was outside. She couldn't feel her face anymore.

"Hey you." Lucas opened the front door and ushered her inside, closing the door as soon as she was safely inside. He looked at her, peering into her eyes as he frowned at her, "You sure you're ok?"

"I'm cold." Haley laughed as she shivered, "Can we go climb under a blanket somewhere?"

Lucas smiled and nodded, leading her upstairs to Peyton's old room, which Haley noticed hadn't really changed. The walls were the same dark red. The bed was still in the middle of the room and Haley noticed even the webcam was still attached to the computer in the closet. She also noticed it wasn't on.

The records had disappeared from the room, as had the artwork covering the walls. It was weird for Haley to think that Peyton wouldn't live in this room ever again. It was Peyton's room in Peyton's house and yet, she no longer lived in it. The idea hit her almost like it had hit her when she had moved out of her family home and into Nathan's apartment after they had been married. It was a loss and yet, it was a move towards the future.

"So what are you doing here?" Lucas finally asked as they burrowed under the blanket, both of them lying on their sides so the could face each other.

"I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep and I was torturing myself by laying in bed obsessing over this whole Nathan, Savannah, me, Jake love square we have going on and I just didn't want to think about it anymore."

"Love square?" Lucas smiled, "I didn't know you knew about Nathan and Savannah. Hell, I just found out yesterday. When did you find out?"

"Yesterday." Haley sighed, "After everyone else left the river court last night and Jake and I were in our car getting ready to leave, I guess they didn't realize we were still there, and she jumped on him and he kissed her and… Jake knew that they had slept together but he hadn't told me and he said Savannah told him it was a one time deal so we were both pretty shocked and needless to say I am a little traumatized."

"Hmm…" Lucas tried to form the right words to comfort his best friend but he was having trouble figuring it out, "I don't honestly know what to say Hales. I want to comfort you, I do, but I'm sort of having a hard time comforting you about Nathan sleeping with Savannah when I know you're sleeping with Jake. It only seems fair that if you can move on, so can he."

"No, I know." Haley nodded, "I know. I'm not mad about them sleeping together. I sort of expected it. You were there. I told her to date him and so I really… I'm not complaining. I was just… shocked. And for your information, Jake and I are… complicated. We're not really sleeping together. I mean, we've had sex twice now, but it's not about that and we're not really dating either. He lives with me but we have separate rooms and mostly we just work together and hang out like friends do. We kiss sometimes and cuddle but… it's not like we're in a relationship. We're just jointly trying to move past our failed relationships. Jake blames himself for losing Peyton. I blame myself for losing Nathan."

"Up until the blame part, it sort of sounded like you were describing Nathan and Savannah." Lucas pointed out and Haley had to take a moment to contemplate that, "Like I said Hales, I just found out about them yesterday but the way they explained it to me is that she makes him happy and they are best friends who understand each other and are honest with each other and so they've sort of taken that to another level. They hang out, watch movies, cuddle and they've had sex exactly twice."

"Seriously?" Haley raised her eyebrow, "They live together and they're not having sex every night?"

"You live with Jake and you're not having sex every night." Lucas countered.

Haley frowned and Lucas watched the wheels in her head spin. He was trying without being blunt to make her realize what he had just figured out the day before but it seemed like she was more dense than he had ever realized.

"Haley, don't take this the wrong way ok, but you are spending all this time trying to figure out Nathan and Savannah. You're trying to analyze them and put a label on what they have but what I'm trying to say to you is that if you can understand what you and Jake have without analyzing it and without labeling it, you understand Nathan and Savannah. Their current situation exactly parallels yours."

"That's not true." Haley argued, "Jake and I are not best friends."

"Haley…" Lucas smiled, "Nit picking doesn't suit you?"

Haley finally let what Lucas was saying sink in and she suddenly realized that he was right. This whole time she had been trying to figure things out but if she understood herself, she could basically understand Savannah and Nathan's relationship too. But did that mean that Nathan was thinking about her as much as she was thinking about him? Did that mean that he felt guilty about using Savannah too? Did he feel like he was using Savannah or was he developing real feelings for his best friend? She still had questions.

"Didn't you come over here to stop thinking." Lucas teased her suddenly, "I can see it. You're mind is still running."

Haley sighed.

"I still have so many questions I need answered but I can't get them answered unless I talk to Nathan and he made it very clear last night he wants nothing to do with me."

"So come to the dinner at Savannah's later. Corner him. Make him talk to you." Lucas said, "He won't like it, but there will be so many people there he also won't be able to do anything about it. Although, if he asks, I didn't suggest it."

"No." Haley refused, "I can't do that Lucas. I won't ambush him like that and besides, Savannah already said she would invite us but it would be weird and so we are not invited. I'm not crashing a party I wasn't invited to."

"The definition of crashing is going to a party you weren't invited to Haley. And I'm inviting you so it's not crashing. Come with me. You and Jake and Jenny and Jake's family. You said it yourself, Savannah wanted to invite you, but she didn't for Nathan's sake. I'll just tell Nathan I invited you and if they want to be mad at me they can be but honestly, I'd rather spend Christmas Day with my best friend by my side than worry about what they have to say about it."

Haley was adamantly against the idea. She didn't want to upset anyone more than she had already just by showing up in Tree Hill. Peyton was mad at her. Nathan hated her. Savannah and Nathan had their own thing going. She couldn't ruin someone's Christmas just so she could carry out her own agenda.

"I will be offended if you tell me no Haley James-Scott." Lucas glared at his best friend, "I am asking you to be my date to this party."

"Me… and Jake… and Jake's family?"

"Yep, all of you. I can have multiple dates at once." Lucas smiled at her, reaching out to tuck her hair behind her ear, "Please?"

Haley sighed, not agreeing, but not turning him down either. She looked at the nearest clock and frowned.

"I need to get back. I want to be there when Jenny wakes up to open her presents."

"Alright, I'll drive you." Lucas and Haley both slipped from the bed and stretched.

Lucas slipped into actual clothes and a sweatshirt before grabbing his wallet and keys from the nearby dresser and leading Haley out into the hallway.

They got into the car and Lucas started it, hoping that his mom wasn't upstairs freaking out because he hadn't told her he was leaving.

The drive to Jake's was a short one, the car coming to a stop in front of the house. Haley looked from the still dark house over to Lucas and smiled.

"Thanks for talking with me." She said, "I miss you now that I'm not in Tree Hill all the time."

"Me too." Lucas frowned, "I'm serious about you coming with me later. We're supposed to start showing up around 2 so do you want me to pick you guys up or meet me there?"

"I can't commit to it yet Luke. I have to talk to Jake. I'm not very comfortable with the idea in the first place and if he's not interested than…" Haley didn't finish her sentence but Lucas knew what she was saying. If Jake said no she wasn't going.

"Hey, I thought of another way you and Jake are not like Savannah and Nathan."

Haley laughed.

"How?"

"She's not playing mom to his kid."

Haley's mouth fell open and she playfully punched Lucas in the arm.

"Jerk." She said but she was smiling so he smiled back.

"You better get inside mommy."

Haley laughed and shook her head, opening the car door to exit.

"I'll call you."

"You better."

