Title: All Comin' Up Roses
Summary: It's four and a half years after graduation. Where are the Tree Hill graduates now? Have all their wildest dreams come true? Au after season four finale. Some of the storylines will be similar, others will be drastically different. Naley, eventually Brucas with some Leyton thrown in there and various other pairings.
Disclaimer: I do not own OTH or any of its characters. You can sue me if you really want to, you'll get a penny and Starbucks card with five cents left on it. The lyrics aren't mine either, they belong to Kate Voegele and are the lyrics to 'Better Days'.
AN: Hope you enjoy the story. I've got the first couple chapters written already. I apologize if they're out of character or there are any mistakes, I tried to catch everything. And the main focus of the fic will probably be on Brooke and Rachel's lives, because they're my favourite two characters from OTH.. and well... from a lot of the tv shows I watch.
"Live life for the moment, 'cause everything else is uncertain. Take advantage of what's right in front of you."
~ Rachel Gatina
Rachel pulled the duffle bag out of the trunk of her rental car, before slamming it shut. She headed up to the front door of the house she'd come to know well. Over the years since graduation things had changed a lot. Everyone she'd known was different in some way, even herself. Some of the changes weren't as noticeable as others though, but that didn't change the fact that everyone had grown up to a certain extent.
Reaching into her pocket, Rachel pulled out the house keys and unlocked the front door. As she stepped inside, she dropped her duffle bag on the floor, and closed the door. "Hey Luke! You here!?" She called out as she moved through the small house.
Walking down the hall, Rachel paused at Lucas' bedroom door and knocked before opening it. "Oh!" she gasped when she saw the scene in front of her. Lucas Scott was naked, and apparently not alone. "Sorry." She said making no attempt to move away from the door.
"Rachel! Get out of here!" Lucas exclaimed pulling his comforter over himself and the woman he was with.
Rachel smirked. "Right, I'll let the two of you finish up...while I get something to eat." She stepped out of the room, and closed the door behind her. Brooke wasn't going to be happy about this. As much as Brooke denied it, she was still in love with the guy; that much Rachel knew. She also knew Peyton was still madly in love with him. The drama of high school would truly never end, especially with the possibility of the Brooke-Lucas-Peyton love triangle creeping back up.
The first place Rachel went to in the kitchen was the coffee pot. It was still pretty early in the day, and she needed more caffeine pumping through her system- especially after waking up at five in the morning to catch her flight.
As Rachel finished setting up the coffee pot, she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She slipped her hand in and retrieved her phone, looking at the call display. With a smirk on her face, she answered, "Hey slut."
"So I take it you landed safely."
"Not a broken bone on me." Rachel replied, as she opened the fridge door.
"It's good to know, what, an hour after you landed?"
Rachel raised an eyebrow as she held her cell phone to her ear and dug through the fridge. "I'm sorry mom; I didn't realize you wanted me to call you when I landed in Tree Hill." She shook her head. "What's with the sudden interest in when I get somewhere? You've never cared before, Brooke."
"That's because usually you call without me having to ask you to." It was true, Rachel couldn't deny it. Whenever she got to Tree Hill, or any other place for that matter, in the past she'd call Brooke. More out of boredom than a need to let her know she arrived in one piece. "And I've gotten use to it. You can't just stop doing something after years of doing it."
"Sure you can." Rachel replied, pulling out what looked like leftover lasagna. "It's called being unpredictable."
"Well...stop it."
Rachel laughed, as she put the leftover lasagna onto a plate, and put the plate into the microwave. It was hard to do everything one handed. "How are the designs coming along?"
The response she received from Brooke was a groan.
"That bad, huh?"
"No." Brooke sighed. "The designs aren't the problem. My mother is."
"She's trying to take over again isn't she? Just tell her to back off."
"It's not that easy, Rach. So where's my nephew?"
Of course Brooke would try to change the subject. She was never willing to talk about things involving her mother. "Your nephew isn't here yet. He's still with his dad, because I took an earlier flight than usual."
"Only because you were trying to avoid my mom."
"Exactly." Rachel replied with a smile. "And, I'll make sure your nephew calls you when he gets here."
"Thank you."
Rachel could picture the grin on Brooke's face. "You're welcome, slut. But I'm gonna go eat some of Luke's food, I'll talk to you later."
"Bye bitch."
