This is my first attempt at a fanfic in the OTH fandom. Reviews and comments are appreciated!
Chapter 1
He sat on the couch in the living room of his childhood home, a place that should have felt comforting and familiar and felt nothing but fear. Jake Jagielski was no stranger to fear. When he thought back over the last three years of his life fear was the most dominant emotion. Fear when he remembered Nikki telling him she was pregnant. Fear when he'd first looked at Jenny, first held her. Fear when Nikki left him and Jenny behind. Fear when he'd taken Jenny to Karen's café to introduce her to the world. Fear when Nikki had come back to Tree Hill demanding to be part of Jenny's life. Fear when he'd left his hometown and family behind to go to Savannah. Fear when he came back and found Peyton with a drug dealer. Fear when Nikki had taken Jenny and disappeared. Fear when he'd heard Peyton had been shot. Fear when Nikki had left Jenny behind again. Fear that she might come back again.
But none of that compared to this fear. His Jenny was sick, and she might not get better. This fear brought an unparalleled helplessness and desperation. He had never been this scared over anything, not even when Nikki had taken Jenny and run off. Because then Jenny had been ok, and he could focus on finding her, and making everything ok with her. He couldn't do that for her this time, this was out of his hands.
He had brought Jenny back to Tree Hill. He had brought her home. He had believed that he and Jenny could get through anything together, but now he knew that was wrong. They needed their family. She needed her grandparents, and he needed his parents.
He looked down at the little girl sleeping in his arms. She was an angel, even in her terrible twos. He kissed the top of her head gently. He loved Jenny more than he'd ever known it was possible to love someone else. He'd loved her that much from the very first second he laid his eyes on her. She was a miracle, he hadn't thought he was ready for, wasn't sure he deserved. And he felt like she was slipping away.
"How's Daddy's big girl?" He asked her quietly after she'd been awake for a few minutes. She was still in his her arms, her head resting on his shoulder. He'd always liked to keep her close. But since her diagnosis, he was hesitant to put her down unless he had to. "How about that ice cream I promised you?"
"Hey Karen." He said quietly as he entered her café. He didn't want to draw unnecessary attention to himself. He had made the walk from his house to the café without being noticed. He knew that he wouldn't be able to stay anonymous in Tree Hill for very long. The old crowd of friends that he had been close with all still lived in or near town. Tree Hill was small, he wouldn't be able to avoid them for long, especially at places like Karen's Café. But his own discomfort didn't matter when it came to Jenny and what was best for her. It never had.
"Jake!" She came around the counter and hugged him. "I had no idea you were back in town. Let me look at this angel." She stepped back to look at Jenny. "She's beautiful Jake."
He smiled. Karen had always been good to him and to Jenny. She'd given him a job, and had understood the demands being a single parent placed on him and his time, and helped him out by letting him bring Jenny with him. "Thanks. I think she's the most gorgeous perfect two year old on the face of the planet, but I'm just a little biased."
"Just a little." She agreed laughing. "What can I get you?" She asked him as she retreated back behind the counter to take their order.
"I promised Jenny some ice cream." He sat on a bar stool with Jenny on his lap. "Can you help us out with that?"
"Absolutely, chocolate ok Jenny?" She quickly scooped the ice cream into a dish and placed it in front of them with extra napkins.
"Say thank you." Jake told her, as he turned one of the napkins into a make shift bib in an effort to preserve her light purple t-shirt.
"Tank you." She said quietly, and dug into her ice cream.
"I heard about Keith." Jake said quietly. "I'm sorry. He was a really good man."
She smiled wistfully. "He was. Would you like to see a picture of the most beautiful perfect six month old baby girl ever?" She asked changing the subject, the smile on her face growing. She grabbed the picture of her daughter that sat by the cash register "This is Lily Rose Scott."
"She is gorgeous." Jake agreed, his mind going back to another night in Karen's café, and another six month old baby girl. This is where he'd brought Jenny to introduce her to the world.
"Everything ok, Jake?" She asked him concerned. She'd watched as he'd gotten lost in his own thoughts. And noticed that he looked a little haggard, more than he should.
He looked down at Jenny, and wiped some of the ice cream off her face, and then shifted his gaze back up to Karen. She was looking at him worriedly. He wasn't sure what to tell her. She'd always been there for him and Jenny before, and he knew that she and everyone else would know sooner or later what was going on. "Not really." He said finally shaking his head. "Jenny's sick." He had to push the words out. It was the first time he'd said those words to someone not in his family. He'd first told his cousins in Savannah and then his parents. "Its why we're back in Tree Hill. So that Jenny can receive treatment here, and we can be with my parents. She has cancer."
"I'm so sorry Jake." Having a sick child was every parent's worst nightmare. She could only imagine how hard this must be for him. It seemed as if Jake was constantly worried about losing Jenny first to Nikki and now to illness. She took his hand squeezed it tightly. "If you need anything." She told him. "Anything. You ask alright? I'll do anything I can to help you."
He shook his head. "I might have to take you up on that. I think Jenny and I are going to need all the help that we can get."
"Jake Jagielski?" Brooke asked curiously as she approached. "Never thought I'd see you in this town again." She kissed his cheek in welcoming and sat down next to him.
"I'll let you two catch up. Coffee Brooke?" Karen asked already reaching for a mug and the pot of coffee.
"I'm surprised to see you still in Tree Hill. Shouldn't a fashionista like yourself be in New York or L.A or Paris or something?" He and Brooke had never been exceptionally close. But he'd always figured she'd bolt from Tree Hill first chance she got.
