Author's Note: Thank you all so much for the wonderful reviews. I am so glad you like the name Tyler. I had such a hard time picking it out. It was like I was naming my own baby! LOL Anyway, here is the next chapter. I know it's hard to see Lucas as an addict, but hopefully this chapter will help a little and it gives some more background so maybe it will enlighten a little bit as to how they got to where they are now. I'll really appreciate if you all keep reviewing. It keeps me motivated! Enjoy! :)
Chapter Three
After three knocks on the door, she was considering leaving. She tried again, tapping almost incessantly on the door then stuffing her hands back in her pockets and rocking back and forth from heel to toe. His car was here. He had to be home. So why wasn't he answering the door?
"Peyton?"
Peyton turned around to see who had called her name and she smiled when she saw him. Lucas Eugene Scott, in all his glory, standing at the bottom of the stairs while she stood at the top. He was frowning at her, but not a frown like he was mad, but a frown that showed he hadn't expected to see her standing at his front door. Normally she simply fielded his phone calls through a secretary.
"Hey." Peyton ran down the stairs and hugged him tightly, "I missed you. How are you?"
"I'm good." Lucas replied squeezing her tight and then letting her go, taking a step back to look at her, "You look great Peyton. Running Clothes Over Bros looks good on you."
"I don't really run it." Peyton laughed, "Brooke does. I'm just the face of it all."
Lucas nodded and instinctively bit his lower lip, not sure what to say. He knew if he asked about Brooke she wouldn't tell him anything. He also knew if he didn't ask she would think something was wrong.
"How is she? She should have had…" He couldn't bring himself to mention the baby he knew they had been expecting when she left him. It hurt too much to know that she was keeping his child from him.
"She's good." Peyton nodded excitedly, "I just got back from seeing her actually. That's why I'm here um… can we go inside?"
"Yeah." Lucas nodded, a small glimmer of hope suddenly rising inside him. Maybe Peyton was going to tell him something after all. Maybe after all these months he would be able to find Brooke and their child. He had been looking for them since the moment she walked out on him 7 months earlier.
Lucas led Peyton inside the house that used to be his mothers, closing the door behind him as he reached to pull open the blinds, allowing light to flood into the living room. He squinted, having just been outside and not expecting the light to affect him that much.
"So how are you? Last time we talked you said you were in college, working on your degree. You were clean." Peyton was grinning at Lucas, "Are you still clean?"
"Yeah." Lucas nodded, shoving his hands into his pockets much like the pose he had found Peyton in a few minutes ago, "Six months and counting. I quit college though. I guess I just didn't feel like I was learning anything so um… I started writing a novel. Sort of an auto-biography that's slightly fictionalized."
"That's great Luke." Peyton reached out and ran her hand down Lucas's bicep, "I'm really proud of you Lucas. I know I'm not around that much anymore but I just want you to know that I still consider you my friend and I'm here for you, you know?"
"Thanks Peyton." Lucas inhaled deeply, "So, you said you came here about Brooke?"
He couldn't help the happiness that began to rise towards his heart. He had tried everything he could think of to find Brooke over the last 7 months. He had tried calling Clothes Over Bros headquarters and asking for her, but they always put him through to Peyton. He had tried hiring a private investigator but the guy had taken his money and returned no results. He had tried internet searches and he had tried grilling their mutual friends for information, but nothing had worked. If Peyton was finally going to tell him where Brooke was, he was officially going to be the happiest man alive.
"Yeah, I…" Peyton grinned, "I just saw her and she had the baby. It's a boy."
Lucas's heart began to swell. He had a son. He and Brooke had a son together.
"Oh my God Peyton, thank you so much." Lucas pulled his hands out of his pockets and wrapped them around Peyton in a bear hug, not realizing that when he did a small vial that had been stored in his jeans pocket fell out, landing between him and Peyton on the floor, "So, what did she name him? She named him already right? Where is she? I want to see her."
Peyton and Lucas pulled apart, smiles plastered to both of their faces and Peyton was about to begin answering his questions when she saw the vial at her feet. There wasn't much in it, but it was enough to know he had lied to her. The white powder didn't just appear from nowhere.
She let her smile fall as she bent down to pick it up and then glared at Lucas as she held it in front of his face. His smile fell too as he grabbed the vial from her hand and stuffed it back in his pocket.
"Peyton, I can explain."
"No need." Peyton sighed, adjusting her purse on her shoulder as she turned to leave, "Brooke was right. You were lying. You lied to my face."
