"Finally, it's finished," Tommy said as he and Haley put the final touches on the project they were working on.
"Yeah, I'm glad you decided to help me finish it before you left," Haley told him.
"Oh come on Haley, you know I wouldn't go on vacation without making sure this was done first, I wouldn't just leave you to do it all alone," he replied.
"You wouldn't?" Haley questioned raising her eyebrows.
"Hey that was only one time and I was a sophomore in college, I wasn't nearly as serious about my studies then as I am now," he responded.
"I have to say Tommy I'm really proud of you, you've managed to keep up with your classes and maintain your relationship with Nikki at the same time, I half expected you to just blow everything off and want to spend all of your time with her," Haley told him.
"It wasn't easy but Nikki and I were both determined not to let our relationship get in the way of us finishing graduate school and that's another reason that this vacation is so important, we can finally put school out of our minds and just concentrate on us," Tommy replied.
"I can't believe the two of you have been dating almost a year now," Haley said.
"It's been the best year of my life and I couldn't imagine it without her," Tommy revealed.
"I'm really happy for the both of you but you should get going, your plane leaves tomorrow morning and if I know anything about you, I know you haven't started packing yet," Haley replied.
"Your right about that, I'm not sure if I'll see you before we leave but will you please
promise not to spend the entire spring break working, at least try to have some fun," Tommy told her.
"Whoa, did a tornado break out here or what?" Haley joked as she entered Nikki's bedroom and saw the massive amount of clothes that were spread around the floor.
"I know I shouldn't have waited until the last minute to pack but I've been so busy lately with school and work that I never had time," Nikki told her as she was putting some things in her suitcase.
"Don't tell me you're actually planning on wearing that to the beach?" Haley said referring to a two piece string bikini that looked as though it would barely cover anything at all.
"No, the suite that Thomas booked for us has it's own private patio with a hot tub and besides knowing him the way I do I won't be wearing it for very long anyway," Nikki said with a mischievous grin.
"Ok, that was way too much information, I already know more than I want being that your room is right next to mine," Haley replied.
"Well just think you'll have the apartment all to yourself for an entire week," Nikki told her.
"You're so lucky, I wish I could go to Hawaii," Haley said.
"I'm so excited for this trip, I've always wanted to go to Hawaii and the best part is I get to spend some alone time with the man that I love," Nikki replied.
"Will you at least promise to bring me a souvenir, that is if you ever leave the room," Haley said.
"I assure you, Thomas and I will find time to go sightseeing, who knows when we'll have a chance for another vacation, pretty soon we'll both have our doctorate's and then its off to the work field," Nikki told her.
"Well, luckily you don't have to worry about that now, finish your packing I'm going to order us some takeout," Haley said as she left the room.
The next morning Tommy and Nikki got settled on the plane that would soon take them to paradise.
"I can't believe we actually made this happen," Nikki remarked as she buckled her seatbelt.
"This is going to be the best vacation ever," Tommy told her.
"And what makes you say that?" Nikki asked.
"Because I'm with the most beautiful woman in the world and that woman just happens to be in love with me, and I can't think of anything better," Tommy answered.
"You have just earned yourself some major points," Nikki said leaning over to kiss him.
"I've seen that look before, you two must be on your honeymoon," a flight attendant said as she passed by.
"Actually we're not on our honeymoon, just on vacation," Nikki told her.
"Oh I'm sorry, it's just that the two of you seemed so in love I just assumed you had to be newlyweds," she replied.
"Well we are very much in love, who knows maybe someday we will be on our honeymoon," Tommy responded.
"This one's a keeper," the flight attendant told Nikki as she made her way down the rest of the aisle.
"Did you really mean that?" Nikki asked.
"Of course I did, I love you and nothing would make me happier than to be married to you someday once we get our careers underway that is," Tommy told her noticing a slight disappointment in her eyes.
Inside he was smiling as he thought of the ring box that he had carefully hidden in his suitcase. Not even Haley knew that he was planning on asking Nikki to marry him on this trip. He had thought about it long and hard and realized that if he and Nikki were going to have any kind of future together he wanted it to be as husband and wife. That way nothing would ever separate them. All he had to do now was fine the perfect time to pop the question.
"Oh my gosh, it's so beautiful here," Nikki remarked as they stepped off the plane.
"Yeah it is but not as beautiful as you," Tommy said as he pulled her into a kiss.
"I love you so much Thomas," Nikki said kissing him back.
"Let's go get our bags because I can't wait to get to our hotel," Tommy said smiling.
"You read my mind," Nikki told him.
