Facing the truth

Lucas Scott woke up with a huge headache that morning. He looked at his right side and sighted, not that he was expecting her to be there but… He put aside these thoughts and went downstairs. Both Peyton and Kim were already gone and he was somewhat grateful of that. When he married Peyton he had expected to have a family, a real one like the one he had with his mom and Keith but soon he realized that his dreams were never linked to Peyton. He wanted to be a writer and to have a family and she… she just wanted her music and her painting. He could remember when a long time ago he would think they were soul mates just because both were lonely artists, it took him a while to realize that love is not joining two people that are alike but two that are different so they make a whole. His thoughts were interrupted when Michael got into the kitchen.

"Hi Dad" They boy greeted and looking around he added "Are they gone again?"

"Yes, yes they are. I guess they are going to come back in a couple days. You know your mom is working hard, right?" The boy just rolled his eyes "You shouldn't be so harsh"

"You should be so pleasant. She does with you what she wants"

"She's your mother" Lucas said as if that fact could fix anything.

"That's your excuse to defend whatever she does! Being my mother doesn't make her a saint. I'm not stupid, you know? I know you you're with her because you want me to have a family but have you never thought that I would be better without her?" The boy spoke with a rough tone and his words hit Lucas hard, of course he had thought that but his ideals were too powerful to betray them. And he regretted that. He watched Michael as he ate and he hoped his son would be better than him, stronger, clever. "I'm sorry about that, Dad, but we both know that you barely stand her and the reasons you give me sounds more unfounded every time you say them. I mean it's good to have ideals and all that but you should try to be happy, I would appreciate that much more than having a family" Michael suddenly looked at his father "Maybe you should find that lady mom always talks about when you fight, you know, that one she uses to reproach you that you don't love her" His smirk fell as he watched his father went pale "Are you ok?" Lucas just nodded and his not-very-convinced son left the house "Ok, I'm going to Naley's. Bye" As soon as Michael closed the door, Lucas collapsed on a chair. His face was very pale and his eyes closed. When they fought Peyton would always bring up Brooke as if she was the one to blame for all their problems even though she knew he hadn't seen her in thirteen years. He learned to not defend Brooke hoping that that would be a signal to Peyton to stop blaming her but Peyton didn't realize; after all she never cared about anything else that wasn't herself and her problems. Michael had never asked about who Brooke was and Lucas thought that Jamie had something to do with that. His godson was a die-hard fan of Brooke and Lucas knew that he hadn't seen her in years but they were in contact and Brooke never forget his birthday, Christmas, graduation…he wondered about how much Jamie knew. He remembered how Jamie had cried for weeks after Brooke had left and how guilty he had felt. He had made a drunken mistake that had broken at least five hearts: Brooke's, Jamie's, Haley's, Nathan's and his own. He wasn't sure if he had to add her to the list. Haley hadn't talked to him in six months because she blamed him for Jamie's sadness and for having lost her friend and Nathan, well, he talked to him but Lucas could feel the reject and he understood it. Jaime and Haley eventually forgave him but Nathan didn't and he couldn't blame him because he was there that evening in the bookstore when Lucas could have done something… and did nothing.

Slowly, Lucas got up and went upstairs to his study where he wrote books that no one read. He searched in the bookcase for William Blake's Auguries of Innocence and when he found it, he took the little wooden box hid behind the book. Opening that box was like opening Pandora's Box of memories to Lucas but sometimes he really enjoyed doing it, that little box hide his darker secrets, hopes and dreams. Everything was there: the read feather of Brooke's devil costume, photographs of the days they were a happy couple before Peyton decided she needed him more than Brooke, some letters he never had the braveness to send and an old crumpled piece of paper, he took the latter. It was a magazine cutting, a paparazzo's photograph at whose footnote it could be read Brooke Davis, her husband and their kids enjoying at Central Park. He watched the photograph: Brooke sitting on the ground laughing with a dark haired baby on her lap and a dimpled kid that probably was two on her right side, closer to the camera were a dark haired man playing soccer with two boys while a girl, a very blonde girl, watched them leaning on her mother's back (n/a: she was hugging her by behind). Lucas closed his eyes and raised his head and quickly he got up and put everything away.

