A/N: Alright, so this picks up after Sawyer's birth, and it's basically a bunch of Lucas/Sawyer moments over the years. Complete fluff. Hope you like it. Hope you review! ;)
----
It's funny, he thinks, that he never really gave much thought to what their child would be like once he or she was born. Sure, he'd thought that a little girl would have green eyes and curly hair, and maybe a little boy would have blue eyes and a little upturned nose. But those are their kids as, well, kids.
He never honestly thought of what the baby would look like, or even if it'd be a boy or a girl. He figured it had a lot to do with how much they were praying that everything was going to go smoothly and everyone was going to come out of it healthy. All expectant parents say that, but Lucas supposes that it meant just a little more when he and Peyton said it.
He never thought he'd love anything or anyone more than he loves Peyton, but this other little blonde holds his heart in a completely different way.
Every gurgle or sound she makes has his heart do something funny. Every time she cries, he wants to do every single thing in his power to stop her and keep her from ever crying again (she's two weeks old, so it's a bit of an undertaking). Every little face she makes, he thinks might be a smile, though he knows she doesn't have the ability yet. Every time he holds her, he thanks God that she's here, and her mother is here, and he's got them both, and he promises on his own life that he'll make sure both of theirs are happy.
Peyton says she loves him for that. He tells her that he loves her for everything. She blushes because she knows he isn't stretching the truth at all.
----
The first day he spends alone with her (since Peyton's been home from the hospital, that is), Sawyer is five weeks old. Brooke and Haley have insisted that the girls are due for a girl's day, and Peyton doesn't want to leave, but Lucas reminds her that he can take care of things at home, and that she's only a phone call away if he needs her for anything at all.
He thinks it'll be great. He knows her routine, since both he and Peyton are home during the days, and he knows what she likes and doesn't like. They'll be fine. They'll have a good day, just daddy and daughter, and he'll look like a pro when Peyton comes home and he can say that their day went just fine.
But as soon as Peyton is out the door, Sawyer starts crying. Really crying. The kind of crying he can't stop.
He tries everything he can think of. She doesn't need changing. She isn't hungry, and she's been sleeping for an hour. She's not hot, and she's not cold, and he doesn't know what to do. He holds her tightly in his arms. He leaves her in her crib to 'cry it out', like some of the books say to do.
Nothing works. Nothing.
"Okay, sweetie," he says as she wails. He's getting a little desperate, trying to find something - anything - that'll placate his little girl. "Come on, Sawyer. Help me out, here."
She's just laying in her crib, kicking her little legs and batting her little fists, and he's stressing out, thinking he's done something wrong or if he just isn't as good at this as he thought.
He wracks his brain, trying to find something, some way, to get her to stop crying.
He picks her up and holds her tight against his body like he knows she likes. She grabs his shirt in her little fist, and she's still crying, but he has to smile. Peyton has always done the same thing. He kind of loves that Sawyer already has little pieces of Peyton in her.
"Okay, baby girl. Alright," he coos, because it sounds good, but it's more for him than it is for her, at this point.
He catches sight of his book, Utopia, sitting on the dresser where he set it when he came into the room, and he decides that reading to her might soothe her, and if it doesn't soothe her, then maybe it'll at least make him feel better.
So he sits in that oversized rocking chair with his little girl in his arms, and he opens the hardcover to the first page, though he was nearly done the book. He'll start at the beginning because he can't bring himself to start her in the middle of the story. It's silly and she won't understand any of it anyway, but years and years down the road, he'll be able to tell her that Utopia was the first real book he ever read her, and that's a story he wants to be able to tell her someday. Call him crazy, but he's an author, and it's important to him.
It takes only a page and a half for her to stop crying. Her cheeks are still red and a little wet, but he wipes the last of her tears away and smiles down at her, and he kisses her forehead. She looks at him, and though it's probably entirely in his head, he wonders if that look is a plea for him to keep reading.
So he keeps reading.
She gets hungry, so he feeds her and changes her, then puts her down, and she's his little angel again. She falls asleep immediately and he breathes a sigh of relief. He might be getting the hang of this parenting thing.
She wakes up again a little over an hour later, and she merely whimpers a little bit. He decides that he can't leave her in the middle of the story, so he grabs that book again and sits them down on the sofa.
That's exactly how Peyton finds them when she walks through the door. Lucas sitting there with Sawyer in his arms, wrapped up in a pink blanket as he reads from a book he's probably had for over a decade.
She'd tease him or question him about it, but she's too full of love and a whole lot of other feelings. She just sits down next to him on the sofa and kisses their daughter.
Lucas spends the rest of his afternoon reading to his girls. He doesn't think his life could be any more amazing if he'd written the story himself.
----
Sawyer is eight months old when Karen makes an offer that Lucas and Peyton aren't sure they can refuse. They're pretty certain they can't.
Karen and Andy have bought a house in New Zealand, where they've been living for a little over a year, but they miss traveling, and they miss their family, and Karen misses her granddaughter. So they suggest that Lucas, Peyton and Sawyer join them on the yacht to cruise the Mediterranean, then go from there; see where the world takes them.
Peyton, surprisingly, is all for it. She wants to see the world, and she wants to do it with these people she loves so much. She wants to get to know Lily, and spend time with Karen, and talk with Andy about business and all sorts of things. Lucas asks her if she'd really give up running the label, and she just smiles at him, kisses him softly, and says, "it's our family, Luke."
She's right. He knows she is. But he's got a coaching job and his players count on him. After everything that happened the year prior, he's not sure he can just leave them. Sure, he could resign and leave and never look back, but he knows in his heart that he would look back. He'd be worried about the team and how things were going and if those old wounds had healed.
But as much as he loves the game (and he does love it), he's always thought of himself as a writer. He's a writer. He's a coach because it pays him well and he loves the game. He's a writer because it's in him and he can't not be a writer. He thinks that cruising the world with just his family, the love of his life and his beautiful daughter might just be the perfect setting to write his next works.
He's still torn. Absolutely torn.
He's sitting on the sofa one day with an old hardcover closed on his knee as he spins a basketball in his hands. Peyton sits Sawyer down next to him, claiming she wants her daddy, and he winks at his wife before she walks away. She's always saying things like that. He loves it every time.
She knows he's probably deliberating, thinking too hard and stressing himself out. Sawyer is one of the only things that can take his mind off anything and everything.
"Alright, little girl. What do you think?" he asks. He holds up the basketball in one hand, bright and orange and massive in comparison to her, and the book in his other hand, faded and grey and tattered around the edges. "Which one?"
She grins and giggles and reaches out, patting her hand against the hardcover over and over again as she looks at her daddy.
He just laughs and puts both items down so he can pull her into his arms. "You're a genius, you know that? A genius." She laughs a perfect laugh when he blows a raspberry on her cheek, and when Peyton walks into the room again with two cups of tea, she kinks her brow at the smile he's wearing. "We're going sailing, babe."
"Luke!" she cries, rushing to the sofa and throwing her arms around him, gently squishing Sawyer in the process. "I love you."
"Thank your daughter," he says before kissing both girls' foreheads. "She made the decision."
When he tells her the process behind the choice, she just laughs and shakes her head, but she doesn't complain at all.
He tenders his resignation the next day, recommends Skills for the head coaching job, and cleans out his office at the high school.
He doesn't have a second thought. Not one.
----
They're walking the streets of Barcelona the first time Sawyer speaks a proper word. She's been mumbling syllables that Peyton tries (in vain) to convince Lucas are words like 'gooey' and 'bumba', which aren't really words at all. Peyton will pout until he kisses her, then she'll slip her arm around his waist.
All Lucas can think is that his wife looks beautiful. She's in an incredible, lightweight summer dress that she bought in Marseilles two weeks before, and her hair is longer and shinier than it's ever been. Her skin is tanned from days on the beaches in Greece, and her green eyes hold more life and more happiness than he's ever seen. And that's saying something, since the last two years have been pretty perfect.
