Forever's Not Supposed to End

Nathan's point of view

I heard another slightly muffled moan from Matthew's room and I cringed.

Living together, especially with both of us now having girlfriends just wasn't practical.

I got out of my bed and wandered into the living room, turning on the TV and settling on the couch, cranking the volume up to drown out any sounds coming from Matthew's room.

I couldn't stop myself from thinking about the night before, I felt unbearably guilty at how I'd acted, but it had been as if I was unable to control my thoughts and actions, and it had really terrified me.

I also couldn't stop thinking about the baby. We were now just one week away from Christmas, and by now the Hayley would have been seven weeks pregnant. It depressed me, thinking about what we had lost.

Matthew's door opened and Hayley stepped out of the room looking very happy, closing the door behind her.

"Your shirt is inside out, and your hair is... all over the place," I told her as she sat down beside me on the couch.

"I don't care," she grinned.

"Urgh. Gross," I winced, trying to stop myself imagining them having sex.

"Hey shut up, we have to listen to you and Jenna when she comes over, and we're way quieter than you guys," she argued. I smirked. She did have a point.

"So... what's going on with you guys?" I asked, looking at her carefully.

"We're just enjoying our time together, I don't know. I hope... never mind," she said, stopping and smiling to herself.

"You hope what?" I questioned.

"I hope it lasts for a really long time," she said looking hopefully at me.

"I'm not telling you anything," I laughed, knowing what she was getting at.

"Nathaaann," she whined.

"Nope. Not telling," I said, shaking my head.

I knew Matthew was planning something, whether he was going to propose or not I didn't know. I did know he'd been thinking seriously about it, and was convinced that Hayley was the one for him, that fate had brought them together in his hospital room.

"I never thought I could feel this way about someone," she smiled and I grinned.

"Aww, you guys are so cute. Is he sleeping?" I asked and she nodded.

"Yeah he didn't sleep last night, and I think I just wore him out," she smirked.

"That's too much information," I groaned, shaking my head.

"So... you tried to tell him about the baby," she said. The atmosphere in the room instantly changed. It went from friendly and funny, to cold and serious.

"I think part of me thinks he should know. I mean, he's mourning something that isn't even.. his," I said slowly.

"You're so torn up over it," she said sadly.

"It's something I've always wanted, obviously not in those circumstances, but yeah... I want a family some day, it really hurts to know it was there and now its gone," I said, twisting my hands together.

"Seems like that's something all three of us want really badly. What about Jenna?" she asked and I shrugged.

"Yeah I really like her, and she's... an amazing person, I could see her being a great Mom someday, but we've only been dating for like a month, so I need to obviously take my time," I said and Hayley nodded.

"This is something that's really confused me. I always thought things like that should take time, and not to rush, but with me and Matthew? If he asked me to run away and marry him tomorrow, I wouldn't say no," she said dreamily.

"Yeah but you guys have that connection. You've been there for him right through all of this terrible stuff, through the surgeries, the coma, the pain... all of it, you've been there to hold his hand and keep him smiling," I said, my voice cracking. I forced myself not to think about Matthew in that state, when he barely even knew who he was, I couldn't take thinking about it again.

"You did all that too," she said, putting her hand on my shoulder and squeezing it comfortingly.

"But coming from you it was different. After everything with his ex he was worried he'd never meet someone else, but now he's happier then I've ever seen him," I said, pausing.

"Feel like there's a 'but' coming up," she said, tilting her head questioningly.

"I hate when he's in pain," I said shortly.

"I think he knows that, and he tries to act like he-"

"I can tell when he's acting, and I think that makes me even more angry and upset," I sighed.

"Have you told him that?" she asked quietly.

"Of course not," I shook my head.

"He needs to know if that's how you feel, he's really worried about you, doesn't want you slipping back into depression. You know... this place is kinda depressing, we should fix that up," she said, a smile creeping onto her face.

"What do you mean?" I asked, genuinely curious as to what she was planning.

"Nathan it's Christmas in a week, and there's no tree, no nothing. We should fix that, get some Christmas cheer going on in this place," she said, getting up and dragging me with her.

"Aww Hayley, we don't have money for a tree or anything," I sighed.

"I do. Plus, I owe you guys like four months of rent," she said, pulling on her shoes and coat.

"I'm not kidding, we're going to get a Christmas tree, lights, decorations, everything," she said, throwing my coat at me.

I groaned loudly.

"I can't take money from you, or let you pay for stuff," I complained, refusing to put on my coat and shoes.

"You can put that stuff on, or I can drag you barefoot and freezing in the snow," she said, crossing her arms across her chest.

I sighed and pulled on my shoes and coat, following her out to my car.

It would be a really nice surprise for Matthew to wake up and for us to have decorated the apartment, but I wanted to involve Jenna.

"Can we get Jenna on the way to the store?" I asked, starting to drive in the direction of her apartment anyway.

"If you don't then I might have to slap you," said Hayley, rolling her eyes and cranking up the car heaters, rubbing her hands together. It was freezing, and there was fresh snow on the ground so I drove extra carefully.

I dived out of my car, leaving Hayley sitting in the passenger seat, and rushed up to the door, my feet sliding in the slush. I pressed the intercom for her apartment and waited a few moments.

"Hello?" came her voice through the speaker.

"Hey there, come on down, we're going to Christmas makeover my apartment," I grinned, forcing my hands into my pockets and trying to keep them warm.

