Summary: Natalie was never close with her half-brother Nathan or her half-brother Lucas, but everything changes when she moves to Tree Hill and finds herself playing Switzerland as everything changes. But with all the change, Natalie must ask herself one question; is it for the better or worse?

Natalie Keith Scott is portrayed by Emily Van Camp.

Joanna Patricia Rhodes is portrayed by Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Amanda Laura Rhodes is portrayed by Jennifer Love Hewitt

ALL THAT YOU CAN'T LEAVE BEHIND

"Nat, is that you?" I heard my Aunt Amanda's voice call as I entered the front door of our house.

"Yeah!" I called back, clicking the lock in place before going to find her. I knew that she was most likely in the kitchen. "You won't believe how crappy my day at school w..." I trailed off when I entered the kitchen and saw not one person inside, but two.

Amanda gave me a smile as she sat her coffee cup down on the island before gesturing to her guest. "Look who stopped by." The guest turned around and I grinned when I saw who it was.

"Uncle Keith!" I rushed forward and he got up from his seat just in time to wrap his arms around me and pull me from the ground in a hug.

Uncle Keith was basically the only male role model I had in my life. Amanda was a lesbian and my mother had no time for anything other than work, meaning I had no choice but to say goodbye to any dreams of a step-dad years ago, so I made do with Uncle Keith. He didn't have any kids of his own, technically, but he did a pretty good job at being a cool uncle. He had been there for my first steps, my first word (which had bee 'Keef'), he taught me how to tie my shoes, how to fish and how to make a jump shot.

"Nattie, you got so big!" He said letting me down. "How tall are you now? 5'4? 5'5?"

"5'7." I said proudly. "And, look." I gave him a big toothy grin.

"You got your braces off?" I nodded.

"Two weeks ago." I said, once again, feeling very proud. "I figured; new town, new me. And speaking of new town, why are you here?" I asked. I was moving my hands a lot more than I should be. "You're not supposed to be here until tomorrow."

"Would you believe me if I said that I wanted to spend extra time with my favorite niece?"

I shook my head. "And I'm your only niece." That he knew of.

"Okay, you got me." He said, shoving his hands into his pockets. "I'm here to talk to your aunt about a few things, but it's no big deal."

I raised an eyebrow and looked from him to Amanda. "What is it?"

"It's nothing." She claimed, backing up Keith, but I crossed my arms. I would not be deterred and they both knew it. According to Keith, I got my stubbornness from my father, but I wasn't sure that was a good thing. "It's the house." Amanda said, giving up on not telling me. "It won't be finished for at least another month."

Confused? Well, my mother was some big time corporate woman- although I had no idea what her actual job was -and she spent most of her time working. In fact, I hadn't seen her since Valentines day...last year.

Anyway, for some reason she had come down with a case of Gilmore Girls and decided that she wanted to spend more time with me which- for some reason- meant that we had to move. Mom also claimed that she thought it'd be good for me to get to know my roots and stuff like that, so she bought a house in Tree Hill got some construction crew to start renovating it. That had been over six months ago and the house was supposed to be ready by this week. I wasn't complaining though; the less time I had to spend with my mother, the better. I wasn't ready for months of awkward silence.

"But I start school in three days." I reminded her and Amanda nodded.

"We know, Nat." Keith said. "So, Amanda and I have come up with a temporary fix."

"And that is...?"

"You're gonna go with Keith to Tree Hill." Amanda took over. I opened my mouth, but she stopped me. "You mom is gonna meet you there once the house is ready."

"Where am I going to stay, if not in the house?" I asked. I didn't like the way she and Keith exchanged looks. "Am I staying with you?" That wouldn't be too bad. Keith didn't seem like the most organized of people, but as long as I got my own room...

"No," Keith answered, confusing me. "You're gonna be staying with your brother." That also confused me.

"Which one?" I asked cautiously. "The one who lives with our dad or the one who doesn't live with our dad?"

Keith and mom shared another look. Please, please, please, don't be the one who- "You're gonna be staying with Nathan and your father." ...Crap.

I should explain.

To my knowledge, I have two brothers; one is older than me, the other is younger. I had met the both, only once in my entire life, but I knew which one I preferred.

