Chapter 11

Okay guys, this is the next chapter and I hope you enjoy it.

STAY WITH ME- Danity Kane

When Haley woke up in the middle of the night, Jay was right at her side awake as well. Skipping out on dinner, they were both hungry, so Haley fixed them up a small plate of food to share. Making their way back to the room with the plate, Haley froze hearing something at the front door. Seeing the door knob being twisted, she grabbed Jay's hand tightly in hers, and started quickly towards her bedroom when she heard her name called... by a voice she knew too well.

"Haley" Was the loud whisper.

She quickly turned around and saw her husband standing at the door clutching onto a bag of wrapped presents.

"Daddy!" Jay screamed out. Dropping his mothers' hand, he rushed over to his daddy, and just before he jumped into his arms, Nathan dropped the bag, next to him, craving the hug from his son.

All Haley could do was look on in shock.

"I missed you so much daddy" he said running his hands over his newly shaven head.

"Buddy, I missed you too. You got so big!" realizing that Haley was still too far away from him, he slowly let Jay down to his feet, and slowly approached her.

"Hi Hales" That was all she needed, and meeting him halfway, Haley was in her husbands' arms softly crying. "God I missed you Haley. I love you…. so much"

It was hard for her to handle all her emotions, but she tried her best.

Pulling back from him, she rubbed his cheeks softly with her fingertips as if she was trying to decide if he was real. She definitely couldn't deal with this being a dream. Leaning forward, she brushed her lips against his, before realizing he was real and fully kissing him on the lips. Before either of them could stop themselves, they got lost in each other. Lips parted, tongues entered, and everything else faded.

"I miss you" Haley told her husband when they finally parted. "How did you leave" she had to know what was going on.

"Just for tonight baby" he said kissing her forehead.

The first thing he noticed about her was how beautiful she looked. The pictures he had of his wife on base were nothing compared to how beautiful she was at that very moment. Next, he noticed her stomach. She had gotten bigger and he smiled proudly at the sight of his child growing in her womb. Taking a step back, and putting a hand on either side of her stomach, he glanced back at his son. "Hey Jay, why don't you look through the bag, and put the ones with your name together"

After seeing him nod, he knew that would keep him busy for a while. Turning back to his wife, he walked her towards the kitchen and out of his son's sight. Haley let out a gasp when Nathan grabbed the back of her thighs, and hoisted her up on the counter, coming to move in between her legs.

"You look so beautiful and sexy right now." He said kissing the side of her neck, right under her chin.

"You're just saying that Scott" she might have been pregnant, emotional and an all around basket case lately, but the desire of her husband always overpowered everything.

"Not a chance. I have honestly never been more turned on than I am right now seeing my mark clearly left on you." He said softly biting down on the soft spot. His lips never stopped as they trailed down her neck and back up before landing on her lips in a hungry kiss. Lacing his fingers with hers, he let his mouth work over hers hungrily, regretting how long it'd been since he was able to kiss his wife.

Relishing in the taste of her mouth, Nathan groaned at tightness of his pants and how hard he suddenly was. While still exploring her mouth, he brought one of her hands down to feel just how much he wanted her, while his other snaked up the side of her shirt craving the touch of her soft skin.

Before she could respond, Nathan quickly pulled back and let out a gut-busting laugh. He wasn't sure if he was even more turned on or proud when he felt the swift, sharp kicks to his chest from his daughter. Reaching forward he felt around his wives stomach searching for the small foot that was doing all the kicking.

"Hey baby girl, daddy is here and he missed you too. She's grown so much… she's kind of a cock block too" he said laughing when she shoved his shoulder playfully.

"Heck yea she has, she's getting heavy" she said smiling at him while playing with his fingers.

"Daddy, can I open one of my presents tonight please" he said running back in and letting the puppy eyes out in full effect.

Haley was quicker, and answered him before he could, 'Not unless I get to open one too" she said sliding off the counter and over to the bag of presents.

Lifting Jay over his shoulder, Nathan carried him over to the family room's couch where his wife was already seated. "Alright, so you gotta stay here, and I'm gonna go get your present Jay, so close your eyes and no peeking"

Haley sat Jay on her lap and covered his eyes with her hands. She watched Nathan come back in through the garage, and bring in a blue and orange Hummer Power Wheel and place it down at the start of the long hallway. He came back over to Haley and picked Jay up off her lap and carried him over while his eyes remained close. "Alright, open up big Jay!" opening his eyes, the kid let out a screech and was immediately placed down when his feet started to wildly kick against his fathers' legs.