Lucas watched her walk inside and then pulled away from the house, heading back to Peyton's house. He rolled his eyes as he thought of it again as Peyton's house. It wasn't Peyton's house anymore. It was Larry's house. He had to keep reminding himself that Peyton had moved out.

When he got back to the house he let himself in and very quietly made his way back to Peyton's old room, glancing in Brooke's room as he walked by. He continued down the hallway and then stopped in his tracks, backing up to look into Brooke's room again. To his immense surprise, there was Brooke, in all her beauty, sitting on the bed smiling at him.

"What… How… You're supposed to be in California." Lucas stuttered as he entered her bedroom.

"I went to California and apparently the parents forgot they had summoned me because no one ever picked me up from the airport." Brooke grinned almost seductively as she reached out and grabbed the sweatshirt Lucas was wearing, pulling him down on top of her, "I waited for an hour and when no one showed, I booked my flight back home. Direct flights are a lot shorter, especially when you book one of those super fast jets that are supposed to get you anywhere in like three hours. Super expensive but daddy's paying and it was so worth it just to see this look on your face."

Lucas bent his head and kissed her passionately, her hands entwining around his neck as he rolled over onto his back, pulling her on top of him, never loosing their connection.

"Merry Christmas baby." Brooke whispered as she placed sensual kisses along his jaw and neck.

"I'm so glad you're home." Lucas replied, seemingly almost out of breath from just having her in his arms.

They continued to make out for several minutes, their hands roaming each others bodies. His sweatshirt came off and was tossed across the room and they probably would have completely forgotten their surroundings and shed more clothing had they not been startled suddenly by Peyton yelling from downstairs.

"Wake up sleepyheads! It's Christmas!"

Brooke grinned widely, slipping out from beneath Lucas who groaned and let himself fall flat onto the bed.

"Come on Luke. Peyton's here!"

Brooke grabbed him by the hand and pulled him downstairs where they found Peyton and Xander standing in the front hallway grinning back at them.

"Brooke! You're supposed to be in California." Peyton exclaimed as her best friend hugged her tight, "What are you doing here?"

"My parents didn't pick me up from the airport so I came back." Brooke giggled happily but Peyton frowned at her, clearly worried about the fact that her parents hadn't bothered to show, "Oh, don't worry Peyt. I'm sure they're fine. They probably just got drunk, passed out, and forgot to send someone to get me. No big deal. I'm happier to be here."

Xander shrugged. Lucas shrugged. Peyton laughed and brought Brooke back into a fierce hug.

"I'm so glad you're here!"

"Merry Christmas!" Karen and Larry came down the stairs smiling as they saw the kids in the front hallway.

"Brooke, aren't you…" Larry looked confused but Brooke just laughed.

"Don't worry about it. It's a long story that doesn't even matter." She explained simply, "It's Christmas!"

The six of them headed into the living room and began passing out presents to each other. Peyton and Xander had already opened the ones they had gotten for each other. As Karen had Lucas opening presents, she was showing off her new jewelry to Brooke who was awestruck. Lucas and Brooke had exchanged presents the night before as well, so mostly it was just the parents who needed to give the kids their gifts.

"This is amazing mom. Thank you." Lucas hugged his mom after opening his brand new copy of The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

"Girls." Larry handed a package to Peyton and a package to Brooke, "It wasn't wrapped last night Brooke or I would have given it to you sooner since I didn't expect you to be here this morning, but I guess it all worked out."

Brooke grinned and then, after timing it perfectly, she and Peyton each ripped into their packages at the exact same time.

"Dad, this is awesome!" Peyton exclaimed as she revealed her present to be a hand bound book of art. When she opened it she realized it was her art, all pictures he must have taken at the gallery opening when Xander had set it up for her birthday, "Oh my God!"

She jumped over to the other side of the room and gave her dad a bear hug.

"Thank you so much."

"You're welcome honey." Larry savored the hug from his daughter, "I love you."

"I love you." She responded, returning to her spot next to Xander on the other couch, and turning to Brooke, "What'd you get?"

Brooke was staring at the tiny box in front of her as if she had seen a ghost. It seemed normal enough, it was just a small jewelry box but her mouth was hanging open and a tear was threatening to fall from her eye.

"Since Brooke is speechless and no one else seems to understand, I will explain." Larry spoke up while Brooke continued to stare, "When Peyton was 10 years old, just a couple years after her mom had died, Brooke came over for Christmas and watched us open presents before our Christmas morning breakfast which we did every year. We didn't know Brooke was going to come over so we didn't have any presents for her but she was fine with that. She said she just wanted to watch and this was the year that I had given Peyton…"

"My mom's jewelry box." Peyton filled in, suddenly realizing why this jewelry box was so special to Brooke, "The jewelry box that my mom had kept everything in. It looked just like that one and I was so happy to get it that I cried for an hour."

"And of course I had no idea what to do with a hysterical 10 year old girl, because I didn't expect her to cry about getting it, but Brooke pushed me aside and said she would handle it. And she held Peyton for an entire hour, telling her everything was going to be fine and at the end of it all, Brooke picked up the jewelry box, handed it to Peyton and told her…"

"It's the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I wish I had one just like it." Brooke filled in her line and smiled up at Larry, the tears finally spilling out, "Thank you so much."

This time it was Brooke who rushed across the room to hug Larry and she was crying almost hysterically, clutching the jewelry box to her side.

"I'm still not great with crying girls." Larry joked as he held Brooke, "You're welcome sweetie."

Brooke's had been the last gift under the tree so the group decided it was time to get breakfast started. The kids sat in the living room while Larry and Karen headed into the kitchen to get it prepared. Brooke was still holding her jewelry box as she leaned against Lucas who kissed her forehead every once in awhile just to let her know he was still there.

Peyton relaxed against Xander and for the most part they all just sat there in silence, relaxing.

"Man, I wonder what it's going to be like at Savannah's later." Peyton finally said and that threw all of their thoughts into a different direction.

At Savannah's house she was just beginning to stir again, breathing in the deep scent of Nathan as she opened her eyes. A grin spread across her face and she started to rise, looking up at Nathan.

"Go back to sleep." He said quietly making her giggle.

"Morning sunshine." She said running her fingers down his bare chest, "Get up. We have a lot to do today."

"No. Go to sleep." Nathan peeked at her to assess where she was and then grabbed her head, laying it back against his chest, "Too early."

"It's after 6 now Nate." Savannah sighed, "We should quickly go open our presents and then start getting ready for the day. There is a lot to do."

Nathan sighed loudly.

"Fine. You're evil."

They both got out of bed stretching, yawning, and groaning. The light filtering in through the window told them the day was really arriving.

"First present…" Savannah slipped out of bed and headed for her closet, bringing out a manila envelope much like the one she had given Bryan just a couple hours earlier, "I got these made for you."

"For me?" Nathan grinned, taking the envelope from her outstretched hand, "I wonder what it is."

He pulled out the sheets from the envelope and inhaled sharply.

"I know what these are. These are proofs from your last photo shoot right?"

"They are." Savannah grinned happily, jumping up on the bed next to Nathan, "I got my favorites made into wallet size pictures for you. I figured you wouldn't be able to really like frame bigger prints or display them and this way, you carry me everywhere with you."