Lucas Eugene Scott was my older brother by a month. I looked more like him; we both had blonde hair and our skin tone was around the same shade. I had met him once, when I was ten; Keith had brought him to my birthday party and introduced us. He hadn't known anyone there so he was, understandably, uncomfortable. He didn't talk to anybody except for Keith and the only time we really connected was when he had given me a birthday present, which had been my very first basketball. We talked about that for about half an hour before it was time to cut the cake and he was quiet again. Then he had started feeling bad after eating the cake and had to be taken home.

Nathan Royal Scott was my younger by a month and a half. The only thing we shared was our interest in basketball and our brown eyes. I had also met him only once; Aunt Amanda was going out of town with her then girlfriend Mariah when I was six so Dan, my dad, had volunteered me to stay with him. Keith had tried to tell my Amanda that it was a bad idea, but she was convinced I needed to bond with my father, although up to that point, I had been convinced that Keith was my father.

Anyway, Keith had been my ride from Alliance to Tree Hill and dropped me off at my fathers. After Keith left, I was left with Nathan and a teenage babysitter because Dan and Deb couldn't reschedule their date night. Nathan had gone up to his room and I went to the guest room. About an hour later, Nathan came into my room and started messing with me, I told him to stop, but he wouldn't. He ended up chasing me up onto the dresser when he kept coming towards me with his pet spider and I fell all the way to the ground. The end result; a broken arm and a broken tooth that caused a three year lisp because I was too young for the procedure to fix it.

The hospital had called my mother who called Amanda who called Keith and ordered him to get me and take me home since she and Mariah were now cutting their trip short. After getting a cast put on at the hospital, I was taken back to Alliance and Amanda refused to let me go to Tree Hill again without her, not that I wanted to. Nathan might've been my little brother, but I now had a ridiculous fear of spiders.

"Nope!"

"Nat, just list-"

"Nope!"

"It's not as bad as-"

"Nope!"

"He's older and more mature now."

"I wouldn't go that far."

"Keith, we're supposed to be convincing her to go! Remember?"

"Well, you can stop because I'm not going!"

"Natalie Ke-"

"Oh, don't you try to middle name me!"

We were upstairs now. Once they had said that I would be living with the reason I cried when we read Charlotte's Web in school, I had rushed up the stairs, but they were on my heels. Now I was in my room, but they couldn't follow me in because I had a lock on the door, but I could hear one of them trying to twist the knob.

"Nat, let us in." Amanda requested and I shook my head.

"Nope!" I said again. "I bet you really regret giving me that lock now."

"You are going to Tree Hill." Amanda said and I shook my head again.

"Wanna bet?"

"Welcome to Tree Hill." Keith said as I glared out of the window.

Since my Aunt Amanda was basically my mother, she forced me to go to Tree Hill with Keith, but I was resilient and managed to stall for another day claiming that I needed to decide what to take since I couldn't take everything. Keith had packed three of my many boxes into his truck before I gave Amanda a very tearful goodbye and we left. It hadn't been easy leaving her when I knew that it'd most likely be months before I saw her again. She had wanted to move to Tree Hill with my mom and me, but she had a work contract that stopped her from leaving the state.

Yeah, we were both bummed about it.

It took us four hours to get to Tree Hill, so by the time we arrived at Dan's house, it was dark outside. There were three different cars in the long driveway and only two lights were on inside of the house. The rest of it was dark.

"Are you coming in?" I asked Keith while he was pulling one of my boxes out the back of the truck.

"I can't." He said as we walked up the short walkway to the front door. "But I'll see you tomorrow after school, I promise."

Luckily for me, no one was home except for the maid who showed me up to the guest room. She told me that Dan was at work, his wife was out of town and Nathan probably wouldn't be home until late. I decided to take advantage of the time I would get before the awkward introductions and made myself something to eat in the kitchen and took it up to my bedroom before going to bed.

When I woke up, the plate that I had brought up the night before was gone, so I figured Gail, the maid, had taken it from the room while I was asleep.

The last thing I wanted was to leave the room and go downstairs. I didn't want to see Dan or Deb and especially not Nathan. I felt uncomfortable around these strangers and I didn't like that. I had never felt so out of place in my entire life. I knew that I had the choice to simply stay in the bedroom until I had to pee or got hungry, but that wasn't me. I refused to become a recluse because of these people.

"Why couldn't I just stay with Keith?" I asked myself before leaving the room.

When I got downstairs and into the kitchen, I was kind of hoping that everyone had gone to wherever they needed to go.

Unfortunately, that was not the case.

