Author's note: Well guys, it's here. The last chapter. The good news, I'm going to start working on a sequel. Truth be told, I have a lot I want to do with this Naley, but it's a little ways down the road. I'd have to try and come up with drama or fill it with fluff to get there, and I'm just not a big fan of too much fluff or using tired ideas. I promise, tons of new Naley drama in the sequel. It will start off with some flashbacks from the time we won't see between stories. So, add me to author alert so you know when it's here. I don't have a title picked out, but it will be my next new story. In the meantime, if you're a fan of Brucas check out one of my other stories Beautiful Disaster. Thanks to everyone who has read this story, I hope you enjoy this last chapter, and let the reviews flow!

Chapter 41- Forever Together

"Hales, seriously, we have to go, like half an hour. Are you almost ready?" Nathan stood at the bottom of the stairs staring up at the second floor of his fraternity house, hoping his girlfriend would appear.

Nathan was supposed to be down at the stadium in 10 minutes to get in line for the graduation procession. Seeing as how the drive over would take probably 15 minutes, it wasn't looking too promising that he was going to be one time. What a role reversal, he was waiting on Haley. Times sure had changed. Back in the day it would have been Nathan who could have cared less about being on time to a school function, while Haley would have been sitting in the car honking the horn at him 10 minutes before they had to leave.

"Calm down, I'm ready."

Nathan smiled as Haley walked towards the top of the stairs. She'd curled her hair and it fell loosely over her shoulders, Nathan loved her hair that way. She had on a knee length flowered dress that hugged her in all the right places.

"I'm telling you, I better be worth the wait. I'm not used to getting ready in this kind of heat, I've never lived somewhere without air conditioning. Not to mention New York is like the stickiest place ever in the summer. I couldn't control the frizzing...Why are you looking at me like that?"

"You're beautiful Hales, absolutely beautiful."

"Thanks."

Haley blushed a little bit. It never got old, him calling her beautiful. It made her feel like a giggly school girl almost every time.

Nathan opened the front door, allowing Haley to go before him, and the two headed hand in hand down to Nathan's car.

The rode over to the stadium in silence, Nathan was surprised that he was actually nervous. He'd never thought this day would come. He was graduating college. After four of the hardest years of his life he was finally done. And now he was ready for the next phase of his life. Haley had asked about his plans time and time again, but he just brushed the inquiries aside, telling her she'd find out in due time what his plans were. All she knew was that he would be heading back to Tree Hill with her the next morning, for how long, she had no idea.

Nathan had figured out what he wanted to do months ago, but he'd held Haley off. It was never the right time to tell her. Nathan had pulled out all the stops though, and he knew that dinner that night would be just the right time.

Nathan pulled up in front of the stadium and turned to Haley, "I really have to get in there. Can you park the car?"

"It's the least I can do, seeing as how you're late because of me."

"Thanks." He leaned over and kissed her cheek. "Now you have your ticket right?"

"Yes, I have my ticket. I'll see you after. Good luck."

Haley hopped out of Nathan's SUV and watched as he walked inside. She got into the driver's seat and pulled away from the curb, she knew searching for a parking spot would take a while. Good thing the graduates had to be there really early, she still had an hour before the ceremony would start.

Half an hour later Haley was making her way up the hill to the stadium. As she thought, she couldn't find parking anywhere nearby so she'd had to park forever away. She was definitely cursing her choice of shoes, some nice flip flops would have made this trek so much easier, but no, she'd opted for stilettos. Damn Brooke for ever getting her hooked on shoes.

Haley looked around as she walked, the hill she was on afforded her a nice view of the campus. Syracuse was absolutely huge, Haley couldn't imagine going to school there. It was also hard for her to imagine Nathan here. He spent four years in a place she barely knew. She'd managed to visit a couple of times over the past few months, but it was just too expensive to do with any regularity. The drive took about 11 hours, so Haley always opted for flying.

Breathing a sigh of relief, she thought of how happy she was that she'd be driving back to Tree Hill with Nathan tomorrow. After all the years of being apart they'd finally live in the same place, at least for a little while. Nathan had been very secretive about his plans. She wasn't sure why, but she really wasn't worried. She knew that Nathan had a plan, whether he wanted one or not. His father would have forced him to come up with something.

Haley made her way through the sea of bleachers, relieved when she spotted Nathan's mom's smiling face.

"Haley. It's so good to see you." Deb said as she pulled Haley into a hug. "It's been way too long."

Haley nodded in agreement. "It really has. How's Florida?"

"It's good. I've settled in nicely. Anything was better than living in Tree Hill with Dan. So tell me, how are things with you. How's school?"

"School's good. I just finished my junior year. Next year I have to take the LSATs and start applying to law school. It's pretty intimidating, but I've been looking forward to becoming a lawyer for pretty much my whole life."

"And how are things with you and Nathan?"

"They're going really good. I'm just so relieved that he's done with school and we won't have half the eastern seaboard separating us anymore. Speaking of which, has he told you his plans?"

Deb smiled, "Yes he has, but he has also told me not to tell you, no matter how much you beg. But let me just say this, you will like them."

