Okay guys, this is the last chapter. I've decided to make another story set three years later. It should prove to be interesting because that's when innocence leaves and romance starts to arise.
Two Weeks Later
The kids are all perched on stools in Karen's Café. Haley watches the kids with amusement flickering in her eyes. She looks at the future of Tree Hill; hopefully they'll make it adulthood without too much drama.
Quinn smiles warmly at her adorable little boy. The reason she wants children is mainly because of Logan, he taught her how awesome kids were. She can only hope, this new baby will be a lot like her son now. Suddenly, Quinn's eyes widen and she glances down at her maternity jeans.
"Haley-Bob, we have a problem" Quinn murmured unsurely as her little sister glances over.
Haley asked, "What is it?"
"You're going to have to get new chairs, cause, you see, my water just broke and I'm having my baby girl" Clay's eyes grow wide as he hears his wife's words.
Riley studies her parents, they keep looking at her all weird and stuff. Worry seeps into her bones wondering what she could've done now. She wonders if Ms. Bethany called home or something about her bad grads. The nine year old watches as her parents awkwardly walk over to her.
Brooke places her sons' into the playpen. "Rye, sweetheart, we need to talk about something" she stated softly playing with her daughter's hair.
Riley leans into Brooke, she can tell something is bothering her mother. "What's the matter, Mom?" the child becomes concerned when Brooke doesn't answer. "Dad?" she inquired weakly.
Julian asked softly, "Riley-Roo, your grandmother wasn't...you see, do you remember when she was sick?"
The little girl nods; she remembers, too well. She remembers, not sleeping and sometimes sleeping during class. It was scary, having to watch her grandmother at all times in fear she'd die in her school. Riley also remembers, having to clean the house multiple times.
"Natalie Bennett, your social worker...she purposely" Brooke feels tears spring to her eyes. "She...she kept your grandmother sick" Brooke whispered as Riley looks up in mild confusion.
Riley asked, "What does that mean?"
"Natalie was poisoning her" Julian explained softly as tears start to tremble down Riley's cheeks.
It used to be that Natalie was the one person she could rely on. She was the first adult person, Riley ever truly trusted. This isn't fair, why do people pretend to be good and then do things like this? Riley feels arms around her rocking her softly, the child sobs wishing bad things didn't happen.
Brooke gets up at the sound of her phone ringing. When she re-enters, the room she has her hand over her mouth. "Quinn's having her baby girl" she whispered lifting Davis into her arms.
Clay eyes his daughter with wonder in his eyes. He felt like this when he first met Logan. He felt like life was worth living because his child was there. It feels amazing to meet this beautiful little person; she's a perfect little angel.
"Welcome to the world, Katherine Haley Evans" Quinn whispered as the baby yawns and snuggles closer into her mother.
Logan glances down at the pink little bundle of joy. The six year old smiles softly at his little sister, she's so awesome. Maybe he can share a few of his planes with her, not all of them, just a few.
"Isn't she beautiful, Nate?" Clay asked his eyes bright with happiness as he stares down at his beautiful little girl.
"She is" Nathan has Lydia on his hip. The little girl reaches out to touch her newborn cousin. "Gentle, Lyds, you have to be gentle" the father said calmly.
Lydia gently pokes her new cousin's toe. Katherine's eyes open widely and she looks around at the new faces. Feeling overwhelmed and frightened, she lets out an ear shrilling scream. "On that note, I think we'll see you later" Quinn answered as the adults start to pile out of the room wearing satisfied smiles.
Haley nudges Logan who doesn't move a muscle. "Wolverine, how about you wait with Aunt Haley and Uncle Nate, okay?" Clay offered with a warm hearted smile.
"For how long?" Logan asked looking disappointed.
Clay said ruffling his son's hair, "Only a little while, I gotta make sure your Mom and Katie are okay."
Riley swings her feet back and forth. This totally sucks; she, Jamie, Lily, and Austin weren't allowed in Katherine's room. Apparently, their parents' think too many people would frighten the baby. They left Mouth and Millie in charge; they're now gawking at infants.
The nine year olds eyes are bright. "Let's play hide-and-seek" she stated as Lily and Austin share knowing looks.
Austin tries very hard not to roll his eyes. "Rye" he groaned shaking his head in dismay, every time Riley wants to 'play' a game. It always lands them in even more trouble than they imagined.
"What?" Riley asked innocently.
