I hope you guys are happy with this one because I know I am :)

Fix Me

Chapter 52

Haley stepped into the quiet house, letting out a sigh.

Nathan had texted her that he would be gone and that he was meeting Quentin at the Rivercourt after school.

She hung her car keys up on the hook, walking over to Scout's kennel and letting him out quickly.

He gave her arm a grateful lick, before running to the back door so she could let him out.

She smiled slightly, pulling the door open. "Okay, Scout... Go on," She hummed, rubbing his ears and watching as he ran outside into the chilled air.

She closed the door behind him, unzipping her jacket and tossing it over the back of one of the chairs at the kitchen table.

She'd been a little disappointed when Nathan told her he wouldn't be home when she got home, but they had been spending a lot of time together.

It seemed like every night Nathan had set up some type of romantic scenario for them.

Whether it was a picnic in their living room, or taking her out to dinner... He'd planned something special.

It was odd. Not unwelcome, especially not the late nights that followed these situations, but odd.

She'd tried to set up something for him, since really he was the one the deserved a celebration, but he always just laughed and shook his head.

According to him, his way of celebrating was doing something special for her.

She rolled her eyes at the thought, a big smile on her face.

Nathan was the sweetest.

She couldn't believe how much she loved him.

Every other boyfriend, crush, anything... It was nothing compared to Nathan.

When she wasn't with him, she wanted to be. When she wasn't talking to him, she was thinking of him.

And she was so excited to have the next two weeks with him. No school. No stress.

They'd already decided to stay home for the holidays. People were more than welcome to visit them, but they were staying put. It was going to be great.

She pulled open the door at the sound of Scout hitting his paw against it, smiling down at him.

"Hey Scout," She hummed, closing the door and kneeling down for him. "Good boy," She laughed when he went up to lick her face, pushing him away slightly and shaking her head.

Scout nuzzled up to her quickly, causing her grin to grow.

"You aren't going to know what to do with yourself, hm? Having me home all day for two weeks? It's been awhile since that happened," She said, stroking her hand through his fur.

She stood up straight when her phone started to ring, grabbing it out of her jacket pocket quickly.

Clay Evans.

"Hello?" She answered, humming softly.

"Hey, hey!" Clay greeted her. "How's it feel?"

"How's what feel?" She asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

"What?" Clay replied.

"What?" She mimicked, rubbing her neck.

"Uh, being done with school of course?" Clay laughed into the phone.

"It feels good, really good," She said, shrugging slightly. "Nothing but two weeks with my boys. No complaints."

"Very cool, very cool," Clay hummed, sighing softly.

"Did you need something, Clay?" Haley laughed, pulling a chair out from the table and sitting down.

"Just calling my favorite sister in law," Clay hummed.

"Sure you are," She laughed, rolling her eyes.

"Okay, okay... Fine," Clay conceded, laughing. "Do you think Quinn will like heart shaped jewelry?"

"Depends," Haley said, shrugging slightly. "Did you buy her heart shaped jewelry?"

"I may have it in my cart right now. I'm having some trouble coming up with a Christmas present," Clay said, sighing softly. "We agreed not to go too big since we're buying a house in Tree Hill soon, but..."

"Clay, trust your instincts," She said, pushing her hand through her hair, slipping her shoes off her feet. "And keep the receipt. That's the best advice I have when it comes to Quinn. She'll love the thought, and if she hates the jewelry, she'll send it back and get something else."

"I could buy her a new camera..." Clay trailed off, sighing. "I don't know, last year we went a little smaller too because our wedding was right before it. This year we're moving... Eventually I want to spoil her. It's not like we're hurting for money, we're just being careful."

"Would you have any idea what kind of camera to buy?" Haley asked with a laugh.

"Not a clue. Do you know anything about cameras?"

"Negative," She said, shaking her head. "She'll love whatever you get her, Clay," She said softly.

"You're right. I'm going to follow your advice. Thanks, Baby J."

"Yep," She said, picking up a flower petal that had wilted from the vase in the middle of the table.

"What's Nate up to today? I don't hear him around?" Clay asked her.

"You don't know?"

"You know, Hales, we don't talk every day anymore. We talk a lot, but not even close to what we used to," Clay informed her, laughing.

Haley smiled slightly at that, crossing her legs. "So... What do you guys talk about when you do talk?"

