(here is the next chapter, and probably the last one guys! sorry! but worry not, like i said before it is very much worth a sequel, and i think i will stretch this one out and make it really long, just for you guys, oh and this chapter is dedicated to you! My readers, my reviewers, the ones i love, LMAO! anyway, enjoy and please be a sport and review!!!!!!!!!! oh and i just want to add i am also upset this story is coming to an end, please forgive me and remember all great things must come to an end! send me your best wishes and if u have any ideas about my future story (s)!!!! anyway, read on!)

I love you all, and enjoy this, I hope you had as much fun reading this as I had writing it..Read on! :) =)

That night, when Trinity got home she couldn't sleep at all. She sat up in her room, into the vast hours of the night, thinking about the previous night. She did eventually sleep, but woke up later in the night to hear someone yelling at someone else. She couldn't make out the voice from the first yell, but the second one was clear.

"Deb, where the hell have you been, I have been up waiting for you!" yelled Dan, and to Trinity he was coming out of his office, and heading to the front door.

"Oh wow, I didn't know you cared Dan, really," replied Deb, who sounded different, almost drunk.

"Don't do that Deb, you're my wife, of course I care" That was another yell. Suddenly the door was opened, and another voice came in, a different voice, but it was too quiet to make out.

"Who the hell was that? And where did you forget your jacket?" yelled Dan again, obviously reffering to the person who was just there.

"That was just a new friend, and I forgot my jacket..." thats when it got quieter, and Trinity couldn't make out anything else her mom just said. She couldn't take it, not at all, it was too much to ruin her perfect day. She laid back down on her bed, trying to muffle the yells with her pillow, but that didn't help at all. She then heard a knock at her door, so she moved the pillow to see her brother standing there. He walked in and took a seat on her bed next to her.

"I'm guessing you were woken up too?" he said, in one way a joke but the other, serious.

"yah...why do they always fight Nath? I don't get it at all..." she replied to him, and they both leaned against her head board.

"I don't know, it hasn't been this bad lately, at least I haven't noticed it," he said, shrugging.

"I wish it would stop..and that they would never fight again, but no one can do miracles like that...." she leaned her head onto his shoulder and sighed. It was about 2 am right now, and since they were both silent at this point.

"I don't understand you anymore Deb, please again explain to me why you were out at a bar at one in the morning with some guy you dont even know!!!?" yelled Dan.

"This was the first time this has happened Dan, you used to be out late too, when our kids were younger, and you would leave them with me until you were sure they were in bed, and still now that they are older, you drink yourself away from them!" she screamed.

"What are you talking about? I am more involved in their lives then you are, being away on business trips for weeks at a time!"

"Do you really think pressuring Nathan into basketball and forgetting your daughters birthday is being involved in their lives?? All you do is show up at games, then you are at the dealership most of the time or you are in your office drinking!!" Suddenly something crashed, sounding like something glass. Nathan cringed at this, but looked over at his sister who had fallen asleep next to him and he was glad for it.

"I did not pressure Nathan into basketball and I don't care if I forgot about her birthday, okay? I love Nathan, and she was a mistake, you and I both know it, she was a drunken mistake!" he yelled, and suddenly a slapping sound happened. And later a slamming door, then tire screeches. Nathan's eyes widened, and anger grew in his face. He couldn't believe what he had just heard, and at this point he hoped greatly for his dad to be the one who had just left. He looked over to see his sister, who had woken up, and tears were streaming down her face. He hated seeing her like this, and because of their father, she was like it regularly. He pulled her into a hug, telling her everything was going to be fine, it'll be okay, but he and her both knew it wouldn't.

Moments after their hug, there mother's cries were coming from the living room, they were so loud. Both Scott children got up and left Trinity's room. Nathan put his arm around his sister, with her teak stricken face. They both walked down the stairs, where their mom was sitting, her head in her hands. She got up when she heard them in front of her, and she tried so hard to make it look like nothing happened. She stood up, and the tears started to fall again, and they hugged all of them. And at this point they were all a tiny bit happy at least, because Dan was gone.

-...-

The next morning, Trinity woke up on the couch, and she saw her brother asleep on the other couch. Her mom was in the kitchen, cooking something, which is what she did when she was upset. Trinity smelled pancakes, which made her kind of happy. She loved to have pancakes for breakfast. But all her happiness as the voice from her father from last night flowed through her mind. And she looked down and remembered about her wrist. Every ounce of happiness was gone now, and she hated it. She did get up though, and she headed over to the kitchen.

