Madison and Conrad broke apart, and Madison stared into his eyes before shaking her head.

"Well" she said. "That was interesting"

"Madison…"

"No, it was nice, Conrad…it was sweet- now we sealed the deal" she said, kissing him on the cheek one more time before getting up. "Looks like my dad's here" she said, pointing at the silver corvette Lucas was sporting. "But I will talk to you online tonight or call, ok?" she said, hugging him because she knew Lucas was watching, and then she turned to leave.

"Hey teddy bear…how was your day?" Lucas asked, smiling at his oldest daughter when she climbed into the car.

"Good" Madison said, feeling her heart speed up. If having a fight with your cousin and then having your boyfriend kiss you unexpectedly was all in a good day, then a good day it was.

"Good? Just good?"

"It was spectacular" Madison said sarcastically.

"You ok Madison? You're usually never sarcastic" he asked

"You know me too well"

"Well I'm your father, I would expect that" Lucas laughed. "Now tell me, what's on your mind?"

"I had a fight with Anthony"

"Let me guess…over Catherine" Lucas said.

"How'd you know?"

"Your mother is a very big gossip" Lucas laughed.

"Well yah…and I swear to God, they are supposed to be together, why can't they just get over themselves?" Madison asked, frustrated.

"Well it took your mother and me 20 plus years before we realized we were madly in love with each other"

"20 plus years? That's so long"

"Well we ended up together, didn't we?" he asked, laughing.

"You did…hey daddy?"

"Yah?"

"I love you"

"I love you too Madison"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Mom!" Madison yelled loudly.

"What Madison?" Brooke called from her room.

"I need to talk to you!" Madison called.

"I'll be right there" Brooke exchanged a look with Lucas and handed Lena to him. "What's up babe?" Brooke asked, plopping down on Madison's bed.

"So something happened with Conrad today" Madison said.

"What?" Brooke asked excited.

"He kissed me…"

"Madison! That's so exciting!" Brooke said, hugging her daughter.

"I wasn't that excited though…" Madison said, sighing.

"What, why?"

"I dunno…it was totally random and it was awkward"

"All first kisses are awkward Maddie, that's expected" Brooke said soothingly.

"I know…don't you think I'm too young?"

"No…you're almost 12 anyway"

"Mom…I just turned 11" Madison laughed.

"Still! Its ok…its gonna be weird the first few times…just remember what your dad and I told you"

"No sex till I'm 30?"

"Exactly" Brooke laughed, hugging Madison. "That way you won't end up pregnant at 16"

"You almost were" Madison pointed out.

"Right…and that was bad, Maddie, bad" Brooke laughed.

"Right mom" Madison laughed.

"Mall?" Brooke asked.

"Of course" Madison said, grabbing her purse and following Brooke out of the room.

"We're going to the mall Broody! Bye Hayden! Bye Lenny!"

"Bye Brooke!" Lucas yelled. "Love you!"

"Love you too!" she yelled back.

"Anthony, can we talk?" Nathan asked his son, walking into the room and sitting down on Anthony's bed.

"Yah dad…what's up?" Anthony asked, tearing his eyes away from the Sports Illustrated he was reading.

"Ok…a little bird told me what happened with you and Catherine"

"Would that little bird's name be Madison?" Anthony sighed.

"Uh…maybe. Point is…what happened, Anthony? Why did you act like that?" Nathan asked.

"Act like what, dad?"

"With that Whitney girl"

"You know I don't get what the big deal is"

"The big deal is Anthony; I learned too late that girls have really deep sensitive feelings and it sucks when you're the one to hurt them. Like with your mother- I did so many things that hurt her, I'm frankly astonished that we're married. You have to act like you care- scratch that- you have to care. If you don't care about her then don't waste your time…or hers" Nathan sighed.

"But I do care about her, Dad" Anthony said. "A lot, as cheesy and unbelievable as that sounds"

"It's never too early to care, Anthony" Nathan laughed. "But just be more considerate, ok? Imagine what kind of state she's in right now if she actually likes you" Nathan said, clapping Anthony on the back and bumping fists with him.