"Good answer."

The two women made small talk until the ceremony began. Syracuse was so big that it held multiple graduations so that no one ceremony would take too long. The students didn't even walk the stage. They simply had their names read. But still, just seeing Nathan sitting there, surrounded by his classmates, in his cap and gown made Haley's heart swell. She was so proud of him.

The yellow cord that lay round his neck truly symbolized his hard work, he'd graduated with honors. Haley had always known Nathan was smart, he just never applied himself. She was glad to see that once he got to college that changed.

After the ceremony Deb and Haley headed outside to wait for Nathan. Finally, he emerged from the sea of students that surrounded them.

"Aw, my boy. I'm so proud of you." Deb spoke as she pulled Nathan into a tight hug.

"Thanks Mom. I appreciate you coming all the way up here even though I didn't get to walk the stage."

"I was just glad to spend some time with you." Deb glanced down at her watch, "But now I'm off, I'm meeting an old friend for dinner. I'll see you guys tomorrow for breakfast?"

Nathan and Haley nodded simultaneously and watched as Deb walked off. Nathan turned to Haley and she wrapped her arms around her neck, pulling him into a hug.

"I'm so proud of you Nathan, really. I know you worked so hard these past four years. I just wish I could have been there for more of it."

"Shh, Haley, there's no point in rehashing any of that. What happened happened, we're together now and that's what's important. Now, we'd better get a move on, we have dinner reservations."

Haley and Nathan walked hand in hand to his car, talking about the night's events. There were quite a few graduation parties that Nathan wanted to make an appearance at.

After being escorted to their table and ordering their drinks and an appetizer, Nathan began to speak.

"I know I've been secretive on my plans. The only reason for that is that I wanted to work everything out before I told you what I wanted to do. I didn't want to get your hopes up just to have something not work out and then let you down."

Nathan paused and reached for his drink, taking a long sip, smiling as he noticed Haley squirm. Just then the waiter brought out their appetizers and took their dinner orders. Nathan laughed as Haley spoke quickly, trying to shoo the waiter away so that Nathan would keep talking. Once the waiter left Nathan reached out for a mozzarella stick, but once he saw the venomous look in Haley's eyes, he quickly retracted his hand.

"Okay, well, you know that I'm going to go back to Tree Hill with you tomorrow. I've already talked to your parents and I'll be staying in the guest room at your house for the summer. After that it's kind of up to you."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I've been looking at apartments. And I was kind of wondering if maybe you'd want to look at them with me?"

Haley's smile quickly turned to a frown. "Umm, sure. Yeah. I can do that."

"I was hoping that you'd look with me in hopes that maybe you'd want to live there with me."

"But Nathan, I have school, one more year remember?"

"The apartments I've been looking at are in Chapel Hill."

Haley looked at Nathan, clearly shocked at what he'd just said. Once the shock wore off she sprung from her chair and threw her arms around his neck. She held him tightly for a few minutes before returning to her seat.

"Oh Nathan, of course I'll live with you."

Nathan smiled and leaned over, planting a light kiss on Haley's lips.

"But Nathan, what're you going to do? I mean work, school? What?"

"Well, I decided to go on and get my MBA, but I figured I could put that off for a year. I mean, you'll start applying to law schools soon and I figured that if any of those law schools had MBA programs then I'll apply there too, or to nearby schools. I can start my MBA program when you start on your law degree. For that year in between I'll get a job. I'll do whatever, as long as it pays the rent so you don't have to work and can just focus on school and enjoying your senior year."

Nathan noticed that the smile that had been plastered across Haley's face had turned into a frown yet again. "Hales?"

"That's a lot to give up for me Nathan. I mean, you'll be starting work on your MBA a year later than you'd planned on. You'll be moving to a whole new place where you'll know what, two people? Me and Peyton, that's it. You'll work some job that you probably won't like just to pay our rent? And then you'll apply to MBA programs based on where I want to go to law school? It just seems like too much Nathan. I don't want you to move for me and then hate it. Hate Chapel Hill, hate your job. Wish you were in school. I don't want you to hate it and resent me for dragging you there…."

"…Hey, hey, hey. Deep breath Hales." Nathan interrupted. "First off, I'm doing this because it's what I want to do. I've given it a lot of thought. Yeah, obviously it's so we can be together, but it's what I want. I'll never resent you for this. You didn't ask me to move. In fact you were very supportive of my choosing what I want to do for myself. I'll never resent you for it because you're not asking me to do it. As for everything else, I'll make friends. I'm not worried about that. And so what if I don't have a job I love? It's only for a year. I want to take care of you Haley, that's important to me. We've been apart long enough and I just can't take it anymore. I want us to start on our life together. This is the best way. I don't want to start some MBA program and then have you decide to go to law school somewhere half way across the country. I can't risk us spending more years apart. And so what if I take a year off? Honestly, I'll enjoy not having classes and tons of studying to do every night."

Haley began to nod, "Okay, but only if this is really what you want."

"Hales, being with you is all I've ever wanted."