"You're asking me to break bro code?" He gasped.

"A little," She hummed, biting her lip.

"We talk about a lot of the same stuff we used to, I don't know..."

"Fine, fine. Don't tell me. Had to try," Haley said, laughing. "He's just been doing a bunch of stuff this week and I thought you'd know what was up."

Clay was quiet for a moment.

Oh, he knew what was up.

"All good things, I hope?" Clay replied, laughing.

"Really, really good," Haley said, clearing her throat and grinning as she thought back to the previous week.

"Well... That's good, I think? Why question it?" He laughed.

"Good point," She said, humming softly.

"Hey, I have to go. Nathan is actually calling me now. Talk to you later, okay?"

"You got it," She hummed, hanging up the phone and letting out a deep breath.

She stood up, glancing at the time on her phone.

Nathan would probably be home soon. It was a pretty cold day, couldn't have been too much fun to be outside playing basketball.

She brushed her fingers through her hair, looking down at Scout. "What are you thinking, buddy? Should we go take a nap? You've probably been napping all day..." She sighed, shaking her head. "How about we go on a walk instead, yeah?"

Scout's ears perked at 'walk.'

"I'll take that as a yes from you," She laughed, walking over to the bin where their puppy's stuff was, pulling out a leash.

She hooked the leash to his collar, rubbing the top of his head. "Okay, bub. I'm just going to run upstairs and put some different clothes on and then we can go."

She headed up the stairs, letting out a deep breath.

She stopped at the top of the stairs to look at a picture of her and Nathan hanging there, a smile on her face.

She hated the spot.

But she'd come home from work earlier this week and he'd put it there.

So she left it. She hated the placement, the height of it, but he'd picked it and she'd decided not to argue.

There weren't many pictures of just the two of them hanging in their house.

In fact, it was mostly just her family.

She raised her hand and brushed her thumb lightly over the frame.

Maybe next time Quinn was here she could take a couple pictures of them.

She hummed softly, heading into their room to get changed.

She let out a sigh of relief when she entered the room.

Nathan had cleaned it.

Usually they never really let it get messy, but it seemed like as soon as she got home, he was whisking her off and then when they got home, they were shedding clothes left and right, which didn't leave a ton of time in between for her to clean up.

But Nathan had done it today. Thankfully.

She smiled again, changing out of her work clothes quickly, into jeans and an old Stanford t-shirt quickly. She pulled a different jacket from her closet, wrapping it around her shoulders and hurrying down the stairs.

xxxx

When Haley returned home, Nathan was back.

He was sitting on the couch, looking like he'd just gotten out of the shower, his damn playstation controller in his hand.

She wanted to laugh and roll her eyes at the same time. Despite being done with school, he still seemed a little stress, and this was a good way for him to relieve stress, she guessed. It seemed like all week he'd been rotating between, basketball, running, and this stupid golfing game.

She let Scout off the leash, and he immediately went over to Nathan, bumping his head against his knee.

Nathan looked down in surprise, rubbing Scout's ears quickly, a grin forming on his face. "Hey buddy," He greeted.

"Hey, you," Haley hummed, entering the room behind Scout.

"Hey, I was wondering where you were," He laughed, smiling up at her.

She then walked into the kitchen, quickly filling up Scout's food bowl so that he could eat, and he followed after her quickly.

She returned to the living room and let herself come around the couch and sit across his lap, her head coming to rest on his shoulder.

"Well, hello," He said again, smirking slightly.

"Hi," She hummed, brushing her hand down his chest. "How was basketball?"

She listened as Nathan clicked around on the controller.

"He stood me up," Nathan admitted, shaking his head. "Said it was too cold."

"What were you doing then?" She asked him, frowning.

"I shot around for a little while then just kinda sat in my car," He informed her, shrugging.

"Well I missed you when I got home," She hummed, nudging her nose against his neck.

"Yeah?" He hummed, glancing at her.

"I did," She said, bending her knees so that she was pretty much curled up in his lap.

"Good to hear," He hummed, kissing her head lightly.

She turned her eyes to the TV for a minute, sighing softly. Hole ten? Really?

She looked back at him, walking her fingers up his chest lightly, letting them come to a rest on one side of his neck, pinning her lips to the other.

Nathan didn't even flinch, but he did tilt his head slightly to the side.

