"Brooke, are you sure you'll be okay with the kids while I go to the river court?" Lucas asked a few days later as he and Brooke were eating breakfast with bailey while the babies slept.
"It's fine! Peyton and Bevin are coming over today to hang out and help. We'll be fine" She said giggling as he put a piece of pancake in her mouth.
"Are you sure? I feel bad leaving you alone with three kids"
"Okay, what part of I will be okay do you not seem to understand. Besides you can have your alone "basketball" time today and I'll have my "shopping alone time that I love" tomorrow!" She said rolling her eyes playfully throwing a piece of sausage at him.
"Oh, is that how it is?" He asked jokingly reaching over to grab a pancake to throw at her but instead spilling orange juice all over her skirt.
"Oh, no you didn't!" She exclaimed spraying chocolate syrup on him. In return he sprayed whipped cream on her.
"Food fight!" Bailey shouted pouring milk on Lucas's head and throwing her food at Brooke.
"No, we don't throw food!" Brooke tried to scold but ended up laughing hysterically. Lucas sprinkled sugar on both Bailey and Brooke's heads.
"Don't make me pour coffee on you Luke!" Brooke shouted.
"Let's clean this mess up"
"No, you go get cleaned up for your alone time and bailey and I are going to play the cleaning game. Aren't we, bailey-bub?"
"Yay! Cwealning game! Cwean up time! Come on Mommy" Bailey shouted jumping up and down.
"Someone's hyper. Whoever cleans up the fastest gets a treat"
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Lucas walked up to the river court. He saw a girl he didn't know shooting hoops by herself. She was good. Every shot she made sunk in perfectly. She looked African American, but you could tell she was mixed. She had shoulder-length black hair that was curled slightly at the ends. She looked at him and smiled.
"You're really good" He commented walking up to her.
"I guess I'm okay" She said shrugging, "Oh, who am I kidding. I'm great!"
"That's true. Do you live around here, you don't look familiar and I know over half the town" Something about her, other than her exceptional basketball skills, seemed familiar.
"Um, I'm actually looking for someone. I'm not even sure if he lives here anymore but my mom said this is where he's from so I thought I'd start here"
"Who're you looking for?" He asked as he made a basket and passed the ball to her.
"My father"
"Oh, you don't know him?"
"No, I've never met him"
"I know how that feels. My dad abandoned my mom when she was pregnant and got another woman pregnant; she gave birth to my half-brother Nathan and none of the three of them gave my mother or me the time of day until I was seventeen. Now Nathan and I are on good-terms and my mom is best friends with his mom"
"Oh, I'm sorry" She said honestly. She didn't know why, but she felt a connection to this man she barely knew.
"Yeah, so what's his name?"
"His name's Lucas Scott. Maybe you know him?"
"Oh my God" He gasped. There couldn't be more than one Lucas Scott in Tree Hill.
"What's wrong? You look like you just saw a ghost or something" She said laughing.
"I- I'm Lucas Scott"
"You're white!"
"Thank you….I didn't realize that"
"No, I mean mom told me you were white because I'm mixed so like….that was obvious. But, you're like white white"
"What's your name? How old are you? Want to go somewhere to talk?"
"Yeah…this is weird"
"Are you hungry?"
"I'm starving! I've barely eaten since I got here last night"
"There's a McDonalds about ten minutes away. Is that okay?" Lucas asked leading her to his car.
"Are you kidding? That's my favorite fast food place"
"I would take you to get something nicer, but I left most of my money at home"
"It's okay. Are you reading this?" She asked picking up a copy of The great Gatsby that he had in his car.
"No, my daughter was, but she accidentally left it in my car. It's a classic; one of my favorites"
"Mine too. I read it a couple months ago"
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The newly-discovered father and daughter got into the car with their food. They didn't want to eat in McDonalds so they drove to the River Court to eat. They sat on the bench with their food.
"So, what's your name?" He asked.
"Michelle Scott. My mom gave me your last name so I would at least have a small part of you"
"That's what my mom did too. How old are you?"
"I just turned fourteen October 10"
'Is your mom Faith Thompson"
"Yeah, but she died when I was six in a car crash"
"Oh, I'm so sorry. Who did you live with after that?"
"First I went to live with my uncle who just got married, and then when I was eight he killed her. After that none of my other aunts or uncles wanted to take me in except for my mom's second cousin once removed or something, but when I was eleven she got tired of me and sent me to live with her twenty-something year old son, but he and his fiancé didn't like me at all. When I was thirteen they sent me to live with my Grandma and I've lived with her since then. She just died of cancer though and after her funeral I came here"
"I am so sorry"
"I don't like it when people say they're sorry because I don't need their pity. I'm a big girl"
"That's good"
"Yeah, so you said you have a daughter earlier. Tell me about her"
"Well, her name's Lily and she's a year older than you and a freshman in high school. She shares my love of reading good books and she looks like both me and her mom"
"Oh, how long have you been married to her mom?"
"Huh?" Lucas asked confused. Then he realized she thought he was married to Peyton.
