Haley sat there for a second in silence and in shock. She'd hardly believed what she had heard.

"...You're...you want me to live with you?"

Nathan squeezed his eyes shut and exhaled a deep breath he hadn't been aware he was holding.

"Yes...that's what I'm asking."

"Nathan...I don't know."

Nathan shook his head, "I know...its still kind of early to take such a big step -- but I'm ready for it, I know that...the question is, are you?"

"I don't know," Haley blurted out.

Nathan couldn't help but be taken aback at her response.

"Oh," was all he could think to say.

"I do want to...I really do...its such a big move though, it just sort of scares me...not to mention, I kind of moved here with Brooke...it wouldn't entirely be fair to just bail on her this quickly."

Nathan nodded in understanding – Haley was being realistic, he couldn't fault her for that.

"No pressure, alright? We don't have to talk about it anymore for now..." Nathan replied, suddenly in the mood to talk about something else.

Haley could hear the change of his tone and complied with his request.

The two discussed more of what had been happening at the firm and talked about their plans for the weekend. The co-habitation issue was tabled for the time being.

~~~~

The next evening

"You did what?!" Lucas asked in exasperation.

Nathan rolled his eyes, "I told her that you were moving out when you bought a place and I asked her to move in with me."

It was Lucas' turn to roll his eyes. "Listen, Haley's great -- she's awesome -- but...let's be realistic here...you've never been able to keep a relationship together for more than a few months at a time...the idea of you living with a girlfriend is just ludicrous."

"Thanks for your support and confidence in me," Nathan said, his tone thick with sarcasm.

"It's nothing against you little brother," Lucas said. "I've just watched you running and screaming from the slightest mention of a serious relationship with a woman, now you want to go and live with one?"

"Things are different with her," Nathan said. "I don't want anyone else -- the desire to be with other women...its just not there anymore."

"Well that's all fine and good that its not there, right now," Lucas said. "...but what happens if you wake up one day when this whole infatuation stage has passed, and you really don't want to be with her anymore...the poor girl would probably be so messed up, she wouldn't want to work at the firm anymore and so she'd be homeless and jobless."

Nathan gaped at Lucas, "...What?? Luke, what the hell are you talking about? That's jumping a little further to conclusions and drama that isn't even there...you're just creating sh$* now."

"Well, okay, that is a worst case scenario...but let's face it, you know I'm right about the fact that this is still a new relationship -- the two of you should take a year, see where you are and then go from there," Lucas said.

"Thank you Dr. Phil," Nathan said wryly. "...but need I remind you, Haley didn't agree to live with me anyway, which makes this whole conversation irrelevant, not to mention completely stupid."

Lucas shrugged, "I'm just trying to show you sides of things that you don't necessarily think about...you're too closely involved to see the big picture."

Nathan shrugged and smiled, "must you always be the voice of reason, its a real pain in my a**."

Lucas grinned, "Somebody has to."

~~~~

"He asked you to live with him?!" Brooke squealed.

Haley nodded weakly.

"...you said no?! Are you completely out of your mind?!" Brooke squealed again.

"I'm trying to keep a level head about all of this," Haley said.

"There you go again -- typical Haley...you never want to take a chance on anything do you?" Brooke asked.

Haley pursed her lips, a little miffed that Brooke would say that. "Well...let's see--I'm not always that 'typical' even though you like to say so...after all, if I had been so afraid to branch out, I probably would have never met Nathan, would I?"

"Exactly my point!! You branched out, took a chance, and look what you got out of it?" Brooke said.

Haley was silent a moment -- Brooke had a point.

Haley couldn't help it -- it wasn't in her nature to rush into things...she was always the one poring over something and analyzing situations to death.

"I would stand to lose a lot if I moved in with him and things didn't work out," Haley spoke up after a second.

"Yes, you would...but that's life Hales," Brooke said. "There are no guarantees -- but the question is, are you going to let all of the 'what ifs' in life hold you back from what could really work out to be something even more significant??...I mean look at married couples - they could all avoid marriage on the chance that their relationship wouldn't work out...but people still get married - they still take that chance," Brooke reasoned. "Sometimes you just have to have a little faith."

Haley nodded.

"Unless, you truly don't want to move in with him - then that's another thing entirely...if that's the case, you can't help how you feel, albeit ridiculous and crazy," Brooke said.

Haley rolled her eyes. "No, its honestly something I would consider very seriously."

Brooke shook her head, "well all of that 'considering' will probably talk you right out of it -- you know why you and Nathan ended up together?"

Haley shrugged.

"...because from that first night on, neither of you really had to 'think' about it- it just happened."

Haley's hand shook as she grabbed her cell phone and dialed.

"Hey its me," she smiled when the voice answered.

"...that whole thing that we weren't going to talk about anymore??...I'd like to talk about it again...because I think I want to do it."