A/N: Howdy :)
Ok, so usually, updates won't be this frequent, but I wrote this yesterday and kind of liked it, so I thought I'd put it up :)
As I was reminded by the lovely sweetkiwi604, I didn't specify when this was. So, it's set between season 4 and 5, and it's BEFORE Nathan's accident.
Disclaimer: Nope, still not mine :( lol
Chapter Two
It was almost twelve when Lucas Scott knocked on his brother's front door. He didn't even really understand why the woman visiting Nathan had asked to see him too, since as far as he could remember, he'd never met her. But he'd thought, hey, what harm could it do?
"Hey," Nathan greeted when he opened the door a second later.
"Hey," Lucas replied, stepping through the doorway "I guess they're not here yet?"
"No, but Joanna called me a few minutes ago, and they're about thirty minutes out."
"And, who are they again?" Lucas asked, his eyebrows raised expectantly.
"I told you Luke," Nathan replied, rolling his eyes slightly "Joanna was my nanny when I was six, and she's bringing her daughter."
Lucas sighed "And I'm here because...?"
"Honestly, I don't really know either." Nathan laughed "But don't forget, she probably knew of you, even if you never actually met. Trust me," he added "Joanna's one of the nicest people on the planet. You'll like her, I promise."
For about twenty-five minutes, the two brothers chatted casually, and when they heard car doors closing, Nathan went and peered out of the window.
"They're here." He announced to his brother, going over to the front door and pulling it open as a woman approached.
"Nathan," Joanna cooed affectionately, pulling Nathan into a tight hug "My, my, didn't you grow up handsome."
Nathan laughed at the compliment and looked over Joanna's shoulder at the teenage girl standing awkwardly behind them. She had her hands tucked into the pockets of her leather jacket, and she let her hair fall over her face almost like a veil.
"Nathan Scott, this is my daughter, Tori." Joanna introduced lovingly, noticing his glance and pulling Tori forwards.
"It's nice to meet you." Nathan told her, holding out her hand, which Tori reciprocated with a small smile but no words.
"She's a bit tired," Joanna dismissed casually "She's been driving for two days."
Nathan let them in and led them into the living room, where Lucas greeted them both with handshakes. Joanna stood and looked at the two of them for a minute with her hands on her hips.
"Well, who'd have thought that Dan Scott could make such gorgeous children?" She commented cheerfully, and Tori scowled slightly at her mother's subtle nuance. Nathan beaconed them to take a seat, and Tori perched a little uncomfortably on the edge of the couch, feeling her heart beating in her throat. Her head snapped up, surprised, when Nathan started talking to her.
"You know, Tori, your mom was the best nanny I ever had."
"She's pretty awesome, I guess." Tori joked feebly, barely above a whisper, finding it hard to push past her nerves over where she was and what they were doing.
"I never did know why you left." Nathan continued casually, turning back to Joanna.
"I got pregnant with this one." Joanna replied, jerking her thumb at Tori. Tori found it hard to believe that her mother seemed so at ease, when she herself couldn't remember feeling worse. Her head was pounding, her chest ached, her palms were sweating, she felt like the walls were closing in her around her, suffocating her, and she felt her whole body trembling nervously. Catching Joanna, Nathan and Lucas completely off-guard, she shot up and hurried out the door, mumbling apologies as she left. Feeling immediately better once she was outside, she climbed into the bed of her truck, hugging her knees to her chest, not even caring about the dirt she was getting on her jeans. Feeling embarrassed and more than a little bit pathetic, she felt tears rolling down her face.
They were still falling half an hour later when Lucas and Nathan emerged from the house, but she wiped them away roughly with her sleeve.
"Mind if we join you?" Lucas asked gently when they got to the truck, and Tori sniffled.
"Knock yourselves out." She replied, crawling over to the end of the bed and opening it for them to get in with her. She sat silently as they made themselves as comfortable as was possible in a dirty old truck, but she couldn't bring herself to look at them.
"So," Nathan sighed "You're Dan Scott's kid too, huh?"
"I guess so, yeah." Tori answered with a slightly bitter laugh as the world started to flood again.
"Well," Lucas chuckled heartily "Commiserations."
"How does this not freak you guys out?" She exclaimed incredulously as silent drops dribbled down her cheeks again.
Nathan scoffed "Knocking up the nanny? It's a bit clichéd, but it has Dan Scott written all over it."
