Finding Home

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Happy St Patrick's Day everyone!

Guys I know a lot of you want the Scott's to find out about Ryan and Julie but I'm asking you to have patience. You see in my story, Ryan and Julie never really had the chance to have a real childhood.

They always had to worry about each other and they practically had to look after themselves. I want them to get used to Tree Hill and also I want them to feel like Tree Hill was always their home.

But thank you for reviewing and reading this story!

I can't believe I've wrote so many chapters in a few days. It's only because I've had so much free time.

Karen sat in the driver's seat and turned a corner onto the road to Tree Hill. She was so excited to be going home.

After Jamie and Erica had left she stayed in Tree Hill to help her family. She had even opened her café across the street from Brooke's shop. But as the years went by, it got harder for Lily to be in Tree Hill. Memories of Erica and especially Jamie were too much for her.

When she turned 14 Lily applied for place at a boarding school in New York. When she got in, both she and Karen moved to New York. She had handed over the responsibilities of the café to her employees.

They hadn't come back to Tree Hill in four years.

But part of Lily's school had burnt down during the school year (thankfully no one was hurt) and they both agreed that Tree Hill was the perfect place to finish her senior year.

"Mom!" Lily wined. "Can I please change the music?" Karen laughed and pointed behind her. "There are more CDs in the back." Lily turned around and started searching for them.

"Where are they? I can't see them," she said. Karen looked back as Lily looked forward and said, "They're right-."

"MOM!" Lily shouted.

Karen turned around to see a person crossing the street with a grey hoodie. Karen slammed on the brakes and the car stopped before hitting the person. They sat in the car panting and the person ran over to Karen's window.

She rolled it down and before she could apologize the person said, "I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going! Are you two ok?"

They realized that the person as a young boy with brown-blonde hair and brown eyes. He was holding a basketball and was taking earphones out of his ears. "No it's ok. I wasn't looking where I was going either," Karen said.

The boy checked his watch and said, "I'm sorry. I've got to go." With that the boy waved goodbye and walked off. Lily and Karen looked at each other, frowning. "That was weird," Lily said.

Lucas opened the door and smiled at his mom and little sister. He hugged them both and showed them into the living room. "Karen! Lily!" Haley and Peyton chorused. Both of them were welcomed with hugs and kisses.

Then Karen noticed a girl walking into the room with two trays balanced in her hands. "Who's this?" she asked. The girl smiled and put the plates on the table.

"Hi Miss Roe, I'm Julie…Brooke's foster daughter." Karen walked over to the girl and hugged her. "Call me Karen and I've heard a lot about you and your brother."

Julie looked at Lucas who blushed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Come on you two, take a seat. You must be tired," Nathan said.

Haley walked back into the kitchen while Karen, Lily and Nathan sat on the couch. Brooke, Skills and Mouth sat on the dinning room chairs that had been brought into the room Lucas sat on one chair while Peyton sat in another. Julie sat in front of Peyton on the floor and Peyton started to absentmindedly stroke Julie's hair.

Karen looked at the two of them and remembered her phone conversations with Lucas. The way he talked about this young girl…it was almost like a proud father would talk about his daughter. She watched as Peyton started to brush strands of long hair back from Julie's face. How many times had she herself done that to Lily?

Haley walked back in with a plateful of brownies. Then they heard the door open and a voice call, "Hey, I'm back!" Haley smiled. "That's Julie's brother Ryan. He had to go over to his friend's place to give back a basketball." Ryan walked in and Karen and Lily saw that he was the boy they nearly ran over.

"Oh brownies!" Ryan said, smiling. He reached down to get one only to have Haley smack his hand away. "Ryan the reason I had to make more brownies today was because you ate half of the first batch all on your own! You can't possibly want more!" Ryan pretended to pout. "Come on Haley! You know I can resist your cooking, especially your brownies! So really this is your fault for having such good brownie making skills."

"That reverse psychology wouldn't work on me!" she said with a smile.

Ryan sighed and looked at the two visitors. "Hey I remember you two" he said. Nathan frowned. "You three know each other?" Lily nodded and explained, "We nearly ran him over on the way here."

Ryan bit his lip and said, "Actually I wasn't looking where I was walking." Brooke frowned. "Ryan that was a stupid thing to do! You have to be careful, you know that."

Ryan nodded and sat down on the floor between Nathan and Lucas.

It wasn't long before conversation started and all the tension was forgotten.

