Summary: Say, my love, I came to you with best intentions. A "Five Times" fic - four times Nathan never proposed to Haley and one time he did.

Disclaimer: Not time.

Author's Notes: Title and summary from Dave Matthews Band. This is a short one-short that's been bouncing around my head for awhile. Thank you in advance for any feedback. I truly appreciate it all.

i.

He isn't nervous.

Well, that's a lie because he is. The tie his mom made him wear feels like a chokehold around his neck, his palms are a little sweaty (more so than they were right before the state championship game a few weeks ago), and he can't keep still. Knees bouncing, hands rubbing against the soft material of his pants, eyes darting to and fro, taking in all movement around him. Outwardly, he looks like a bundle of nervous energy.

But inside… Inside he feels, well, still nervous, but that anxiety is overpowered by how right his decision feels. When he made up his mind that today was going to be the day, all the worries that kept him up late at night, the fears that haunted his dreams just… disappeared. He thinks about the next few moments, and although he knows it's melodramatic to believe that his future will be decided by one simple word, he also knows it's true. What will become of him rests on the shoulders of a tiny wisp of a girl.

The girl. The only girl.

He doesn't remember the moment he fell in love with Haley James because he thinks he always has been. From playing together at the park as young children, to camping out together in the James' backyard during elementary school, through his parents' bitter divorce and the death of Haley's beloved older brother, to facing the perils of middle school and then high school as a unified duo, with Nathan becoming the star player of the Tree Hill High Ravens and Haley the valedictorian, he knew that she was, is, and always will be the girl for him. Through all the ups and downs, the struggles and successes, the one constant was his love for the feisty brunette next door.

They first kissed one afternoon at the park as five-year-olds on a dare from Haley's sister. They first held hands in second grade riding the school bus on a field trip to the Charlotte aquarium. They first really kissed in eighth grade while playing Seven Minutes in Heaven in a closet in Abby Jenkins' basement rec room. They first said "I love you" in ninth grade during the final dance at the Homecoming Formal. They first broke up in tenth grade when Nathan became jealous over Haley's friendship with Jason Curtis, her lab partner. They first got back together ten minutes later after Haley informed Nathan he was being a dumbass. They first made love in eleventh grade while in Florida on spring break with their friends.

Now he sits, nerves jangling with anticipation, as she approaches, the gentle breeze blowing the graduation gown around her legs. During her valedictory speech, she spoke of hope, of promises the future holds, of finding the one thing or person or idea one is most passionate about and pursuing it with vigor. He knows he has found his. He has known it since the day she turned to him, eyes twinkling with amusement as a fourteen-year-old Nathan nervously asked her to the Homecoming Formal, and said, "Nathan, I will always say yes."

He prays her answer now will be the same as it was then.

"Can you believe we're finally high school graduates? How was my speech? I was so nervous that I would screw it up somehow but I don't think I did. Did you hear Brooke yell out, 'Go Tutor Girl'? Well, I'm sure you did because how could you not? That girl has some lungs on her, which I guess is why she was such a good cheerleader," Haley rambles as she plops herself on Nathan's lap, her arm automatically resting across his shoulders as his wrap around her waist. "Nathan? Nathan, are you okay?"

He nods, swallowing reflexively as he goes over his speech in his mind one more time. Biting the bullet, he clears his throat. "Uh, Hales—"

"Yeah, babe?" She asks as she runs her hand through his dark hair. "Are you sure you're okay? You look kinda, I don't know, strange."

"I-I'm fine. Look, Hales, you know how much I love you, and now that we've graduated high school and are getting ready to go to college, I think it's time we… What I mean is, I… well, uh, I want to—"

Haley jumps up from his lap, interrupting his completely awkward and lame speech, eyes ablaze as she faces him. Her mouth is twisted in a scowl and he's not sure he's ever seen her so pissed. Maybe the time he drunkenly showed up at her house after a fight and attempted to climb the tree outside her bedroom window before falling and nearly breaking his neck.

Her voice is low and angry, and as she speaks, he absentmindedly thinks that, although she was furious when he fell, it's nothing compared to her reaction now.

