A/N: You made it, by the skin of your teeth, and LeytonLove4ever's last 3 reviews on each chapter! Yay! Daily updates continue til Monday! 900 is next ladies and gentlemen!
Ok, so as much as I loved episode 6.15, I didn't really believe it. I mean, Lucas lived with Nathan, Haley, and Jamie through college, and one of the first scenes of season 5 was him babysitting Jamie over Skill's apartment, but all of a sudden when he and Peyton are pregnant he now doesn't know what to do with kids? In my world, all the practice he had the first four years of Jamie's life was still maintained when Jamie turned 5. Tell me your opinions, after you read of course.
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Chapter 28 William and Lucas, Father and Son
She would never know what dating the old Lucas would have been like, but she had no complaints regarding the current Lucas Scott. He was the perfect gentleman, ever attentive, and always creative when it came to planning activities for them to do together.
Lucas squired her around everywhere. An art show in Wilmington. The soulful symphony in Charlotte. To see 'Stomp' in Chapel Hill. He had a unique way of understanding the things she loved to do, while at the same time introducing her to things she had never thought to experience before. Dance lessons. Art classes offered at the museum.
And if she were honest with herself, it was the dates he planned that included William that touched her heart the most. The Tree Hill Science Center. The Wilmington Aquarium, with lunch on the waterfront. A Touch and Play Museum for kids. She loved the fact that her son loved Lucas, and Lucas loved him back, not just to win her affections, but because he genuinely liked to spend time with her son.
She did her best to restrain herself from the urge she felt to spend every moment she wasn't at work or with William with him. That would be too much like they were a couple, and she still maintained a firm stance that they were just dating, even though she let Lucas know they were doing so exclusively. Maybe it wasn't fair to him, but non-exclusivity was not a game she was willing to play.
Peyton was torn. She was at times impatient to move to the next level and scared to take the next step. Lucas seemed to be okay with hand holding and kissing, but in the month they had been dating, it was Peyton who was beginning to yearn for more. The only problem with more between her and Lucas was that there really was no middle ground. If she let loose the reins on what she truly felt every time he kissed her, there was no doubt that the end destination would be a bed, and she wasn't ready to go there yet.
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It was early December when Peyton was approached by her son as she was working at her desk. School was out half-day and Jamie was with his father, who wanted to spend some one on one time with him while he was in town, since playing for the Chiefs took a lot of his time and caused him to be out of town more than before.
The topic he wanted to discuss with her must have been serious, because he was interrupting his precious 'guitar time' to talk with her. She cleared a space and lifted him up onto the desk in front of her, with her arms on either side of him and her face attentive on his. It had become their signature place for serious conversations.
"What's up, love of my life? What's on your mind?" Peyton asked gently.
Wills looked at his mother. "Well, you know how Monday is 'father/son' day at school?"
"Yes, and you're gonna spend the day with Uncle Nathan and Jamie." Peyton said, rubbing his arms.
"Well, now that Jamie is gonna have a new brother or sister soon, me and him talked it over, and we think I need to find my own daddy, otherwise Uncle Nathan is gonna have his hands full." Wills said seriously.
Peyton resisted the urge to pull her son into her arms. She had a feeling this moment would come; having grown up with only one parent, she knew the yearning the heart felt for the one that was missing, and society didn't help by having all these 'occasions' where the missing presence was keenly felt.
She didn't have a chance to respond to what Wills said because he continued on with what he came to say. "So me and Jamie asked Uncle Lucas, and he said he would be honored to go with me to father/son day, because his Uncle Keith went with him, but he said I had to ask you first."
Peyton had squared her shoulders, ready to be upset with Lucas for assuming the role of William's father and getting William's hopes up, when they still hadn't finished defining their own relationship, but she calmed when Wills mentioned Keith. Lucas had the most experience in Wills' shoes, and she relaxed at the thought that this move was motivated more for William's well-being than any maneuver to win her back through her son.
"When did you and Uncle Lucas talk about this, Wills?" Peyton asked, thinking it was during Thanksgiving, when the entire family had gotten together at Nathan and Haley's, including Ethan, who was now Brooke's official boyfriend.
"The week before Thanksgiving, when Uncle Lucas stayed with me and Jamie and Bella at our house when you and Aunt Haley and Uncle Nathan and Aunt Brooke went to Uncle Derek's for the USA show."
"The USO show?"
"That's what I said! Momma, you gotta pay attention."
Flashback
"Ok boys. Bella's down for the night, and it's just us fellas until bedtime. What do you guys want to do?"
Jamie and Wills looked at each other, before turning to Lucas. "We need to talk, Uncle Lucas." Wills said, resolutely.
"Yeah," seconded Jamie. "Serious, man to man talk."
Lucas looked at the serious expressions on the boys faces, before nodding, just as serious. "I see. Well, a serious discussion like that calls for a drink. Follow me boys."