"This is awesome." Nathan looked through the pictures she had given him, eight in total, "Wow, you are seriously gorgeous."

"Thank you." Savannah was still grinning when Nathan looked up at her and leaned in to place a soft kiss on her lips.

"Your present is under the Christmas tree." He whispered against her lips.

"So is your other one." She whispered back, reluctant to actually part from his lips, "Kiss me a little more."

Nathan set the pictures and the envelope to the side and brought his hand up to cup Savannah's cheek, his fingers digging into the hairline at the back of her head as he brought her lips against his a bit more passionately. She let her hands rest against his chest and as the kiss deepened she pushed him back on the bed, their lips never parting as she laid down on top of him, increasing the heat their kiss was generating. The hand not stuck in her hair moved to her back, pressing her against him as he flipped her over, moving himself over her and groaning into her mouth as she arched her body against him.

"We should stop now." Savannah panted after several minutes of them making out intensely.

"No." Nathan dipped, placing kisses against her neck and chest.

Savannah moaned but pressed her hand to his forehead and gently made him pull away from her.

"We have to. Presents downstairs and then everyone will be awake and we'll have breakfast and then cooking all day and setting up for the party and…"

"Shh…" Nathan pressed his lips against hers softly, "Just a few more minutes."

She giggled but didn't object as they fell back into their make out session until her phone began to ring and then he groaned, rolling off of her as she crawled across the bed to grab the phone from her bedside table.

"Hello?" Savannah laughed as she answered.

"So, I'm in town." Brooke said happily, "I just wanted you to know so that when I show up to this shindig later you'll expect me. It's a long story so don't ask. What are you doing right now?"

"Getting ready to go downstairs with Nathan so we can open presents. I'm glad you're in town Brooke. We would have missed you today."

"I would have missed you too." Brooke replied, "I will let you get back to Nathan, tell him I will see him in a few hours. You two have fun but not too much fun ok?"

"Whatever Brooke." Savannah laughed loudly and then hung up the phone, turning back to Nathan who was now standing, slipping a t-shirt over himself.

"Ready to open presents?" Nathan asked, sounding almost a little disappointed.

"I am." Savannah stood in front of him and looked him straight in his eyes, placing a small kiss against his cheek and then looking back at his eyes, "I need to ask you one favor first though."

Nathan nodded and waited to be asked.

"Bryan and Camille's parents think Bryan and I are together for real and so while they are here today, I need to ask you to just be my friend ok? No kissing. No flirting. No… anything romantic ok?"

"Seriously?" Nathan scoffed, his mouth falling open as if he were offended, "That's not fair."

"It's for the best Nathan. Seriously, you don't want all the parents to start asking questions do you? It's hard enough to try to explain us to our friends, let alone your parents and grandparents and my dad and Karen and Larry… there's just too many people who are going to be here. They all know I'm seeing Bryan, so it will seem normal."

Nathan thought about it. She was right about not wanting to explain to everyone. Trying to explain to his parents and grandparents that he was still married to Haley but was living with, kissing, and occasionally sleeping with his best friend wouldn't be the best conversation to have on Christmas Day.

"I'll do it on two conditions." Nathan said firmly.

"Two?" Savannah raised her eyebrows, "I'm listening."

"First, tonight, after everyone's gone, you're mine. No more of this teasing, make out but don't let me touch, walking around in your underwear bullshit. You are mine and you do what I want."

Savannah smiled and nodded. She wasn't used to Nathan taking charge that way but she was oddly turned on by it so she agreed.

"What is the second condition?"

Nathan grinned.

"The second condition is that you kiss me at midnight on New Year's. He get's to have you all day for Christmas. I want you New Year's."

She giggled but again nodded.

"Ok. I'm good with that."

"Ok." Nathan leaned in and gave Savannah one more light kiss, "Let's go open our presents before everyone else wakes up."

The two of them headed downstairs quickly, trying to be quiet as they reached the living room which was just beginning to be lit by the morning sunlight. Savannah gathered the multiple items she had wrapped for Nathan's big present and set them where he would be sitting on the couch. He too grabbed several smaller items from around the tree and handed them to her and when they were both sitting, they just stared at each other, waiting for the other to start opening.

"You first." Nathan said simply, "Open this one."

He pointed out to her the biggest of the presents and waited for her to open it.

"Ok, but you have to open that one first." She pointed to the box which she knew held the actual PS3 console as she began to open the present he wanted her to open.

When it was unwrapped, Savannah found another plain white box inside and she frowned, using her fingernails to undo the tape around this box only to open it and find another smaller box inside that one.

"I'm going to kill you." Savannah glared at Nathan who was laughing quietly, "How many layers are there?"

"That's the last one." Nathan said, egging her on to get the box open.

Inside this box was what appeared to be a piece of paper, rolled up simply like a scroll and she was frowning as she unrolled it, not sure what to expect.

"This paper certifies that Savannah Mercedes Carter is hereby granted clearance to play the remainder of the basketball season with the Tree Hill Ravens boys basketball team as certified by Jane Underwood, president of the North Carolina High School basketball association." Savannah's mouth fell open and she turned to stare at Nathan, "Are you serious right now? This is real?"

Nathan nodded happily as Savannah jumped into his arms, hugging him tighter than anyone had ever hugged him in his life.

"How? This…" Savannah was speechless, "Nathan, this is amazing."

"It took me awhile to get it all worked out. I had to get signatures from all of the team, Whitey, at least half of the school board, the Principal and then I had to present them to the basketball association. They just gave this to me the day before break started so, I figured it wouldn't hurt to wait until Christmas to give it to you."

"Thank you so much Nathan. I can't believe it… I… I'm really going to play with you guys?"

"Whitey says you have your starting position back." Nathan braced himself as she jumped into his arms again, "Merry Christmas."

Savannah sat speechless for a few more minutes before she remembered what they were doing and so she made Nathan begin to open his presents. They alternated back and forth, opening their presents and thanking each other for them. Nathan was thrilled with his PS3, which he admitted to already knowing about, because it was shaped exactly like the presents Xander had opened the night before. He had given her perfume, new Ugg boots, a new Coach wallet, and her favorite present other than the basketball clearance, a white gold necklace in the shape of half a heart. He rolled his eyes but showed her that he had the other half, on a less delicate chain which he slipped over his head and tucked the necklace under his shirt.

"This is the greatest Christmas ever." She sighed, moving to cuddle up next to him, staring at the Christmas tree as the sun continued to rise, "You're the best friend a girl could ever ask for."

"Right back at you." Nathan leaned and kissed the top of her head, "Love you."

"Love you."

It wasn't long before the rest of the Carter family began to trickle downstairs, Mariah first, then Theo and finally Deacon. Mariah and Theo went straight to cooking while the other three ate quick breakfasts and then began to preparations for the day.

All over Tree Hill preparations were beginning. Groups were getting dressed. Families were gathering. Makeup was being applied. Christmas apparel was being donned. And Haley was trying to make going to Savannah's house sound like the worst idea in the world so that Jake would say no, but it wasn't working.

