I rewatched last weeks episode and found myself shouting at the TV "What happened to the Nathan we know and love?" This whole, cheerful, family loving, selfless Nathan just doesn't work for me. The only glimpse we saw of the real him was when Felix was hitting on Haley. So, I've taken a little different approach to this weeks installment. I may continue this way, but if they bring my regular, angst ridden, moody, jerky Nathan back, I'll return to the original format. This takes place, 27 years in the future, at their high school reunion. In my own mind, I don't know if Haley and Nathan are together, or even if everyone is still in contact. It's just looking at the current episodes events as specific, perhaps important, moments in time. If you like it, let me know, same if you hate it. Carys

It was weird for her to walk back into the gymnasium after being away for so long. It still looked exactly the same, so much so that she half expected Whitey to come in, yelling that if she was going to distract his two star players, then she better have a really good reason for it. Whitey had passed away nearly ten years earlier, but Haley always remembered him in this environment. She could almost hear the squeak of sneakers on the floor, the smell of perspiration, and feel the bodies squished into every available seating space. As she took a seat in the bleachers she was transported back twenty seven years. In the darkened gym, with only the emergency lights to illuminate the floor, she felt like a kid of sixteen again - still getting used to the term wife, still searching for her place in the world. If she knew then what she knew now...well there were a lot of mistakes she could have avoided. But....mistakes made you what and who you were and she was pretty happy with herself right now, so maybe she wouldn't avoid any of them after all. It was easier twenty seven years out to look at everything as a learning experience.

Before she knew what was happening, she was no longer alone in the gym. She heard the steady pinging of a basketball being bounced and she knew instinctively who was coming. Nathan and Lucas apparently had the same idea as her – wanting a few moments alone in the old school gym. They didn't notice her in the bleachers and she didn't let them know she was there. She watched as they casually took some shots together. The years had been kind to both of them. If she squinted her eyes just a little they looked like the same sixteen year old boys she had watched from this seat all those years ago. They both still possessed the same grace that natural athletes have. She smiled to herself as they bantered back and forth, teasing, prodding, and laughing. She knew them before they were brothers...before they were family. Twenty seven years later it still made her heart jump a little to watch the two of them on the court. They moved symbiotically, seeming to know where the other was going. People to this day, still commented about watching the Scott brothers play for Tree Hill. It was like watching poetry in motion. Watching them together again brought everything about the early days flooding back.

Those first few months of married life were tough. Haley knew they were not the exception, that most married couples went through it. It's a difficult evolution – from the "me" thinking to the "we" thinking. Suddenly every decision you make has to be run through a third party. Nathan wasn't so good at it in the beginning. She could remember the look on his face when he bought her that first keyboard like it was yesterday. He was so excited. Even then, her practical side won out and she chastised him for wasting their hard-earned cash on a luxury item. She also remembered feeling immediately guilty about it because that was the first time she had really seen Nathan completely happy. Everybody has moments like that – where they look at their life and realize that in that moment everything is great.

At that time, Keith had become a really positive influence in Nathan's life, just like he had been for Lucas. Keith's guidance allowed Nathan to blossom, and having Dan out of commission at the same time didn't hurt. It was then that Nathan really latched on to the idea of family. He had a brother, a wife and an uncle in his life, which was more family than he'd ever experienced before – at least in a positive sense. It was so important to him. Haley had been surprised by it, but she was happy for him too.

It was a surreal time for Haley too. She remembered well the arrival of Felix in Tree Hill. He really shook things up – for Brooke, for Lucas, for everyone really. He challenged the status quo and made everyone look at things a little differently. Felix had really changed Haley's life – without ever being aware of it. Sometimes it happens that way; someone says something or does something that causes your outlook on the world to change. It's rarely intentional as was the case for Haley. When he flirted with her that day in school, it completely surprised her. No one before Nathan had ever been interested in her. Before Nathan, she had been Tutor Girl, or Lucas's best friend – neither title offending her. She was good at tutoring and she was a good friend to Lucas. She was proud of both of those things. Dating Nathan had brought her into a social circle she never would have entered if it wasn't for him and marrying Nathan eliminated an important stage that most girls go through. She would realize that later. In the five seconds it took Felix to give her the one over, he illustrated something that she would miss out on. Guys being interested in her for reasons other than the fact that she was Nathan Scott's wife. There were people all through high school who would be nice to her simply because of Nathan. Those who got to know her genuinely liked her, but if it hadn't been for Nathan, they probably wouldn't have gotten to know her in the first place. Felix made the flirty remark not knowing that she was the girl/wife of the most popular boy in school. He did it because he found her attractive. Not Tutor Girl, or Lucas's friend, or Nathan's wife – just her. Haley would wonder years later if Nathan had bought her the keyboard out of jealousy or fear. Most days she truly believed he did it because he wanted to make her happy. His happiness at his life seemed to spill over everywhere in those days. Sometimes she missed the tortured soul she had met and fell in love with, but she loved him so much that seeing him happy made her happy too. It was an idyllic time...before life really trampled on them. They were young, in love and happy. Their life was about school, basketball and love.

It wouldn't always be that way. In some ways Deb had known what she was talking about. Women especially, have a hard time transitioning from girl to woman, and then from woman to wife. Haley would hear Deb's voice in her head many times before she came to grips with it herself. Men have it easier. Before the politically correct police had gotten their claws into the marriage vows they said "man and wife". Now it was all about "husband and wife" but the original seems to fit better. Men don't have to change much from being a man to being a husband. Nathan's transition seemed easy in comparison to her own. She had struggled with it for a long time. Deep down she blamed Felix. Amazing how five seconds can change your life...