They made their way to the kitchen and sat at the table while Lucas warmed up some milk on the stove, adding chocolate syrup to it before passing a cup to each of the boys, taking one for himself. He sat across from them and pulled up to the table, taking a sip of his chocolate and smiling into his cup as he watched the boys copy his moments. He sat the cup down on the table and leaned forward, steepling his fingers.
"So, what's on your mind, gentlemen?"
Jamie looked at Wills, then turned to Lucas before beginning. "You know how momma told us at dinner I was getting a new brother or sister?"
"Yes, I do" Lucas said, smiling over the memory of the announcement. "I always wanted a brother or sister when I was your age, so I think it's cool you're getting one."
"Well, I was okay with just Wills and me, but I guess you can't have too much family." Jamie said, quoting his Aunt Peyton. "But now we have a problem."
"Oh?" Lucas said in concern. Haley was worried how Jamie would take the news, so she asked Lucas to be vigilant about any possible ill feelings about the pending arrival of a new Scott so she and Nathan could deal with it. "And what's that, buddy?"
Jamie took another sip of his chocolate, so Wills jumped in. "Well, Uncle Nathan always comes with me and Jamie to the daddy things at school, because I don't have one." Wills said simply. "And he told momma he didn't mind being a daddy to one more kid, especially one as cool as me."
Jamie, having finished his sip, came back into the conversation. "But now, he's gonna have two kids, and he's playing basketball again, and that means Wills is gonna have to find a new pretend daddy for school."
"So I was wondering since Uncle Nathan is gonna have his hands full being a real daddy, can you be my pretend daddy now?" Wills said, looking up at Lucas.
"Wills, you know Uncle Nathan will still be there for you, just like he is for Jamie, even when the new baby comes. Basketball's not gonna get in the way of that either, for both of you." Lucas said, trying to allay their fears.
"We know that, Uncle Lucas. Momma told us when you get a new baby, you're heart just grows so you can include it and nobody gets pushed out. But you're Wills' uncle, just like daddy is, except you don't have any kids, so you've got more room." Jamie explained to his uncle, as if it made complete sense.
"And you do everything that a daddy does for me anyway, just like the other dads, except you don't live with me and momma, but some of the kids' real daddies don't either, so I don't think anybody'd mind." Wills said, his logic sound in his mind.
Lucas felt choked up at the trust these two boys had in him. He was particularly moved by Wills' simple explanation. He wanted Lucas, because Lucas was already there for him in every way that mattered, just like Keith had done for him when he was growing up.
He didn't ask Skills, or Mouth, other uncles in his life that also spent time with him and would be willing to go. On some level, maybe Wills had the same desire in his heart for Lucas to be his dad, even a pretend one, as Lucas had in his heart to one day be William's father.
Lucas got up and knelt in front of Wills. Wills sat patiently, no fear of rejection, no anxiety, and that soothed Lucas' heart, slightly bruised by Peyton's lack of trust in him. At least her son had learned that his Uncle Lucas could be trusted with his heart, but to be fair, Wills did not have Peyton's history with Lucas either.
"I would be honored to be your daddy on 'daddy' days at school. But you have to check with your mother to make sure it's okay, and you have to let Uncle Nathan know, so his feelings aren't hurt in case he still wants to do it." Lucas pulled Wills into a hug, and Wills hugged back grinning, Jamie bouncing in his seat, saying, "Yay, now Wills has his own daddy, and we get to see Uncle Lucas at school!"
Lucas let go of Wills and sat back in his chair, pleasantly surprised when Wills followed him and climbed into his lap, leaning back against him after grabbing his cup of chocolate. He pulled Wills up more firmly so he wouldn't slide off, wrapping his arms around his waist, before looking at Jamie. "Did I ever tell you the story about my Uncle Keith, and how he was my 'daddy' on daddy days, too?"
"You didn't have a daddy either, Uncle Lucas?"
"No, but I had something just as good. I had an Uncle Keith." Lucas hugged Wills in his lap and smiled at Jamie. "Just like you guys have me."
End Flashback
"So can he be my daddy, momma? Please say yes." Peyton started at the choice of wording Wills used, forgetting for a moment what they were talking about. She focused back on her son, rephrasing what he was asking. "If Uncle Lucas doesn't have a problem with it, then yes, you can take him to school on 'father/son' days."
"Yes!" Wills said, pumping his fists in the air. "This is so cool! Thanks momma!' Wills said, hugging her tightly before jumping off the desk. "The kids are gonna be so jealous at school! Uncle Lucas is a better pretend daddy then some of my friend's real daddy's are. He takes me places and spends time with me and we have man talks and he loves me, just like you do momma!"