"You're wearing a wedding ring…"
"Yeah, I'm married, but not to Lily's mom Peyton. I'm married to Brooke. Peyton and I had Lily when we were eighteen, but we were never together. She's married also to Jake who has a daughter named Jenny who's also a freshman in high school"
"So then Lily and Jenny would be stepsisters and Lily and I would be half-sisters, right?"
"Yeah, Bailey, Fiona, and Erik would also be your half siblings"
"Are they your kids with Brooke? How old are they?"
"Yes, they're my children with Brooke. Bailey is three and a Daddy's girl. Fiona and Erik are both about a month old"
"What are you going to tell them?" Michelle asked.
"I don't know"
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"So, what are we going to tell them?" Haley asked as she and Nathan pulled up to Nathan's place where David, Katie, and Kevin were.
"I don't know" Nathan said nervously.
"I'm sure they'll be okay with it" Haley said as Nathan opened the car door for her to get out. It had been a week since they kissed and they had secretly been dating/making out whenever they could.
They walked into the house. The three siblings were all in the TV room. Katie was sitting on the floor reading a magazine and the boys were watching TV.
"Mom? Dad? What are you doing together? Oh my gosh, they're holding hands" Katie said to her brothers.
Haley sat down next to Katie on the floor and Nathan sat on the couch in the middle of David and Kevin.
"Your father and I have something to tell you" Haley started.
'Yeah, we know you're together. When Katie went to hang out with Lily yesterday at Peyton's she saw the two of you in the guest room" Kevin said.
"But you were surprised to see us holding hands just now" Haley said confused.
"We were joking" David said.
"And, it was so funny" Nathan said sarcastically.
"You're right. It was" Katie said laughing.
"Does anybody want lunch? I'm hungry"
"Yeah, I haven't eaten since…breakfast" David said.
"Yeah, usually people have lunch after breakfast" Kevin responded as they got up and walked into the kitchen.
"Ew, Nathan, your kitchen's a mess. I'm so cleaning this up after I make lunch. In fact, nobody's eating until this mess is cleaned up. How do you live like this?" Haley asked wrinkling her nose.
"It's actually pretty fun" Nathan said shrugging. Haley just rolled her eyes.
"Why don't you go watch TV or something while your dad and I make lunch?" Haley suggested to the kids. The three left, leaving the two adults alone.
"Do, you have any spaghetti sauce? Haley asked as she took a box of pasta out of the pantry. " Oh, here it is"
"So, do you want me to just stand here looking good" Nathan asked after she turned down his offer to help"
"Yeah, pretty much. Besides, you couldn't cook to save your life" She said laughing.
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah. What are you doing?" She asked as he took out a pan and put it on the stove and gave her a challenging look.
"I'm showing you what I learned in single parent cooking class. We'll see whose pasta the kids like better"
"Why, Nathan, are you challenging me to a cook off?"
"I think I am"
"Oh, you are so on!"
Lucas walked into the house. Luckily Bevin and Peyton had left a couple hours ago. He saw Brooke asleep on the couch with the kids. He motioned for Michelle to go upstairs to Lily's room and then gently woke only Brooke up. He gestured for her to go to the kitchen with him so he wouldn't wake up Bailey. They each took a sleeping twin and went to the kitchen.
"You might want to sit down" Lucas said, sitting down himself.
"Okay"
"Remember my girlfriend Faith, from when we were twenty?"
"Yeah, why?"
"She has a fourteen year old daughter and she moved fourteen years ago after we broke up…."
"Tell me you're not saying what I think"
"I was at the River court and there was a girl shooting hoops. Her name is Michelle and she was looking for her father who she never met"
"Please tell me it's not you and you're taking her to her real father"
"I wish I could tell you that, but I'm her father"
"How do even know that? She could be lying. I mean, Faith could have been raped and when Michelle asked who the father was she didn't know what to tell her so she said it was you"
"She looks nothing like me, but she'd so much like me"
"How do you know she's not homeless and is just looking for free clothes and a free meal?"
"She is homeless-well technically"
"What?"
"There's no other family left for her to be with. I'm all she has, Brooke. We're all she has"
"Damn you for having a heart Lucas Scott' Brooke whispered, jokingly.
"Damn you for being so forgiving, Brooke Scott" He said back, kissing her.
"Dad! Brooke!" They heard Lily shouting. Lucas realized she was coming back from Peyton's.
"Lily I'm in here!" he shouted back.
"Dad, why is there a girl I don't even know in my room, watching my TV?" Brooke decided this was her cue to leave and went into the other room. Lucas explained to her everything he told Brooke.
"So, you've been lying to me my whole life! Lily shouted angrily.
"No, I didn't know about Michelle until today"
"You told me to only "be" with someone I love. You told me Brooke and Peyton were the only women you loved! That's a lie if you had sex with this Faith person! Did you love her?" Lily asked angrily. Her face was red with anger. Lucas didn't say anything and just looked down.
"I hate you! Lily exclaimed. She spun around to see Michelle standing at the door. She walked past her angrily "accidentally" pushing her.
"lily" Lucas called after her, but the only response he got was the door slamming loudly.