Jumping in the car, he turned the key and off he went down the hall towards the guest bedroom. Every time they'd go to toys' r us, he'd play in the power wheels until the sales clerk told them it wasn't allowed, so he knew how to work one and would always beg his parents for one.

The two parents laughed when they faintly heard Jay yell out 'thanks daddy' and proceeded to speed down the hallway.

"Wait just a minute, now if you want to see your present you have to follow me" he led her down the hall to the room next to Jay's and she was surprised to see a huge pink bow on the door. She clearly hadn't noticed before.

"Where did this come from" she must have been drained when she'd gotten home to not notice the addition to the door.

"Just close your eyes" she did as she was told, and he led her into the room after he opened the door. "Open"

She looked around the room and nearly passed out from shock. The whole nursery had been set up beautifully and she was speechless. Walking towards the crib, she ran her hand along the dark chocolate wood and soft pink and brown polka-dotted bedding. The bedding made her smile but looking closely at the actual crib brought tears to her eyes. "Is this… baby is this the crib?" she said turning to Nathan who was sitting in the plush rocking chair she had yet to notice. It sat in the corner of the room next to the built in wall shelves she fell in love with when they first purchased their home. The shelves were lined with books, a few soft stuffed animals and pictures frames.

Pulling her onto his lap, Nathan handed her a small remote indicating for her to press play. Once the small button was pressed, it only took a second for music to pour out of the sides of the crib and the beautiful melody of David Gray's This Year's Love filled their ears. "Now she can have her own playlist once she's here" Nathan whispered in his wives ear.

Noticing how enamored Haley was with her surprise, Nathan decided to give her some time to herself. "Let me go get Jay to bed, and I'll be back" he spoke quietly against her lips.

She spent the next few minutes walking around the room, and looking through the closet to see what had already been done. All the clothes she and family members had gotten for her baby girl, had been put up. Her little outfits on hangers, and her onesies in the drawer. Under the changing table were packs of diapers, and wipes for refill, as well as extra pad covers for the changing pad. She hadn't noticed the cream walls with tiny brown polka dots and fell even more in love with the room. Taking another look around, she smiled at the soft pink curtains that were hung up, the brown lantern light on the changing table. Her most favorite thing about the nursery was the initials that were painted over her daughters crib in beautiful script. Her husband really knew how to play her.

It was about twenty minutes later when Nathan walked back into his daughters' nursery to see a bag of baby clothes sitting on the changing table and his wife folding the tiny pieces of fabric. He wasn't surprised seeing as it had taken a while to get Jay back down. He'd asked so many questions and wanted to know everything about what he had been up to. Nathan didn't even realize how much he missed his son's laughter and smile until he heard it again that night.

"Should I even ask who that's from?"

"Nope, this is one of six tutu's her Aunt Brooke has gotten her. Different sizes too, I swear she buys her something new every day"

"Well with Brooke around we will probably save a ton on clothes for her the first year" he picked up a purple onesie that read "cute as a button" and held it up to Haley's stomach.

"Speaking of Brooke…. It's perfect Nathan. I can't believe it, this is what she was doing all day, isn't it?"

"Well she's been working on it since last week really. She had the walls done last week while you and Jay were out and set up the furniture and everything else today while you were out. I just, I really wanted it to be done for Christmas, and she helped me out a lot. So did Lucas, they were willing to sacrifice a lot so that I could do this for you."

"Did she know you were coming?"

"No, and she doesn't know that I'm here. It was nearly impossible to get away Hales, but I knew I couldn't be away from you on Christmas Eve no matter what anyone said. You know how special Christmas Eve is for us Hales….. there's no way I could miss it."

Walking into her apartment, Haley dropped her back pack at the front door and ran to plug her phone into the charger near her bed. She had forgotten to bring her charger to work with her and after the twelve hour shift she'd just had, her phone had been dead before half the day was gone. It was well after seven that night and she wanted to see if she had any messages from Nathan. He had been shipped over to Kuwait just after Halloween and would stay there for about twelve weeks.