Peyton couldn't argue with that. Lucas loved her son. They had a bond Peyton would have found strange, if she hadn't had a similar bond with him from the moment they met. On that front at least, she had no doubts. But she still couldn't shake the fear she had of committing wholeheartedly to the idea of her and Lucas, still waiting for the day he would revert to type, get tired of her insecurities and run, just like he had in the past.
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Lucas knocked on the door of Haley's empty classroom, causing her to look up from grading papers.
"Hey 'best uncle in the world'." Haley said.
"Hey 'best friend who keeps making me an uncle'. How are you feeling?" Lucas said, sitting on the corner of her desk.
"Like a weight's been lifted off my shoulders." Haley said honestly. "I was so worried about telling Nathan about the baby. I mean, he didn't take it so well the first time, and now, with him being on the road more with the Chiefs, and me starting back up my music career, this wasn't exactly in the plans, you know?"
"I know. But Nathan took it well, and you're older now, and you have family all over the place, and now Jamie gets to grow up with a sibling, like Nathan and I never had." Haley smiled at the remembrance of Nathan's reaction, grabbing her up and spinning her excitedly around the room. Haley grew warm at the thought. If they weren't already pregnant, they would have been for sure after that night.
"Although," Lucas said, grinning. "It would be nice to have a planned pregnancy in Tree Hill one of these days."
"Well," Haley replied smartly. "You and Peyton can be the first." She covered her mouth and looked at Lucas apologetically.
"Well, well. Peyton's caught the baby fever, huh? She told you she wants to have more kids?" Lucas said, grinning in delight.
Haley did her best to cover up her blunder. "No, I am just a hopeless optimist."
At Lucas' look, Haley crumbled. "Oh, you guys should know by now not to tell me anything! She just said how she wanted to give Wills a brother or sister one day, and how cool it must be to see the different parts of you and the one you love come together in a child. She did not say your name once, Lucas Scott, so it really is all just speculation in my head." Haley smiled. "But I think you're closer than ever to wearing her down."
"Do you think I'm close enough for this?" Lucas whipped out of his pocket a jewelry box and flourished it in front of Haley.
He opened it to reveal a sparkling emerald set in an engagement setting. "Getting another diamond just didn't feel right since I can't give her Keith's ring, and the green matches her eyes. What do you think?"
"Lucas, I'm married to your brother, and I'm carrying his child. It's a little too late for us." Haley joked, before sobering. "Are you sure you're ready for this? Are you sure she's ready for this?"
"She still doesn't trust that I'm for real this time, and what better way to show I'm serious about marriage then an engagement ring? We've been dating for a month. I've been wooing her for 2. We've been in love with each other for more than 6 years. William already thinks of me as a father figure, and I want to be a father to him. What am I waiting for?"
Haley just stared at the ring, silent. She didn't know what to say, because she honestly didn't know how Peyton would react. This could very well be the gesture she was waiting for, or she might honestly still not be ready to commit to Lucas. And because Haley didn't know what to say, she said nothing at all.
Lucas didn't notice, since he was busy telling Haley of his plans. "I was going to give her Keith's ring, but since I already gave that to Lindsay, I don't think that would go over too well. I'm thinking of proposing at the rivercourt. I hope it'll replace the bad memories with a good one, since the last time she was there, I left town for 3 months. Not exactly a memory I wanted to bring up on a date, but I think its time to banish those ghosts for the last time."
Haley could take it no more. "I hate to burst your bubble with reality, but…" Haley hated to even say it hypothetically. "What if she doesn't say yes?"
Lucas stopped his prattling and looked down at the ring. He looked back up at Haley. "I learned my lesson the last time, so I know what not to do. I won't run, Haley, no matter how much it hurts. I'll wait, I promise. I'll wait for her as long as she needs, and keep asking her until she does says 'yes.' Because there's a 'yes' in her somewhere, Hales, I can feel it. I will just have to try harder to bring it to the surface."
Haley smiled and murmured the appropriate responses to his comments, but inside she was afraid. She knew her best friend and there was only so much he could take, regardless of what he was saying now. She wasn't a hundred percent sure that in the moment, if he heard a 'no' and not a 'yes', or even a 'someday' as he was probably anticipating, his heart would overrule his head and he would run again from the pain of rejection.
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A/N: Lucas! Are you crazy?! You've only been dating a month and you want to propose! But then again, this is the same Lucas that thought it was a good idea to propose a quickie wedding in vegas after telling Peyton he hated her in a drunken haze, even though he did apologize for it later. It did work though, probably because Peyton was too scared to say anything but yes again, but my Peyton's not scared.
Or is she?
Readers, what do you think of Lucas' idea? Crazy or brilliant?
BTW- how'd you like me throwing in that little Naley tidbit? Did you see it first in the flashback, or did you have to go back and reread to find it? hehehehehe I know, I know. I'm a mess.
