Hey guys, I've posted this story on another website, and decided to start posting it here as well.

Summary: Having been married at 17, Haley finds that she has built her life around Nathan. When their marriage unravels, Haley struggles to find herself, while Nathan realizes that they'd built their lives around each other. NH/BL

Rating: PG for now.

Warning: Haley / Other character

Chapter 1: Goodbye to You (Michelle Branch)

Of all the things I've believed in
I just want to get it over with
Tears form behind my eyes
But I do not cry
Counting the days that pass me by

She sat on the leather couch, flipping through her novel, not really absorbing the words on the pages. Occasionally, her eyes drifted to the clock hanging on the opposite wall. The clock that had steadily ticked away the seconds of her young life. But she would force her eyes back to the book that she wasn't reading. It was, her eyes deduced, precisely 2:27 am. Nothing. He sure as hell wasn't home, and he sure as hell hadn't called her. Not that she was surprised. But disappointed… yes, that was it. Of course, that was to be expected. She had always been one of those girls who believed in happily ever after, believed in true and everlasting love. She was a hopeless romantic… always left devastated in the end, because she had been so preoccupied with the idealism of her life, that she'd deliberately ignored the problems until reality hit her. Hard. She clenched her hands tightly, as she felt the lump forming in her throat. Angrily, she refused to let the tears fall. After all, she'd already wasted too many days of her life, given up too much of her dreams for him. She wasn't going to let anything else be wasted on someone who clearly didn't care.

I've been searching deep down in my soul
Words that I'm hearing are starting to get old
It feels like I'm starting all over again
The last three years were just pretend

Sighing heavily, she closed the book firmly, allowing her eyes to drift to what she had been avoiding looking at all night. No, not the clock, but the neat stack of papers perched on the edge of the glass coffee table. She picked them up, letting her eyes scan the sheets, making sure that no mistakes had been made, and that everything was covered. When she was satisfied, she put them back down where they had been. She'd arranged to have the papers delivered to her the week before. It had taken a good deal of contemplation and reflection to come to this conclusion. To sort through the jumble of memories in her head, remembering all the things he'd said to her. Deducing the truth from the lies. And now… now it was over. She would swallow her pride. If he didn't call her, she'd call him.

"Yup." She could practically hear the smirk in his voice. The one that used to make her knees melt. Still did. But that was no longer the issue. Because she could also hear the feminine giggle, no doubt from whatever clueless whore he was groping that night.

"Nathan." Her voice came across, clear, strong, and cool. Independent, as it hadn't sounded since the beginning of their marriage.

"Hey babe." She could actually picture what was happening. He was probably driving., his hand having been somewhere on the body of the body next to him. He would be pulling away now, as he realized it was his wife. Guilt would flicker across the stormy blue of his eyes, a look she'd become all too familiar with identifying.

"Where are you?"

The question was blunt. She had no time for his games.

"Me and some of the guys went out after the game. I'm sorry I'm so late." She was amazed at how easily the lie seemed to roll of his tongue. Of course… it definitely wasn't the first time he'd told her that particular lie. He really did seem to be believing that she was actually that stupid now.

"Oh? Which of the guys has started to laugh like, oh, shall we say, a twenty year old cheerleader?" She immediately regretted those words. She hadn't wanted to come across like the scorned wife, jealous of the other woman. Or perhaps, women. But, in her situation, she supposed their wasn't much dignity to be salvaged anyway.

"Haley." She hated the way he said her name. Always a mixture between a verbal caress, adoration, love. It broke her to know that he was no longer true. "I'm not with another woman." She heard another muffled giggle in the background.

Her blood boiled.

"I'm not stupid Nathan." She voiced quietly, but firmly. There was no answer on the other line.

"Don't do this Haley." His voice was a plea after several moments of silence.

"I didn't." She spat out, bitterly. "I was the one who gave up all my dreams for you. Harvard, Stanford, Yale… because I loved you. I gave you everything I had, Nathan. You know, you always hear about these women, crying on about how their husband traded them in for a younger model. I never thought that would be me. I guess I beat them all though, because they were at least in their thirties. My husband traded me in for a younger model, and I'm only twenty." She laughed, an ugly sound.

"I…"

"Don't even try defending yourself Nathan, because I don't want to hear it. I just wanted to call to let you know I'm leaving. Frankly, I'm no longer interested in what you have to say, because you clearly couldn't care less about the three years of my life that I threw away on you. If you have any respect for what we had… the divorce papers are on the coffee table. You can sign them and send them to my lawyer. I've left his address for you on the table."

She hung up, before he could say anything else. Before he could break through the façade, and hear the tears and pain in her voice.

I still get lost in your eyes
And it seems that I can't live a day without you
Closing my eyes and you chase my thoughts away
To a place where I am blinded by the light
But it's not right

She took time for one last walk through the house… the house that had been her dream home. She and Nathan had once made love in every room during their first month there. She had dreamed that their children would run through these halls, filling the house with laughter. It had been for those dreams that she had held on to the shreds of her marriage for so long. She'd never believed that she could live without Nathan. Even now, when he'd broken her, his eyes, his smile, his face, his voice haunted her. Made her heart beat faster. Made her knees weak. But it was no longer enough to drive away the pain he'd planted deep within her. Lost in her thoughts, she didn't realize she'd made a full circle of her house. She was back in the living room.

And it hurts to want everything and nothing at the same time
I want what's yours and I want what's mine
I want you
But I'm not giving in this time

She slid the golden band from her ring finger., and set it down on top of the divorce papers. Slowly, she picked up the luggage at the door, and headed out without looking back. She would be okay.

And I said,

Goodbye to you
Goodbye to everything that I knew
You were the one I loved
The one thing that I tried to hold on to
The one thing that I tried to hold on to