Haley was very appreciative of the time frame she received this time but couldn't imagine not seeing him until weeks after the New Year. She was also grateful to know that he wouldn't be in any danger. He was simply going over in place of an officer that was home for a couple of months handling personal issues, and would be over seeing the work done on the construction equipment. They had been separated for much longer than three months, but with him on "inactive, active" duty they were able to talk and Skype nearly every day that he was gone.

Nathan had left one message on her phone saying that he wouldn't be able to Skype with her for the next few days because he was flying somewhere else that he was needed but would talk to her when he got the chance.

Haley waited till she was in the shower before she let the tears fall. She knew in her heart that Nathan was her future and prayed that it wouldn't always be this way.

It took only minutes for Haley to fall into a deep sleep once she turned on her music later that night. She'd had a draining long day and welcomed the uninterrupted sleep.

"Hello?" Haley's voice was thick with sleep when she answered her ringing phone from her bed.

"Hey baby, did I wake you?"

Pulling the phone from her ear, she glanced at the illuminated screen, "umm yea I'm usually sleep at six thirty-nine Nathan. Especially after working that horrible twelve hour ER shift yesterday."

"Sorry baby, just go back to sleep, I'll talk to you soon. Just sleep, love you"

"uh hmm" she agreed "you too" A part of her wanted to protest, loving the sound of his voice, but she knew she'd be no good without at least another hour of sleep.

Sliding her phone back on her nightstand, Haley pulled her blanket over her head fully intending on sleeping as long as possible.

"You must have had such a long day Hales"

His voice startled her and she reached for her phone again, "sorry babe, I thought I hung up.. I'll call you when I'm up okay? Did you get to wherever they sent you?"

"Yea I made it safely. It's not so bad here, I kinda like it. You hang up now sweetie I'll talk to you soon, just call me when you wake up"

Haley took her phone and pressed the red button until it powered off, and dropped it back to its' original place.

Haley wasn't sure how long she had been asleep when she felt soft, feather like kisses on her shoulder. Smiling in her sleep, she moved her head, giving him more access to her neck and blushed deeply. "He's gonna tease me when I tell him about this dream" she said lazily to herself. It wouldn't be the first time she'd had a dream about Nathan, but none of them had ever felt this real.

"Yea, you think he'll be excited you're dreaming about him" his lips moved over her chin, nipping at the soft skin before hovering over her lips. "Hales, open your eyes"

She refused to be awakened from this dream and kept her eyes closed until he'd asked her a third time. Her brow creased when she saw Nathan's handsome face directly over hers and she let out a yelp when his lips connected with hers in a fierce kiss. Her eyes widened and she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself up straddling his lap. She continued to kiss him still in a daze. "This isn't a dream right?" she asked.

"Not a dream Hales" he said gently pushing her to lie back down. "You're phones turned off, I'm in San Antonio, and you're wide awake right now" the second his tongue entered her mouth, she pushed him away and tore into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

Nathan stood at the door listening to the quiet sobs coming from inside the small bathroom. A minute later, the door opened and she stood there with disheveled hair and watery eyes looking more beautiful than ever. "You're here huh?" Seeing him nod once, Haley rushed into his arms, pushing herself as close as she could to him and let a few more tears fall.

"I'm so happy you lied"

He let out a chuckle and squeezed her tighter, placing kisses on her hair while smoothing it back. Pushing her back a little he leaned in and kissed her lips gently before whispering "Merry Christmas Eve Hales"

Walking into their bedroom, Haley started getting ready for bed, not being able to take her eyes off her husband.

"So….. about the crib" she started.

"You mean the crib that has a built in cd player on the side? The one you were eyeing so much at the store that day."

"But in the store you complained about how expensive it was."

"Hales, that was because I wanted to surprise you with it, and besides I'm sure you've been falling asleep listening to your IPOD, so she's already used to hearing music before bed."

"But Nathan that room… babe I'm not that naïve, I know it wasn't cheap. I mean there's art on the wall"

He knew where this was coming from and before she could get herself upset, Nathan brought her into his embrace from behind and started rubbing her stomach.