"No, no." Lucas reached out and placed his hand on the door just as Peyton reached for the handle. Leaning into it, she wasn't able to open the door as he grabbed her arm and spun her around, "I'm not using. I promise Peyton, please. Where is Brooke?"
"What's the container then Luke? If you're not using, what is that? Powdered sugar?" She laughed sarcastically, "I can't believe I fell for it. Now I know why she left. Finally, I understand what Brooke dealt with for three years with you. The lying. The pain. I wanted to tell you about your son Lucas. I wanted to. She asked me not to and I was going to tell you anyway because I believed you and then…"
Peyton took a deep breath and stared straight into Lucas's eyes.
"Did you like growing up without knowing your father Lucas? Did you like not knowing if your dad loved you and if he did, why he wasn't there? Why he didn't go to your little league games? Why he never sent cards on your birthday? Did you like your mom being sad?"
Lucas eyes' began to water as Peyton continued on.
"When you met Dan, and Nathan, did you like knowing that you didn't matter to your dad as much as something else had? Let me tell you Lucas. Your son is going to wonder the same things. He's going to wonder why he can't see his dad. He's going to wonder if you love him. He's gonna watch his mom be sad until maybe, just maybe, one day he'll meet you and he'll be old enough to understand that drugs meant more to you than he did."
"No." Lucas let the tears fall down his face freely, "They don't. I want to know him. I want to be there. She took that away from me."
"Brooke left because you couldn't give up your drugs." Peyton shrugged, "Guess some things never change right? Like father like son?"
Lucas took a step away from her, the words stinging as she said them. As soon as he did, she opened the door and left, no further words, not even a goodbye. Lucas was left standing in his living room crying, clutching the solitary vial of cocaine in his hand. He looked down at it and immediately threw it as far as he could away from him. It landed in a potted plant in the corner and he walked away, sniffling as he headed for his bedroom to lay down.
What Peyton had said really resonated with him. She was right. He knew it and she had known it when she said it.
Lucas thought about growing up with his mom in this house and the questions he had asked her about his dad. He remembered wondering if his dad loved him. He remembered the first day that "the other Scott's" had moved into town and everyone began whispering. He had seen how sad his mom was every time she had to see Dan, Deb, and Nathan happy together. That's how he had known that Dan Scott was his father. No one had told him, he just instinctively knew.
It had hurt him when he realized that Dan clearly loved his new family more than he had loved Lucas and Karen. He had finally gotten the courage to ask Karen and when she told him the truth, that his dad had been there for his birth but left shortly thereafter, he was devastated. He didn't want his son to think that anything had kept him from being a good dad. He didn't want his son to grow up feeling the way he had felt towards Dan.
Having left Lucas alone with his thoughts, Peyton wasn't sure where to go. She didn't have to be back in New York for another couple of days. She wanted to see Nathan, Haley, and Jamie but right now she was so angry with Lucas she wasn't sure she could face them without having to talk about the whole situation. She decided to go to the only place she knew of where she could sit and clear her thoughts, the river court.
When she arrived there she smiled, seeing the new batch of boys growing up playing on the court. She recognized a few to be the younger brothers of people she had gone to school with a few years ago. Some she didn't recognize at all. One of them she knew, very well.
"Peyton Sawyer…" Nathan Scott jogged off the court smiling at her while she took a seat at the picnic table nearby, "Wait? Am I hallucinating? It can't really be Peyton Sawyer, the face of Clothes Over Bros, can it be?"
"Shut up." Peyton rolled her eyes and pushed him as he took a seat next to her.
Nathan laughed and turned to hug her and she hugged him back.
"Missed you Sawyer. It's been what? Two years since you graced us with your presence?"
"I call." Peyton defended herself, "I'm just busy so I can't get here as often as I'd like."
"Well yeah, at least you call." Nathan agreed, "More than I can say for Brooke."
Peyton snapped her head to look him directly in the eyes and glare at him.
"Brooke is going through a lot right now. Cut her some slack."
"Ok, sorry." Nathan held up his hands in surrender and backed away from Peyton a little bit, "Didn't realize anyone was talking to her. I thought you would be pissed she hadn't called you either."
"I just got back from seeing her." Peyton sighed, "I mean, I kind of have to see her every once in awhile right? Clothes Over Bros is her company."
"True enough." Nathan nodded and they sat silent for a minute, Peyton not knowing what to say and Nathan not wanting to upset her anymore than he already had, "Did she have the baby?"
