Ok, short chapter, but it is an update. Thanks so much for all the reviews...they really motivate me.Rebbie

Strings Attached

Chapter Four-The Morning After

"What do you mean you have a son?" Lucas pulled his cell away from his ear as his sister-in-law screamed through it. He could hear his brother's voice in the background and the sound of the phone being handed over.

"Sorry about that, Luke." Nate's voice came through, "so you have a son?"

"Yeah, his name is Logan." Lucas couldn't help the grin that spread across his face, "he's four an a half."

"And you're sure he is yours?"

"Positive."

"So I guess the next question is who's the girl and when?"

Lucas heard Haley's voice in the background and was pretty sure she wasn't too pleased to have the phone take away. "You remember in college, the away game against North Carolina that we won?"

"Yeah, that happened to be your highest scoring college game."

"Yeah well I went to this after party at some frat house with Tim…he said something about meeting up with an old girlfriend…"

"…wait, Tim had a girlfriend?"

Lucas chuckled, "ex-girlfriend, but yeah. Anyway, I meet this girl…"

"…what was her name?"

"You ask more questions than Haley!" he shook his head, "Brooke Davis. But at the time I didn't know her name, so I called her cheery."

"Cheery?"

"Yeah…well, she gave me a nickname first and we just kind of stuck with them."

"What was yours?"

"Broody."

"Doesn't surprise me…only Lucas Scott would be broody after the greatest game of his college career."

"So cheery, we gettin' close to your dorm?"

Brooke laughed, "Going straight to my dorm really won't be considered the adventure of your lifetime, now will it?" She linked her arm with his, "we'll probably make a stop there."

"Probably?" Lucas shook his head, "so where are we headed, then?"

The raven haired girl bit her bottom lip and was quiet for a minute, she suddenly looked up at him, "You like hot chocolate?"

Lucas nodded, "my ma makes the best hot chocolate in the state of North Carolina."

Brooke grinned, "We'll see about that. Ever been to Willie's?"

"Can't say I have."

They went a couple of blocks before Brooke pulled him into a small diner.

"Hey Willie! Two small hot chocolates with whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles."

The chubby African American halted his task of wiping the counter and grinned at her, "anything for you, sugar."

Lucas leaned down to her ear, "whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles?"

"It's the only way to go."

"If you say so."

She looked up at him and grinned, "Glad you see it my way, Broody."

"Dude, how does drinking hot chocolate turn into getting a girl pregnant?"

Lucas laughed, "That's not the whole story. I guess people were right to consider me the smarter brother."

"Well they had to say something positive about you. After all, the better basketball player title belongs to me."

"In case you forgot, I'm the one who was named Rookie of the Year."

"Things would be different if I wouldn't have blown out my knee…just wait until our December meeting on the court."

"I'm counting down the days, Natey." Lucas looked at clock on his night stand, "listen, I gotta go take a shower. I've gotta brunch to go to."

"Brunch? I remember when your mom would invite me and my mom over once a month for brunch. And to this day, Dad still doesn't know about it." Nathan shook his head at Haley, who was urging him to let her have the phone back, "well I'll talk to you later."

"Wait. Could you do me a favor?"

"Depends. What's the favor?"

"Could you and Haley keep this quiet for awhile? Nobody else knows and I'd prefer if my mom heard it from me."

"I'll try. But tell your mom soon because I don't know how long I can keep Haley quiet."

"I will. Thanks, Nate."

Lucas flipped his cell shut and slid it into his pocket. He sighed and opened his closet door. He should probably wear a decent button up shirt to brunch. The dirty looks he was receiving from Brooke's older brother last night kind of gave him the hint that Jake didn't think much of him. He quickly settled on a dark blue button up shirt that he had received from his mother to put over the gray t-shirt he was currently wearing.

He took one last look in the mirror before grabbing the gift bag sitting on his dresser.

Logan ran down the hallway and into the living room. He jumped up onto the couch next to Jake. "Uncle Jake!"

Jake looked up from the television, "hey bud."

"Do you know when my daddy is going to be here?"

Jake shook his head, he really didn't care either. "Go ask your mom."

As if on cue, a knock came at the front door and Logan ran down passed his mom, "Logan Alan, don't open that door!" Logan's shoulders slumped but he did as his mother said. Brooke walked up behind him and checked the peep hole before opening it.

