We Belong – chapter three
"I just don't know why she is so fussy, I mean it's Isabella she is never fussy" Haley said kissing the head of the little girl whose head rested on her mother's shoulder, her blonde locks falling onto her back as she sucked her thumb. Izzy Scott had always been their chirpy, easy daughter. They hit the jackpot with their first two kids, well behaved, well mannered, cute as buttons but the biggest shock came when Haley gave birth to her twins, one gorgeous little cranky pants baby boy and one gorgeously placid and cheeky baby girl, it had sort of been perfection but this afternoon Izzy was crankier than her twin brother, crying every two seconds and throwing tantrums like Haley would never believe and that had really worried her, she figured that Izzy was probably just tired and that maybe a good night sleep would bring her carefree baby girl back to reality. Next to Haley stood Nathan holding their son Sammy in his arms, the boy surprisingly alert as he sat on his father's lap, this was every nights routine: after dinner Nathan and Haley would leave Lydia and Jamie downstairs to have some chill out time while they would pick up a twin each and separate the trouble makers to get them off to sleep usually they would alternate the twin they took so they got cuddle time with them both. As Haley went to turn from the stairway her two older children ran past her in a whirl wind, Jamie holding Lydia's stuffed bunny rabbit above his head and his sister yelled at him whilst running "JAMES LUCAS SCOTT GIVE YOUR SISTER BACK HER RABBIT" she yelled as her husband looked at her with a smile, she let out an exhausted laugh "Why did we have four kids again?"
"I ask myself that every day" Nathan said with a cheeky smile as his wife looked at him outraged before turning her head back to the commotion happening in the hallway
"And you two get your pyjamas on please" she said before walking into Isabella's nursery which once housed her sister Quinn had spent the days after her separation in, the room that had another bedroom directly across from it in a little separate hallway section, and that room housed her twin brother Sammy.
Nathan walked into the blue bedroom, turning on the light and laughing at his squirming son who seemed to have a sixth sense when it came to being put in his crib. Nathan put him on the floor as he opened the top draw and got out a pair of pyjamas before catching Sammy around the waist as he made a break for the door
"Did he try and run away again?" Haley yelled across the small hallway
"You're not getting away this time" he said with a tickle as he placed Sam down on the changing table and pulling his t-shirt over his head whilst simultaneously trying to keep him still "Ah Haley" he said moving in to get a closer look at the dot on his son's chest "Did you leave Lydia alone with the markers again"
"No why?" she yelled back at him
"I think she has been drawing on Sammy again" he said continuing to look intently at the dot on his son that was starting to fuss
"Babe are the dots red?" she asked with this uneasy tone
"Yeah how did you know?" he exclaimed sounding a bit more excited than he should have been
"Well I don't think Lydia has been drawing on the twins again, I think that the twins have the chicken pox" she yelled behind her as she looked at the matching dots on their daughters chest, she picked the little girl who was just wearing a nappy up onto her hip and bounced her up and down in an attempt of soothing, she turned and found her husband standing in the doorway with a matching twin on his own hip
"Really?" he asked as Haley nodded "Oh man"
"This is going to be a very long night" Haley sighed as Izzy started crying again.
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"Dad hey daddy" she whispered loudly in her sleeping fathers ear, he jumped as he woke up and turned to face her
"What are you doing kiddo?" he mumbled quietly trying not to wake his sleeping wife, it was one of those rare mornings that their two youngest kids didn't wake up in the early hours of the morning he guessed that chasing Leo around the backyard yesterday in an attempt to tire him out had paid off, and well their little baby Ellie was an awesome little sleeper, loved it like her mama.
