Chapter Four: Starting From Scratch

Lucas paced back and forth in his sister-in-law's living room. This was not what he was expecting when he woke up this morning. He'd never seen first-hand the "supernatural" things his wife and her family had dealt with over the years. In fact, he hadn't actually believed it until he'd seen how strong Buffy was and how fast she healed.

Now, with Dawn's . . . . amnesia . . . or whatever it was called Lucas was in completely unchartered territory. He didn't know what to expect or how to react. And, of course, non of his family knew about Dawn or the others so he couldn't confide in them. Though he was in Buffy's house so he could talk to Buffy's husband, Angel. That wouldn't work either because Lucas didn't really know Angel. Angel traveled a lot for work and wasn't really around most of the time. In fact, he was out of town now in . . . Lucas couldn't remember where Dawn had told him. And since Angel was out of town, Buffy was at Dawn and his house, and she hadn't said anything, Lucas assumed that Angel and Buffy's own two daughters were at someone else's house. Probably Willow or Haley or Peyton or Brooke's.

Lucas ran his hands through his hair. He sat down on the lounge chair and took a deep breath. Since meeting Dawn, Lucas had learned to accept a lot. It had taken him a long time to both believe it and get used to the fact that his in-laws weren't exactly the most normal of families. Then again, how could he judge? His mother had had him when she was a senior in high school. His dad left his mom before he was even born to marry another woman he'd also gotten pregnant. Seventeen years later Lucas and his half-brother Nathan were on the same basketball team in the same high school. Their lives essentially collided. Lucas's best friend Haley James married Nathan. Lucas dated first Nathan's ex-girlfriend Peyton Sawyer then Peyton's best friend Brooke Davis. While Lucas was with Brooke, Peyton started dating a single teen father named Jake Jageilski. Then Jake left only to come back and then leave again. Then on the eve of Nathan and Haley's second vow-renewal wedding, Peyton left to go to Jake only to come back engaged. Not long after the wedding, they all found out that Haley was pregnant.

During their senior year things had pretty much fallen apart for Brooke and Lucas when a shooting by one of Lucas's old friends happened. Brooke hadn't been in the school at the time (thank god) but Peyton had. A stray bullet had pierced Peyton's leg and she'd been forced to hide. Lucas had found her and gotten her out safely before Jimmy could find them. Luke's uncle Keith had almost died when he'd gone in to try to talk Jimmy out of it. Jimmy had shot first Keith and then himself. Jimmy died but Keith was taken to the hospital and was fine. Peyton, too, had gotten the care she'd needed and survived. Lucas, though, had been severely emotionally scarred by the ordeal and unfortunately during that time began to grow distant and cold to Brooke. He hadn't mean it, honestly, but he couldn't help it. A month before graduation they broke up. They were still friends, but decided not to be romantically involved anymore. After graduation they'd all went their separate ways. Brooke, to New York, to study fashion. Peyton, back to Georgia, to be with her fiancé and go to art school. Nathan and Haley (plus baby Michael who'd been born the night of graduation) went off to Duke University. And Lucas; he stayed at Tree Hill Community College so he could help his mom and uncle Keith with his new little brother Christopher (born just five months after Michael) and study literature and coaching. Second semester of his senior year of college he'd met Dawn, and the rest was history.
"Honey, I'm home!" Lucas looked up as Buffy's husband Angel walked in the room, a briefcase in his hands. Upon seeing Lucas, Angel said, "Well, you're not my wife."

"Guess not," Lucas shrugged.

"Do you know where Buffy is?" Angel asked.

Lucas sighed, "My house." Angel raised his eyebrow, "Dawn's acting strange so Buffy went to go calm her down."

"Oh, okay," Angel said. He set down his briefcase and took off his suit jacket, "So. How's everything with you? How's Emy?"

"Great," Lucas nodded, "Emy's so awesome and she's growing up so fast."

"That's the way it is," Angel shrugged, "My Julie's almost five already. Next year she starts kindergarten. And Joy is daddy's little girl."

"I know," Lucas said, "It seems to me like just yesterday when I came home from an away game and Dawn told me we were having a baby." Lucas smiled.

Angel chuckled, "It's still hard for me to imagine little Dawnie as a mother. I've known her since she was about seven years old."

Lucas nodded in understanding, "That's just like Hales. I've known her since we were bother in diapers. I never would have imagined her as a wife or mother."

"I'm back!" The front door opened again. Buffy appeared with Emy on her hip and Dawn following behind her. On her shoulders, Dawn carried a diaper bag.

