Title: Anywhere Out of the World
Summary: When things don't quite go according to plan, Nathan discovers that going back to the place he was running from could help him find what he was looking for after all.
Spoilers: The story is completely AU so, none. You do need to know that Haley was not in Lucas and Nathan's class at school so they didn't know her, but all other details about the AU will be revealed as the story unfolds.
Disclaimer: The characters belong to Schwanny and co. but the plot, etc is all mine. I also can't take credit for the title because it is from a French poem by Baudelaire (but the poem doesn't have anything to do with the story, I just really liked the title).
Rating: Teen
Author's Note: This story is a little different to what I normally write but I hope you enjoy it all the same. I made a banner for it which is at this link (without the spaces of course):
i112. / albums/n 162/thedreamygirl /6Anywhereowr .png
And lastly I have a few people to thank: Diane and Ellie for all their feedback, Brittany for being awesome and Cathy who talked some of this out with me when it was in its early stages. I'd also like to recommend to you all Cathy's new story "Learning To Breathe"; it's NH and it's amazing!
Chapter One
Tree Hill seemed larger than he remembered.
When they had passed the "Welcome to Tree Hill" sign, he thought there was only five minutes left before they reached their destination; yet fifteen minutes had gone by and they were only just entering the area of Tree Hill that he was familiar with, the inner part of the small town…the part of Tree Hill where he grew up.
As Nathan stared out the window, he was surprised to find that he hadn't forgotten his directions. Four years away from this place had dulled most of his memories, but now, as Lucas drove them down the main road in that rickety old truck his brother refused to part with, it was as if they were all returning to the forefront of his mind. He knew that if they turned right at the next traffic light the road would take them straight to his old high school. He also knew that if they turned left they would be heading towards Whitey's house.
Nathan managed to spare a few moments of thought on Whitey. He hadn't seen the old man since he had left Tree Hill all those years ago, but Lucas had on his visits home and according to him, Whitey was as cranky as ever. Some things never changed.
But, as unchanged as Tree Hill appeared, trying to lull him into a false sense of security he had never acknowledged when he had lived there, Nathan couldn't pretend that time had stopped for him. Not even on the days he wanted to.
Having resided in closer quarters in the past eight weeks than they had been in the past eight years of their lives, the two boys had run out of things to say to each other some miles back. The only thing left to discuss was Nathan's plans, but Nathan was grateful to his brother for not prodding the subject. Returning to Tree Hill, however briefly, had been the biggest decision he'd been able to make in the past few days and he wasn't ready to dwell on anything serious just yet.
Nathan adjusted the AC in the car to combat the summer heat before returning his attention to the window. The trees resembled a bright green blur as Lucas sped down the road. Although the sky was clear and the sun high in the sky, the absence of activity around them told Nathan that the residents of Tree Hill weren't making use of the great seasonal weather. It wasn't all that surprising though; there was never anything to do in town anyway.
Finally, Lucas turned down the lane that would take them to their destination, one of the only two places where Nathan had ever felt slightly comfortable in Tree Hill.
Almost as soon as Lucas pulled into the driveway and stepped out of the car, the front door of the house opened and a tall man came walking down the steps. As Nathan shut the car door behind him, he smiled at his uncle Keith who was walking towards them. Keith smiled back before directing his attention to Lucas, the closer of the two.
From the other side of the car Nathan watched the two hug and he heard a muffled, "Welcome home, son."
It was the kind of thing people said when you returned home after a long absence, but Nathan couldn't help but feel those words. This was, after all, Lucas' home and, after Keith had legally adopted him when he and Karen had gotten married, Lucas really was his son.
A little fed up of pitying himself, especially since it was all he had been doing this past week, Nathan busied himself with getting their bags out of the back of the truck. He could hear Lucas and Keith exchange pleasantries for a few moments before they came over to him.
"How're you doing, Nathan?"
Nathan nodded as he put a big suitcase on the ground next to the two smaller bags. "Fine, Uncle Keith."
Keith walked around the suitcase to give Nathan a well-meant, if slightly awkward hug. Nathan had never liked hugs on the few occasions he received one and could only lightly tap Keith on the back in return.
"Could one of you give me a hand getting this inside?" Lucas gestured to the suitcase that contained the majority of his possessions as he adjusted the strap of the small bag on his shoulder.
Keith went over to help him and the two started lifting it up the front steps to take it inside. Nathan had to climb up onto the back of the truck in order to get the last bag from it, a medium sized case that belonged to him. By the time he got back down from the truck Nathan noticed Lucas and Keith disappearing inside the house and Karen standing at the foot of the front steps smiling at him.
"Hello, Nathan."
"Hi, Karen."
"I'm glad you decided to join Lucas on his trip."
"I'm sorry it was so last minute. I didn't give you much warning."
