Author: Summer
Rating: PG-13 for now
Pairings: Everyone at this point. Some Leyton, some Brucas, some Naley and everything in between. None of the couples are together at the beginning, but there's obvious tension.
Summary: Five years after they left Tree Hill High, the core five are drawn back to the small town they grew up in by tragedy. They've grown up, but can they really leave the past behind them, or are they destined to relive the same friendship and relationship struggles all over again?
Spoilers: Through season 4, with some speculation for season 5.
Disclaimer: I don't own OTH, I'm not profiting from this. All characters are purely fictional and any resemblance in name, appearance, behavior or personality is coincidental. Title based loosely on The Early November's "1000 Times A Day" and some simple math.
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Twenty-three year old Brooke Davis kicked the stuck wheel of her carry on in frustration as she tried to get it to roll, groaning after a minute as she realized there was no use. She'd have to carry it out. Glancing down at the over-packed carry on dubiously, she wondered if there was someone she could pay to do the task for her. She'd sent her personal assistant off to the baggage claim carousel to get their luggage, and even though the flight had barely been two hours, Brooke was left exhausted.
It was then that she noticed a familiar face leaning against a pillar near the exit, and in that instant she felt like she was sixteen again. It wasn't a good feeling. Quickly pushing that particular memory from her mind, she dragged her suitcase over with a huff, arching an eyebrow at the blonde man. "Lucas Scott," she greeted him in shock, letting her gaze sweep over his body quickly. "Well, I definitely didn't expect to see you here."
Lucas gave her an uneasy smile, looking over her shoulders for just a second, but it was enough to make Brooke take notice and sigh. Shocker. "So, uh, who are you here for?" she asked after a minute, wondering why she'd assumed he had shown up to get her. She'd always suffered from that particular problem, assuming people were trying to be nice until proven otherwise. She thought she would've learned with him by now, though. "I thought you'd be with…" She trailed off as she spun around to follow his gaze, pursing her lips as she saw the woman his gaze had connected with. "Peyton."
Lucas cleared his throat, finally meeting Brooke's gaze. "Uh, actually, I'm here for both of you," he offered after a minute. "My mom told me your plane got in at about the same time as Peyton's, so I figured I'd give you guys a lift. If you don't mind, I mean."
Brooke paused for a minute, pursing her lips as she glanced back at Peyton. She'd kept in touch with the other girl and Lucas's mom, but she hadn't considered it much of a loss when Lucas naturally fell out of her life. It had taken her a long time to fully recover from everything that had happened in high school, but eventually she'd realized a boy who would continuously come between two best friends wasn't someone she wanted in her life at all. Of course, this realization had also affected her friendship with Peyton, but at least they kept in touch. That was why she was here, after all.
"I guess," she responded after a minute, keeping her voice as good natured as possible. "I have a lot of luggage, though, and plus, I have Paolo, so if there isn't room, I can just call a cab." She found herself secretly hoping he'd agree that a cab was the best option, and had to hide a frown when she noticed he was shaking his head.
"Nah, it's okay. I figured you'd have a lot of luggage so I borrowed Haley's minivan. I never got why you'd need two suitcases for a weekend trip, but-" He broke off as Peyton joined them, his attention instantly diverted toward the other girl.
Brooke just rolled her eyes, not all that surprised. For the first time, though, she didn't find herself jealous, and she was pretty relieved by that. "No PDA 'til we're out of the airport, guys," she told them, waving for Paolo to join them. "If not longer, because that's so high school," she added, almost as an afterthought, before setting off toward the door.
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"Hello, this is Ramona Taylor from Tree Hill Integrated Preschool. Is this Mrs. Scott I'm speaking to?"
Haley blinked, a little unprepared for the question. "Ms.," she corrected absentmindedly, staring down at her empty ring finger. She'd worn her wedding ring for so long there was a white line where it had once been, and she was starting to think it would always be there. "And it's James, not Scott. We're divorced." Well, they almost were. She had to get used to saying it eventually.
"Oh… Ms. James. Sorry about that," came the abashed reply. "We- we don't have a note about that. I'm very sorry. I didn't mean-"
"You said you're from the preschool? Is something wrong?" Haley interrupted suddenly, growing concerned. It was Nathan's day to have James, but she couldn't say she was surprised she'd gotten the call.