"Nathan Royal Scott, I cannot believe you would do this, and on today of all days! What the hell is wrong with you? You are such an ass and I—"

"Wait, what?" He yells as he stands up, utterly confused by the direction their conversation has taken. Okay, so maybe his timing wasn't the best, but what the hell is she so upset about? His fears that she'll say no, that maybe all he is to her is just a high school romance she'll soon forget when she's off at college, come roaring back but he pushes them aside. At least for the moment while he deals with his crazy, pissed off girlfriend.

"You're breaking up with me, aren't you? On graduation day? God, Nathan, I know you're worried about us being accepted to different colleges but I thought we had worked that out. But no, you're just going to give up—"

Okay, now he is pissed.

"Haley, are you insane?"

"Do not insult me, Nathan Scott! Not when you're breaking up with me. On graduation day. Ass!"

"I am not breaking up with you. I'm trying to—"

"To what?" Haley demands, arms crossed over her chest as she glares at him. "Let me down easy?"

"No, I—"

"And seriously, at graduation? You decide to break up with me on our graduation day?"

"You tell him, Haley," a random voice cheers, startling Nathan. He looks around at the crowd that has gathered around him and Haley, mostly comprised of females. Angry females. Several of whom look suspiciously like Haley's best friends and sisters.

Shit, he is so screwed.

Grabbing her arm, he drags her over to an unoccupied corner of the gym, the crowd following and standing a few yards away.

"Hales—"

"Don't call me Hales," she snaps, wrenching her arm from his grip.

"Hales," he continues, ignoring the interruption as he reaches for her hands, holding them tightly in his own. "I am not breaking up with you. Far from it, actually."

Shaking her head, Haley glances at him, and he feels his heart break at the tears gathering in her eyes. God, he has screwed this up but good.

"Nathan, I know you're the only guy I've dated but I've seen enough movies to know that when a conversation starts with 'You know how much I love you,' it usually doesn't mean anything good!"

"Well, this time it does," Nathan assures her.

"Oh yeah?" she snorts in disbelief.

"Yeah." Releasing one of her hands, he reaches into his pocket and drops to his knee. He hears loud gasps from the crowd but ignores them, focused only on Haley's face. "Hales, I—"

"What are you doing?"

"What I've been trying to do for ten minutes. Haley James, I've always loved you. For as long as I can remember, the only thing I've been sure of is you. I don't know what life holds for me, or for us, but the one thing I do know, that I am absolutely sure of, is that I will always love you. Will you marry me?"

"Oh Nathan," Haley whispers as tears spill down her cheeks. "Yes, of course my answer is yes!"

With a relieved sigh, Nathan gets to his feet and wraps Haley in his arms. Swinging her around, her excited giggles mingling with his laughter, he thinks of how true her answer was in ninth grade.

She will always say yes.

The seconds are winding down, his team is down by ten points, but all he can think about is the halftime presentation. It's a tradition that the seniors on the basketball team are honored during halftime of the last home game. For three years, Nathan watched as the seniors were celebrated, and he initially wondered what he would say when it was his time. Probably a generic thank you to the fans and his family for their support.

That's what he thought he'd do. Until he met her. And then he knew exactly what he wanted to say during the senior presentation.

He met her by quite literally running into her. Knocked her on her cute ass, actually. On his daily run through campus, he was so focused on going over the new playbook, he was on auto pilot. Oblivious to his surroundings, he turned the corner around Goodwin Hall and collided with a person whose nose was buried in a book.

"Oof!"

"Ouch! What the hell? Watch were you're going, jackass!"

Needless to say, his first impression of Haley James was not the best.

"Maybe if you took your nose out of your book, you would have seen me," Nathan retorted, his eyes not failing to notice a cascade of auburn hair, deep brown eyes that were currently glaring at him with a mixture of disgust and anger, and a tight body that made his mouth water. Whoever this chick was, she was hot.

"Oh please, you come skipping—"

"I was not skipping." A hot, mean chick.

"-skipping around the corner not paying attention. And you're too busy checking me out to even help me up! Jerk!"

A hot, mean, damn observant chick. Shit, he was so busted.

Embarrassed for the first time in as long as he can remember, he hurriedly leaned down to assist the girl; surprised at the near electric shock he felt when he touched her soft skin for the first time. As Nathan helped her to her feet, his eyes remain glued to her face. Although she was mean, she was undoubtedly hot.

"So the jackass does have manners after all. Of course, he has to be reminded to help the girl he carelessly ran over, but it's a start," the girl snarked once she was standing.