"It'll be good." Jake nodded as he changed Jenny's diaper and moved to slip her into the Christmas dress his mom had just given her as a present, "My parents will have such a good time. They don't really do that type of stuff, mingling with other families from Tree Hill. You'll have a chance to talk to Nathan and well, I'm just enjoying being here again. It's been way too long since I was in Tree Hill."

"Yeah, but Jake there's gonna be drama and Nathan doesn't want to talk to me. Your parents don't want to be around Dan Scott, trust me, there will be some sort of scene and then Savannah's family… well I don't really know them but are you sure you want to go?"

"Haley, if you don't want to go, then tell Lucas no, but I think it will be fun." Jake picked up Jenny who was giggling happily now that she was dressed and ready for the day, "It's up to you."

Jake disappeared out into the living room where his parents immediately began to fuss over Jenny and how cute she looked in her dress. Haley fell onto the bed she had shared with Jake the night before and groaned, throwing her hand to her forehead but ending up hitting herself harder than she meant to.

"Ow…" She frowned at herself and then closed her eyes, letting herself relax a bit as she began to think about the ramifications of accepting Lucas's invitation. On one hand, she felt like they could all have a good time. There would be food and friends and family, but on the other hand, her friends were still mad at her for leaving, her "family" she was unsure of. She was either Jake and Jenny's family for the time being or she was still a Scott, and being a Scott would only bring drama while being part of the Jagielski family would probably seem weird to everyone else around her.

"Ok." Jake came back into the room without Jenny, closing the door behind him and joining her on the bed, pulling her into his arms, "Let's talk about this. Why don't you want to go?"

"Because it's weird. It's Savannah's house and it's her party and she specifically didn't invite us so that it wouldn't be weird for Nathan and then we're just gonna go anyway? I don't want to cause Nathan anymore pain than I already have. His family is going to be there and her family and it just might be weird, everyone knowing that he and I are split up but then we like show up together, you and I and that makes it weirder and I am completely rambling but I just…"

"Alright, that all makes sense. So then why should we go?"

"You are making me make a pros and cons list aren't you?" Haley laughed and he nodded with a smile, "Ok, well we should go because I could talk to Nathan and I need to talk to him because I haven't talked to him face to face since I left. I could also talk to the rest of my friends because I haven't talked to any of them since I left really either so maybe I could patch some things up. Um… Lucas invited us so it would be polite to go with him plus he kind of refused to take no for an answer. I want to see Karen. Your parents would have fun. You would have fun…"

Haley turned to look at Jake and she was pouting.

"My pro list just got longer than cons huh?"

Jake nodded.

"Ok." Haley sighed, "We will go. Let me call Lucas to tell him we're going."

Haley went out to the front porch, sitting on the steps as she dialed Lucas's phone number and waited for him to answer. She hoped he hadn't gone back to sleep after he had dropped her off this morning.

"Lucas's phone, this is Brooke speaking. Make it good or I'm not telling him you called."

Haley was a little taken a back by the way Brooke answered the phone but she took a deep breath and began to speak.

"Hey Brooke, it's Haley."

"I know who it is. What do you want former friend?" Brooke retorted.

"Brooke I…" Haley sighed, "I'm so sorry I haven't called you before now. I've been really busy but I'm not going to make excuses. I've been a horrible friend, a horrible person really, and I'm really sorry for leaving the way I did and I hope that you can accept my apology. I really want things to start going back to the way they used to be before I left."

"You're serious?" Brooke sat down where she was at, alone in her room while Lucas was still downstairs helping his mom clean up from breakfast, "Haley, things will never be like they were before you left. Nathan is moving on. You're apparently moving on. We all have lives that have continued on without you here."

"No, I know but I mean, I want us to be friends again. I just, I realize that I hurt more than just Nathan when I left and now that I have started to recover a little I'm trying to make amends." Haley frowned, "I'm really sorry Brooke."

Brooke was quiet for a moment, contemplating Haley's words. She sounded sincere and Brooke knew that it hadn't been easy on Haley since she left either, but being mad at Haley had was easier than knowing she had been a disposable friend.

"I'll think about it." Brooke sighed, "Lucas is in the shower. You want me to tell him you called?"

"Uh yeah… wait, aren't you supposed to be in California right now?"

"Yes but my parents didn't pick me up from the airport so I came back." Brooke replied, "I heard you're back in town. For how long?"

"Just a few days probably. I mean, technically we don't have to be back in LA until after New Years, but we won't stay that long. It's hard enough on everyone that we're here today and I'm not here to try to make things harder for my friends."

"Right." Brooke nodded, "Well, we were just talking at breakfast about doing a New Year's Party at Tric so if you're still in town you should come. Peyton's planning it so I'm sure it will be fun."

"That'd be great Brooke." Haley smiled, "Um, tell Lucas that I said yes and he can pick me up at 1:45. He'll know what I'm talking about."

"You trying to go to this dinner thing later at Savannah's house?" Brooke questioned, "We're supposed to be there at 2 so… sounds like that's what you're doing."

"No, um, well yes. Lucas invited me this morning and Jake and I talked about it and we figure it's a good idea so… you think it's a bad idea?"

"Savannah won't care I just worry about Nathan." Brooke replied, "Doesn't matter either way because at the end of the day, even if you upset Nathan, he has friends who will be there to pick him back up."

Haley felt like that was some sort of barb towards her, but she didn't want to push anything.

"It's great that you guys have been there for him. If he didn't have all of you I don't know what would have happened when I left. I'm really grateful for you all helping him through this."

"Yeah." Brooke sighed loudly, "Alright Haley, I guess I'll see you later. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas." Haley replied and then the phone went dead.

And Brooke must have given Lucas the message because at 1:45 exactly, Lucas and Brooke pulled up to the Jagielski house to pick them up. Haley took a deep breath and took her first step towards the car. It was now or never she told herself.

"Hi!" Savannah opened the door to her house greeting the first of her guests, "Wait, why didn't you just come in? You live here Cami."

"It was fun ringing the doorbell." Camille giggled as she hugged Savannah happily, "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas."

Following Camille were her parents who Savannah hugged happily and when it came to Bryan he leaned down and kissed her very softly.

"Hey." He whispered against her lips.

"Hey." She replied, staring into his eyes until their moment was interrupted by his parents.

"Oh Frank, it's so amazing!" Dana Stevens clung to her husband's arms, "We always knew they would be together and look, here they are!"

Savannah laughed quietly, closing the door behind them finally and reaching for Bryan's hand.

"You've always been like a daughter to us. This is just so great." Dana hugged Savannah tight while Savannah was still giggling.

"Deacon, good to see you." Frank and Deacon shook hands as Savannah's father joined them, "It's been what. Two weeks? What with you in New York and me in Los Angeles?"

"Long time for us." Deacon laughed, "Dana, wonderful to see you."

The normal greetings between people who had known each other for decades occurred as they all made their way further into the house. The adults headed for the living room where they could sit, talk, and be happy.

Savannah took Bryan and Camille towards the room where they had moved the pool table too. Nathan was in there shooting pool by himself but quickly changed paces to wish Merry Christmas to the new arrivals and soon they were all laughing and joking as they always did. Savannah felt slightly awkward, knowing that Bryan was the only person in the room who didn't realize that she was sleeping with Nathan too, but without breaking the newly formed rules of their relationship, she couldn't tell him.

