"Are you sure about this?" Jake asked nervously.

Lucas sighed.

"Like you have more appealing options, man."

"I know but…"

"Trust me, this is for the best. You said it yourself, everyone would be a lot better off once Amanda is out of your house, right?"

"Well, yeah…"

"This is the best way to get her out of the house. Peyton is growing more attached by the day and Amanda is getting more comfortable. The deal was, she'd be out once someone could find a safe home for her. So here we are. We check these people out, The Gillespies…" Lucas glanced at the paper as he made sure they were at the correct address. "…And if they are as good as they look on paper, then what's the excuse? Amanda is safe and more importantly, she's out of our hair…all of us."

Jake took a deep breath and nodded. It was simple enough, right? And it was for the best for everyone. Still he couldn't get rid of that sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach and he knew that if Peyton hadn't found out he had gone behind her back interviewing random potential foster parents, that the shit would hit the fan.

But he had to do something. And when Lucas had come to him with seeming the answer to all their prayers, Jake Jagielski had practically jumped at the bait. Mr. and Mrs. Gillespie had seemed nice enough over the phone and standing in front of the white house with the porch swing, adorable picket fence and perfectly manicured lawn, it seemed like the perfect picture of suburbia.

"Now or never, dude", Lucas whispered as Jake knocked softly on the front door.

A short woman with shoulder length blonde hair and a round face answered.

"Mrs. Gillespie?"

She smiled warmly and extended her hand, inviting both men into her house.

"Call me Brenda, please. You must be Jake and Lucas."

They nodded and took a seat in the comfortable living room decorated with an old school country theme.

"Thank you for seeing us on such short notice, ma'am."

A slightly older gentleman with salt and pepper hair emerged from the kitchen area. Brenda stood.

"This is my husband, Jerry. Jer, meet Jake Jagielski and Lucas Scott."

The men stood and shook hands before having a seat as Brenda served them hot tea.

"Once again, I really appreciate you guys taking the time to meet with us like this", Jake began. "We've got a little situation going on and you two come highly recommended."

"Jake, I understand you and your wife are currently fostering a child", Jerry said.

"Not exactly. I work for the Miami Heat as a sports trainer and as you can imagine, I am pretty busy with the team when they're in town as well as on the road. I'm away a lot and it's hard enough leaving my wife and my daughter. Anyway, my wife, Peyton is an art teacher at this alternative school downtown and one of her students got in some trouble. She's been staying with us ever since waiting until Children's Services or someone can find her a stable, permanent home."

"And you were hoping we could help…"

"Well, yeah."

Brenda nodded.

"Tell us more."

"Her name is Amanda Marshall. She's 15 years old. Honors student, talented artist, really bright girl. She's a good kid, I guess, but she's got a few problems."

"What kind of problems?"

Lucas rolled his eyes and bit his lip, resisting the urge to kick the living crap out of Jake. Nice way to sell. Of course Amanda had a few problems and being a manipulative, evil, psycho was just at the top of the list.

"She's an orphan and she's been passed around through the system a lot. I guess she had a lot of bad experiences in other foster and group homes. There was talk of abuse and stuff. Anyway, it's been pretty rough and I guess that's a lot for a kid to deal with…"

"Basically, what my friend here is trying to say is, Amanda is looking for a good home filled with good people who have the time, love and patience to look after her like she needs to be", Lucas interjected, cutting his eyes at Jake.

Jerry and Brenda looked at each other. Jake couldn't help but feel that he had blown it.

"Look, I know it sounds like a lot but…"

"Please", Brenda put her hand up. "You don't have to explain."

"I don't?" Jake asked confused.

"No. Jerry and I have two small children, one of our own and one foster child we recently adopted. With just the four of us, the house gets kind of lonely. There have been times when we had up to six or seven kids at a time. We don't mind. It's a slot but it's worth it in the end. And most of the children we fostered, came from abusive backgrounds or they had special emotional and or physical needs. It's something we're used to and actually embrace."

Jake and Lucas both breathed huge, loud sighs of relief. If Brenda Gillespie weren't a married woman and Lucas himself not a married man, he could have thrown her on that couch and showered her with kisses out of sheer gratitude alone.

"This is a picture of her", Jake offered a recent snapshot of a smiling, angelic looking Amanda.

"She's a very beautiful girl", the Gillespies smiled.

"So would you be interested, you know, in talking to Social Services and stuff and maybe coming out to our home for a meeting?"

The couple smiled.

"Sure. We don't see why not."

Jake nodded happily.

"Awesome. This is so great, I swear you have no idea", he handed them a business card. "That is the contact information for Alice Dooley who is the social worker temporarily assigned to Amanda's case. I'm sure if you just give her a call and…"

"We're familiar with the drill, son", Jerry smiled at him.

"Of course you are", Jake sighed. "I'm sorry."

"No apologies", Brenda said. "We will contact Ms. Dooley and I'm sure we'll be in touch with you soon as well."

"Thank you", Jake said as he and Lucas stood. "Thank you for your time and everything."

The husband and wife showed the two men out and Lucas had to resist doing a cartwheel on the way to the car. Once inside, doors closed and windows up, seat belts buckled and a few blocks down the street, he could let out his excitement.

"There is a God, dude! Jake, did you see how excited they looked? Man, maybe this can happen in a few weeks, a few days even."

"Yeah…" Jake responded quietly.

Lucas shook his head.

"What's with the sad voice? Man, don't tell me you're having second thoughts already…"

"No. I…I mean, we did the right thing, I guess. I'm just nervous, that's all. I hope it all works out for everybody."

"It will, man."

"And they were nice people, Jerry and Brenda. I feel kind of bad just dumping Amanda's crazy ass on them."

Lucas shrugged.

"We didn't lie. Besides, they said they specialize in troubled kids and face it dude, no one is more troubled than Amanda."

"I know but…"

"Jake!"

"What? Luke, if Peyton finds out I, we, were behind this…she is going to kill me!"

"Well, we should get side by side burial plots because if Brooke finds out I was in on this one, I'm a dead man, too."

"What are we gonna do, man?"

"Nothing", Lucas stated. "We did our part. Let's just hope this all works out like I think it will. Eventually, it'll work out in the best interest of everyone…maybe even Amanda. And if our wives do find out what we did, as much as that's gonna suck, I'd rather face their short lived wrath than Amanda's long term destruction any day. Now are you with me?"

Lucas put his fist out and Jake sighed. They had already crossed the line and there would be no turning back. What was done, was already done.

"Yeah", Jake sighed as he bumped it with his own. "I'm with you all the way."