Author's note: Flashbacks are written in italics. Let me know what you think!

Chapter 39- Past, Present and Future

Haley slowly opened her eyes. Turning her head, she smiled as she looked over at him. Still asleep, he was snoring quietly, he looked so peaceful. The stubble on his face reminded her of the years that they hadn't spent together. She could vividly remember the days where he could get away with shaving just a couple times a week.

Untangling her legs from his, careful not to wake him, she rolled over onto her back. Shutting her eyes, she allowed her mind to drift back to last night.

Nathan had driven them back to his house. They headed up towards his bedroom, still having not uttered a word to each other. For some reason, the silence seemed to say more than words ever could.

Nathan closed the door behind the. Haley looked around as she took off her coat, his room hadn't changed a bit. It made her feel as though they were back in high school.

As Haley looked around, Nathan walked up behind her. He slowly wrapped his arms around her waist, and turned her around. He gazed deeply into her eyes, and slowly lowered his lips to hers.

He kissed her softly first, but the kiss quickly deepened, filled with passion. Haley reached up, wrapping her arms behind his neck, pulling him closer. Despite all the years that had passed, his kiss still made her feel the same way.

Nathan could feel her moving next to him. He rolled over onto his side and looked over at her. She smiled when their eyes met.

"Some night huh?"

"Yeah. Was that what you had in mind when you asked me to dinner?" Haley teased.

"No, that was definitely unexpected. Unexpected and amazing." Nathan smiled at her, as he wrapped his arms around her.

He let his hands graze softly down her neck and across her shoulders. Hooking his fingers underneath the straps of her dress, he pulled them off her shoulders. Her dress slid down her body, pooling at her feet.

Nathan took in a sharp breath as he gazed down at her body. She stood there before him in nothing but a matching black lace bra and underwear. Nathan was amazed at how Haley could look so innocent yet so sexy. Lowering his head, he kissed her neck.

Haley reached out and unbuttoned Nathan's shirt, pushing it off his shoulders so it fell to the floor. Standing there before her in his white wife beater Haley noticed that he was more muscular than he used to be. Reaching down she pulled his wife beater from his jeans and began pulling it up, until he took her cue and pulled it over his head.

"Do you think that last night was a mistake?" Nathan asked.

"No, I don't. It was too beautiful to be wrong."

"It brings up all kinds of issues though, doesn't it?" Nathan raised an eyebrow.

"I guess, but what if we wait to talk those issues to death? Why don't we let what happens happen? When the time comes we'll deal with the issues, but right now, let's just enjoy it, okay?"

Nathan reached behind her back, unhooking her bra, allowing her full breasts to spill out. He guided her towards the bed, easing her down beneath him slowly. He stood back up, off the bed, and unbuckled his belt, sliding his khakis off.

Lowering himself on top of her again, this time only her lace panties and his boxer briefs separating them, their mouths found each other again, and they furiously kissed. The passion between them was almost too much to handle.

Nathan trailed kisses down Haley's stomach until he reached the small scrap of lace. He slid them off and then continued his kisses until he found her center. When his tongue reached her most sensitive place, she squirmed beneath him in pleasure, letting out a small moan.

He couldn't wait any longer so he stood up again, stepping out of his boxer briefs. Lowering himself over her once again he gazed into her eyes, making sure she was okay. Making sure she wanted this. Her eyes told him that she was fine, that she wanted him. She nodded and he slowly eased himself between her legs, as she opened them wider to allow him access.

He entered her slowly, surprised by her tightness. Once he was inside of her he lay still for a moment, allowing her time to adjust. Then he began to move in and out of her slowly. Her moans of pleasure urged him on and he quickened his pace. She moved along with him and felt her orgasm coming on quickly. She could tell by his breathing that he was also close.

Letting go, she allowed the waves of pleasure to overcome her. She screamed out in pleasure, and Nathan quickly joined her.

Afterwards, he lay there on top of her, afraid to move. He was scared that if he moved he would awake, as though it had been a dream. He held her tight, not wanting to let go.

He'd been with other girls these past years, but that was just sex. With Haley it wasn't just sex, it was love. A love so deep, so passionate, that neither could fully understand it.

ooooOoooo

Haley gazed out the window, smiling as she looked down the street at all the houses adorned in Christmas lights. The owners of the houses on Brooke's street always went all out with Christmas decorations. The houses were huge and always done up to the nines.

"As I live and breathe, Haley James, in the flesh. You've been absolutely impossibly to get a hold of these past few days, I thought you ran off and joined a nunnery or something." Brooke exclaimed as she entered the room carrying a tray of steaming hot cocoa.

"A little overdramatic are we?" Haley teased. "I've been busy. Sorry."

"Yeah well remember me, your best friend? You should never be too busy for me."

"Don't worry Brooke, as long as I live I'll never forget about you. After all, you'd never let me!" Brooke smirked at Haley. "Seriously though, I'll fill you in on what's been going on when Peyton gets here."

Brooke crossed her arms and puffed out her bottom lip, "Not fair. I hate waiting."

"I know, I know. She'll be here soon though. Why don't you tell me what Lucas got you for Christmas while we're waiting."

"He hasn't given me anything yet, who says I know what he got me?" Brooke asked innocently.

"If you don't know then this would be the first year that you haven't begged and pleaded for him to tell you. You drive him nuts Brooke, he always caves, every year. Why would this year be any different?"

"You're right, it isn't."