She sees a chocolate shop she insists she needs to buy something from, and Lucas just laughs and shakes his head at her. She's got a love of chocolate that he thinks might surpass her love for him, though she denies it every time he jokingly points it out.
"Here, baby, go to daddy," Peyton says, passing Sawyer to Lucas. They've abandoned using the stroller on these old cobblestone streets, since it's easier to just hold the girl than it is to struggle with pushing a stroller. She's walking now, however unsteadily, and Lucas will hold both her hands in his as she stumbles along at a snail's pace. Most of the time, she's completely content to just be held, and neither Lucas nor Peyton can complain about that at all.
Sawyer rests her head on Lucas' shoulder, and she's tired, he can tell. It's past her nap time, and though they try to keep her on her schedule, it's a little hard sometimes. Days like this, in beautiful new cities, are usually the ones that keep Sawyer away from her crib.
Peyton starts walking away, and Sawyer reaches out with her hand, and she says two perfect little syllables that make Lucas' heart beat out of his chest.
"Mama."
Peyton spins around, wide eyed and smiling, and rushes back towards the loves of her life. "Luke!" she says excitedly.
"I know," he almost whispers. He's so full of love and absolute adoration for both these girls that he can't speak; doesn't know what to say.
Peyton's chocolate is forgotten, and she pulls Sawyer into her arms and kisses the girl's face all over, and Lucas smiles and laughs and loves every second, and he takes Peyton's hand as they continue down the street. But there's a little bit of an ache in his heart that's a little like jealousy, and he hates it. There's that part of him that wishes that she'd said 'dada' first, and it's a selfish thought, but it's there, and he's desperately trying to ignore it.
They're tucking into bed in their hotel for the night, and he's reading some old hardcover he found in some small Spanish port, and Peyton looks over at him. He can feel her eyes on him (always could), and he smiles, but it's unintentional. He doesn't say anything, and she doesn't say anything. She gets all comfortable and lays down on her side while he's still sitting up with his pillows behind him, and he knows that she's desperate for him to say something. So he doesn't. Just to playfully torture her a bit.
But he knows that he can't last long at this game, because she's so damn gorgeous that it's almost impossible for him not to look at her. After five minutes, she starts toying with the bottom of his tee shirt at his hip, and he takes a deep breath and glances her way.
"Yes?" he asks with a laugh. She smiles, glad to have won the little game (she does every time), and he closes his book.
"You wanted her to say dada first," she says, like it's obvious and he can't fool her.
"What?" he scoffs.
"You totally did."
"Peyton..." He turns to her a little more, and the way she's looking at him reminds him that she knows him to well. It's like she's challenging him to keep denying it; raised eyebrow and knowing smile firmly in place.
"Wanna know a secret?" she asks, running her fingers gently along his forearm. "I thought she'd say it first too."
"Why?" he asks. He sets his book on the night stand and lays down facing his wife, and she reaches out and rests her hand on his hip.
"Because she's a total daddy's girl, and she's like, glued to you 90 per cent of the time," Peyton says seriously.
"I love that she's a daddy's girl," he says proudly, smirking as his blue eyes shine, just like they always do when he talks about their daughter. "And she's not glued to me." Peyton smiles and moves a little closer, and he lays on his back with her resting against him. "And it's sweet that she said mama first."
"I think so."
Lucas laughs softly and kisses her hair. "She loves you. I love how close we all are."
"Me too," she says, stifling a yawn.
"But if she doesn't say dada soon..." He stops speaking when Peyton laughs, and she leans over and kisses him gently.
"She'll say it." He reaches over and switches off the light, and he kisses her again in the darkness, because for some reason they do that every night. "I love you, Lucas."
"Love you too, Peyton."
They do that every night, too.
----
They've traveled for almost two years before Lucas' book is, in his words, finished, and they decide that since his new publishing house is in Raleigh, they'll settle back into their small town again. He can travel to his meetings with ease, and Peyton can stay at home with Sawyer. The year before, she sold the label to the one in L.A., as long as John (who she still hates) promised to keep everything exactly as it was. He paid her handily - more than she thought she'd get, though she doesn't say a word - and there are three people working full time in that office in Tree Hill now.
She never thought she'd be the kind to be a stay at home mom, but she's excited for it. She doesn't want to leave Sawyer, and she feels like maybe she'll get to be the kind of mom she never had. Anna was a stay at home mom, too, she just didn't get to do it for long enough. And Peyton has gotten used to spending all day, every day with Lucas and Sawyer. Since Lucas is a full-time writer, he'll be home, too. She realizes it's a bit of a charmed existence, but she doesn't think that's a bad thing at all.
The first day they're back, the three of them stay in that house that's been sitting empty for two years, and they quietly get used to life on land again. They haven't even told anyone they're home yet, knowing that it'd be a parade of visitors and maybe obligations, and as happy as they are to see the friends and family they haven't seen since last Christmas, they just need a little time to adjust.
"Okay, I'm ready," Peyton announces, stepping into the Sawyer's room where Lucas and their little girl are contentedly colouring at the little plastic table in the corner of the room. Lucas looks a little ridiculous sitting on a bright blue plastic chair, but it's so endearing that Peyton smiles. "I'll be back in a few hours."
He stands and walks towards her as Sawyer desperately tries to find the right shade of green for her tree. "You look amazing, babe," he says softly, gently kissing his wife.
"Thanks," she whispers. "You think Brooke'll approve?"
He knows she's nervous to see her best friend again. It's been six months, and while the girls have talked or emailed several times a week, Peyton has convinced herself that staying gone so long makes her a bad friend. It doesn't, and Lucas has tried to tell her that a million times, but she doesn't seem to want to believe him yet.
"It'll be fine," he insists.
"Mommy, when can I have cookies?" Sawyer chimes in, like that's the most important thing in her life and she just needs to know.
Peyton laughs and walks over to kneel next to the table. "Whenever daddy says it's alright."
"Daddy gives me more cookies than you."
Lucas smirks, but looks somehow sheepish, and Peyton just shakes her head. She doesn't need anyone to tell her that Lucas spoils their daughter. "I bet he does. I'll see you later, alright? Be good."
"'Kay. Bye," Sawyer says. For a girl who's spent almost every single day attached to her parents, she doesn't have any separation anxiety at all.
Peyton kisses Lucas on her way out of the room, and he winks at her. His heart races at the smile she sends him, and he has to shake his head. There hasn't been a day that he hasn't loved her and their life with everything he's got.
As soon as the front door is closed, he turns to Sawyer and says, "cookie time," with a smile on his face and a laugh in his throat when she starts giggling and runs towards him.
She sits on top of the counter, kicking her little legs out as she bites into cookies that are bigger than her hands. And yes, Lucas does always let her have two. Mostly because he thinks it's adorable that she always holds them, one in each hand, instead of leaving one on a plate until she's ready to eat it. She sits there with her hair in a little ponytail and chocolate on her cheeks, biting into cookies and occasionally kicking his thighs as he eats his own treat.
"Daddy?"
"Yeah, baby?"
"I love you," she says. States it like a fact, just the way she says that blue is her favourite colour and that her name is Sawyer Brooke Scott any time anyone asks.
He honestly thinks he might cry. It's such a random time for her to say it, but he loves that she has.
"I love you too," he says quietly, standing in front of her with his hands on either side of her, resting on the counter. He leans forward and brushes their nose together, just like he's been doing since she was a baby (it's their 'thing', since Peyton always insisted that their daughter got his nose) and she smiles and bites her cookie.
She looks just like him. Dirty blond hair (it's beautiful, but part of him wishes that it was at least a little curly), blue eyes, the same nose. She's got Peyton's lips and chin, but she's inherited his dimples, and in his opinion, she's the most beautiful child he's ever laid eyes on. He doesn't care if it's biased, it's something he knows to be true.
He turns his back for a second to tidy up a little bit, and she starts giggling, so he looks at her with a raised brow. It just makes her laugh harder.
