Nathan rolled over and pulled Haley to him, wrapping his arms tightly around her and leaning his chin into her shoulder.

Haley stirred and looked at the clock. She jumped out of bed.

"Nathan! Get up!! It's 7:45 - I'm going to be late for work!"

"Oh that's okay...I'm your boss...you can be late...come back to bed," Nathan mumbled, putting his face into the pillow, still half asleep.

"I'm serious!" Haley said, throwing a pillow at Nathan, knocking him in the head.

"Alright! Alright, I'm up." Nathan sat up on the corner of the bed.

Haley couldn't help but grinning. In that moment, he looked like a tired little boy, with his eyes still half closed.

This was actually the first morning they'd been together.

"Wow, I guess you get a gold star," Haley said. "You stayed the entire night."

"Ha, ha," Nathan said sarcastically. "I guess you stayed the entire night too...not that you had anywhere to run since this is your place."

Haley gave him a wry expression and could see him smiling.

He pulled her onto his lap.

"Good morning," he said with a grin and gave her a kiss.

"Good morning...and this is very sweet and you are very sweet...but get your ass up, I've gotta get to work!" Haley said, jumping off his lap.

~~~

Haley ran down the sidewalk and into the office.

She could see Melissa and Lucas standing at Melissa's desk. Melissa raised her eyebrows.

"I'm...so sorry...late...traffic...won't happen...again," Haley said, out of breath.

"Calm down, Haley, breathe," Lucas grinned. "It's okay..."

At that moment, Nathan walked in, looking disheveled but happy.

"Good morning folks!" he smiled.

Lucas and Melissa just looked at each other but remained silent.

Nathan and Lucas walked back to Accounting department. "Nice to see you're not wearing the clothes from last night," Lucas said, a smirk on his face.

"Hey, I went home and grabbed fresh clothes," Nathan said, a smile on his face.

Lucas only shook his head. "I don't even want to ask."

"Aww, come on...don't even pretend like Peyton didn't make you late for work...more than once."

Lucas rolled his eyes. "I'm not saying a word...but I suggest that this be kept quiet...at least for right now...for your sake and for Haley's."

"Alright, fine by me," Nathan said with a shrug. He was private about his love life anyway, so not talking about it in the office wouldn't exactly be a problem.

~~~

Five weeks of pre-production passed and before they knew it, the 2 week film shoot for the commercial was scheduled to begin in Milan.

"Milan? As in Italy?" Nathan had asked Lucas.

"Yeah, this is like no commercial you have seen before. You saw the boards. They want it on a scale of a 30 second movie- lush Italian landscapes and architecture, shots of Italian cuisine—"

"Heartless wenches who happen to be models?" Nathan asked with a grin.

"You said you were alright with this," Lucas said.

"I am, I'm only kidding now," Nathan said. "Things with Haley are going so well, I couldn't be happier."

On his last evening in town before he had to fly to Italy, Nathan took Haley for a nice dinner at a cafe overlooking the water.

They decided to take a walk on the pier after their meal.

They walked quietly for a bit. Nathan reached down and grabbed Haley's hand. She held tightly on to his.

"You're awfully quiet tonight," Nathan said, stopping her.

Haley didn't want to meet his eyes. She was scared he might see the tears that were quickly forming.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Haley merely nodded, looking away from him and out over the water.

Nathan brought his hand to her chin to turn her face toward him.

"Are you crying?" he asked.

Haley shook her head, "No…it's silly", the tears evident in her eyes.

"Come here, it's not silly…what's the matter?" Nathan said, pulling her to him.

The two stood there together on the pier, holding each other for the longest time.

"...I'll be back before you know it," Nathan said, still holding her.

Haley nodded, holding on to his arms, clinging to him.

It had almost frightened her -she had really felt herself beginning to fall for him, and it had been the last thing she had wanted to do.

Nathan pulled away to look in her eyes. "I want you to know something...I don't know how you feel about it- we've never talked about this...but...I need you to know that when I'm gone -- when you're not with me...there will be no one else...I don't want anyone else."

Haley looked at him and exhaled a deep breath she hadn't been aware she was holding.

Those words relieved her to no end. They had never had the talk about dating exclusively - everything had still been new and exciting. Frankly, it was a talk that Haley had been too timid to bring up...and she had shown that there were few topics upon which she wouldn't speak up. She knew the way Nathan had been when they first met and she never wanted him to feel restrained in a way that he would resent...she had wanted things to progress naturally and if they were meant to...but secretly, all along, she had hoped for this moment.

She looked into his eyes and replied, "I feel the same way...I don't want to be with anyone else either."

Nathan took a breath and grinned.

He leaned down and kissed her tenderly.

Then, he took her hand and led her back to the car.

~~~

Nathan caught the early flight the next morning.

"Are you ready?" Lucas asked on the flight.

"Ready for what?" Nathan asked.

"To face your old demons...or one in particular," Lucas said.

Nathan rolled his eyes, "you're so dramatic."

Luca chuckled and went back to reading his magazine.

Nathan laid his head on the headrest, looking out the window of the airplane.

He hoped he wasn't making a colossal mistake