Four weeks after little Harmony's birth and the next order of business was to plan a Christening for the child. Though neither parent was particularly religious, both felt it of relative importance for their daughter to be raised with some form of spirituality. In anticipation and with the last few weeks left in the NBA off season, Nathan, Haley and their two sons had flown to Connecticut to spend some time with Lucas, Brooke and baby Harmony. As they had done so many times so many years before, Lucas and Haley took a long walk, talking and at times just enjoying the silence around them as they peacefully strolled arm in arm.

"Harmony is really beautiful, Luke. She looks just like you, both of you actually."

"You think? I think she looks more like Brooke."

"She's got your nose", Haley smiled.

"Oh, that's not a good thing", Lucas laughed.

"No, it's a great thing. Like I said, she's beautiful and speaking of, so is Brooke. She's practically glowing."

"Tell me about it", Lucas nodded proudly. "She's so happy and she's good at it too. It's like she was born to be a mom."

"And I hear you aren't doing too badly on your end either. Fatherhood seems to really be working out for you. It's so sweet seeing you and Brooke together with Harmony. I don't see why you guys just don't go ahead and call off these silly divorce proceedings and just get back together."

"I feel the same way, Hales. And for a while, I thought it would be that way. I wanted it…still do but I don't think it's ever gonna happen. As much as it sucks, I'm starting to finally accept it now. It's not like I have a choice anyway. But I'm happy that Brooke and I are really getting along and we're raising our daughter as friends. Yeah, I'd rather be husband and wife but as long as I get to be in Harmony's life and she's happy and healthy…well, that's all that matters."

"Speaking of healthy, did her heart test results come back?"

"Yeah and she's fine."

"Thank God", Haley sighed. "Now if we could just get your stubborn ass in there for the test…"

"Hales, please. Don't start. I've heard it all from Brooke and Mom and even Dan. I don't need you joining the peanut gallery."

"It's just because we love you and we don't want anything to happen to you."

"I know and I appreciate that but what would you do, Haley? Seriously. If you were in my position."

"I'd take the test", she said quickly.

"Why?"

"Because I am mature, sensible Haley James Scott who never does a hasty or impetuous thing in my life. Besides, I would want to know."

"Well, I don't. I want to live and not just live but live without boundaries. I want to live for the moment."

"What about Brooke?"

"What about her?"

"This really hurts her, you know. She cries about it all the time."

"Yeah?" Lucas muttered sarcastically. "Is this before or after she goes around bragging about cashing in on my life insurance policy?"

"Oh Luke, come on. She's just being Brooke. That's just a front and it's her way of dealing with things."

"As much as I still love Brooke, we are about to be divorced, Hales. She will soon be my ex wife living in my ex house with my ex dog and my…"

"Ex kid?"

"Never", Lucas shot back.

"Exactly. So if you can't do this for Brooke, fine, but at least do it for Harmony. You owe it to your daughter just like Nathan owed it to Aidan and Tristan."

"It's not that simple…"

"Lucas!"

"Hales! Come on. Look, there is no way you're ever gonna change my mind so you might as well just drop it. Besides, we hardly get to spend any time together as it is and I don't want to spend what time we do have fighting."

"Okay, okay. Truce?"

"Depends", he grinned. "Is this a real truce or a trick truce?"

"A real truce", Haley said, returning his smile.

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Alright. Let's talk about something else. Like what's been going on with you."

"Life is great", Haley shrugged. "I love being a mom to the boys even though they can be a real handful. But I love them and eventually when they get a little older, I'd like to have at least one more, hopefully a girl. But if it were up to your brother, we'd have a dozen. I mean, we've been married almost six years and Nathan can't understand why we don't have six kids. Anyway, two is enough for me, besides I do want to work more on my music career. I have a tour coming up with Wayne Newton and the USO, if you can believe that one. But it's cool because it's all about entertaining the troops and at least it's something to keep me occupied once the pre season kicks off. It's only a month long and I'll have the kids with me and I know they'll miss their dad and so will I but it should be fun. Other than that…"

"Wow, that's a mouthful", Lucas grinned. "But I'm proud of you, Hales. I'm really happy for you."

"I'm proud of you, too."

"Yeah right", he shook his head. "There is no way you can be proud of me."

"I am. I'm very proud of the way you redeemed yourself. We all make mistakes, Luke but it's what we take away from it that really counts. And I love you. Lways have. Even when I wanted to rip your balls off, I still loved you because I know the real you."

"Yeah. Yeah, I guess you do. Nobody knows me like you do, Haley. Not even Brooke I imagine."

"That's because we've been best buds since the sand box", Haley laughed. "Remember the days of growing up in the café and having water balloon fights on the roof? We used to go thrift store hunting and buy bad music and claim dumb stuff at the campus lost and found."

"I remember", he smiled fondly. "Those were the good old days, huh? Now look at us. We went from the thrift store to the Saks Fifth Avenue and from the city bus to private jets. Whoever thought we'd live in this world? Sometimes I think they can have their world."

"I hate to break it to you, Luke but we are 'they'"

"Yeah…I guess we are, aren't we?"

"So what are you going to do now?"

"Go back to normal life, I guess. Whatever that may be. I have my daughter and I have my career and those are my main focuses for now."

"I know how you feel. Gosh, I'll never forget the first time I held Aidan. I mean, for nine months I knew he was coming and I'd seen his sonogram pictures and I'd even felt him move but none of it was really real until he actually came out and I was able to touch him for the first time. There's nothing like that powerful sense of unconditional love that you feel knowing that you helped create that beautiful, innocent little life."

"I know. I can't even describe how I felt when Harmony was being born. I was just so happy to be there but it was just an amazing experience. At that moment I looked at her and I loved her more than any one thing or any one person. And the first time I held her and looked into her eyes…well, it felt like being healed. Everything I suffered through with Dan…the neglect and the heckling and the lies and even the pain of the truth. Man, all that baggage has fucked with me for so many years but the minute I looked into my daughter's eyes, it was like being born again. Holding Brooke and Harmony was so perfect and it totally healed me."

"Are you gonna be okay? You know, after the divorce and all? I'm worried about you."

"I will be."

"Luke…"

"You worry too much, Hales. There is nothing wrong with my heart."

"Physically…maybe, maybe not. I guess we'll never know the answer to that one but I do know there is something in your heart right now that you're running from."

"What are you, psychic?" he asked, rolling his eyes as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette.

Not missing a beat, Haley jerked it from his lips and stomped it to the ground before he take the first drag.

"You can make jokes all you want but you know you're not ready to give up on your marriage."

"Haley…"

"Look me in the eye. Tell me I'm wrong. See? You can't, can you? Now you can be mad at me all you want and you can say your heart's fine… but until you tell your wife how you feel, your heart's gonna be flawed. You need to talk to her, Luke."

"She already knows, Hales. Hell, I've told her a million times but it doesn't matter. It doesn't really change things. It's just this back and forth game where we keep hurting each other. Well I'm tired of getting hurt and now we have Harmony to think about. So I have to man up and just let it go, I guess."

"But Lucas…"

"Hales, sometimes you just have to know when to walk away."