"Its morning daddy, you said in the morning that we could have pancakes"
"Mama isn't awake yet" he said simply looking into the pleading precious warm eyes of his little daughter "And It's six thirty, didn't we say that we would have pancakes if you stayed in bed till eight" he said putting up eight fingers as she did the same in front of him
"But dad I can't sleeeeeeep" she whinged as the woman next to them let out a laugh to the surprise of both Lucas and Sawyer who abruptly turned, it was a groggy sort of laugh but a laugh never the less "Mama is awake, now can we have pancakes" she said with the smile that she knew her father had a hard time denying, she had worked that out at a young age
"Sawy" Peyton whispered not opening her eyes but using her finger to usher the girl over "Mama needs to tell you a secret"
"Is it about the pancakes?" Sawyer asked as she climbed over her father sticking her foot into her stomach making him wince as she climbed onto her mum and wrapping her arms around her mum's neck, putting her ear to her mother's lips "What is it mama?" she asked while her mum kissed the little girls ear before encasing her within her own arms, wrapping her tightly
"It's sleeping time girly" she said as she turned onto her side putting her laughing daughter onto the space left bare between her parents, she squirmed as her dad looked on and laughed, eventually Peyton let go and the room went silent, he thought he had hit the jackpot, that Sawyer was fast asleep beside him and as he shut his eyes this prodding began at his forearm
"What Sawyer?" he said with a hint of frustration in his tone as Peyton sniggered next to him
"Sleeping is boring" Sawyer said with a whinge as Peyton continued to try and hide laughter, there was no doubt that she was so truly madly deeply in love with their Sawyer, she was so gorgeous and funny, Sawyer Brooke Scott was their little trouble maker who had changed her parents life for the better, She was the only other woman that she knew that could wrap Lucas around his finger the way that she could, but she knew that their little Ellie Scott was going to be the exact same way, she was already on her way to it. Lucas reached over to the bedside table seemingly ignoring his blonde bombshell of a daughter, he kept thinking about how much trouble this girl was going to be when she hit her teenage years as he reached for the TV remote and passed it to his daughter who smiled widely at him before finding the big red button "Cartoons" she said with this evil chuckle in her tone
"Not too loud bubba" Peyton said as she turned onto the other side "We're still trying to slee…" interrupted mid word by the crying over the baby monitor that indicated that their second little girl "p. I'll get her" Peyton said going to throw off the duvet covers
"Nah I've got her, you stay in bed" he said leaning over his daughter and kissing his wife on the lips, she watched as her shirtless husband staggered out of their room in his grey tracksuit pants, she smiled before taking up the same position as their eldest daughter
"What's going on kiddo?" Peyton asked as she watched the episode of coyote vs. road runner that she swore she had watched one hundred times before
"He dropped the piano on his head" Sawyer exclaimed in hysterical laughter as her mother watched on, cracking up right beside her. Lucas walked into the room with baby Ellie on his hip and little Leo connected to his thumb, the cheeky boy spotting his mum let go and ran to her side of the bed where she promptly picked him u
"Guess who else I found mum" he said as Leo snuggled into his mums chest, Lucas sat down and put Ellie in his lap, If the rest of his days were like this he would be the happiest man around. But at a moment's notice Sawyer was at her feet and running towards the window "What are you doing Kid?" Lucas asked with a smirk watching his daughter run havoc
"Do you think grandpa would like pancakes?" she asked turning around to face her stunned parents with a smile before running out of the room like a crazy child
"Grandpa?" Lucas asked as he turned to face Peyton with a smile
"Dad?" Peyton said to herself before getting out of bed and chasing after her daughter "SAWYER" she yelled behind her with Leo attached to her arm, leaving Lucas and Ellie alone in the bedroom, Lucas laughed realising that his life was going to be this hectic and crazy for the rest of his life
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"Whoa you look horrible" Brooke said moving the sunglasses off the top of her head as she stood at the front door of her friend's house, looking at the tired eyes of Haley James Scott, the messy set of wavy blonde hair and the frown on her face as she turned to the crying up the hallway looking as Nathan briefly walked by with a kid in his arms
"Well thank you Brooke that's what I want to hear" Haley said with a laugh as she out of instinct put her hand into her hair
"Forget about that, Are you guys ready to go?" Brooke asked with an excited smile as Haley looked on at her confused "And you don't have a clue what I'm talking about, we had a play date set up for the kids today? What's going on Tutor Mum, since when do you forget plans with me?"
"You know how a couple of months ago Lydia got the chicken pox and we thought we were so lucky and that it was such a fluke that the twins didn't get them?"