"What's so funny over there?" he asks.
She holds up her now-empty left hand as she bites into the cookie in her right hand, and she's covered in melted chocolate. He doesn't know why that's so funny, but her giggles are infectious and he starts laughing too. She wiggles her fingers as he grabs a cloth to clean her up, and as soon as he's close enough, she reaches out and puts her hand on his arm, covering him in chocolate.
This is when she's like Peyton. Playful and silly, and she doesn't hold back her laughter. She thinks it's hilarious to torment her daddy, and half the time, she and Peyton are ganging up on him. The truth of it is, they do it because he lets them.
And he loves it.
He squints at her, but he doesn't really mean it. He wipes the chocolate off both of them, and he steals a bite of her cookie for good measure.
----
She cries for her daddy any time she's scared or sad. Any time she hurts herself, it's Lucas she's calling for. Peyton doesn't get offended, because Lucas is such a good dad, and so attentive, that she totally understands why Sawyer would want him over anyone else. After all, Peyton kind of did (does) the same thing when she's scared or sad, too. Lucas merely tells her it's his job as her husband and Sawyer's father.
Sawyer breaks her arm on the playground at school when she's in the first grade, and Lucas' heart drops into his stomach when he gets the call. Peyton is out with Brooke for the day, and when Lucas gets her on her cell, she sounds panicky, and he is too, but he knows he needs to keep her calm, so he simply tells her that he'll meet her at the emergency room.
They get to the hospital at the same time, and Peyton rushes into Lucas' arms, then grasps his hand tightly as they're told where their daughter is. One of the teachers from the school is sitting there in the exam room while Sawyer hiccups from crying so much and lays with her arm in a temporary sling.
"Daddy," she manages, crying a little harder when she sees her parents.
He doesn't say anything, just walks over and kisses her forehead, taking her good hand in his. Peyton kisses her, tries to hide her own tears and terror, and sits at the edge of the bed with Lucas standing behind her.
"You're okay, sweetie," Lucas says, hoping his presence will sooth her. "We're here now."
"It hurts," she cries.
He notices Peyton take a quick breath, trying to be strong, and so he places his hand on her shoulder. She relaxes immediately and runs her hand over Sawyer's hair.
"What happened?" Peyton asks.
Sawyer is too distraught to talk, so Lucas and Peyton listen to the teacher explain that Sawyer was swinging on the monkey bars and her hands slipped, and she braced herself with her hands. They thank her for staying, and she leaves just as the doctor returns with the x-rays he took before Lucas and Peyton arrived. He tells them that Sawyer fractured her ulna, and she'll need a cast, and the little girl cries in pain every time he touches her arm. Dr. Morrow casts a glance Lucas' way, and he knows he's got to keep her still and calm her down. Though he's been trying to do it all along, he needs to try a little harder.
He kisses Peyton's temple, and she takes a step back, knowing that Lucas is about to take control of the situation, and she absolutely loves him for that.
He doesn't say anything particularly meaningful, but to his six-year-old girl, his words mean the world. He just holds her hand and strokes her hair and sits close to her bed. He murmurs that she'll be okay, and that he knows it hurts but she has to try to sit still. He insists that she look at him and not the doctor, and before they even know it, she's wearing her cast and her tears have stopped falling.
"There you go, sweetheart," Dr. Morrow says, smiling at her as he gently rests her arm over her stomach. "All set."
The doctor pulls Peyton aside to talk about how to keep the cast clean, and what to give Sawyer for the pain, and Lucas smiles at his daughter and tells her how brave she was. He wipes her cheeks and kisses her forehead. Peyton walks back over to Lucas and Sawyer just in time to be brought to tears again.
"That's why you're my daddy," Sawyer says quietly.
He knows what she means. He helps her and he's there for her. He holds her hand and makes her feel better. To him, he does those things because he's her daddy. To her, those are the things that make him her daddy. He thinks that both those might be true.
----
Sawyer begs him to take her to the River Court one Saturday morning. She's up well before he and Peyton are, and that's really no surprise. He wonders if they sleep late because they both love it when she comes in their room and climbs up into bed to lay between them. But this morning, she comes in carrying a basketball and walks over to Lucas' side of the bed and stares at him until he wakes up. It's a little creepy, but she'll do that. She'll just stare at one of them until their eyes open.
"I wanna play," she says before saying anything else. She's hugging the basketball in her little arms and Lucas smiles sleepily before throwing back the covers.
"Come on," he says as he sets his feet on the floor. "Let's get you dressed, then."
He fixes them some breakfast while Peyton sleeps, and she's still not awake by the time they're both dressed and ready to head out the door. Lucas writes a note and leaves it on the kitchen table, and Sawyer insists that she needs to write her name on the paper, too, so Lucas stands back and grins as she prints her name and draws a little heart next to it.
She holds his hand as they walk to the court, and he's got the ball pinned to his hip. They wave to their neighbours and the people they see along the way, and little Sawyer Scott is quite the popular girl. Everyone seems to love her, and she smiles at everyone like they're her best friends. She's recently lost her front tooth, so that's the topic of conversation when they bump into the older woman who lives just down the street from them.
Sawyer loves basketball, and she's not bad given her size and the fact that she's only seven years old. She tries hard, and she takes advice when it's given to her, and she has fun playing. Peyton would complain that Sawyer is Lucas' clone, but she kind of loves the original, too. She doesn't really have reason to be upset.
Lucas claps and cheers after Sawyer sinks a shot, and she gives him a high five as he passes the ball back to her. Nathan calls him and Sawyer shouts the score (she's 'beating' Lucas) and Nathan laughs. He tells Lucas that he and Jamie are on their way over now, since Jamie wants to get a workout in. He's going to push for varsity, not just JV, as a freshman in high school next year, and Nathan's helping him with his game.
So the four Scotts play ball, and it's Jamie and Lucas against Nathan and Sawyer. It's 'almost even', Nathan says, though it's a lie and they all know it. Jamie and Lucas put up a good fight, but Nathan doesn't necessarily go easy on them, and he lifts Sawyer up to help her dunk, and neither Jamie nor Lucas has the heart to really block Sawyer at all. She makes a bunch of shots that could definitely be stopped, but it's not really the score that matters at all. Sawyer gives Nathan a big hug and he lifts her up off the ground to hold her, since he's leaving on an eight-day road trip the following afternoon and she won't see him again until he returns. They say their goodbyes, and Nathan and Jamie start their serious workout as Lucas and Sawyer are walking away.
"I'm gonna play in the NBA like Nathan," Sawyer states as they're walking towards their neighbourhood.
Lucas laughs and looks down at her, all bright blue eyes and toothless smile. "Sweetie, girls can't play in the NBA. But there's a league for girls called the WNBA."
"I don't want to play with girls," she says, her little brow furrowed.
"How come?" he asks.
"Because boys are more fun."
He almost passes out.
He's a little off for the rest of the day, and Peyton notices and he knows that she does, but she doesn't say anything. It's not until they're laying in bed that night that she brings it up. She knows it's something big, because she's reading, and he's the one laying there with his arms crossed and his brow knit.
"Lucas, what's going on?" she asks with a laugh. He looks so serious and pensive, but she knows that it's nothing that major, because he hasn't just talked to her about it yet, and they share everything. "You've been weird since you got back today."
"You know what your daughter said today?" She rolls her eyes, because he sounds truly offended. He looks at her just in time to have missed it, and she looks curious, encouraging him to finish his point. "She said that boys are fun."
She has to try her hardest not to laugh. Lucas is protective, overprotective sometimes, but this is all starting a little early. She doesn't expect him to go easy when it comes to their daughter, but she's only seven, and it's not like she's out chasing down boys.
"Boys are fun," she says softly, running her hand through his hair. He looks over at her, since he knows that tone of voice, and he kinks his brow. She's trying to...distract him, but it's not going to work.
"She's seven."
