Hey guys! Sorry it is taking me so long to get these up… I seriously am trying LOL it just isn't working for me! LOL So This is Chapter 24! Just 6 more Chapters left after this one. Right now I am trying to close up a lot of stuff I left open and then ignored hahaha so I am working on that. Enjoy and Please review!

Lucas, Austin, Carter and Maddie sat on the couch listening to Peyton whine from the bedroom every 2 seconds about how she needed something. Since Brooke and Emma were shopping in Chapel Hill for Party stuff, and Haley had adamantly refused to have Peyton anywhere near her house for a while, and Jake was taking care of Jenny and Brittany… that left Lucas… the good guy to make sure Peyton was ok until Jake had things ready for her at home, and work was under control.

"Lucas!" Peyton whined from the bedroom for the 10th time. Lucas had been trying to ignore her for the past 9 times hoping she would give up

"What…"

"Could you get me something to drink?"

"Austin?" Lucas smiled looking at Austin

"I did it last time…"

"I'll do it!" Maddie shrieked wanting to help so badly

"Thank you ladybug"

"She might poison her" Austin laughed

"Maybe that will shut her up long enough for me to get anything done around here!"

"Was mom this whiney?"

"Mom was the opposite, she insisted on doing everything herself" Lucas laughed bouncing Carter on his knee

"I wish Peyton were like that"

"Me too"

"Lucas" Peyton yelled again

"This is why I didn't marry that woman!" Lucas sighed shaking his head

"I thought it was because you loved mom and you and Peyton could never have what you and mom have"

"That too"

"Lucas…"

"Maddie's brings it" Lucas yelled back

"Maybe she'll slip some Nyquil in it"

"Don't tempt me… I just may help her"

"When are mom and Emma getting home…" Austin asked getting just as annoyed as Lucas

"We have to be in court at 1:30 on Tuesday"

"So…"

"They'll walk in the door about 1:15 Tuesday" Lucas laughed flipping through channels to drown out Peyton's whines

"This is going to be a long 2 days"

"Lucas"

"Where is Jake!" Austin sighed ignoring Peyton

"Playing the "I am out making money to support my family" card"

"Did you play that?"

"If I had played that card I would be 6 feet under right now" Lucas laughed handing Carter to Austin so he could go help Maddie in the kitchen.

In the kitchen Maddie had all the condiments pulled out of the refrigerator squirting them into a cup with Pepsi in it. At first Lucas was ready to explode considering he had just finished cleaning the kitchen but then the look on Maddie's face showing him how proud she was of her creation changed his mind.

"Look daddy!" Maddie shrieked showing him her creation

"I see…"

"I did good!"

"You did…" Lucas laughed squinting at what looked like an olive

"Can I gives it to Peyton now?"

"Maddie Peyton isn't going to drink that"

"Why not?" Maddie asked sadly

"Because its… ketchup and whipped cream"

"And Pepsi and Mustard"

"Lucas!" Peyton yelled louder this time

"Ok…" Maddie whispered

"Wait…"

"What?"

"Actually… take it to her…. Just don't tell her what's in it" Lucas whispered putting a straw in the cup

"Like a surprise?"

"Yea…"

"Ok!" Maddie giggled prancing out of the kitchen with her drink

"I'll start on this mess"

"Thank you daddy" Maddie yelled as she left

"No problem"

"Pway!" Carter giggled coming into the kitchen

"Nope dude… you just got a bath…"

"No?" Carter asked shocked

"Nope… tell Austin to take you outside and play with Maddie"

"There you are Carter…"

"Shh…" Lucas whispered hearing Maddie give Peyton the drink from the other room

"What?"

"Listen…" Lucas laughed

"Oh my God! What is this?"

"Maddie "made" her drink"

"Gross" Austin gagged

"Lucas…"

"You guys go play outside… I am going to go deal with Cruella"

"Have fun…"

Brooke and Emma walked through their 11th store looking for the perfect dress. If it was possible Emma was pickier when than Brooke when it came to clothes… so their shopping was taking 10 times longer than Brooke had imagined. Not that she mined, it was nice to be able to shop, just her and Emma without Lucas complaining about time, or Maddie wanting to go to Baby Gap. This way it was just them.

"What about this one?" Brooke asked pulling out a shirt shiny pink dress

"Its kinda pink…"

"I know"

"Isn't pink, I don't know too pink?" Emma laughed looking down at the dress then back at Brooke

"What?"

"Now I'm confused… lets just veto the pink dress"

"You got it… ok, what about purple?" Brooke asked pulling a short dark purple dress off the rack

"I like purple"

"Thank god! This is a start"

"Don't complain! I got my pickiness from you" Emma giggled putting the pink dress back

"Sadly I know… ok purple"

"Oh My God" Emma whispered pulling Brooke behind a rack of clothes

"What?"

"Look"

"Where?" Brooke asked seeing no one she was too concerned about, and there definitely wasn't Brad Pitt anywhere

"At 10:00"

"Em…" Brooke whined feeling so lost

"Its Cooper!" Emma whispered covering Brooke's mouth before she said something too loud

"Oh! …Oh…"

"Hide!"