Karen and Lily were amazed at the scene before them. Ryan and Julie were two kids that had come out of nowhere and had only been in Tree Hill for two months so far. But it didn't look like that. It looked like they had lived with these people their entire lives. They were relaxed around the adults and the adults were relaxed around them.

It was as if Ryan and Julie had filled a hole that was in the Scott family and in the lives of their friends.

Lily, Ryan and Julie talked as if they were old friends. Lily started to tell them about her life in New York and her life in Tree Hill. "I'd have to say that the best times I had in Tree Hill were our birthday. I mean it was so much fun-."

"Wait, wait, did you just say OUR birthday?" Ryan interrupted. "Yes, OUR birthday. As in mine, Jamie and Erica's birthday. It's so cool we were all born on the same day!" Lily said with a smile, glad that talking about Jamie and Erica wasn't hard anymore.

Ryan looked at Julie and then back at Lily. Frowning he asked, "Didn't you say your birthday was in the summer?"

Lily nodded and replied, "That's true. Jamie and I were born on everyone's graduation day and Erica was born four years later. We were celebrating Erica's first birthday. It was a big deal so we all…"

Julie stopped listening to Lily as she watched Ryan. She could see that he was working things out in his head.

Suddenly a darkness came over his eyes and Julie knew that he was either going to punch a wall or burst out crying.

"Oh crap! We're out of milk. I'll have to run out and get some," Haley said.

Julie jumped and said, "It's ok Haley we'll get it for you." She pulled Ryan to his feet and took the money that Haley held out to them.

The two teenagers walked out the door and closed it behind them. They walked around the corner and suddenly Ryan stopped.

Julie looked at him in concern. His hands were clenched into tight fists and he was staring at the ground. "What's wrong Ryan?" she asked. "I'm fine," he said in a strained voice.

"No, you're not. Please tell me," she asked softly.

He looked up and she saw the hurt in his eyes.

"She changed our birthdays…she changed OUR FREAKING BIRTHDAYS!" he yelled.

Julie stood back. She knew Ryan needed to let it all out.

"She took EVERYTHING that we were and she twisted it till it was something completely different! She changed our names, our birthdays…she took us from our FAMILY and friends! I'm a few months older than I thought I was… and you! You're not 14, you're 15! I don't know who I am anymore! I don't know who you are anymore!"

Ryan took a deep breath and put his hands on his head. Julie looked at him and said, "You're my brother, my family and the person who has looked after me since we were little. That's who you are to me. You can figure out the rest of you later."

Ryan took an even deeper breath and tried to stop the tears that were threatening to fall.

"Stop that," Julie said sternly. "Stop what?" he asked. Julie walked towards him and replied, "Stop trying not to cry. You don't always have to be the strong one."

Ryan grinned slightly. "Yes I do. I've always been the strong one." She looked him in the eye and without meaning to he let a sob out.

Julie immediately hugged him and he hugged back. After a few minutes, Ryan let go and wiped his eyes. "We better get that milk for Haley," he said in a normal voice.

Julie nodded and an understanding came between them. It said that they accepted what they had just found out and it was a thank you from Ryan to Julie.

-A few minutes later-

The two teenagers walked back into the house and couldn't help but laugh at the sight in front of them.

Someone had got the Wii out and hooked it up to the TV. Nathan and Skills were trying to play basketball on it and were failing miserably.

Ryan gave the milk to Haley and joined Julie on the couch to watch two grown men make fools of themselves.

"Nathan come here and give me a hand," Haley called. Nathan groaned and gave the controller to Ryan before running into the kitchen. Ryan slipped the rope onto his wrist and started to play. "I'm after Ryan," Mouth said.

-An hour later-

"Come on, you two you have been playing that for too long. Shut it off," Haley grumbled. "One more game? Please!" Ryan said. "Ya, please!" Skills repeated. Haley shrugged and gave up.

She turned and heard a crash.

When she looked back she saw a broken plate on the floor and Ryan and Skills looking at it with open mouths.

They looked up at her and at the exact same time, they said, "I didn't do it!"

The two of them shut of the game and cleaned the plate up.

Brooke walked into the kitchen to put some plates in the sink and Karen came in behind her with two handfuls of glasses. "What do you think of Ryan and Julie?" Brooke asked.

Karen sighed and bit her lip. She looked at Brooke and said, "There's something very special about those two children. I don't know what it is; but it's something very special indeed."