Chapter 27: A Tree Hill Raven always knows when it isn't like it should be, it's not what it can be.

Haley sits on the bench, one leg crossed over the other with her foot bobbing – up and down, up and down – waiting for Nathan's return. Her anxiety skyrockets with each minute that passes. This was a horrible idea. It all was a horrible idea. Coming back to this reunion. Opening old wounds. Thinking there was even a chance to maybe-possibly go back to how things were, just for a weekend. Telling Nathan, everything. Well, almost. The more she thought about it, the more she realized how delusional she'd been when she'd convinced herself to come.

As she closes in on the last ounce of patience she has, before she just knows he won't be coming back, Nathan appears with the most gigantic pink pastry box Haley has ever seen. He was, without a doubt and for so many reasons, the most attractive person she'd ever met and a welcome sight after her spiral into self-doubt. He looks nervous and unbearably cute holding the big pink box. Her heart hums in delight.

"You came back," Haley jokes. "I half expected you to leave me here."

"Thought about it," Nathan says with a small smile, taking a seat on the far end of the bench and placing the box between them. He welcomes the buffer. Time still didn't change the fact that a concentrated Haley was always the most beautiful to him. She had these little ticks – the scrunch of her nose, the twisting of her lips, the bounce of her thumb on her chin as she thought – that were so truly Haley. It was a peek behind the curtain that he couldn't resist.

"I wouldn't blame you," Haley says in self-deprecation, gratefully taking her coffee from Nathan. She takes a sip, a giddiness running through her that it tasted perfect. He remembered her order. Sigh.

"Nah, I wouldn't do that," Nathan states, noticing a rigidness taking over Haley's posture. "Sorry, that wasn't meant to be a dig. It's just… the truth."

"What do you mean?" Haley asks.

"I just mean I've become a stickler for commitment. If I say I'm going to do something, I do it. And if I know I won't follow-through, I don't commit to something in the first place."

"Oh," Haley says, embarrassed.

"I feel like I'm digging myself into a hole," Nathan observes.

Haley shakes her head, "Not at all. You're being honest. I think it just reminds me of what a good person you are Nathan Scott."

"I wouldn't go that far," he says, glancing over to find Haley observing him. Their eyes lock for a moment, before he cuts to the box. "Want a pastry?"

"Dealer's choice," Haley says, eying the box in anticipation. Nathan opens it, not surprised to find every pastry under the sun thanks to Charity – blueberry scones, raspberry jam cookies, coffee cake, donuts – you name it, it's in there. And finally, wedged in a corner, is what he was looking for. Nathan picks up the chocolate-chip banana bread with a napkin and hands it to Haley.

She looks through the box, not accepting it yet. "Oh no, there's only one. You can have it."

"Just take it Haley," Nathan says, shoving the napkin into her hand.

"But it's your favorite too," Haley says, feeling guilty.

"It's really not," Nathan states, picking up a raspberry jam cookie.

"Nathan, every time we went to Karen's you'd get banana bread. It's your favorite," Haley states in disbelief.

"I got it because it's your favorite," he says. "I love anything raspberry."

Haley watches incredulously as Nathan twists open the raspberry jam cookie, licking the filling off the shortbread. As if it was so casual for him to drop romantic-teenage bombs on her. He got it because it was her favorite. And then he has the audacity to lick the jam from a cookie. As if her twenty-eight-reverting-back to-sixteen-year-old heart doesn't find that hot as hell. Goosebumps run up her arms as she watches him. A familiar tingle of attraction warming across her chest.

Nathan looks up, feeling her stare, "What?"

"Are you with Rachel?" Haley asks. Nathan stiffens, the statement totally out of left field.

"I don't want to get into that right now," Nathan sighs.

"Are you with her?" Haley asks, bringing her crossed leg down to the ground, her feet planted in anticipation.

Nathan stares at her, she holds her breath. He sighs. "No."

"Good," Haley says, lunging herself to stand over Nathan, before grabbing his face, and crashing her lips to his. Haley kisses him, and Nathan lets her. Her glossy lips, soft like pillows, parting his own to explore his mouth, their tongues dancing in the most satisfying way. The sweetness from the jam makes her smile against him. Nathan Scott would always surprise her.

She feels the intuitive lift of his chin to give her more access as his hands find her hips. He leans back onto the bench, pulling her closer. She runs her hands from the side of his face, down his neck, before running them up and down each shoulder, the need to make contact with every inch of him taking over. She puts a hand down the collar of his shirt, lightly brushing her nails across his bare shoulder blade. The intimate gesture snapping Nathan from his reverie.

