Nathan stretched and yawned. The bright sun peered through the curtains and blinds, shining right in his eyes. He wiped the remnants of sleep away and crawled out of bed. He made his way downstairs of the too quiet beach house. MTV hummed in the background and a surprising yet amusing sight at the kitchen made him take notice and chuckle. There was Brooke holding his daughter both content as they watched a special on J. Lo's latest fashion line.

"What's all this?" he smiled.

Brooke didn't even bother looking up.

"Well, if it isn't my favorite On Hiatus Superstar. Grilled bagel?" she offered.

"No thanks. Where's Haley?"

"Out. She felt like getting some air so I told her to go hang out on the beach and I'd take care of little Tutor Tot here."

"Haley let you watch her? Alone?"

"Yes, alone! What do you think I'm going to do, eat her? I am a responsible adult!"

"If you say so", he teased.

"Okay, it took a lot of convincing and begging on my part and there's probably 50 or so Nanny Spy cams around here but whatever. She needed a break and I'm bored."

"Where's Lucas?"

"At Jake and Peyton's. He'll be back soon."

"Don't sound so excited about it", he mumbled. "Everything okay with you two?"

Brooke sighed.

"We're fine."

"You sure?"

She nodded with a smile.

"I'm sure."

"Good", he said as he headed for the door.

"Where are you going?"

"Just out, I guess. I'll see what Hales is up to."

Brooke smiled knowingly.

"Okay Romeo and Juliet…"

"Brooke, we're just friends."

"For now", she winked. "Oh and don't be too long. I just fed Jamarah and her parents need to be on total alert in case of an emergency poop."

Nathan laughed.

"Brooke, it's just baby poop. It won't kill you. The wipes are in the bag."

Brooke cringed and made a horrified face as a laughing Nathan made his way outside. He walked a little ways down the shoreline and that's when he saw her. He couldn't help but grin. She was wearing one of those sundresses again with no make up and her hair was blowing in the morning breeze. Like a little kid, she laughed, frolicked and played in the ocean, soaking up the sun and giggling loudly and freely as the crashing waves landed against her bare legs.

He watched her for what seemed like forever. Time stood still. It was just them and nature. For a brief moment his mind would alter back to the high school days. He would see the two of them playing in the sea's shallow end, just a couple of teenagers in love. Then his mind would reel back to the present. He'd stare at her, his senses drawing a fine line between what was real and what wasn't.

"Nathan!" Haley laughed, putting a hand up to block the sun out of her eyes. "Oh my God! What are you doing? How long have you been standing there?"

He shrugged and smiled.

"I don't know. Brooke told me you were out here."

"How's Lillian?"

"Watching J. Lo, actually."

Haley playfully rolled her eyes.

"God help us all."

"I just wanted some air and…"

"Well, come on out", she invited him. "Water's warm."

Nathan smiled.

"What?"

"You heard me! Get in!"

"Hales…"

"What are you, a chicken shit?"

"Haley!"

"I dare you!"

"You dare me?"

"I double dog dare you!"

That's all it too as he took off on a dead sprint towards her. He dove in under the water surfacing a few seconds later, soaking wet and shivering.

"I thought you said it was warm", he pouted.

"You're gonna complain about a little cold water?" she teased as she splashed him some more.

"Hey!" he yelled, splashing her back.

Their playful water fight continued on the confines of Wrightsville Beach. It was a good time filled with laughter as they wrestled like little kids. It was only when he realized the strap of her dress was riding dangerously low on her arm, that he pulled away.

"What…oh", she blushed, self conscious, as she returned it to its original place.

"I won", he grinned.

"You did not."

"Did too."

"Yeah? Well, you cheated then."

They both laughed as they walked on the sand, letting the sun dry them off naturally.

"This is nice", he finally said.

"Yeah", she agreed. "I didn't know how I felt about getting in the water at first. You know…"

Yes, he knew.

"…That."

"Do you ever get that way?" she asked. "Or am I just being stupid?"

"It's not stupid at all", he said. "I get squeamish sometimes, too. Like right after we came back, I used to get freaked out every now and then in the shower. I mean, I still think about it. Look what we went through and what we saw."

Haley trembled at the memories of being in the tsunami.

"I still think about it. I think about it all the time. I think about it every time I look at Lillian."

"We were the lucky ones. Some others weren't so lucky."

"I know. Part of me tries to forget but it's impossible. I go on the Web and I've donated I don't know how much to all the disaster relief funds but it's like it's never really enough. You can only help so much and even then, you can't escape the memories. They're always there, always in your head. Hell, if I even smell anything related to a coconut, I want to throw up."

"It shouldn't have happened…"

"I know."

"No. All of it. We shouldn't have been there in the first place."

"It was my bright idea."

"No. I mean we shouldn't have gotten the divorce."

"Nathan…"

"I fucked up, Haley. I did. The biggest mistake I ever made was the night I told you it was over if you got on the bus. I was mad and hurt and disappointed but it wasn't over. I never stopped loving you. I was just too proud and too much of an idiot to tell you that."