"Uh-oh"
"Well it may seem that my gorgeous twins are just late bloomers, very cranky, fussy, upset late bloomers that like to keep their parents up all night"
"Haley that sucks" Brooke said giving her friend a sympathetic smile and gripping her shoulder, she had remembered how much it had sucked when her twins had the chicken pox and how miserable they had been and all of a sudden this wacky idea came into her head and a smile plastered itself across her face "I've got an idea" Brooke said as Haley quirked her eyebrow, today was one of those days when the usually talkative woman wasn't much for words "Lydia and Jamie are going to come home with me so you can focus on the twins this weekend and then I get some quality time with my boy and girl" she said with this girly cheeky smile
"I don't know Brooke I don't want to lump them on you, Jamie is going over to Chuck's house tonight for the rest of the weekend to 'study' apparently and Lydia is pretty low maintenance so you don't even have to worry about it we'll all be fine"
"Haley, Sam just woke up" Nathan yelled up the hallway and Haley sighed, taking up the hall with Brooke trailing behind her, she patted the blonde sleepy hair of the girl in Nathan's arms as Haley picked up Sam in the portable cot that they had set up downstairs knowing full well that if they put them in their own beds upstairs that they would spend the whole day walking up and down the stairs.
"Poor babies" Brooke said with a frown still adamant that her idea was the bees knees "I still think that Lydia should come and stay with me and the boys, I mean my kids have already had the chicken pox in fact my kids gave your kid chicken pox. It'll be so much fun, the kids will have so much fun and you won't have to worry about Lydia at all" Haley looked from Brooke, down to the baby in her arms and then to her husband Nathan who gave her the why not look.
"Brooke that would be really great, I mean don't feel as though you have too and know that I can pick her up at any time if she is at all overwhelming"
"Don't be ridiculous, it's going to be great. You can pick her up on Sunday night at family dinner" Brooke said with a smile
"I don't want to spread the germs" Haley said with a smile
"Then we will drop her off on the way back, don't worry about a thing its all sorted, LYDI LOO" she said with a smile watching as the little girl ran over to her and got hoisted up onto her hip "Do you want to come for a sleepover?"
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"Go easy on him" Peyton said with a laugh referring to Sawyer and Leo who were jumping all over her dad. She felt sorry for people that walked freely into their domain, they were used to the outgoingness of their children, the excessive noise, the jumping around but those who walked into the house were kind of ambushed by it all "So what is with this impromptu visit?" Peyton said sitting down on the couch next to him, picking up her boy and putting him on the floor
"What can't I visit my beautiful daughter and crazy grandchildren? Do I need a reason?" he asked with a smile as he turned to face Peyton
"No" she answered quickly "Well actually yes" she said with a laugh as he returned the favour
"You know me too well kid" Larry said as he moved closer to his daughter and throwing an arm over her shoulders "Can we go for a drive? Leave rake boy with the kids for a bit?" he asked with a smile
"Sure" Peyton said with a confused smile, this was unlike her dad, he didn't tend to cloud over things, he was usually all open and ready to communicate with her and now he was being all secretive, she just wanted to get to the bottom of the visit so that she could stop worrying about it and start enjoying it more than she already was.
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"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Lydia yelled as she ran through the living room with her tutu on, her wand in the air and this massive smile on her face, Jude and Davis following behind her in the exact same outfits, Brooke sat laughing at the bench with an iced tea in her hand as her husband ran out in the exact same outfit after the three kids in tutu's and Brooke was gone in a hysterical laughing fit, he looked at her with his killer smile before chasing after them again. She recognised how lucky she truly was having her amazing husband by her side. Lydia Bob Scott had arrived around six hours ago and after one and half she was officially queen of all the Davis-Baker land, she had all of Brooke's boys hanging on her every word and action, so much for Lydia is low maintenance, Lydia was a fireball and a gorgeous little diva. Julian left the kids playing on the floor and walked over to his wife who he draped an arm over her.