The morning at the bookstore passed slowly, Lucas just sold a couple books. He wondered why people didn't like to read anymore. He liked to read and he liked to write, he wrote about life and love but he mostly wrote about hope. He used his books as an escape of his own life so they all had happy endings and when people asked him if he was inspired by his day by day he would just say he was inspired by his night by night. His dreams, because that was all he had now and he could always be free of Peyton's accusations there. It wasn't that he had wrote a lot of books, just seven in total but his muse was gone and now Lindsay knew that put pressure on him was worthless. He smiled as he remembered his editor, he had thought he had lost her after they failed attempt to marry but he was wrong, they worked things out and now they were friends, not the bests but they still talked from time to time. He was happy for her because she had found someone and she lived happily now, in New York, with his husband and their daughter. Suddenly, the ring sounded making him jump.

"Hi, Luke!" his workmate said.

"You scared me, redhead! You almost kill me!" He laughed. June was a 32 year old woman that worked in the bookshop in the afternoon when he went to Tree Hill High to coach the basketball team. Lucas loved to talk to her because she always listened and never judged him and he also loved her stories. She was a free spirit; she had dropped out of College and had travelled for years working in the places she was to go to another. "Have you eaten?"

"No, not yet"

"Then, let's go" He grabbed her and closed the door behind them. "How was your date with… uh, Marcus?" He asked smiling. She had dated more men that all the girls he knew together but she always found some little detail that made them go to the 'Not Suitable' group

"Oh, it was cool but I don't think we have a future together" She pouted as he wondered what had happened this time.

"Why not? He seemed nice"

"He ordered fettuccine!" She said as if that was the worse thing someone could do.

"And the problem is…" He never understood her; she had a really strange logic.

"I ordered that too which means that we have the same taste"

"And that is bad?" She nodded "So if he had ordered shrimps you wouldn't have dumped him?"

"No" She replied simply.

"Why? I still don't understand it"

"It isn't complicated. To make things work you need to find your opposite. That's the grace. It would be deadly boring otherwise" She said as if he was stupid. He thought about him and Peyton. Fettuccine and Fettuccine. He thought about him and Brooke. Fettuccine and Shrimps. He smiled.

"You're right, but things aren't that easy in the real world"

After lunch he went directly to Tree Hill High School, the basketball team was already waiting for him in the gym. This was the part of the day he liked the most, the team was good and although classes had been over for a week he liked to reunite the team and practice, he wanted them in good shape in September. Since the HCM prevented him from playing when he was seventeen, coaching was the place he felt he belonged: in a court, with a ball in his hands. He ordered them to run while he checked last practice's notes. Michael was on the team too, he was good but not the best. Lucas didn't care about that because if he had obliged him to play and improve he would have felt like Dan and he hoped he was a better father than his own, at least to his son. The practice lasted an hour and a half and as soon as it ended, Lucas and his son headed back to the bookshop.

"Hi! Don't tell me you forget something?" June laughed as she kissed Michael.

"He did! Again! Can you believe it? He's getting really old" Both his son and his friend started laughing.

"How's your mother? Lucas didn't tell me anything" asked June.

"Oh, she's gone. She had to do something somewhere, you know… as always" She nodded and Michael broke the uncomfortable silence with another question "Are you going somewhere this summer?" Lucas wasn't the only one that loved June's stories, Michael did that too. He was a shy boy but when they had dinner at June's house (when Peyton was away, of course) he wouldn't stop making questions and June didn't mind to explain to him her adventures in Tunisia or in Papua or how was to visit the Uffizi's Gallery.

