Tree Hill, Children's Museum
Madison waited nervously as Jason ran around on the playground outside of the Tree Hill Children's Museum. They were waiting for Jamie - and she was anticipating a very awkward conversation having to unfold in the coming hour. She saw him coming from a mile away, his mirrored sunglasses, dark gray t-shirt and cleanly pressed jeans shouted "grown up", which she supposed he was now. She had never had the conversation with Jason about his dad, he had never asked, but she knew that he noticed that other kids his age had two parents, where he only had one. She just hoped he took the news well and that him and Jamie got along.
An Hour Previously, Tree Hill Hospital
Jamie sat impatiently with Ty in his lap waiting for Julia to show up for their appointment, this was the big one - where they would find out the genders of their twins. Jamie was excited, as he had never gotten to experience this exact appointment before, despite having two healthy sons. His fiance breezed into the office, a long white dress billowing over her round stomach, her long brown hair hanging loosely in a bun and a huge smile on her face.
"Hey baby!" Julia scooped up Tyler and pressed a kiss against Jamie's lips, "you two behaving yourselves?"
"Yes mommy," Tyler giggled and Julia grinned, he was almost 3 now and his vocabulary was quickly expanding, although she was displeased that his first word had been "dada".
"We have been very good," Jamie wrapped his arm around his fiance, giving her a mischievous side eye, 'except maybe when this happened"
He pointedly looked at her belly. Seeing Julia pregnant was an endearing thing for him, and the more obvious and obvious it got, the sexier he found her. Seeing his family physically grow filled him with so much love and pride, and he could not wait to find out if they were boys or girls.
"You're a goof Jamie Scott," Julia rolled her eyes and walked with the two of them to the front desk to check in. They were ushered in quickly and Tyler sat in the plastic chair playing with a few plush toys, while Jamie paced around the room as they waited for the doctor.
"Someone is very pregnant!" Doctor Malley exclaimed jokingly as she walked in, "how have you been doing Julia? Jamie? Hanging in there?"
"We've been good, really excited about today, he's never experienced this before," Julia nodded at Jamie who grinned,
"I want to know if I can even produce girls," Jamie chuckled and Julia rolled her eyes, patting the side of the table next to her,
"Come stand still you're making me anxious," she instructed, Jamie listened, coming and kissing her head,
"Sorry baby I'm just so excited," Jamie stopped his pacing, Doctor Malley began to set up and as she did so she noticed the massive rock now occupying Julia's left hand,
"Now that is a new addition," she exclaimed, "congratulations on the engagement."
Julia smiled, she loved when people noticed her ring, she loved feeling like everyone knew that Jamie wanted her, forever.
"Now, future Mr and Mrs Scott," Doctor Malley looked at the screen next to the monitor, "do you still want to know the genders?"
Jamie nodded, but Julia held her hand up as if to stop Doctor Malley,
"Could you put it in an envelope?" Julia rolled over to look at Jamie, "wouldn't it be kind of fun to find out in front of our family and friends? I know you were really excited but think about how cool a party could be."
Jamie paused a second, mulling over what his fiance was suggesting, he was apt to agree, because he knew that Julia had felt so ashamed while pregnant with Tyler that she had not been able to enjoy all of the cliche expectant mom activities,
"Whatever you want beautiful," Jamie winked and Julia grinned, Doctor Malley chuckled,
"Millennials."
On the Road to Tree Hill
Anna looked in the backseat one more time, checking in on her sleeping daughter. Her gaze shifted to the driver's seat next to her - Davis looked different. She couldn't quite place what had changed about him in the two months she had been gone, his hair was a little longer, skin a little darker, but there was something else about him. She thought back to their first argument, when she had suspected she was pregnant over a year ago - he had looked younger then - naive, unsettled. All of those things had scared her when she laid in bed at night thinking about what the future would look like for them with a baby, if he was strong enough to stick by her side.
Davis had been wonderful for those first 6 months, by her side every minute, never forcing her to expose their life-changing secret, even though she could tell then that it had been weighing on him - all of the lying to his friends, his coaches. When he had told her that he was going to Princeton she hadn't even stopped to think about going with him, she had just jumped straight to him leaving her behind in Tree Hill to raise their child all by herself. Maybe she should have asked him for more information, maybe...
"Davis?" Anna's voice was shaking, which caused Davis to turn, a concerned look placating his features,
"What's wrong?" Davis asked and Anna bit her tongue, she knew what she was about to ask could change the trajectory of their lives forever,
"Did you already decommit?" Anna ventured quietly and Davis reached over and squeezed her thigh,
"It's going to be my first call when we get home. I hadn't decided until I was halfway to you and Carolina the other day," Davis tried to explain, hoping she wouldn't accuse him of making empty promises.