"Hey mom," she said, standing beside her mom, watching her flip pancakes.

"Hey hun, you hungry?" she asked, kissing her head.

"I am!" spoke up a groggy Nathan who had just gotten and taken a seat at the table.

"Ok, when aren't you hungry?" Trinity laughed at him, taking a seat beside him, carrying a plate of pancakes for him and a plate for herself.

"You make a good point," he joked, grabbing the syrup from her.

"Hey!" she tried to grab it back, so he just poured some on for her, and she gave him a look of satisfaction.

"I know how you like it anyway, all syrupy," he said, doing the same to him, "Just like me,"

"Yes, but unlike you, I chew when I eat," she laughed, watching him almost swallow a full pancake. He laughed at her, and she finished up her plate she moved it over to the sink. Before she left her mom stopped her.

"You know I love you right?" she asked her daughter, who just hugged her.

"Of course I do,"

-...-

Later that day, Nathan was out with Haley and Deb was out grocery shopping so Trinity was left at home by herself. She sat in front of the tv, watching Cribs on MTV. She was also flipping through a sports catalouge but she decided against that after a while, all of it reminding her of her father, and the whole situation from last night. She glanced over at her wrist, which was in a high pain now, even after icing it for a while. She wondered for a moment if it was more than a sprain, but then she shook her head. Both of her brothers had looked at it, and they both assured her it was a sprain.

After watching two episodes of Cribs, she was getting bored. Since she couldn't play basketball, she had finished all of her homework and Ryland wasn't answering his phone, she had nothing to do. She started flipping through the channels and finally stopped on some basketball game on the tv. She had decided to watch it because she couldn't play herself and because it was the only thing on. After watching a couple of minutes of basketball, she got a knock at the door. And whoever was there, didn't bother to see who was home because he walked right in.

"Trinity, where is your mother?" yelled an outraged Dan, barging into the house. She didn't say anything to him, she just ignored the fact he was there.

"Hello? Where is my wife?" he repeated.

"She's not here," she simply said to him, her eys not moving from ahead of her.

"Well, then where is she?" he asked, a bit calmer but in a harsh way.

"She's out,"

"That is just like her, leaving our 12 year old child at home alone..."

"excuse me? If I must correct you, I am 13 and I am not your child, remember? I was a mistake," she snapped at him, growing angry for all the trouble her father had cause for their family over the years.

"Oh right, don't remind me, now where did your mother go?"

"I dont know, out! Now leave me alone, and go wallow away in your office..." He walked over to her, getting inches away from her.

"Don't talk to me that way, I am your father..."

"You're my dad, right, I get it, I'll definitly shut up now," she said with so much sarcasam it wasn't even funny.

"Don't use that tone with me, we talked about this," he said, getting closer to her, his hand in the fist form.

"Oh, do you really call talking, tell me what to do then stopping all conversation?" she snapped again, her anger taking over. This was it, Dan couldn't take it. He was angry, she was angry so he let it all out.

"Stop talking to me that way, in that tone!" he screamed, and then he slapped her. It was like a cold rush of air, hitting her face with so much force she flew back onto the couch. And that was it for her too, she couldn't take his verbal abuse and now this. She got up, with a flaming left cheek, she ran out of the house, but not before she gave her father a hard kick in the leg. That was her best defence right now, and she knew where she had to go.

Even though she couldn't play basketball, the river court was still the best place to go at a time like this. She felt so horrible, way too horrible for words to describe. She didn't want to cry, but with the pain racing through her right now, she had to. She blinked a couple of times, then let it all out. She couldn't help it. Her life was falling to shambles. It was tearing off, bigger pieces each time. She took a seat at the picnic table, with her hood up. She rested her head in her hands and she let it all out. She cried every single tear she had.

It was getting kind of dark, but Trinity just sat there. She had stopped crying but now she was thinking over her life, and how her dad had ruined it. She sat there, on the picnic table, staring out at the river. She thought she had heard someone come up to the actual court, but she didn't care. Even if the person over there was Lucas, they wouldn't recognize her. She had on one of Nathan's old hoodies, so it hung over her face when the hood was up and the bottom seam almost fell down to her knees. She took a deep breath and then she sighed and just sat there, lost in her thoughts.