Haley's mouth hung open. That was the last thing she expected to hear from him.

"Nathan, don't…"

"Don't what?"

"Please…"

"Don't tell you how I feel?"

"Listen, I respect how you feel and I respect you for trying to tell me but what good does it do now? We've been down this road before. We've tried to get it all back but it never works for us. Not anymore."

"Haley…"

"What if that part of us is over?"

"What if it isn't?"

It took a while for her to answer.

"I don't know if I'm willing to risk finding that out."

"Hales, listen to me…"

"No. You listen to me. What makes it different this time? We made mistakes then and we're making mistakes now. There were obstacles in our way then and guess what? They are still there, Nathan. We have a past that won't let us escape. And we have our own separate pain."

"I love you."

There it was. He'd said it. He'd just blurted it out.

Haley closed her eyes.

"I love you, too, Nathan but love isn't enough."

"Haley…"

"You honestly think we can try again?"

"I don't know."

"What about Lillian?"

Nathan looked her in the eye.

"That's a damn good reason as to why maybe we should talk about how we feel. Our daughter is as good a reason as any to try this thing again."

"Lillian is precisely the reason why we shouldn't. We can't get back together just for her sake, Nathan. And what if it doesn't work out again? Huh? Or worse, what if things get really sour and we start hating each other? I don't want her in the middle of that."

"Neither do I, Haley. I'm not trying to get you back to have it all fuck up again. I do love you and I love, Lil. I'm serious about this."

Haley fought back tears.

"What about Megan?"

"Haley…"

"She's still your legal wife, Nathan. That has to mean something to you. She has to mean something. I know you loved her. You guys went through a lot. You put each other through a lot. I know you're dealing with it but until you heal completely and come to terms with everything, how can you even think about jumping back in a relationship with me?"

Nathan sighed.

"I've changed. I've made a lot of mistakes that I'm still trying to right. It's one day at a time for me, Haley. I've had to grow up in a hurry. I have to do right by Meg because I caused her a lot of pain. I shouldn't have married her but I made that choice. I did. I can't keep going back and second guessing everything and Monday morning quarterbacking. I'll go crazy if I do that. All I can do is live in the now and hope that the future is going to be okay. I want Lil in that future…and you, too."

Haley wiped a stray tear.

"I want that too. I want it so bad but it can't happen now. We can't have that. It's not right Nathan and you know it."

"Hales…"

"All I can do now is focus all my energy into raising my daughter. You're not the only one who made mistakes and I can't afford to make another one…not with this. You can screw up a lot of things in life but not raising your kid. She's my number one priority always. And my number two is me. That might sound selfish but it has to be. Because I can't be there for her or you or anyone until I get myself together. I have to mend Haley first."

She gave way to tears and he hugged her. Haley resisted at first but soon relaxed as she realized she was in the one place she had always felt the safest. Nathan wanted to cry too. It hadn't ended up the way either of them had wanted it to but it still felt good to put everything on the table. After all the years and heartache, there was still a tremendous amount of love left. It was a moment they had waited for. It was their moment.

"I love you, Hales", he whispered.

"I love you, too."

She buried her face in his smooth, bare chest but looked up as she heard the camera click. They had been found. Their sacred moment ruined.

"Goddammitt", Nathan muttered.

"No! No, no, no, no, no, no!" Haley cried. "Not now! Damn them! Why are they still here?"

It was too much for Nathan. How dare they? They could take a lot of things from him but not this. He would be damned. Anything but this. Fists pumped, he charged up the beach to where the photographer was snapping shots.

"Hey buddy, slow your roll. I'm just doing my job."

"Trespassing on private property? Invading people's privacy? What the hell?"

"Sorry, dude", he took another.

Nathan was incensed.

"Son of a bitch!"

"Hey, a few shots of you and the chick will pay my rent for six months. It's nothing personal, right?"

Nathan stared him down.

"Oh it's damn pure personal."

Nathan drew back his fist.

"Hit me and I'll sue!"

He held back for a while. Then he grabbed the camera and tried to pull out the film.

"That's private property, Scott!"

"And you're on private property! Fuck you, dude!"

The guy took a swing and missed. Nathan, in a fury, returned the jab landing hard against the man's cheek. He hit again. Again and again. Hard. It felt good and he couldn't stop.

"Nathan!" Haley yelled. "Nathan, stop! Get away from him! Oh God, you're killing him!"

But he couldn't stop. Haley in a state of desperation grabbed his wildly swinging arms but instead caught an elbow to the chest, sending her to the ground. She cried out and only then had he realized what he had done. The damaged camera, the bleeding photographer and Haley sobbing on the sand.

"Hales", he panted.

She shook her head and scrambled to her feet.

"No."

"Haley, I'm sorry…"

A tear ran down her face.

"You're always sorry. Nothing's changed."