"You remember the biggest fight we had while you were pregnant with Jay? I had come home from work and couldn't find you right away and was nearly worried sick until I found you in our closet on the phone with your mom. You were telling her how you were so upset about getting pregnant and that it just wasn't fair right now. I had never been so furious and just stormed out and when I came back, I was completely drunk."

"I was so worried about you and when you came home accusing me of wanting to get an abortion I was confused and so upset and then I realized you hadn't heard what I was really saying to my mom"

"You were upset because we couldn't afford to have the nursery done like we wanted for Jason. He deserved the best and we couldn't give him that and it scared you. So I made a promise to you that night Hales"

They swayed back and forth reliving the moments aloud. "You promised that one day our kids wouldn't want for anything, and that we would be able to afford to give them what we felt they needed and deserved"

"That's why that crib is here Haley, because our daughter deserves it. She can have what we couldn't give Jay. We're blessed to bring in two incomes and live a pretty great life to where we don't have to struggle like we did back them."

"I love you" she whispered turning in his arm and pressing herself against his chest. "Let's go to bed"

After a few minutes, Nathan changed clothes and climbed into bed with his wife, taking mental pictures in his head for when he was back in prison. Peering down at her stomach, he smiled. He could always tell when Jay was kicking when she was pregnant with him, and it was no different with his little girl. He leaned down and kissed the moving spot and just sat contently rubbing it.

Feeling the warm lips, and hands on her stomach, Haley kissed him back, all the while getting lost in his warmth just like she remembered. No matter how long they were separated, they always found their way back to one another. Their love could stand up to anything that came their way, and both were willing to fight for it.

Even with her protruding stomach, they made love that night.

Carefully and slowly.

If you asked them, they would say it was magical.

Some would say it was beautiful.

He made sure he was gentle and didn't hurt her.

She made sure he knew she wasn't hurt.

They savored it.

They enjoyed it.

They repeated it.

It felt good.

It felt safe.

And to them both

It felt like home.

Jay's eyes popped open at 7:27 Christmas Eve morning. Normally he would lay in his bed until he couldn't hold his pee any longer, but he remembered his daddy being there last night and wanted to make sure he wasn't dreaming. Sliding off his bed, Jay tucked his feet into the open mouth Stitch slippers and made a dash for his parents' room. Bursting in the room, Jay climbed up on the huge bed, and immediately started to jump up and down while giggling.

"Daddy's still home, Daddy's still home! Get up daddy!" he said plopping down on his stomach after a minute of jumping. He started poking his chest, and frowned when he saw a large red mark on the bottom on his neck and a few more just above his nipple.

"What happened daddy, how did you get hurt?" he said in concern.

Nathan looked down and could feel himself actually blush. He and Haley's love making had been perfect. As much as he talked about leaving his mark on her, she made sure she left her mark on him last night.

"I'm okay buddy, don't worry, they didn't hurt at all." He said seeing Haley start to stir and turn over towards them.

"But how did they get there? Did you get hurt at your job" his eyes were wide at this, being scared of his daddy getting hurt while he was away.

Both parents, now fully alert and awake could see the worry in their sons' eyes, and didn't want to have him being scared of Nathan leaving and getting hurt while he was away.

"No Jay, I didn't get hurt at work...Ummm... mommy did it" he didn't want to tell him anything to drastic, but the only thing he could think of was to be honest.

Besides, Haley did do that to him.

Jay looked over at his mother in shock. "Mommy you did that to daddy? Why?"

Haley couldn't believe that he'd told Jay that. She wasn't sure what to say after that, without lying, or telling the truth. It's not like she could say, well once daddy got really hard, I got so turned on by his moans, that I started to bite him, and I didn't want to scare you by screaming out his name, so I bit down on daddy's chest every time I needed to scream. Hell no! "Daddy and I were having a tickle fight, and I pinched him by mistake."

"Well you definitely won mommy, daddy looks messed up" he said laughing and hopping off the bed. "Now come on, I wanna open one present Santa and daddy bought me" he said knowing their Christmas Eve tradition.

They both thought back to the conversation they had last year. Jay had been giving a lot of though to everything at his young age, and wondered why Santa bought him gifts, and his parents didn't. Neither were sure how to answer his question of "why does a stwangor' give my pwesents' a'cause I'm good, and you and daddy don't" Being stomped once again by his little James inherited mind, as Nathan called it, made the parents put their names on some of the gifts, instead of just Santa Claus.

