Kaylee was walking by her dad's office just as he was shutting the door. She had heard her mom yelling and even with the door shut, she could still hear how upset she was. She headed for the kitchen to find her brothers. Nathan was using his fingers to simulate kicking and sent the paper flying through the goal post that Chris had made with his hands.)

Nathan: (Holding up his arms and yelling.) YES! I WIN!

Chris: (Yelling Back.) NO WAY! You missed. That shot was outside the goal post.

N: Bull#$! I got it. (Hearing noise coming from the hallway he whispered.) Someone is coming. (Both teens opened their books again and pretended to be working.)

Kaylee: If I was mom or dad you two would be busted. I could hear you all the way in the living room. How does it feel to have to spend all day studying? Must suck.

N: (Throwing his pen at her.) YOU suck. I thought you left to see loser anyway.

Kaylee: BRAIDEN! His name is Braiden. You are such a jerk sometimes. I bet mom would love to hear about the speeding ticket you got on the way to school the other day...

N: Tell her. If she takes my keys that means you walk to school too. You already got me in trouble anyway today.

K: I did not! She already knew that you got home late. You were so drunk the neighbors probably heard you come in. How long dad give you for that?

N: He didn't ground me.

K: WHAT!? If that would have been me...

N: It better never be YOU.

K: Oh yeah, I forgot, "Do as you say not as you do".

N: Knock it off. You are too young to drink. The only reason I got off is because of mom.

Chris: Did you get the speech too?

N: Yeah. (Imitating his dad.) "Listen son, your mom isn't feeling well. Don't fight with your brother and sister for a few days".

K: Do you guys ever wonder why mom gets like this?

N: I don't ask questions. This time every year mom stays in her room for a week and dad gets all protective of her. (Shrugging.)

Chris: I don't think it is the same this time though. Mom was crying after the phone call earlier. Dad said that a couple of old friends of theirs were killed in a fire.

K: It must not be anyone we know or they would have told us about it. (Hearing her mom yell.)

Chris: What is that all about?

K: Don't know, but mom was pissed when I came down the stairs. I am going to get out of here before it gets too bad. Have fun sitting there alllll daaayyy! (She ran out the door just missing getting hit by the second pencil that Nathan threw at her.)

(Karen was sitting behind her husband's desk and was visibly upset and crying. She had a folder laying open in front of her.)

Ka: (Yelling.) How long have you known where our son lives Dan?

Da: (Shutting the door hoping the kids would not hear.) Karen calm down.

Ka: Don't you tell me to calm down! We agreed to give up our child for adoption 17 years ago and I haven't seen or known anything about him since and here I find out that you have known his address. (She was now holding up a piece of paper.)

D: Karen listen...

K: No Dan, you listen. You have been lying to me.

D: I am sorry. I wanted to tell you, I really did, but Ididn't want to make you hurt anymore then you already did.

K: You didn't want me to hurt?! What do you think that it did to me to find out that the person that I love more then anything in this world has been hiding such an important piece of information from me? (Walking towards his wife, Dan kneeled down next to her and reached for her shaking hand. He wanted to comfort her, but she pulled her hand away as soon as he touched her.) DON'T YOU TOUCH ME! How long have you known where he is?

D: (He knew at this point there was no use hiding it anymore. He had to come clean.) Since he was a year.

K: (Crying even harder now.) How could you keep this from me?

D: Listen to me Karen, please! When Nathan said "dad" for the first time it just made me think constantly about Lucas. I had to know that he was OK. It was eating at me all the time. And it was around Luke's first birthday when I realized how much you were still hurting. You didn't get out of bed for almost 2 weeks. I knew how you felt, but you wouldn't talk to me. I thought that maybe if I could find out where he was I could tell you and that piece of mind would make us feel better.

K: So when you found him why didn't you tell me?

D: Because JUST finding him was not enough. I needed more. And I knew that if I told you, you would want more too and I just did not think that it was a good idea.

K: What do you mean, "you needed more"?

D: I couldn't take the private investigator's word for it, I had to see him.