Then she grew slightly curious. She'd never really tried to pull him away from this before...

She raised her lips to his ear, biting down on his ear lobe briefly, before beginning to pepper kisses down his neck again.

She could feel his heart start to beat a little faster.

She heard him release a deep breath.

She shifted her position in his lap so that she was straddling his legs, but he could still see the TV screen over her shoulder, one hand starting to wander his torso.

She kissed the crook of his neck lightly, before attaching her lips to his skin and sucking lightly.

His eyes fluttered slightly at that.

She could get him. She knew she could.

He removed one hand from the controller briefly, resting it on her side, before the warmth of his hand was returned to it's original place.

She sucked even harder at his skin, which drew a quiet groan from him, a grin forming on her face.

He still didn't flinch though. He knew what she was trying to do.

She removed her mouth just before she made a mark, beginning to kiss up his neck again.

She stripped her jacket of her shoulders, tossing it to the floor.

Without a moment of hesitation, she pulled her t-shirt over her head and grinned as his eyes fell to her newly exposed skin and away from the TV.

She leaned forward and kissed up to his ear, before whispering. "I want you."

"Chase, I'm going to have to call you back," Nathan said quickly.

Haley froze at his words, lifting her head up in a panic.

Nathan burst into laughter, shaking his head.

He didn't even have headphones on.

She should have known that because she was just assaulting his ear, but he still tricked her.

She scowled, pushing on his chest lightly, which caused more laughter to bubble from him.

"I got you," He laughed, tossing the controller to the side and wrapping his arms around her, pulling her in close to him.

"You're a jerk," She said, but she was unable to contain her smile because of how hard he was laughing at himself.

"I'm the worst," He agreed, pulling her closer to him.

"The worst," She said, rolling her eyes. "I just wanted your attention."

"You had it as soon as you walked into the room," He said, winking at her. "I was going to get off as soon as you got home, but I could tell you were annoyed so I decided to see what you'd do."

"You're so funny," She said, picking up her t-shirt.

"No, no. Keep it off," He laughed, winking at her. "That was so funny."

She smacked him lightly with her shirt, before pulling it over her head anyways.

He leaned forward and captured her lips in a kiss, squeezing her hips lightly.

"You seemed so into it," She said, shaking her head.

"I was," He said, winking at her. "But I couldn't resist the opportunity to make you freak out."

"Well now I'm not into it," She said, running her fingers through his damp hair.

He laughed, maneuvering them so that she was laying on her back on the couch, and he was on top of her, his hand rested next to her head.

"What about now?"

"Yes, the controller jabbing into my back is very sexy," She laughed, smiling up at him.

He shook his head, finding the source of her issue and dropping it on the ground. "Well?"

"Still not doing it for me," She admitted. "Honestly, I was never in the mood in the first place, I just wanted to see if I could get you off your game."

"Mean trick," He informed her, smiling down at her.

"Mhm," She hummed, pulling him down into a kiss.

Nathan kissed her back, before lifting his head. "I found something fun for us to do tonight."

"Oh yeah? All part of the 12 days of Christmas romance package I've been receiving?"

"That's not what I'm doing, but that would have been a really great idea," He said, frowning slightly. "Damn."

"Well you don't have to do anything else, babe. I get it, you appreciate me for helping you out this semester, but-"

"Tonight will be different," He promised, nodding at her.

"Different?"

"Well... Yeah. I think," He said, clearing his throat. "But we have to wait until it gets closer to dark, and then we can go. I also figured we could grab some dinner."

"It's outside?"

"Yeah," He said, shrugging. "Sorry, I know it's kind of cold."

"It's okay," She said quickly, lifting her head to kiss him again. "I'm going to have to plan a week of surprises for you too."

"Do whatever you want," He laughed, winking at her. "All I want is for you to play 18 holes of golf with me," He teased.

She groaned, shaking her head. "Impossible. I will never."

Nathan kissed her again, before lifting his head and smiling down at her. "I love you," He told her softly.

"I love you too, Nathan," She said, letting out a deep breath.

"You better," He hummed, standing up slowly, stretching out his back. He grabbed her hands, pulling her upright and nodding.

"So how much time do we have to kill exactly?" Haley asked him, raising her eyebrows.

"Like an hour," He promised, shrugging. "Then we can go get dinner, and then I will take you to my secret plan."

