I own nothing

Nobody's Home

The next morning Lucas decided to set up a plan, since he had decided to stay. He no longer had a reason to be gone, it had become too difficult. He should have been home a long time ago. He didn't know what brought him back exactly, but he knew there had to be a motive. He was here to stay, he did know that. First he wanted to go down to the rivercourt and shoot around, clear his mind a little, because he knew it was going to get ugly. He hasn't seen the rivercourt in years. He wasn't even 100 sure it was still there, so many other things in this town have changed. After leaving the rivercourt he would go and talk to Superintendant Marshall, and ask him about a position at the high school. Lucas figured it would take some convincing. When he left he didn't even let his employer know, so they may not want him back. Third, he would talk to his mom. This was going to be the toughest part. He figured she would be at the café, so he would be able to make it there just after the lunch rush. If anyone in this town was going to be happy to see him, then it would be Karen. She couldn't be to upset with him. After the two of them talked for a while he would then ask about Peyton. He didn't even know if Peyton was still in Tree Hill anymore. He was hoping that Karen would be able to give him some answers. After talking with Karen he would go by and see Nathan and Haley, this one would be difficult as well. He knew they still lived in Tree Hill, Haley was still listed as faculty on Tree Hill High's website, but he didn't know how they would take to him being back. For so long Lucas only had to worry about himself, he wasn't proud of the man he was, but he has worked hard to become the man he is now. The man he's always wanted to be. The hard part was to persuade everyone else that he was still the Lucas that they loved. He made a mistake; actually he made lots of mistakes. The first was leaving; the other's just piled up as a result of that big one. He's back now to mend them all. He just needs to be given the chance to. Maybe, just maybe they might be proud of him. He was getting his third book turned into the Lifetime Movie of The Week. Deep down that's the reason why he's back. He had something great happen in his life and he didn't have anyone there to celebrate with. No one was there to say they knew he could do it. He was supposed to be in LA right now, for a private screening, but instead he boarded a plane headed for North Carolina, it just wasn't important anymore.

As Nathan jogged to the rivercourt he kept thinking about that postcard from Lucas yesterday. Why the hell would he send that? Congrats on the birth of your child. Ha, only 5 months late. How did Lucas even know he and Haley had another kid, how did he know it was a boy? Who was Lucas still talking to that still had connections to the people that Nathan loved in Tree Hill. Also, what was Lucas doing in Texas? The postcard was postmarked in Austin, what could he possibly be doing in Austin? Why did Nathan even care? Lucas wasn't someone who was a part of his life anymore, why did he care what he was doing? He was just glad he didn't have to see Karen and Peyton's faces when he gave Haley that postcard. The way Haley described it was bad enough. It really pissed him off that Lucas would even send that. He left, and when he did, he lost his right to be any part of their lives. Nathan didn't make that decision, Lucas did. Nathan didn't know why he couldn't let go of the anger. No one else was angry anymore, but Nathan just couldn't let it go. It pissed him off again every time he saw Morgan, every time Morgan reached a new milestone or every time Morgan had a new accomplishment. It pissed him off that Lucas wasn't there to see it, to share it, to enjoy it, which also means that Morgan didn't have his dad there. That is what made him so mad. Why should Morgan have to be the one to suffer, while Lucas was enjoying his life in Texas? It just didn't seem fair, it wasn't right. Morgan, or Peyton, neither one of them deserved this, they did nothing wrong. But maybe love Lucas. He was just glad to be able to play basketball by himself today. He needed to clear his head; he needed to stop worrying about Lucas.

Lucas.

No way.

Who was that playing basketball on the rivercourt? It looked like Lucas but it couldn't be. It must just be all in his head, he's been thinking about Lucas so now he sees a blonde guy and suddenly he thinks it's Lucas. That's crazy. It's impossible, but the closer Nathan got to the rivercourt the more the guys seemed like Lucas.

It was Lucas.

Nathan panicked. What was he doing here? Nathan wasn't sure what to do. He quickly turned around, since Lucas hadn't noticed him yet he figured he could get away without Lucas seeing him at all. Now at least he could give everyone a fair warning. Let them know that Lucas was back, let them prepare. He hated being the bearer of bad news, but Lucas was back and he didn't know why. He turned around one last time to look again, to make absolutely sure that it was Lucas.

It was, absolutly.

