Chris walked onto the stage, there was some clapping but also a lot booing. Everyone remembered him from the last time he bailed on them. Nathan looked down at Claudia angrily.

"What's he doing here?" Nathan snapped and Claudia looked up at him.

"He is on tour with the wreckers. I just saw him." Claudia explained before she turned back to face Chris. 

"You guys still aren't ready for this. But I'm in a forgiving mood." Chris said as he looked over at Nathan. "This one's for you Claudia." Chris smirked at Claudia just to stick it to Nathan. Claudia looked away and Nathan looked murderous. 

___

"Maybe we should go." Claudia whispered to Nathan as they continued to listen to Chris, Claudia could tell that Nathan hated every minute of it.

"No. No, I'm gonna waste that guy." Nathan muttered angrily, Taylor stood next to Claudia.

"I thought that you weren't coming." Claudia said to Taylor. 

"My ride's running late." Taylor shrugged and then she smirked at Chris. "Who's the stud?" Taylor asked about Chris.

"Chris." Nathan replied stiffly. Taylor gaped before she laughed. 

"Well this evening just got interesting." Taylor laughed and Nathan walked away. Claudia looked after him.

"Thanks a lot guys, you've been... acceptable." Chris said into the microphone. The crowd cheers and he nodded. "The Wreckers up next." He said as he looked at Claudia and smiled. Taylor smirked, she was loving the tension. Claudia was not impressed. 

___

"Um... you played a really great set." Claudia said as she entered Chris's dressing room.

"Yeah, I know." Cs replied ignorantly, he still wasn't looking at Claudia.

"Alright, well,... good luck." Claudia said awkwardly smiling.

"You wanna know about it, don't you? The tour; the music." Chris asked as he turned to face her, Claudia looked back. "It's all happening for me now. It could still happen for you, Claudia." Chris explained as he walked up to her.

"It will, someday." Claudia replied certainly.

"Well, someday is here." Chris said and Claudia looked confused. "I talked to Michelle, she wants you on the tour." Chris said and inside Claudia felt amazing.

"So they did pick me." Claudia smiled to herself shocked.

"People love the duet. It's real. You know, Jessica started off as Michelle's back-up singer. Look at them now. The difference between wannabees and successes is grabbing opportunity." Chris tried to convince as Claudia looked down sad. "Our tour bus leaves in a couple of hours and you know you should be on it." Chris stated certain, Claudia looked up at him. "You brave enough?" Chris asked taunting. Claudia frowned, she couldn't answer. 

___

Claudia and Nathan enter the apartment after TRIC.

"You know, now that Taylor's leaving, maybe we'll have enough hot water for our own showers." Nathan joked, Claudia smiled as she closed the door behind her. She walked up to the counter and sat on it sighing. Nathan walked up to her and they hugged.

"Claudia, what's wrong?" He asked and Claudia let go of him and looked up, smiling sadly.

"Um... Michelle Branch likes my voice. She thinks I could be a singer. A real one." Claudia started and Nathan smiled at her proudly. "Chris said that she wants me on tour." Claudia continued and Nathan's smiled dropped faster than an avalanche crusading down a wintery mountain. "I'm so far ahead with classes and I'd be back in time for finals." Claudia finished, Nathan nodded- but not in approval.

"So says the great Chris." He muttered angrily.

"No, this isn't about him, Nathan. This is about... opportunity. I have, my entire life, been the reliable one and the dependable one and I've always done... precisely what's expected of me." Claudia explained as she jumped off the counter and walked around the apartment.

"Till we got married." Nathan replied.

"Exactly. And then I finally did something for me... something that I wanted... and the world didn't end. And I have that chance again." Claudia stated smiling sad as she looked at her husband. 

"If you leave me." Nathan stated and Claudia walked up to him.

"This is not the end for us. This is my shot to find out if I am good enough to have a life in music. Or if nights at TRIC are all I get." Claudia said sadly.

