The Other Scott

by the Lady of the Mists

Chapter Four: Brothers and Sister

Lily stepped out into the cool air of Tree Hill, walking out of the hospital as she gazed out onto the horizon. She could remember watching the sunrise each morning with her mom since she was a little girl. Now it was different; she was standing alone as the sun started to climb higher into the sky.

"Mom, why did you ask me to come here?" she whispered. "You said that you wanted me to keep me safe, away from my father. But sending me here was stepping directly into the lion's den. If you wanted to keep me away from him, why did you send me here?"

"Maybe she wanted you to find us." Lily's head shot towards her younger brother who approached. Nathan took a seat on the bench she was standing next to. "We just got the test results for the baby," he told her. "He's okay. As far as the doctors are concerned, we shouldn't be worried about any repercussions because of the accident."

Her face broke into the first true smile that she'd had on her face in days. "Nathan, that's great!" she said. "I'm so happy for you and Haley."

"Thanks," Nathan said, smiling back. "And . . . thank you, for being here. You've been a big help the past couple of days. I don't know if we would have gotten through it without you."

"You would've found a way," Lily told him. "You're strong, Nathan. I know you can survive anything that life throws at you."

"I don't know about that," Nathan sighed. "Before I met Haley, I wasn't exactly the best person that I could've been." He shook his head, obviously disgusted with himself. "That me was a completely different person. It doesn't even feel like me."

"Well, we grow and adapt to our surroundings," Lily pointed out. "With every choice, we can alter our lives and the lives of people around us. Some choices change those more than others do. For better or for worse," she added. She paused and changed the subject. "So, uh . . . any word on Lucas? Is he awake?"

"Not yet," Nathan admitted, shaking his head. "I'm sure Brooke will send somebody out here to find us the moment that he is, though."

Lily nodded, momentarily distracted by the mention of the one person—the one person—who knew her true identity and her reason for being here. She really hoped that the girl would be able to hold her tongue until Lucas was awake for her to actually tell him the truth. If things had gone the way that she'd wanted them to, then both of her brothers would have known who she was by now. But things rarely went as planned.

Still, Lily wanted to tell her brothers at the same time who she was. She wanted to tell them together that she was their sister.

Too bad that hope died within the space of . . . oh, about thirty or so seconds.

"Do you mind if I ask you a question?" Nathan interrupted her thoughts. Lily looked up at him and shrugged.

"Depends on the question," she replied. "But I reserve the right not to answer it after you ask."

"I think that you can answer this question," Nathan responded. "It's a yes or no one." Lily stared at him, then waved her hand for him to continue. "All right. Here goes nothing." He took a deep breath, shoving his hands into his pockets as he faced her directly.

"Are you Lucas's and my sister?"

For a moment that seemed like it had lasted until the end of eternity, Lily stood frozen, staring at her little brother, her green eyes meeting his dark blue ones. She tried to move, to say something, but her body wasn't responding to what her brain was telling them.

Feeling cold shivers fly up her spine, she wondered vaguely for a minute if he had overheard her and Brooke talking, but immediately dismissed the idea. He'd been in his wife's room, barely leaving her side. There was no way that he could have overheard.

"What?" she finally managed to ask, prying her tongue from the roof of her mouth. "What did you just say?"

"Are you Lucas's and my sister?" Nathan repeated, taking a step closer to her, trapping her so that she couldn't run away. Not that she had any intention to. She hadn't come to Tree Hill just so that she could run away now.

Taking a deep breath, Lily looked up to the hospital, straight at her older brother's room. She could see it from here.

Then she returned her gaze to Nathan. "Did Brooke tell you?" she asked him, momentarily thinking that her brother's girlfriend had broken her word and told him.

Nathan's eyes widened at her words. "Brooke knows about this?" he demanded, sounding outraged.

"She—she overheard me talking to Lucas when you were with Haley," she admitted, trusting him with the truth. "And let's just say that I said some things, called Lucas something that would only lead to the conclusion that I'm your guys' sister."

Nathan nodded mutely. "So your mom . . . she was . . ."

"Alyssa Bryant," Lily answered quietly. "You probably don't know her; she left Tree Hill before you were born."