"Well, uh, actually… he's in the principal's office. He was taken out of class for throwing play-doh at another of the students. Usually we don't call parents over something like this, but since it isn't his first offense, we thought-"
"It isn't his first offense?" Haley asked, shocked. James was usually a good kid when they were out in public. Sure, he had his moments, but he usually reserved them for the privacy of their home.
"No. We thought maybe you could enlighten us a little. So we'd know how to deal with this situation. A lot of the time, children this age will act out in a school setting if there's something going on at home, and we want to do everything we can to help your son adjust."
Haley gulped, growing more concerned. "Well, my husband and I are in the process of divorcing, but we've been careful not to get into that in front of James. We didn't want him dragged into it."
"Have you sat him down and explained what's going on to him?" Ramona asked, and Haley had a feeling the other woman was about to get preachy.
"Well, no, not really. We feel he's too young to understand and getting into the details will just upset him. So we told him Daddy was going to be living somewhere else from now on, but he could see us whenever he wanted, and that Mommy and Daddy still loved him."
There was a long pause on the other end, and then a sigh. "Mrs. Scott- erm, Ms. James- children are miraculous beings. They understand a lot more than we give them credit for most of the time, and they pick up on stuff that a lot of the time we'd rather they didn't. We've dealt with this kind of thing a lot of times, and it almost always helps the child to have his parents sit him down and explain what's going on to him. You don't need to tell him everything, of course, but divorce can be a scary and traumatizing process for a young child. Even more so if they don't fully understand what's happening."
Haley could feel tears coming to her eyes as the other woman spoke, definitely not used to being viewed as anything less than a great mother. Even with all her recent problems with Nathan, he'd never once accused her of making a mistake with their son. She wasn't used to criticism. "Oh. I, uh, I'll speak to my ex about it."
"I think that would do James- and really, everyone involved- a world of good," the woman said, her voice softer now.
Haley nodded, hanging up the phone in shock without saying a goodbye to the woman.
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After Lucas had dropped her off at her father's, Peyton had set herself to work trying to organize the kitchen, not giving herself time to think. However, that couldn't last all day and by the time 2:00 ticked around, the kitchen was pretty much sparkling, and even though she doubted she'd be able to find half of what she'd moved around, definitely very clean and organized.
To her surprise, the 1964 Comet Caliente she'd driven in high school started with just a few sputters, no doubt a testament to her father driving it once in a while just like he'd claimed. It felt weird to be back in that car, with all the memories it brought back to her. She just sat in the driver's seat for a minute, closing her eyes and reliving her high school years.
"Huh," she mumbled under her breath after a minute, shaking her head as she opened her eyes. "And I almost forgot how much high school sucked." With that, she pulled out of the driveway, barely checking the mirrors to make sure no one was coming. Some things never changed, after all.
It only took her a few minutes to get where she was going, which was a bit strange. Tree Hill had certainly changed since she'd left for Savannah. While the small town charm was still there, it was definitely odd that there was a funeral home right down the street now. Strange, and a little creepy.
The funeral director welcomed her at the door. He was younger than she expected, probably only a few years older than her with shaggy black hair and chocolate eyes. "You must be Peyton Sawyer," he greeted her with an easygoing smile, holding open the door and gesturing for her to enter. "I used to subscribe to your podcast. Sucks what happened, huh?"
Peyton just nodded, a little concerned that this guy knew so much about her when she didn't even know his name. Ever since she'd been torn apart in court the summer after her senior year during the trial of Mark Swan- the man who'd posed as her brother and kidnapped her and Brooke- for posting details of her life on the internet and "attracting" internet stalkers, she'd been wary of those she'd once welcomed into her life. "Yeah… yeah, it does," she mumbled softly.
"Oh, right. I'm Leo, by the way. My dad owns the place. He asked me to help you choose a casket. I'm required by law to let you know you can buy them right from the vendors now, and they're usually cheaper. But obviously they take longer to ship to a place like this, so most people don't bother."
She nodded, following him into the casket display room in silence. "My dad always liked mahogany," she said after a moment, gravitating in the direction of the cherry and mahogany wooden caskets.