When the doorbell rang again, Savannah abandoned her spot on Bryan's arm and headed again for the front door. On the other side she found the Scott clan and she cringed, wishing she had given this job to Nathan.

"Hi." She greeted them cordially, "Come on in. Deb, you look fabulous."

She took their coats and grinned, finally introducing herself to Nathan's grandparents when no one else made the introduction.

"I'm Savannah Carter. I'm Nathan's best friend." She shook hands with both Mae and Royal, "I've heard so much about you."

"All good I hope." Mae laughed and Savannah laughed with her.

"Of course! Nathan says you're the nicest person he knows." Savannah replied, "I'll go get him so he can say hi but let me introduce you all first."

She led them into the living room where Deacon was handing drinks to Frank and Dana Stevens.

"Daddy? This is Dan and Deb Scott. They are Nathan's parents and this is Mae and Royal Scott. They are Nathan's grandparents." Savannah smiled back and forth as Deacon came over and shook hands with them all, "This is my dad Deacon, his business partner Frank Stevens, and Frank's wife Dana."

The introductions as they all chit chatted were still continuing when Savannah excused herself to go find Nathan.

"Hey Nate. Your parents and grandparents are here." Savannah said, reaching out for his hand, "Come on. I told them I would find you so you could come say hi."

"Why?" Nathan laughed, setting his pool stick down and taking Savannah's hand, "I thought I could just hang out in here all day."

"Haha, very funny."

Without realizing it they walked hand in hand back to the living room where it seemed the small group had already split up by gender, Deacon, Frank and Royal seemingly discussing business while the women sat on the couch talking animatedly.

"Nathan!" Mae immediately saw her grandson and jumped up from the couch, rushing to him and pulling him into a hug, "Hi sweetie!"

"Hi Grandma." Nathan answered stiffly, letting his grandmother fuss over him and then moving to greet his grandfather and parents as well, "Merry Christmas mom."

"You too honey. How are you holding up?" Deb smiled at him sympathetically.

"I'm good." Nathan suddenly realized he was still holding Savannah's hand so he quickly squeezed it then let it go so that he could hug his mom.

"Of course you are. You're a strong boy." Royal moved in to greet him, "How's basketball?"

Nathan laughed a little and nodded.

"Basketball is good. We're undefeated right now and only getting better." Nathan grinned and then added as he looked directly at Dan, "Savannah's back on the team so we're definitely going to improve."

"Nate.." Savannah laughed lightly as a round of questions from everyone began to be fired at her asking about everything from how she was going to be able to play on the boys team to when she had been reinstated to how she felt about it. Some questions were happy. Some were poignant. The only thing that saved her from answering was the doorbell. "Excuse me. I have to get that."

She practically ran to the door, leaving Nathan alone in the room with all the adults. She swung the front door open with a huge grin plastered to her face but it dropped the second she saw who was there.

"Uh…"

"Hi." Brooke giggled, entering the house and hugging Savannah happily, "Merry Christmas friend."

"Merry Christmas Brooke…" Savannah watched as the group began to flood into the house, "Lucas, Karen, Larry, Peyton, Xander… Haley, Jake."

"Sorry to spring this on you." Haley smiled bashfully at Savannah, "Um, these are Jake's parents and Jenny, Jake's daughter."

"Hi, nice to meet you." Savannah tried not to act like she didn't want them there, knowing that his parents probably had no idea they hadn't been invited, "I'm Savannah Carter. Welcome. Um, everyone's starting to gather in the living room right through there."

Savannah pointed them in the right direction and Karen and Larry led the group that way. She watched them all walk away until Lucas and Haley started to walk away and she grabbed their arms so they couldn't.

"Whose idea was this?" She snapped at them both.

"Mine." Lucas admitted, "I invited them."

"Look, I know that Haley is your best friend and Haley, you know I have nothing against you but you both also knew that Haley and Jake were not invited to this party and for good reason so what are you trying to pull huh?"

Lucas and Haley both exchanged guilty looks but neither of them had an answer. Lucas was about to try to answer when Nathan walked into the foyer and stopped dead.

"Hi Nathan." Haley feebly spoke up waving at her husband.

Savannah spun around and her face fell, seeing how upset Nathan was.

"Nate…" Savannah started to say something to him but before she could he shook his head and went straight up the stairs.

Savannah turned back to Lucas and Haley, glaring at them both.

"I am so mad at you two right now, but I guess the damage is already done so, head on into the party while I go clean up your mess."

Savannah disappeared upstairs before either Lucas or Haley could say another word. She looked in her bedroom first, just in case, and when he wasn't there she headed for his bedroom where she found him sitting on his bed, staring down at his hands which were clenched into fists.

She closed the door quietly behind her, locking it so that they would definitely have privacy while they talked and then she approached him slowly, sitting on the bed next to him without him even looking up at her.

"I didn't invite them." She said first, "Jake and Haley. I actually specifically told them they were not invited."

"I knew you wouldn't do that." Nathan replied softly, looking over at Savannah and smiling feebly, "You knew it would upset me. You wouldn't do that to me. It was Lucas right?"

Savannah sighed and nodded.

"I figured." Nathan sighed, "It's fine. I should have expected it the moment she showed up at the river court last night. Lucas would do anything to spend a few extra moments with Haley and he would also do anything to try and get Haley and I to talk out our issues. Try to make things work. He doesn't understand why I would want to have nothing to do with her."

Savannah knew what he was talking about and it made sense. Lucas just didn't get it. He thought they could still talk things out.

"Well, I um, told them to stay since they were already here." Savannah wrinkled her nose when Nathan looked at her and she cracked a smile, "Is that cool?"

He nodded and leaned in to kiss her softly.

"I know I'm not supposed to do that today but you're so damn adorable."

She giggled and leaned in to kiss him softly this time.

"We just can't do that with anyone else around."

"So, let's have a plan." Nathan said finally, after a few more delicate kisses, "If you see Haley trying to corner me, which I'm predicting she will because she probably came here to talk to me, you have to rescue me and um… I don't know. What can I do for you?"

"If you hear Bryan's parents talking about marriage, shoot me." Savannah joked.

"Alright, let me just grab my nine so I can bust a cap." Nathan retorted and they both started giggling uncontrollably.

"Seriously though, I don't need rescuing today but I will be more than happy to rescue you ok?" Savannah offered.

"I knew you would." Nathan said, "You always do."

They headed back downstairs together and found that most everyone had arrived and were hanging out together in the living room. Savannah and Nathan headed into the living room to mingle where he was immediately pulled into a conversation with Tim, Lucas, and Jake about basketball. Savannah was pulled to Bryan's side and there they stayed until dinner was served about an hour later.

"I just wanna say thank you to all of you for joining us here today." Savannah looked around the whole table at her family and friends, "Christmas in our family has always been about being together. It didn't matter where we were, my dad, my brother, and my sister always made sure that the four of us were together for Christmas and it's just so nice, having moved here to Tree Hill so sure that I would hate it, having made friends who are happy to spend today here, with their families, mingling with ours. Thank you to Mae for bringing the honey ham, Karen for bringing dessert, Mariah and Theo for dazzling us with their culinary skills. I'm just glad you are all here, really so, Merry Christmas and dig in."

