Chapter 10

Nathan smiled to himself as his thoughts on the bills in front of him were interrupted from the upstairs, and the soft whispers bickering, sounds he recognized as at least one of his kids trying to sneak out of the house. He got up and stood in the doorway much more successfully unnoticed then the two reaching the door.

"So, Dad," Nathan started causing the two teens to jump noticeably, "Since Monday is the first day of our senior year, we thought we would go out partying without asking you."

"Because asking us has gotten us so far before." Gracie retorted her arms crossed, pouting slightly.

"Never hurts to try."

"Well, can we?" Gracie's partner in crime, her brother, finally spoke up.

Nathan looked at two of his children standing before them, sighing, "Yes."

The surprised showed on their faces, "Really?"

"Yes, but I expect you both to be responsible; if either one of you show up back to this house trashed, you will be sleeping in the front yard."

"Yes, Daddy." Gracie gave her father a quick peck on the cheek before quickly grabbing her brother and dragging him out of the house.

"You could at least be grateful I'm ignoring the lack of length on that skirt." Nathan mumbled watching them pull out, illuminating the moving van a couple of doors down.

Shaking his head he made his way up to the room at the top of the stairs, catching glimpses of the pictures that were nailed on the wall. He couldn't believe they were nearly eighteen, he couldn't believe he had done it basically on his own. He smiled at the last picture before making his way to where the music was playing from the end of the hall. The first door was left fully open revealing the latest band posters courtesy of Peyton and a wall dedicated to a spray painted 'Halen-Luc'. Nathan shook his head at the memory.

"But it's too confusing to go by Lucas with Uncle Lucas around. Besides it's not even my real name." The thirteen year old shouted.

"You've gone by Lucas for years."

"Then why didn't you just name me Lucas."

"Because I didn't."

"Great answer." The door slammed in Nate's face.

"I didn't know boys PMSed too." Gracyn said passing behind her father.

Nathan had walked in the room the next day, 'Haley-Luc' had been painted on the wall: a compromise, and neither one had complained. He shut the door and kept moving down the hall way. At the end were side by side doors, almost represented of the girls who lived behind them. On the right was Gracyn's door, firmly shut. Nathan knew they had a great relationship, she just tended to keep some things locked inside. The door on the left was always at least cracked opened. Cheerful, not afraid to be herself Bri, always open for her father.

Nathan peered in and watched as the girl nodded along to the music as she read the book. Lucas would always comment on how much Bri was like Haley growing up, before Nathan.

"Hey there. Why aren't you going off to the party?"

"Because I'm such the party animal, Dad." She laughed.

"You know, it wouldn't hurt to do it once." He said.

"You're telling your seventeen year old daughter to go out partying."

"I trust you. You're a lot like your mother."

Her head shot up, "She's not here. How can you trust someone who isn't here?"

"There's a lot more to the story…" She started to the interrupt, but he cut her off, "And I promise you, I will tell you…soon. It's just not the right time, you'll appreciate that in time. Now you can either go to the party or come with me across the street to introduce ourselves to the new people."

"Do you have to even ask?"

"Good, I didn't want to do it alone."

"Oh, Dad."

"Mase, have you seen the hammer?" Haley came into the living room of the new house surrounded by boxes.

"One: why do you need a hammer? And Secondly: Do we even own a hammer?" He laughed, standing up from the box in front of him. "Hey, Mom? Some one's coming over here."

He watched as his mother disappeared into the entry hallway. "Oh, damn it, it's Nathan."

"As in the mysterious Nathan from the scrapbook? The one you went to high school with?"

"Yeah…"

"And this is a bad thing, how, Mom?"

"The house is…" But she was interrupted by the knocking on the door. Mason laughed as his mother instantly switched into calm mode and opened the door.

"Nathan!"

"Haley, hi."

From his place in the living room he laughed as he heard a third voice, "Dad, I thought the point of coming over here was to introduce ourselves…And here you go knowing her name."

"Bri, this is Haley, we went to high school together." The man explained, "Haley, this is one of my daughters, Bri."

As he appeared in the hall he saw the girl who was being introduced, he recognized her as one of the girls in the pictures. His mother's voice interrupted his thought about who exactly these two were to his mother.

"This is my son, Mason. He's going to be a senior this year at Tree Hill."

"Yeah. Me to."

Nathan spoke up, "If you're mother doesn't mind there's a end of summer party going on. Bri can show you if you want to go."

Mason laughed to himself as Bri glared at her father, "No, that's okay, I was hoping to find a basketball court."

Bri's face instantly changed, "I can help you there."

Hey, so guess what…I started this. Then I got into a car accident…and so now I'm posting this like three weeks later. So Yayness…Enjoy it anyhow.

Until next time, this is me…signing out.