Chapter Five

"Nathan," the life planning teacher called to him on the way out the door. "Could I speak to you for a minute?"

"Uh, sure." He shifted nervously. He was used to hearing that phrase uttered by teachers and it never augered well but this time he was sure he wasn't failing.

"Don't look so scared Nathan."

"Sorry, force of habit I guess."

"There were actually two things that I wanted to talk to you about. We're starting our family management unit next week. That's the project where you have to pair off and care for a pretend baby while also managing household expenses."

"Yeah."

"I wanted to let you know that you're exemptfrom it. It would seem a little ridiculous to have you looking after a sack of sugar when you have two living, breathing infants at home."

"I agree."

"So instead I want you to write a report outlining how your life has changed since the birth of your daughters, including weekly expenses."

"Sounds fair. What was the other thing?"

"I was wondering if it would be possible for you to bring the babies to class one day next week. I want to give my students an idea of what caring for an infant is really like. Haley should come too."

"Uh sure. I have to talk to Haley but it should be fine."

***

"I can't believe you got out of this Nate." Tim whined as he walked down the hall carrying a bag of sugar.

"Got out of it? Tim, I should be getting extra credit in that class. You think a week with a bag of sugar is tough, try two screaming babies for a day."

"Yea yea," Tim conceded. "So you're actually brining them to school tomorrow?"

"Yep, I think she wants me to scare all her students out of having sex." Tim laughed but quickly turned serious. "Do you regret it man?"

"Regret what?"

"Haley getting pregnant in high school."

Nathan thought for a moment. "That's not an easy question. I mean, it's hard taking care of them you know and I never figured I'd still be living in my mom's house when I had kids. There's a lot I can't do anymore, like go out and party or sleep in on weekends. I'm lucky if I get more than a couple hours sleep a night. Haley's worse off, sometimes I wonder if she sleeps at all."

"So you do regret it then."

"See that's the thing. As hard as this all is, as much as I've given up, as Haley's given up, I can't regret it because when I look at Regan and Ailis I know that I couldn't possibly love them any more and I can't imagine life without them."

They entered the gym and Nathan couldn't help but laugh at all his teammates with their bags of sugar. "What's going on guys? Where are the wives?"

A few of them shot him dirty looks. Nathan walked over to Lucas. "You and Peyton adjusting to parenthood okay?"

"Ha ha. You really are enjoying the aren't you?"

"Just a little. If it makes you feel any better I'm going to have the real thing with me tomorrow."

"That does make me feel better."

"Oh but wait, I forgot to tell you. Haley's sick so you're going to help me. I've already talked to Ms. Arken and she said you can exchange your bag of sugar for real thing tomorrow."

"What? Why me?"

"Because there aren't a lot of people I'd trust with my daughters. Be honoured."

"What about Tim?"

"Are you kidding? He can't even hang on to a basketball. He'd drop them."

Lucas laughed. "You so owe me."

"Uh uh, it's in the uncle/godfather contract; you should have read the fine print."

"You know, I think I liked it better when we hated each other."

"Too late."

***

The next day, Nathan met Lucas at the front entrance to the school.

"Okay, here's the deal, last two periods are with Ms Arken but for the rest, go to all your usual classes. Here's my schedule, come find me if you need anything. If she's hungry, there are bottles in the bag and lots of diapers. Her soother's in the side pocket if she gets fussy. The bottle warner's in the home-ec room. She likes them lukewarm. If you can't make her stop crying come get me but only if you're really desperate." Nathan strapped the baby carrier onto Luke and placed Regan in it. "There, go with Uncle Luke now. Be good." He handed Luke the diaper bag. "Have fun." He walked off with Ailis towards his first class.

Lucas looked down at Regan's sleeping form. "Please don't make this difficult okay." He headed towards first period math feeling perfectly ridiculous with a baby strapped to his chest. He couldn't ignor ethe stares coming from his classmates and noticed that Nathan on the other hand, didn't seem to be bothered by them. "I guess he's used to it."