"It doesn't really surprise us." Lucas added lightly. Tori raked a hand through her hair and let out a long breath. At least part of it was done now, she thought, even if it wasn't the hardest part. She looked up when she noticed movement out the corner of her eye, and saw her mother walking towards them.
"Well Kiddo," Joanna sighed when she got next to them, wiping away a stray tear that remained on Tori's face "Considering you didn't want them to know, you made it kind of hard not to tell them."
"I'm sorry Mom." She whimpered slightly, shooting her mother a weak, watery smile.
"It's ok my angel." Joanna cooed, reaching up to plant a kiss on her daughter's cheek.
"Tori, listen," Nathan started "I've invited you and your mom back here for dinner tonight, and you can meet my wife and son, but I don't want you to think that you have to come, even if your mom does, ok?"
Tori nodded firmly, suddenly feeling exhausted, and she scrubbed a hand over her face.
"We know this is gonna be tough," Lucas continued gently "But we'll deal with it, all three of us, ok?" Tori found it hard to talk around the lump in her throat, so she nodded again. She was honestly relieved, for them to be so outwardly understanding, though she had to wonder if they were the same inside.
"Right Lady," Joanna announced definitively "We could both use a nap, and I'm sure Nathan and Lucas have a lot to discuss right now, so how about we head out, huh?"
Tori stood up, brushed herself off and hopped effortlessly over the side of the truck in less than half the time it took Nathan and Lucas to clamber down.
Lucas gave her shoulder a quick, encouraging squeeze. "We'll maybe see you tonight, ok?"
Tori gave a slightly smile and got in behind the wheel. Nathan and Lucas waited out in the front yard and waved as Tori and Joanna pulled away, heading back to their hotel room. When they were completely out of ear shot, Lucas turned to his brother and sighed.
"Well, that was...interesting."
"Are you sure you won't come?" Joanna queried for the umpteenth time as she grabbed her coat, ready to leave. Tori was lounging on the couch, flipping idly through TV channels, determined that she wasn't going to change her mind. She thought she'd had quite enough excitement for one day.
"I'm sure Mom." Tori replied monotonously, barely lifting her eyes from the screen, because she knew that if she did, if she saw the look on her mother's face, she'd cave.
Joanna sighed and shook her head "Fine. You know where I'll be. I won't be out late, ok?"
Tori nodded and waited a few seconds after her mother was gone to just switch the TV off altogether. She sat up and grabbed one of the magazines she had bought, leafing through it for a few minutes before that got boring too. She didn't even bother reaching for the only book she and her mother had bought- 'An Unkindness of Ravens'- so she put the TV back on. Still nothing. She wanted to go with her mother. She really did. But she knew that she wouldn't be able to sit and pretend that everything was fine and ok and normal, when it was about as far from it as it could get. Tori stood up and wondered to the fridge, peering inside and pulling out a can of soda. She cracked it open and took a long sip, but she didn't really want that either. It was eerily quiet inside the hotel room, so she started humming to herself, but after just a few seconds, she started to annoy herself so stopped. She stepped into the bedroom, and on the bed was the outfit her mother had picked out for her to wear to Nathan's. She stared at it for a second, and groaned dejectedly, hurried tearing off her jeans and replacing them with the more presentable ones on the bed. She knew her mom had done that on purpose, but she didn't have time to worry about it. She quickly pulled on the clean shirt and slipped back into her boots, grabbing her jacket, keys, phone and purse as she left the motel room. She thought about calling her mom, to let her know that she was coming, but decided against it. Instead she hurried out of the lobby and out to the parking lot, fumbling with her keys and getting into the truck.
A/N 2: Right, so I know that it's a little unrealistic that Nathan and Lucas were so cool about just finding out they have a little sister, but I don't want to hang around too long on the introductory stuff, so yeah...bear with me haha
Also, I know I made Tori sound like a bit of a wuss with the way she reacted, but come on? Meeting her brothers for the first time? As well as being tired from a lot of driving (also, I know it takes longer than that to get from Montana to NC in a car, but I didn't want to spend too much time on that either)? Plus, there's a reason they are going to see Nathan and Lucas in the first place, that Tori isn't exactly happy about? I think we can cut her some slack. ^.^ I promise she's not usually that wimpy :D
But other than that, what did people think? Is it worth carrying on with so far?
Please, R+R! and let me know :)
Thanks again,
xoloveJBox