"Haley…" Nathan says, pulling his mouth away as she peppers kisses down his jaw and throat. "Haley… stop."

She snaps back, reality setting in as Nathan holds her an arm's length away. She watches Nathan's conflicted expression. The man she left, the man she crushed. She didn't deserve him. She knew that.

She steps out of his grip, straightening herself back up, before looking him in the eyes again—completely unreadable. Her lips curl, unable to take the rejection, before finally muttering, "I understand if you don't love me anymore."

Haley turns back towards the walking path, urgently needing to get out of the situation. Her heart breaks with the same pain it did at eighteen.

"Always and forever," Nathan calls.

Haley stops in her tracks at the phrase, turning to face Nathan. He stands, walking over to her.

"That's what sucks Haley," he says, his proximity overwhelming. She could feel the heat radiating from his tall frame as he hovers over her. "Because I still do love you. I just can't trust you."

Haley's eyes well with tears, the statement hitting her like whiplash.

"Now I'm going to walk back," Nathan states. "OK?"

Nathan starts walking as Haley trails right on his heels.

"Nathan, wait. Talk to me. I can't just dismiss that. I can't pretend like all this didn't happen."

"I'm not asking you to. We're adults. But I can't pretend either."

"What are you pretending?" Haley asks with a scoff.

Nathan stops, frustrated, and turns to face Haley.

"That you didn't change my whole life, for better or worse," Nathan states. "But hooking up on a park bench isn't going to fix us, right?"

"Nathan, I wasn't trying to… I just thought… I don't know, in the moment, after everything I just told you, I just wanted you to want me again."

"That's not the problem Haley. Trust me. It just doesn't change the fact that you turned your back on us and walked away," Nathan says, starting to walk again.

"That's not fair," Haley says, her hurt palpable as she races to keep in step. "Look… I know that I hurt you. But I promised myself that if I could get you to listen then I would tell you that there was never a day in the last ten years when I didn't think you were the best part of my life."

"You can't just say that Haley," Nathan scoffs, his nerves fried. "Not after years of silence."

"Why?" Haley asks, her voice catching. "It's the truth."

"Really?" Nathan asks, frustrated. "What about the day you signed the annulment papers?"

Haley bites her lip, stopping in her tracks. She can't refute it, "You still don't know the whole story, Nathan."

"I'm sure I can piece it together. Your family needed money and my dad offered you money if you left me," Nathan says. "How'd I do?"

Haley's face contorts in shame. She shakes her head, "It's not that simple."

"It is Haley," Nathan states with exhaustion. "Look, I'm sorry for what your family has been through. But where we differ is I would have done anything for you. I didn't marry you because I thought it would be easy. I married you because I didn't want to do life without you. I couldn't. And you, I guess, could."

"Nathan…"

"I'm going back," Nathan sighs, and for the first time in their relationship, Nathan Scott walks away.

...

10 Years Ago – Spring

Haley lays across her bed, her ankles clicking together in the air as she concentrates on a math problem. She'd been staring at it the last ten minutes: John Smith is traveling 2,500 miles from New York to Los Angeles on a train going 115 miles-per-hour. If he leaves New York at 7:00 PM Sunday, on what date and time will John arrive in Los Angeles?

Each time Haley reads the problem, she gets to "2,500 miles" before reality takes the wheel and her minds wanders elsewhere. Deciding on a college always seemed so far off. It was something she'd always thought her gut would decide – an intuition that she just knew a school would be her place. But it never came. All her stomach did was flutter with unease.

When she was younger, she'd gravitated towards Stanford after looking at colleges for her sisters. It was where Quinn was meant to go, and before Nathan, it's where Haley had always pictured herself. Something about it made her feel a kinship to her family, but she couldn't tell him that. Not without telling him everything else. And that was not an option.

Nathan was in the midst of getting offers from every collegiate basketball program imaginable – North, South, East, West, he could play anywhere – but his heart was set on Duke. It was one of the only things he and his father agreed upon, and Lucas planned to attend for Business Management. He wanted to work with one of basketball's greatest programs, and although he never said it outright, she also knew he wanted the opportunity to make his father proud. A validation he'd struggled with his entire life. Duke would provide Nathan with his own kinship to his family that she knows he desperately needed.