When Jay had finally run out of the room after being told to brush his teeth and wash his face, Nathan turned to Haley, his face barely and inch from hers. "Good morning beautiful. How are you and my baby feeling? Are you okay from last night?"

"Oh, we are so good. She's content and happy, and well... mommy is nice and satisfied" she said slyly smiling at him, while blushing.

"Nuh uh Haley, you can't look at me like that. It'll make me wanna do things to you that'll make you wanna bite me again, and our son won't be too happy about that"

Coming around to the other side of the bed, he helped his pregnant wife out, and led her to the bathroom. "You can use it first, and then me" The gesture might have seemed simple, but to her it meant the world. Just being able to have her husband home, offering her first dibs on the bathroom because he knew her bladder couldn't handle it, made her heart burst. "Oh" he stopped her before she went in. "and Merry Christmas Eve Hales. I love you so much" he said gently kissing her lips and touching her stomach.

It was the simple things that mattered.

When they were finally finished, they made their way to the living room, and saw Jay with his hands in his lap, trying his best not to touch anything. They'd taught him that if he was too excited about touching something, then he had to put his hands in his lap, and count.

"It's about time mommy"

"Hey!" Haley said in defense. "What about it's about time daddy? He could have taken a long time"

"No, it's the baby making you take a long time, like when you walked reallllly slow at the store yesterday with Uncle Lucas. It took forever daddy" He didn't see anything degrading about what he was saying, it was the truth.

"Alright little boy, you want your gifts or not? I didn't even get my good morning kisses" she said looking at her son.

"Sorry mommy" He ran over to Haley and climbed up on her lap, and rubbed his nose against hers, before giving her a loud smacking kiss on the lips.

After watching Jay rip open three presents and start to play with his toys, Nathan gathered the wrapping paper together and put it in the black trash bag that Haley was holding open.

"So baby, did you like your gifts?" Jay heard his mother ask

"Yes, and daddy got to come home."

Nathan came over to Jay and lifted him in his arms. "Listen Jay-Man, I know you asked Santa to let me come home, but I gotta go back to work in a few hours"

"But why, you've been there forever daddy'

"I know, but I'm not finished working yet. But you know what? I'm gonna be able to come home more often and see you and mommy"

At her husbands' words, Haley's head snapped up and eyed her husband, that being the first time he'd spoken those words.

"But I don't want you to go back" he said coming close to tearing up.

Haley thought about the surprise she'd had later on for Jay, and figured right now would be the best time to give it to him. "Hey baby, mommy has one more gift for you"

Walking into her bedroom, she came back out carrying an envelope in her hand.

"Now I don't' want you to get too excited because we can't get her now. We can pick up your present in a few months, but in here is a picture"

Opening the envelope, she pulled out a picture of a brown Labrador puppy.

It only took about two seconds for Jay to start grinning at the picture and hugging it. "Why can't we get her now mommy? I want the puppy today"

"Well, she's just a baby Jay. She has to stay with her mommy for a little while and when she gets a little bigger, she can come home with us. Do you wanna name her?"

Thinking for only a minute or two, Jay looked up at his mommy wearing that signature Scott smirk. "I wanna name her Pwarker mommy, just like my fwavorite Spwurs player"

Haley rolled her eyes and sent Nathan a playful glare at brainwashing her son to love basketball.

"Can I put the picture in my room mommy" After receiving a nod from her, he ran back into his room with the picture and a few other toys.

"I think he likes the picture more than anything else he got" she said reaching down to pick up more paper. She avoided looking at her husband having not discussed the puppy with him. She was prepared for a scolding he was sure to give her for not telling him about their other new addition she was planning for. She just knew she couldn't disappoint Jason on Christmas.

When she turned around to where Nathan was, she was surprised to find him standing close behind her with a rectangular jewelry box in his hands, just a few inches from her face. Lifting the lid off, she saw a beautiful heart-shaped white gold bracelet with two charms dangling from it

Engraved on one were the initials "J M S" the second one reading "M J S" She rolled her eyes and looked up at him "MJS huh? I noticed that in the nursery as well…. You must really think I'm gonna cave and name my daughter that don't you?"