Anthony thought carefully about what his father had said. It was true. He had been a major jerk, and not to the girl he liked- to his best friend of 12 years.

"Ok Madison, Hayden, Lena…behave, ok? Hayden- listen to Maddie, she's in charge, ok?" Brooke instructed. Her and Lucas were going out to a romantic dinner and just spending some time by themselves.

"Alright Mom...have fun…don't be naughty" Madison warned.

"Thanks for the advice" Lucas laughed. Brooke kissed all three of her children bye and they left.

"So Lenny…" Madison asked, rubbing the little girls back soothingly. "What do you wanna do?"

"I'm gonna go watch TV" Hayden said.

"Ok TV bum" Madison laughed.

"Hey! Fine I won't watch TV"

"Fine" Madison giggled. Lena gurgled and cooed and bounced enthusiastically, completely unaware of what was going on.

"So what's going on with Anthony and Catherine?" Hayden asked pryingly, popping a cheerio in his mouth.

"How do you know something's going on?" Madison asked, frowning.

"Mom"

"Ah…not surprised…you're too young"

"Come on Maddie!" Hayden whined.

"You're 8- I'm not telling you" Madison said, sitting down on the couch with Lena in her lap.

"Madison- I'm gonna tell dad you kissed Conrad" Hayden threatened.

"Doesn't matter- I already told mom- she definitely told dad about it" Madison said, even though her and Brooke had promised not to breathe a word about it to Lucas.

"Right" Hayden grumbled, turning on the TV.

"Put on The Wiggles" Madison said.

"But you hate The Wiggles"

"Lena likes it and she's the one I'm babysitting" Madison snapped, snatching the remote and putting the taped Wiggles on. Lena smiled with delight at the sight of her favorite show and Madison sighed, putting her sister next to her on the couch and leaning down to pick up her math book.

"So, Mrs. Scott, where would you like to go?" Lucas asked, kissing Brooke.

"I don't know" Brooke giggled.

"How about here?" Lucas asked, opening the door to Brooke's favorite restaurant.

"Aw Lucas I love this restaurant" Brooke said, hugging him. He smiled and pulled out the chair at the reserved table. She sat down and tossed her cascading brown hair over her shoulder, the soft waves rippling in the light. Lucas gazed at her for a few seconds before snapping back to attention.

"I can't believe we're almost 40" Brooke said.

"Hey! We've got 3 and a half more years" Lucas laughed, taking her hand and playing with her wedding ring. She shivered at his soft touch and placed her hand on top of his.

"True" she smiled, looking down at her plate and then back up through her eyelashes. Finally, they ordered and their food arrived.

"So do you like it?"

"I love it" Brooke smiled, blowing Lucas a kiss.

"That's good" Lucas laughed, taking a sip of his water. Brooke closed her eyes for a second as she felt Lucas play with her ring again.

"I love you Brooke" he said.

"I love you too, Lucas" she smiled, leaning over to kiss him.

"I'm going out with Mike, ok Hales?" Nathan said.

"Yah, sure! Have fun baby!" Haley said, kissing him before seeing him out the door.

Mike and Nathan walked into a sports bar- strictly there to watch sports and to try to ignore the half naked girls walking around flirting and trying to pick up guys.

"Hey there sexy" a girl said, coming up to Nathan. She had long, blonde shimmering hair and thick black eyeliner.

"Uh hi" Nathan said, sheepishly, taking another sip of his beer.

"How are you enjoying the services?" she asked in a seductive tone.

"The beer's good" Nathan joked. "And the team I like is winning…so it's good, I guess" he smiled warmly and returned to watching the football game, trying to ignore the heat of the girl's body as she pressed up on him.

"So what's your name?"

"Nathan…"

"Well that's a hot name"

"Thanks" Nathan said, turning back around and concentrating severely upon the game.

"My name's Melanie"

"Oh"

"Yah" she said, practically climbing on his lap. He pushed her off.

"Jesus, don't you get a hint? I'm ignoring you!" Nathan yelled drunkenly, pushing her off of him and turning around. "Don't bother me anymore" he snapped. Melanie looked thoroughly pissed off and stomped off, clearly mad that she failed in snagging by far the hottest guy sitting in the bar.