There was a clinking of glasses, treating her speech like a toast and then everyone began passing around the various food items so each person could build their own plate.

Lucas found himself nibbling on his food but mostly observing everyone around him as they all ate their dinner. Somehow, the mixture of people they had brought together, there was no drama ensuing. He had expected Dan to have some sort of smart ass comment to make at every turn, but Dan was happy to discuss basketball and business with the other men. He even noticed that Keith was making an effort to be nice to Larry. He saw so much of Savannah in her dad, the way he commanded the attention of everyone in the room when he wanted to and the attention of no one when he wanted the spotlight to shine on someone else. He was amazed that in this house, today, the social stigma had seemed to fall and the rich like Deacon and Frank and even Dan had no problem socializing with those who weren't rich, like Keith, Larry, Jake's parents and even Whitey.

Brooke smiled over at Lucas, watching him observe the rest of the people around them. She leaned over to place a light kiss at his temple and then went back to eating, turning to Camille and gossiping with her about shopping, cheerleading, and school.

When dinner and dessert had finished, they all again migrated into the living room, and yet still, everyone was still getting along. All the kids had expected this to be a day filled with drama and yet, the only drama that had occurred so far was Haley and Jake showing up with Lucas.

"I think I'm gonna try to talk to him now." Haley sighed to Lucas as they stood on the outskirts of the group, sipping on sparkling apple cider, "What do you think?"

Lucas looked over at Nathan who was happily laughing with Tim, Camille, Brooke, Savannah and Bryan on the other side of the room.

"It's funny isn't it? The adults are all getting along. My mom, Dan, Keith, Larry… no one has a problem and yet us teenagers, here we are, divided as if last year never happened. The rich kids over there laughing it up and you and me over here, watching."

"Lucas…" Haley sort of laughed, "Don't be ridiculous ok? First of all, they're only like that because I'm over here. If I wasn't here you would be one of them and second, I'm not poor anymore. I happen to have a very lucrative recording contract buddy. I have money now."

Lucas grinned at his best friend and nodded.

"I guess you're right. You should be over there with them."

"With who?" Peyton joined them, sipping her own cup of sparkling apple cider, standing on Haley's other side.

Haley's voice faltered for a second, not realizing that Peyton was even speaking to her.

"Oh um… Lucas was saying that the rich kids are over there talking and he and I are over here, just like before." Haley smiled and Peyton managed to smile back.

"Well, where does that leave me?"

"You were always a rich kid." Lucas responded immediately, "Brooding, artsy rich girl."

"That's where you have it wrong." Peyton laughed, "I was never rich, just popular and only because Brooke is my best friend."

"Well, now you're rich." Lucas pointed out, "Married to one of the richest guys in the room, soon to have his spawn."

Peyton and Haley both giggled at the word.

"You make it sound like we're having an alien baby." Peyton sighed, "No, seriously, we've gotten so far past all the bullshit surrounding popular or not popular, rich or poor. We're all just friends now you know?"

"All of us?" Haley questioned hopefully.

Peyton considered her for a second and then cocked her head to the side as she took a sip from her drink.

"I guess that depends." She finally said in response to Haley's question, "You gonna keep in touch or just keep disappearing?"

"Definitely keep in touch." Haley responded without a second thought.

Peyton nodded and threw an arm around Haley's shoulder.

"Then yes, all of us."

Lucas caught Nathan glancing over at them in that moment and he sighed.

"Now is definitely your moment Hales. You need to talk to Nathan." Lucas reminded her.

Haley took a deep breath and nodded, hugging Peyton back really quickly and then slipping from her grasp.

"Wish me luck." She called back to them before walking away.

"Good luck." Lucas mumbled under his breath.

Haley approached Nathan where he was standing with the rest of their friends slowly. She wasn't really sure how she was going to do this but she had to try.

"Hey Nathan…" She tapped on his arm and he turned around to look at her, all the conversation in the circle ending, "Um… can I talk to you?"

"Oh Nate, I remembered I needed you to help me in the kitchen." Savannah said immediately moving towards Nathan while everyone else just looked on.

"Um…" Nathan looked back and forth between Savannah and Haley and then sighed, "Actually Savannah, I think I should talk to Haley. Can you get someone else to help you?"

Savannah stared at him for a second and then looked at Haley, nodding.

"Yeah, of course."

"Thanks." Nathan turned to Haley and motioned for her to follow him out of the living room, heading towards the back hallway, an area of the house that Haley had never been to before.

They ended up in the room with the pool table and Nathan closed the door behind them, just in case the conversation got heated, he didn't want to interrupt anyone else's Christmas.

"So…" Nathan moved himself around the pool table and ended up lifting himself to sit on the edge of it, "What'd you want to talk about?"

"Um…" Haley suddenly blanked on what she had originally been planning to say to him. She hadn't expected it to be this easy to get him alone, "Well… how are you?"

Nathan frowned at her.

"How am I? That's why you wanted to talk to me?" He questioned.

"No." Haley sighed, "No, it's not. I just kind of spaced on what I wanted to say. Um… look, I know that me showing up here today or even last night has to be hard on you."

"It's easier than you would imagine." Nathan immediately said, "Ignoring you really isn't that hard these days."

"Oh…" Haley felt a bit of disappointment and sighed again, "Well, it's not easy for me. I have so many questions. I still don't understand all of it you know?"

"All of what Haley? It's pretty simple. You heard a phone call that you thought was one thing and turned out to be something different. Before you let anyone explain you skipped town, went back on tour, got signed to a record label, hooked up with Jake, moved to LA and then magically appeared in Tree Hill for Christmas. What do you have questions on?"

"Do you love Savannah?" Haley asked simply.

Nathan looked taken aback. That was not the question he was expecting. He wasn't even really sure how to answer it. Yes, he loved her, but it wasn't that he was in love with her. He couldn't explain what he and Savannah had, especially not to Haley.

"Because I don't love Jake." Haley continued before Nathan could answer her question, "I mean, he's a great guy and maybe, one day, I could end up loving him, but right now, he's convenient. Is Savannah just convenient to you or is it real? Is there something there between you guys? Do you feel like you're using her? I always feel like I'm using Jake to get past you."

Nathan sighed.

"Yeah. I was thinking about that yesterday actually." Nathan admitted, "I feel like she's a distraction for me."

"That's how I feel about Jake." Haley blurted out, almost feeling like they were connecting for a moment.

"I talked to her about it though. She knows how I feel and she feels the same way towards me because of Bryan, so it works for us." Nathan continued, "Have you told Jake you're using him?"

"Sort of." Haley sighed, "We kind of talked before we flew here yesterday. He knows I'm not over you but… I don't know Nathan. It's so… surreal! How did we get here?"

"You left." Nathan said simply raising his eyebrows at her, "That's how we got here. You left."

Haley frowned and looked down at her feet as she bit her bottom lip.