"You know you love the name Hales, just give in already.. and it's perfect, the opposite of Jay's name, just accept it and move on" he said smirking. There really was no turning back now.

"Thank you for the bracelet. Despite these initials, it's beautiful"

"I just wanted to do something nice for you" he said welcoming her lips to his.

"Now I do have another present for you, but I want you to wait until you get back to open it."

They spent the rest of the morning laughing, playing and watching one of Jay's many movies. Only having an hour left, he was glad that Jay passed out during the movie. He figured he would, knowing his son never got up that early without taking an afternoon nap. Once he laid him down in his room, Haley pulled Nathan into their bedroom and once again made love to her husband.

She couldn't let him leave that evening without feeling him inside of her one more time.

Correction, two more times.

She needed that connection with him, and needed it to last.

And it did.

But then the pain started to settle in once again when it was time for him to go.

Haley held onto Nathan's hand as they sat in his SUV that was parked in their garage. After making love a few times, they shared a shower, got dressed and waited out in the car until it was time for him to leave. Making out in the car and holding each other seemed to make the stress in their lives go away, even if just for a little while.

"He's gonna be so upset Hales." Nathan said kissing her bottom lip.

"No, we need to just let him sleep. I'd rather you be gone when he wakes up, trust me it's not that easy leaving him. He's getting so big and he'll try to coax you into staying longer and you can't." she leaned into his chest more, not wanting him to leave herself.

"Just one more month, and she'll be here baby" he said touching her stomach where his child was sleeping soundly.

"But will you be here?"

It was quiet but he'd heard it. After talking about the comment he'd made to Jay, Haley found out that in a few weeks, the men would be allowed to come home on the weekends.

"Well since we've been there so long, sergeant said we can be home on the weekends. It's hard on a lot of the other guys that had to come from further away but I'm so lucky you guys are so close. I'll be here Haley. Every weekend, I promise." He said kissing her lips softly.

"Good, that means you need to come on Friday night, you hear that baby girl?" she said poking at her enlarged stomach.

She looked up and saw Nathan staring at her with love and adoration written all over his face, and couldn't help but lean in and kiss him hard on the lips. Slowing down a bit, she ran her hands over his head and left small kisses on his lips. Small tears also ran down her cheeks. Leaning back she laid her head on his shoulder for a minute.

"Thank you so much for doing everything to be here today. It means everything to me, and I love you so much. Make sure you call me when you get back and settled in, oh and don't forget your present."

"I will, and I love you too. Be careful okay, and tell Jay I love him and I'll talk to you both later"

After one more kiss, the two parted and Nathan drove off with Haley tearfully waving goodbye until his car was out of eyesight.

When Nathan arrived back to his room, he fell on the bed in relief. He had some trouble at the gate, but was finally able to get through. He was worried because it was fifteen minutes until they would be checking his room. He unpacked quickly and stuffed his bag back under the bed.

On his nightstand was the gift that Haley sent home with him from her. He could tell that it was wrapped in an oatmeal box and he smiled at his wife's quirkiness. Every time a special occasion came around, she'd wrap the everyday normal presents in a regular boxes, but special gifts like the watch she'd gotten him for their anniversary or the first sonogram pictures of Jay she'd wrap in food boxes. She always said that they only used the boxes for food and then they'd get tossed out, so she wanted to make them feel useful and special.

He was quick to sit the box on the floor when he heard the single knock on the door, and saw it immediately open and reveal his sergeant.

"Dinner's thirty minutes early, so make sure you're there, four thirty sharp"

"Can I ask why so early sir?"

"In two weeks you get to go home on weekends, until then we'll work overtime and twice as hard. Four-thirty."

"Yes sir"

Once he left out, Nathan reached over and pulled open the present. Only his wife would use twenty pieces of tape on his gift as a challenge for him. When he finally got it open, he was in awe of what he saw. He reached in carefully and hugged his wife's most prize possession from her childhood. He picked up the letter that accompanied the gift and read it aloud, almost hearing her voice.

Nathan My Only Love,

I hope you're lying in your bed right now, hugging the gift I gave you. I know it's a bit cheesy, and childish, but that's why you love me right? It's temporary until you can come home and hug me. But it's also for another reason. You know that what you hold in your hands knows all my secrets, and the deepest desires of my heart. I talk to it all the time as you know and it knows every aspect of feeling that I've ever felt. I've trusted this bear with everything and now I give him to you promising that you're all that I trust now and all that I need anytime I don't feel like myself. You're everything to me Nathan and I want you to know that I don't take that for granted. So you keep him, that way I know that my secrets and feelings are always safe with you.

