Chapter 24- One Great Love

"So did you enjoy this trip?" Nathan asked Brooke as they walked towards their waiting area for their flight back to Tampa.

"Yeah, I did. It turned out a lot better than I thought it would. It feels good to have tackled some of the demons from my past." Brooke was still happy about how things had gone with her and Lucas. The two had made an agreement to keep in touch and continue working on their friendship.

"Same here, and that was pretty unexpected. I never in a million years thought I would run into Haley, but I am actually glad I did. This is my first serious relationship since we divorced and being honest with her and getting her approval really set my heart at ease, ya know?" Nathan had thoroughly enjoyed the time he spent with Haley, it gave him a kind of closure that he never even knew he needed.

"I know. To be honest, I have been running from Tree Hill for years because of all the bad memories it held for me. But after this trip, after making new memories and working through all the bad stuff, I don't think I will dread going back there. I actually hope that we can do it again, together of course. I want to keep in touch with our friends back there. No matter where we end up, Tree Hill will always be our home."

"Yeah, speaking of home I want to talk to you about something. First, let me say that I know that it is important to you to have your own job, your own life, your independence. I admire that part of you, the part that wants to make it on your own. I need you to understand that." Nathan looked into Brooke's eyes for the validation he was searching for, for the confirmation that he understood her, really understood her.

"Of course I know that. Just being with me when there are hours in between us proves to me that you know what I value and that you want to me to have all of that." Brooke reached out and took Nathan's hand, "What's up babe? What do you want to talk to me about?"

"Okay, well, you know John, on the Heat?" Nathan looked towards Brooke.

"Yeah, what about him?" Brooke gave Nathan a look of sheer confusion, she had no idea where he was going with any of this.

"Well, his wife, Tonya has been working on opening her own store in Miami. She has built it and knows what she wants to sell, but she has been looking for a designer and hasn't had any luck. She knows what she wants, like in term of the style and all, but she can't find someone that she likes not only what they design, but also them. The long and short of it, she wants a partner, someone to put as much heart into this thing as she has." Nathan paused and looked towards Brooke, she was nodding in understanding so he knew he could continue. "I know that what you want is to have it all on your own, I understand that, but this seems like a step in the right direction. Obviously you would have to meet her and share some of your designs and make sure that you would get along and be able to be partners and all, but what I do want to do is give you her phone number and if it is something that you think you might be interested in you can give her a call. If not, don't, that is fine with me. I just wanted you to be aware of the opportunity."

Brooke just kept nodding, she was trying to process all of this news. After what felt like minutes of silence she was able to gather her thoughts enough, "You are right Nathan, it isn't exactly where I want to end up…but it is a great step closer to what I do want. It would mean me moving though, and obviously making some big changes, but I will definitely consider it. Plus, money would be a consideration, buying into the partnership and all. That could be really costly."

Nathan nodded in agreement, "Yeah, as I understand it it could be. But I have thought about that. If you decided to go ahead and do this you could obviously sell your house in Tampa. If you moved to Miami I would want nothing more than having you come and live with me. That is totally your call as well though, I don't want you to live with me if you feel that that isn't right for you. It is just a standing invitation. But anyways, if you did that, you would make some money from the sale of your house. You could put that towards the partnership, and then the money that you would be saving on paying the mortgage from living in my house, well you could also use that to put towards the partnership. But as I said, I have no idea about that part of it at all, it could be really expensive or it could not." Nathan stopped himself again, he knew that he had to give Brooke time to process.

"I am definitely going to think about this, and I will probably call Tonya to meet with her to talk about all of this and show her my designs and stuff. From there, it will be up to whether or not she likes me and my designs and the expense that could go along with this. But, the one part that I am sure of, if I did decide to do it and move to Miami, I would definitely take you up on the offer of living with you. I do have one condition though." Brooke looked towards Nathan, he nodded and she knew to continue, "I would want to pitch in towards the mortgage, or the bills, or something. I don't want to just move in there and live off of you. I would want to contribute to your, no to our, household. Does that make sense?"

Nathan could barely think clearly through is excitement, all he could hear was Brooke saying that she would want to live with him. "If it does happen, if you do move there, we can figure all that out then. I understand though and it is something that we will figure out together."

Brooke looked towards Nathan and smiled. "I don't now what means more Nathan, the fact that you are giving me this great news of what could be an amazing opportunity, or that you know me and understand me well enough to foresee any problems I might have with it. I know that you telling me about this, that you giving me this number doesn't mean that you want me to give up anything that I want or anything like that. I know that you are only trying to share with me something that could be incredible for me, for us. For all of that I Love you so much Nathan." Tears started to come to Brooke's eyes, "After seeing Lucas I was reminded of how broken I was. I never thought I would be able to have a relationship like this, where I could trust someone again. But you have been amazing Nathan, the whole time. You took it slow when I needed you to, you reassured me when I needed reassurance. You have given me so much and I am so grateful to you for all of it."

Nathan leaned in towards Brooke, lifter her face to his and kissed her. "I have always believed that in our lives we get only one great love, and I thought for years that that was Haley and that love was done for me. But Brooke, I am beginning to think that it wasn't Haley who was my one great love."