"Don't make that call," Anna replied, her eyes were thoughtful, she turned back to look at her perfect baby girl before returning to meet his confused gaze, "we'll come with you. You deserve your dream."
"Anna, this is my dream," Davis gestured to her and Carolina, "I don't need to play basketball. I don't need to go to Princeton."
"I want you to though," Anna put her fingers through her long blonde hair, "I didn't even give Princeton a chance before. I thought I would lose you, but as long as you promise not to then we should go to New Jersey, Carolina will love seeing her daddy work so hard."
Davis was blown away by Anna's sudden change in thought, but he didn't question it. Instead, he took her hand and kissed it, "then it's settled. We'll go to Princeton, all three of us."
Jude Baker's Car
Jude grinned at Lydia, who was busy reading her book on their way to the beach,
"What ya reading?" he asked, half joking, mostly just poking fun at her ability to tear through books at a record pace,
"It's a collection of poetry," Lydia closed the book and looked at him with a smirk, "you wouldn't like it babe, very cerebral."
Jude pretended like he had understood her last sentence and grinned at her, grazing his hand over her thigh and approaching her waist,
"Jude Baker you are driving," Lydia admonished and Jude hit the brakes,
"Now I'm not driving."
"Jude come on I want to get to the beach before sunset, our friends don't get there until Saturday we will have plenty of time for," she paused and looked down at his wandering hand, "those activities."
"You're no fun, can we at least do something spontaneous before they get in,ya know, live a little?" Jude asked in a fake whining tone and Lydia sighed with a smile, her boyfriend was always wanting to do crazy things and she almost always had to ruin his fun, but she decided to entertain his mood a little bit,
"Like what?" she asked and Jude wiggled his eyebrows,
"Let's get married."
The silence that followed was a mix of pure confusion and also thought for Lydia, who was trying to make it make sense. He had just turned 18 a few weeks ago, his brother had a 6 month old at home and was unmarried despite the fact. She was not sure why he would think that marriage was a normal thing to do, especially because there was no baby or fear of being split up weighing on them at the moment. However, the part of her that fantasized about being Baker silenced her initial thoughts, it would be nice to tell people she had married the love of her life so young, just like her parents had back in high school,
"Jude we are seniors in high school…" her voice tinkered off, she knew exactly what he was about to say but let him interject anyways,
"We're 18 though!" Jude pushed more, giving her a pouty look, "I want to marry my best friend. Your parents did it when they were 17 come on Lyds."
Lydia thought a beat more, she knew the reactions from her parents would probably be pure terror, but Jude had a point, they were 18 now, and she never wanted to be with anyone else - and there was always divorce if something went wrong, plus she never did anything risky in her life and it bothered her.
"Okay." Lydia finally replied and Jude smiled from ear-to-ear, "will we not tell anyone before we do it? Do they do that here or only in Vegas?"
"We can do it here, why don't we stop at the next courthouse we see and apply for a marriage certificate?" Jude asked gleefully, he didn't think she would ever in a million years agree to marry him in a shotgun two-person ceremony, but here he was, making a big life decision somewhere between Tree Hill and Hilton Head Island.
Watching his brother the past year and a half had been a big influence on him - when he had found out about Anna he had freaked out, ran, acted out - the whole nine yards. And all Jude could think during this time was how if this were him and Lydia he would absolutely not be in another girl's bed or ignoring her calls vigorously. That's when he had figured out he had wanted to marry the hell out of her.
About a half-hour later the pair pulled up to a large brick building, and Jude grabbed Lydia's hand - "I hope you have your ID and social security card," he joked before whisking her inside. Lydia rolled her eyes, of course she carried those items on her, they were on vacation - she always brought her identification just in case, but of course she knew he must have known this. He explained to the woman at the front desk what they were hoping to do, and despite her questioning look, she handed him paperwork to fill out and bring back.
Jude and Lydia filled out the documents quickly, lastly signing the application, and Jude wrote a quick check for $60, the cost of a marriage certificate in North Carolina. Within two hours, Lydia Scott was no longer Lydia Scott, but rather Lydia Baker.
The two walked back to the car, holding hands, not really feeling as if much had changed in their lives, despite the fact they were now legally married in the state of North Carolina, and that their parents were going to murder both of them for getting married before graduation and in secret without them.
"Wait here," Jude instructed his new wife as she sat down in the passenger seat, Jude was rustling through the packed luggage in the back, before he pulled out a blue box - Lydia was shocked, it hadn't been a whim decision that Jude had asked her, he had been planning it.