"Exactly," Peyton says. "Lucas, she means that she likes playing tag and sharing cookies with them."
"She should only want to share cookies with me," he says, pouting enough that Peyton just has to kiss him. He's so cute with that steely look on his face. He really does want to be the only man in their daughter's life. Peyton's glad he's really the only man in hers.
"I promise I'll always share my cookies with you." She says it with just an air of innuendo, and he can't hide his smile, though he really wishes he could.
"As long as you don't make them," he mumbles, laughing when she swats his arm with the back of her hand.
"I take it back. Sawyer and I will find other boys to share our cookies with." There's no innuendo this time, and he's thankful, but the look he gives her is a serious one. "Lucas, honey, we have a lot of time before we have to worry about boys. The only boy she cares about is you."
He smiles and leans over to kiss her. "And what about you?" he asks, resting his hand over hers as it sits on his chest.
"You're the only boy I care about, too," she promises.
Yes, Lucas Scott has a good life.
----
He thinks maybe those first few days they were forced to spend just the two of them maybe helped them out. He would have made her a daddy's girl either way, but those days where he was terrified and had only that little baby girl to comfort him and remind him to keep hope definitely made him see her differently. He loves her with everything in him, and she loves him right back just as much. He's known that all along.
But she's stubborn and she likes to get her way, and every once in a while, she's got just a little too much attitude.
She's nine years old, and she's challenging authority, and Lucas isn't exactly thrilled with it. Neither is Peyton, but she's just a touch more patient than he is. He and Sawyer have never really argued at all. She's a good kid and he's never been mad at her, not really.
But it seems that anything he asks her to do, she refuses to do, and any time he says he won't ask her again, she crosses her arms and squints at him (a trait he should love, since it's obvious she's picked it up from him, but he finally realizes how infuriating it can be for everyone else). Peyton and Haley have gone for coffee, and she's due back any minute, and Sawyer's room is a disaster. He and Peyton have decided that they won't clean up after her if possible, so that she can learn responsibility.
Well, she's resistant to learning that lesson.
"Sawyer, please tidy up before your mother gets home," he asks her for the tenth time (though he said he wouldn't ask again).
"I don't want to."
"No one wants to tidy up. It has to be done. Now go on," he says sternly. It's hard for him to be even a little bit harsh with her.
"No!" she shouts, stomping her foot. That's not an action Lucas particularly wants her making a habit of.
He turns to her and puts his hands on his hips, and he looks so much bigger than her that it almost makes him laugh. He puts on a serious face and takes a deep breath. It's time to start making threats. He hates this part. Peyton's usually the bad cop, but even she does that in a nice way. He doesn't know how she does it. He just sounds like such a jerk when he has to get harsh with Sawyer. He absolutely hates it.
"Sawyer, if you don't go tidy up that room right now, there'll be no television for a week."
"Dad!" she yells, like that's the worst thing that could happen to her. He just stares her down and she rolls her eyes and walks past him. Peyton opens the door to the kitchen, where the standoff was taking place, just in time to hear her daughter's next words. "I hate you!"
He knows she doesn't mean it - that she's just mad - but his heart breaks a little bit anyway, and he stands there looking devastated as Peyton walks towards him.
"What did you say to her?" she asks, looking down the hall.
"What did I...?" he asks in shock, a little offended that she assumes he's done something wrong. "I told her to clean her room, Peyton. It's not like it's slave labour."
"She's a girl, Luke. You have to be gentle with her," Peyton insists quietly.
"She's being so damn stubborn," he tells her, shaking his head. "She doesn't listen to anything I say."
"I know, honey, but...I was the same way as a girl."
"So this is your fault," he says, teasing her just a little bit.
"Maybe," she says, laughing softly. "Just be patient, okay? It'll pass."
"Yeah. You're not stubborn at all," he mumbles. She swats his chest and he leans down to kiss her forehead. "I'm gonna go write for a while."
He starts walking away from her, but she knows that he's probably beating himself up over being so hard on Sawyer. And maybe feeling awful for another reason, too.
"Luke," she says quietly, and he turns to face her. "She doesn't hate you."
He doesn't say anything in response. He just purses his lips and nods subtly. He knows she's right. It still kills him that Sawyer ever said the words.
He writes for an hour. Well, he fakes it for an hour. He's wondering if he took it too far, though he still thinks that what he said wasn't too bad at all. It's not like he called her names or made a big (bigger) threat. It's not like he said he hated her or anything. He doesn't want her to be mad at him, and though it's inevitable, it's something he'd like to avoid. He knows, from talks with his brother, that this is a tough age, as kids are becoming more and more aware of the world and their place in it. Or something like that. Haley may have used those words. Lucas is pretty sure Nathan said Jamie was a 'nightmare' at nine. He's certain it was an exaggeration.
He's tapping his pen on his notebook when there's a knock at the door and Sawyer pushes it open gently.
"Hi dad," she says quietly. She looks adorable and remorseful, and he can't stay mad at her, and this is exactly why. Every time he looks at her, he's reminded of how much he loves her.
"Come here," he insists, smiling at her. She climbs up onto his lap and he kisses her temple.
"I don't hate you," she almost whispers.
"I know, Sawyer."
"I don't know why I said that. I'm sorry," she says.
He moves away a little bit so he can look at her, and she smiles sheepishly. "I love you, you know that?"
"Even when I'm a brat?" she asks, and he laughs at her and pulls her close again.
"Especially then. Know why?" She shakes her head and he runs his hand over her back. "Because you're just like your mom." She laughs and lays her head against his shoulder, just like she always has. "But don't tell her I said she's a brat, or I'll be in trouble."
"'Kay," she giggles. "I love you, daddy."
His heart swells and he has to take a deep breath. The same thing that happens any time she says those words. "I know you do. I love you too."
"What are you writing?"
He starts telling her about the new idea he's working on, and she's always his most honest critic, mostly because she's got no clue about underlying themes and metaphors and the rest of it. She laughs at the things his characters say, or she gets mad when things don't work out, and it makes him smile to know that she's so interested in his work.
When Peyton appears in the doorway, knowing that the two of them have made up, she just smiles and leans against the door frame, and she watches as Sawyer sits on Lucas' lap, reading out loud what he types on the screen.
----
Brooke takes Peyton and Haley to New York for the launch of her latest line, and the men are left with their kids. Nathan's got Jamie under control, though the boy has his license now and is scarcely home. Julian has he and Brooke's five-year-old daughter Hannah to tend to, and Lucas is with Sawyer. He misses Peyton terribly - they aren't used to being apart at all - but he kind of loves the idea of spending some time one-on-one with his daughter.
She's 12 now, and she thinks she knows everything, but she's brilliant and everyone likes her. She laughs and it's contagious, and she takes care of all her friends and she loves her 'cousin' Hannah like a sister would. Lucas thinks it's fitting that Peyton's daughter and Brooke's daughter would be close, no matter what the age difference is. She's in middle school, and she plays on the basketball team, and she makes straight A's. He has no idea how she does it. He gets tired just driving her around to all her activities and friends' houses.
Lucas steps out to get a few things at the store, and he and Peyton have just recently started getting comfortable with the idea of leaving Sawyer home without one of them there. It's not for long periods of time, and Lucas worries himself out of his mind when he does it, but he knows she's responsible enough to be left alone for a half hour. She's doing homework, and they desperately need milk, coffee, and cookies (the Scott house is never without cookies), so he tells her he's going out, and she calls him daddy as she says goodbye, and he loves that she still does that every so often.
When he walks back into the house through the back door, he hears the rough cut of Haley's latest album coming from Sawyer's room and he smiles to himself. He hears another voice, one that isn't Haley, singing along, and he furrows his brow. Sawyer used to goof around and sing with Peyton in the car, loudly and jokingly. Lucas isn't sure he's ever heard her sing in what he assumes is her real voice.
But she's doing it now, and maybe it's that he's her father, but he's got goosebumps on his arms like he got the first time he ever heard Haley sing.