It had been true, someone had pulled showed up at the court. And that someone had been Lucas. He had his discman on though, so he didn't hear anything from the picnic table, and his eyes hadn't fallen upon it yet. He had taken a few shots, but had decided to do with out his music so he turned it off, and as he did, he heard sigh. His eyes moved over to the picnic table where he saw a small figure with a hoodie on with the number 23 on it. Ok, he thought, either a midget stole Nathan's sweater or it's Trinity. And he went with his second guess.

"Trinity?" he said, raising his eyebrows to the figure. Over on the picnic table, Trinity perked up to the sound of her name. She didn't turn though, she just lifted her head a bit. She recognized the voice that had just called her, it was Lucas. She still wouldn't turn, even when he called her name again. She didn't want him to see her like this, crying so much over her idiotic father. Lucas walked over to the picnic table, and he stood in front of her, trying to catch her eye. She kept looking down, even as he took a seat next to her.

"You know, this seems to happen a lot, me and you meeting here," he said as a joke, trying to at least get her to talk or laugh. She didn't reply to him, she wanted to but she didn't.

"Trinity, what's wrong?" he asked her, pulling down her hood. He saw a tear stricken face with her reddened eyes and almost swollen left cheek. She looked bad.

"Luke," she whispered, looking over at him, "he hit me..." Lucas looked over at her, figuring out why her cheek was bruising. He couldn't believe it, that was the worst thing that had ever happened to her. How could he hit her? He pulled her into a hug, a long hug at that.

"Don't worry, it'll be okay,"

-...-

Back at the Scott's house, Dan was still at home, waiting for his wife. He had been sitting in his office, hyperventalating about what he did to his daughter, and what he had said last night.

"I am such a bad father," he kept saying to himself, then he would take a drink of his scotch. After a while, he stopped repeating himself and he would just take big gulps of his scotch, not even realizing that Nathan and Deb had come home.

"Nath, you wanna go get Trinity?" asked Deb, putting away the groceries and starting a quick dinner.

"yah, where is she?" Nathan asked his mom, moving from the table which he had set for three.

"She must be up in her room, go check," Deb replied, setting the oven premade pizza into the oven. Nathan shrugged and walked up the stairs to his sisters room. He opened her door, since no one replied to his knock and he found an empty room. He was kind of confused, so he checked all the other rooms in the house, not seeing his sister anywhere. But he didn't check his dad's office, and he didn't plan to because he knew she wouldn't be in there.

"Mom, I can't find her anywhere," Nathan said, in a slightly worried sort of way. Deb turned away from the counter with an identical look on her face.

"Um, why don't you try her cellphone?" she asked her son, thinking of places where her daughter may be.

"Okay, I will,"

-...-

Trinity was still sitting at the River Court, explaining everything that had happened in the last 24 hours to Lucas, when her cellphone rang. She forgot she had slipped it into her pocket earlier, so she answered it to a very worried sounding Nathan.

"Hello?" she said, struggling to hold it with her left hand while Lucas re did her tenser on her arm.

"Trinity? It's Nathan, where are you?"

"hey, I'm at the River court,"

"Why are you at the river court?" She rolled her eyes hearing her overprotective brother.

"Because I needed to think and before you ask, I'm not here alone, Luke's here,"

"Ok, are you okay?"

"Um yah, I'll be fine, and I'll be home soon, it's getting kind of cold anyway,"

"want me to come get you?"

"I guess,"

"Alright, I'll be there soon, bye,"

"Bye Nath, love yah," She hung up her phone and sighed, not really wanting to go home, in case her dad was still there.

"Do you think your brother could give me a ride home too?" asked Lucas with a smile.

"Yes, I'm sure our brother can," she smiled, leaning against him.

"Are you sure your cheek is okay? It looks kind of bad,"

"It hurts but I think I'll be fine, thanks for talking with me Luke,"

"Oh it was my pleasure," he joked, "Anytime," Moments later, Nathan showed up, and he was happy to see his sister with Lucas. Her face didn't look like she had been crying which was good, and her cheek was only slightly bruising, but Nathan could tell something happened.

"Hey you two, am I interupting?" he joked, taking a seat on the other side of his sister. She smiled at him and sighed.

"Dad isn't still at home is he?" she asked him, and he gave her a confused look.

