A/NWats up everyone, so sorry for the wait I know I promised to update last weekend but I got stuck in WA an extra week, my Dad left w/o me! Can you believe that? LOL So yeah I just wrote up this chapter which I'm hoping is going to be pretty long, it always ends up a diff length when typed. Oh and P.S. I put in some NALEY for ya'll so enjoy!

As they sat at the pier they were lulled into a comfortable silence. Nathan and Haley were just enjoying the presence of one another and the calming swooshes of the lake. A light warm breeze picked up that blew the sweet aroma of the wild flowers around them and Haley's long honey locks were blown about which made a wonderful sight for Nathan.

Nathan kept staring into Haley's sunny brown eyes and he never wanted to leave this moment with

her, just the two of them. But reality would soon disturb their own world and he would leave her and neither knew for how long.

Even though it was a comfortable silence, it had to be broken at some point. The only problem was that neither knew how to break it. There definitely was a connection between the pair; you could see it by the way Nathan looked at Haley with adoration like she was the only person in the room. His ocean blue eyes were her personal spotlight. Then there was the way Haley blushed whenever Nathan stared at her longingly or when he

took hold of her hand. She had a special loving smile reserved just for him; a smile that she never once graced her past boyfriends with, especially Chris (dog mouth) Keller. Yes, they had met a little over an hour ago, but the sparks were undeniable. Sooner or later those sparks would burst into an everlasting flame.

The once comfortable silence, however, started to become an issue for Traveling Soldier and Angel and out of the blue they tried to break it by reaching for each other's hands. Haley giggled

while Nathan gave a hearty laugh. Through the midst of the lighthearted laughter neither retracted their hands; both thought of how they loved the feeling of the other's skin against theirs and prayed that they could feel the sensation forever.

"Umm… Haley, I highly doubt you don't have a boyfriend but at this point I don't care," Nathan said. "I'll do anything to have you in my life, even if we only write letters to one another." He paused to take a quick breath and see her

reaction.

Haley smiled at him – not laughing or running away – a good sign. Her pretty bright smile calmed his nerves and urged him to continue.

"Which brings me to my next point," he said. "Since I'm leaving

for Iraq and I'm not really close to my family except my brother Lucas, who is also heading there with me, I don't really have anyone to send letters to. I was kind of hoping I could send some here to you. You know, like pen pals, and you could like help keep my hopes up and remind me that there's a real reason to come back alive and not get blown up." He laughed out the last part to show he was just kidding.

Haley giggled too at his humor and how incredibly cute he looked when he was nervous just talking to her. She never knew that she could make a guy nervous. She grinned to herself at her newfound control over men. She simply nodded and gave a cute dimpled smile, flattered that he chose to write to her when he was off protecting their country and busy being a hero.

Nathan felt his stomach unclench when he saw her nod of approval. He graced her with a gorgeous smile that made her weak at the knees and she was glad that she was already sitting or she would have made a huge fool of herself by falling face first on the dock.

He then realized that his hand was still wrapped protectively around her silky soft digits and he lifted them to his mouth and kissed each one. He ended at the top of her hand, letting his lips linger a few seconds longer, loving and reveling in the way her soft skin felt and tasted

beneath his full lips. Then he recognized that she tasted like a mixture of sweet spices and vanilla – and it was intoxicating. He longed to taste more of this beauty.

This time Haley fearfully blushed and couldn't stop her eyes from drooping as his luscious lips kissed her skin. Her whole body still tingled from it; her hand warm from where he kissed – so warm that it felt like he burned her but she didn't mind. If she got this worked up over a few hand kisses

she couldn't imagine what she'd feel like with his full pink lips and large strong hands doing other things.

I'm never gonna hold a hand of another guy. I'll wait forever for the love this traveling soldier. Yes, she couldn't wait for the first letter but she'd write a million letters if he could stay. At this point she didn't care too much.

A/N Ok, so what did you guys think? I really enjoyed writing this chapter and it's my fave so I hope that you enjoyed reading it! I know it's not that long I'll work harder on the next. Truthfully I'm stumped on how to write it, it only took like 15min to write this one, it's gonna take longer for the next. Well review and be brutal! LOL not too much though pwiez.

Oh and yes I did get my inspiration from Dixie Chick's song "Traveling Soldier" I'm glad that come of you caught on to that, it was sapposed to be like a secret till the end but you guys are too quick for me! Oh & another thing, I'm not going completly how the song goes so Nathan may die or not, or it could be someone else... Not telling!

Eli