"So what'd Jake have to say?" Lucas asked not really caring about the answer.
Peyton sighed, "Nothin much, basically just wanted to know where I was...He sounded really...odd..."
"Did you tell him?"
Peyton finally closed her phone and looked up at Lucas, "No..."
Lucas smiled, "Good."
"What do you mean you don't know Jake?" Brooke paced around her "old" bedroom starring at pictures that were perfectly placed on her mantal.
"I just told you. She wouldn't tell me anything."
Brooke said nothing else just hung up the phone as she stopped at one particular picture.
Her fingers trailed the outline of the frame, it was taken about 10 years ago...She had her arms around Nathan in an attempt to tackle him as Cooper was grabbing her waist trying to pull her off. A slight smile escaped her lips...she continued starring at the long trail of memories from her childhood. The first time Nathan took her to the rivercourt...the day Cooper got his first car...and...the last picture of them all together...the day she left for Europe.
Brooke closed her eyes and slightly shook her head, "What am I doing..."
Dr. Slemons raced into the local police station and stopped at the front desk trying to catch his breath, "I need to speak with Detective Jacob's..." The dispatcher knodded and picked up his phone.
A few moments later a middle-aged man walked through the side door, "Richard?"
Richard sighed in relief, "David."
"Is everything ok?"
"Fine. Look a need a favor."
David took Richard back into his office and Richard began explaining everything to him.
"All I need for you to do is look up a name...that's it."
"Richie..."
"Please."
David sighed and took the paper Richard had been holding, "You owe me."
Richard smiled, "Agreed."
"Well, thank you very much for everything Mrs. Durham."
"Oh it was no trouble at all, you take care now." Camilla graciously stated as she rocked on the front porch with a warm blanket wrapped around her.
"I'm gonna drive the boy back into town, I'll be back in a little while." Whitey tilted his hat towards his adoring wife as he placed his cigar back in his mouth.
Whitey and Nathan had been on the road for a good five minutes before the silence was broken, "Now son...I don't want to presume that I know anything about your life...but I am aware of how situations like this...could get...even worse."
Nathan didn't turn to look at him, he kept his eyes on the passing ground below.
"...After what you told me...it would be shame to see you ruin your life beca-"
"My life's already ruined."
Whitey sighed, "Look Nathan, I guess what I'm trying to tell you is...everyone needs a hand at some point in there life. They need the knowledge that there is another way out...and if you need one. I'm offering it to you."
Detective David Jacobs walked back into his office, "Well...I think we hit the jackpot."
"What'd you find out?"
"Well this girl...hasn't exactly had it easy. Those initials "L J" I'm guessing were her mothers, Lydia James."
"Were?"
"Her parents were killed in an accident when she was six, but the better news is...she was raised by a man named Larry Sawyer...oddly enough...his wife too was also killed..."
Richard didn't even know how to comprehend the news but he'd known David since college and could tell he was holding something back, "What aren't you telling me?"
"She's married to..." David took a deep breath, "Nathan Scott."
Larry opened his front door and didn't bother closing it. He heavely walked into the kitchen and found the only bottle of liquer he could find. Twisting the cap off he just began to chug. The taste was bitter, but he didn't care.
With bottle in hand he stumbled into the living room, collapsing on the couch. What had his life become?
The ringing of the phone caught him off guard, he took a second to stare at the phone, vibrating the small table. He took one last swig before answering it, "What."
"Is this the Sawyer residence?"
"What's it to you?"
"This is Dr. Richard Slemons...of Cedar Creek Memorial..."
"And is there a point?"
"Were you the guardian of Haley James?"
Larry felt his eyes begin to water, "Yes..."
"Well I think you better make a trip down here then."
"Why hasn't he called us back!?" Lucas threw his phone down on the bed in anger, "I have no idea what to do...we have no where to go...no money...and to top it all off...Nathan's MIA."
"I'm sure hes just figurin-"
Again, the phone.
Peyton looked down happy but still disappointed that the letters flashing didn't spell out Nathan.
"It's my dad." Peyton flipped open the phone and smiled, "Hey. How you feeling?...What!?...Oh my god..." Peyton hung up the phone with tears in her eyes.
"What? What is it?"
"It's Haley."