The Scott Clan

OTH A.U. Brucas/Naley/Jeyton

Chapter One: The Dreams Have Returned

*flashbacks are in italics

"I never promised you a ray of light . . ." belted Haley James-Scott's voice from stage.

Lucas Scott squeezed through the crowded mass of people in the teen night club Tric. He'd seen his girlfriend Brooke Davis a few minutes earlier and had since been fighting the crowd to get over to her. Her scanned over the heads, seeing her sit down at a table. Her long, lustrous, brunette hair hung in her face and she took a drink of the glass in her hand. Her free hand grabbed a chunk of her hair and started twirling it between her fingers. Lucas smiled. She looked so beautiful and adorable.

"I never promised there'd be sunshine every day . . ."

Coming up behind Brooke, Lucas snaked his arm around her waist and kissed the back of her head, "Hey, pretty girl." He whispered in her ear, using the nickname he'd always had for her.

"I'll give you everything I have; the good, the bad . . ."

Brooke's hand held on to his at her sides and he stepped around the chair, "Hey Broody." She used the knick-name she'd always used for him, "Isn't tutor wife awesome?"

Lucas nodded, "Yeah. Haley's great." He moved a chair from another table right next to Brooke's and sat down. Brooke smiled, leaning into and wrapped her arm around his bicep. Her head rested on his shoulder and together they watched Haley sing the rest of her song.

"One thing is clear; I wear a halo. I wear a halo when you look at me but standing from here, you wouldn't say so. You wouldn't say so if you were me and I-I just wanna love you . . ."

"Aaahhh!" Lucas sat up in bed as the alarm went off. He was sweating and his heart was pounding so fast it felt like it would burst right out of his chest.

He was having the dreams again.

"Shit."

~*~

"Jake, honey, the phone is ringing and I've got my hands full with Jenny. Could you get it?" Peyton Sawyer-Jagieklsi called from the bathroom.

"I got it, Peyton," Jake shouted back.

Peyton was currently giving her daughter Jenny a bath. Well, Jenny wasn't technically her daughter in the 'giving-birth' sense but since Jenny's real mom Nikki had pretty much abandoned her, Peyton had been a surrogate mom of sorts. Then when she'd married Jenny's father Jake, she'd legally adopted Jenny.

Jenny squirmed in Peyton's arms as she wrapped the five-year-old in a towel and lifted her out of the tub. As she turned around, Jake suddenly appeared in the doorway, practically scaring the living hell out of Peyton. The phone was in his hand.

"Gah! Don't sneak up on me like that!" Peyton said, breathing in a sigh of relief.

"Sorry I scared you, but Lucas is on the phone," Jake apoligized.

"Oh," Peyton said, "Ah . . . here, you finish with Jenny and I'll see want he wants."

"Sounds like a fair trade off," Jake took Jenny and handed Peyton the phone, "He sounds as if he's having issues." Peyton raised her eyebrows. "Just talk to him and you'll see."

Peyton sighed and left the bathroom. She put the phone up to her ear, "Lucas?"

"Peyton, hi!" Lucas's voice sounded really strange.

"Hey Luke, what's up?" Peyton said.

"It happened again," Lucas said. Peyton inwardly sighed, waiting for what she knew he would say next, "I'm having the dreams again."

"About Brooke?" Peyton asked, though she already knew that answer too.

"Yeah," Lucas's voice cracked, "It was the day the time capsule got released early and we were all at Tric. Haley was singing."

"Are you okay?" Peyton switched the phone to her other ear. Lucas was one of her best friends and she hated to see him hurting so much.

"Yeah," Lucas sighed, "It's just, I thought I was done with those dreams. It's been months since my last one. Well, besides the one last night."

"Maybe this was just a coincidence, just a good memory of happy times."

"I don't know . . ." Lucas trailed off.

"Listen, Luke," Peyton walked down the stairs to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. She pulled out a bottle of water, "You've been doing really good these past couple of months so give yourself some credit. You lost your wife, Luke, on the same day you became a father. Did you just expect to bounce back right away like nothing happened? Not to mention that tomorrow is the one-year-anniversary of your wife's death and the first birthday of your four daughters. You're doing great, greater than any of us ever give you credit for. And you're my best friend so I've going to tell you this: don't give up. Don't make those beautiful girls lose another parent." The line was silent, "Luke?"

"Thanks, Peyton," Lucas said, "You're the best friend a guy could have."

"No problem," Peyton said, "Hey, why don't you bring the girls over here. Take a break."

"Nah, I don't wanna bother you and Jake," Lucas said.

"It'll be great," Peyton said, "I'll call Hales and have her bring the twins and we'll sit around chatting while the kids play. In fact, I'll just send Jake and Nathan over by you. You guys can play video games or whatever."

"If you insist," Lucas said.

"Well I do. Jake'll call you when they're on their way," Peyton said.

To Be Ccontinued . . .