Dan and Deb were both in the kitchen. Deb was washing the dishes while Dan stood at the island wearing workout clothing that was covered in sweat while he made, what I could only guess was, a protein shake in the blender. They both looked the same from when I had seen them last, just with a few more wrinkles and shorter hair for Deb. Deciding that I did want to be a recluse rather than be around my step-family, I went to go back upstairs, but Deb spotted me before I could even turn around.

"Natalie?" She asked and I stopped in my tracks before looking at her. She looked happier than most people would be about seeing their husband's love child.

"Hi." Was my ridiculous response as she turned off the water in the sink and came to me around the island.

"Look how big you got." She said standing in front of me. "You were like a baby bird the last time I saw you." Thank you?... "How's your mother?"

"I wouldn't know." I said, sounding a bit more snippy than I intended to.

Deb seemed to get the message I didn't mean tot send and let go of me before she went back to the sink to get a rag. "Are you hungry?" She asked. "I can make you something."

"Do you have coffee?" She looked around before finally spotting -and pointing out- the full coffee pot that sat in the coffee maker on the counter.

"Cups are in the cabinet." She informed me, but I shook my head. This was embarrassing.

"I uh..." I coughed. "I actually have my own upstairs." And before either of them could comment I rushed out of the kitchen and back upstairs to the guest room. In my duffel bag that sat on the small love seat pushed under the window was my handy mug which was a simple white one with pineapples painted on it. It had been one of the few things left behind by the previous owners of our house and I had been drinking from it religiously since I found it at age five.

Quickly going back downstairs, I entered the kitchen to find that Deb and Dan were no longer alone.

He was a lot bigger than the last time I had seen him. When we were kids he had been half a foot shorter than me, but now he had that over me and he had grown out his hair from the buzz cut he used to sport.

He held a newspaper in his hand and was reading aloud to his parents.

"Who would've known that Dan Scott's basketball pedigree would be inherited by his two sons; Nathan Scott ans Lucas?" He tossed the newspaper down and Dan hastily picked it up.

"You gotta be kidding me." He didn't sound happy about that.

"That's great, dad." Nathan commented. "We're all one big happy family now." Dan looked up from the newspaper he was so focused on and glared at him.

"Watch it." He warned and I quickly moved out of sight when Deb looked toward the kitchen doorway. "I wonder what they're paying these reporters to support his crack habit."

"How 'bout you just eat your breakfast?" I heard Deb ask, but Dan must've declined.

"I lost my appetite." He confirmed me thought.

"Dan, the boy exists." Deb continued. "He's on the team, it's not like it's headline news." What the hell did that mean? Did Dan and Nathan not like Lucas for some reason? He had been nice enough when I met him, but- to be fair- that had been over six years ago. He could've been a massive tool now, but I doubted that. Whenever Keith talked about Lucas, he only had good things to say.

"No, Deb. Apparently it is."

"Well, how do you think Karen and Lucas felt about it?" Deb shot back.

"Alright," Nathan said and I could hear his voice getting closer to the doorway. I was gonna have to go into the kitchen or escape upstairs unless I wanted him to catch me eavesdropping. "I'm gonna leave if you guys are gonna argue." I had made my choice.

"Found my mug!" I announced as I turned and entered the kitchen. They all immediately stopped their conversation and I got a very confused look from Nathan.

"Who's this?" He asked looking back at Dan. His mother gave him a look.

"Your sister." He looked even more confused.

"I have a sister?" I decided to speak up.

"Yeah," I confirmed, regaining his attention. "And she can talk and everything. Isn't that amazing?" I moved past him to the coffee pot and he looked at Dan.

"We've been talking about her coming to stay with us for the past week." What? Amanda knew for a week that I'd have to stay with Dan and she chose to tell me two days before I was leaving? What the hell?

"I-I can't handle this right now." Nathan said as I filled up my cup.

"Your breakfast." Deb stepped forward holding out a plate, but Nathan shook his head. I put the coffee pot back and turned to see he walking towards the doorway.

"I'll just grab something at school with my brother." He spat before leaving. Only a few seconds later I heard the door slam and I looked to Deb and Dan.

"Someone's cranky." I commented before taking a sip of my coffee and leaving the kitchen. I really didn't want to drink my coffee without cream or sugar, but I also didn't want to ruin the comedic exit I had made by going back.

I didn't have to go to school for the rest of the week once I realized that my first day was technically Saturday, so I spent the rest of the day in my room drinking my disgustingly pure black coffee and listening to music. I didn't have much else to do so I drew- very badly- and checked in with my aunt via Email since she wasn't answering her phone before going to bed.