Karen dismissed it with a wave of her hand. "You're always welcome here, you know that, Nathan." She began walking through the small garden towards him, but the distance Lucas and Keith had crossed in a few steps was taking Karen much longer. The garden wasn't very wide, but her steps were short, far shorter than he recalled.
Nathan frowned at the sight of it. She was always so full of life, trying to do so many things. Her walking so slowly just looked…wrong. It made her seem old. As did the black shawl he suddenly noticed she was wearing over her skirt and blouse.
"Are you cold?" Nathan wondered, but even as he spoke he could feel the sweat on his forehead due to the heat.
"Only a little bit," Karen informed Nathan now that she had finally crossed the garden and was standing right in front of him. "Now you're going to have to bend down – I swear you and Lucas have grown even taller since I last saw you both."
Nathan smiled wryly knowing that couldn't be true since the last time she had seen them was less than two months ago, but he bent and she hugged, although he was too concerned to give her the obligatory pat.
"Are you feeling okay, Karen?" he asked when he had broken away.
"Yes, of course."
"But, you were walking-"
"There's nothing wrong with my legs," she brushed it off, her smile widening as she tried to convince him of the fact. "Really, Nathan, I'm fine. And I should be the one asking you how you are."
"I'm fine," he responded automatically.
"Mmhmm," Karen murmured as she eyed him suspiciously.
"So what is this, you won't tell if I don't tell?" Nathan guessed.
Karen pretended to look shocked. "Why, Nathan. I don't know what you're talking about. I have nothing to tell."
Nathan chuckled at that. And, as his first laugh in quite a while, it felt kind of nice. Relaxing, almost.
At that moment, Keith appeared in the front doorway. "You two coming in? I would like to have lunch sometime today."
"You haven't had lunch yet?" Nathan wondered, checking his watch to confirm that it was almost four o'clock.
"Karen wouldn't even let me touch the food before 'her boys' arrived," Keith grumbled.
"Oh, stop complaining! Don't think I didn't see you sneak those biscuits earlier."
"Well, what did you expect me to do? Starve?"
Shaking his head but smiling at the same time, Nathan slung one bag over his shoulder and picked the other up in his hand. "We're coming in, Uncle Keith."
Satisfied, Keith went inside while Nathan and Karen walked across the garden and up the front steps. Nathan didn't comment on it, but he couldn't help but notice how much he had to slow his speed down to stay at the same pace as her.
"Lucas didn't mention that you hadn't been feeling well," he stated after he had set both the bags down next to the coat stand.
"That's because I feel fine," she said at the same time pulling her shawl closer around her. When Nathan only raised his eyebrows Karen met his stare. "I caught a virus last week but I'm recovered."
"More like recovering. Karen-"
"Lunch today, please!" Keith yelled from the kitchen.
"Come on," Karen told him. "No more talk of this over lunch, okay," she added, as she started heading towards the kitchen.
"That sounds like a threat."
Karen looked back at him over her shoulder. "Well, maybe it is. After all, there'll be hell to pay if your Uncle Keith doesn't get his food."
"Thanks for making lunch, Mom. It was really good," Lucas complimented as he wiped his mouth on his napkin. "I can't remember the last time I ate something so tasty."
"That's because your cooking is terrible," Nathan pointed out.
Keith laughed, nodding his head his head at the same time.
"Hey! If you don't like my cooking you didn't have to eat it these weeks," Lucas mentioned. "You could have just got up off your ass and cooked yourself instead of moping around and…" Lucas stopped himself suddenly when he realised what he had been about to bring up.
An awkward silence fell across the dining table as Nathan and Lucas both stared at their empty plates, while Karen and Keith glanced between the two boys, not knowing what to say. Finally, Karen spoke up, "Well, who wants to help me do the washing up?"
Keith opened his mouth to offer his help, but Karen quickly shook her head indicating for him not to. "Boys?" she prompted when neither of them said anything.
"I'll help you Mom," Lucas said, standing and picking up the dirty dishes.
"Thank you, Lucas. And while we do these, why don't you two take the bags into the boys' rooms?" Karen suggested. Nathan nodded and both he and Keith stood up.
Lucas took the plates he was holding to the kitchen while Nathan went to wash his hands so Karen took the opportunity to sidle over to Keith. "Talk to him," she whispered pointedly, once she had gained his attention.
Stealing a glance at the kitchen door to check that he hadn't yet returned, Keith replied quietly, "Don't you think we should give him a bit more time? He hasn't even been here for an hour yet."
"It's been over a week now, Keith. It's about time someone spoke to him about it. Besides, who knows what your brother," Karen practically spat, "has been saying to him in the meantime."