She's good. She's got talent.
He wonders if there's anything she's not good at.
He stands there in the doorway to her room with his arms crossed. She hasn't noticed him yet, and she's laying on her stomach on her bed doing her homework, but when she looks over at him, her face goes red.
"Dad!" she cries, embarrassed.
"Where did that come from?" he asks, stepping towards her. She sits up on her bed and toys with the little gold ring on her middle finger (a gift for her last birthday).
"I dunno," she says, shrugging her shoulders. She's avoiding eye contact, and he smiles as he takes a seat next to her. "I just sing sometimes."
"Sawyer, you're really good," he tells her, and she looks up at him with something like hope in her eyes. "Really good."
"You weren't supposed to hear."
"How come?" he asks, chuckling softly.
"Because you'll tell mom, and she'll make a big deal about it, and...I dunno. I just do it because it's fun," she says.
"Okay," he says softly. He pulls her into his side and kisses the top of her head. "But you should keep singing. Join the choir or something."
"I'm not good enough, dad," she insists.
"Yeah, you are," he insists. She rolls her eyes, and he shakes his head. She's picked up that trait from her mother. "And if you have fun doing something, you should do it as much as possible."
"I guess."
"Just think about it," he says, standing from his place. "Haley never wanted to sing in public either."
"Really?" she asks in surprise and Lucas nods his head. "What happened?"
He smiles at her, one of those all-knowing dad smiles. "She found some people who believed in her."
He tells Peyton about Sawyer's talent (yet another one) when she returns from her trip, and her eyes go wide. She knows fathers tend to exaggerate their childrens' accomplishments, but Sawyer has so many that there's no reason for Lucas to make things up. She's thrilled. Sawyer has always enjoyed and connected to music. Peyton's glad she has a talent for it. Lucas tells her that Sawyer doesn't want her to make a fuss about it, and she pouts, but agrees to it. She spends the next week trying to 'catch' Sawyer singing, and when she does, she tells her daughter that she knows talent, and the girl has it.
One day while he's driving her home from school, Sawyer tells Lucas that she's going to try out for the choir, and he smiles and winks at her like he knew she'd do it all along.
She runs through the door the day of her audition and she flies onto the sofa where Lucas is sitting with a book in his hands. She throws her arms around him and Peyton steps inside. Sawyer told her the news on the way home, and Peyton knew that Lucas would be ridiculously proud.
"I got it, daddy!" she cries. "Mrs. Haines is giving me a solo!"
"That's amazing!" he says happily, holding her tight.
They all - all the Scotts and all the Bakers - go to her watch her first performance. It's just one song that the choir sings at the school's talent show, but Sawyer sings the solo. Peyton holds Lucas' hand so tightly that her nails leave imprints on his palm. Haley tears up, and Brooke looks at Peyton as if to ask 'since when has she had that voice'. Nathan stands first, starting the ovation and applause, and after the show, Sawyer runs towards her family and humbly accepts their praise. She and Haley talk for a while about music, and Lucas hangs back a little bit, so proud of her for finding something else she's passionate about.
They're walking to the car and she slips her hand into Lucas' and looks up at him with those eyes that match his own.
"Thanks, dad," she says quietly.
He sends her a wink and nods his head. She knows she doesn't have to say what she's thanking him for, that he'll know that his silent support and gentle encouragement are what have helped her most. He believes in her. Always. Without fail.
----
"I am not wearing that," she states firmly. "No way."
"It's cute!" Brooke insists, holding up the purple shirt. It's from her line, and Sawyer loves getting free clothes.
She just hates purple.
"No. Do you have like, black? Grey? Maybe blue?" she asks. Brooke lets out a huff and Lucas laughs. "Dad, tell her I don't wear purple."
"She doesn't wear purple," he says flatly, not even looking up from his newspaper.
"Lucas, your daughter would look amazing in this," Brooke insists. "It's...It'll make her eyes look insane, and her hair will basically glow. She'll be gorgeous."
"She already is gorgeous, Brooke." Sawyer beams, and Lucas sends her a smile over his paper. "And aren't we trying to find something for Peyton, here?"
He's got a book launch coming up, and Peyton is searching for a dress to wear. She 'needs' Sawyer's opinion, and Lucas just wants to see her in a bunch of sexy dresses, so they both tagged along to Brooke's shop with her. It's a Saturday, before the store even opens, and they're all nursing coffees. Lucas isn't crazy about Sawyer, at 15, drinking coffee, and he limits her to one a day.
"She's trying things on. Sawyer needs some colour in her wardrobe," Brooke says firmly.
"Blue's a colour," Sawyer retorts. "And I wear green sometimes. And I have that red shirt you gave me."
"Okay, but..."
"Brooke," Peyton laughs, stepping out of the dressing room in a navy blue silk dress. Lucas finally lowers his newspaper so he can look at her. He can't help it. "Leave the girl alone."
"Fine. She can go unnoticed by boys," Brooke mumbles.
"I'm just fine with that," Sawyer says.
"Me too," Lucas adds. Brooke rolls her eyes at all three of them. "That's the dress, by the way."
"Yeah?" Peyton asks, throwing him a flirty look in the mirror.
"Definitely," he insists.
"Ew. You guys are like...can you not look at each other like that?" Sawyer asks in disgust, hopping up onto the counter. She takes a sip of her coffee as Lucas laughs.
"Honey, they've been looking at each other like that for...God. Over 20 years," Brooke says.
"You guys are so old!" Sawyer says with a laugh. Lucas just shakes his head, Peyton laughs, and Brooke looks disgusted that Sawyer would say such a thing. "Seriously. You were like...my age when you met."
"No, I was dating Nathan when I was your age," Peyton corrects. Brooke starts finding accessories to go with the dress Peyton's got on, and Lucas has long-since discarded his newspaper in favour of paying attention to how damn good his wife looks right now.
"Oh, that is just...so weird. Every time I hear it," Sawyer says, grimacing. "You realize how messed up your relationships are, right? Like, it's not normal."
"It's not normal," Lucas agrees. "But it turned out pretty well."
"If and when I ever get a boyfriend, he's going to be like...average," Sawyer says with a laugh. Peyton glances at her and Brooke scoffs. Lucas is clenching his jaw at the thought. "What?"
"Honey, you don't want an average boy," Peyton insists. "You want...sweetness and comfort. And caring and..."
"Butterflies," Brooke supplies, making Peyton nod her head. "You want someone smart who'll treat you properly."
"So I want...dad," Sawyer states flatly.
The girls all laugh, and Lucas smiles from his place. He loves that Peyton and Brooke are telling his daughter to keep her expectations high and not settle. He'd say the same things, but Sawyer would roll her eyes and groan. At least she'll listen to her mom and Brooke.
He also loves that in her eyes, he's the only man worth spending any time with at all.
----
He's sitting on the sofa with his latest manuscript in his hands and a pencil clenched between his teeth. He doesn't love this stage of the writing. He's finished the book and sent it to edit, and they read it and marked it all up, and he has to decide where he wants to compromise, and where he won't give an inch. The more successful he gets - this is his seventh novel - and the more books he sells, the more stubborn he gets. His editor is a straight shooter who generally takes Lucas' side.
Peyton is out, co-producing Haley's latest record (just like she did with the last one), and so he's got the house all to himself for a bit. It was hard at first, getting used to the quiet. It seemed as soon as they bought Sawyer that car for her birthday, the girl is scarcely home on the weekends. In the evenings, she'll go to the River Court or she'll babysit Brooke and Julian's two girls.
He hears her car pull into the driveway - it's a new Mustang, the same colour as Lucas' - and steps through the door, and she doesn't say a word. She drops her keys on the table and her bag on the floor, and she sits down next to Lucas and lets out a deep sigh. She's coming from basketball practice - Tuesdays and Thursdays she has choir and Monday, Wednesday and Friday are basketball practice - but Lucas knows that's not what's got her sounding so exhausted.