"You came!" Logan exclaimed.

Lucas grinned, "Said I would, didn't I?"

Logan eyed the gift bag hanging from Lucas' fingers, "is that for me?" he asked.

"Logan." Brooke chided.

Lucas shook his head at Brooke, "its ok. It is for him." He held the bag out to Logan, "hope you like it."

Logan eagerly accepted the gift bag; he pulled out the small Knicks jersey and a Knicks beanie. "Look mommy! I have one just like daddy!"

Brooke grinned, "Sure do. What'd you say, Logan?"

"Thank you!"

Lucas laughed as Logan put the jersey on over the top of his shirt and discarded the hat to the floor. He picked up the hat, "don't like hats?"

Logan shook his head, "not those kind…but mommy makes me wear them."

"Yeah. I have one just like this."

"Why?" the little boy asked, scrunching up his nose.

"So I don't get ear infections." He folded the beanie up, "I could always give it to someone else…I'm sure some other little boy would love to have it."

"But I do want it!"

Jake rolled his eyes at the scene and turned back to the pregame show.

Peyton sighed and took a set next to him, "Jake, can't you try and be nice to him? You're acting like everything that happened to Brooke is his fault."

"Because he is the one that got her pregnant."

"But he didn't know." Peyton shook her head, "can you at least be civil towards him? I'm sure he already feels out of place enough as it is." Jake gave the blonde a simple shrug and she took that as a yes. She kissed him sweetly on the lips, "thanks baby. I'm gonna go help Brooke."

A few minutes passed before Jake heard someone else come into the den.

Lucas took a seat on the adjacent sofa, he took note of what was on tv, "ah football…gotta favorite team?" he asked Jake, trying to make a decent conversation.

Jake shrugged, "Giant, I guess. You?"

"When I was a kid, it was the Carolina Panthers all the way, and I still root for them. But since coming to New York, I've adopted the Giants as a favorite team."

"You grew up in North Carolina?"

Lucas nodded, "Tree Hill, North Carolina. Population..." he furrowed his brows, "ok, I don't know the population, but it's a small town."

"And you went to Duke?"

"It was a hard choice, but Duke offered me a better scholarship than UNC" he shrugged, "So that's where my brother and I went."

Jake leaned back against the couch, "how could I forget, the infamous Scott Brothers." Jake shook his head, "I never quite understood the story, but you're a college basketball legend."

Lucas chuckled, "well there's not really much to understand. Guy meets girl, guy gets girl pregnant. Guy meets other girl, guy gets other girl pregnant." He shrugged, "guy makes a decision to embrace one baby and abandon the other. Guess you could say my brother and his mom got the short end of the stick."

Jake nodded, "So 'guy' is your dad? He accepted you and your mother and abandoned your brother and his mother?"

The blonde shook his head, "other way around. He abandoned me and my ma, but we still got the better deal. Dan Scott is a horrible excuse of a man, and a horrible excuse of a father." The moment had all of a sudden turned serious, "the minute I learned the truth about my father, I vowed to myself I would never abandon a child of mine. And maybe it won't mean much to you, but you have my word that I will be the best father I can be to Logan." He ran a hand through his short hair, "and I know I have a lot of catching up to do…"

Jake shook his head; he suddenly didn't have much anger left for Lucas Scott. "just be around for Logan and I'm sure you'll be a great dad."

Lucas nodded, "thanks man."

"Ok, this conversation got too serious. Back to sports, no need to ask your opinion about your favorite NBA team. So what about baseball?"

"Eh, I'm not really a fan of baseball…but if I were, I would not choose the Yankees as my team."

Jake laughed good heartedly, "I'll second that."

Peyton and Brooke watched through the kitchen, they couldn't hear the conversation but the two guys were obviously laughing.

"See," Peyton lightly shoved her best friend in the arm, "I told you Jake would warm up to Lucas."

Brooke bit her lip and nodded, "yeah, you were right."

"Well for someone who was yelling at Jake about it last night, you don't sound very pleased to be getting your way." Peyton raised a brow, "which is very un-Brooke like."

The brunette sighed, "I guess I'm still kind of unsure about the whole situation."

"Do you…do you like Lucas?" the blonde cautiously asked.

"I don't know." She turned to the refrigerator and pulled out the milk, "I feel this weird attraction towards Lucas and I'm not sure if it's just because he's the father of my son or what."