"I hope you don't mind that I offered to babysit Lydia, I'm sorry for just springing it on you" Brooke said looking up at him and into his deep soulful eyes
"Are you kidding me Brooke Baker I love when Lydia comes over and hangs out with the boys"
"It's kind of cool having her here" Brooke said looking down in the hopes that he didn't see the tears in her eyes "having a little girl in the house, It reminds me of when Ruthie was around, god I miss Ruthie! I miss all my girls" she said as Julian put his other arm over her in a protective manner and holding onto her tighter before kissing the back of her head.
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"Come on Sammy, go to sleep baby" Haley said rocking him backwards and forwards smiling as she saw Isabella in her nappy and dummy running past, half her spots covered in calamine lotion and the others not with Nathan trailing behind with the bottle in his hand and a lot of it on his pants. "I see your having just as much trouble settling her down" she said with a smile
"This is crazy" Nathan said as he sat down on the edge of the couch and weirdly enough his baby daughter walked over to him and requested to be lifted up and sat on his knee
"Aren't you tired baby Iz?" Haley asked walking over to her husband and her daughter who shook her dummy sucking face at her mother's questioning, she probably didn't understand what her mum was talking about but she was perceptive enough to know what went where in the conversational world.
"I think you just got your answer" Nathan said with a laugh looking down at Isabella
"I have an idea" Haley said walking up the stairs, Nathan had been living and loving her for so many years that he knew that he was supposed to be following her even without formal invitation. He followed her to the bathroom where she was filling the tub with water and apparently calamine lotion. "I'm going to do this" she said putting Sammy in the tub and then lifting Izzy out of his arms "And you are going to make me something to eat" she said with a smile before looking down at Isabella and spinning her around.
"I'm thinking the food of gods" Nathan said with a smile as his wife put Isabella in the tub
"I think you are my god" she said stepping over to him and then up to her tip-toes to kiss him on his lips as he continued to smile.
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"So what's going on with you?" Peyton asked as she took a sip from her takeaway cup of coffee as they sat on the bonnet of the comet outside of the house that she had called hers for so much of her life
"I need to talk to you about something" Larry said sighing as Peyton turned to him
"Just spit it out dad" she said with a laugh
"You know how much a loved your mum right?" Peyton gave him this 'dah' look and he nervously laughed "I loved your mum so much and when she died I never thought that I would be able to open my heart again because I had and lost the most amazing woman in my life, someone that had brought me so much joy and laughter and you. So when I lost her I decided that I was going to pour all my attention, love and devotion into raising you and into my work when I thought you needed me less. I didn't think about getting back out there and meeting women" Peyton cringed at that part, it was awkward to think about his dad with women like and when he brought that sort of stuff she felt as though she reverted back into her grossed out teenage self "But It's been a long time"
"Eww dad I don't need to know how long it has been" Peyton said looking at her dad a little outraged
"I meant that it has been a long time since I have opened my heart to anyone except for you and for Karen who is now related to me by marriage thanks for that"
"Very welcome" Peyton said with a smile
"You're older now, you have your own life and family and I am so proud of you. I'm ready now to open my heart up again and I guess that I sort of want your blessing"
"Dad are you asking me if you are allowed to go out on dates?"
"I guess that I sort of am" Larry asked looking at the house that he had all these memories with his daughter and of course with his gorgeous Anna "Not that I can ever forget your mother and I never ever will try to, she will always be the love of my life Peyton"
"Dad I know all that, and I think that you should do whatever makes you happy" she grabbed his arm and rested her chin on his shoulder "You've spent your whole life trying to make everyone else happy, mainly me. And you have done such an incredible job of that, I couldn't wish for anything else or anything more, so do me a favour, do something that is good for you okay? Something that will make you feel better" he looked out with a smile before kissing his daughter on the head.