"You are trouble, Nathan Scott. Trouble," She said, shaking her head.

"You know, you're not the first person to tell me this," He laughed, kissing her head.

"So what do we do for the next hour?" She asked him, standing up.

"I'm going to go get a little more ready than this," He said, gesturing to himself. "Because you look dressed up."

"Oh, don't you dare say that. I'm wearing jeans and an oversized t-shirt," She laughed, smacking his arm lightly.

"Exactly. You look hot," He hummed. "Although, I'm thinking you need to forfeit the Stanford shirt for a Duke one."

"Oh, just wait until you see my UNC shirt I have packed away in a box," She said, grinning at him. "Then we'll see who is laughing."

He gasped, taking a step back. "You've been hiding this from me?"

"Shoved in a box that I hoped you'd never find when I moved out of my apartment," She informed him, laughing.

"No, no, no..." He shook his head, sitting on the couch again. "I need to lie down... I can't... We can't..."

Haley rolled her eyes. Her boyfriend was a drama queen.

"Don't worry, babe. I don't have a preference," She said, pinching his cheek. "But I can probably be persuaded into going full Blue Devil for you."

He grinned, standing up. "Now see? I'm in the mood all over again."

"Too easy," She said, standing on her toes and kissing him softly. "So what exactly will you be wearing tonight, Nathan?"

"This Stanford t-shirt and nothing else," He joked, fiddling with the sleeve of her shirt.

"Oh great, now I'm in the mood," She hummed sarcastically, smiling at him. "More than anything I hope your secret plan involves us having sex outside in the thirty-five degree weather."

"You guessed it," He said, kissing her softly. "You know me so well."

"Sure I do, lover boy. Now go get dressed so I can base what I wear off of you."

"Come with me?"

"A chance to check you out before the main event? I wouldn't miss it," She teased, giving him a playful smack on the ass as he turned to head up the stairs.

He jumped, sending her a look over his shoulder, taking off up the stairs quickly.

xxxx

Nathan watched as Haley rubbed her hands together, looking around the empty parking lot.

They'd just gotten out of the car, her coat wrapped tightly around her.

It was unusually cold. There were clouds covering the sky so it was dark.

He felt so relieved to only see one car in the parking lot.

When Quentin had bailed on him, it gave him time to think.

To figure out a way to make tonight perfect.

He'd found a Christmas light showing, where people pay to walk through a completely decorated path with all the works.

Haley had probably been there before, given that she was from Tree Hill.

But he payed to have the whole thing shut down for an hour tonight, just so the two of them could go through it.

It was going to be perfect.

He had the ring box in one pocket, and a fortune cookie in the other.

For some reason he couldn't sway away from the fortune cookie idea. Every other night for the past week, he'd tried it again, but he'd never been please with her fortune.

But tonight it would not be messed up.

He thought it would be pretty sweet.

She opens up the fortune, and on the inside it says 'Haley, will you marry me?'

She would love it. Really, really love it.

Hopefully it wasn't bad luck to already know what it said.

"What are we doing here? It looks closed," She laughed, looping her arm through his.

She was shivering, which made Nathan feel kind of bad, but she'd be fine.

He was radiating heat right now since he was so nervous.

It was still the right thing to do, despite his nerves. He knew that he wanted this. He knew she would say yes.

But he still felt scared.

"Trust me?" He asked her, raising his eyebrows.

"Always," She repeated, standing in her toes and kissing him softly.

He walked up to the open gates, heading into the new area.

Almost as soon as stepped foot in, the path came to life.

Trees, decorations, every where.

"What are you up to?" She asked him.

"Let's just walk," He laughed, tugging her along slightly.

"Okay..." She trailed off.

As they began to walk, Haley started talking about her day again.

And for the most part, he let her, and he listened to her.

But as they approached the center, his planned spot of proposal, he could not believe the topic she'd landed on.

One of the least romantic topics he could possibly think of at that moment.

"And this kid, in the middle of the final, he just stands up and races out of the class. Full sprint," Haley told him, shaking her head. "I just looked at one of the students sitting next to him, and they just shrugged their shoulders."

"Okay..." He urged, glancing down at her.

He was hoping to usher this conversation along.