"And this has nothing to do with Chris?" Nathan asked and Claudia shook her head.

"No. Absolutely not." Claudia replied quietly.

"Then why haven't you asked me to come with you?" Nathan asked and Claudia was quiet. Claudia couldn't answer it because that is the question, why did she not ask him to go with her? "Did you kiss him?" Nathan asked brokenly and Claudia paused and nodded her head. Nathan was beyond hurt.

"I'm sorry. You have to believe me. That's not what this is about. Nathan-" Claudia began to explained as she wrapped her arms round his neck.

"Claudia, listen; if you wanna go, you should go." Nathan said as he looked in Claudia's sad eyes. "If you do we're done." He said as he took a step back, Claudia gasped as tears rolled down her face. Nathan turned and left the apartment. She was torn and didn't know what to do. She quickly followed him out of the apartment.

"Nathan." She called and Nathan turned around to face her. Claudia tied up her curly blonde hair as she walked over to him. She looked distraught. "You can't make me choose." Claudia stated and Nathan just sighed. Nathan got Dan's stubbornness and it was coming out to play.

"It's me or the tour." Nathan stated and Claudia shook her head.

"Nathan let's be honest, if I stay with you we are going to be unhappy. I can feel it." Claudia admitted and Nathan knew it deep down too.

"So spending the rest of your life with me will make you unhappy?" Nathan asked in a scoffing tone and Claudia just shook her head as more tears cascaded down her face.

"You know what I mean." She stated bluntly before she walked away from him. She had to make a decision fast and she honestly didn't know what to do. Music has been her things since she was born and now somebody wants to take it away from her, however, Nathan is her life. Nathan is everything to her.

Claudia began to think about memories with Nathan, like the moment when she fell in love with him,

Claudia was tiding up the cafe, when Nathan walked in. Claudia looked up at Nathan and rolled her eyes.

"You are determined, I will give you that." Claudia scoffed as she crossed her arms over.

"Lucas' is awake. I was there when he opened his eyes. I went to see him." Nathan explained walking towards Claudia, whose arms fell down to her sides.

"Why?" She asked shocked.

"Cause I knew you couldn't. I wanted him to know that you were thinking about him." Nathan stated, Claudia was feeling a mixture of emotions and one of them was love. "Look I know that it was wrong to go after you for the reasons that I did. I can't apologize for it. I'm glad I did it. I'm not that person anymore. It's because of you." Nathan explained and Claudia let out a faint smile. "Let me take you to him." Nathan said, Claudia marched up to him and hugged him.

And then she started to think about the first time she played in front of Nathan properly. The moment that always keeps her grounded and happy when she is upset. 

Claudia was doing a late night shift at the cafe to earn some more money. Nathan walked in smiling at her.

"Hey." Claudia said turning to face him.

"Hey you're still here."Nathan said as he hugged his girlfriend.

"How are you? I'm always here. Are you okay?" Claudia asked frantically as she hugged her boyfriend.

"Whatever I said last time you asked me that question probably still applies." Nathan muttered and Claudia placed a hand on his face.

"Want to get some coffee? There's some left if you want to talk about it." Claudia asked taking of her apron off.

"Actually I'm kind of tired of talking about it." Nathan said.

"Oh, okay. Well if there's anything I can do to help, let me know." Claudia smiled as she traced her finger up and down Nathan's arm.

"Well I was thinking about what you said, about living in the moment. Well I realized, that if I'm going to live in the moment, then I just want to live in it with you." Nathan replied sweetly before they both kissed. "So were you serious? About doing something for me?" Nathan asked and Claudia gave him a weary look.

"Well that depends. What is it?" She asked and Nathan looked towards the piano. "Nathan...no." Claudia laughed and Nathan placed his hands on her shoulder.

"Here's your chance. Come on you said you do anything to help me and this would really help me take my mind off things." Nathan pleaded as he guided her to the piano.

