Chapter 2 - Hence the Name.

"Nobody is dumping us on YOU! In case you hadn't realised we're going to be living with Karen, which is 3000 miles away from you in LA! And who said we wanted anything to do with you! Mom asked us to give it a try but no way in hell am i having anything to do with an ignorant ass who i just happen to share DNA with!" Grace screamed angrily.

Her voice rang through the empty café and the two pairs of intense blue eyes met until Nathan faltered.

Grace stormed out of the café and ran to her car and drove to the place of calm that her Mom had wrote about in her diary; the River court.

Back in the café it was still silent until Karen made her way over and gave Kyle a hug.

"How are you Kyle?" Karen asked gently

"I'm doing better than Grace" he sighed

"What do you mean?" Lucas asked

Kyle looked at him, they were about the same height and they instantly had a mutual understanding.

"She's handling it in a very Grace like way, cutting everybody out, only talking when necessary, in her mind she's been abandoned." he looked down "this is the most emotion I've seen from her since Mom died. She's probably gone into a full scale melt down."

Nathan looked away guiltily, he hadn't meant it, he was just angry and shocked and he didn't realise they were there.

"Do you have any idea where she will be?" Nathan asked Kyle quickly

Kyle looked at him uncertainly, but Karen nodded, this could be exactly what she needed.

"She doesn't really know her way around, but she's been reading Mom's diaries so anywhere that Mom would say was special would be your best bet."

"Thanks, I'm going to look for her." Nathan said with determination.

"Well be careful"

Nathan looked at him incredulously.

"She's likely to through something at you. This" he said pointing to a scar above his left eye "is from when 'i got in the way of the ashtray' after i drank the last of the juice" he shook his head and Nathan gulped.

"Go but keep her away form sharp objects" Kyle finished with a laugh.

"You're joking right?" Peyton asked smiling

"No, it's true she did through an ashtray at me but she's mellowed out recently." he smiled

XOXOXOXOXOX

At the rivercourt.

Nathan watched from a distance as Grace, his daughter, played basketball, she was so talented and he felt proud as he watched her. He watched for what seemed like an eternity. Even alone he could see that she played with aggression, but was still very graceful, 'hence the name' he thought to himself. Suddenly she stopped playing and threw the ball out into the river.

"You know if they drained the river all you'd see are deflated balls" Nathan said as he approached.

He got no answer and Grace looked away. She didn't want him to see that she had been crying. Crying was weak and she needed to be strong. She could take a million rejections from her father if it meant she could have her mother back, but the fact that she wouldn't made this so much worse.

"I'm sorry for everything you heard back at the café, i shouldn't have said it" Nathan said quietly

"Are you sorry that you said it or are you sorry that we heard it?" She answered

"Both." He admitted then chuckled.

"Why are you laughing?"

"Because that was such a Haley answer. You remind me of her a lot and even though i haven't seen it i can tell you have her smile" He said quietly.

"Really? I remind you of Mom? Nobody ever says that, they all say Kyle is practically the boy version of her. I'm nothing like her." She said bitterly. She had always hated that, Kyle and Haley had always bonded over books and music and their similar tastes and personalities and Grace always felt left out, as if she didn't belong in their family. She knew they loved her very much, but she needed someone else.

"I'd say Kyle is more like Lucas than your Mom. You light up the room the same way she did, even when you're mad" He smiled lightly "And throwing ashtrays?" he added mock scared.

"Kyle should have realised that it was coming and moved" she defended, laughing slightly.

"I was scared to come out here" She looked up at him, wondering what he meant "Aside from the fact that the first time i met you it couldn't have gone worse, but also as i was leaving Kyle told me to keep you away from any sharp objects" They both laughed and she punched him in the arm.

"Oww! You have a strong punch!" He said but as he looked at her hand, with the perfectly manicured nails, he noticed cuts and bruises. "What's that?" he asked

"Nothing" She said a little too quickly as she moved her hand back to her side and moved slightly further away from him.

'Damn!' Nathan thought to himself. He wasn't going to push it, he felt like he had made some sort of connection and he didn't want to ruin it.

"Okay" he said defeated "You're a great player by the way, i watched you for ages. Are you going to try out for the girls team?"