"So did you get him?" her friend asked.

"No…but I will" Melanie smirked, refreshing her lip gloss and tugging the neckline of her sweater lower.

"Catherine, will you just listen to me?" Anthony yelled.

"No! I won't! We BOTH know what you did- I saw it, you DID it- we're over and through, Anthony- you lost your chance!"

"Catherine…" he said.

"No! I don't care. Whitney has been my archenemy since God knows when. I'm not saying you can't flirt with other girls- we're not together, therefore, that makes you single and completely on the market. But I cannot believe you would flirt with WHITNEY SANCHEZ, the girl who made and makes my life a living horror daily! And on top of that- in front of ME!" she said, her voice breaking and tears forming in her eyes.

"Catherine, I'm sorry, ok? I'm so, so sorry about that- I didn't mean to hurt you" Anthony said. "I'm not trying to repair our relationship so we can date, you're my best friend, and you have been for the last 12 years- I need your friendship more than I need you to be my girlfriend, ok?"

"Oh, did you rehearse that line?" Catherine snapped, her hazel eyes brimming with tears. "Because it was good"

"No, I didn't- its true- you're my best friend. You always have been, you always will be"

"But yet you want more?"

"I do, but I wanna be friends above all- I wanna be able to talk to you like I was able to talk to you not too long ago. I value our friendship above everything else we have, ok?" Anthony said, his voice softening. "Come on, you have to believe me- we've been friends for 12 years now- you can trust me"

Catherine fake sneezed. "I'm sorry, I'm allergic to bullshit" she snapped, turning on her heel to walk away. On a sudden impulse, Anthony ran and pulled her into a hug. Surprisingly, she didn't resist, and her small frame sagged against his, her sobs echoing through the empty hallways. He hugged her like he had hugged her thousands of times before. But this time it was different. It was so much more intimate, so much more different- he was holding her now, holding on to their friendship for dear life, hoping that their puppy love feelings weren't going to destroy an ages old friendship.

"Nathan…dude, what are you doing?" Mike asked Nathan, who was chatting it up with Melanie.

"Mike, dude, get the hell out of here" Nathan said, swatting drunkenly at empty air. Melanie pulled up her already nonexistent skirt and tugged her sweater neckline down lower. Nathan reached over and touched Melanie's plunging neckline softly with two fingers.

"Hey, let's get the hell out of here" Melanie said, tugging on Nathan's shirt softly. Nathan felt the cold silver of his wedding ring on his finger when he pressed on Melanie's skin. Oh, shit, Haley…I can't do this.

"Melanie I can't-" Nathan was cut off when he caught sight of auburn hair out of the corner of his eye and turned around to see Haley standing there, her mouth wide open, her eyes filled with tears. Nathan realized his hand was still on Melanie's chest and withdrew it quickly. "Haley its not what it looks like" he sputtered.

"Oh it's exactly what it looks like- Nathan Scott, we are THROUGH" Haley spat, her voice shaking with anger. She threw his cell phone, which she had picked up on the floor when she was entering, at him, and it fell to the ground and cracked. Turning on her heel, she stomped out the club door, tears running down her face and her body shaking with anger, hurt, and confusion.

"Wait- Haley- HALEY!"

Someone once said you cannot discover new oceans if you do not have the courage to lose sight of the shore- but that's exactly what had gotten Scott father and son in trouble- losing sight of the shore, losing sight of the future, losing sight of what was right.

A/N: Dun! Cliffhanger…keep in mind, all you hardcore Naley fans, how much I love Naley, Brucas, and Jeyton and exactly like that where each is with their respective partners…so don't worry. My stories always end happily. So a little Naley angst, but do not worry…and I was having a Haley hating moment (sorry Haley fans!) because I was remembering this season when she left poor Nathan for Chris the ass, and I wanted drama, and since Brucas is too precious to ruffle, I thought I'd give Naley a go- sorry lol! And the Anthony being a flirt thing- don't worry he's not like a pimp, everything he said I intended for him to mean, but I'm getting my anger with a certain boy out by making Anthony do things he did lol so don't worry- both Nathan and Anthony are and will remain good guys!  Review!