Ka: (Covering her mouth.) Oh my God! Did you see our baby? What did he look like?

Da: (With tears rolling down his face, he shook his head yes.) I did and he was good. He was at the park. He was about the same height as Nathan and was just learning to walk. But he had blonde hair. He was having a good time. (Dan was thinking back to the first time that he had seen Lucas since they had given him up for adoption. He was hanging on to a lady's finger as he was walking on the sidewalk. He was pretty wobbly yet, but did a good job of keeping his balance. He kept looking at his mom and smiling, but she never seemed to look down at him to notice. Dan did not really realize this because he was thinking about how bad he wanted to be the one that was holding hands with his first born just like he did with Nathan.) He has your smile.

Ka: How many times have you seen him?

D: That's not important Karen. Right now we need to concentrate on finding out if he is OK.

K: Dan, how many times?

D: I'm sorry Karen. I love you so much...

K: (Yelling.) How many?

D: Every year around his birthday. Once you come out of your depression and were feeling better, I would fly to Nebraska.

Ka: (Whispering.) 16 years? You saw our son for 16 years and you were so selfish never to tell me about it? You saw me suffering. You knew I was wondering how he was and you never told me. You never would have either if it wasn't for the fire. My God Dan, I don't even know you. How could you do this?

D: Karen, I was trying to protect you. I knew that this would be too hard for you to deal with. It became an obsession for me. I started out just needing to know that he was OK, but I couldn't stop there. I had to see him, know where he went to school and what he did on the weekends.

K: But you did not think that I would have wanted to know those things too? That maybe I would want to see OUR son every year?

D: I know that you would have wanted that Karen, but I saw how hard his birthday was for you every year and I truly didn't think you would be able to just watch him from a distance. I know that everytime I saw him and then knew I had to leave without touching him or talking to him, it ripped me apart Karen. It was just as bad as the day he was born and we handed him over to the social worker. I wanted to share it all with you and that was my initial intention, but I did not think that you could have handled it.

Karen: DAN! You were so unfair. I understand why you say you kept this from me, but it was not you decsion to make. I am an adult, I don't need you to protect me.

D: (Standing.) Honey, I am sorry. I really wished that I had never hired the private investigator. We gave him up 17 years ago and that is the way I should have left it.

K: (Standing.) Everything happens for a reason Dan. If you wouldn't have searched for Lucas, we never would have heard about the fire.

D: But what if he didn't...

K: Don't Dan. Don't say it. (She was hitting him in the chest over and over again. Screaming and crying. Karen had never had any intention of trying to locate Lucas when he was a minor, but she had always thought that maybe when he was an adult she would try and find him, maybe write him a letter and try to explain to him why his parents made the decision that they did. But if he did not survive to be an adult she would never be able to do that. The thought was just too much for her to handle.)

D: (Dan grabbed his hysterical wife and pulled her into a hug and held her tight against him until she calmed down.) It's OK Kare, let's just wait until we hear something for sure.

K: (Burying her face in his chest.) Tell me he's OK Dan. He has to be OK. (Dan wasn't sure if he was doing the right thing, but at that point he needed to do something to make her feel better. He pulled away from her and got a key out of the top desk drawer and used it to open the file cabinet. Karen looked on as he pulled out a box and opened it up. Inside there was a medium sized envelope. Dan handed it to his wife who was still crying.) What is this?

D: Open it.

K: (She opened the flap and pulled out the small stack of pictures. One by one she flipped through them. She was now crying and smiling at the same time. Gently she rubbed her finger over the image on each of the photos as if she was actually touching the child. No words were spoken. There was no explaination needed. Karen was holding pictures of a boy that she had only seen once before, but she knew that it was Luke. She smiled at her husband as the tears ran down her cheeks. She pressed the pictures against her heart. Karen grabbed his hand, kissed him softly on the lips and whispered.) Thank you. (She turned and walked towards the door.) I need to go lay down.

D: OK. (Dan watched as his wife left. He was worried about her. What if Lucas was killed in the fire? How would she ever survive it?