"I don't know. I'm going to wait a while. If things get interesting here I'm staying"

"This is Tree Hill" Michael said with a duh-tone and June just laughed." Things are always interesting here"

"Ok, I got it. It is just a book to Ethan. See you tomorrow, June"

"Yeah, see ya boss!" She replied mocking "See you soon, Mike"

Michael was an anxious to arrive to Naley's place. He loved being there and Lucas thought it was because at home he was by his own and here he had his cousins. Kimberly wasn't a social girl so either she was working, with Peyton or shut up in her room and Michael and she didn't get along, actually. As soon as he parked, Jen came out smiling.

"Hey Uncle Luke" He hugged her "Mike" He just nodded

Jen was eighteen years old and she looked like Nathan but with Haley's dark eyes. She was the perfect combination of his parents and Lucas loved her dearly. When they got into the house, they saw that Haley was still cooking and Nathan was playing with Jamie and Ethan.

"Hey, Ethan!" Lucas called him and the boy, the male version of her mother, approached "Here" He handed him the book.

"Thanks Uncle Luke" Said the eight year old.

"Hey Luke" His brother gave him a hug "I hope you don't mind but Jamie invited Dan" Lucas pulled a face but didn't say anything, Jamie loved Dan as the others kids did and since he hadn't seen him since he came back from California in Easter, he thought it was fair. Jamie looked at him with a thankful look. Lucas tried to find the little boy in his nephew's face but all he could see was a 24 year old man. Jamie still had his light blue eyes but his hair had darkened and now it was almost as black as Nathan's.

"Glad to see you home" He said as he hugged him.

"Thanks Uncle Luke. I'm staying till middle August, then I have to go back to Los Angeles but I may leave soon I've got a quite interesting proposal this summer" Jamie smirked. He knew the boy was in L.A. pursuing his dream so Lucas just smiled as he started talking about how amazing his work was. Half an hour later Dan arrived.

"Hi family" He said with a solemn tone smirking "I'm sorry I'm late but I run into someone really interesting in my way here"

The kids and Jamie gave him a hug and they sat at the table. Lucas quickly got uncomfortable because Dan wouldn't take his eyes off him so he volunteered to wash the dishes but Dan followed him.

"So, son, how is your life going?"

"Good" he answered dryly but his father continued

"Great! You should enjoy that calmness because I predict a storm coming to you" Lucas looked at him.

"What are you talking about?"

"You have done things. And you know that sometimes our past come back to us looking for answers" His father words gave him goose pimples "If I were you I would be looking for good excuses" Said that he left, leaving Lucas frozen.

"Hey, what happens?" Asked Nathan as he entered into the kitchen "Dan left laughing as a maniac"

"He just… I don't know, he told me something about beware because someone of my past was looking for me" Nathan gave him an strange look

"Brooke?" Lucas heart started to race.

"I don't think so; she told me quite clearly she didn't want to see me ever again"

"I know but maybe the…"

"Hey, the kids left. Jamie took them to the Rivercourt" Haley announced "Do I interrupt something?" She asked noticing how pale Lucas was and the worrying look on Nathan's face.

"No" Nathan smiled "Everything is ok. Let's go to the porch"

The three of them sat in silence on the stairs, a habit they had gotten with the years. Haley was the one that broke the silence.

"So, how is the bookshop?"

"It's good. We don't sell many books but it's enough to live and to feel useful" He smiled "June thinks that we have to open to the new trends"

"She may be right, you live in the past" She added

"I would say he lives running away from the past" Nathan said, Haley looked at him urging him to continue but the look Lucas throw him made him swallow his words. Seeing that he didn't say anything else Haley talked

"Talking about past… Brooke invited Jamie to spend some time with her and her family this summer" Lucas heart started to race again.

"How come that I didn't knew it?" Asked Nathan hurt.