The next day I decided to go and take a look around town.

I hadn't been in Tree Hill since my failed attempt at bonding time with Dan all those years ago, so I didn't really know much about it. I did, however, remember to leave a note for Deb on the fridge to tell her I was gone. There was a hug chance of me getting back, but I decided the risk wasn't that great.

After three hours of walking around I found myself at a small diner called Karen's Cafe and decided to go inside. It was four and I hadn't gotten my morning coffee, so I figured now was as good of a time as any to get it.

"Is this your first time here?" A voice asked once I was seated at the bar and I looked to see a girl. She was around my age with a ponytail of brown hair and matching brown eyes. The half-apron she wore and the fact that she was behind the counter told me she worked there.

"How could you tell?"

"Because I know everyone who has ever come in here and most of them are regulars." She answered. "I'm Haley."

"Nat." I introduced. "And, to answer your question, I just moved here from Alliance and I'm trying to get reacquainted with the town." She raised an eyebrow.

"Reacquainted?"

I nodded. "I was born here, but I moved away. I just got back yesterday." Haley smiled at me.

"Well, Nat." She began. "To celebrate your return home, how about a free cup of coffee?" Well, I wasn't going to decline.

"Thank you." While Haley made my coffee a few feet away, I tapped my fingers on the bar with nothing else to do until I spotted a newspaper on the seat next to me. I, by no means, was a newspaper type of person, but I was bored and my phone was dead.

The newspaper was from yesterday which made me immediately search for the article about Dan, Nathan and Lucas. I was halfway done with it when Haley got my attention.

"Any milk or sugar?" She asked.

"Make it white." I answered as I set aside the newspaper. I mentally debated asking Haley what she knew about Lucas. The town wasn't small enough that everyone knew everyone, but Haley did say that she knew all the regulars. Lucas could've been one.

I decided to go for it. "Haley?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you know-" But I was interrupted by the electronic ringing of the landline. Haley held up a finger with an apologetic smile before going to answer it.

"Karen's Cafe." Haley said as a greeting when she answered the phone. "This is Haley speaking. How can I help you?"

"Uh, is Karen Roe there?" The voice on the other end asked. It was definitely a woman's voice.

"No, but she'll be back later." Haley answered as she searched for a pen. "Would you like to leave your name? I can let her call you back."

"Joanna." The woman replied. Haley had found a pen, but she couldn't find any paper so she ended up writing on her arm. "Joanna Rhodes." Before Haley could say anything else the woman hung up and she was left with a dial tone ringing in her ears. Putting the phone back on the receiver, Haley frowned before turning back to the bar.

"What were you-" Haley began, only to stop when she saw that the girl she had been talking to was no longer there. "Where'd she go?"

"I was wondering when you'd come by to see me." I grinned at Uncle Keith and he stepped back to let me into his apartment.

"Well," I said as he closed the door and I turned around to face him. "I was in the neighborhood and I figured I'd stop by and see my favorite uncle in the entire world and coming from a girl who has four uncles, that is quite the compliment." That's when I noticed that he had a bag in his hand and a jacket on. "Were you about to go somewhere?"

"Yeah," He admitted. "Father/son basketball game." I raised an eyebrow.

"Okay." I nodded. "So, where's this secret son you've hidden from me all these years?" Keith chuckled.

"I'm going with Lucas." He told me and I crossed my arms.

"Why isn't he playing with Dan and Nathan?" I asked, needing answers. "Do the teams need to be even or something?" Keith shook his head.

"Sometimes, I forget you're not from around here." He sighed. "Dan isn't really...in Lucas's life much." He told me. "He prefers to pretend he isn't there."

"See..." I stepped toward him. "I kind of got that when I overheard a conversation a few days ago, but my question is why?" I shook my head. "Dan doesn't ignore me; he sends me birthday gifts, he even called me once when I was nine-"

Keith cut me off. "It's...complicated." He said finally. "Who knows why Dan does what he does?" Keith looked at his watch. "The game starts in about half an hour. You can stay here if you don't want to go back to your dads." I scoffed.

"And miss the chance to see my favorite uncle in action? No way."

Keith drove us to the high school and I had to say that I was pretty impressed. There was no chain link fences or metal detectors in or outside of the school and the lunch room didn't double as a gym. So far it was a hundred times better than my old school.

"Go on and head into the gym." Keith instructed pointing over to the double doors that everyone was going through. "I'll see you after, okay?"