Lily answered honestly, "You get us in trouble." Jamie tries not to laugh at the look that flashes across Riley's face.
"Me?" Riley is shocked, she doesn't force them to do anything. "You guys don't hafta play. I don't make yah" the fourth grader grumped slumping in her chair.
Jamie answered brightly, "I'll play."
Riley gives the other two a satisified smirk. Austin and Lily look at one another again before giving into Riley's wishes. "One game" Austin said closing his eyes and starting to count.
Ever since, Austin's adoption got finalized two days ago; he's been acting like he has a stick up his butt. He never does anything fun and in school, he doesn't even take part in eraser wars. It's like he's trying to be perfect or something.
"We can't get caught by the parents" the oldest Baker whispered rushing down the hall as Lily giggles, she loves Riley's gall.
Riley looks over her shoulder, to make sure no one is following her. The fourth grader knows it's wrong, but she really wants to see baby Katie. This was a good way to get what she wants and still have fun doing so. She sneaks into the other side of Quinn's hospital room. Lucky for her, there's a curtain covering half the room. Riley ducks under the other hospital bed as Clay stalks past her.
Riley starts to shuffle out from under the bed, but stops midway when she hears the door squeak open yet again. She expects to hearClay, but the voice she hears really surprises her.
"Is that Katherine?" Alex peeks over the incubator and smiles at the little angel, she instinctively rubs her own belly.
Quinn nods, smiling. "Katie, meet your Aunt Alex" the mother shifts the baby up as a way for Alex to get a view of her daughter.
Tears rush to Alex's eyes and she hides her face. "Quinn" she whispered her voice breaking. "I really messed up, this time."
Quinn eases her sleeping daughter into the incubator and stares at her friend with concern. "What happened?" the friend asked seriously.
Alex cried, "I'm pregnant." The tears start to fall down her cheeks and wobble on her chin.
"Congratulations, you and Chase must be so happy! Wait, why are you sad? Being pregnant isn't that bad. I'll coach you through it" Quinn joked half-heartedly, that's a lie; really, being pregnant is grueling and painful.
Alex hesitates before answering, "Here's the thing, I don't know who the father is."
"What happened?" Quinn demanded wanting to know everything. This is weird, Alex and Chase are meant to be together. Who else could the father be, but Chase Adams?
"Two week ago; I had…had sex with Chris. It was after Chase told me he and Mia had sex too…I should've taken the morning after pill, but I was so…it was such a bad day. The next day, I had sex with Chase."
Quinn asked, "Does Chase know about the baby?"
Alex nods weakly. "He's over the moon and I-I can't tell him, the baby might not even be his" she stated adamantly.
"Alex" Quinn shakes her head; she loves Alex, but this is wrong. She can't think doing this is right.
"I can't betray him like that, Quinn."
"You'd be betraying him, if you didn't" Quinn answered sternly. "Chase and Chris have a right to know if you're pregnant with their kid."
"If I tell him, he won't love me anymore" Alex whispered and Quinn begins to realize how lonely her friend is for love.
Quinn whispered quietly, "You don't know that." If only, Alex knew how much Chase loved her.
"I can't take a chance like that" she answered nervously. If the baby is Chris's, it's not like he'd be a decent father. He'd probably ruin the kid, before anyone blinked.
"Alex, if you don't tell them, you'll always wonder" Quinn's tone is serious and full of worry. Now that she knows this information, she'll wonder too. When the baby is born, she'll wonder who it looks like; Chase or Chris.
"No, I won't" Alex tries to sound determined. "This baby is an Adams, I'm deciding that."
Quinn shakes her head, pitying her friend's dilemma. "It doesn't work like that."
"Well, it does, for me" Alex nods, suddenly feeling relieved for telling someone about her problems. It feels good to get that off her chest.
Quinn runs a hand through her sweaty hair, honestly wondering why Alex bothered to bring her news like this. She just had a baby for Christ Sake, don't people know anything?
"Why are you telling me this?" Quinn asked softly.
"You're my only real friend" as embarrassing as it sounds, it's true; Alex knows she can only trust Quinn to keep this information private.
Quinn lets out a breath of sadness. "Do what you want, but karma has a way of catching up to you" the friend answered tiredly yawning and leaning into the pillows.
The young singer murmured, "Katie really is beautiful, Quinn."