Peyton nodded in response to the question as she stared off into the distance. She didn't elaborate. She wasn't supposed to tell anyone about Tyler and she had already messed up by telling Lucas the minor details.
"Is it a boy? Girl? Healthy?" Nathan questioned slowly, trying to get Peyton to look at him again, "Do we get to know anything?"
"Not really." Peyton sighed, turning to him, "Brooke asked me not to tell anyone. I was going to tell you and Haley but she said you would tell Lucas and then I was going to solve that problem by telling Lucas myself because I thought he was doing better, but when I went to tell him he had cocaine on him, so I realized that he was lying to me and didn't tell him anything else."
"He's using again?" Nathan took a deep breath and nodded, turning so that he was now the one staring off into the distance, "Damn it. We were so sure this time… Haley's gonna be upset."
"Aren't we all?" Peyton sighed scooting closer to Nathan and laying her head on his shoulder, "How did this happen Nathan? I mean, we all have so much history. How did we drift so far apart? How did Lucas start using drugs? How did Brooke move to…"
Peyton stopped realizing that she had almost given away Brooke's location. She groaned and threw her head into her hands.
"I hate keeping secrets from my friends!" She exclaimed loudly.
"Peyton…" Nathan reached over and let his hand run lightly across the small of her back comfortingly, "Listen, I know Brooke is trying to keep Lucas away and she thinks that Haley and I are going to give away her secrets. I can understand that. Lucas is Haley's best friend and he's my brother, but if he's using again, I promise we aren't going to tell him anything. If anything, I've been Brooke's friend longer than I've accepted Lucas as my brother."
Peyton nodded, knowing that he had a point. Nathan and Lucas had only started to get to know each other during senior year of high school, after Nathan and Haley had started dating and Brooke and Lucas had started dating. Other than Brooke's friendship with Peyton starting in junior year, the circles of popularity and non-popularity had never mixed before than.
"She had a boy." Peyton grinned at Nathan, "Healthy. 8lbs and 19 in long. She sort of named him after you."
"Really?" Nathan grinned back at her.
"Yeah, well like you and Haley gave Jamie his uncle's name for his middle name, Brooke gave Tyler your name as his middle name."
"Tyler? Tyler Nathan…" Nathan let his eyebrows raise, clearly questioning but not speaking his question.
"Scott." Peyton nodded, "Tyler Nathan Scott. If Brooke finds out I told you she will kill me so please for the love of god, do not tell Lucas ok?"
"I promise." Nathan hugged her to his side, "I honestly don't know what to do with Lucas anymore. I don't feel comfortable letting him be around Jamie. He can't play basketball worth a shit anymore and it's awkward just talking to him, so we barely hang out. I think the smartest thing Brooke ever did was getting away from him. I thought it had woken him up but, apparently I was wrong."
The two of them sat in silence for a little while, the game still going on in front of them the only sound.
"You should come over and see Haley. She's going to be really excited to see you." Nathan finally broke the silence, "And Jamie too. With you and Brooke gone, he's really missed his favorite aunts."
Peyton grinned and nodded.
"Yeah, I'm in town for a couple of days so I would love to spend some time with him."
"Well, let's get out of here. Haley's probably making dinner anyway and I am starved." Nathan stood and offered his hand to Peyton to help her up, "Drive me? I jogged here but it's easier to drive home."
"Yeah, of course." The two of them climbed into her car and chatted idly while they drove the few minutes back to Haley and Nathan's house.
Peyton parked in the driveway of Nathan and Haley's house and sighed, remembering what it felt like to live in a real house instead of a condo in a high rise in New York City. It was times like these that she missed living in a small town.
"Settlement money is excellent." Nathan joked as he caught Peyton staring at the house.
"Settlement money?" Peyton questioned, unsure of what Nathan was referring to.
"Yeah. We bought this house with the money we got from the NBA after I got injured." Nathan frowned at Peyton, "You don't remember that?"
After Nathan's freshman year in college, he had decided to make himself eligible for the NBA draft. He was good enough. Several NBA teams had already expressed interest in him and so as the NBA draft approached, he became the 7 NBA draft pick, going to the San Antonio Spurs. He, Haley, and their then 1 year old son moved to San Antonio and prepared to start a new life.