"'Kay." He kissed me on the head and left. I was just about to head into gym when I heard a familiar voice from behind me.

"Nat?" I turned around to see the girl from the cafe, Haley, coming towards me. "I thought that was you."

"Oh, hey, Haley." I said awkwardly. I wasn't expecting her to be here, but by the amount of people in the school, I had to guess that this was some of beloved town event. Of course she'd be here.

"I wasn't expecting to see you here." She said. Same.

I pointed behind me, although I was sure that Keith was out of sight. "I've got an uncle playing." She nodded.

"About earlier..." She began and I mentally groaned, hoping she would ask about it. "Did something happen? You kinda just disappeared like we weren't in the middle of a conversation."

I scratched the back of my neck. "Yeah, sorry about that." I apologized. "I had a family emergency."

"Oh, alright." She didn't seem like she believed me, but I also knew she wasn't going to call me out on it. She seemed way too nice for confrontation. "Well, I'm about to go in. Do you want to sit together? My date cancelled on me yesterday."

"Sure." I nodded and we fell into step together as we entered the gym. "So," I began. "This date of yours? Boyfriend?" She shook her head. "Girlfriend?"

"Best friend's mom." I nodded.

"Very hot." She laughed a bit and we took our seats on the third row up on the bleachers. They were just tall and long enough that the stands were packed, but everyone wasn't smashed together. "So, I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that your best friend is the one playing?"

Haley nodded. "Yep, and since you have an uncle playing, I'm going to guess that you're here to watch your cousin?" I shook my head.

"Unfortunately, you are wrong-amundo." I replied. "I'm here to watch my brother. He's playing with our uncle because our dad is a bigger ass then I apparently thought." Haley seemed confused, but she didn't question me.

Most of the players hadn't even arrived yet and the ones that had were just warming up. I didn't see Keith, so I assumed he was still in the locker room and I didn't feel like just sitting and watching the ones who were warming up. "Hey, Haley?" She looked away from whoever she was looking for and looked to me. "Is there anywhere to buy snacks or something?" She nodded.

"There's a concession stand a few feet right from the doors we came in through." I thanked her before getting up, making sure to leave my bag to save my seat, being walking down from the bleachers. I wasn't worried about Haley taking anything or looking in my bag, but even if she did I knew where she worked.

After buying a bag of popcorn and one of those hand held flags that had 'RAVENS' printed on it, I returned back to my seat next to Haley where- just as I figured it'd be- my bag sat untouched in the same position I left it.

"Popcorn?" I offered as I sat down and Haley didn't hesitate before digging her hand into the bag.

"Good timing." She said after shoving a handful of popcorn into her mouth. "The game's about to start." If only to confirm Haley's statement, some guy began talking from a speaker I couldn't see, but it was loud.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Annual Tree Hill Raven Father/Son Charity basketball game." That's a mouthful. "Tonight, the fathers battle the sons and and the winners get bragging rights. "Coming soon tonight, Ravens son league MVP Nathan Scott!" Everyone clapped and I felt it was my sisterly duty to join them. "And for the father's, the all-time even scorer in the history of Tree Hill, and state championship runner-up, put your hands together for Dan Scott!" I hadn't known all that about him, but I clapped anyway along with everyone else, but I was still searching for Keith.

I, eventually, saw him on the fathers side of the court and I managed to catch his eyes. He sent me a little wave and I sent him one back.

The game started off well enough; while all the players were working to get good shots in, they were all focused on having fun too. I even saw one players from the sons team spinning the ball on his finger in front of Keith, but I didn't know who he was since he didn't have a name on the back of his jersey.

"Huh," I heard Haley let out and I looked over at her.

"What?"

"I guess my date did decide to come." I followed her line of sight until I saw her looking at a woman who sat on the bottom row of the bleachers. She was small, maybe the same size as Haley, with curly brown hair, but I couldn't see her face.

After about five or ten more minutes of playing, it was halftime and both the sons and the fathers left the court and the cheerleaders took their place.

Haley stood up. "I'll be back in a bit." She said before disappearing. I didn't have much else to do other than wait, so I went and made my way to where I saw Deb sitting.

"Hey." I greeted as I sat down beside her. She looked surprised to see me.

"I didn't know you were here."

"I went to see Keith," I told her. "But he was on his way here, so I caught a ride." She nodded, but I didn't want to fall into an awkward silence so I kept talking. "So do they do this every year?"