Always and forever,

Haley

He couldn't describe the love he felt for his wife at that very moment. Reaching for his phone, he pressed the send button twice calling his wife, and as if she knew he was about to call, she answered on the second ring.

"Hello?" she spoke into the phone.

"You sure you won't be lonely without Mr. Waffles?'

"I'll be fine. Did you like it?" she said hesitantly.

"I loved it. Thank you. What are you doing? Where's Jay?"

"He's with Brooke and Luke and my sisters. They went to take the boys to ride their power wheels somewhere"

"It's cold as hell outside and snow's on the ground"

"Oh I know, and trust me I gave them a good threat if he gets sick. So it's fine, they're dropping him back off later tonight."

"So you still didn't answer my question, what are you doing?"

"Oh, I'm watching Crazy/Beautiful and wearing the most comfortable clothes ever.

"Which one of my shirts are you wearing, and which pair of my boxers are you wearing?" he asked knowing his wife.

"Your gray and black Spurs shirt, and your blue sexy beast boxers that I bought you"

"I bet you and my baby look like a million bucks."

"Well, I feel like a million bucks"

"Alright, catch the kiss woman" he said playfully blowing her a kiss and preparing to get off the phone.

"Muah, muah, muah! Aww I love this movie. Carlos is so hot and sweet once they get back together. Remember when you find out her mom really died, man I hate her dad. I know you hate him too baby"

"Well I guess, I mean if the guy was like abandoning his daughter or..." Haley had watched the movie so many times but he never bothered to really get into it.

"No, not you, my mini me hates him"

"How do you know she hates him?" he said loving how his wife came up with things sometimes.

"Because she kicked when I said it. Anyway we miss you already, and we want you to come home and hold us, and play with us all day. Do you realize how bored I am being here all day long? Gosh! I hate maternity leave, I miss going to work"

Nathan could hear her pouting.

"Yea but think about it this way, you get to organize all her clothes and make sure everything is ready for when she comes. Plus, if you were at work, then you know Brooke would be sneaking over adding every piece of pink clothing she could find to her wardrobe."

"I do enjoy organizing her things, especially now that my wonderful husband put together her nursery. I still can't believe how beautiful it is! I really love it." she said after a minute of thinking. "Baby, do you think I take you guys for granted ever?"

Uh oh, he thought. His wife could be watching something one minute happy as ever, then somehow connect it to her life and come up with crazy ideas and accusations.

"Where is this coming from Hales?"

"Well, it was like her dad took her for granted, he didn't really appreciate her and didn't care, and when she was with Carlos, she took Maddie for granted for sure. I mean she like ran off while she was talking to her and everything just to go kiss up on him. Oh gosh! Do I do that to Brooke? Maybe I should call her..."

"Haley stop!" he knew he had to end her rambling before she hung up on him and started to cry. "You do not take any of us for granted okay? You gotta stop comparing us to some crazy teenagers. I know it's your favorite, and you love it, but it's not real. You don't take us for granted, you're a great person Haley, and I love you."

"Okay, I love you too. When can you come home on the weekends?" she had to be reassured of this.

"In two weeks"

"Good, cause I'll go crazy if I don't see you anytime soon."

"Did you have a nap once I left? Are you tired?"

"I think you know me a little too well. I could definitely use a nap"

"Why don't you take a nap, and call me when you get up. I love you okay?"

"I love you too"

He could already tell she was drifting off to sleep. Hanging up his phone, he put his shoes back on and headed off to dinner, knowing he would be in much need of a nap when he got back. Walking towards the dining hall, Nathan Scott held his head high proud of himself for giving his family the Christmas Eve they deserved. In his gut he could feel that things were really starting to look up for once in what seemed like a long time.

Hey guys! How was it? What did you think of the flashbacks/throwbacks? I can't wait to hear what you guys think. Next chapter coming soon. Thanks for the alerts and favorites that I've received, they've truly made writing so much easier and made me wanna write so much more! Smooches!

Jennifer