"What's up, kid?" he asks knowingly.
"Nothing!"
"Sawyer," he says, raising his brow.
"Don't freak out," she warns him, her blue eyes pleading.
"Never, ever start a conversation with your dad with those words."
"No. It's not...I think...I think I like a boy," she admits timidly, locking eyes with him. He takes a moment so that he doesn't say the first thing that comes to mind, which she most definitely wouldn't appreciate. He takes a breath and clears his throat, and she doesn't really appreciate that either. "Dad."
"Right," he says, laughing nervously. "Right. Don't you want to talk to your mom about this?"
"I will. Maybe. I dunno," she says. She shrugs her shoulders and toys with the hole in the knee of her jeans. "I just...like talking to you about stuff."
He smiles, because what man doesn't want his 16-year-old daughter to say that to him? He knows he and Peyton are amazing parents and always have been, but every once in a while, Sawyer will say things like that, that make him pretty damn proud of all three of them. He turns towards her a little bit more, and the way he looks at her makes her relax a little more.
"Tell me about this boy. What's he like?" he asks, because if he doesn't support her, she'll never come to him again. And really, he's not that scared. She's smart and she's always been able to read people pretty well. He's worried, but he trusts her not to date someone who isn't worthy of her.
"His name's Tyson. He's on the soccer team."
"Soccer?" Lucas scoffs, pulling a face.
"Daddy!" she cries, trying to get him to pay attention to what's important here.
"Alright, alright. I'm sorry. What else?"
"He's pretty smart. And he's nice, you know? Like...I dunno. He bought me a coffee the other day when I forgot my wallet," she explains.
"That's pretty nice," Lucas admits, smiling at her. "So...what's the problem, then?"
"Okay, I know this is going to sound...so, so snobby, but...he's not like, popular," she says quietly.
He laughs and shakes his head. This is all sounding a little familiar. The most popular girl in school (Sawyer definitely is), a beautiful girl with her own car and a million friends, and the unpopular athlete with the good heart (Lucas doesn't know, but he'll assume) and the crush on a girl who he's probably sure will never care.
"Well, as much as I hate to say it, popularity is pretty important in high school," Lucas tells her.
"Well, how did you know you liked mom?" she asks. Lucas just raises his brow and she starts laughing. She knows the story. "Sorry. I forgot you were like, stalking her until she almost killed you with her car."
"I wasn't stalking her. Did she tell you I was stalking her?" he asks urgently.
"My problem, dad. Can we deal with your insecurities later?" she teases. He reaches over and musses her hair like he knows she hates.
"So you're worried that if you go out with him..."
"I don't care what people think," she says stubbornly. "I just...I don't want to like...What if I don't like him as much as I think I do?"
"Sawyer, that's what they call dating," he tells her. He laughs a little when she rolls her eyes.
"I just don't want to hurt him," she admits quietly.
"Oh, honey," he says, laughing softly. "That's...You're too much like your mother." She stares at him as if she's trying to figure out what he means by that. "You think you might be more worried about you getting hurt?" he suggests delicately.
"Maybe." She looks away momentarily when he smirks at her. "I've...you know...kissed boys before, but..."
"Sawyer," Lucas groans, shaking his head.
"Dad, I'm 16."
"And I'm your father," he reminds her. She just nods, like she knows what he means, and she doesn't have to defend her point.
"I think it's different with this one," she says.
"Well, you should give him a chance," he insists. "Because sometimes the unpopular kid can turn out to be pretty cool."
"Yeah. I mean, look at Haley," she says, just to tease him. He squints at her, and she squints right back, and that's when Peyton walks into the room.
"Whoa," she says, laughing at the seemingly tense atmosphere. "What's going on in here?"
"Your daughter has a crush on a boy," Lucas states nonchalantly.
"Your husband is making fun of me," Sawyer retorts.
"Okay," Peyton draws out with a laugh. She runs her hand through Lucas' hair as she walks past him. "I've gotta get started on dinner. I'll be in the kitchen."
She walks out of the room and Sawyer wraps her arms around her dad. He hugs her back, thankful that at 16, she still does this kind of thing with her dad. They've all - all three of them - always been affectionate, and he loves it. He and Peyton still act like teenagers sometimes, and Sawyer will still link her arm through her mother's as they walk through town. She'll rest her head on Lucas' shoulder as they watch movies (Peyton and Sawyer on either side of him). He wouldn't trade that for anything.
"Thanks, dad," she says. She kisses his cheek and gets up off the sofa. "I'm gonna help mom."
Two weeks later when he meets Tyson for the first time at one of Sawyer's games, Lucas winks at his daughter after the initial introduction. Tyson is a quiet boy, polite and well-mannered, and he looks at Sawyer like he absolutely adores her. That's enough to make Lucas happy.
It's not until after Lucas has told her that he likes the boy that Sawyer actually goes on a date with Tyson.
----
Her senior year, Sawyer starts being scouted by colleges for her skill with a basketball, and Lucas couldn't be happier. Peyton is proud of their girl, knowing how much she loves the game, and is happy that she'll probably have her pick of schools to attend. Nathan helps her with some plays and drills, and he and Lucas take on Jamie and Sawyer in games at the River Court. Jamie has graduated from Wake Forest, where he played for four years while he got his schooling, and now he's returned to Tree Hill to teach gym at the middle school and coach its basketball teams.
But there's another coach, an older one, and one Monday afternoon Nathan and Lucas learn that Whitey has passed away. It's the talk of the town as soon as it happens, and maybe no one is more affected than those Scott boys and the members of that team that won the state championship all those years ago.
Sawyer hears the news at school, and when she comes home, Lucas and Peyton are sitting on the sofa in the living room, and Nathan and Haley are seated in two chairs across from them. Skills and Lauren are there, and everyone looks somber. Sawyer walks right over to where Lucas is sitting, and she wraps her arms around him from behind.
"I'm so sorry, daddy," she says, and everyone else in the room gets a little choked up. She knows that Whitey always held a special place in Lucas' heart, and he kind of had a special place in hers, too. He was always good to her, and he was a sweet old man, and she's going to miss him.
"I know, sweetie," he manages. The truth is, with her resting her chin on his shoulder and her arms wrapped around him, it's the first moment he feels like he might break down.
She doesn't say anything else. He doesn't need her to.
She holds his hand (Peyton holds the other) at the funeral. She's strong, and she wipes her tears subtly, and she and Peyton both cry a little harder as they listen to the eulogy Lucas gives. The mood is somber on the drive home, and none of them say anything. Peyton doesn't know what to say to Lucas, knowing that his heart is breaking and he needs to process. She'll just hold his hand and be there for him if he needs her.
When they step into the house, Lucas, on instinct, heads for the answering machine. He presses play, thinking that it's probably his agent or his editor. It's not.
"This message is for Sawyer Scott. This is Kellie Harper. I'm the head coach at NC State, and I wanted to personally call and offer you a spot on my team next year..."
Sawyer's hand flies to her mouth and she gasps, and Lucas lets himself smile for the first time in days. He turns to her, and she's crying again, and he really doesn't know why; if it's happiness or sadness or maybe a mixture of both.
Peyton pulls Sawyer into her arms and congratulates her - NC State is her dream school; the one she's been holding out for - and Lucas walks over, rests his hand on Peyton's back, and kisses Sawyer's forehead. She moves into his arms and she feels about four years old when he holds her right against his chest.
"This is like, the worst time for this," she says quietly.
"No," he insists, pulling away from her a little bit. "I think it might be the best."
For the first time in her life, at almost 18 years old, Sawyer sees her dad shed a tear.
She knows what he means. Whitey always told her he was rooting for her, and she'd get in anywhere she wanted if she tried hard enough. She knows it's a sad day, but there's something sweet and almost poetic about her getting this call on this day. Lucas asks her if she wants to call Tyson. She tells him she'll talk to him later. What goes unspoken is that there's another man altogether who needs her attention.