She and Nathan's dream schools were 2,500 miles away from each other. No train, or plane, or automobile could fix that. They'd been counting down the days until they could finally live together. Surrounded by roommates, sneaking into each other's dorms after hours, they'd curl together in each other's twin-size beds and whisper about the future – houses and porch-swings, king size beds and Egyptian cotton, Sheryl Crow Sundays and Wu-Tang Wednesdays, breakfast for dinner and each other for breakfast, blue-eyed boys and curly-haired girls… eventually. They wanted the every day, and they wanted it now.

Haley sighs, laying her head on the textbook just as Brooke comes flying through the door.

"Oh Tutor Wife!" Brooke calls. "Natey-kins has some news for you."

"Brooke," Haley sighs, not lifting her head up from the textbook.

"What's the matter?" Brooke asks, squeezing in on the edge of the bed next to Haley. She looks at the textbook. "Math makes my head hurt too. It's overly complicated."

Haley lifts her head, looking up at Brooke. "Math isn't complicated. Math has a logical answer. I could do it in my sleep."

"Hence why you tutor and not me."

"What's complicated is college. And making a decision," Haley sighs.

"I mean it shouldn't be hard?"

"How so?" Haley asks.

"Well, you'd go with Nathan, right?"

"I hope so," Haley says. "But our dream schools are across the country from each other."

"You should talk to Nathan," Brooke states.

"Can't I just avoid it," Haley whines.

"No!" Brooke chides. "And that's very unlike you, Haley James Scott."

"I know," she whispers. "I just don't know what to do. I'm like, asking him to change his dreams or giving up mine."

"Maybe you don't have to do either," Brooke offers. "Just, talk to him."

There's a knock at the door, prompting Brooke to hop off the bed.

"Perfect timing," she squeals, rushing over to her vanity to grab a scrunchie.

"Brooke, what's going on?"

"I said Nate had news."

Haley sits up on her bed, a suspicious look on her face. "What are you up to?"

"I told him I'd clear the room. So, all clear, and –" Brooke holds up the scrunchie, shaking it for good measure. "—I am officially declaring this room scrunchie certified. No one will interrupt you for the rest of the night."

"Brooke," Haley says, her cheeks red with embarrassment. "That seems unnecessary."

"With you two? Please," Brooke says, walking to the door. "You're not as quiet as you think."

And with a wink and a bow, Brooke opens the door to let Nathan in. Haley throws a pillow at Brooke's escaping figure, but hits Nathan instead.

"Hey, what'd I do?" Nathan jokes.

"Nothing," Haley smiles, getting up from the bed to run over to Nathan. She hugs him on her tiptoes, kissing him on the lips. "Hi, Hubs."

"That never gets old," he laughs.

Haley looks down to see Nathan has a duffle bag. "What, are you moving in?"

"You wish," he says.

"I really do," Haley laughs. "But seriously, what's with the bag?"

"Take a seat," Nathan says, gesturing to Haley's bed. She takes a seat, nervous. Nathan stays standing, placing the bag on the floor. "So, I know acceptance deadlines are coming up. And I know you're stressing about what to do."

"Nathan I'm not stressing," Haley says, crossing her arms across her chest. Her foot begins to tap lightly on the floor. Nathan notices.

"No, you're not stressing at all," Nathan says with a smirk.

"OK fine, I'm stressing a lot," Haley admits. "All the time actually."

"I know," Nathan agrees.

"How do you know?"

"Because I know you," Nathan laughs. "You overthink. Sometimes if you could, I think you'd only live inside that head."

"God help me," Haley laughs.

"Anyway, I know we haven't had all the conversation a married couple usually has. Or that high school sweethearts usually have."

"You think you're my high school sweetheart?" Haley jokes.

"I better be," Nathan says with a smile.

"Without a doubt," Haley states. "Life-long sweetheart I'd say."

"Yeah?" Nathan says, beaming. Haley nods. "Well, I want to have every conversation with you Hales, even if it takes all night. So I brought…"

Nathan pauses, opening his duffle bag to pull out a few items. "Two thermoses of coffee, a box of banana bread from Karen's, a notepad full of questions – thanks Google – No-Dose drops, and really anything even remotely related to staying awake."

Haley watches Nathan with a smirk, totally charmed. The gesture was thoughtful and so out of his element. "Nathan, this is so sweet. But where is it coming from?"

Nathan takes a seat on the bed against the headboard, his legs stretching to either side of Haley who sits facing him, her legs crisscrossed. "I just want you to be happy. And as good as we are right now, I also know we avoid the heavy topics.'

"Nathan, I am happy," Haley says seriously.

"But you're worried," Nathan says. "Soon we won't be in our little Tree Hill Prep bubble. And there's a lot to decide."