Deb nodded. "Yep, but it's usually just for the Sophomores. Some of the other grades are filling in since half of the team got suspended." I wonder how that happened?

"Which one is Lucas?" I asked and she looked at me strangely. "I've been looking, but the only Scott's I see are Nathan and Dan."

She shook her head as she went back to watching the cheerleaders. "I'm not sure." But I was sure she was lying. Soon enough, halftime was over and it was time for the second half of the game.

"You know," I began as we watched them play. "Nathan and Dan are really good. Do they play a lot together?" Deb scoffed.

"Only every second that Nathan isn't at school." She told me. "They both want Nathan to go pro, like your dad was supposed to."

"Why didn't he?" Deb raised an eyebrow at me, but didn't take her eyes off the game. "Go pro?"

"He...hurt himself." She answered, but I could tell that she was lying to me...again. "Pro's weren't an option after his injury." Seeing that Deb was no longer in the mood to talk, I turned my eyes back to the game. It was going well enough, Dan was getting a bit rougher than needed for a friendly game between fathers and sons. That when I started to realize that Dan was taking this a lot more seriously than anybody else.

I cannot explain to you how hard I flinched when Nathan jumped as he ran up to the basket, only to be knocked down to the ground when he collided with our father.

Deb popped right up as everyone seemed to automatically stop and turn towards the Scott duo. Dan just stood there as Nathan lay on the ground, struggling to get up...not that he was having any luck with that.

Despite the fact that Nathan had been a total douche the one time I had met him, he was still my brother and seeing him hurt wasn't exactly comforting. I was only a few seconds away from jumping down from the bleachers to see if he was okay when some blonde guy from the team- the one wearing no name on his jersey- helped Nathan up. Now that I could see his face, he looked really familiar.

In my pocket, I felt my phone begin to vibrate and I quickly took it out to see that my mother- of all people- was calling me. I got up and told Deb I'd only be a few minutes before exiting out into the hall. I could still hear some of the game going on inside, but I was mostly focused on hearing my mothers voice. I hadn't seen on spoken to her since Valentines day...last year. I wouldn't have been surprised if she forgot she had a kid, but that scar on her stomach wasn't gonna let her forget that easily.

Taking a deep breath I flipped open my phone and put it to my ear. "Mom?"

"No," The very nervous, very male, voice on the other end of the call said. "This is Tyler, Ms. Rhodes personal assistant. Ms. Rhodes asked me to call and inform you, Miss Natalie Scott, that she will be unable to accompany you in Tree Hill, North Carolina next month." Are you kidding me? "She has a very urgent business matter to take care of in Europe."

"Well, what is it?" I asked, crossing one of my arms.

"I'm sorry," The nervous voice responded. "It's personal."

I narrowed my eyes. "I thought you said it was business?"

"It is her own personal business." I rolled my eyes, even if it was only to keep the tears welling in my eyes where they were. I knew Tyler the PA couldn't see me, but that didn't matter. "She told me to tell you that she apologizes and that she will have the necessary documents sent over so that you will be able to live on your own once your living arrangements are-"

Unable to listen any longer, I hung up and quickly shoved my phone in my pocket before swiping at the un-shed tears in my eyes. Unfortunately, due to the salt and butter from the popcorn, that only caused them to tear back up.

After rushing into the bathroom and into the first stall inside, I quickly locked it before sitting myself down on the toilet.

If you couldn't tell, I have multiple- very conflicting- feelings and thoughts about my mother.

She had me when she was only seventeen years old and before that she always her nose stuck in a book due to her parents, so she never really got the chance to have fun. And as soon as I was old enough to travel, my mother took me and got on the first flight to Alliance to start college. As you already know, I was left with my aunt.

I was six when I realized that my mother wasn't mother material; after graduating college at twenty years old, she began renting an apartment in the city so she could be closer to work. Aunt Amanda thought it was a good idea for me to live with my mother now that she was no longer in college- or, at least, she thought that was a good idea until- on my first day of living with her- my mother left me at home, alone, the entire eight hours that she worked. She hadn't bothered to tell me that she was leaving, or even ask the woman next door to watch me. She just left. I went back to Aunt Amanda's the next day.

I was seven when I realized that, despite her being the un-motheriest mother a woman could be, that I still wanted her to be my mom. I was the only girl in the Bumblebee's (A group sort of like girl scouts) without a mother at the Bumblebee Mommy & Me Sleepover. One of the other girls at the sleepover noticed I didn't have a mother there with me so she said she'd share hers. I ended up sobbing in the bathroom until someone called my aunt to pick me up.