Sawyer is the only girl ever to go onto play basketball at college after leaving Tree Hill High.
And as happy as Lucas is that she's going to such a great school, he's even happier that NC State is so close to home.
He's not ready to lose her yet.
----
Sawyer graduates high school with full honours and a scholarship to college. She also led her team to the state finals, where they narrowly lost the title to a team from Charlotte. She won two academic awards, was named MVP of the girls' varsity basketball team, and recognized for her excellence in music. To say her parents are proud would be a massive understatement. That extends to her aunts and uncles, too. Jamie tells her she's living up to the expectations of the Scott name, and it's not really a joke, since Nathan was an NBA star for 15 years, Haley is a platinum recording artist, Lucas is a best-selling author, Peyton has produced or co-produced a dozen albums, and Jamie is ninth on the all-time scoring list at Wake Forest.
They're kind of an impressive bunch.
It's the summer before Sawyer goes off to college, and she and Peyton have been decorating and furnishing the apartment they've already found for Sawyer in Raleigh. Lucas just sits back and lets them do their thing, and he lifts things or pays for things when he's asked to. Sawyer jokes and tells him that's his job as her dad. They both know there's a lot more to it than that.
He comes home one afternoon after playing a round of golf with 'the guys'. It kind of amazes him that he, Nathan, Julian, Skills and Mouth are all so close. They've turned Julian into a basketball fan (he and Lucas' issues were essentially resolved when Lucas invited Julian to a wedding about 18 years ago...). The men have an unspoken agreement to meet up to hang out at least once a week. They've all got wives and kids, but they make the time. Sometimes they'll watch a game, sometimes they'll take Julian's boat out and spend a day on the water. Other times they'll just sit around at one of their houses and talk about whatever it is they talk about.
The girls do the same thing, too, there's just a lot more gossip involved.
He steps through the bedroom door, fully intent on writing for a while. No one hears him come in, and he thinks that might be okay. He can hear them talking, and while he doesn't love to eaves drop, it's a conversation he's glad he's hearing.
Sawyer and Peyton are in the kitchen, drinking sweet tea and making cookies, and Sawyer asks her mom for some advice.
"Can I ask you something?" Sawyer inquires. Peyton nods and smiles; of course she can ask. "How did you know you loved dad?"
Peyton grins a little wider. It's not just that she loves talking to Sawyer about, well, anything. She especially loves reminiscing about her relationship with Lucas.
She doesn't know that Lucas is in their bedroom, eagerly anticipating her response.
"I...I think I knew the first time he looked at me," Peyton admits. "He had this smile on his face, like...like without saying a word, he understood everything about me."
"Okay, but...I need something that isn't like, a fairy tale," Sawyer says, and Peyton laughs that laugh Lucas loves so much.
"I'm going so say some stuff that might make you feel...weirded out," Peyton warns. Sawyer laughs and nods her head. "The first time I kissed your dad it was like there were...fireworks going off in my stomach." Lucas' heart races as he listens to her talk. She's never explained it quite like that before. "Every time I was around him, I'd get nervous and girly, but he made me...calm, too. Like I didn't have to be anything other than just me, because that was all he saw anyway."
"Wow," Sawyer says quietly. Wow indeed, Lucas thinks.
"And when I finally said the words to him, no matter what happened from there, it was like...I knew it was okay either way, because it was just about letting him know how I felt."
"And...what about when he said it to you?" Sawyer asks. "What did that...I mean, how did you feel?"
Peyton laughs again, softly. "Honey, when I can describe it, I'll let you know."
Lucas closes his eyes and shakes his head. He hasn't typed a word. He's been sitting there, heart full and a smile on his face, definitely eaves dropping on a conversation he probably shouldn't be hearing. He doesn't regret it for a second. He loves his wife so damn much, and he's always known it, but she loves him back just as hard. It's only grown over the years, and he doesn't know how that's even possible. It's growing now, too, as she says that even after almost 20 years of marriage, she still can't describe it.
Amazing. Simply amazing.
"Remember when you and Brooke said I should get butterflies?" Sawyer asks. Peyton nods her head again and her daughter bites her lip a little bit. "I get that all the time around Tyson. Like...sometimes I just want to...scream, I'm so...happy. Or something."
"Yeah," Peyton says quietly, like she's known it all along.
"So I think...I feel like I'm in love with him."
Peyton smiles, so proud of her daughter for not running from her emotions like her parents always seemed to do at that age. "So what are you doing talking to me about it?" Peyton asks, only half-teasingly.
"I always feel better after talking to you, mom," Sawyer admits. Peyton wraps her arm around Sawyer's shoulder and presses their cheeks together - they're the same height - and Sawyer takes a deep breath. "He's just finishing soccer practice. Maybe I'll go see him."
Peyton lets her go, and Sawyer grabs her keys from the hook by the door. "Hey," Peyton says, and Sawyer turns to her again. "I'm proud of you, you know that? I wish I had told your dad sooner."
"Yeah." Sawyer laughs softly and nods her head. "Because that all turned out so poorly," she jokes.
Both girls laugh, and Sawyer promises to be home in time for dinner, then Lucas hears the door close and the car start.
Peyton steps into the room moments later, flour on her jeans and her hair in a ponytail. She's got a cookie in one hand, and she walks straight for the closet. She doesn't see him sitting there at his desk, and so he stands quietly and walks towards her. She shrieks when he wraps his arms around her, and she elbows him lightly for scaring her.
"Don't do that," she scolds him. But he's kissing her neck, and she definitely wants him to keep doing that. "How long have you been home?"
"A while," he says, knowing she'll know that he's just heard the entire conversation she had with their daughter.
She turns in his arms and one hand plays with the buttons of his shirt, an action he's never gotten sick of, and the other holds the half eaten cookie just out of the reach of his lips. "Want some?" she asks.
"Mmm. Hell yes," he says, his voice thick with lust. She holds the cookie while he takes a bite, and she smiles as she eats the rest. "Chocolate chip."
"I think I've perfected them," she says, and he nods and smiles in agreement.
"And it only took you 25 years."
"Shut up!" she cries, shoving him a little bit. He pulls her flush against him and presses his lips to hers, making her moan in that way he loves so much. She lets her arms wrap around his waist, and he rests one hand on her cheek, and he has to remind himself to stay in control when he tastes the chocolate on her tongue.
He pulls apart and her eyes are still closed, and he smiles in something like accomplishment. "Fireworks?" he asks.
"Every time."
----
It's only a few weeks before the start of Sawyer's junior year at college when Tyson tentatively knocks on the door to Lucas and Peyton's house. Sawyer is spending the day at the studio with Haley, laying down some background vocals on a couple songs (not a bad summer job, if you ask her), and so neither Lucas nor Peyton is really sure what he's doing there.
As soon as he sits down, rubs his hands on the knees of his jeans, and takes a deep breath, Lucas is almost certain he's figured it out.
The boy gathers his confidence and makes a short speech about how much he loves Sawyer, and how he's willing to do anything in the world to keep her happy, and he says that he loves her. Peyton's throat gets a little tight, and she clutches Lucas' hand in a way that isn't subtle at all.
Sawyer is only 20, and she hasn't graduated college, and she's got a whole lot of things to do with her life. Most fathers would flat out say no, that they're too young and they should wait a couple years to even entertain the thought of getting married. But Lucas was a 19 year old, head over heels for the girl, and he proposed. Maybe he should, given the way everything went after it, regret that, but he definitely doesn't.
So as Peyton smiles and tears up next to him, Lucas finds himself happily giving Tyson permission to marry Sawyer.
Some men would call him crazy, but he knows his daughter. He knows she's happiest when she's with this boy (now man). There isn't much more he can ask for.