"Dad isn't at home at all, was he though?"

"Yah he was, see her cheek?" said Lucas, while Nathan looked over at her cheek, which looked worse up close.

"Holy shit, did he hit you?" Nathan asked, giving his sister a worried look, which turned angry after she nodded.

"C'mon lets go home, you need a ride Luke?" he said in a very angry way, and both Lucas and Trinity knew he was really upset.

After dropping off Lucas at the Cafe, Nathan headed home, talking very fast and in a very angry way.

"Ican'tbelievehehityou,thatbastard," he kept saying, even when they pulled into the driveway at home. They both looked into the kitchen from the house, and they saw two heads, one belonging to their mom and one to their father. Trinity look horrified, and she didn't want to get out of the car.

"I'm not going in there, not with him there,"

"Trin, we have to okay, and from the looks of it, it doesn't look like he is going to stay at all," Nathan said, getting out of his car, and waiting for his sister to follow. She did get out of the car, and she followed her brother in the house, and he put her arm around her shoulder. They walked into the kitchen together, seeing a suitcase on the floor with an outraged Dan picking it up.

"If you two must know, I have been shunned from this house for the time being, your mother and I have to settle our differences," he said, leaving the kitchen. But before he left, he stopped to say something else.

"Trinity, you know I love you and I never meant to hurt you," he said, trying to be the nice guy now. She just gave him a look, then she turned her head away from him. He sighed angrily and left the house. Deb smiled slightly, then ran over to he daughter.

"You okay honey?" she asked, and Trinity nodded.

"yah, I am way better now!"

-...-

The next day Trinity was sitting in the living room with her brother, watching yet again sports highlights. Moments after Nathan had kept the channel on the sports there was a knock at the door. Trnity raced to answer it, seeing Ryland standing there.

"Hey Ry, wanna come in?"

"Hey, I do but I can't, but I need to talk to you," he said in a worried sort of way. They both sat down on the front steps, and Trinity looked into his eyes, which looked saddned.

"Ry, what is wrong? Please tell me..."

"It's my dad, he got custody of me..."

"Wait, is this bad?"

"No, my dad's great, but he had custody of Austin too and he got a job offer in Washington..."

"You mean?"

"Yah, I'm moving...I'm actually going out to Bear Creek really soon, to pack all my other stuff up..."

"So you're leaving Tree Hill for like good? Is this a joke?"

"No, and believe me I don't really want to either, but I have to." He got up to go, but she grabbed his hand.

"Ry, please don't go..." she said quietly, "You're my only hope for a better life, I could talk to you about everything,"

"Trinity, please don't do this, you are just making this harder, and my dad's waiting," he motioned to the car that was circling the street.

"Alright, whatever," she let go of his hand, "Bye Ry, I'll miss you..."

"I'll miss you too, and you can call me, charge the money for long distance to my dad,"

"Ok, bye," she said, watching him walk back to his dad's car. But then he stopped in his tracks, and he ran back to her. She looked at him in a surprised way and he came right up to her. They were inches away, and he kissed her, right then and there in front of his dad and Trinity in front of her brother.

"I'll miss you Trinity, bye..." He ran back to his car without looking back at her. She watched as his car pulled away, and she slipped back into the house, falling onto the couch beside her brother.

"Do you know what I just realized, how life evens out for you," she said, smiling.

"I think I know what you mean, but I'm not too sure," Nathan replied to his sister, "Care to explain?"

"Ok, dad hits me, then he leaves, so it goes from bad to good," she said.

"Alright, then what happened with your boyfriend...?" he joked, carrying out the word boyfriend.

"Well if you must know, he came over to tell me he's moving,"

"So thats the bad, what's the good?"

"He kissed me,"

"Alright, I'll let that one go, thats a lot to happen in a while to you, you okay?"

"I'm more than okay..." she smiled, giving her brother a hug. But still she thought to herself, For now...

More than fine,
More than bent on getting by,
More than fine,
More than just okay

(More Than Fine by Switchfoot)

The End

(there you have it my faithful readers, the end of reality check! yes i am just as upset as you are, but this was my longest chapter and i realy hope you liked it! Please send you best wishes and reviews, i would really love them! I love you all and if you have any ideas for my next story, let me know! Sequel should come soon enough, dont you fret! oh and i had to have switchfoot lyrics, fave band ever, and remember R&R)