Rachel snapped her cell phone shut, and put it back in her pocket. How was she going to tell Brooke about Lucas' apparent girlfriend? Or maybe she was just a fling. If the girl she'd seen with him was just a fling, then she wouldn't have to tell Brooke about her. God, how she hoped that was the case. She pulled the now warm, leftover lasagna out of the microwave and sat down at the table. As she waited for the coffee to finish brewing she started eating the lasagna. It wasn't too bad; she just didn't want to know how long it had been sitting in the fridge.
On the borderline
Playing overtime
Pushed the minute to the limit for a long time
And the second I cross the finish line
I'll be wishing I had listened to the voice inside
I can't remember how it feels
To know which seeds I ought to sew
Lucas walked out of his room, Lindsey close behind him. The two made their way into the kitchen to find a smirking Rachel sitting at the table with a coffee in hand. "What? Forget it was my weekend?" She questioned, smirk still in place.
"No." Lucas replied, shaking his head. "You're just usually not here till later in the day."
Rachel shrugged. "I took an early flight." Her gaze moved over to Lindsey. "So, Luke gonna introduce me to your girlfriend?"
"This is Lindsey Strauss. Lindsey, this is Rachel Gatina."
"It's nice to meet you Rachel." Lindsey extended her hand out, and Rachel took it with slight hesitation.
"Yeah. You too." Rachel replied. She glanced at Lucas. "So when's Jayden getting here?"
"Same time as usual." Lucas shrugged. "Just because you took an early flight here it doesn't mean everyone's going to change their schedules."
Rachel responded with an eye roll before standing up. "I'm gonna go get settled, leave the two of you alone." She walked over to the sink and put her mug in it. She'd wash it later, or just leave it for Lucas to wash. Both options were very likely. "And if you guys are gonna have more sex, could you please turn on your stereo or something?" She smiled at them before disappearing into the living room.
Lindsey looked at Lucas. "She seems nice."
"She has her days." Lucas replied with a small laugh. He got down two mugs from the cupboard and poured both Lindsey and himself some coffee. "If I'd known she was going to be early, I would have warned you, and locked my bedroom door."
"It's okay, Luke. A little embarrassing, but it's okay." Lindsey smiled at him.
Lucas handed her a coffee and kissed her. "I'm still sorry about it."
"Well, at least she's not an ex-girlfriend of yours." Lindsey said with a shrug. "Though, I do find it odd that she stays with you."
"I know." Lucas sighed. "I'm not sure how it worked out the way it did. I kind of just got pulled into the middle of all of it."
"You're a good guy for helping your friends out."
"In all honesty? I wasn't really friends with either of them when the whole thing started. Brooke's the one who talked me into helping."
Lindsey nodded, and Lucas knew what was going through her head. The fact he'd done a favour for Brooke, one of his ex-girlfriends. Lindsey knew the story of his relationship with Brooke, and the story of his relationship with Peyton. A lot of the knowledge she had came from his book. She'd been the editor after all, it made sense she'd learn things about his life from the book. Lucas knew, that because of this knowledge she worried. Apparently, she worried mostly about Peyton's return to his life. She was afraid he'd leave her for one of his exes, at least that was what Haley had told him one night weeks ago. He'd gone straight to Lindsey and let her know she had nothing to worry about. He loved her. Both Brooke and Peyton were in his past.
"And you're friends with them now?" Lindsey questioned.
Lucas shrugged and took a drink of his coffee. As weird as it was he considered himself to be a good friend to the two of them now that he'd actually gotten to know them. He guessed in a way he'd been friends with Rachel, it was just a weird friendship. "You could say that."
It's an ordinary feeling
An extraordinary reason
I've seen better days
I would love to say I'm ready
Just to tell you where I'm headed
I've seen better days
The apartment was quiet. A little too quiet for Brooke's liking. It was driving her crazy, and making it hard to concentrate on her designs. Sighing, she got up from the couch she'd been sitting on and moved over to the stereo. Hooking up her iPod she put it on shuffle and sat back down. As the music filled the apartment she picked up the blank sketch pad and stared at it. The music wasn't helping much.
Her gaze moved from the sketchpad to the bookshelf, which was lined with pictures and books. There was a picture of her and Jamie from a couple months back when Nathan and Haley brought him for a visit. There was a picture of Rachel and Jayden from last Christmas. There were also a few pictures of herself and Lucas, and group shots of her friends.
