"Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Nathan, happy birthday to you..."

Nathan's mother, Deb, snapped photos as he blew out the 23 candles positioned on his birthday cake.

"Did you make a wish, son?" Deb Scott smiled.

"I did, Mom", he said with a thoughtful grin.

"Alright now have a seat and we'll get to the cake in a minute. Guys, we got cake, homemade ice cream, potato salad, ham, candied yams, tossed salad, fried chicken and Lucas is over there on the grill with the ribs and burgers. You kids eat up and enjoy", Nathan's grandmother, Mae Scott announced to the guests.

Nathan smiled. Ever since he was a child his parents and grandparents had always turned his birthdays into extravagant events complete with enough delicious home cooked food to feed an army.

"The big 2-3", Lucas grinned, slapping his brother on the back. "You're an old man, dude. You're starting to catch up with me now."

"I know. Thanks bro, for the surf board. That was a hell of a birthday present. I appreciate it."

"No problem, little man. I just hope despite everything that has happened this year good and bad, that you're okay. I hope this day worked out for you, Nathan."

"It did. Didn't turn out to be so bad after all. I got my health, my career, beautiful home, fancy car, enough money, great friends and a wonderful family. I'm surrounded by a lot of things that I love. It's been a great day and thanks for getting with my moms and my grams to plan all this out but after we all eat, I have to dip out early."

"What's up, man? Everything alright?"

"Great. Never been better but I have a little personal business to take care of."

Lucas winked and nodded knowingly as the two brothers rejoined the party.

Haley gasped for air as she took a sniff of the new window cleaner Karen had ordered. It smelled strong enough to break the window but it was a "new and improved" product advertised overseas and Karen had insisted that they try it out. She had recently returned from Italy totally refreshed from a new experience and full of exciting ideas. Haley liked seeing Karen this way when she was happy and things were going right. No one deserved it more than her.

It had been another big week. Just the day before, Friday, they had been summoned back to court where Ricky and his lawyers had decided to cop a plea. He pled guilty to aggravated sexual assault and one count of battery. It was disappointing to know the attempted rape charge was dropped but at least the son of a bitch would be off the street for ten years. Even her mother had approached her tearfully after court offering a million apologies and promises to change and get clean. Haley had heard it all before but that was her mother. She loved her. Although she would surely never forget, she hoped time would allow her to forgive.

Haley tied a pink and white bandana around her hair and sunk to her hands and knees. It was hot and she wiped her sweaty palms on her shorts as she tied her tee shirt just over her belly button. Not only did the cleaning concoction smell awful, it went on pretty thick. Shit, Haley thought to herself. It was gonna take a few bottles of Windex just to get rid of that "new and improved" generic blob. Spraying the windows, she furiously scrubbed with an old rag. She jumped as she saw a figure standing in the darkness. Her heart sighed as she recognized Nathan. With shaking hands she opened the door to let him in.

"Hi. I figured you might be here. I was looking for you and I saw the light on."

"Yeah. I just wanted to do some after hours cleaning", she said, self consciously fiddling with the rag around her head.

"Place looks nice, uh, you...look nice", Nathan stammered as he stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"Thanks...um, happy birthday."

"Did Mom get you an invitation?"

"She did but I was um, busy, today."

"Oh that's cool. It was nice. I got a lot of cool stuff from fans and friends and my family. Luke bought me a new surf board and..."

"Did you come all the way over here to tell me about your gifts?"

"No", Nathan sighed as the moment of truth had arrived. "I came over here to admit I acted like a prick. I came over here to apologize for hurting your feelings. I came over here to tell you I lied. Hales, I lied when I said I didn't love you. And you called me on it. You were exactly right when you said I was scared. I was a coward afraid to move forward and let go of the past. But I'm sorry. You are a beautiful, wonderful, special girl and I'm falling in love with you. I screwed up but I'm sorry. I want another chance to help you and protect you and love you."

Haley put her face to her hands and sobbed. She couldn't believe her ears. Here was the one man she had loved all her life saying the things she had been praying to hear him say. Still she was so scared to love and trust him again.

"You hurt me. Gosh, you really hurt me Nathan. And as much as I feel for you and as much as I want to believe you, I can't just put myself out there like that again. You can't just waltz in here with a little speech and expect everything to be okay. I don't know, Nathan, I..."

"Take it slow, Hales. I don't deserve to just walk back into your life but maybe we can talk on the phone. I'll drop by when I'm home and maybe I can cook dinner for you sometime. We can date, spend more time getting to know one another."

"I don't know what you want from me, Nathan."

"I want you, Haley. I want all of you. But I guess I have no right to ask for that now so all I can do is just ask for another chance. I want to be able to give back to you all the love you gave me."