(Karen entered her room and walked over to her jewelry box and opened the bottom drawer. She moved some rings and bracelets to the side and pulled out a little pouch. She went back to her bed, sat down and folded her legs in front of her as she laid out each picture on the comforter. Slidding the flap on the pouch, she carefully pinched the sides until the picture fell into her hand. The corners were bent and it was covered in her many fingerprints, but it was her most prized possession next to her family. She looked at it like she had so many other times over the years. She studied the young couple sitting on the hospital bed holding the newborn between them. Even though it was 17 years ago, it still seemed like yesterday...

Flashback

1986

(Dan was standing at the door knocking. Karen answered it.)

Dan: (He was looking at his girlfriend of three years standing in front of him in her pajamas. Her hair was a mess and her eyes were puffy.) Karen, why aren't you ready? We were suppose to meet everyone 15 minutes ago.

Ka: (Still not moving out of the doorway to let him in.) I'm not going.

D: Why? Are you sick?

K: No. I just don't want to go and hang out with 20 drunk teenagers today. It gets old Dan. Don't you ever get sick of it? I mean we leave for college in a month and we are still doing the same things that we did when we first met.

D: (Not understanding where this was all coming from and getting irritated that they were late.) What is your problem, that time of the month?

K: (Yelling.) NO DAN! I just told you. Are you ever going to grow up? All you do is drink, have sex and play basketball.

D: (Realizing that something was bothering her, he walked up to her and tried to grab her around the waist, but she pulled away. He was really confused and was starting to get angry at this sudden outburst that his girlfriend was having.) I've never heard you complain about the sex before.

K: Oh my God. Is that all you have to say about everything that I just said?

D: What the hell do you want me to say? You are going off on me and I didn't even do anything except come and pick you up because I thought that we had plans today. Why are you being such a ...

K: ...Bitch?

D: You said it, I didn't.

K: You wanna see a bitch? GET OUT! We are done!

D: What?!

K: I said get out. Go hang out with your friends that seem to be so important to you. Eventually this would have happened anyway. We would never have survived being apart at college anyway. I am just saving you the trouble.

D: You're serious? You are really breaking up with me? I didn't even do anything.

L: Just go Dan.

D: Karen wait. What is wrong?

K: I grew up.

D: Let's talk about this.

K: I have nothing more to say to you.

D: Karen, you can't just end this.

K: I just did. You need to go. (He had nothing left to say and just watched as she shut the door in his face and on their relationship. Karen walked to the bathroom and picked up the white stick laying on the counter. Positive. She was pregnant. She leaned back against the wall behind her, slid down it and cried.)

6 Months Later

(Dan was pounding on the door so hard that his hand was starting to hurt. Finally it was opened.)

Dan: Where the hell is she Sue?

Sue: Who?

D: You know damn well who I am talking about.

S: I don't, you need to go Dan before I call the police.

D: Call the police then. But I am not leaving here until I see Karen. Now go get her.

Sue: Dan, she's not... (She stopped when she heard a voice behind her.)

Karen: ...It's OK Sue, let him in. (Sue moved back and Dan walked into the house.)

Sue: (Looking at Karen.) You going to be OK?

K: Yeah, you can go.

S: (Looking back at Dan and glaring.) I will be just in the other room if you need me. (She left.)

K: (Trying to avoid eye contact with her ex-boyfriend.) How did you find me?

Dan: It wasn't easy. You disappeared off the face of the earth the day that you broke up with me and no one would talk. I finally tracked you down through a friend of your cousin. Have you been staying with your aunt the whole time?

K: Yeah.

D: (Looking from Karen's eyes to her stomach.) So it's true, you are pregnant.

K: (Sarcasstic.) No, I just gained a lot of weight.

D: Is it...

K: ...(Interrupting and getting angry.) Yours? Of course Dan. I can't believe that you could even ask me that.

D: (Yelling.) You are kidding me right? Excuse me if I am a little upset and have a few questions for my pregnant ex-girlfriend. It's not like you told me that you were having my baby. My mom told me that she heard it from a lady in her card club.

