Chapter 11

1 week later

Lucas was sitting next to Abby on the bed. She still hadn't woken up, but she was stable again. The police had caught John Sanchez trying to get out of the state. He was now sitting in jail facing attempted murder. Lucas had tried to think of every possible reason as to why Jamie hadn't told him who she really was. He was too deep in thought when he felt a hand on his arm. He looked down to see Abby opening her eyes.

"Here, take a sip of water." She drank the water and then smiled at Lucas, but Lucas didn't look very happy. The next couple of hours were spent making sure that Abby was fine. Lucas walked in after the doctors approved and sat on the chair just looking blankly at Abby or Jamie (he couldn't decide).

"Hey babe, what's up?" Abby said looking a little nervous.

"Well Abby, I was just wondering if you felt up to talking?"

"What did you just call me? My name is…"

"QUIT LYING TO ME! I KNOW EVERYTHING."

"Please don't yell." Abby said trying to calm Lucas down.

"Fine. You lied to me Ja…Abby. You never wrote and then you make up a name. Let me guess, you set everything up to make it look like you got beat up. I understand why you didn't want me to tell now. Then you couldn't lie to me. I HATE you now. We are OVER!" Abby couldn't even talk before Lucas got up.

"Luke, don't walk away."

"Abby, I'm not walking…I'm running. Have a nice life."

"WHAT ABOUT ALL THOSE THINGS YOU TOLD ME. WAS IT A LIE?" Lucas turned around.

"I don't know Abby…you tell me. You know a thing or two about lying." With that he walked out and slammed the door. Abby couldn't believe he found out. That meant Karen and Haley probably knew. Hopefully they would at least listen to her story. Before too long Karen walked into the room. She had just come from the café.

"Hi, how are you feeling?" She asked. Abby noticed that her face was expressionless (which was probably not good).

"Um, I'm fine. Kind of stiff and sore and pretty tired."

"Abby?"

"Yea…" she said looking down.

"I can't believe it's you." Karen said with a smile. She walked over and gave Abby a huge hug. When she broke the embrace she stayed sitting on the bed. She didn't know what to say. She wanted to know everything, but she wanted to wait for Haley so Abby only had to explain it twice. A couple minutes later Haley ran in and over to Abby. She couldn't' believe it was really her.

"Oh my gosh, you are really you! I can't believe I didn't figure it out."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys. I wanted to, more than anything, but I couldn't."

"Where's Lucas?" Haley asked looking around the room.

"Um, he ran out."

"Did you tell him everything?" Karen asked. Abby shook her head trying to hold back the tears. She explained what happened with Lucas and then started crying.

"I didn't mean for things to get that far with him. I was just going to be invisible, but it didn't work." Haley interrupted.

"I'm glad it didn't work. You're home now. Everything is going to be great."

"I wish it were true, but John will be back for me." Karen need to find out what happened. She knew this wasn't the same girl she knew 6 years ago. She was more fragile and not as outspoken.

"Abby, what happened?" Abby was a little caught off guard by the question.

"From when?"

"After you and your dad left."

"Okay, um, we moved to Independence, Wisconsin. A year later he killed himself. It was my fault because I couldn't help him forget about mom. Then I moved in with our neighbors, Dana and John Sanchez. Dana was an amazing person. She helped me deal with everything. She taught me to play softball. Two years later, she died in a car accident. Then John started hitting me. Then we moved here. I didn't know where I was at first. Then I met Lucas. He showed me what it felt like to be loved again. He was the first person in 3 years to tell me he loved me. But I screwed that up." She couldn't hold back the tears. "He saw John hitting me, but I made him promise not to tell anyone, because I didn't think anyone would believe me. I wanted to tell you guys, but John said that he would hurt Lucas and me if I told anyone. I was so scared. I didn't know what to do."

"Abby, it's okay. He will never touch you again. He's going to jail for a really long time." Karen said trying to comfort the girl she once saw as a daughter. There was a knock on the door and Nathan and the rest of the group walked in.

"Hey guys, I'd like to introduce you to Abby Winters." Haley said. She had told them about the things she knew and promised they would be filled in with details when Abby woke up.