"Oooh goody," she laughed.

I walked back over to the car and Hayley and I waited a few minutes before she bounded out of the door, rushing over and jumping into the back of the car.

"Its freeeeezing," she giggled as she closed the door behind herself.

"I know, lets make this fast," I said. I couldn't deny I was excited, even though I did feel slightly guilty letting Hayley pay for anything.

We got to the store and all climbed out of the car. I grabbed Jenna and hugged her tightly, picking her up and letting her wrap her legs around my waist so I could carry her all the way to the entrance of the store.

"Thanks baby," she grinned, kissing my cheek as I set her down in the entrance of the store.

"Couldn't let you walk in the snow and get wet feet now could I?" I grinned, kissing her cheek in return.

"Come on guys, let's buy everything!" grinned Hayley, jumping up and down excitedly.

"Oh, and did I forget to mention my Dad pays for this?" she smirked, pulling a credit card from her pocket and waving it at us.

"Good enough for me," I grinned, allowing her to drag me and Jenna all around the store, piling literally everything into the shopping cart.

"Aaaand we need a tree to put all of this on," said Hayley, looking at me expectantly.

"Yeah, strong man, you need to be responsible for that," smirked Jenna, poking me in the ribs.

"No problem for my massive upper body," I laughed, letting the girls pick out a tree. Hayley stayed true to her word and paid for everything on the credit card, and when I tried to protest she told me to shut up, because it was Christmas. I did as I was told.

Getting everything into the car was interesting to say the least, but after we finally managed it I drove us as quickly as I dared on the snowy roads back to the apartment.

The tree didn't fit in the elevator, so the three of us heaved it up the five flights of stairs, leaving a massive trail of needles behind us and giggling all the way.

It only took me a few minutes to get the tree standing up in its stand, which amazed me, because it was usually Matthew who was good at things like that.

"What in the hell is going on?" asked Matthew, coming out of his room and rubbing his eyes.

He looked around, saw the tree, boxes of decorations, and the three of us looking exhausted from hauling it all up the stairs.

"Aw you guys," he grinned, pulling us all into a group hug.

"Glitter fight!" laughed Hayley, throwing a handful over Matthew's head.

"Oh it's on," he laughed, snatching the pot of glitter from her and chasing her around the apartment with it.

"Young love huh?" I laughed, smiling at Jenna as we watched them.

"Yeah," she smiled, stepping towards me and slowly wrapping her arms around me. I wrapped my arms around her waist.

"Thanks for coming," I smiled.

"Thanks for picking me up, I was just sitting around doing nothing, but this has been really fun, and we still need to decorate everything yet," she smiled.

"Well thanks for making it fun for me," I grinned, she smiled and pressed her lips to mine.

We kissed for a few moments, until I felt something solid hit the back of my head.

Turning around I saw Matthew standing with a smirk on his face, a bauble laying on the floor next to me.

"You throw one more of those, and it's going up your butt," I threatened, pulling Jenna by the hand towards the box of decorations.

"You're disgusting," laughed Matthew, shoving me playfully.

"You love it," I grinned.

"I do," he said, draping his arm around my shoulders, as I wrapped mine around his. Jenna wrapped a string of tinsel around both of us, giggling.

"Hey guys, say cheese," laughed Hayley, snapping a picture of us on her camera.

I looked at Matthew, the wide smile on his face. I couldn't have been happier that he was still around for us to be doing this.

"It's good to have you here," I told him quietly as Jenna and Hayley started to pile decorations onto the tree, all the colours clashing horribly.

"Thanks to you," he said, squeezing me slightly.

"There's no me without us," I said, tilting my head so our heads were touching.

"No, there isn't," he nodded.

"You guys are so freaking adorable," grinned Jenna, pausing her decorating for a moment.

"But lazy. Come on, help us out!" said Hayley, throwing a string of lights at us.

"We gonna do this?" I asked Matthew.

"I think so, yeah," he smiled.

"Come on then," I said, letting him go and the two of us grabbing decorations and continuing the insane colour scheme on the tree.

It wasn't long before we had run out of space on the tree, so the rest of the decorations were hung off anything and everything in the apartment that we could find.

"Are we done?" asked Matthew, looking around and smirking at the mess we had made.

"It's beautiful," said Hayley, grinning widely.

"It really is," I nodded, holding Jenna close.

"Please don't hate me, but..." Matthew trailed off and collapsed onto the couch.

"Yeah, I could go for some of that," laughed Jenna, climbing onto the other end of the couch, pulling me down beside her then shifting so she was sat on my lap.

Matthew opened his arms and looked up at Hayley expectantly.

"How could I say no to you?" she laughed, sitting on his lap and pulling a blanket over them.

The four of us stayed like that for a long time, watching bad TV, talking and laughing. Jenna fell asleep curled up with her face on my chest, so I just stroked her soft hair and waited for her to wake up.

I couldn't help but watch the way Matthew was looking at Hayley more than at the TV, how he watched her every movement, how he'd push her hair back off her face and kiss her cheek or neck every now and then, and occasionally whisper things in her ear that would make her smile, or whisper something back.

I stopped paying attention to them for a while, and noticed my phone vibrate once in my pocket, telling me I had a new text message.

I looked at it.

It was from Matthew, who was watching me as I opened the message. I read it quickly as he watched, a small smile spreading across my face as I read his words.

She's The One.