Nathan walked into the arena with Emma in tow. She asked to come to practice with him today and he couldn't resist the pout Brooke Davis had absolutely taught her daughter; the way to get everything she had wanted. It was tough for him to say no. He looked into her eyes and he would sometimes see the sadness he would see in Brooke's eyes. He would do anything to make those two happy. He vowed to take care of them for the rest of his life.
The whole ride from Tree Hill she rambled on and on about everything and anything. He was proud of his friend. Brooke Davis. Owner of Clothes Over Bros, the best godmother to his son, and the most important role she had, a single mother. He cringed thinking about how much she had done alone in the past 10 years. Yea, Haley and him had been there for Brooke and Emma, but Brooke was a super mom. She gave up so much to give Emma the life she deserved. The amount of sleepless nights, he couldn't figure out how Brooke did it. But he was proud, that was the word he found himself constantly using when talking about Brooke. Not only was she doing well, her kid was great. Emma was this bundle of energy. She kept everyone on their toes. She had brains and beauty and surprised them all everyday. Far too mature for her age, but he expected nothing less when Brooke Davis is your mother.
He rounded the corner with Emma's hand in his. Lost in his thoughts he bumped shoulders with someone coming the opposite way.
"My bad man sorry I wasn't looking ..." and Nathan trailed off staring at the person in front of him. He looked older. A little scruffier than the last time he had seen him in person. 10 years changes a person.
"What are you doing here." Venom coming out of Nathan's mouth. He felt a squeeze in his hand. He looked down seeing the face of his 10 year old neice. She looked nervous. He needed to get her away from this situation. When Brooke finds out about this interaction she will never let him bring Emma back here.
He picked his head up hearing the person speak. "I uh, I got traded. It hasn't been put out there yet, but they wanted me to come check the place out."
Nathan was angry. After all this time. He shook his head not even allowing him to know the feelings. "Lets go," he walked away taking Emma with him.
They walked over to the sideline where all the kids sat. Emma was off. He knew she was clearly shaken up by the situation. It was no secret that she knew everything about him. Brooke and Emma were best friends. Emma was Brooke's world and their bond was unmatched. Brooke was honest and didn't hide anything from her. Brooke never spoke negatively about him. Nathan in fact thought she made excuses for him and why he wasn't in their life. He would scoff and walk out of the room every time Brooke told a positive memory of him. Haley would tell him it was what was best for Emma.
But he too was honest with Emma. He would have to fill in the pieces for Emma that Brooke would leave out. Emma was too smart and she knew that her mother wasn't telling the full picture. The first time Nathan and Emma had one of "their" talks was when she was 7.
It was Emma's 7th birthday. Tradition was, after cake Brooke would share a scrapbook with Emma of her life before Emma. Brooke had loved pictures and made scrapbooks for every year of her life. Emma was fascinated with knowing everything about her mom and dad. Her grandma, Aunt Haley and great grandpa would always tell her such great stories about him. Emma thrived looking at these pictures that went with the story.
This year had been about graduation. She always sat on the armchair, alone like her moment with the book. She had flipped through the pages. Her smile that was on her face disappeared. She got up and walked out of the room. Nathan had seen Emma run out of the room. That was not the normal reaction to looking at the scrapbooks. He walked outside to see her sitting on the rocking chair with her knees to her chest.
"Whats wrong kid?" He questioned sitting down next to her.
"Uncle Nathan." Emma said with a serious tone. He put his hand to her cheek concerned, "Whats wrong."
"I need the truth. My mother is Brooke Davis and I know too much as is, but I want the truth."
"Ok, I am going to need more than that to figure out what you want to know Em."
"What happened to them Uncle Nate?" His heart ached knowing who she was asking about. "What mom doesn't realize is after this scrapbook, there are no more for mom and dad. Yet she can sit here everyday and talk about the good when I know there's more."
"Em.."
"No. I am not a baby. I understand I am 7, but I don't need the whole story. Please Uncle Nate. Please tell me, why did he leave us." Her pleading voice made his heart break. Nathan was torn.
She spoke again, "Uncle Nate, I know he doesn't know about me. It's ok."
"Who, who told you?"
She whipped away the tears. "No one told me. Grandpa, Grandma, mom and everyone speak so highly about him. I can't imagine if he knew about me, that he wouldn't be here. Your reaction confirms it." He nodded his head.
"They got into a fight. He wanted her to move to California. Give up her hopes and dreams so he could achieve his. And she was going to do it for him."
Emma jumped in, "Why would he do that Uncle Nate?"
Nathan took a swig of his beer. "You know, your father was in a very selfish part of his life. Our dad was putting a lot of pressure on him and getting in his head. He had been going through a lot."