"It is nice to meet you Abby." Brooke said. They all asked how she was feeling and asked her and Haley about their childhood. No one brought up Lucas, but they all wondered where he was. Karen got nervous when he didn't come home, but got a call from Haley saying that he was at their place. The next couple days were hectic with all the hospital and homework stuff. Plus she had to talk to a prosecutor about John. She found out that John was the drunk driver the night Dana died. She was nervous because that meant she would have to relieve that night and every night that he hit her. But she was really sad about Lucas. Everyone told her that he was going out with this girl that he met at a bar. When she got out of the hospital and was allowed to go back to school she always saw Lucas hanging out with a girl named Tara. Everyone said that she was a slut and Lucas was just confused. Whenever Lucas saw Jamie he ignored her and walked right by, but his girlfriend wasn't that nice. She always would walk by her and either glare or push her into a locker. It made Abby sad and mad because Lucas didn't even stop Tara. He would just walk away and start "talking" to someone else. This went on for the rest of the school year. Even though Lucas was being a jerk, the rest of the gang forgave and forgot. Abby still loved hanging out everyday after school or work, but they always ran into Lucas and Tara. Abby would try and talk to him, trying to explain, but he would just walk away and Tara would always step in between them. One day when they were down at the River court, Lucas and Tara walked up and she started making trouble.

"Well, well, well…what do we have here? It seems like they let anyone on the courts these days Lukie." Abby grimaced. She had always called Lucas that and it made her sick that she was the reason she lost him. She blamed herself everyday for losing Lucas. She wished that she could turn back time, but something that Lucas had said in the hospital was bugging her. 'You never wrote!' What was he talking about? She had written him almost everyday for 3 months. And then after her father died she wrote to him again. She figured they would have at least have come to the funeral service. She decided to stop writing the day she got a letter from Lucas telling her how mad he was at her for not telling him that she was moving. It was at that moment that she had to learn how to move on and help herself forget everything. She couldn't believe Lucas. He told her he loved her and then not even 24 hours they broke up, he picked up Tara.

"What the hell are you just standing there for? Why don't you move your fat ass out of my way?" Tara said interrupting Jamie's thoughts. Lucas just looked away. Nathan couldn't stand it anymore. He was getting pissed at Lucas for being such a jerk. Yes, Abby had lied to him, but she was protecting herself.

"Lucas, what the hell? What is your problem?" Lucas looked at Nathan.

"What? I didn't say anything."

"No, you didn't. That's the problem."

"Whatever Nate. Let's go Tara."

"LUCAS!" Nathan yelled, but he got no response. He wanted to get Lucas back to his old self. He hated seeing his brother hurting. He looked over at Abby who had tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Abby what's wrong?" Nathan and Abby had gotten pretty close over the past couple weeks. Nathan and Haley told her why they were really at the hospital that night. She was the first to know that Haley was pregnant and had been for a month and a half. Abby was really surprised, but still really happy for them.

"Why is he doing this? I don't understand. He wouldn't and still won't let me explain anything." Abby said choking back tears.

"Listen Abs, Luke is just confused and a little hurt. He'll be back to his old self soon."

"I hope so, I really miss him. And I still love him." Nathan could tell how much she meant what she said. Even after everything that Lucas had said and done she still loved him.

"Well, we better get you to the café. We don't want you to be late for your first day back to work." Abby looked at Nathan with a slight smile. She was really surprised that Karen would be worried about Lucas seeing her. She knew what happened between her and Lucas and she was still amazingly kind and loving toward her. When she got to the café, she walked in and punched in. She loved the café now that everyone knew who she was. She remembered quite a few people she recognized from before she left, but she also met a lot of people. When she walked out she was greeted by Karen telling her to go wait on a table in the back. She walked up to the couple at the back table.

"Are you ready to order?" Abby asked with a smile on her face.

"Um, yea, can I have a…" the voice trailed off. Abby looked up to see what the problem was. That is when she noticed that Lucas and Tara were the couple.

"God, are you stalking us? You are always around and looking for Lucas. Maybe you shouldn't have been such a…"

"Hello hunny, I didn't know it was you back here." Karen said interrupting Tara. She had never met Tara, but she didn't like what she had heard from Haley.

"Hey Mom, I'm sorry. I thought you saw us walk in." Lucas couldn't even look up at his mom.

"Well, aren't you going to introduce us to your new friend?" Lucas didn't really want to, but his mom had already embarrassed him.

"Sorry, this is Tara. Tara, this is my mom." Abby really felt out of place, but Karen wouldn't let her leave. She could feel Karen's hand on her back trying to steady her. Abby was deep in thought about everything when Karen interrupted her thoughts.

"It is nice to meet you Tara. You should come over for a supper sometime this week. We are having Luke's favorite dish tomorrow." Lucas and Abby both shot their eyes toward Karen. They couldn't believe how she was handling this.