Brooke smiled smugly and began talking about what Lucas had gotten her. After a few minutes Haley heard the front door open, a few seconds later Peyton walked into the room.

"Haley James, long time no see."

"Not you too! I've been busy. Sorry."

"It's about time you showed up P. Sawyer. Haley here wouldn't tell me what, or who, she's been doing these past few days. Haley, come on, spill."

Haley took a deep breath, "Okay, well, you know that I had dinner with Nathan the other night right?"

Haley looked to her friends who nodded affirmatively.

"Well, after dinner we went back to his house. And we kind of…."

"…I knew it, I knew it." Brooke interrupted, "No one besides Nathan can make you smile that dopey smile. How was it?"

"It was amazing, even better than it used to be. I swear, I get chills just thinking about it. Since then we've been spending a lot of time together."

"So what does this mean? Are you guys getting back together?" Peyton asked, always being the one to ask the practical questions.

"I don't know. He leaves the day after tomorrow to fly down to Florida to spend New Year's with his mother. Then he's back here for like a day before he has to drive back up to school. We really only have a couple more days together, and I really don't know what's going to happen after that."

"You haven't talked about it?" Peyton pried further.

"No, we've been waiting. We wanted to just enjoy what little time we could have together, all the other stuff we'll deal with before he leaves."

"Enough about the serious stuff," Brooke interrupted again, "Back to the sex, I want details."

Haley blushed. "Some things never change."

ooooOoooo

Nathan and Haley lay in Nathan's bed. It was Christmas night, and both had had exhausting days filled with family, food and presents.

"I can't believe I have to do this whole Christmas thing again when I get to Florida."

"Oh poor baby, some people aren't lucky enough to get even one Christmas and here you complain about having two." Haley teased.

"I guess it wouldn't be so bad if it didn't mean having to say good bye to you."

"Uh oh, I feel the dreaded conversation beginning."

Haley sat up, pulling her legs in so she was sitting Indian style in front of Nathan. Nathan took the cue and sat up as well.

"What are we doing Nathan? As much as I've loved these past few days, I worry we're only setting ourselves up for heartache."

"I know Hales. I've thought the same thing. It's like no matter what happens, no matter how great these last few days together have been, I'm still leaving. Me leaving, it's what broke us up before."

Haley felt a wave of guilt wash over her. She wished he didn't place the blame on himself. "It wasn't just you leaving. It was me too, actually it was mostly me. I just wasn't mature enough to handle it. It wasn't just you being far away that I couldn't handle, it was everything, this whole relationship. It just felt like it was too much sometimes. Like it was so serious, but we were too young for it. At least I was too young for it. I ran away Nathan, and I'm so sorry about that."

"Hales, it's okay. It was hard, for me too. Part of me wanted to be the normal college freshman, going to parties, doing what I pleased, but then there was the other part of me. The part of me that never wanted to let you go. God Haley, I still don't. You're such a part of my past. I want you to be part of my present and my future."

Haley felt tears well up in her eyes, "I want that too Nathan. I really do. Giving up what you and I had was the hardest thing I've ever done. And now it's like its back, everything we had is back and I can't bear to lose it again."

"I don't know if I can either. I remember what it was like, walking away from you all those years ago. I swear, it felt as though my heart was being ripped to shreds. I couldn't bear the thought of dealing with that feeling again. That was what kept me away all these years."

"I always wondered why you felt you had to leave that summer we broke up. It never made sense to me."

Nathan nodded in understanding, "I knew you didn't understand it. It was just that Tree Hill didn't seem like it was big enough for both of us. It seemed inevitable that we would end up at the same party, or at the mall at the same time, something like that. Seeing you wasn't a chance I could take. Being near you hurt, it physically hurt Haley." Nathan looked down at his hands in his lap. "I saw you once, about a year ago. Over Thanksgiving break." He spoke softly.

"Where?"

"At the mall. You and Brooke were shopping. I walked by some store and looked inside and there you were. It took everything I had to not walk into that store and pull you into my arms."

"Why didn't you at least come in and say hi?"

"Honestly? I think that I knew that when you and I finally did talk again that we'd end up right back here. I wasn't ready for it then. I didn't think you were either. I felt we still had more growing up to do."

Haley smiled, "You're right, we did. I wasn't in the same place last year that I am now. So what do we do, now that we're here again?"

"Well, I think that jumping back into a relationship wouldn't be the smartest choice. No matter how much we've grown up, I think we'd still have the same problems. I think we should just ease into everything. We'll take it slow. We'll start by just trying to talk regularly. Phone calls, e-mails, we'll see how we do with that. Baby steps ya know?"

"Baby steps. Sounds good to me. Promise me one thing though Nathan." Haley reached for Nathan's hand.

"What?"

"Promise me that we won't have secrets this time. I want us to talk about everything, no matter how hard it is. We need to get back our trust. We never were lacking for love, that's a given, but trust, well I think we started to lack there."

"Yeah we did. I promise, no secrets." As Nathan spoke he looked into Haley's eyes.

"I promise too." Haley smiled.

They sat there in silence for a moment, just looking into one another's eyes. They were both thinking the same thing and knew it, but Nathan decided to actually say it.

"I love you Hales. I have since the day I met you. No matter if we were together or not, no matter how many miles were between us, I've always loved you."

Haley leapt into Nathan's arms, "I love you too Nathan, so much. See, I told you, people who are meant to be together always end up that way in the end."