Thanks to everyone who reviewed! This chapter is a little short and focused primarily on Lucas and Peyton. I promise that the next chapter will deal a lot more with Haley, Nathan, the new baby, and Brooke. Hope you enjoy this one!

Chapter 23 A Nice Way to Start

Megan Lydia Scott was born at two in the morning and welcomed by a room full of family. The tiny four-pound baby was greeted first by her mother and father and then by three exuberant grand parents. Jimmy and Lydia James had started driving toward Tree Hill as soon as they had gotten the call that their daughter was in labor. Breaking speed limits and laws of all kinds, they arrived just in time to meet their newest granddaughter.

"She's just beautiful," Karen cooed as she stood next to the new mother and child.

"You're biased," Haley said with a tired smile.

"That child is gorgeous. And I take half credit," Lydia said with a silly grin. "We give good genes."

"I'd say so," Jimmy agreed as he put his arm around his wife and looked down at his youngest daughter. He still couldn't believe that his baby girl was having a baby girl of her own. Her second child to boot; he just didn't feel old enough for that to be possible.

"Well, biased or not, she's the prettiest baby in the hall," Lucas said sincerely.

"He knows," Peyton added. "He walked up and down, peaking in every room. I had to beg security not to throw him out." They all laughed and were surprised when Haley burst into tears. She was shaking her head, crying apologies as she tries to juggle the baby and wiping away her tears. Nathan quickly took Megan and passed her to Lydia, who settled her into the bassinet. It had been a long day and Haley was exhausted; extensive visiting time would have to wait.

Karen, Jimmy, and Lucas all bid the parents goodnight from a distance and exited the room. Peyton hugged Haley and told her to get some rest, leaving the three generations of James women to share in some much-needed alone time. She walked out of the room and practically fell into Lucas's arms,

"Take me home, Mr. Scott."

"My pleasure, Mrs. Scott." He kissed her and put his arm around her as they walked out to her car; his could stay in the parking lot overnight. Once inside the car, Lucas started asking about the kids.

"We haven't had time to talk. What happened with Ashton?"

"Oh Lucas, I don't know—I don't like the sound of it. I'm keeping him home tomorrow."

"Is that for him? Or you?"

"A little of both," Peyton admitted. She rubbed her hands tiredly over her eyes and sighed. "I really don't want him going back until we talk to this teacher. I think something's not right."

"Okay," Lucas consented. "I'll call tomorrow and set up a meeting for tomorrow afternoon. Do you think you can get a sitter?"

"I'll call Jenny before she leaves for school in the morning."

"Try not to worry until then. It's probably nothing," Lucas said as they pulled into the driveway.

"I hope you're right," she answered with a tired smile. Walking slowly and tiredly into the house, they almost forgot about Brooke until they saw her, sprawled on the living room sofa. Peyton sat on the edge of the sofa and shook her gently, whispering her name.

"Brooke. Brooke, we're home. It's a girl."

"How's tutor-wife?" She asked, her voice still hoarse from sleep.

"She's fine. A little exhausted."

"But that's going around today," Lucas commented from the doorway.

"Come on," Peyton said to her friend. "Lucas will take you home."

"That's okay. I'll drive."

"You sure?" Lucas asked with a yawn.

"Yep. I'm awake," she said as she jumped up and stretched, attempting to display her awake-ness. "Hey," she said, as though just remembering, "what's your new goddaughter's name?"

"Our niece's name is Megan Lydia. And Hales didn't ask us to be godparents."

"Maybe she's asking one of her sisters."

"Not likely," Lucas answered with a snort. He knew her sisters, and it wasn't likely.

"Oh well, a mystery then," Brooke said with a yawn. "Jake and I are going to see them tomorrow; he's off."

"Well, send Hales our love. Tomorrow looks like it's going to be a busy one."

"Will do. G'night."

"Good night Brooke. Be careful," Peyton called after her. She and Lucas looked in on the five kids one more time before exhaustedly falling into bed.

The following morning, Peyton had no desire to get out of bed; four hours of sleep was a joke after the day she'd had. Nevertheless, she got up with Lucas at six and started preparing for the day. It flew by quickly, mostly as a result of the fun she, Ashton, and Gretchen were having. She'd almost forgotten how much she loved having her little boy home. As much as she loved Ryan, Ashton was far more sensitive and playful. His company was much easier to enjoy. Before she knew it, three o'clock was rolling around and Jenny was arriving straight from school.

"Hey," she said nonchalantly as she threw her book bag beside the sofa.