He continued to stare at her, noticing the way the sunlight made her hair shine. Scratch that, he thought to himself as she glared at him, hands on her hips and fire flashing in her eyes. She's beautiful.

Wait, beautiful? He must have hit his head or something when he ran into her. Nathan Scott didn't do beautiful. He did hot, he did gorgeous. Not beautiful.

There was something about this spitfire of a girl. She was feisty, unafraid to speak her mind. Growing up as a Scott in the small town of Tree Hill, Nathan was used to getting his own way, of everyone practically falling at his feet to appease him. No one called him on his shit, and Nathan Scott was rarely told no.

But this girl didn't care who he was. She didn't care that, although he was only a sophomore, he was already one of the star players on the college basketball team. He acted like a jerk and she called him on it.

It was something completely unexpected, something he had never really experienced, but Nathan couldn't deny that it was arousing as all hell. The fact that her jeans were riding low on her hips, offering him a small glimpse of the tanned skin not covered by the hem of her shirt didn't hurt, either.

"Listen…."

"Haley," the girl offered, her eyes narrowing slightly.

"Listen, Haley," Nathan said, "I'm sorry for running into you and for, uh…"

"Being an ass?" Haley supplied with a small grin.

The sight of her smile nearly made his knees buckle, and not for the first time, Nathan wondered if he hit his head earlier. He had never had this reaction to a girl before.

"Yeah," he chuckled, shaking his head. "I'm sorry for being an ass."

"Thanks for the apology, but I really have to go. I'm probably late for class already and I hate to be late," she said as she bent down to gather her scattered books. "I would say it was nice running into you, but I'm not sure 'nice' is the word to describe it. Painful, maybe, since I'm pretty sure I have a bruise on my ass now. And no, you can't check it out for me," she laughed when he opened his mouth to respond.

"I-I wasn't going to say that actually, but if you do need someone to check, I'd be happy to." He grinned as she blushed, ducking her head slightly to hide her embarrassment.

"Thanks for the offer, but I think I'll be okay. Maybe I'll see you around again, but promise me you won't knock me over."

"I promise," Nathan said with a laugh. He watched as Haley walked away, suddenly wishing she didn't have to go to class. He didn't even know her last name. He just had her first name, and he didn't tell her his.

"Wait, Haley!" He called after her, jogging to her when she stopped and turned around. "I didn't introduce myself. My name is Nath—"

"Nathan Scott, I know," she interrupted with a smile. "Even though I may have my nose in a book, I do know the star player of the basketball team. See you around, Nathan."

And as suddenly as she entered his life, she was gone.

He is broken out of his thoughts by the buzzer signaling the end of the first half. Grabbing a water bottle and a towel, he takes a quick drink before wiping away the sweat from his face. He only has a few moments to prepare before the seniors will be called out to the floor for the ceremony. He reaches behind the team bench for his bag and digs around for a moment before his hand closes on a small square box. Grinning, he straightens up, clutching the box tightly.

The announcer rattles off the names of the seniors as they walk onto the court. Lining up alphabetically, he is thankful he'll be the last senior to speak. He listens to his teammates give their speeches, each thanking their families, teammates and coaches. He glances into the crowd, making eye contact with the special people in his life. He grins at the sign his mom is holding and nearly laughs out loud at the mortified expression on his brother's face as he stares at the sign.

It is finally his turn, and as Adam hands him the microphone, Nathan knows he has never been as nervous as he is right now.

"I just want to thank everyone for coming out tonight to support the team and especially us seniors at our last game. It's been an honor to play for you, and without the support of my coaches, my teammates, and my family and friends, I couldn't have done it. So, thank you," he starts, his voice catching as an unexpected wave of emotion sweeps over him at the cheers that accompany his words.

Waiting for the applause to die down, he takes a deep breath, searching the crowd for a specific pair of deep brown eyes. When he finds them, he smiles, his heart beating triple time as he prepares for the next part of his speech.

"This is an important night for the seniors. It's our last home game, one of the last times we'll be together as a team. After this, we'll soon graduate. Some of us may be off to the NBA, some of us will pursue other opportunities, but tonight could be considered the first night of the rest of our lives. And for me, if this is the start of the rest of my life, I want it to start with one person."