There were days Brooke wished she was back in high school, where she could spend as much time as she wanted with her friends. She wished she could still be in high school where things had been so much easier and the only deadlines she had were to do with papers and tests. High school was easy. The real world was bloody hard.
Brooke looked up when she heard the door open. There were only two people, other than herself, with keys. Her mother and Rachel. Seeing as Rachel was out of town for the weekend, it only left her mother. Why she'd given her mother a key, Brooke couldn't really figure out.
"Why aren't you at the office?" Her mother questioned, coming to stand behind the couch, arms crossed.
"There are less distractions here." Brooke replied. "It's easier to work on my designs."
"Well, have you done anything?"
Brooke was silent for a moment. Her mother seemed to care more about her work, than she ever had cared about her school work. "Not quite."
Her mother shook her head. "I don't know what you think you're doing Brooke. If you're not careful this company will go under, and you'll have nothing."
There were so many things Brooke could say. So many things she wanted to say, but she opted for, "I know."
"You can't let this company fall apart, Brooke. We've worked too hard to build it up to this."
"Mom, if you want to keep this company from falling apart, you should leave me alone so I can work on these designs." Brooke said calmly looking up at her mother.
"I expect to see you at the office this afternoon." Her mother said, slightly brushing off what Brooke had said. "We need to go over the next issue of the magazine."
"Don't worry, I'll be there." Brooke sighed. Great. Just what she wanted to do. Why had she let her mother talk her into a magazine? Oh, right. Lucas. It was her way of burying herself into her work to forget him after he'd met up with her.
"Good. And you're going to have to fire that friend of yours."
Brooke looked up. "What? I'm not going to do that."
"She needs to go. It's the only way to improve this company further. We can't work photoshoots around her schedule all the time."
"We don't." Brooke said, putting the sketch pad down and standing up, to look at her mother better.
"Brooke, we've rescheduled photoshoots so that she could go to that hick town plenty of times."
"She has a son in Tree Hill, mom. "
"Then maybe she should stay there. Fire her, and she can go stay with her son, seeing as he's more important to her than doing the photoshoots when we need them to be done."
Brooke couldn't believe her mother. Was she really saying this? "Are you serious, mother? I can't fire her, she's good at what she does and she needs the money to help raise her son."
"If she was smart she wouldn't have had a child so young in the first place." Her mother replied. "If you fire her Brooke, we can make this company a lot better. And it's not just the rescheduling of the photoshoots that concern me. It's the things I've been hearing about her, and trying to keep out of the tabloids."
"What things?"
"That's none of your concern. Just fire her Brooke. If you don't I will."
Brooke watched her mother turn and leave the apartment. How would firing one of the best models they had make the company better? Her mother just didn't like Rachel. She hadn't liked her since the day they met. Brooke was pretty sure her mother looked at Rachel as a bad influence. After all Rachel got pregnant during the beginning of her career when she was nineteen-years-old. Honestly though? If that was the reason her mother thought Rachel was a bad influence, then Haley must be a horrible one. She'd been married at sixteen and pregnant at eighteen.
Sitting back down on the couch, Brooke glanced over at the sketch pad. She needed to get out of New York. She needed to find her inspiration somewhere else. Reaching out, she picked her cell phone up off of her coffee table and dialled a familiar number. "Millicent? Hey, could you book me a one way ticket to Tree Hill, North Carolina?"
Walking on a wire over burning fire
People pressure while I
Question what to do with my life
Let myself rewind to another time
When tomorrow used to follow a command of some kind
I don't want no pity
All I really need is a steady peace of mind sometimes
Haley walked up to Lucas' front door, Jamie and Jayden walking slowly in front of her. "Can I ring?" Jayden questioned, looking back at her with big brown eyes, as they got to the door.
"Sure you can." Haley smiled at the little boy, who grinned and jumped up to hit the door bell. When he couldn't quite reach it, Haley lifted him up. He hit the button and has grin grew wider as the bell sounded inside. Haley put him back down as they waited for Lucas to answer the door. Usually, Haley just let herself in, but today she felt like doing something different. Give him a little warning.
It didn't take long for the front door to open and reveal Lucas. "Uncle Luke!" Jamie grinned.