"I love you." She sighed, looking back up at Nathan, "I love you more than anything in the world. I am so sorry for hurting you. Isn't there anything I can do to work this out? To get you to forgive me and take me back?"

"No." Nathan didn't hesitate even a moment to think about it, "Nothing you say or do will ever change what you did to me. You turned your back on us Haley. I told you before and I will tell you again, I forgive you, but we will never be what we used to be."

Haley could feel the tears starting to build but she quickly shook her head, refusing to let them escape.

"Do you ever think about us? Think about when it was good?" She questioned, daring to look up and found herself staring directly into his crystal blue eyes.

"All the time." He admitted, letting himself get lost in her eyes for the first time since she had left.

"Me too." Haley nodded moving closer to him, "I miss you so much."

"I miss you too." Nathan allowed her to move so she was standing between his legs and he was leaning down to kiss her. Their lips connected very softly, really just a flutter of touch. He slipped off the table so he was standing and then turned them, pulling her up so she was the one sitting on the table so they were at a more even height as the kiss intensified.

Nathan allowed himself to forget for a minute that his wife had hurt him and instead just let himself focus on her lips, pressed into his, parting and allowing him to dip his tongue inside her mouth. He held her and caressed her back, deepening the kiss and then suddenly it all came crashing back and he flew backwards away from her, as if her lips had burnt him.

"Nathan…" Haley started, touching her index finger to her lips as if she didn't believe what had just happened.

"No." Nathan shook his head vigorously, "You need to leave now Haley. You need to go."

"Nathan, no, don't freak out ok? It was just a kiss and…"

"Get out." Nathan opened the door and pointed out of it, "I don't just mean out of the room. Get out of my house. Go back to wherever it is you're staying, hell, go back to LA just stay the hell away from me."

Haley began chewing her bottom lip again as she held back the tears threatening to spill over. She wanted to look him in the eye and make him face her. She wanted to face him but she couldn't. She couldn't look at him, afraid that she might break down if she did so she did as he asked, and she left.

Savannah heard the front door slam shut and she frowned, looking around to see if anyone had left the living room besides Nathan and Haley. When everyone else was still accounted for, worrying that it was Nathan who had stormed out, she headed for the front door, quickly.

It only took her a few seconds to get to the end of the driveway where she found Haley, sitting on the sidewalk, her head in her hands and her body shaking which clearly meant she was crying.

"Haley?" Savannah moved to sit next to Haley and tried to get her to look up, "Haley? Are you ok?"

Haley shook her head no but refused to look at Savannah. She was embarrassed and upset and she didn't want to talk to Savannah. Although it wasn't Savannah's fault, she would have been the last person in the world that Haley would have told about what just happened.

"You want me to get Lucas?" Savannah asked, recognizing that Haley didn't really want to talk to her and really wanting to go check on Nathan instead.

Haley nodded at the mention of her best friend so Savannah took the hint and headed back towards the house.

Her first stop was into the living room to get Lucas and to do damage control. The whole house had heard the door slam so they were of course wondering what had happened.

"Hey, Brooke? Can you start handing out Christmas presents?" Savannah asked the most cheery person in the room who would hopefully be able to distract the rest of the guests, "There's something for everyone under there."

As soon as everyone was distracted by presents, Savannah grabbed Lucas and then pulled him from the room.

"I don't know what happened. Haley's outside crying. She doesn't want to talk to me and I need to find Nathan so you go talk to her ok?"

Lucas nodded and headed outside. Savannah headed to the back hallway, hoping Nathan was still back there or else she would have to start searching the whole house. Luckily, she found him laying on his back on the pool table, staring at the ceiling, but seeming relatively unfazed by whatever had just occurred.

"Uh… hey you." Savannah closed the door behind her and Nathan turned to look at her, no emotion on his face, "What happened? Haley's outside crying."

"I kissed her." Nathan replied honestly, turning to look back at the ceiling as he took a deep breath, "I don't know what came over me. I just… we were talking, civilly and I kissed her or let her kiss me, I don't know how it worked really but we were kissing and then I realized who I was kissing and I snapped. I told her to leave and to stay away from me."

"Wow." Savannah hopped up onto the pool table and joined him, laying next to him and staring up at the ceiling, "That's intense. No idea how you went from talking to kissing huh?"

Nathan explained that he and Haley had been talking about how they felt about using the people they were currently sleeping with and how they had said they missed each other and then suddenly they were kissing.

"Hmm…" Savannah sighed, "It sounds like you were making progress before that kiss."

"We were." Nathan nodded and turned to look at Savannah, "I know we kind of talked about this yesterday but does it hurt your feelings when I say I'm using you right now?"

"No." Savannah smiled, bringing her hand up to caress Nathan's cheek, "We already agreed. We're different than most people. We can be friends that are sometimes more than friends but be honest with each other about everything. I'm just happy that you are honest with me because if I felt like you were really into me and I was still dating Bryan, I wouldn't be able to be with you at all. I would feel like I was going to hurt you."

"I need you more than ever right now." Nathan admitted turning on his side to face Savannah, pulling her close to him, "With her here… I just, it's messing with my head and having you by my side, to be there for me through all of this… you mean the world to me."

Savannah smiled and nodded, not needing to say anything back to him because she knew that he knew that she understood.

Outside Lucas took a seat next to Haley and they sat there quietly, neither of them saying a word. Lucas knew that when Haley wanted to talk to him, she would, so he just waiting patiently.

"We kissed." She said after a few minutes of silence, "Nathan and I."

Lucas turned to look at her, the surprise clearly etched on his face.

"Alright, well I didn't expect that." Lucas replied, "So um, why are you out here?"

"Because he realized he was kissing me, pulled away like I had hit him in the face and then told me to get out and stay the hell away from him." Haley groaned, "I always make things worse. We were doing good. We were talking and then… I don't know if he kissed me or I kissed him but either way, I never should have come here today. I knew it was a bad idea from the beginning."

"Hales…" Lucas wrapped his arm around Haley's shoulders and pulled her to his side, "You don't really mean that."

"How did we go from talking to kissing to him hating me again?" Haley exclaimed, "I don't get it!"

"I don't know Haley. I wasn't there but if I'm being honest, I know you both still love each other, so my guess is the love came through for a minute and he doesn't hate you, but loving you scares him." Lucas said, "It's going to be hard for a really long time Haley but I think right now, what you need to get from this, is that he loves you and you love him, but you're going opposite directions now. You're splitting up so that love isn't going to show the way it used to."

Haley sniffled, still finding it hard to come to grips with her marriage being permanently over. She had felt so much hope in the moments when Nathan was kissing her and then it had been yanked away just as easily.

"I'll take you home if you don't want to be here anymore." Lucas said when the silence had lasted a few minutes, "We can go and then I can come back for everyone else in a little bit."

Haley contemplated her options. She could go inside and have to face Nathan again or she could run away from it all and go back to the comfort of Jake's house, hiding out until she could get out of Tree Hill for good.

"No, let's go back inside. I can handle a few more hours."

It was almost exactly two hours later when the guests began to depart the party. Dan, Deb, Royal and Mae were the first to leave, followed shortly by Keith and Whitey. Karen and Larry headed out, then Tim with his parents. Camille, Bryan and their parents had a bit of a drive back to Chapel Hill so they were next.