"You asked for it." Claudia laughed as she sat on the stool. She looked over at him as he sat down, then she began to play 'God Only Knows'.  

https://youtu.be/d-iXTQtBFbI

Claudia, then thought about their first ever fight and how Nathan said that he loved her and it was all just perfect.

Peyton dropped Claudia off at her house, Claudia was shocked to see Nathan standing outside of her house in the rain. Claudia was honestly surprised that her dad hadn't chased him off.

"Nathan, you're soaked. What are you doing?" Claudia exclaimed running up to Nathan.

"I just went for a run to clear my head, I guess this is where I ended up. Look, Claudia, the picture of Peyton didn't mean anything, okay?" Nathan replied sincerely, he was desperately wanting his girlfriend back.

"It did to me. Clearly you still have feelings for her." Claudia replied holding her arms, Claudia was wearing only shorts and a strappy top. Nathan took off his jumper.

"I saved that picture back when we were still dating. The other ones too, you can go back and look. Her web cam hasn't even been in her closet for months." Nathan explained as she threw his jumper over Claudia who wrapped it around her bare arms.

"Why didn't you tell me that last week?" Claudia asked looking up at him.

"Because, I should have deleted those images a long time ago. I just felt bad because I didn't do it. Besides, Claudia, I don't want Peyton. I want you." Nathan stated, that just made Claudia smile on the inside.

"Is that it?" Claudia asked bluntly.

"You know, my pride says yeah, that's it. Just walk away and let Claudia deal with the fact that she's clearly threatened by a sexual relationship." Nathan stated before he took a deep breath. "But my heart says, just forget about your pride you idiot. You love this girl. And even if you're going to catch pneumonia, your ass is going to stand out here in the rain till you convince her to forgive you. So come on, Claude, just meet me half way here?" Nathan asked pleadingly.

"Why should I?" Claudia asked. Nathan looked down at Claudia as she wrapped his jumper around her.

"Because I'm sorry. Because I love you." Nathan said sincerely before he began smirking. "And Because you're looking really hot standing out here in the rain, and I'm thinking, I have to kiss you." Nathan continued and Claudia laughed.

"Well, if you have to." Claudia said smiling, Nathan grabbed the jumper and pulled Claudia closer to him and they started kissing.

And then, she still did not know what to do about it all. Would she stay and be with her husband? Or chase her dream and live life to the fullest? 

___

Claudia was on their bed, hugging a pillow and crying. Taylor walked in and sat on the bed behind Claudia.

"I know what it's like to search for something more, Claudia." Taylor said rubbing Claudia's shoulders sympathetically. "That's why I'm always running." She smiled. "But then, I've never had a Nathan to come home to." Taylor finished and a torn Claudia store straight ahead.

___

Nathan ran into his and Claudia's apartment. He wanted Claudia to be there so badly. 

"Claudia?" Nathan called out desperately as he closed the door behind him. Taylor walked out of the bedroom and looked at Nathan sympathetically. 

"I'm sorry Nathan... she's gone." Taylor whispered deeply sadden. Nathan looked down at the lamp to see the bracelet he gave Claudia at the Market Street Dock. Nathan head dropped down as he held it up. Taylor stopped at the front door and turned around to look at him for one last time. "She left all the songs she wrote about you. If it is any constellation. Out of the twenty something she wrote, she only brought alone with her three. They were not written about you." Taylor said and Nathan looked like a lost puppy. Taylor closed the door on him.

Meanwhile, Chris descended down the stairs and walked to the bus. He put his bags into the luggage hold. Michelle Branch and Jessica Harp walked onto the bus. Claudia walked forward and laden down with two bags. She stopped in front of Chris with her mum and they handed him their bags. Chris smiled at Claudia, Claudia just placed her hands in her pockets and walked onto the bus, her mum behind her. Her mum went onto the bus with her. She couldn't of left Claudia on her own.