"J. Luke! Jay! Two of my favourite guys." Lucas smiled, picking them both up.
"I rang." Jayden informed him, proud of himself.
"You did? That's awesome buddy." Lucas said moving out of the doorway to let Haley in. "I thought-"
Haley cut him off, knowing exactly what Lucas was going to say. "He dropped Jayden off this morning for a little play date with Jamie and asked me to drop Jayden off here after lunch for him. I think he's trying extra hard to avoid Rachel, after their almost run in last time." She shook her head. "Jayden's things are out in the car. I'll grab them later." She walked into the house as Lucas put the boys down.
Jayden looked up at Lucas. "Mommy here?"
"Yup, she's in the living room waiting to see you." Lucas replied.
Jayden grinned and ran as fast as his little legs could carry him. "Mommy!"
Haley followed with Lucas and Jamie, and watched from the doorway as Rachel got up from the couch and swept Jayden up in her arms. "There's my baby boy." Rachel smiled. "I missed you."
"I miss you too." Jayden replied snuggling closer to Rachel. "But me no baby anymore."
"You're not? Then what are you?" Rachel questioned looking down at her son.
It honestly amazed Haley. This wasn't the Rachel Gatina she remembered from high school. It wasn't the girl that tried to steal her husband. It wasn't the girl that swept into Tree Hill bringing drama with her. No. She was more grown up now.
"Me a big boy." Jayden stated.
"A big boy, huh?" Rachel sounded amused. "Like daddy?"
Jayden shook his head. "Not yet. Me a big boy like Jamie."
"You may be a big boy like Jamie, but you'll always be my baby boy." Rachel said before glancing in Haley's direction. "Hey, tutor-girl." She said, using one of Brooke's nicknames for her. "How's Nathan? He ready to leave you for me yet?" And there was the Rachel Haley knew and loathed.
Haley just shook her head. It always seemed to be the same when she saw Rachel. "Never going to happen, Rachel."
"I know." Rachel smiled. "It's just fun to push your buttons."
"Momma?" Haley felt a tug at her pants and looked down.
"Yeah, Jamie?" She asked with a smile.
"Can I stay at uncle Luke's until dinner time?"
"You have to ask your uncle Luke that." Haley replied.
"Uncle Luke?" Jamie turned to face Lucas. "Can I stay here until dinner time?"
"Of course you can buddy. You, me and Jayden can play video games."
"Just no junk food please." Haley interjected. "Last time, someone didn't eat their dinner because they were full of chips and ice cream."
"Sorry Hales. I'll make sure that doesn't happen again." Lucas said smiling at her, and Haley knew the chances of that were pretty slim.
It's an ordinary feeling
An extraordinary reason
I've seen better days
I would love to say I'm ready
Just to tell you where I'm headed
I've seen better days
"Hello?" Peyton spoke into the phone, her voice rough with sleep. It was still early, when Peyton had decided to call it a night. She was worn out from work. Being assistant to the assistant was a pain the ass. She was running errands, and doing other things that probably weren't in her job title. The past couple days, she'd been called in so many times, sleep had been near impossible. Now, when she'd finally decided to try to catch a couple hours, her phone rings.
"I didn't wake you did I?" The voice on the other end asked.
"No, Brooke. I was just lying here." Peyton lied, not wanting her friend to feel bad for waking her up. It had taken them awhile but they were finally pretty good friends again.
"Good." Peyton could almost hear the smile on her friend's face. "I've got great news."
Peyton sat up in bed, and leaned back against the head board. "And what's this great news, ?"
"We are going to Tree Hill, ." Brooke sounded extremely excited.
"Good for you." Peyton paused, as she thought about what Brooke had just said. "Wait. Did you just say 'we'?"
"Yes I did. At first I was just going to go, but I figured you could use the trip back home too."
Home. Peyton hadn't thought of Tree Hill, North Carolina as home in four years. Everyone had gone their own ways, tried to pursue their dreams. Sure, some of her friends remained in Tree Hill, but her father wasn't there and things were different now. People were different. "I don't know, Brooke." She sighed. "I've got work, and life here in LA."
"You are seriously going to stick around LA and continue working at a place you hate?" Brooke questioned. "Look, I'm not asking you to quit or anything, just take a couple days off and meet me in Tree Hill. We all said we'd meet four years after graduation, and it's almost been four and a half years. Our reunion is long overdue."