"Nice to meet you also Mrs…"

"Miss Roe…" This also surprised Lucas and Abby. She never let anyone call her Miss Roe. Abby remembered the first time she had met Karen…well, the first time in 6 years.

"I will have to talk to Lukie about tomorrow night." Tara said as she tried to grab Lucas' hand, which he quickly moved.

"All right, I hope to see you two tomorrow evening." With that Karen left leaving the three kids sitting in silence.

"So, um, what can I get for you?" Abby said breaking the uncomfortable silence.

"Luke, let's just go. I'm not very hungry. I think I just lost my appetite." Luke looked at Tara and shook his head.

"Can I get a coffee and 2 bagels and cream cheese to go?"

"I'll be right back with that." As Abby walked away she heard Tara yelling at Lucas. She hated the way Tara treated Lucas, but she was mad at Lucas for just using Tara to make her jealous. As she started walking back to the table a man that looked familiar walked up to her.

"Miss Winters"

"Mr. Leamon, how are you?"

"I'm fine Miss Winters, but I really need to talk to you. It is urgent." Abby was kind of nervous. She was praying that he wasn't there to tell her that John was out.

"Um, okay give me a couple of minutes to finish something. If you want to sit down at that booth I'll grab a cup of coffee for you…on me."

"Thank you" Lucas had overheard the most of the conversation, but he felt weird asking Abby who it was. When Abby walked over she handed the cup and bag to Lucas and started walking away.

"Hey, what about the money?" Tara called back.

"Go pay at the register like everyone else." Lucas was surprised that Abby had said that. He let out a slight smile when he realized the old Abby was starting to shine through. He got up and walked over to the register where his mom was. He paid and walked out. While Abby was in the back getting coffee, Nate walked up behind her.

"Hey Shorty…what's up?" Abby was a little startled, but she was happy to see him.

"Um, Mr. Leamon is here. He said he needs to talk to me. He said it was urgent. I'm so nervous, I keep spilling the coffee. I don't want to talk to him. Plus, I had a run in with Lucas and the devil." Nathan laughed at how she explained Tara.

"Okay, how about I pour and carry the coffee and then I will sit there with you." Abby shook her heard and gave Nathan the cup. The finally got to the booth where Mr. Leamon was sitting.

"Mr. Scott, it's nice to see you again."

"Nice to see you again also" Nathan knew Mr. Leamon from when he emancipated himself.

"Okay, so I just got a call from Wisconsin. They want to push up the date of the trial. Now I know this is going to be hard for you, but you are going to have to talk about everything that has happened. Now that I have said that, we need to talk about what you are going to do about living." Abby and Nate looked at him curiously. "I'm sorry, that was odd. Um, you are now part of the state of Wisconsin."

"WHAT? That can't be, I live here now."

"That is true, but you have always been a part of the state of Wisconsin since your father died. John had lied and said that they were your family. But we have checked and found that both your parents were only children and both their parent were only children and since they are all deceased, you have no relatives." Abby knew all that, but she was stunned to learn that she had been a part of the state of Wisconsin for 3 years.

"So what does that all mean?" Nate had been quiet through the entire conversation.

"Well, Mr. Scott, it means that Miss Winters must go back to Wisconsin. They will put her in a foster home until she is 18. When she is of legal age she can decide what to do. I know you are thinking about emancipation, but it doesn't work that way with state cases." Nate couldn't believe what he was hearing. Abby had just come back and Haley was so happy and relieved. He didn't want to see Haley or Lucas' faces when they found out.

"I'm sorry, but I can't do anything about this. The trial is in 2 weeks and you have to go back to Wisconsin in 3 days. I know that isn't a lot of time, but it is an order by the state." Abby couldn't believe it. She didn't want to go back to Wisconsin. She missed Andrea and all, but Tree Hill was her home. "I'm sorry again Abby. There will be a car at Nathan's apartment at 4:00 pm to pick you up in 3 days. See you then." Mr. Leamon got up, reached in his pocket and pulled out a 5 dollar bill. "Keep the change." With that he walked out of the café. Abby couldn't take it anymore. She ran through the café and didn't stop when she heard Nathan yell her name, she also heard Karen tell him to let her go. She didn't know where she was going, but she had to run somewhere. She ran past the River court where Lucas and Tara were hanging out. She noticed Lucas shooting around and Tara was talking on her cell phone. Tara glanced up just in time to see Abby run past.

"Geez, what a freak!" Lucas shot Tara a glare and then when back to shooting around.