"I'd love to but I can't." She said

He looked at her questioningly.

"Another fine thing i got from your DNA. I have HCM, i can't do sports or cheer" She said with a slight pout.

"I'm sorry, but you can still play for fun right?"

"Yeah, just don't over exert myself." She laughed bitterly. She had hated it when Haley said that to her but she wanted to hear it now. Nathan could sense something was wrong as she had gone strangely silent. He looked over to her and saw the tear falling down her face. He could tell she was like him in many ways and would hate people to know she was crying so he looked back out at the river. Grace had felt his gaze on her and was grateful that he had looked away.

"We should get back it's getting dark." She said

"Yeah you're right." They made their way back to the café. Keeping a friendly distance between them.

For some reason, that Grace just couldn't figure out, she felt more at ease here in this strange new town, with all the new faces that she ever had when she was in New York with her friends. She had connected with her father, something she thought she would never do, she had been so adamant that he would hurt or leave but some strange reason she trusted him.

Nathan realised that even though he had known this girl for less than a day, she was a part of him and he was growing to love her. She was so strong and independent but he was scared for her. She had an inner pain that she wasn't letting anyone else see and she had a tall wall built around her and it would be hard for her to open up and trust him but he was going to do the best he could for her and Kyle.

They walked into the café and the sight that met Grace's eyes tore her to pieces. Kyle was watching the video that Haley had made for the two of them, without her.

Everyone who was there before was watching it with him. How could he have watched it without her, it was to both of them not just him. Typical Kyle though, he was impatient and couldn't wait for anything but Grace felt so betrayed.

"What are you doing?" Grace demanded

"Oh Grace, your back! We were just watching the tape Mom made for us"

"Why?"

"Because I haven't seen it yet"

"I haven't seen it yet either" she replied coldly

"I know i thought you could watch it later, when you got back."

"You're unbelievable" she yelled "That tape was for us, nobody else, we were supposed to watch it together"

"Okay now you're being petty"

"NO I'M NOT" She screamed, her blood boiling "This was the last thing we have left of Mom and as always, like anything to do with her, you had to see it first."

"We waited a week to watch it"

"So one day wouldn't make much difference would it"

Everyone was watching but neither cared, Grace was finally sharing what she was feeling and Kyle was finally going to hear it. Not that he would like it once he did.

"I wanted us to see it at the same time, but you did like you always do! You took it away from me. Anything i have, you always take it away!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Do you remember our 5th birthday?"

"Yeah, i got a basketball and you got a guitar"

"Do you remember that all day you kept playing on my guitar but if i went anywhere near your basketball you would grab it away as well."

"So what I was five i didn't know any better"

"But you still don't know any better! You carried on doing things like that! The music was mine and Mom's special thing but then you decided you wanted in, so being the nice person she was she bought you a guitar as well, suddenly something else you and mom had in common. I tried so hard to keep the music time between me and mom but you always butted in with some problem or another thing perfect little you had done right."

"What so i was meant to stay away?"

"During those small times, yes, it would have been appreciated. You knew mom so much better than i ever did because you were always the first to say good morning and the last to say goodbye, even at the end, even when i begged you to give me longer, on that last day, you came in anyway. I had so much more that i needed to say to her but you never gave me the chance."

"Grace..." He started weakly, tears were falling down her face and her voice had been broken as she said the last few words, he had never seen her like this, she usually kept herself so emotionally void that it was scaring him and he didn't know what to do.

"No she's gone and I didn't get the chance to say a proper goodbye, and lets face it you always cut me out."

"You wouldn't have been cut out if you didn't leave all the time"

"I only left because i didn't want to get in the way of Kyle and Mom time. At least i had my own friends, but wait you couldn't even let me have that and you started dating my best friend. You always take everything from me!"

"You got Mom's diaries" he said weakly

"Only because that's the one thing she couldn't give to you, you got her song book didn't you? And her old guitar?"

"The book is for both of us"

"But she gave it to you" she finished dejectedly

Grace ran out the café and once she had turned the corner she sat down on the curb and punched the ground with her already bruised hand, and cried more than she ever had in her entire life.