K: And what would you have done if I would have told you Dan? You would have left me just like you did the other girl you knocked up at college.

D: (Quietly.) You know about that? But how?

K: Apparently when you are from Tree Hill and you leave, people still know your business. And why does it matter how I found out? It's true apparently. So don't get mad at ME for not telling YOU!

D: (Sarcasstic laugh.) You don't really think that is the same as what you did, do you? I didn't know that I was required to tell my ex that I got someone pregnant. But you should have told me that you were carrying MY child.

K: (Yelling.) So your dad could really hate me for ruining your life? You would have left me anyway.

D: (Yelling.) I don't know what I would have done, but you never even gave me the chance to find out.

K: But I think it is pretty obvious.

D: First, you decided not to tell me that you were pregnant before you knew that I left Deb. Second, you really don't know anything about that situation. You are judging me on rumors that you heard.

K: True rumors though.

D: Yes Karen, she is pregnant and no I am not with her. But it is mutual. We both agree that we made a mistake and we are not going to make another one by being together. It was one night. We were drunk and she is having my baby. I am going to be in my baby's life, she knows that. It is a totally different situation then with you. She at least gave me the courtesy to let me screw up, you just assumed I would. Karen we were together for 3 years. (Tears were threatening to fall from his eyes.) I loved you. (He walked up to Karen and took her hand.) I still love you. Why didn't you tell me about this? The truth.

K: (Squeezing his hand.) Because you had all these great plans. School, basketball and possibly the NBA. I knew that this news would have ruined those plans. I'm sorry Dan. I know that you would have done the right thing and that was the problem. I knew that if you found out that I was pregnant you never would have left for school and then I would have felt so bad. Your dad already hated me. (Her eyes got really big at that thought.) Oh my God Dan, does he know?

D: (Shaking his head.) He knows about both babies.

K: How bad was it?

D: I'm still alive. He was pretty mad. But mostly about the fact that I quit playing ball.

Karen: (Crying.) See Dan. I knew that this is what you would do. You can't quit. It is everything that you have worked for, everything that you have wanted.

D: No Karen, My dad wanted it. I thought that I wanted it, but when I got to school, my heart wasn't in it. You are what I want.

K: But what about school?

D: (Shrugging.) Mom and Dad are fighting about that now. I want to go back, but they pulled my scholarship since I quit playing and dad said that he is not going to pay for it. Mom says he is going to. What a great Christmas break this is going to be huh?

K: God Dan, I am so sorry.

D: Don't be. I am not worried about it. Mom will win the fight, she always does. I don't want to talk about that anyway. (He put his hand on her stomach.) How is our baby.

K: (Puttung her hand on top of his. She looked at him with tears.) Good. Really good.

In the delivery room 1987

Doctor: One more big push Karen.

Karen: (Crying.) I can't, I am too tired.

D: (Squeezing her hand.) Come on Kare, one more time. You can do it. (Dan watched as his girlfriend pushed again and screamed loud enough for the entire maternity ward to hear. When she was done, she collapsed back onto her pillow and buried her head in Dan's chest as he held her.)

Doctor: Congratulations, you have a son.

In the hospital room 1987

(Karen was lying in the bed and Dan was laying next to her. They both held their newborn son that was between them.)

K: He's perfect.

D: Just like his mom.

K: (She rubbed the tip of her finger around the sleeping baby's face.) And his dad.

D: Kare, we don't have to do this.

K: We have talked about this Dan. You have to finish school and I have to start.

D: But we can. It could work.

K: Dan, you have to be realistic about this. We are 18.

D: 19 next month.

K: It doesn't matter. It's not just about what we want. It is about what is best for our son. About what is best for our future children. I thought that we had this worked out.

D: I know, I'm sorry. I know that he will have a better chance, but now that he is really here, I just can't imagine never being able to hold him again.

K: Dan, we are his parents and that means doing what is best for him even if it breaks our hearts. But if you are changing your mind...