----
Sawyer and Tyson get married on a Saturday the summer before their senior year. She wears a simple white dress, and her blonde hair is down, and her makeup is flawless, despite all the crying she's done with her mother and aunts and her friends. Lucas steps into the room after Peyton leaves. He'd kissed his wife and wiped the tears from her eyes and playfully told her to stop being a baby. She rolled her eyes and told him that he was going to cry too.
He hates it when she's right. Sawyer is taking deep breaths and smoothing out the fabric of her dress when she sees him, and she grins shyly and bites her lip. He shakes his head and smiles at her as she walks towards him, grabbing her bouquet along the way.
"I'm too young for this," she says jokingly, and Lucas laughs and kisses her temple. They both know she's more than ready.
"You look amazing, sweetie," he tells her.
"Don't make me cry again, daddy."
He blinks away a few tears before she can notice them. It's her wedding day, she's a woman, and she's still calling him daddy. He hopes she never stops doing that. She only ever does it anymore when it's just the two of them alone together, and he likes it that way. It's like their little secret.
"You ready?" he asks needlessly as they walk down the hall towards the doors of the ballroom where the ceremony is taking place. She nods her head and slips her arm through his. The music starts and she takes a deep breath, then smiles.
"God. I'm...I'm getting married," she says, like it's just hitting her then. Lucas laughs and places his hand over hers. "I'm getting married," she repeats in a whisper.
"Hey," he says, pulling her attention to him. She looks up, bright blue eyes shining with excitement and love and happiness. "I could never give you away, you know that?"
"Dad..."
"You're my girl, Sawyer," he says quietly. "I love you."
"I love you too, dad," she says. He winks at her and she squeezes his arm. "But if you make me cry anymore, I'll be so mad at you."
He walks her down the aisle, and he shakes Tyson's hand after kissing Sawyer's forehead, and he winks at her before he goes to sit down next to Peyton. She slips her hand into his, and she doesn't say anything about the tear she sees rolling down his cheek.
----
Peyton takes a week and she and Haley travel up the coast for a few shows. Haley's the 'talent', and Peyton's just along for the ride, she'll say, though they all know she's a lot more than that. Lucas is all alone in their house, and it doesn't happen that often, and he's going out of his mind. He hates it when it's this quiet. The past four years without Sawyer living there full time have been strange enough, and even though it's just for a few days, he hates it when Peyton isn't around.
He's sitting on the sofa watching a soccer game (what can he say, his son-in-law has gotten him into the sport) when the door swings open and Sawyer walks in. Lucas smiles until he sees the tears in her eyes, and his heart falls.
"Honey, what's wrong?" he asks worriedly. She joins him on the sofa and immediately wraps her arms around him and buries her face in his shoulder, and he swears she's just a little girl again. "Sawyer..."
"I need your help," she says. That does absolutely nothing to ease his mind. Nothing at all.
"Okay," he says, pushing her away just a little as he tries to keep his mind from racing. "What is it?"
"Tyson and I had a fight," she admits. "And...I need your advice, dad, because you're the only one who'll understand."
"Alright."
She wipes her cheeks and Lucas waits, faking patience, for her to start talking. "A scout came to my last game. From the New York Liberty. And he said that they want to draft me, and that there are other teams who are interested, too."
"Sawyer, that's amazing," Lucas says seriously.
"Yeah, but...Tyson already got into law school here, and I can't...I'm not going to move away from him just to play ball. But...I want to, kind of, and...I don't know what to do, daddy."
He smiles and laughs softly, and she glares at him like that's the absolute worst thing he could be doing right now. He drapes his arm around her shoulder and she curls into his side. He kisses the top of her head, absolutely loving that he's the one she comes to for advice on these things, and that she's not afraid to cry about it, and she's married and almost 21 and she still calls him daddy.
"You know, when you were about seven years old, you told me you wanted to play in the NBA," he tells her, and she laughs tearfully. "I told you there was a league for girls, and you told me, very seriously, that you didn't want to play with girls."
"Really?" she asks, laughing again.
"Mhm. I asked why. You know what you said to me?" She looks up at him and shakes her head. "You said that boys are more fun."
She laughs a little harder and Lucas squeezes her shoulder. "That's so funny," she admits. "I bet you freaked out."
"I pouted for the rest of the day."
"That's so like you," she says, making them both laugh. "Why'd you tell me that?"
"You said that boys are more fun, Sawyer," he repeats, like it's the most profound thing he's ever heard. "You've got a great one who loves you. And you know he'll support you no matter what."
"Yeah, but...I think that's why I don't want to leave him."
"That's exactly why," he insists. "I would be...so, so proud of you if you played pro ball. But if that's not what your heart is telling you to do..."
"What?" she asks when he doesn't finish his thought.
"Let me ask you. Are you crying right now because you might not get to play ball? Or because you're fighting with your husband?"
She smiles and leans against him again. She knows what he's asking. It's not even a question really, he's just reminding her what she loves more. They both already know the answer, and they both know she just needed a little perspective to see it.
"Thanks, daddy," she whispers.
He turns the volume back up on the game, and she calls Tyson from the kitchen to apologize and tell him she'll be 'home' in a few hours to talk it out, and she's smiling when she sits back down next to Lucas. She's got a beer in each hand, and she passes one to him, and they sit like that until the game is over. She hugs him tightly before she leaves, and she thanks him again, and when Peyton calls that night, he tells her the whole story because they don't have any secrets.
Sawyer doesn't play pro ball. She and Tyson stay right there in North Carolina while he finishes law school. She doesn't regret it for a second.
----
When Sawyer and Tyson move back to Tree Hill, Tyson joins his father's practice, and Sawyer decides it's high time that someone starts a basketball league for girls in the area, and she's going to be the one to do it. She also coaches the girl's varsity team at Tree Hill High and continues to work in the studio, singing on demos for artists and having Peyton and Haley show her a little more about the production side of things. To say she and Tyson are busy would be an understatement.
They buy a house. It's somewhere between Lucas and Peyton's, and Nathan and Haley's, and it's just a few block's from the place Jamie shares with his wife.
They have a housewarming party, and Sawyer accepts bottles of wine, plants, and little nick-nacks as gifts, and is a perfect hostess, ensuring that she talks to everyone and makes sure everyone has food and something to drink. Tyson is talking to his mother and Peyton at one end of the kitchen, and Lucas walks through to the living room. Sawyer is carrying on a conversation with Nathan and Jamie, and Lucas takes note of something.
He takes note of the way she moves her hand over her stomach periodically, and the way her cheeks glow a little bit. He hasn't seen her take a single drink all night.
She locks eyes with him across the room, and he winks at her, and she knows that he knows. She shakes her head just subtly (thus, giving herself away), and she can't stop the wide smile that spreads on her lips.
She stuffs her hands in her pockets and turns back to Nathan, and Lucas feels his heart swell in his chest.
His baby is having a baby.
----
Tyson and Sawyer invite Lucas and Peyton for dinner one night, and Sawyer cooks up a feast. Her pregnancy has turned her into a bit of a gourmet, so she's serving up appetizers and exotic cheeses, and the main course is maybe one of the best meals Lucas has ever tasted. He may be biased.
Before dessert, Peyton asks if they plan on finding out the sex of the baby, and Tyson says they aren't, and Sawyer goes along with it. But Lucas, always a little better at reading his daughter than anyone would admit, knows that there's something she's not saying. She asks for his help in the kitchen, and he follows her through the door, and before she cuts into the cake she's made, she turns to him with a grin on her face.
"It's a girl," she tells him.
He smiles widely and drapes his arm around her shoulder, and he kisses her hair.
He's had a daughter to spoil all these years, and he's loved every single second. Now he's going to have a granddaughter to spoil, and he's sure he's going to love that just as much.
"Daddy?" she says, pulling away from him a little.
"Yeah, baby?" he says. They both laugh a little, because it seems a bit weird for him to call her that now.
"I love you."
He smiles again and he gets that feeling in his heart that he's gotten every time she's said those words since the first time she spoke them. He could never name that feeling.
"I love you, too."
-Fin-