And he snapped.

"Lucas" Nathan asked with authority while walking over to the blonde shooting the basketball on the court.

Lucas was taken off guard, "Nate?" Lucas questioned. He didn't prepare for this, he wasn't expecting to see anyone. He wasn't sure how Nathan was going to react. "Is that you? What are you doing here?"

"Me? What am I doing here?" Nathan asked, taken aback. "I live here man. What the hell are you doing here?" Nathan was not happy about this encounter with Lucas and he made it obvious. Lucas picked up on that as well.

"I'm home Nate. I'm back."

"Who knows you're here?" Nathan shot back.

"At the rivercourt?" Lucas asked confused.

"No dumb ass, in Tree Hill. Who knows you're here?"

"No one, I just got here yesterday. Look Nate, what the hell is your problem?" Lucas was beginning to be annoyed by Nathan's tone. "Why are you so pissed?"

Nathan was livid at that moment. "Why am I pissed? You man! You think you can just come back whenever you want? What, you thought this was going to be a good welcome? You were looking forward to it?" Nathan asked stunned.

"Nathan, let me explain." Lucas begged.

"No. There is nothing you can say to me Luke. You had three years to explain, you had three years where you only had to call. You didn't even have to call me, you could have called anybody, man. Your mom…your wife…or did you forget about them?"Nathan asked mockingly.

"What? No, of course I didn't forget about them." Lucas didn't know how to answer. "I…I'm back. I'm not leaving again."

Nathan took a deep, goaded, breath. "Why Lucas? Why are you back? Why now? No, you know what, don't even answer that. I don't want to hear it. You need to leave Lucas. No one wants you here. Go back to where you came from. You being here is not a good thing. It's only going to cause more hurt."

"Nathan, I'm not leaving." Lucas said sternly. He didn't like that Nathan was making him feel like this wasn't just as much his home as it was Nathan's. "I live here too. Besides I have things I need to take care of."

"There is nothing here for you Luke. Nothing! You don't have anything here. You need to leave, and nobody will have to know you were even here. Nothing good can come from you being back." With that Nathan turned around and was headed back home. His head was spinning, he couldn't believe that Lucas was actually back. It didn't seem like he was leaving anytime soon either.

"Nathan" Lucas hollered after him. After Nathan didn't turn around Lucas ran after him. "Nathan" he said again as he caught up to him and grabbed him by the arm to turn him around. "Nathan, just answer one thing for me."

"What do you want Luke?" Nathan answered through gritted teeth.

"Is Peyton still in Tree Hill?" He asked hesitantly.

That did it. Nathan grabbed Lucas by his collar with both his hand and pulled him close to his face with extreme force. "You will stay away from her, do you understand me? I swear on my life, I will hurt you if you try to make any contact with her… or Morgan. Am I making myself clear?"

"Look," Lucas said while pushing Nathan off of him. "Like it or not Nate, she is my wife…and he is my son and –"

"No, Luke" Nathan said interrupting him. "You will leave, and you won't contact anyone. End of story. Now get out of my face before I beat your ass."

With that, Lucas let him leave. He didn't expect for his return to be easy, but honestly he didn't think there would be so much anger. He wondered if it was just Nathan that was so angry, or if that was the reaction he should be expecting from everyone. He would just have to be more prepared next time. That really didn't go as well as he had though. Sure, he knew they would have questions, but he thought they would mainly just be happy that he was back. Now he was thinking that his return was going to be more difficult that he'd first thought. That really put a damper on his day. Still, he needed to go talk to Superintendant Marshall, but he figured he'd put off seeing Karen until tomorrow.

Nathan was furious, he knew he had to tell Haley that Lucas was back. He wasn't sure how she was going to react, but he couldn't let her be surprised the way he was. His heart was already breaking for Peyton, there was no way she could have prepared herself for this. He didn't know what Lucas was up to, but he did know that he had made it clear that he wasn't going anywhere. This wasn't something that Nathan figured he could keep from anyone. He was going to have to let them know. He knew that their world was about to be turned upside down.

"I'm at the store buying dinner. Karen cooks for us all the time, I'd thought it be nice if I cooked dinner for once."