She just shrugged and accepted the coffee from Karen. "Tree Hill is home. I can design my Clothes Over Bros line here and take classes." She had gone to Los Angeles for the summer. It had been fun, and she'd learned a lot, even thought about staying. But Tree Hill was home, and she wasn't ready to let go of that and strike out on her own yet. "What are you doing here?" She seriously had never believed that Jake would come back to Tree Hill. From everything she'd understood Jake had made a life for himself and Jenny in Savannah.
He sighed and looked down at Jenny. He couldn't help but smile and wonder how much of the ice cream she was actually getting in her mouth. "I'm here for Jenny. She's sick, so I decided it was time to come home, so she could get treatment."
"Wow." She took a sip of her coffee to give herself a moment. "Its that serious?" He just shook his head. "Wow." She repeated. "I don't know what to say. I'm really sorry. Let me know if you need anything." She looked at the little girl on his lap. She couldn't imagine someone so little and innocent being so sick. "Where's Nikki?" She asked rolling her eyes in disgust. "She didn't poison sweet Jenny with her bitchiness did she?"
"Nikki left again, shortly after a judge in Savannah gave us joint custody actually." He had been willing to try to make the arrangement work, and he'd actually thought that Nikki had too. This time though when she'd come to him and told him she was leaving, he made sure she signed a paper relinquishing her rights to Jenny. His daughter wasn't going to have a mother who came and went from her life when it suited her. She deserved better than that. And he couldn't take watching over his shoulder in case Nikki swooped in for Jenny again.
"I can't believe that bitch wrecked everyone's life and then walked out on Jenny again. Actually, I can." Brooke corrected herself.
"Little ears Brooke, little ears." Jake reminded her.
"Sorry." She grumbled. "Want me to distract you with Tree Hill news and gossip?" She asked immediately perking up.
He wasn't sure if he did or he didn't, but he needed the distraction. "Sure." He shrugged in defeat. "Done with that Jenny?" He pushed the dish out of her way, and dipped a couple of napkins in water to wash off her sticky face and hands. "Let me hear it." He told Brooke, turning to fully face her, a now mostly clean Jenny still on his lap.
"Nathan and Haley have a baby. She went into a labor on graduation day, same day that Karen had Lily. Haley had a boy, James Lucas Scott. I'm his G-dmother. He's a pretty handsome kid. For the future well-being of Tree Hill we're all hoping that he ends up with Nathan's looks and Haley's brain and personality."
Jake just laughed and shook his head. "Whoever would have thought that the two who got married at sixteen would end up being Tree Hill's most stable family." They were still young, and anything could happen, but he had a feeling they'd be ok.
"They're happy." Marriage seemed right for them. She couldn't imagine either of them with other people. "Skills and Bevin are together. Mouth is well.. Mouth. Dan is in jail, he killed Keith. Nobody's gone to see him. Deb is still a little loopy, but things are getting better. Nathan and Haley even let her babysit. I have a boyfriend Chase, he's a pretty great guy. Whitey left Tree Hill High to be a big-time college coach." She chattered away idly trying to mention anyone he might have known and be interested in hearing about.
When she finally stopped it wasn't lost on him that she hadn't mentioned either Peyton or Luke. Deep down he knew what that meant. "How are Peyton and Luke?" He made himself ask anyway, just in case he was wrong.
She sighed deeply. She'd moved on with Chase, and had managed to be friends with Peyton and Luke, but sometimes it still hurt. "She's with Luke, they say they're happy."
Jake just shook his head, he'd been expecting that, but hearing it still felt like a quick hard punch in the gut. "Is she happy?"
Brooke sighed again and thought about the question. "I'm not sure Peyton's ever really happy. She likes the tragedy and the doom and gloom, but then so does he. So I guess yeah they're as happy as they can be together."
"I've always wanted her to be happy." He turned his attention to Jenny who was starting to fuss. He reached into his pockets for his keys, she took them from him and immediately calmed as she shook and rattled the keys.
"Well then you're a better person than I am, because I wanted them to suffer for a long time." She'd loved them both, and their betrayal had ran deep. She wasn't sure she was completely over it, even if she'd managed to get past enough to be friends with both of them.
He shook his head in confusion, the news that she was with Lucky shouldn't have impacted him this much, he'd known it would happen. "I don't know why I'm so shocked she's with him." He finally told Brooke. "I told her to follow her heart back here to see what she had with him, I guess I just always thought it'd lead her back to me and Jenny." He had thought that he and Peyton had found a love that was real and true and that would overcome time and distance.
She put her hand on his arm comfortingly. "You loved her enough to let her go Jake, that says something."
"That I'm an idiot?" He suggested bitterness seeping into his voice. Maybe he should have fought for her that night in Savannah. Told her to stay, instead of letting her go back to Tree Hill.
"That you loved her enough to let her go and try to be happy. And you know its not our faults that they're too stupid to realize how fabulous we are and how lucky they were to have us." She hoped to make him laugh, and change the mood into something a little more lighthearted.
He did laugh, and stood up and gathered Jenny in her arms. "Thanks Brooke." He dropped a quick kiss on her cheek. "I need to get going, its getting late, and I should get Jenny back to my parents house. I'm glad I ran into you."
She wrapped her arms around him and Jenny. "Let me know if you need anything Jake. I know people think I'm all about myself all the time, but."
"I know you're a good friend, Brooke. I'll let you know."
"Promise." She held his gaze and gave him her most intimidating look.
"I promise." He told her and then left the café.
She watched him leave and then sat back down with her coffee and closed her eyes and wondered how much Jake's presence would shake the relative calm that had settled over Tree Hill in recent months.