"Yeah, and apparently taking something of Dan's with her," Nathan pointed out. Lily looked at him sharply, but he was smiling. "Though I can kind of understand her reasoning. Up until recently, Dad was . . . a really bad guy. I mean, she probably knew what he was like and was trying to protect you from him."

"He's changed?" Lily asked doubtfully. "I don't think so, Nathan. People like Dan don't change."

"But he has," Nathan insisted. "He did something for me I—I never would've expected from him." Whatever this was, it disturbed him greatly.

Lily frowned, glancing at his hand where the remnants of injury lay on his knuckles. She knew that her father was in jail for the murder of the man who had hit Haley with his car. An idea suddenly formed in her head and she looked up at her little brother sharply.

"It was you, wasn't it?" she asked slowly, inclining her head towards his hand. Nathan flinched and covered his hand, but it was too late. She had already seen the truth, both on his hand and in his eyes.

"I didn't mean it," he whispered, panic rising in his eyes. "It's just . . . I saw Haley lying in the street and I—"

"Shh." Lily reached out and touched her brother's cheek tenderly. "Shh. It's okay. It's all right, Nathan. Easy, little brother. Don't worry," she told him firmly. "Nobody's going to hear anything from me. Besides," she added, "I'm not so sure that he was beaten to death, anyway."

Nathan raised his bleak face towards his newly found sister. "What do you mean?" he asked her.

"I don't know how much of the accident you saw, Nathan, but I was there. That guy hit that wall so hard . . . and he was driving so fast when he hit Haley . . . it's very possible that he could've died on impact in the car accident, from internal injuries."

"You think?"

Lily nodded, linking her arm around her brother's. "Yeah, I think so. It's possible, anyway." Brother and sister were quiet for a minute before Lily pulled away from him. "Uh, listen, I need to ask you a favour."

"Okay."

"Can you not say anything about this right now?" she requested. "I really planned on telling you and Lucas together and . . . and I really wanted you two to be the first to know. That part kind of failed with Brooke, but . . . I don't want the entire town to know before Lucas wakes up and somebody else has the chance to tell him before I do."

Nathan chuckled. "Yeah, we let this one out and it'll be on the midday news today."

"Can you please not say anything? Just for a little while?"

Her little brother hesitated, seeing the desperation in her eyes. "Well, can I at least tell Haley? I really don't like keeping secrets from her."

Lily smiled and nodded. "Yeah, you can tell Haley about me, but make sure that it's just her and nobody else is listening, all right?" Nathan nodded. "All right. Thank you," she added gratefully as she sat back down on the bench, watching the sunrise.

"No problem," Nathan answered as he sat down beside her. "So, if you don't my asking, where's your mom at, anyway?"

"She's dead." The words came out bitterly in her mouth as she said them. "Mom was sick for a long time before she died. Before it happened, she knew that she wasn't going to get better, so she made me promise that I would come here and look for you guys. My father's side of the family is the only family I have left, now."

"I'm sorry," Nathan told her. Lily looked at him. "About your mom. That sucks."

"Thanks." She smiled at him. "It was almost a year ago, though. I'm done wallowing." Getting to her feet, she walked a few feet before looking back at him. "So, I have a question for you: do you really play your basketball games that badly in the first half?"

Nathan laughed. "Oh, jeez, don't tell me that you were there for that?" he said, shaking his head.

Lily grinned wickedly at him and he chuckled again. "Well, let's just say that I was having a bit of a bad night." His sister looked at him, confused, and he shook his head. "It's a long story. Also has something to do with this." He held up his wounded hand. "I'll tell you about it later, once things have cooled down at little."

"All right," Lily agreed as Brooke came tearing out of the hospital doors.

Her face was flushed from running as she came to a stop before them, taking huge gasps of air as she tried to catch her breath. "Lucas is awake," she said, grinning wildly. "Come on," she added, pulling them along. "He's asking for both of you."

"Wait, both of us?" Lily echoed as she was hauled into the hospital again by her brother's girlfriend.

Brooke only grinned at her as she and Nathan were pushed into Lucas's room. The eldest Scott looked around at the two of them as they entered, looking weak and tired and drained, but happy to see them. "Hey, little brother," he said, grinning at Nathan. Then his blue eyes turned towards Susan, who suddenly felt shy at looking at her elder brother. But all the feeling went out of her when she heard his next words. "Hey, sis."