"I'm really glad you said that" he said it taking in a deep breath as she looked up at him
"Larry Sawyer you sly devil have you got a girlfriend?" Peyton asked with a smile
"I kind of do, yeah, her name is Ava" Larry said as his cheeks reddened and his daughter laughed
"Well I can't wait to meet this woman who has gotten you to open up your heart again"
"Well I'm glad you said that too" Larry said as Peyton looked up at him with this sly smile
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"Hey Foxy" the woman on the end of the phone said as Haley sat down on the end of the bed she shared with her husband
"Hey Peyt, how are you doing?" she said with a yawn and a smile, she had just got Sammy to sleep and she couldn't wait to put herself to sleep tonight either
"I'm doing pretty good, all the kids are asleep and Lucas and dad are sitting out on the patio drinking beer" Peyton said with a smile
"Wait your dads in town? That is so cool" Haley said watching the door and wondering when her drop dead gorgeous husband was going to grace her with his presence in their bed
"Yeah he has come into town for a couple of days and you'll never guess what he told me this afternoon, Larry Sawyer, my dad Larry Sawyer has got a girlfriend"
"Whoa, I was only radio silent for like a day and already so much has changed, I'm so out of the loop right now"
"Well I will fill you all in on Sunday night when we are having our annual family dinner featuring my dad and his new girlfriend Ava"
"speaking of Sunday" every single weekend on a Sunday night the families of Tree Hill would get together at a different house each week, just so that they could guarantee that they would all be able to catch at least once a week "I have also forgotten to tell you that Izzy and Sam have the chicken pox and I really don't want to spread it around, they are probably over the contagious stage but I just want to be extra careful"
"All my kids have had it and all of Brooke's kids have had it, I think we're all good, so you better get your hot ass here for dinner tomorrow night so that you can help me with this whole parents dating thing"
"Okay I will see what I can do" Haley said with a smile "Now I've been awake for about twenty four hours so I better hang up before I agree to something that I am going to regret in the morning" she laughed "Goodnight sister-in-law"
"Night sister-in-law"
"Who was that?" Nathan said walking into the room as Haley turned to face him
"It was just Peyton, so apparently Larry Sawyer has got a girlfriend and we are going to meet her tomorrow night. Now how did that go?" Haley asked clearly indicating to the nursery he just walked out of
"And Izzy would be out like a light and not itching" Nathan said with a smile as Haley jumped and hugged him before putting her fist out to initiate their cool we've been married for a very long time secret handshake of celebration which started in a fist bump and ended in a body slam.
"We kicked chicken pox ass" Haley exclaimed as she fell down onto the bed and climbed onto her side of the bed with Nathan soon following
"We calamine-d the crap out of those pox" he said as his wife broke into hysterical tired fits of giggles.
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Dinner had started at six, Ava was a woman at the same walk of life as her father, she had this long luxurious brown hair and an infectious smile, she could see how happy Ava was making her father and that gave her this warm feeling. Now Peyton stood watching as the kids ran around and Ava played along with them, Ava didn't have any grandchildren of her own yet but was surely going to make a great one when it did finally happen for her.
"So do you like her?" Larry asked as he joined his daughter and her two best friends on the deck of their stunning home
"I love her Larry" Haley said with a smile that Larry automatically returned, it seemed that good old Larry Sawyer was pretty smitten with this woman of his.
"You really know how to pick them Larry" Brooke said with a smile as she stood up from her chair and began to walk away "But don't you fret you'll always be my hot dad fantasy" she said tapping him on the shoulder with a laugh as she walked back inside. Peyton stopped laughing when her dad looked to her, he was craving her approval, he just wanted to know how Peyton felt about all this for she was and always would be the most important thing in his life
"I think she is great dad" she said with a smile and it seemed as though by just looking at him she could see a huge weight being lifted off his shoulder.
To be continued
*Authors note* So I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and if you did or you didn't or you want something more from this story send me a review or a private message and let me know what I can do for you, I crave feedback and I would love some from you. This chapter has reference to some of my other Tree Hill stories that I have got going at the moment, in my recent chapter of 'When we were young'-a story about the next generation of Tree Hill teens, Lydia mentions the fact that Jude wore a tutu for her and of course if you have read 'Don't let me go'- the story where Brooke and Julian take in a foster child, you will get the Ruthie reference and its sort of a bit of a snippet or a hint that things with Ruthie didn't work out exactly how Brooke wanted them to go, It also hopefully will get you to start thinking about what happens with Ruthie because I will be updating that story soon. If you haven't read those stories please do, I would really appreciate it and I would love for you to guess what comes next in any of these stories especially Ruthie, let's just say that an angry dad comes into the picture.
Read, Enjoy, Review
Maggie Frost xxx
