Okay from now on i dont have song names for the chapters...


"Alex, hun can you do me a favor and go sit over there" Haley pointed to a booth at the side of the café. She did her best to smile as she handed the small girl some paper and a small box of crayons.

"Okay" Alex replied, tears still burning behind her eyes. She cried the moment she woke up alone in a place she didn't know. Haley had tried to calm her down, but nothing worked, she just wound up crying herself back to sleep. The next time she woke up she was quiet. Haley didn't know what she was supposed to do so she took Alex to the café for breakfast, and advice from Karen.

"Who's are little friend" the older woman asked with a warm smile. Haley looked back at the blonde sitting quietly in the booth, scribbling sadly.

"Alex…I'm doing some…babysitting for a friend for a while." Haley rolled her eyes and turned back to Karen.

"You never were any good at lying." Karen laughed as the brunette closed her eyes and tossed her head back.

"No…you're just good at catching people in their lies." She raised her thin brow and gave her first genuine smile since last night.

Lucas walked into the café quickly and began glancing around. He had been in there early that morning but left his basketball… somewhere. He walked over to the booth he was sitting at and immediately saw it underneath the tabletop. He couldn't see the little girl form where he was coming from, her head didn't make it over the seat. When he bent down under the table she bent sideways and watched him grab the ball.

He was one of the people in her photo album. She couldn't remember his name but she knew his face because her mom talked about him…a lot. Lucas knew he was being watched and was surprised to see crystal blue eyes staring at him. Her eyes followed him as he stood back up and set the ball under his arm. "Hi…sorry about that…" he smiled down at her but she didn't smile back she just turned her head away as a few tears slipped from beneath her eyes. "Hey…are you okay?" Lucas questioned as he slid in the seat across from her. He reached over and lifted her chin with his finger and waited.

"I miss my mommy" Alex whispered miserably as she looked up at him. "She told me that I was staying with nice people but they don't want me." Lucas frowned as he wiped the tears from the small girl's cheeks.

"Where is your mommy?" Lucas asked, genuinely concerned. She looked unbelievably familiar but he couldn't place her face.

"At home, she said I had to go on vacation for awhile but she would come get me soon." He watched as Alex played with the small locket around her neck.

"May I see…" Lucas asked as he pointed to her locket.

"My mommy has one just like it...she says that we we're always close to each other." She turned it around and began fumbling with the clasp, her mom had showed her how to undo it, but she always forgot.

"Here…" Lucas reached over and undid it for her, taking the locket gently into his hands. "What's your name" Lucas asked calmly as he opened the locket.

"Alexandra, my mommy and Aunt Amy call me Alex, well Aunt Amy calls me Ally but everyone else calls me Alex."

"Well Alex my name is…" he stopped speaking as he looked down at the small picture inside the locket. In it Alex had a wide smile on her face but what really caught him was the woman holding the little girl tightly in her arms.

"Lucas…" Alex answered as she finally remembered his name. She rarely forget his name because her mom talked about him so much but she had this morning, now she remembered it though.

Lucas looked up at her with wide eyes. He didn't know whether it was because Alex knew his name or because he was holding a recent picture of a girl who had just up and left almost 5 years ago. He had a feeling it was from the latter.

"My mommy talks about you a lot." She told him quietly. The look in his eyes reminded her of the look in Haley's eyes last night…it was far from comforting.

"What does she say about me…" Lucas asked quickly forcing a smile as he noticed the girl's sadness.

"She says you're nice too. And she tells me story's about you and Uncle Nathan and when you played basketball." Alex looked at him and gave a small smile when she notices the previous look had vanished.

"Really…well do you think you're mommy was right…am I nice." He laughed as the little girl bobbed her head up and down. "Alex where's your daddy" Lucas asked in confusion. He would think there would be a family photo in the locket.

"I don't know" she responded sadly as she tore her eyes away from him.

"Well she's a spitting image of her mother…" Haley commented bitterly as she pulled Alex's hair back into a tight ponytail. "…but who does she look like now?"

He didn't know what to say…she looked like him. He tried his best no to look shocked…he hated the sadness in Alex's eyes. "Hey little one…did you eat yet" He watched as she shook her head causing Haley to let go of her hair. He stood from the table anxious to get away from there for a minute…he needed to think…facial expressions included. "French toast or pancakes?"

"French toast" she whispered and with that he walked off towards the counter.

"You look like you just saw a ghost…" Karen commented as soon as her soon was in earshot.

"Well I wouldn't exactly call it a ghost…its more like the past became the present." Lucas sat down in an unoccupied chair and rested his hands in his head. "Could you make her some French toast please." He commented as he remembered his excuse for leaving.

"So what is she like?" Karen asked as she moved between mixing batters and toasting bread.

"She's miserable and uncomfortable. I can't believe Peyton would do this"

"You said that when she left too. You knew she would come back because she had no reason to leave…well Alex is your reason Lucas." Karen informed her son. She was determined to remain calm on the outside even if she was fuming on the inside. In truth she was just as pissed off at Peyton as the rest of them, but something in her heart always remained soft for the curly blonde with a more then troubled childhood. Karen knew the little girl felt unwanted and therefore kept whatever anger she had to the side. "What are you gunna do?"

Lucas looked up at her and shook his head. "Well I'm not just gunna abandon her like Peyton. I can't let her stay with Haley because she doesn't like it there…" Lucas just let his head fall back into his hands.

"In other words you have someone moving in with you." Karen said it more like a comment then a question as she slid the plate of food in front of him.

"Yeah I guess so" Lucas said as he walked back over to the booth and sat across from Haley and his newfound daughter.