"He didn't come back for fifteen minutes. I couldn't figure out what was going on, so I went and talked to one of his friends that was sitting across the room from him and asked him if he knew what was going on," Haley said, letting out a sigh. "And he said he didn't, but he would go and look for him once he was done."

"Alright..."

"And when that kid didn't come back, I was so confused. They say no students are allowed to leave during final, but I've never had one just get up and run out." She said, clearing her throat, "So pretty soon, another teacher walks into my class, and he is just green in the face..."

Nathan really didn't like the direction this conversation was taking.

"And he summons me into the hall, so I go out there, and the two boys are standing there, looking like wrecks," She said, pressing her hand to her face.

"And then what?"

Oh, god... They were just about to his spot.

"I guess the first kid had not been feeling well all day, and well, he ran into the bathroom when he started feeling super sick. I don't know exactly what happened, but the second boy had a weak stomach and couldn't take it, so he got sick, and then when the teacher came in..."

Nathan turned his ears off. This was not right. He couldn't propose to her while she was talking about two kids making each other, and a teacher sick.

He felt in his pocket, his heart sinking into his stomach. The fortune cookie was shattered. No, no, no... This was not happened.

"And as for the final-"

He just wanted her to stop talking about this story.

He was irritated at the topic of conversation, but the broken cookie in his pocket was the last straw. He was so fed up with this week. Why was he basing his proposal off shit like this? It was him and Haley. That was all that mattered. Not lights, or cookies, or flowers... No. Just them.

Much like the kid in the story, Nathan couldn't control what came out of his mouth.

"Haley, will you marry me?"

He asked her, a scowl on his face.

Haley stopped, staring up at him.

"What did you say?" She asked him.

"I said, will you marry me?"

It came out a lot more harsh than he had ever practiced in his head. Maybe his frustrations from the week had piled up.

She was quiet again.

Nathan couldn't read her expression.

But even in his annoyed state, he admired how beautiful she looked. He picked a great spot.

"Your words and your tone aren't matching..." She said slowly, biting down on her lip lightly.

Nathan sucked in a deep breath, pulling the ring box out of his pocket.

Her mouth formed an 'o' as she looked from the box, up to him, her hand moving to cover her face.

Nathan smiled slightly, sucking in a deep breath and dropping down onto one knee.

He slowly opened up the box, revealing the ring that she had honestly forgotten about.

Somehow the last half of the year got away from her, and his potential proposal had slipped her mind.

Her eyes flicked down to the ring.

Inside the cushion laid a petite diamond engagement ring with a white gold band, halfway down the band on each side were smaller diamonds that accented the stone in the center.

"Oh my god, Nathan..." She trailed off, dropping her hand and looking at his eyes.

"Haley... I've tried to do this every night this week, but something has gone wrong every time. I set up the perfect plan tonight... And you're still talking about a kid throwing up when I try to do it," He said, laughing. There were tears in the corner of his eyes, which brought Haley to tears as well.

"Haley..." He began again, smiling up at her. He pulled the broken cookie out of his pocket, pulling the wrapper open with his teeth and grabbing the fortune out and handing it to her. "Will you marry me?"

"Yes!" Haley answered quickly, throwing herself at the man down on one knee, wrapping her arms around him tightly.

Nathan smiled brightly, one arm wrapping around her waist, while the other held the box steady.

They stayed there light that for a moment, before Haley pulled away and kissed him feverishly, holding his face in her cold hands.

He stood up to his feet, shoving the cookie wrapper back into his pocket.

He pulled the ring out of the box, grabbing onto her left hand with his own shaky hands, slipping it onto her finger with ease.

"A perfect fit," She whispered, looking up at him and smiling brightly.

He stared down at her, noticing white flecks on her shoulder. He glanced up at the sky.

It was snowing. Not something that happened often in Tree Hill.

Maybe Mother Nature was his wingman tonight.

"It's snowing," He said, looking around, before looking back at his rosy cheeked, teary eyed girl.

He leaned forward and kissed her quickly, wrapping his arms around her waist tightly.

They kissed for awhile, both of them not caring much for the cold because they were filled with warmth.

Haley finally pulled back, still holding his face in her hands.

"I'm sorry I was talking about throw up right before you proposed," She said, laughing.

He laughed, kissing her again, before grabbing her left hand and kissing just below the new jewelry.

"With us? I wouldn't expect any different."