"Yeah, well, this one is one of our top sellers. It's called Imperial Mahogany, and the inside's pretty cushiony and pretty, if you're planning an open casket wake or something. And, well, some people like to think of their loved one as being comfortable in their casket, but I'd rather think of them as floatin' on a cloud up there instead of being in the ground with the worms, y'know?"
Peyton blinked and nodded slowly, gulping. "Yeah. I think he'd like this one," she told him after a minute, running her fingers over a knot in the wood. "This won't degrade in the ground, will it?"
"Not for a really long time," Leo responded with a shrug, picking up the price tag. "Just like I thought, it's $3195. We offer a discount, though, so it should come to about $2800. You can charge it all at once, or set up monthly payment plans, or, well, we can usually work something out if you're strapped for cash."
"Monthly payments sounds good," she responded dully, staring at the casket as she tried to imagine her father's lifeless body in it.
"We can set it up over six months, 1 year, 3 years, 5 years, or pretty much anything in between-"
"A year. That's fine," she interrupted, handing him over her credit card and watching him swipe it. She signed for the bill and contract quickly, not bothering to read through it. "Can I go now?"
"Yeah. My dad scheduled an appointment for you at 8 AM to discuss funeral plans. If there's a problem with it, the number's on the business card," Leo responded, handing over the card.
"Thanks," she muttered, grabbing the card and practically bolting from the funeral home, climbing into her car and collapsing into tears as soon as the door was closed behind her.
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"Rebecca, I'm still his wife, at least for another month or two, so you have to put me through," Haley complained to Nathan's secretary, shaking her head. After James was born, Nathan had decided to go to law school instead of pursuing a career in the NBA to give his son a more stable life. Even though he wasn't even through with school, he'd managed to earn a lucrative position at the Carter, Jensen & Kelly Firm, which had come with a blonde secretary with centerfold proportions. And so had started Nathan and Haley's marital troubles.
"Ms. Scott, I'm sorry but Nathan's in a meeting. There's nothing I can do-"
Haley rolled her eyes, sure the woman was sitting with her feet up on the desk and painting her nails or doing something equally inane. "You can get up and go into the room, Rebecca. Just this once. Tell him it's an emergency with James."
There was a pause and then a heavy sigh, and Haley smiled victoriously. "Fine. Please hold." The elevator music started almost immediately. As deep as Rebecca's distaste for Haley was, Haley knew Rebecca liked her son.
The hold didn't last more than half a minute. "Hales? What's wrong?" Nathan answered, not bothering with pleasantries. "Becky said something was wrong with James."
Becky. Haley scowled, glancing down at the white line on her ring finger. "He's in the principal's office, and apparently it isn't the first time! Has his school called you before?"
"That's why you called?" Nathan asked, obviously frustrated. "Haley, I was in the middle of a pretty big meeting. I was about to get Cody Robertson to sign with the Braves for dirt cheap! Do you know what that would've done for my career?"
"Have they called you before?" Haley asked again, ignoring his question. Over the past year and a half, Haley felt like everything Nathan said was about his career or Rebecca, and she certainly didn't appreciate it.
"What? No, they haven't. But he's a kid, Hales. Of course he's gonna get into a little trouble. He's a Scott."
"He's my kid, and the school thinks our divorce is the cause of it."
Silence. Haley waited impatiently for a reply, and it was at least a full minute before one came. "Maybe it is," Nathan finally said, clearing his throat. "But that doesn't mean we shouldn't do it, Hales. James won't be any happier with unhappy parents."
Haley just rolled her eyes, not really surprised that Nathan thought she was trying to trick him into staying married. "Believe me, I want this divorce just as much as you do," she replied, even though she wasn't totally sure it was true. "That's not what I meant. The woman who called said we should sit James down together and explain it to him. What's going on, you know?"
There was another long pause, and then Haley heard Nathan calling Rebecca into the room. "Look, Hales, I gotta go but I'm going to have Rebecca clear my schedule for this evening. Maybe we can do it over dinner?"
Haley sighed, well aware that in Nathan's eyes, the conversation was already over. "Sure, Nathan," she managed to get in before she heard the click. Setting her phone down, she sighed, "It doesn't matter if I had plans for the night or anything."