"Hi Jen. How are you?"

"It wasn't a great day," she answered truthfully.

"We'll talk when I get back. I have to run now," Peyton said apologetically. She hugged the young girl quickly and grabbed her purse. "Gretchen and Fred are both taking naps and Ashton is playing a game downstairs. Ryan and Jared should be home any minute. Thanks for watching them, Jen."

"Anytime," Jenny said. It was the natural order of things; she was much older than most of her cousins, she naturally fell into the available babysitter category; especially since he dad wouldn't allow her to get a part time job while she was in school. Peyton hurried out of the house and started walking down the street; the school was close and she was in the mood for a bit of alone time. When she arrived at the school, three minutes shy of the meeting time, Lucas was waiting for her outside the building. He looked quite young, sitting on the cement steps with his tie loosened and his hair mussed from an entire day of fusing with it. Standing as soon as he spotted her, he took her hand and they walked into the building and toward the second grade classroom.

Mrs. Leer was waiting for them but did not look particularly pleased when she coldly welcomed them into the classroom and offered them seats. She sat behind her desk, her hands folded primly over what looked to be her grade book.

"You probably know why we're here," Peyton began, not sure what else they could start with.

"Not really," the other woman said, her tone not sitting well with either parent.

"Well," Lucas cut in, not wanting Peyton to lose her temper, "Ashton seems to be having problems in class. He mentioned that he sat in the hall all day yesterday."

"We were actually wondering if you could explain that," Peyton interjected.

"Ah, yes. Well, Ashton is far ahead of the other children, as you know. I didn't want to bore him with things below his aptitude."

"You can't separate a little boy like that," Peyton argued. "It alienates him from kids his own age. He may be a little bit ahead, but that doesn't mean he wants to be left out of things. When you treat him differently, the other kids do too."

"Mrs. Scott, I don't believe you understand the breadth of Ashton's intelligence. He is not simply 'a little bit' above the class level. He understand and remembers concepts that aren't covered until high school."

"But he's still a little boy."

"A little boy that I am unable to accommodate in my classroom. I felt that was explained in my letter."

"And we sent our answer," Peyton said, her tone rising a bit in anger, "Ashton is not to be moved up. He's too young. Maybe when he's older—"

"There's nothing for him in this classroom, Mrs. Scott. And it interferes with the other children. How do you think they feel when one of their classmates has all of the answers? It's discouraging to them. They feel that they need to be at his level and that would be impossible."

"How do you think Ashton feels, being punished for his intelligence?"

"He's not being punished. But he simply cannot participate in the general lessons. It's not fair to the class."

"How would the principal feel?" Lucas asked, somewhat threateningly. The woman simply looked at him calmly and answered,

"I've already spoken at length to Mr. Caldwell. He has already offered you the only solution we could agree upon," she said pointedly.

"And we're not willing to have Ashton in classes with kids three and four years older."

"Then I see no other solution."

"I'm sure we'll find one," Peyton said evenly. "Ashton won't be returning to your class." With that, she stood up and walked quickly out of the room, not even waiting for Lucas to follow.. He caught up with her at the front door and stopped her, catching her wrist and pulling her aside.

"Peyton, what are you doing?"

"Lucas, we can send him back there!"

"It's the only elementary school in the district."

"There are private schools."

"Do you think that's really going to solve this?"

"I don't know," Peyton answered with a defeated sigh. "But I am not bringing him back here. It's ridiculous. He's intelligent, not a leper. The other kids won't even talk to him anymore. It's that teacher. She made too much of a deal out of him. He had no problems the past two years."

"I think she's a little intimidated by him."

"That gives her no right—"

"I agree," he interrupted before she could vent any further. "I'm not the enemy here—"

"I know," she whispered. "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it. Let's just go home. We'll figure this out." Peyton nodded and took his arm, walking with him back to his car, which he had driven over from the high school. "Did you talk to Hales today?"

"Only for a minute," Peyton replied. "Lydia and Karen were with her all day. And Brooke stopped by for a while, so she didn't need any more distractions."

"I doubt she thinks of you as a distraction."

"Lucas, I'm not be self-depreciating or whatever you're thinking right now. I was just telling you why she couldn't talk for long."

"Sorry. You just seem a little out of it."

"It's been a long week. Hell, it's been a long year," Peyton said with a dry laugh.

"It has been," he answered back calmly.

The title of this chapter comes from this quote:

Babies are such a nice way to start people. Don Herrold