His eyes never wavering, he continues. "Two years ago, I ran into the woman who would end up changing my life forever. I mean, I literally ran into her. Not my finest moment, that's for sure," he grinned as the crowd laughed. "She told me in no uncertain terms that I was a jerk," more laughter from the audience, "and she was right. She played it cool, only telling me her first name, and I thought I'd never see her again. I finally tracked her down and asked her out. She must have hit her head when we first met because she agreed to go out with me."

Pausing to take another deep breath, he can feel tears pricking at his eyes. He can see her eyes glimmering with unshed tears, and he grins softly. His girl has never been one to hide what she's feeling.

"Although she was the first one to fall when we met, I've been falling for her every day since. She's the greatest person I know, the one who has stood by me through the good days and the bad, and has never wavered. I love her more every day, and when tonight was approaching, I knew exactly what I wanted to do tonight."

Bending down on one knee, Nathan opens the small jewelry box and holds it up, the small diamond twinkling in the glare of the overhead lights. The gym falls silent in anticipation of the question he's been dying to ask since their second date.

"Haley James, will you marry me?"

The silence is broken by a slightly sobbed, "Yes!"

As she rushes from her seat in the stands into Nathan's arm, he makes a silent wish that he never stops falling for Haley James.

He's nervous about being set up on a blind date. He hasn't dated much since his last relationship, and although he trusts his brother implicitly, he's not so sure he trusts his brother's wife. Although Brooke swears that her new friend will be perfect for Nathan, he's not so sure. Brooke is… Brooke. Loud and bubbly, obnoxiously so at times, and all the friends of hers that Nathan has met are merely blonde or redhead versions of Brooke.

But Lucas swore that Haley is not Brooke, Jr., and Nathan trusts his brother.

At least, that's what he keeps telling himself as he waits at the restaurant for his date.

Then, in a sudden rush of honey-blonde hair and a rambled apology about traffic being a nightmare and getting lost downtown before finding the restaurant, his date is before him. He quirks a grin at her frazzled appearance and the way her hands fly about her face as she explains, and he thinks that maybe Brooke was right.

They sit at the restaurant and talk for hours, both ignoring their food as they learn about each other. Nathan finds himself opening up to Haley, making himself vulnerable in a way he has never been before. He tells her things he's never told anyone, not even Lucas, and all he can feel is how right it feels. How perfect it feels sitting with Haley, staring into her brown eyes as he tells her about his father, about how his basketball career was destroyed by an injury, leaving him adrift for months. He confides that although he's dated plenty of girls, he never loved any of them and how he's afraid that growing up with an emotionally abusive father broke him in ways he never expected.

Their hands somehow intertwine during their conversation, and Nathan marvels at how natural it is. In his previous relationships, there was never any kind of emotional connection, no give and take, and he is surprised at how much he wants to experience that with Haley. He wants to know everything about her—who her first kiss was, the way she likes her eggs, what her dreams are, her favorite childhood memory. Nothing he ever bothered to learn about his previous girlfriends, but even after a few short hours, he knows that what he wants with Haley is nothing he's ever felt before.

She is like no one he's ever met, and he can't imagine his life without her now. He knows what he's feeling is sudden, ridiculous even, considering he only met her five hours ago. But even that knowledge can't dampen the excitement coursing through his veins. He feels alive, more so than he's felt in years, if ever, and it's all because the woman sitting before him. Her smile, her laughter, the compassion and kindness shining from her eyes. The way her lips curve into a gentle grin when she talks about her family. The way her eyes sparkle as she tells him about the students in her fifth grade class.

It's a strange feeling bubbling up inside him, but after feeling nothing for so long, nothing except the gaping emptiness where he thought his heart resided, he welcomes it.

When the waiter tells them the restaurant is closing, Nathan is struck by a pang of sadness that the date is over. He doesn't want Haley to leave. Not now, not ever, and although that realization should be scary, it isn't. It feels right, natural, like how it should be.

They stand and make their way to the entrance, both reluctant to leave. They walk toward her car, and on the way, Nathan notices a small park just beyond the restaurant's parking lot.

"Take a walk with me?" He asks.

"Always," she replies before placing her arm through his.

