Nathan sat staring at the pavement. He was thinking about what his grandfather had said to him. It was all so confusing and yet somehow very reassuring at the same time. He was now learning that it was in fact his father that was the minority in his family and not the rest of them. He did not know what to think about the fact that all the Scott's had turned out the way they had in hopes of proving something to their own fathers. It was a bad family cycle that need to stop and he would be damned if he fell into the cycle. A sport was no longer his defining feature. With Haley's help he had so much more to view as himself. He was now getting good in school, completely head over heals in love with an incredible girl, and a mother that would give up everything in her life for him with out a second thought. He was no longer basketball, but rather basketball had somehow become something he did because he loved to and wanted to not because he had to. He never heard Haley walk up to him, but saw her feet when she finally was close enough. He looked up to see who it was and a big grin broke out a crossed his face when he saw it was her. "Hey you. I thought you and Luke had a date tonight?"

Haley smiled as she sat down beside him. "We did but he had something important come up and well I had to tell you something so we are going to do it another night this week."

"So I get you all to myself for another night?" He asked playfully, then he realized exactly what she said, and saw the look of determination on her face. "Tell me," he asked apprehensively. He was afraid that last night had scared her. Though they had not done much they had gone further than they had before.

"Yeah I do. I was talking to Luke about us and I realized something and I wanted to come over here and tell you."

"Really, and what couldn't wait till tomorrow?" He tried to tease her but the joke fell flat. Haley leaned in close to him, and he wrapped his arm around her almost instinctively. "Hales you are scaring me. What's up?"

Haley laughed at this. "Scaring you, why?"

"All this important talk and how you are acting nervous. You aren't trying to break up with me or something like that are you?"

Haley laughed again at this and immediately fell bad when she saw the hurt in Nathan's eyes. "Nathan that is the farthest thing from my mind right now." She leaned in and kissed him long and hard. She finally pulled back and looked in his eyes and said, "No, what I figured out while talking to Luke is that I love you too. I think I have for a while now and have just been too afraid to admit....." She did not have a chance to finish her thought because Nathan's mouth had found her mouth again.

Roy was laughing as Luke finished telling him a story about him and Haley when they were kids. Haley and him had tried to cook his mom a mother's day breakfast and had ended up getting into a pancake batter fight. The kitchen had been a wreck by the time Karen had woken up, but she had not been mad instead she had laughed at the two of them and their batter covered faces until she cried. Luke had no idea why he was telling Roy about this or how it had even started, but he did know that he enjoyed talking to this man and telling him about himself.

Roy shook his head trying to catch his breath. "That Haley seems to be a character all right."

Luke looked quickly at him about to defend Haley when he saw the look on Roy's face and realized that he had meant nothing offensive by this and instead agreed. "Yeah she is. She will be the first one to tell me I am acting like an idiot, and the first one to give me a hand at whatever I am doing. She is great, but don't tell her I said that I won't hear the end of it if she knows."

"No worries your secret is safe with me. I am glad that you had a mother who loved and cared about you so much Luke, and a friend like Haley. It's a comfort to me that though Dan may not have made the right decision as to what he should have done, you still were surrounded by people who loved and cared about you. Over the years I have been keeping tabs on you through your mom and Keith. I wanted to be there for you too, but I was afraid of what it would do to Nathan. I know that sounds wrong and like I care about him more than you, but I don't. I knew you were safe and taken care of, while Nathan lived with Dan I never thought it would get as bad as it has but I also did know that my son was one minded and demanding. That is my fault I raised him to be that way and I take the blame for it. It is something I have had to live with, but don't think that you are not a Scott because you are. You have every right to wear that name on your jersey and any other place you choose with pride if you see fit. I will understand though if you don't. Don't ever let Dan or Nathan for that matter make you feel like you do not belong to this family because you do."

Keith picked up the phone "Hello?"

"HI Keith, its Deb."

"Oh hi Deb what's going on."

"A lot, but that is not why I am calling. I was calling to see if there was anyway me and Nate could come stay with you?"

"With me? Why, what's going on?"

"I am leaving Dan. I told him to keep everything just let me have Nate."

"Really, wow....I'm sorry to hear that Deb."

"But not surprised."

"No not surprised just sorry." There was a little pause here as Keith tried to let his brain assimilate this news.

"So can we move in with you in your house?"

"Umm well I am not there right now. I am at Karen's. Remember? Of course you do you called me here. Yeah you can move in. I have a bedroom upstairs, and what is supposed to be a dinning room downstairs. It was a door on it so we can make that into Nathan's room. It is not any where near your standard of living though."

Deb laughed bitterly, "Anything is an improvement to this place. Just being here makes me sick to my stomach and there is no way I could go live at the beach house."

"Well you two can move in when ever you want. I will bring the truck over tomorrow night if you want. We can load up all of your stuff. I have a bed in that spare room already but I don't have one for Nathan so we will have to take his from there."

Deb said "Thank you so much Keith. I don't know...."

Keith heard her voice break and it tore him up inside. He wanted to go over there and pound the snot out of his little brother. Deb was a great person and in no way deserved what ever had finally driven her to leave Dan. "No need to thank me. Just give me a call if you need anything else before then."

They said their good byes and Deb hung up. She wiped her eyes gently thinking about a lot of what if's. Like what would her life have been like if it had of been Keith that she had gotten pregnant by rather than Dan. It would have been a very different world. She was sure that she would be happy regardless of whether or not they had money. She shook her head and wiped her eyes again. This type of thinking was not going to help her. She need to focus on the here and now. She was no longer playing by Dan's game. She did not care whether or not his parents figured out that they were splitting up. She was going to start packing tonight and get Nathan to do the same.

Nathan pulled back smiling. "Its about time you got a clue."

Haley laughed. "Oh how romantic I tell you I love you and you tell me it is about time I got a clue thanks jerk."

"Welcome. I know you hate mushy so went for funny instead. Wrong route?"

Haley laughed harder at the innocent look on his face. "Have I told you lately how great I think you are?"

"Wow an I love you and a great all in ten minutes. I must be dreaming."

"You know I don't have to take this." Haley said as she pulled away.

Nathan pulled her back into his arms and said "I love you to Haley James, and everyone knows that I think you are great." He kissed her again. They pulled apart as they heard the front door of the house open. Nathan turned around to see his mom coming towards them. It was dark but he could have sworn that she had been crying. He was instantly mad. He wanted to do something to his dad to make him hurt as much as bad as he hurt his mom.

"Hi Haley, how are you?"

"Good and you?"

"Umm getting better. Nate I just talked to Keith he said if we want we can move in to his house for a while until we find a place of our own. So you need to pack up tonight he is going to come over tomorrow night to pick us up."