"I was going to wait until we were with our friends to ask you, but the conversation in the car just kinda happened," Jude smiled up at her, he was down on one knee next to her open car door, "plus you can't really say no now since we're marriedddd"
Lydia's eyes were teary as she looked down at Jude, who was holding the most beautiful, delicate ring she had ever seen, "you know you're supposed to ask before I say yes baby." She laughed softly and put her hand out, "of course I will."
Jude slipped the small diamond onto her finger and kissed her in the parking lot of the courthouse - his world was complete.
Three Days Later, The Baker's Beach House
Lydia and Jude hadn't told anyone about their impulsive decision, but they knew when their friends started to pile into the house in the next hour that their ring fingers were going to cause absolute mania.
"We don't have to tell them," Jude offered as Lydia laid on his chest in bed, procrastinating leaving bed to face the world at their doorsteps.
"What use would that do? Somehow someone is going to find out, and then the cat is out of the bag Jude Baker," she fiddled with her ring and put her hand on top of his; they had stopped at a small jewelry store and found him one of those new rubber rings, something he could play basketball in. Their hands looked so odd to her, and the reality of their actions three days ago were hitting her all at once, her mom was going to kill her, kill her. It would've been easier to tell her mom she was pregnant, at least she could have claimed that was an accident - no one gets married by accident.
There was a piece of her that was pleased that, at least so far, she had been one of the few to escape Tree Hill without a baby on her hip; her idiot brother had 2 before 20 without knowing it, and now he was going to have 4 before 24. Of course there was Davis and Anna, whose fate no one could have predicted being the two smartest people she knew. Sawyer had gotten out unscathed as well, which had been one of Peyton and Lucas' biggest reliefs, considering how wild Sawyer had been back in highschool. However she would be the first one who had gotten married of all of the kids, for no reason other than she was in love and wanted to be spontaneous - she wasn't sure which would be worse in her parents' eyes.
The knock on the door interrupted her train of thought and she rolled over and kissed Jude,
"Let's go tell the world baby."
The couple walked down the stairs, opening the door as a group of 6 piled into the foyer - mostly Jude's teammates and some of the other cheerleaders, Davis hadn't been able to make it as he was retrieving Anna and Carolina from her grandparents's house. A part of her felt guilty that their friends were going to know before their families did - but maybe that would make telling them easier, like a trial run.
"Come in!" Jude said cheerfully and his friends clapped him on the back, all wielding cases of beer and their luggage. No one noticed the couple's hands, to both of their surprise, so when they got to the kitchen to unload all of the goodies, Lydia grabbed Jude's hand -
"Guess what we did!"
UNC, Sawyer's Apartment
Sawyer was laying on her couch absent-mindedly waiting for her boyfriend to return from work, where he had gone to talk to a new client about taking over his PR for the upcoming baseball season. She was bored, classes were on holiday at the moment, and as fun as living with your significant other sounded, she was alone a good amount of the time. Her thoughts were stopped by a sharp knock on the door. She tossed off her blankets and walked to the door, peaking through the door to see a young guy, probably her age, standing impatiently at her door.
"Yes?" Sawyer asked as she swung the door open,
"Is Logan Evans here?" the kid asked and Sawyer shook her head, but to her surprise the kid walked into her apartment, "when's he getting back?"
"He's meeting with a client," Sawyer paused, observing the tall guy sitting at her island bar, he was obscurely tall, like 6'9, with tan skin and brown curls. His green eyes gleamed even indoors and she could tell he was some sort of athlete by the way he held himself, "can I help you?"
"Who are you?" the kid retorted and Sawyer pressed her lips together, why did this guy have so many damn questions,
"I am his girlfriend."
"Aren't you a little young?" he asked and Sawyer looked at him displeased with his accusations,
"Aren't you a little young to walk into a stranger's apartment without introducing yourself?" She threw back, and the kid was about to open his mouth to reply, the door swung open again,
"Ah Jack, I see you got my text," Logan reached his hand out to shake the random young man's hand, who took it and shook it vigorously,
"I was just asking your girlfriend where you were," Jack told Logan who smiled at Sawyer,
"This is Jack Wanes, he plays for Duke, going pro this year - needs an agent and likes Jamie enough to ask for references," Logan explained and Sawyer understood now why he had just barged into their apartment, he was used to being recognize,
"Well it was nice to meet you Jack," Sawyer collected her laptop and coffee cup, "I'll let you two talk privately."
Sawyer walked to their bedroom and took a deep breath, relieved their random visitor hadn't actually been a random twenty year old kid.