It was midway into his rookie season when, playing against the New York Knicks, a player on the opposite team had dealt him a foul that sent him flying across the court, crashing into the announcers table and knocking him out cold. He had been hospitalized for several weeks with bruising to his spinal cord and a concussion. Because of the spinal cord injury the NBA didn't want him to come back and play which meant they had to pay him a settlement, which ended up being an amount of money which could have provided a comfortable life for Nathan, Haley and Jamie for ten years, easily.
"No, I do." Peyton smacked her hand to her head, "Of course I do. Sorry. I'm just a little spacey today. So you were playing basketball today though. You're all recovered?"
"For the most part." Nathan grinned, "Come on. I'll tell you about it after you come inside and see Haley."
Peyton followed Nathan up to the front door and inside the house, observing her surroundings and once again finding herself wishing she was back here, living in Tree Hill, instead of the life she had carved out being the face of Clothes Over Bros.
"Nathan? Is that you?" Haley called out from somewhere inside the house.
"Yeah, it's me!" Nathan called back, smiling at Peyton, "I brought a visitor home with me!"
"Really? Who?" Haley stepped out from around a corner just as Nathan and Peyton were approaching.
As soon as she saw Peyton her eyes lit up and she quickly took the apron off that she was wearing and then ran to Peyton, hugging her tight.
"Oh my God Peyton, I missed you so much!" Haley squeezed Peyton and then took a step back, looking her friend over, "You are too damn skinny. Come on. I'm making dinner."
The three of them headed to the kitchen where Haley went back to cooking and both Nathan and Peyton sat down on stools at the counter.
"Where's Jamie?" Nathan asked as he looked around for his three year old son.
"Napping." Haley replied happily, "You can go wake him up if you want. It's time anyway."
"K, I'll be right back." Nathan slipped from his stool and headed upstairs to wake his son leaving the two women alone in silence.
Peyton was happy to see Haley, and Nathan, and soon Jamie too. She loved hanging out with them. They had so much love between the three of them. They were so kind to each other. They cared for each other's happiness. It made Peyton want a family of her own, even though she knew that wouldn't be happening anytime soon.
"So what brings you to Tree Hill?" Haley finally asked, looking over at Peyton who had at one time been one of her closest friends.
"Um…" Peyton had already told Nathan so she knew she might as well tell Haley at this point, "Brooke had the baby, so I came to tell Lucas, but uh… that didn't go over so well."
"Brooke had the baby?" Haley lit up again, "That's awesome! I didn't know you still talked to her. Did you get to see the baby? Were you there with her when she went into labor?"
"I got there too late for the labor, but I did get to see the baby and help name him." Peyton smiled, "Tyler Nathan Scott."
"Tyler…that's a great name." Haley grinned, "Did you tell Nathan?"
"I did. He was happy when he heard Tyler had his name for a middle name." Peyton laughed.
"That is so cool. So, why didn't it go over well with Lucas? He's been doing everything he can to find her so he could be there when the baby was born."
"Well…" Peyton sighed, wishing she didn't have to be the one to tell Haley her best friend had relapsed and started using drugs again, "I was all set to tell him and then I found…"
"Aunt Peyton!" Jamie came running towards Peyton and clung to her leg before Peyton could finish her sentence.
"Jamie!" Peyton stood from her stool and scooped Jamie up in her arms, placing playful kisses all over his face and neck making him giggle happily, "I missed you buddy. How old are you now? 13? 14?"
"I'm three!" Jamie held up three fingers to indicate his age.
"Three? No way! You are way to grown up to be three. You have to be at least seven."
"Nope, I'm three." Jamie giggled, "But my birthday is coming up soon. Are you gonna come to my party?"
"You're birthday isn't for another six months Jamie." Haley laughed and rolled her eyes, "He's been saying his birthday is coming up since the day after his last birthday."
Peyton smiled and turned her attention back to Jamie.
"You send me an invitation and I'll be there ok?"
"You promise?" Jamie held out his pinkie so Peyton would have to pinkie promise him.
Peyton nodded and hooked her pinkie into his.
"I promise."
Jamie slid down and ran out of the room back upstairs yelling to Nathan that Peyton was coming to his birthday party.
"He's so crazy." Haley remarked, turning back to Peyton as Peyton regained her stool at the counter, "So um… what were you about to say about Lucas?"
"Oh um… I found cocaine." Peyton sighed, looking to make sure Jamie wasn't around when she said it, "It fell out of his pocket just before I told him about Tyler and so I didn't tell him."
Haley's mouth had fallen open and Peyton could see a tear start to well up in her eye. Peyton hated being the person to tell Haley this type of thing. She hated that Lucas would disappoint his best friend like this.