"Good morning Mr. Scott. I see you;ve brought a visitor. She's a little young for trig don't you think?"

"I don't know sir, she is Haley's after all." The rest of the class laughed and he settled into his seat. Class passes uneventfully, until the bell rang, awaking Regan from her nap. She immediately began to wail.

"Shh shh. You hungry? I know I always like to eat as soon as I wake up." He headed over to the home ec room and placed a bottle in the warmer then took Regan out of the carrier. "There there, you're okay." When the bottle was ready he tested it on his arm like he'd seen Nathan do then put in in her mouth. Her cries stopped. "That's better isn't it. If you're anything like you're dad and your uncle you probably eat constantly." Once she'd finished eating he burped her, changed her and headed to English class.

"Sorry I'm late." He said, sliding into his usual seat.

"That' sokay." His teacher smiled with understanding. She had three children under four herself. "I can see you have your hands full."

She started getting cranky at lunch and nothing seemed to be helping. She wasn't hungry; she had a clean diaper and she kept shoving the soother away. Lucas was at a loss for what to do and Nathan was nowhere in sight. "Come on Regan; give me a break here."

"Need some help?" Jake asked, walking up to the pair. "Please." He gratefully handed her to him.

"Come here blue eyes." He sat her on his knee and began bouncing her gently. Hr cries subsided and she began to giggle.

"Hey it worked."

"Jenny loved that when she was this age."

"How do you do it?" Lucas asked. "I;ve only had her for a few hours and I feel like I'm going out of my mind. How do you, Nathan and Haley do it every day?"

"I don't know. You just do. I gets easier as they get older though. It's tough the first few months."

"I'll say. Here, give her back." Lucas took her from Jake and looked at her. "She's going to be a heartbreaker. They both are."

"Poor girls have so many uncles and pseudo-uncles, boys won't be able to get withing fifty feet of them."

Lucas laughed. "Probably not." The bell rang. I gotta go to Arken's room so Nathan can tell the classs how tough it is being a teenage parent."

"Have fun. See you at practice. Later Regan."

"Thanks for your help."

***

"All right class, this is Nathan Scott." Ms Arken introduced. The students stared at her as if to say 'well duh.' He's going to talk to you about the trials and tribulations pf being a father in your teens."

"Hey, I'm Nathan and these are my daughters, Regan and Ailis. Since they've been born I've only been getting about four hours of sleep a night which makes it hard to stay awake during class. You think cramming for midterms and writing papers is tough, try adding chaning diapers into the mix. My girlfriend and I are constantly struggling to keep up and we're some of the lucky ones. We have family and friends who are very supportive." Lucas pointed to himself and the class laughed.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that as adorable as they are and as much as I love them, this isn't easy. I think Luke will tell you that carrying around a bag of sugar is a lot different from looking after a real live baby." Lucas nodded enthusiastically.

As if understanding the purpose of the lesson, both girls began screaming at the top of their lungs and refused to stop. When the bell rang, the students quickly ran out of the room, many vowing never to have sex again.

Once the room was empty, they stopped crying as quickly as they'd started. "If I didn't know any better," Lucas chuckled, "I'd think you two planned that."

Nathan laughed. "Yep, I think we did a pretty good job of scaruing them.

***

The cheerleaders were more than happy to watch them while the ugys practiced, especially since they were on sugar duty that afternoon.

"Look how big they are already." Brooke gushed. "It feels like they were born yesterday."

"I know." Peyton agreed. "Time flies. Nathan says Haley's starting class again on Monday."

"Really?"

"Yea, Deb's going to watch them while she and Nate are in school."

"I can't believe she's not even behind."

"I know. Must be nice to be brilliant."

Meanwhile on the court

"So you survived." Nathan joked.

"Yeah but I have to say, I have new found respect for you."

"Thanks. Nice to know it took knocking up your best friend to gain your respect."

Next chapter:

Naley goodness