They walk in silence as they approach a small gazebo in the middle of the park. Nathan wonders what she's feeling, if it's anything like what he is experiencing. He hopes, prays she is because to be the only one to feel such an instant connection, to believe that one's entire life has changed in only a few hours, would devastate him.

"Haley?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you trust me?"

The question obviously startles her but she answers anyway. "Yes. I know we've only just met, but I do, Nathan."

"Okay, so I tell you something, you'll trust that it's the truth?"

"Of course."

"I've never felt this before, this… instant emotional connection with someone. You make me feel alive, like I've just woken up from a long sleep. It's scary, the things I'm thinking and feeling, but it's exhilarating at the same time. I-I love you, Haley. We only met several hours ago, and I know this sounds crazy and unbelievable and just… something out of a movie or something, but I do. I've never felt this before, this wild, uncontrollable rush of emotions that leave me shaking yet completely calm and at peace. I love you," he finishes with a smile.

She stares at him for long moments, her eyes boring into his eyes. He can see the question in them, the search for the truth in his gaze. When she has her answer her lips slowly curve into a smile.

"I love you, too."

He laughs, a carefree, ecstatic laugh, and she joins him. The entire night has been amazing, and only one thing can make it better. He is shocked he's even thinking about it, it's something he has never considered before, but after the events of tonight, nothing should shock him. Like everything else that has happened, it seems like the most natural thing in the world. Like he is meant to be with her for the rest of his life and the rest of his life starts tonight.

He takes a deep breath, nerves on fire with anticipation, and stares into her eyes. He finds the reassurance he needs to take the final leap. He realizes his life has been building to this moment, this one moment that will forever alter his life.

"Haley, will you marry me?"

He finds his answer in the tears that shimmer in her eyes and the smile that graces her full lips.

He never thought he'd see her again. He wanted to, oh how he wanted to, but after high school, her life went one way, to Stanford and success and music and a million other opportunities, and his went the other, to Duke and the NBA and women and screw-ups and mistakes, and never the twain shall meet.

They broke up in high school because they wanted different goals. Haley wanted the college she had been dreaming since she was a child; Nathan wanted the success that had been drilled into him every day for as long as he could remember. There was no doubt they loved each other, desperately so, but they were young and immature and thought that losing their own dreams wasn't worth the risk.

Nathan knew their love was worth any sacrifice, but he was too scared to admit it. He was too scared to fight for her, for their relationship, afraid of being rejected. He regretted his foolish decision to let her walk away every day, but he was too selfish to change it. He was caught up in the life of an NBA star, the women, the money, the excesses. He lived the high life, reveling in the attention from women, the money showered down on him, and all the other perks.

But thoughts of an auburn haired girl with sparkling brown eyes and a warm smile were never far from his mind. He thought eventually she'd fade away, until she became a gentle remembrance of high school love, but the ache of missing her only grew stronger.

Their lives were so different, on such varying paths, however, that he thought no matter how much he missed her, no matter how much he wanted to pick up the phone and tell her he loved her still, he couldn't. She wouldn't want him, not as he was, a giant fuck-up who was only good at putting a ball through a hoop.

Then he shatters his knee in a car accident and everything changes. In an instant, the money, the women, the alcohol, the parties, everything is gone. He's a shell for months, even though when he first woke up in the hospital and was told he'd never play basketball again, his first thought was one of relief. The anger comes later, the realization of having his dream taken from him. He ignores his family, his so-called friends having long left him once he was no longer Nathan Scott, NBA Star. He spirals into a depression, angry at the world, at his family for pushing him to accept his new life, at himself for losing basketball and, most importantly, for losing Haley for something that would never last.

After being ignored for months, his brother storms back into Nathan's life, an action that snaps him out of his depression. He straightens up, quits whining, and changes his life. He moves back to Tree Hill, where Lucas and Brooke had moved back after college. He makes amends with his parents, he re-connects with high school friends, he becomes the man he had always wanted to be, before the temptations of his previous life led him astray.

He moves into a simple life, one of an easy peace. He becomes the coach of the Tree Hill Ravens when Whitey retired. He buys a small house just down the street from Luke, and when Brooke gives birth to their first child, he turns into the doting uncle who spoils his niece rotten. He's content with his life, with the simple pleasures he finds in babysitting his niece, or coaching the team, but there is always an ache in his heart. But there is something missing, an ache in his heart that he doesn't dare name for fear that doing so will shatter everything he has built.