"Okay, okay. I'll talk to him," Keith answered quickly just before Lucas and Nathan came back out. "So, Nathan," he said more loudly, "shall we start with Lucas' big suitcase first and then take the other small ones?"
Nathan nodded. "Sounds good."
"Okay." Keith walked out of the dining room to the main hall where they had left all the bags. Standing behind one end of the suitcase, Nathan placed himself at the other before they both lifted it up.
Keith groaned as they started walking with it towards Lucas' room. "I'm trying to remember why we didn't send him to college with a suitcase that has wheels!"
"I don't think it was so bad when we went to college because," Nathan paused for a sharp intake of breath, "he didn't have much in it at that time. Since then he's shopped like a girl!"
"Clothes?" Keith wondered aloud.
Nathan shook his head as he took another backwards step. "No, books."
"Ugh," Keith mumbled, doing his best to not drop the suitcase and scratch the floor, or worse, drop it on his foot. "I bet they're all dusty, old things."
"They smell bad too," Nathan added.
"You know," Lucas began, coming through the doorway to find them halfway across the living room, "I can hear you. And they don't smell bad, Nathan. All books have a unique smell that is distinctly their own."
"That's just great Lucas," Nathan muttered, glancing over his shoulder to make sure he wasn't walking backwards into anything. "Next time, on the rare occasion that a girl happens to be interested in you, I'll just tell her to spray herself with old book perfume and you'll be in love."
Keith chuckled at that, but as a result started to lose his grip on the suitcase.
"Whoa," Nathan mumbled as he tried not to drop it.
"Why don't we put this down for a second?" Keith said as he lowered his side to the ground, leaving Nathan to follow.
"That wasn't funny," Lucas told them.
"We weren't pretending to drop the suitcase, Luc-" Nathan began.
"No, I meant what you said about old book perfume."
"Hey, you were the one who told me about pheromones and all that shit."
"Are you two arguing about pheromones?" Karen wondered as she popped her head out the doorway
"He was the one -" Nathan began at the same time Lucas said, "He started it!"
Laughing, Keith shook his head. "Clearly we were crazy for thinking they'd actually mature when they went off to college."
"Hey!" Lucas whined. "I resent that. Nathan is the one who-"
"Is helping Keith take your suitcase to your room," Karen finished for him. "You're supposed to be helping me in the kitchen, remember? Those dishes don't do themselves."
"Yes, Mom." Nodding, Lucas shuffled his feet and followed Karen back to the kitchen.
Looking over at Keith, Nathan asked, "Break been long enough for you?"
Stretching his arms, Keith nodded. "Let's go."
Together, they lifted the suitcase once more and managed to get it all the way inside Lucas' room without having to rest again.
"Phew!" Keith exclaimed sitting down on the bed.
"Yeah," Nathan murmured.
"How heavy are your bags?"
"Oh, they're not heavy," Nathan assured him. "I didn't bring all of my stuff."
"Oh?" Keith wondered, sitting up straighter. "I thought you had been staying with Lucas these past few weeks."
"Yeah, I was."
"But I thought Lucas brought all his stuff because his lease on the old apartment ended and he can only move into the new one next month."
"Yeah, that's why. But I just left the rest of my stuff at…Dan's house," Nathan finished.
"Oh…How, er, is Dan?"
Nathan shrugged. "Same as usual."
"Okay. Good. Well…" Keith paused wondering how to broach the subject his wife wanted them to discuss, but Nathan made use of the pause to change the subject.
"I'm going to go get my bags."
Nathan had left the room before Keith could respond, so he had no choice but to follow him out.
After Nathan picked one of them up, Keith took the other and started leading the way. "So when was the last time you spoke to Danny?" he asked straight away.
"Um, a few days ago. He was out when I took all my stuff there yesterday."
"I see. Did you tell him you were coming here?"
Nathan halted briefly before answering, "No, I didn't tell him."
Nodding, Keith pushed the door open to Nathan's room. "Well, it's-"
"It's exactly the same," Nathan interrupted, observing the small bedroom.
"What? Oh yeah, the room. Of course it's the same."
Nathan stared at the sight of his old room. Back in high school his life had once reached a point where he lived more at Karen and Keith's house than his own parents' so he'd known some of his old stuff was still with them. He just hadn't expected it to be exactly the way he'd left it. "But…haven't you had guests to stay? Like Mr. and Mrs. Roe?"
"Sure we have," Keith said, smiling despite knowing he'd lost the moment for his discussion. "But they sleep in the guest bedroom upstairs. This is your room, Nathan."
Giving his nephew a friendly pat on the shoulder, Keith walked out the room, leaving Nathan alone to survey his old sanctuary.
He should have been touched that they had left his room intact, as if waiting for him; and a part of him was. But as his eyes came to land on his old basketball trophies, it only served as a reminder of everything that he had once had. But would never have again.