"There is," Haley says. "Doesn't that scare you?"

Nathan shakes his head, "No. I've waited my whole life to be in control."

"Me too," Haley agrees.

"Give me the 'but'," Nathan states knowingly.

"I worry that what I want, and what you want, don't align."

"Why's that?" Nathan asks, curious.

"Nathan, our dream schools are across the country from each other. Four more years of being apart? What does that mean for us?"

"Phone sex," Nathan jokes.

"I'm serious," Haley says, swatting his thigh. He grabs her hand, intertwining their fingers.

"I got into Stanford today," Nathan says bashfully. Haley looks at him, totally surprised.

"But Stanford wasn't even on your radar. You didn't even apply…"

"I asked Whitey to call their scouts. They'd had their eye on me but I've been pretty vocal about playing for Duke so they didn't pursue. They sent someone to the state championship and I guess liked what they saw," Nathan shrugs.

Haley rubs her thumb on the palm of his hand, deep in thought as tears well in her eyes.

"You were considering Stanford before we even got married?"

Nathan nods. "Being without you after graduation seemed unacceptable to me."

"You're insane," Haley says, completely in awe. She releases his hand and scoots into his lap like a koala on a tree. Her legs draped over his thighs, her arms wrapped around his shoulders as she faces him. She brings a hand up to his cheek, rubbing his jawline. Nathan watches her every move.

The warmest of smiles beams from Haley as she takes a deep breath. Nathan Scott was so unpredictably sweet. The most thoughtful person she'd ever met. He didn't seem real. "You'd go to Stanford for me?"

"I would," Nathan says, almost instinctively. Haley notices. And it's one of many moments that Haley has seen him put her first – without a thought, without a question. But it's the first time she's seen him sacrifice for her. And it's in realizing she's married a man that will do anything for her, that she knew she couldn't let him. For so long he has compromised himself for all the wrong reasons, wedged into a box of expectations from his father. For once, he deserved for someone to do anything for him.

Haley lays her head on his shoulder, feeling his quick pulse beating in his throat. The rise and fall of his chest with each breath. Nathan winds his arms around her waist, fidgeting with each passing second.

"Nathan you can't go to Stanford," Haley finally states, feeling the flinch of his hands on her lower back. "Because I'm going to Duke."

"What?"

Haley looks up, her big doe eyes finding his baby blues trained on her. "I want to go to Duke with you."

Nathan's eyes widen as his grip tightens on her waist, his thumbs rubbing at her side. "You're serious?"

"I'm going to Duke," Haley smiles.

"Since when?" Nathan asks.

"Since now," Haley states. "I can feel it in my bones. I can get a great education anywhere. You can't get the same basketball experience everywhere. And I find being without you unacceptable."

"Oh you do," Nathan says, his smile widening as his hands move from Haley's side to her bum. His fingers find their way into her jean pockets, sending a chill up her spine.

"Very much so," Haley says, leaning up to kiss Nathan. Softly at first, but the contact becomes feverish, their lips fighting for dominance. Haley's the first to pull away. She leans back, resting a hand on each of his thighs as she catches her breath. His muscles clench beneath her touch.

"Mr. Scott, do you love me?" Haley questions.

"Of course I love you," Nathan says, breathless.

"Then trust me when I say, there's nothing I want more than to be a Blue Devil with you," Haley says, biting her lip. She pulls her shirt off, revealing a lacy nude bra. Nathan smiles – sexy and practical. Very Haley. He brings his hands to cup just underneath her bra, rubbing his thumbs below the underwire.

"My girl, the Blue Devil," Nathan says, totally enamored.

"If you'll have me," Haley says, blushing.

"Hell yes I'll have you," Nathan says, elated. "You're sure you won't regret Stanford? Because I'd go Hales. I'd go anywhere if it's with you."

Haley shakes her head. "My mind's made up."

Nathan leans forward, kissing Haley's collarbone. "I love you a lot, you know that?"

Haley eyes Nathan, nodding. A blush blooms from her chest, up her neck. She's nervous. "Nathan…"

"Yeah?"

"Show me," Haley says.

Nathan nods, his heart racing. It was incredibly sexy to see Haley find herself and her voice. Every day he could feel her confidence growing—in herself as a person, in her element as a woman. There's no greater aphrodisiac than Haley taking control. She wanted him and she wanted Duke. He couldn't be more excited.

And just like that they were young and in love and doing as young lovers do.

…

A/N: Hope you enjoyed! This was one of my favorite chapters to write so far. Oh, if only things were that simple for Naley!