Peyton was on the phone with one of her closet friends, Brooke. Brooke didn't live in Tree Hill, but she has modestly kept in contact with Peyton, Haley, and Nathan. Once finishing college, Brooke was hired on as a designer for Ultra Ambassador. The job took away her away from her personal life but she was still able to keep in contact with the others. It wasn't until after Lucas and Peyton were married that Brooke was promoted to Image Consultant, this job took up the majority of her time and it also required extensive amounts of travel and as a result her friendships dwindled even more. It was rare for her to come to Tree Hill, but Peyton was still able to hear from her about once a month. Of course there were those times when Brooke was occupied, that and many times they didn't even know where she was, or if she was even in the country.

"Yes, Brooke. I am also buying a frozen pizza, just in case. Thanks for the bout of confidence. Now you sound like Morgan." Peyton said with a laugh. She wasn't the best cook, and everyone liked to let her know about it. The two continued to talk until Peyton felt a tap on her shoulder. When she turned around she was silenced into shock. "I'm going to have to call you back." Was all she said into the phone, before shutting it closed.

"Peyton," He said with a gulp. "I thought that was you."

"Wa…Wha…What are you doing here?" Was all she was able to stammer out.

"I'm back."He said joyfully.

At first she thought she was hallucinating, Lucas couldn't seriously be standing in front of her.

"Peyton, are you okay?" He asked sincerely.

"No. No, I'm not okay. What would make you think I was?" She had millions of questions, but she couldn't get any of them out. Her head was spinning and she felt like someone had just punched her in the gut. She suddenly couldn't breathe, and she was getting really hot. She was beginning to have a panic attack. She could feel her eyes burning with the tears that were trying to escape. She wasn't going to cry, and she sure as hell wasn't going to cry in front of Lucas. Her only thought was to leave; she had to get out of there, and fast. As she was rushing out of the store still trying to wrap her mind around what had just happened, she could hear him calling after her as she left. How long has he been here? Why is he acting like 

nothing is wrong? Why is he back? Why is it that the only thing she wants is to just wrap herself up in him arms and act like nothing ever changed?

"It's about time you called me back, I've been trying to get a hold of you for almost two days now. What's going on Luke?" After Lucas got home from the store, after literally shocking Peyton so bad she couldn't even stand to be in the same building as him, he realized his return really wasn't going to be as easy as he once thought it would be. Now he was beginning to think he was crazy to ever even think it would have ever been easy.

"There's something I need to tell you." He said into the phone. "I'm in Tree Hill. I came back home."

"What?" Brooke said on the other line. "Why did you go back and not tell me? Do you want me to come home too?"

"No. I don't think that would be a very good idea. I ran into Nathan this morning and got the impression that I'm not welcome here, then I just ran into Peyton and she literally ran away from me. I'm starting to think that me coming here was a mistake."

"Lucas – "

"But there's no way I can leave now. Look Brooke I left a long time ago, and I guess I didn't realize what kind of effect it would have on everyone, but I need to make things right."

"All I was going to say Luke, was good. I'm glad you finally decided to go back home. You probably should have done that a long time ago. But if you are going to be answering questions about why you left –"

"Brooke, you're fine. I won't tell anybody anything. That's your secret to tell, not mine."

"Thanks, because I really don't need all of Tree Hill hating me, the way it sounds like they hate you." She said with an uncomfortable giggle. "So what are you going to do?"

"I guess I have no choice but to stay and try and fix the things I messed up. I really took too long in coming back."

"I've been telling you that for a long time now Luke. The longer you're gone, the harder it's going to be to get back to normal. I should know. But I never meant to take you away from your family."

"You didn't Brooke. I did." He told her reassuringly.

"What's going on here?" Karen said to the three adults she found sitting in her living room in complete darkness. "Where are the boys? Is everything alright? The longer there was silence the more worried she became.

"Karen, I think maybe you should sit down for this." Nathan finally spoke up.

"Peyton, why are you crying? Will somebody please tell me what's going on?" Karen pleaded while taking a seat. She was near tears herself now. "Where are the boys?" She asked again.

"The boys are fine, Karen." Haley finally answered. "They are all with Deb, but there is something we need to tell you."

"Well, will somebody please spit it out?" She demanded just lower than a scream.
"We don't know how to tell you this –"Haley started.

"It's about Lucas." Nathan interrupted.

"Oh my gosh, what happened?" Karen asked in a panic.

"He's back." Peyton finished, with no emotion in her voice.