"Hey honey," Angel went up to his wife and kissed her, "Missed you."

"Missed you too," Buffy kissed him back, "Do you think you could go pick Julie up form preschool for me and take her to karate class? I have some stuff to deal with here."

"Anything for you," Angel kissed her again. He tickled Emy, kissing the top of her head, "Bye-bye Emy. Don't give your parents or aunt Buffy too much trouble, okay?" The little girl giggled at her uncle. He kissed Buffy again, "Bye baby." He turned back to Dawn, who was now awkwardly standing in front of Lucas, "See you guys later. We'll figure this out eventually." Lucas nodded weakly. "Bye Dawn."

"Angel," Dawn acknowledged solemnly. Angel kissed Buffy one more time before grabbing his keys and heading out the door.

Lucas looked at Buffy, "By the way, where's your other daughter?"
Dawn's head snapped to her sisters direction. Buffy blushed, rocking Emy up and down, "Joy is at Spike and Brooke's for the day." Lucas nodded.

"Wait, Spike and who?" Dawn said, "You have two daughters? And what the hell is Angel doing here? I though Spike was dead!"

Buffy sighed, handing Emy over to her father. She went up to her sister and took the diaper bag, setting it on the armchair. Leading Dawn over to the couch, the two of them sat down. She looked to Lucas, who nodded in understanding from Buffy's look. He left the room towards the kitchen with Emy.

"Well?" Dawn was waiting.

"Dawn," Buffy said, "About a year after Sunnydale disappeared and we all got to San Diego, we got word that Angel and his people were in a huge battle against some really bad demons. We all went to help them. Of the three of Angel's people who were with him, just one survived besides Angel. That other one was Spike."

"But Spike died in Sunnydale with Anya and the others," Dawn said.

"That's not exactly what happened," Buffy explained, "Long story short, the bad demons who were after them brought Spike back. The rest is a story for another time."

"That still doesn't explain how Angel's human or that you have kids," Dawn said.

"After we won the battle, Angel and Spike were made human by the Powers That Be. Shortly after, Angel and I were married. Not long after our wedding I found out we were having a baby. We had a daughter we named Julie Rose. And, since Angel took my last name when we married, Julie also has Summers as her last name. A few years later, we had Melinda Joy Summers, but just call her Joy for short."

"Oh," Dawn said, taking all this in, "Now, who's this 'Brooke'?"

"I can answer that," Lucas came in the room, Emy on his hip, "She's my ex-girlfriend."

"I'll give you two some time to chat," Buffy went over and took Emy from Lucas, "Come on Emy, let's go play with some of your cousin Joy's toys."

When Buffy and Emy were gone upstairs, Lucas cleared his throat uncomfortably. Dawn shifted in her seat, looking down at her folded hands. Lucas went over by her and sat down on the couch beside her. She moved farther away from him, pushing the hair behind her ears.

"So . . ." Dawn started.

"So . . ." Lucas repeated, "Did Buffy tell you who I am?"

"Yeah," Dawn nodded, "She told me some things."
"Listen, I'm sorry about this morning," Lucas said, "I didn't mean to freak out on you."

"It's fine," Dawn said, "You didn't know what was going on."

"I'm still sorry," Lucas said, "And I should've taken Emily with me."

"It's fine," Dawn repeated, "So, ah, you were gonna tell me about this Brooke."

"Right," Lucas nodded, "She was my girlfriend in high school for about two years. We broke up a month before graduation."

"Oh," Dawn said.

"We ended on good terms so it was okay," Lucas said, "Then I went off to college and didn't really date anyone . But the middle of my freshman year of college I met you. You were so sad from the death of the man you called your 'adopted father'. I helped you through it and fell in love with you. A year later we were married. That was about two years ago. Now we have an eleven-month-old daughter named—"

"Emily Anne Scott," Dawn cut him off.

"Yeah," Lucas nodded, "How'd you know?"

"I saw the picture with the engraved name in your-our . . . bedroom," Dawn tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and took a deep breath.

"Oh," Lucas said.

"She's adorable," Dawn said quietly.

"She looks just like you," Lucas smiled. Dawn blushed, "When she was born you told me she looked exactly the way your mother did when she was born."

"That explains that," Dawn said.

"What?" Lucas said.

"When I first–when I first saw her she looked so familiar," Dawn said, "Now that you mentioned it, she does look like my mother." Dawn looked up at Lucas, "Were we—are we happy?

Lucas's eyes met hers, "Very."

TBC