Then his quiet life is suddenly turned upside down when he runs into Haley at the local grocery store. He didn't know that her life had changed too, that the dream of Stanford and music hadn't made her happy, hadn't eased the ache in her own heart. He didn't know that she had never stopped loving him, stopped missing him with every fiber of her being. He didn't know that she had moved home to find a stillness she hadn't felt since the last time she was in his arms.

He didn't know any of that, couldn't have known any of that because he hadn't talked to her since the day they broke up. He talks to her again for the first time in ten years when his cart bumps into her in the produce section. He freezes when he sees her, his mind sure he is hallucinating because there is no way Haley James in standing in front of him, looking as beautiful as ever.

"Haley?"

"Nathan?"

He is shocked to see her, to have her only mere feet from him. Everything he feels for her, the want, the ache, the need, rushes over him as he stares at her, studying every feature, memorizing it all. Her face is so familiar, yet so different. The way she is biting her lower lip, the way she twists the gold ring on her pinky, it's the old Haley he knew. But the short dark hair, the trendy clothes, it's evidence of the new Haley, the one he doesn't know at all.

It's the Haley he desperately wants to learn about, and at that realization everything crystallizes for him in an instant: she is what's missing in his life, and without her, his life isn't complete.

He wants to know the new Haley, and he wants her to know the new Nathan. He wants to know everything that has happened to her, and he wants to tell her the good, the bad and the ugly with his life. How he's fucked up, how he's changed, how he misses every single goddamn day. How he loved her then, how he loves her still. How he can make her happy, he knows he can, because that's all he wants to do. Love her and make her happy and have a dozen babies that look like her, with her smile and her eyes and her musical ability and her compassion and grace and strength. How he wants to marry her, how's he dreamed of marrying her since he was sixteen years old.

"Yes," she says, and he realizes that he's been talking out loud. "Yes, Nathan." She smiles, tears slipping down her cheeks as she repeats the one word that has suddenly made him whole.

"I could love you forever," Nathan whispers to her as they lay on his bed, the rain that soaked their clothing as they ran back to his apartment pounding against the bedroom window.

It's the truth. It's the only truth he knows.

"So could I," Haley answers him in the only way she can.

He knows that is her truth. Their relationship has been building to this moment, and as he tells her that she is his family now, he can feel the air shift and change around them. What he says next will forever change their worlds, but he can't stop. He doesn't care that they are in high school, that he was only recently emancipated from his parents and is barely making ends meet with his lame-ass mall job. He doesn't care that Lucas will probably hate him, that his friends will think he is crazy, that his parents will more than likely do whatever they can to destroy his happiness.

He only cares about the girl, the woman lying beside him, and making her his wife. He asks her, and she blushes prettily, her disbelief at his request clear on her face. When he doesn't take it back, doesn't crack a joke to ease the tension, when she realizes he means it, she turns serious.

"Because. . . we're in high school," she protests.

"So what? I'm emancipated." He is prepared to counter any excuse she throws at him. He wants to marry her because he loves her and can't imagine his life without her in it. It doesn't matter to him that they're only sixteen, that they're still in high school.

"Is this about sex, because I want to wait?"

He smirks because he can tell she's weakening. His Haley is methodical, rational. She doesn't make a decision without considering every angle, and he knew this wouldn't be any different. He trusts that she knows it's about more than sex with him, that it's about her and him and how much he loves her.

"No, I can see you caving on that one already," he smugly replies, breaking the tension in the air. Although he is serious about this, more serious than he has ever been about anything in his life, he can sense that needs that temporary relief.

She grins at his response but quickly protests again that they can't get married, that couples don't get married in high school. It's not normal, she says, but when have they ever been normal?

"So? I'm not normal," Nathan tells her. "What I'm feeling is definitely not normal and to be

honest with you, Haley, I don't ever want to be normal. Not with you." He pauses, needing to convince her of how important this is, how much he means it. "I'm serious."

"I know you are," Haley reassures him.

He repeats his earlier vow of loving her forever and she repeats the same.

"So then why can't forever start today?"

And it's really as simple as that. He loves her, he wants to marry her, and that won't change in six months, a year or ten years. He wants forever with her.

Who knew that forever would start on a rainy afternoon while in high school?

fin