Peyton thought about it. When it came to Brooke, there was usually no saying no. Maybe if she went, she could win back Lucas. Every day she regretted her answer to his proposal. Someday. Someday was not an answer when someone was asking you to marry them. "Okay." She replied quietly. Knowing she may regret this.
"Really?" Brooke's voice was cheerful.
"Yes." Peyton paused. "If I can get a couple days off work that is."
"If they don't give you time off, quit."
"I don't think that's an option Brooke. It's a good paying job, I can't let it go."
"Sure you can," Brooke replied. "And I can give you a job at my company."
"Brooke, quitting my job would be like you firing your mom."
Brooke was silent for a few minutes. "It's not the same, but I'll let it go. I leave tomorrow afternoon, call me later once you know if you can get time off. Maybe I can change my ticket so that we can meet up at the airport and cab it to the hotel, or maybe we can stay with Naley."
Peyton shook her head knowing that Brooke was avoiding the topic of her mother. "We'll see. I'll call you later, alright? Bye Brooke."
"Bye Peyton. If you don't call me by tomorrow morning, I'll harass you through the phone."
Peyton laughed. "Alright, I'll keep that in mind. Talk to you later." She hung up and threw her phone on the night stand before lying back down on the bed. She'd call later and see about taking time off, and call Brooke bright and early as payback for waking her up. For now, she'd try to get back to sleep.
Take your time and I'll take mine
Why did I ever try to compromise
This thing called life can be so unkind
Why did I put mine on the line
Well better days were on their way
Nathan wrapped his arms around Haley from behind and kissed her cheek. He loved her so much. Sometimes he wondered how he'd been lucky enough to end up with her. She'd stuck by him through so much in the past few years.
Haley turned in his arms to face him, and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Jamie in bed?" She questioned looking up at him with a smile.
"Yeah, he's just waiting for you to go upstairs and say goodnight to him." Nathan replied.
"I'll do that in a minute." She smiled, before kissing him. "Have I told you how much I love you?"
Nathan smiled. "Not enough today."
"Well, then, I love you Nathan Royal Scott." She grinned and kissed him again.
"I love you too Haley James Scott." He whispered against his lips, as he pulled her closer.
"Always."
"And Forever."
A couple months ago there'd been a period of time that he'd closed himself off and barley talked to Haley, Jamie and everyone else. He'd gotten into a bar fight over something stupid, and ended up in a state of depression. He had barely moved from the couch. It was Jamie who inevitably broke through his barrier, and showed him how wrong he'd been to do that. Now, a couple weeks later, everything felt right again. Him and Haley were back on track, and Jamie was once again proud of him.
Haley kissed him again, before pulling back. "I should probably go upstairs and say goodnight to Jamie before he comes wandering down here looking for me."
"I'll come with you, and say goodnight again. Then, we can continue this in the bedroom."
Haley laughed and shook her head. "It'll have to wait; I've got dishes to finish doing."
"We have a dishwasher though."
"I've got to rinse the dishes off before I put them in the dishwasher."
"I'll do them in the morning."
"You've said that once before, and they didn't get done. The pile just grew." Haley replied, a smile playing on her lips.
Nathan shook his head. "Won't happen again. I promise."
"How about this- I go say goodnight to Jamie, and while I do that, you deal with the dishes for me. And if they're done, then we can continue this in the bedroom." Haley reasoned.
Nathan thought about it. "I think it sounds like a plan."
Haley nodded. "Good. But you need to rinse the plates off before they go in the dishwasher, otherwise they won't clean right."
"Okay, don't worry, I'll rinse them." Nathan replied, giving her one last quick kiss before letting her go. "Now, go say goodnight to our son."
Haley smiled before leaving the room. Nathan watched her head upstairs, before he turned to the small pile of dishes in the sink and started to rinse and put them in the dishwasher.
He couldn't ask for anything more in life. Haley and Jamie were his everything. She he missed basketball, but that was only part of his life. His family would always be there. They were a constant that could make a bad day so much better. Basketball may be gone for now, but Haley and Jamie were there and that was all that mattered to Nathan.
It's an ordinary feeling
An extraordinary reason
I've seen better days
I would love to say I'm ready
Just to tell you where I'm headed
I've seen better days