Despite the fact that I was nervous about living with her, I couldn't help but be excited too. I mean, for once I was going to know what it was like to have an actual mother- something I shouldn't have seen as a luxury, but I did.

While I was focusing on keeping my tears from falling, I failed to hear the bathroom door open, so I was pretty surprised when I heard someone call my name.

"Nat?" I stopped my sniffling when I heard Haley's voice from right outside my stall. "Nat, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." I said very unconvincingly as I wiped at my eyes with the sleeve of my gray sweater.

"You don't sound fine." She informed me. "What's going on?" Well, if I was going to talk to someone about my problems, why not a stranger who won't hold it against me?

Taking a deep breath, I calmed myself down until I was confident enough in my ability to not start crying like a baby and then started. "It's my mom." I admitted. "We were supposed to move here together, but I just found out that she's in Europe and she's not going to be back for a while."

"I'm sorry, Nat." Thankfully, she didn't sound pitying.

I shrugged. "My mother has been disappointing me everyday of my life; something will make her remember she has a daughter and she'll call or text to make plans and take me out, just the two of us, but then..." I shook my head. "Then she'll just forget or there'd be some thing at work she'd have to take care of and, at the end of the day, I'm the one who's crying in my bedroom. She's...she's the worst mother in the world and I don't know why I expected anything to change."

Haley said nothing and, honestly, for a moment I thought she had left in the middle of my whining. After another moment of silence I heard her speak.

"I have four older brothers and three older sisters." Haley told me and that kind of sounded like my moms situation- except she only had two older sisters. "My parents, they're what you'd call...free spirits. I've always known that they love me and that they'd always be there for me, but with all my siblings around it wasn't hard for them to forget about me for a a moment or two. That used to depress the hell out of me, but then I found my best friend; it was just him and his mom so I kind of became his sister. After that, I never got a chance to be sad; he was always there for me and- although I doubted sometimes- my parents were too."

"You lost me."

"What I'm trying to say is..." She sighed. "Your mom loves you. All mothers love their children even if they don't say it or show it. Sure, she's going to let you down, but I should probably warn you that it's gonna be that way your entire life; you'll expect her to be one thing and she'll be another. You'll be sad- probably pissed, but eventually you'll get over it."

"Because she's my mom?" I questioned with a shake of my head.

"Exactly." She confirmed. "And just like all mother love their kids, all kids love their mothers...even if they're monumental disappointments."

"So, what you're saying is that I should buck up because life is full of disappointments?"

"Exactly." She repeated. "But that doesn't mean you have to let those disappointments rule your life." Realizing that she was right, I picked myself up from where I sat on the toilet and wiped my eyes- now appreciating my decision not to wear makeup- before unlocking the stall. Haley was leaned against the wall in front of it with an expecting look on her face.

"Thanks, Haley." She nodded.

"Anytime."

Haley and I left the bathroom and left the gym since the game was over and looked around for our respective basketball players. I eventually spotted Keith near the road, but he wasn't alone.

"You were so good." A small woman with curly dark brown hair complimented as she hugged Keith.

"You're a liar, but thank you." He smile before pulling back. That's when he seemed to notice me. "Natalie, get over here. There's someone I want you to meet." Doing as he said, I stepped on over and Keith pulled me into his said. "Nat, this is Karen. Karen this is Natalie."

"You're Joanna's daughter." I nodded. I knew exactly who Karen was, Keith never stopped talking about how wonderful she was.

"And you're Lucas's mom." I replied. "Have you seen him?" I asked looking around a bit. "I've been looking around for him ever since the game started, but I can't really figure out what face I'm looking for. I'm sure he's grown a lot since he was ten."

"He's two feet taller and finally let me give him a haircut. " She laughed before her eyes drifted behind me. "Oh, there he is now. Lucas!" She waved her hand a bit and I looked behind me to see the tall blonde kid from the game standing a few feet from the building with Haley. He had been the one with no name on the back of his jersey. How is it that I had seen him so many times but never once thought he could be my brother?

"Nat," Haley greeted and Karen looked between us.

"You two know each other?" I nodded.

"Uh, yeah." I told her. "Haley's the first person I met in Tree Hill that I didn't already know." My eyes flicked over to Lucas before they went back to Haley. "I'm guessing this is your friend."