Riley watches as Alex leaves the room, she can't believe what she just heard and now she can tell anyone. Not even Austin. The fourth grader honestly wonders why Alex won't tell them. Even though, Chris is a jerk, he has a right to know he might have fathered a child. The fourth grader waits until she's certain Quinn is asleep before leaving. On her trek back to the waiting room, Riley bumps into Brooke.
Brooke grips onto Riley's shoulders and gives them a shake. "Where have you been?" the mother demanded worriedly.
"I j-just was going to the bathroom" Riley lied wishing she could tell Brooke everything, but she can't. Riley doesn't know why, but she just can't tell anyone; not even Aust.
The mother raises her eyebrows. "So you weren't playing hide-and-seek with Austin, Lily, and Jamie?" she asked smirking.
Riley groans and shrugs, she doesn't really feel in the mood to bother mustering up some dull excuse. "We were bored" she shrugged wanting more than anything to tell her Momma what she overheard.
Brooke advised gently, "Next time, you're bored, think of games you can do without making me worried sick." Something about how Riley looks isn't sitting well with Brooke.
"Okay, Momma" Riley agreed dully, feeling as though she's going to throw up.
Brooke ruffles her daughter's dark hair. "You okay, Rye? You look like you're going to be sick" the mother inquired causing the nine year old to force herself to smile.
"I'm just tired" Riley murmured as she walks over to her father who grins down at her pleasantly.
Julian agreed, "Well, it's been quite the eventful day. Let's go pick up your brothers and get some ice-cream."
Riley nods thinking you have no idea. She still can't believe Alex is pregnant with Chris or Chase's baby. Why did she even want to play stupid hide-and-seek? She should've just stayed put like Millie and Mouth told them to.
It's late, really late. Austin dribbles the ball down the court, sweat drips down the side of his face. He's been doing this a lot lately, sneaking out and playing. Of course, Lucas and Peyton don't know about this. He and Rye used to sneak out all the time; they'd got to their fort in the woods.
Much to Austin's surprise, he sees Riley stroll onto the court with confusion and happiness written on her face. "What are you doing, here?" she wondered smiling at him.
Austin shrugs. "I don't know. This place helps me think, I like it here; it's nice and quiet. Why are you here?" he asked tapping the leather ball with the tips of his fingers.
Riley lied; shaking her head, "I needed to breathe, everyone was squishing me."
Her best friend laughs, nudging her. "Well what did you expect? You only just got adopted like a week ago, Rye" he joked with a grin.
"You got adopted like yesterday and nobody's squishing you."
Austin added knowingly, "Well, I didn't get in a car crash either."
Riley rolls her eyes that happened months ago. The adults in her family seriously need to trust them. "How are things going?" she heard about there being some tension within their family.
"You mean, how am I since I heard about Nat?" Austin turns away from his best friend. "Okay, I mean…Pops wasn't around much. I loved him, sure, but he ditched me when I was little. He'll always be Pops, but I have a Dad, now. What about you?" he asked referring to what Natalie did to Grams.
"I don't know why she did it" Riley whispered wondering if she can ever fully trust anyone again.
Austin knows that look. "Don't think that, Rye. Brooke and Julian love you, everyone does" he advised causing his friend to look down.
Riley blinks back tears, feeling guilty. "I wanna hate her, but…I love Grams, don't get me wrong, but I love Julian and Brooke too and…I don't know" she admitted feeling guilt crush against her body like a freight train.
"Your Grams knows you loved her and she loved you. You have to stop blaming yourself for what happened. She got sick and then Nat poisoned her. Please, stop blaming yourself, okay?" Austin pleaded finally facing Riley.
"I want to, but…but I-I like living in Tree Hill. I like it here. I like that I have a real family. I love everything about my life" Riley whispered her voice breaking.
"You shouldn't feel guilty for loving something, its okay for you to be happy. Your Grams loved you, a lot. She'd want you to be happy."
"Thanks, Aust" Riley sits down beside her best friend. "This has been a crazy year, hasn't it?" she chuckled glancing up at the darkened sky in wonderment.
"Crazy good" Austin murmured his eyes dancing with happiness; he never thought he'd end up in this kind of life.
Riley nods in full agreement. "Yeah, crazy good" she echoed as Austin jumps onto his feet and grabs an abandoned basketball.
Austin joked, "What do you say, Baker? You ready to lose." Riley smiles she likes the idea of being called Riley Baker.
"I could beat you with my eyes closed, Scott" Riley takes a shot, smirking as the ball swishes into the net.
Please Review! I have to know if I should make another story.