"Was he mean to mom?"
"Em I don't want to talk neg -"
"Uncle Nate, I asked for the truth."
"He got a little mean towards your mom at the end. She wouldn't back down though. But she was going to stick by his side. And one day she came over and said he had started a fight with her and told him that if he didn't change she wasn't going to stick around. The next morning when she went to your grandma's house there was a note. He said he needed to live out his dream and he left."
"How did mom survive Uncle Nate? Great Grandpa once told me he would come to the house in the morning every day and could hear her crying. That no matter how much he consoled her, she couldn't stop until one day. What happened?"
For the first time during the whole conversation he smiled. "What happened was, she found out about you."
He bent down to get eye level to her.
"Listen, I never wanted that to be how you met him. I'm so sorry." He held onto her hands and he could feel her fingers fidgeting. "Do you want me to call Grandma or Aunt Haley to come get you?" She looked up at him. Her eyes had tears. She shook her head no. He pulled her to his chest and could hear her breathing calm down. "Your mom is going to kill me ya know." She pulled back to look at him and smiled. She whipped away her tears and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I love you," she whispered. Nathan's heart melted and all his anger he had 5 minutes before soon began to seep out of him. "I love you too kid. I'll be right down there. If you need something just shout. You know coach has a soft spot for you."
Nathan walked down towards the court seeing him standing there. His eyes were on her. The anger that came out just resurfaced back in. He could tell he wanted to know who she was, but he wouldn't give him the satisfaction. He jogged over to the rest of the team and began to warm up.
All the players had taken a seat around the coach. Nathan refused to look at him.
"Alright guys, I wanted to keep this hush hush because we weren't sure if it was a definite, but we want to welcome Lucas Scott to our team." The whole team cheered. Nathan groaned. Coach continued, "I need everyone to make sure Lucas feels welcome and I am very excited this year having the Scott Brothers on our team. It's like high school all over when you guys won the championship together."
The coach was too happy for Nathan in his opinion. He was able to dodge playing him for the past 10 years, he didn't know how, but he was able to avoid his brother. He cringed thinking about him being his brother. He hasn't been his brother for the past 10 years. He didn't know who this person was anymore. He was broken out of his thought with a hand touching his shoulder. He jerked back seeing who it was.
"Listen man, I'm ..."
He was cut off. "The next word out of your mouth better not be sorry. In order to be sorry, you have to have a heart and soul. If you were sorry, you would have picked up the phone in the past 10 years Luke!"
"Nathan please ..."
"Please what Luke? Please what? Tell me what do you want me to say? When's the last time you spoke to your mom? Keith? Haley?" Nathan waited for a response. He didn't dare to open his mouth.
Nathan continue, "And Brooke." At hearing her name, Lucas began to feel sick. "You get into a fight and you just leave her? You were asking her to give up her life for you and you just fucking leave her here without warning?" Nathan knew he needed to calm down. He shook his head and said calmly, "Luke, you've hurt too many people."
"I know Nathan I know."
"No you don't. You don't even know." Nathan began to walk away. It wasn't the time or place to have this discussion.
"I didn't know you and Haley had another kid." He stopped walking and turned around. "Lucas, if you want to make amends with anyone. Don't even think about going near her."
"You know, my mom always told me you were the better brother at basketball."
Lucas whipped his head around seeing the young girl he noticed in the stands. This time she was by herself, Nathan wasn't there. He still was mentally noting the conversation he had with his brother. Nathan telling him not to speak to her or go near her. But he couldn't ignore her. He was captivated by her brown locks and dimples. She had this twinkle to her piercing blue eyes. This child reminded him so much of two people, Brooke and himself. He couldn't shake the feeling.
"Are you sure your mom wasn't lying to you?" shooting another 3 pointer. Keeping his distance now incase Nathan showed back up.
She took one of the balls and shot the 3. She looked a Lucas with a smirk, "My mom never lies. Uncle Nathan is good at basketball, you're just better."
Uncle Nathan?, he thought. "Mom's right, you do always put a Broody face on." Emma chuckled.
Lucas stood there not able to move. Broody. He hadn't heard that name in 10 years. The ache in his heart still apparent when something came up about her. Then it clicked. His mind started to race. His heart began to beat out of his chest. He knew the answer, but he needed to confirm.
"Whose your mother and why does she talk about me so much?" Lucas had felt like he had been holding his breath so long waiting for the answer. He was afraid by what this child was going to say.
With the infamous smile and dimples that sucked him in 12 years ago, the child began to speak. "My mom is Brooke Davis. She talks about you a lot because she said she wants me to know everything about my father."
My Father.