Haley nodded before realizing that she had cut her friend out of the conversation. "Luke, this is Nat. Nate, this is my best friend Lucas."

"They already know each other." Karen put in and I could already tell that someone would get confused.

"What?" There it was. We haven't spoken a word to each other and Lucas was already confused. "I'm confused, I've never seen this girl in my life." See?

"Yes, you have." Karen told him. "Don't you remember? You went to her tenth birthday party in Alliance, but then yo had to come home early because you got sick? Remember?" Lucas looked at me and it seemed to click in his mind who I was.

"Natalie." I nodded.

"Wait!" Haley shook her head. "Now I'm confused. Somebody explain please."

"Haley this is Natalie Scott." Lucas introduced and Haley looked from him to me with wide eyes. "She's my younger sister."

"Natalie!" Hearing my name, I turned around to see Dan about twenty or so feet away. Deb and Nathan were heading towards their car. "Let's go."

"One second!" I called back before turning back to everyone. "Gotta run."

"Actually, we're all going to Karen's cafe for dinner." Keith told me. "Why don't you come with us?" I couldn't help but look back at Dan and saw him practically glaring a hole into Keith's head.

"Maybe next time." Is what I ended up saying before pulling Keith into a hug. "I'll see you later."

"Bye Nat." I let go and gave a small way of goodbye to everyone else before turning around and heading towards Dan. I don't know what the look on his face was about, but I figured that it'd be best if I just continued after Deb and Nathan.

After getting back to Dan's after the game, I took a shower. It wasn't until I had gotten dressed in something to sleep in that I decided that it'd be best if I started putting away my things. I knew that my stay at Casa Scott was only temporary, but I was going to be here a month. I figured that I might as well make that month as comfortable as possible.

"Can I come in?" I looked towards the door and saw Nathan standing awkwardly in the doorway. He, too, was dressed in sleeping clothes and his hair was still wet. His large frame was hunched over and he had shoved his hands into his pockets. I didn't know why, but the pose didn't see to fit him or his cocky, arrogant personality.

"Sure." I went back to my suitcase and pulled out some of my shirts before going back to my dresser. "Did you need something?"

"Uh, no." He said. "I just, uh...wanted to..." Stopping what I was doing, I looked over and saw him still standing awkwardly, but he had stepped out of the doorway and into my room.

"Talk?" I suggested and he nodded. I was starting to realize that this wasn't exactly easy for him. According to all the information that I had on Dan since arriving in Tree Hill, I had found that he wasn't the guy I thought he was. Whenever I pictured my father, I saw Dan's face with Keith's personality; generous, loving, humorous, caring...it was a bit depressing to find that tat was ridiculously far from the truth. No wonder Nathan acted the way he did.

"Sit down." I sighed and he did as I said without question. Going over, I plopped down on the bed next to him. I was going to have to use my undiscovered power of being an older sister which sucked because I was barely a month older than him and had absolutely no idea what I was doing. "You know, when I was little, all I wanted was a brother." Nathan looked at me. "Every Christmas and birthday wish, shooting star or fallen eyelash...I wished that one day my mom would bring me a little brother, but it never happened. I met you when I was six and all it took was a couple of hours in the same house as you for me to realize that brothers suck." Nathan let out a small scoff, but I could see the smirk on his face. "And now- ten years later- I meet you again after not seeing you for so long and I was a bit...disappointed with what I got. I mean, I came here expecting to finally spend some time with my mother and maybe actually get to know my brothers and I got none of that. All I get is crap ton of abandonment issues from my mother and a father who I'm beginning to realize isn't what I thought he was."

"Dad isn't a good guy, Natalie." Was the first thing Nathan said. "He's an asshole and a bully and...sometimes I wish that he had just left my mom like he did Karen. I think that's why I'm such a dick to Lucas; he got raised by the good brother." I let out a humorless chuckle as I shook my head.

"How screwed up are we Scott's?" I asked. "Most kids are out there wishing that they're fathers were in our lives and here we are with the knowledge that we would've been better off without ours."

"I don't want to be a disappointment." Nathan told me and I looked over at him. "That's all I'll probably ever be to my dad, but I don't want to be that way with you...I want to be the brother you wished you had when you were a kid." With a sigh, I laid my head on Nathan's shoulder.

"I'm sorry Dan turned you into a dick."

"I'm sorry you gotta live with him."

Neither of us knew that Dan stood outside my bedroom door, out of sight and listening to every word we said.