"Why?" Brooke giggled as Emma pulled her farther back into the store

"Because we aren't on the best of terms"

"Emma!" Cooper yelled waving

"Crap…"

"Be nice" Brooke smiled waving at Cooper

"Hey Cooper…"

"Hey, nice dress" Cooper said kind of awkwardly. Brooke felt bad for the boy… his eyes were racing back and forth as if he were trying to think of something to say…

"Thanks…"

"My mom is shopping for some Christmas presents so she sent me off to find something for my sister"

"Cool" Emma smiled looking just as lost and awkward as Cooper. Times like these Brooke was so glad she didn't have to do that anymore… any awkwardness she and Lucas had had was gone on their first date

"My god you 2 are slow…" Brooke whispered rolling her eyes

"What?" Emma asked glaring at Brooke

"Never mind… I am going to go look at more dresses, come find me K Em?"

"Ok"

"So…" Cooper whispered shuffling back and forth. With Brooke gone there was nothing to hide behind

"Yea…"

"That's a nice dress"

"Hey, so I'm having this killer 13th birthday party in a couple of weeks… you wanna come?" Emma asked figuring why not. What was the worst that could go wrong? He could say no… and then Lucas would just kick his ass…

"Sure…"

"Good cause I need a date" Emma smiled seeing Coopers mom walk into the store

"Cooper… we have to go"

"I'll call you"

"K" Cooper smiled walking bye to Emma grinning from ear to ear

"Now that's how you work them!" Brooke giggled putting her arm around Emma

"You were listening?"

"I'm me… so that's the dress?"

"He said it was nice…" Emma smiled blushing

"Ok then… guess so! Mission accomplished…. What now?"

"You think he will come?"

"He will be there if I have to physically drive up here and get him…" Brooke sighed and then laughed. Of course he was going to come. The way he looked at Emma was the same way Brooke remembered Lucas looking at her. Which was scary because Emma wasn't even 13

"Thanks"

Lucas sat in the chair in Peyton's room listening to her spout off about how babies changed everything… as if he didn't already know. She was talking to the guy who by 19 had 2 babies… so he knew. Arguing with her was pointless… he had given up on that an hour ago after she insisted that Maddie probably would grow up to be a murderer. Jake owned him so big for this. If Lucas had wanted to deal with a pregnant Peyton he would have married her.

"So your precious daughter tried to kill me today" Peyton laughed putting her baby names book down

"Maddie… what did she do?" Lucas asked innocently trying not to laugh

"Tried to poison me…"

"I knew Brooke and I were doing something right with that one"

"Ha Ha… that stuff was toxic"

"Is that thing ready to be born yet?" Lucas asked getting more and more annoyed with Jake and his lack of being home by the second

"My children aren't like yours… they actually like to stay in the full 9 months"

"Maybe that's because their scared to come out"

"Your mean…" Peyton snorted picking her book back up

"I'm tired… you do realize you aren't on bed rest… you are just taking it easy"

"So?"

"You can get out of bed to get food and drinks and to help out some" Lucas smiled pattig her on the leg

"No wonder Brooke threw a remote at your head when she was pregnant with Maddie"

"Dude! That was at Nathan's head… it just hit me"

"Shut up and answer your phone…" Peyton laughed throwing her book at him

"I'll send Maddie in here to keep you company…"

"Please don't"

"Madison" Lucas yelled as he left

"Yes…"

"Damn…"

Lucas walked out of the room laughing and then looked down at his cell phone. Of course it was his coach calling for the 100th time today. The words "In the middle of a custody battle" Meant nothing to him and he was still convinced on getting Lucas back to the Bobcats as soon as possible"

"Hello" Lucas groaned

"Lucas"

"Coach…"

"So I was thinking about what you said… you couldn't come back right now because you were dealing with family problems and couldn't leave Brooke to do it alone" His coach said happily

"That's not really what I said…"

"Never mind that… I talked to Dan Scott today and he has offered to"

"You talked to Dan?" Lucas asked shaking his head in disbelief

"Yes… your father? And he has offered to stay with Brooke until she and the kids can get back up here with you"

"Dan…"

"Yes… are you going deaf son?" The coach chickled

"Did you call Dan or did he call you?"

"He called me…"

"Can I call you back?" Lucas asked grabbing his car keys

"Sure… only if you actually call me back this time"

"Yea… ok bye"

"Dad…" Austin said catching Lucas just before he walked out

"Yep?"

"Amber is here… can she stay?"

"Yea if you 2 will do me a huge favor and watch Maddie and Carter while I run to Dan's." Lucas begged

"Peyton's here right… in case we need her"

"Yea… and don't drive any cars into street lights… please"

"Dad…" Austin sighed rolling his eyes at him

"Sorry dude… your never going to live that one down"

Finally after dragging Emma out of the jewelry store Brooke finally got her to sit down and eat something at the food court. When they shopped, they shopped… usually there was no eating involved… but since they had been there since the mall opened Brooke figured taking a break to eat was better than one of them blacking out from starvation.