"He told me this morning, you were at work. She sent him an e-mail. I think he said they were going to Ireland or France or both… I don't remember"

"Is he going?" Asked Lucas with a voice that didn't seem his.

"Yes, I think so. He's really excited. You know that they have been talking for years" Haley was mad Brooke didn't call her or wrote her but she forgot that as soon as she remembered that Brooke never forget about his son and always was there for him, even if it was via e-mail "He want to meet her husband, he says Brooke has told him he feels passion for cars and speed, and her kids. She has a lot of boys but only a girl!" Nathan and Lucas shared a look that lasted too much in his opinion and Lucas suddenly found that the floor was very interesting. "Is anything wrong, Lucas?

"No, no I just…" He didn't know what to tell her

"I'm sorry. I know you don't like to talk about Brooke but Jamie was so excited! He loves her and admires her. She's great and I wish I talked to her too" Her voice cracked and Nathan hugged her as he throw Lucas look that made him feel like the worse person in the world. And they sat there in silence until it got dark.

Lucas jumped when his cell phone started to ring. Michael was calling him and he worried, why would he be calling him? So he answered but nothing in the world would have prepared him to what he heard.

"Hi, Mich…" He started but his son cut him with the harshest tone he has ever heard

"Are you still at Uncle Nate's?"

"Yes, but…"

"Don't go anyway. We need to talk. You owe me a lot of fucking explanations!" and he cut off. Lucas mind started to work so quickly that he felt dizzy. What could have happened? What did Michael knew? Had this something to do with his father's advice?

"Luke, are you ok? You look as if you had seen a ghost?" Haley asked and he could just nod. Nathan got up and excused himself.

Jamie arrived soon accompanied by Jen and Ethan. They just sat in front of the adults and sent Ethan to wash his hands.

"Do you have anything to tell us Uncle Luke?" Asked Jen looking directly at him.

"Jen! Stop!" Jamie yelled as Nathan came back from the kitchen bringing water glasses but Lucas couldn't calm down, something was going on and he feared he knew what it was. He could felt everyone eyes on him and when he sighted Michael in the distance he got even more nervous. His soon started running towards him.

"You're an ass!" The boy yelled to his father "A fucking liar!"

"Michael, don't talk…" Haley started but Michael interrupted her.

"Listen to what I have to say because, if you don't know it, you are going to want to kill him when you know" and he turned back to his father "Do you have anything to tell me?" He asked with a voice so nice yet so dangerous that Lucas remember his own father.

"About what?"

"Don't play the dumb with me! I'm not a kid and I'm not stupid!" Michael moved back as if his father was the worse plague "I have spent years feeling sorry for you, hating mom! I trusted you and you have lied to me! You're not better than she is!"

"Michael I swear I don't know what are you talking about" Lucas asked calmly although he could feel his heart racing fast. Haley looked at him worried and he looked at Nathan and could read in his brother's eyes: it's time. No, no! Not yet!

"I'm talking about you! You know who I met at the Rivercourt ten minutes ago?" Lucas shocked his head

"A girl. A girl that was looking for you"

"Why she was looking for me?" Your past come back looking for answers, his father's voice resounded on his ears.

"Why would a girl that looks just like you, just like me… be looking for you, Dad?" He looked at his son and the rage he saw in his eyes made him feel a sharp pain in his heart. "Why you didn't tell me you had a daughter, Dad?" Asked Michael in a whisper and the last thing he saw was the disappointment and surprise in Jamie's eyes and the last thing he heard was Haley's glass shattering as it hit the ground. After that… everything went black.

This is the longest I have ever written in English lol (Yeah, I haven't written a lot haha, just school compositions!) So I apologize for any mistake or misspelling. I hope to have the new chapter on Monday. Answering naleyalways4eva's question Declan is just Allie's step brother, we will know more about Brooke's family soon : ) People, leave reviews please, because I want to know how I am doing and if you like the story so far. Thanks to everyone and have a nice weekend!