A/N: I am very impressed at the amount of reviews I am getting and I just want to say thanks to everyone one of you who review:) Keep it up! lol

Haley's eyes fluttered softly as Nathan watched her. She must be dreaming. He had spent the night in the apartment- a new luxury since Peyton found out about them. He could hear Peyton moving around in the next room and Haley stretched in his arms, her back arching like a cats would.

He heard Peyton yell 'snow' in the distance, and her eyes popped open at the noise. They closed again quickly in response to the blinding sun that had filtered in through the blinds. It had made her hair glow, the vivacious, blonde highlights standing out against her original brown strands. She mumbled something that Nathan couldn't quite make out, but the action brought a smile to Nathan's lips anyways.

She moaned slightly, but loud enough for Peyton to hear in the next roon anyway, Nathan was sure. Haley rolled away from him, onto her back. "What are you yelling about?" Haley griped, speaking to Peyton in the next room.

"It's snowing!" Peyton had yelled back. Nathan could discern the glee in her voice. Apparently she's never seen snow, he thought.

"So?" Haley yelled, rolling onto her stomach and pressing her face into the pillow. He knew by now that she wasn't a morning person.

"I've never seen snow, Haley," came the reply from Peyton in the other room. Five points for Nathan.

"See it a bit quieter," Haley said into her pillow so Peyton couldn't hear her.

Nathan listened as Peyton moved quickly to the door. She must be running, or something, he thought. He heard the door latch open, but then he heard her stop moving. Then there was silence.

Curious and worried, Nathan rolled out of bed without Haley noticing. She must have gone back to sleep. As he was opening the door, he heard Peyton's voice.

"What are you doing here?" She sounded confused, not mad.

start flashback

Nathan's cell phone kept ringing as he searched for it in his room. Sifting through a pile of clothes, he finally found it.

"Hello?"

"Hey," came Peyton's voice. "How's camp?"

"Tough," came Nathan's reply. He was surprised that Peyton had called him, but it didn't come through in his voice. "I still can't really play like I used to before the crash," he continued. "Even if it has been all summer."

"You'll get it back," Peyton replied confidently. "You know you will."

Nathan nodded even though Peyton couldn't see him. "How's your summer been?"

Peyton hesitated slightly on the other end. "Okay, I guess," she finally answered.

"Okay, what's that supposed to mean?" Nathan asked her.

"Nothing," she answered quickly. "It was okay, like I said."

"What is it that you're not telling me?"

Peyton didn't answer. Nathan slowly pieced together something in his head. "It was just you and Lucas all summer, wasn't it?" he asked.

"Yeah...and?"

"Did you guys... are you together?"

Peyton hesitated again. "No."

Nathan noticed a hitch in her voice. "Then what happened?"

"Nothing," she said, but stopped Nathan as he started to protest. "Nothing can happen."

Nathan stopped talking for a second, contemplating her words. "Brooke," he said.

He took the silence from Peyton on the other end of the line as his answer. "This isn't what I called for, Nathan."

Taken aback by the new seriousness in his tone, Nathan forgot all about her and Lucas.

"I wanted to tell you that...I'm leaving."

Nathan shook his head, confused. "Leaving where?"

"Tree Hill."

Nathan's mouth dropped open slightly. "What?"

"I'm- uh- going with my father on one of his trips, to the Bahamas."

"For how long?"

"A year," came Peyton's voice. Nathan felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"What about school?"

"They have them in the Bahamas. Everything is worked out."

Nathan could hear that Peyton was upset, which made him wonder why she was doing this. "Peyton, why are you upset about this?"

Nathan heard an audible sniff from the other end. "Don't you want to go?"

"Yes...," came the reply, although she sounded far from sure about it. "It's nothing, Nathan."

"Why are you going if you don't want to?" Nathan inquired. Peyton didn't reply once again.

"What did Lucas do?"

Peyton made a noise of surprise. "It was both of his, Nate," she replied honestly. "I told you- it can never happen. This is an opportunity to get away from... that... and spend some time with my Dad."

Nathan pursed his lips together and sighed. "If I find out he did something to you..."

"It wasn't him. If anything, you'd probably want to hurt me for what I did to him."

Still not truly satisfied, Nathan gave it up.

"I'm gonna miss you, Nathan."

"You too."

Peyton paused. "And be with Haley. Love is stronger than anything, Nathan. Remember that."

Nathan smiled. "You too," he repeated. "I'll call you, okay?"

"Yeah," Peyton agreed. "Please do."

"I will."

end flashback

Nathan poked his head out the door, which wasn't fully opened yet.

"Pe-", he started to say, but the words died in his mouth. His jaw dropped and he slowly began backing up into the room. Shutting the door softly, he bounded soundlessly over to the bed Haley was still lying in. She had fallen back asleep on her stomach, her face turned sideways on her pillow.

He reached down tentatively and shook her arm softly. "Haley," he whispered.

She swatted his hand away and turned her head to the other side. "Haley!" he whispered more urgently.

"What?" she asked groggily, her voice loud.

"Sush!" he exclaimed, his voice still low. He reached down to move the hair from on her face as he continued speaking. "We have a problem."