"Mom… I just thought of something kind of evil and I need you to tell me if it is too evil" Emma smiled getting the same devious look on her face that Brooke usually got

"Are you sure I am reliable on that?"

"Just listen… ok so you know how I am not speaking to Christine or Tristan?"

"Yes… I think you have told me that a few hundred times" Brooke smiled

"Well what if I invite them to the party"

"How is that evil?"

"Well they kiss and stuff in the hall just to make me mad right?" Emma asked trying to get her point across

"That whore…"

"So what if I invite them and I am with Cooper"

"Oh… that's good! Piss the whore off" Brooke giggled

"You think it will make her mad?"

"Of course it will… she just wants to make you mad so you have to be smarter and make her madder!"

"This is going to be fun" Emma smiled

"Good to know you inherited my evil Gene"

Maddie bounced up and down on Peyton's bed singing something about babies and how they had no teeth. Peyton's tolerance level at this point was at 0 and she couldn't take it anymore. Not that Maddie would listen anyway. Brooke had taught all her children at a young age that they didn't have to listen to anyone unless Brooke or Lucas told them they did and Lucas definitely hadn't told Maddie anything before he left.

"Maddie… sit, talk something but stop bouncing" Peyton whined

"What if the baby bites a hole in your tummy"

"It won't"

"What if the baby is ugly?" Maddie asked still bouncing

"It wont be"

"Some babies are!"

"All babies are beautiful" Peyton sighed

"If you say so"

"I do"

"What if Britt doesn't likes it" Maddie giggled now trying to do flips on the bed

"She will"

"Austin didn't like me"

"Austin is a boy" Peyton laughed trying to get her to sit down

"What if this baby is a boy?"

"Are you trying to scare me?"

"No…" Maddie said out of breath

"Well you are"

"What if the baby doesn't like you"

"It will" Peyton laughed annoyed

"How do you know?"

"I know"

"If it cries a lot will you hit it on the head with a frying pan?" Maddie giggled demonstrating with Peyton's book

"No. Why would I do that?"

"Daddy said you might do something crazy"

"Did he?" Peyton asked

"Yep! He said you must drive Jake insane!"

"What else?"

"That he knows why is goes on business lots" Maddie giggled cluelessly

"I am going to hit your daddy with a frying pan!"

By the time Lucas got to Dan and Whitey's it was Dark and there were 2 other cars there. Keith and Karens. He thought about turning back for a minute and then remembered what Dan had done… but then again he had no idea what was happening in poor Nicks custody case lately so Karen was probably going to jump his throat… but hey, at least Whitey was there to play ref if they needed him too. Lucas walked up to the door and when he hit the last step is when he heard the yelling.

"What's going on" Lucas asked walking into the den where Keith and Whitey were sitting

"Lucas, sit down… front row seats" Dan laughed making room

"To what?"

"Karen vs Keith" Whitey laughed pointing to the sunroom

"They have been going at it for 3 hours"

"Where's Nick?" Lucas asked deciding this could be interesting

"Therapy"

"Poor kid"

"HE'S MINE!" Karen yelled throwing a plant at Keith's head

"It took both of us to make him"

"Karen! Use that line on Keith that you used on me… You don't have the right to think of him today or any other day of his life! Use it" Dan yelled throwing popcorn into the air

"Dude… what are you doing?"

"Yea Danny… whose side are you on?" Whitey asked stealing the popcorn

"The winner"

"What's the score?"

"10-6 Karen" Whitey smiled

"Grow some balls Keith" Dan yelled

"Maybe I should bring Peyton over…"

"She bad?"

"Terrible" Lucas sighed

"Good thing you didn't marry her… did good with Brooke"

"Dan… we need to talk… you called my coach" Lucas asked

"YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS KEITH SCOTT" Karen yelled slapping Keith across the face

"Ouch… that had to hurt"

"Son… can we talk later… the fights on…" Dan whispered

"Hey Whitey should we stop them?"

"No Point… sit back and enjoy" Whitey chuckled

"You should have brought Austin over…"

"Hey guys… what did I miss?" Nathan asked bringing in another case of beer

"Karen bitch slapped him"

"Man I miss everything" Nathan sighed

"Nate"

"Luke, man you really should come to these more often"

"Uh huh…" Lucas laughed deciding to ignore what Dan had done for now and just relax since he wasn't going to get to when he got home.

Spoilers: Ok so forget every other spoiler you have read because last night I sat down and I figured out the rest of the story like a good person hahaha. A lot is the same… the next 4 or 5 chapters are going to be dealing with court battles… Christmas break, Emma and Boys, Austin and Maddie, ect. Then about chapter 28ish will be Peyton and her baby, Lucas dealing with Dan and his coach and what he really wants, Brooke being Brooke bonding with Emma… all that fun stuff, finishing up with Keith/Karen/Nick. Then 29 will be some serious closure! And Emma's 13th birthday… and then 30 is a surprise! So that's a general map of how things are going to go from now on… things could vary but that's the basic jist! Enjoy and please review!