D: ...No. I am sorry for bringing this up. We made the decision and I know that it is the right decision.

K: Do you think that the new parents will keep the name Lucas?

D: The social worker said she would request it.

K: (Tears were now rolling down her cheeks. She gave Lucas a kiss on the top of his head.) I love you my sweet boy. I am sorry for this and I hope one day you will understand. Goodbye. (She pushed the baby the rest of the way into Dan's arms.) Take him Dan, please. (Karen rolled over onto her other side and began to openly sob as she felt Dan get off the bed and heard him close the door behind him.)

D: (Outside he let the tears come that he had been holding back for Karen's sake. He lifted the tiny boy to his shoulder and whispered in his ear.) I love you Lucas. (He gave the little bundle to the social worker waiting in the hall.) Please take care of him.

Social worker: I will.

(Dan turned and walked back into Karen's room, layed on the bed and held her as they both cried.)

Present Day 2004

(Dan knocked on the door and entered his room to find his wife studying each of the photos. He wasn't sure how mad she still was, so he approached with caution and sat gently next to her on the bed. He noticed that she had been crying.)

D: You OK?

K: (She didn't answer, but instead handed him a picture.) He has your eyes.

D: (Laughing.) And is that a good thing? You say Nate does too and that is how you always know when we are up to no good.

K: It's a good thing for me. (Giving him a smile. She picked up a different picture with a more recent Lucas in it.) He looks a lot like Christopher here.

D: I thought the same thing. But Kaylee totally has his nose. That picture was from last year. (He looked at the picture of his oldest son playing basketball.)

K: Obviously he inherited your love for the game. (Pointing to the little dark-haired boy in the picture.) Who is that? (Scanning the rest of the pictures.) He is in a lot of the pitures.

D: His little brother.

K: Adopted?

D: Nope.

K: But I thought that the couple the we picked for Lucas could not have kids.

D: Obviously someone made a mistake. He must be really close to the little boy because they are together everytime I have gone to see him in the last few years.

K: (Crying again.) I am glad he has a sibling Dan.

D: He has 3 more.

(At that statement the phone on the night stand rang, causing them both to jump.)

D: (He picked up the receiver.) Hello?...Yeah Phil...(Dan felt his wife take his hand.) What did you find out?...Yeah...OK...Who took him? (Karen broke down as Dan gave her a look that told her their son was OK.)...Please do that and call me back. (Dan hung up and held his wife waiting for her to calm down.)

K: He's really OK?

D: He was not home when the fire happened. But is was confirmed that both his parents were killed.

K: Poor Lucas. What about the little boy?

D: He is OK too. They are with a social worker right now.

K: What? Why?

D: They are having a hard time finding relatives.

K: (Karen just starred at her husband as if he was an alien. No relatives? (They had it in their will since they had the twins that Keith would take the kids if anything ever happened to them. And if for some reason that was not possible, they had their parents and other close relatives.) Dan I am not going to let my child sit in a foster home some where.

D: Karen, Phil is going to let me know as soon as he finds out anything.

K: That is fine, but if he calls back and says that Lucas has no one, we are on the first plane to go get him.

D: Kare, it's not that easy.

K: What do you mean? He is our child.

D: I know that honey. But there are other things to consider too. We have other children to think about. What are they going to say? What about Lucas? How do you think he will react to this? How do we even know if he knows that he is adopted. And what about the little brother? I don't think that he would be OK with getting seperated from him. We gave him up, we can't just undo that.

K: Dan we did that because we felt it was best for him and now we need to do what is best for him again. We will not abandon him or his brother for tht matter. That little boy is his family and Lucas is ours. It's as simple as that. You have gone to see him for 16 years Dan, how can you even consider not pursuing this? We could not take care of him when he was born, but we can now. Everything happens for a reason. We were meant to find out about this.

D: (He saw how upset his wife was and knew everything she was saying was true. He was starting to face the realization that his life was about to change forever. ) Let's wait to hear from Phil and then we will figure out what to do next.