Haley muttered something that sounded a bit vulgar. "Haley- Lucas is in the other room."

Her eyes were open now, all signs of weariness gone from her features. She sprang up from her bed, putting an ear to the door. She clapped a hand over her mouth when she realized that Nathan just wasn't playing games with her.

Here she was, in her own room, with a only half-way dressed ex-husband, whom she was supposedly broken up with, with non other than his brother and her friend outside the door. She bit her tongue, and saw a smile light up Nathan's features.

"Why are you smiling?" she hissed at him.

"I love this sneaking around thing," he whispered back. "And you're looking really hot, standing there all worried, not in the rain of course though, that I'm thinking I might have to kiss you."

Haley smiled at the familiarity of his words and watched him as he got nearer to her. She could see the muscles working in his chest as his arms moved to take her in his arms. Haley pressed herself up against him, and their lips met with a stunning intensity. It never seemed to die down- the intenseness of their relationship. She hoped it stayed that way for good.

Coming back to her senses, Haley pulled back. Lucas was in the other room, she reminded herself. Nathan reached up and touched her face, but Haley pulled back slightly. She knew the guilt was getting to her, the secret was beginning to be too much to deal with. Haley knew she had to tell him soon, before their relationship became any deeper than it was now. His heart would shatter, she knew, but it had to be done.

Nathan's face stiffened as she backed away. "What's wrong?" he asked her, all playfulness gone from his voice.

"Lucas is right there," she said, as she motioned at the door wildly.

"No, that's not it. You've been acting distant all week." Nathan paused for a moment. "Did I do something?" he asked her, obviously and adorably concerned.

His blue eyes were enticing her. She couldn't come up with a plausible enough excuse for him because of this distraction. Eventually she shook her head. "No, you didn't do anything..."

"Then what-"

Nathan stopped mid-sentence as the door opened slowly.

XOXOXOXOXOXOOX

Out in the other room, Peyton threw the door open in her excitement, only to stop moving all together. He stood there before her, his arm raised, like he had been just about to knock on the door.

"Hi," he said as he dropped his arm.

Peyton shifted uncomfortably. "What are you doing here?" she asked, curiously, her voice betrayed neither her anger or her joy at seeing him. Funny how those two emotions seemed to accompany each other. But Lucas always had to complicate things, didn't he?

"I saw the snow and I knew it was the first time you had seen it."

Peyton just stared at him. He left his house to come all the way over here... because it was snowing, she asked herself slowly. She watched as he shivered slightly in the cold.

"Are you going to come in," Peyton asked as she sifted in the doorway, making room for him to enter.

He contemplated for a second. "Actually... I was wondering if you'd like to come out?"

"Come out?" Peyton repeated, her face screwed up in confusion.

"Yeah. I wanted to show you something," he replied.

Peyton looked herself over. She still had the clothes that she slept in on and her hair must be a mess. "But I'm not even ready to go anywhere," Peyton said as she rubbed her bare arms from the cold of the doorway.

Lucas shrugged. "It doesn't matter- no one will see you. I think you look beu- fine. You look fine," he said quickly, blushing slightly.

He looked at her with those deep blue orbs, causing a strange feeling to take over her. Peyton recognized it as desire. Not a good thing to feel for your best friend's husband every time he looks at you, she thought. But she also knew she wanted to go with him.

Peyton heard a thump from Haley's room and her stomach dropped as she remembered that Nathan was in there. She and Lucas heard what sounded like whispering and Peyton grimaced.

"What's she doing in there?"

Peyton shrugged in what she hoped was a nonchalant way. "It's probably the t.v. She most likely doesn't know that you're here, and was just relaxing or something," Peyton said as she started to move towards Haley's door. Peyton turned her head back towards Lucas. "Come in and warm yourself up for a minute," she told him. "I'll just let Haley know you're here."

Her hand was on the doorknob and she opened the door slowly, giving the two enough time to get out of the doorway, if that's where they were.

She entered the room to the wide eyes of Nathan and Haley. "Oh, it's only you," Haley whispered in relief as soon as Peyton had shut the door. Nathan let out a breath he had been holding.

"What is he doing here?" Haley questioned frantically.

"He said he wants to bring me somewhere.."

"What?"

"I don't know," Peyton admitted. "But I'll go to get him out of the house. I'm afraid if I don't go, then he'll stay here all day until the party tonight. Then you-" she said as she pointed to Nathan "-can escape and be out of here by the time we come back."

Nathan nodded his head. "But you owe me- big time," Peyton continued, this time pointing at Haley.

Haley rolled her eyes. "Yeah like you don't want to go," she replied.

Peyton opened her mouth for a retort or denial, but found none. "Now come on, I told him I'd bring you out there to say hi," Peyton said.

"No way," Haley said.

"It's the only way to get him to stop questioning what you were doing in here."

Haley glanced at Nathan, who still looked upset with her from their interrupted conversation. Not wanting to be left alone with him at the moment, Haley agreed. She knew, in her heart that she would have to tell him her closely guarded secret- tonight.

Peyton and Haley headed out the door, leaving Nathan to merely watch as Haley walked out of their conversation.

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