"But…" Haley gulped, trying to hold back her tears, "He promised me. He… Peyt, I told him if he relapsed this time I wasn't going to let him see Jamie anymore."
"Oh Hales…" Peyton slipped from her stool and went around the counter to give her friend a hug, "I'm so sorry. I wish that I hadn't seen what I saw. I really, really do."
Haley sniffled and buried her head into Peyton's shoulder.
"Jamie's going to be heartbroken if I don't let him see Lucas anymore." She groaned through her tears, "How do I explain that to a three year old?"
"What's wrong momma?" Jamie asked, suddenly appearing as he pulled himself up onto one of the barstools. He was clearly worried that he had discovered his mom crying.
"Nothing baby." Haley quickly straightened and wiped her tears away, "I'm just really happy that Aunt Peyton is here. It's been a long time since I saw her."
"You cry when you're happy?" Jamie seemed puzzled at the idea and he turned to Nathan who had just rejoined them, "Why does momma cry when she's happy?"
"I don't know buddy." Nathan frowned at Haley who sniffled once more and shook her head, signaling to Nathan that she couldn't talk about it with Jamie there. "Jamie, let's go play basketball until momma has dinner ready ok?"
"Ok!" Jamie took off with Nathan to the back yard leaving the girls to be able to discuss what they had previously been discussing.
"I just can't believe it Peyt." Haley sighed, going back to her food while Peyton returned to her stool, "Why would he start using again? Things are good. He's writing a book. He quit college but that was supposed to be a good thing and… I just don't understand it. Why is he doing this?"
Peyton couldn't answer Haley's questions. She had no idea why he was doing it. She wished she did know so that she knew how to stop him. She had desperately wanted today to be the day that he learned of his son and made steps towards winning Brooke back and instead he had taken steps backwards.
The doorbell rang and Haley sighed, removing her apron and leaving Peyton in the kitchen while she went to answer the door. When Haley hadn't returned after a few minutes she reached over to stir the food on the stove and then went to check on Haley.
"No Lucas, you need to leave." Haley tried to close the door but Peyton saw Lucas reach in and prop the door open with his hand.
"Haley please, Peyton was wrong about what she saw. You don't understand." Lucas pleaded.
"You're lying Luke!" Haley exclaimed, "You are lying and I don't even know if you realize when you're lying anymore. You're high now Lucas. I'm not stupid. I've seen this with you too many times not to recognize the symptoms."
Peyton reached Haley and swung the door open to stare at Lucas who was standing there, staring at them, his eyes bloodshot, jumping from foot to foot and using his right hand to scratch his left arm. Peyton recognized the symptoms too. She had been there before. She used to act just like that but she hated seeing Lucas like this.
"You should leave Lucas." Peyton hugged Haley to her side for moral support, "I don't think Haley wants you here."
"How would you know?" Lucas spat at Peyton, "You haven't even been around for two years. You don't care about her, or me, or our family."
"Your family?" Peyton practically laughed in his face, "You don't care about your family Lucas or you wouldn't keep doing this to them."
Lucas glared at her.
"You're the one who made me like this. You started this."
Peyton glared back at him. She knew he would attack her with that claim eventually. He was right. She had been the person to give him his very first dose of cocaine, three years ago, just after they graduated high school.
They were at a party, the five of them, Brooke, Lucas, Peyton, Haley and Nathan. Haley and Nathan were more interested in getting home early to their newborn son and Brooke was dealing with the beginning stages of Clothes Over Bros, which had left Peyton and Lucas to their own devices. Peyton had been using cocaine socially for over a year already and so she had found someone with it and given Lucas some too. She regretted that decision every day since, because while she had reformed and hadn't used cocaine for over two years, he had become addicted.
"You're right Lucas. It is my fault you are this way so let me help you. Let me take you to where I rehabbed. Let me…"
"No!" Lucas screamed, "I don't need your help Peyton. I don't need any of you."
He turned to leave and Haley began crying, clutching to Peyton for strength as she watched her best friend walk away. Instinctively she knew that this was the last time he would walk away from her. There was nothing else she could do to help him.
"Shh…" Peyton led Haley back into the house, shutting the door behind them, "It's gonna be okay. Lucas will realize one day what he's done and then it will all fall into place."
Peyton spoke the words but deep down, she wasn't sure she believed them. She wanted to believe them, but something told her it was going to take something much more drastic to wake Lucas up from his drugged out delirium. It was going to take a miracle.