"I'll call you later." Bryan kissed Savannah softly as he stood at the front door, his parents talking with Deacon at the car.

Savannah nodded, knowing she was planning on being busy with Nathan later but not mentioning this to Bryan. Then again, with everything that had happened at the party, maybe Nathan wouldn't be in the mood later.

When Camille, Bryan, Frank and Dana had headed out, Lucas rounded up Brooke, Jake, Haley, Jenny, and Jake's parents, piling them into the SUV he had borrowed from Keith.

Nathan made it a point to say bye to everyone except for Haley and then disappear, heading upstairs to his bedroom before she could say a word to him.

Peyton and Xander were the last to leave, taking Deacon, Mariah and Theo with them declaring that it was their turn to host the family and that meant that it was just Nathan and Savannah, left alone in the house, for the rest of Christmas Day.

Savannah looked around the house, knowing she should attempt to clean up some of the mess before she went and collapsed in her bed, but she also didn't really feel like it, so she didn't, choosing instead to just trudge up the stairs. She was planning to check in on Nathan as soon as she had changed into her pajamas but much to her surprise, he was relaxing in her bed, watching her TV.

"Umm…" Savannah looked around the room like she was looking for something, touching the dressers and everything in her path as she walked towards the bed, "Last I checked this was my room mister. Did I forget something?"

"It is your room." Nathan looked over at her and smiled, "I'm your best friend. I can't just hang out in your room?"

Savannah giggled, climbing into the bed and laying down, her head in the crook of Nathan's arm as he wrapped it around her shoulders and her hand resting carefully on his chest.

"Is everyone gone?" Nathan asked after a few minutes of relaxation.

"Yup." Savannah nodded, "Absolutely everyone. Peyton and Xander to dad, Mariah, and Theo to their house for the night. It's just you and me buddy."

"Yeah?" Nathan looked down at her and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, "Nice."

Savannah smiled.

"I thought maybe you had changed your mind about tonight after all the drama with you and Haley today."

"Change my mind about you?" Nathan laughed, "No. I could never change my mind about you. You're the one constant in my life."

"I missed kissing you today." She told him, looking up into his eyes as he looked down and into hers, "Is that weird?"

"No." Nathan leaned down and kissed her softly, "Ever since we started this kissing thing I've missed kissing you every second that I'm not."

Nathan turned on his side and pulled Savannah up so their faces were even as she laid on her side facing him as well. He placed a few more soft kisses on her lips and then held his lips on hers, his hands on her waist pressing her body into his.

She opened her mouth and allowed his tongue entrance. She let her arm wrap itself around him, trying with every deepening of their kiss to get closer to him. Sometimes she felt weird kissing her best friend and sometimes it just felt right. In his arms then, she knew it was right.

"Do I still get to do anything I want to you?" Nathan asked, a simple question whispered against her lips just as he was reaching under her shirt.

"I promised, didn't I?" She smiled at him, "Anything you want."

Nathan groaned and flipped her onto her back, moving over her and continuing his assault on her lips. He supported his weight on one arm and used the other to softly cup her breast, massaging it and lightly twisting her nipple to tease her. He knew that she enjoyed it by the way her body was arching underneath him and the way her eyes continually rolled back in her head.

She let her arms move underneath his shirt and she scratched at his back, making him shiver and moan at the same time. Just like he instinctively seemed to know where to touch her to make her feel good, she instinctively knew what he would like and where to administer her touches.

It was only a few minutes before they had shed their shirts, letting their bare chests meet, hot flesh against hot flesh. Nathan held both of her hands above her head as he let his lips begin exploring the rest of her body. He tasted her earlobe, her neck, her shoulder, her chest, her breasts…

"Mmmm…" Savannah moaned as Nathan sucked happily on one of her erect nipples. She wanted to run her fingers through his hair as he did it but with him restraining her hands she couldn't.

After tasting both of her breasts, Nathan continued his exploration, letting her hands go when he reached the waistband of her pants, placing kisses along her lower torso. He quickly undid the button and zipper of her pants, slipping them down her body and only briefly pausing to admire her body before removing her panties too.

He didn't warn her before he placed his lips over her vagina, not doing anything more than just breathing on her as he parted her legs.

Savannah whimpered underneath his breath, twisting her hands in the comforter for support as she arched her back.

"Shh…" Nathan whispered, not moving his mouth as he smiled, looking up at her eyes which were pleading with him silently not to tease her.

He let his tongue flicker against her clit very gently and again she whimpered, a little louder this time. He wanted to continue teasing her, allowing her only short moments of pleasure, but it was even driving him crazy being so poised to take her in his mouth and yet only getting tiny flickers of her taste.

Nathan leaned in, letting his mouth take her all in, sucking on her clit and letting his tongue dip inside her as she screamed. Luckily no one was home as he was positive even the neighbors would have heard her when he began to lick her most intimate folds.

He brought her to the very edge of her release before he stopped, making her groan loudly when she lost the sensations of his mouth on her. Nathan slipped off the bed, standing at the edge, staring at her as she laid there, here eyes closed, completely exposed but also completely trusting. She knew that while she had momentarily lost their connection, he would be back shortly.

Nathan slipped off his pants and boxers, moving back over her when he returned to the bed. He didn't insert himself into her just yet, instead, just laying over her, staring down at her as he caressed her cheek and placed gentle kisses along her jaw. She was breathing erratically, and reaching for him, arching her back clearly hoping he wasn't going to keep her waiting too long. It wasn't until she opened her eyes and looked deep into his eyes that she stilled.

She wanted him and he wanted her but there was more to it than that. He was just staring at her like she was the most amazing thing in the world. They were connecting on much more than a sexual level. More than a friendly level. They were looking into each other's souls.

"You're so beautiful." Nathan said softly, running his finger down the side of her face, "Tell me you'll never leave me."

"Never." Savannah shook her head and leaned forward to give him a quick kiss, "I'll always be there for you."

They kept eye contact as he thrust into her, first gently, then with a more rapid pace. He groaned and she screamed but they never lost the eye contact. Their blue eyes met and held even as their release built and his speed and force increased. She wrapped her legs around him, letting him move deep within her, the two of them moving as one.

Savannah let her fingers run through his hair on the back of his head and just when she knew their releases were coming, she forced his head down and kissed him passionately, their mutual cries lost inside the others mouth as he exploded inside her and she exploded around him, the rest of the world fading away.

It took several minutes to recover. Her breathing began to even out and Nathan regained the strength to lift himself up off of her. He rolled over onto his back and they laid together, fingers intertwined between them, both staring at the ceiling.

"That was amazing." Savannah finally spoke up, turning to lay on her side and stare at Nathan, moving her hand to trace the curves of his chest.

Nathan turned and smiled at her, turning over on his side and bringing her to him, clutched against his chest.

"I'm not done with you yet." He said simply, as if she had no choice in the matter.

She giggled and nodded her head against his chest.

"Who said I was done with you yet?"

End of Chapter Author's Note: One more thing, where do you all think we should go from here? New Years? Skip a few months? What would you like to see? I'm definitely open for suggestions. Thanks in advance for reviews!