CHAPTER NINE- A long time coming
Lucas stood in front of the house and brought his finger to the doorbell. As he rang it, he braced himself for the inevitable. Brooke Davis was going to be on the other side and there was going to be no stopping her anger. He looked down at his choice in clothing and quickly wished he had worn something more casual. When he had dressed in the morning his mother had told him to wear something presentable, not just some old tee-shirt and jeans. But as he stared down at the buttoned down shirt and slacks he realized that Brooke would see it as a way to impress her.
Just as he was turning to leave, the door opened and his ten year old daughter stared at him. There was confusion on her face and her eyes widened. "Dad?" Isabella questioned. Tears sprang to her eyes as she stared at the man who had abandoned her so many years ago.
Lucas held his breath as he watched his little girl. He stood there, mentally taking in everything about her. The dark brown hair that was exactly what he remembered her mothers looked like. Her beautiful eyes that he was sure were replicas of his own. "Isabella," he managed to choke out.
Behind his daughter, he could see Jake. Jake put his hand down on Isabella's shoulder and offered her as much support as he could. "Izzy, how about you go into the kitchen?" He asked. She shook her head violently and turned to her favorite person.
"Jake, he's here! I need to talk to him."
Jake looked from the little girl to Lucas and rubbed his forehead. He knew that it wasn't fair for him to stop them from talking, but he knew that Brooke was going to be angry. Jake shook his head after a few minutes and shrugged his shoulders. "Okay, you can talk to him. But Izzy, you only have a little while. And then it's bedtime," Jake said. "Your mom gave me strict orders and I am not going to break them."
Isabella nodded her head and walked out onto the front porch. She smiled at Jake and then shut the door behind her. As she turned to look at her father, she wrapped her arms across her chest. "What are you doing here?"
"I…" Lucas stuttered. What was he supposed to tell her? "I came to see you."
Isabellanodded her head and sighed. "Does my mom know?"
Lucas sat down on the wicker chair and shook his head no. "The truth is, I was coming to see her first. I didn't want your mom thinking I cornered you or anything," he explained.
"She's not here. Uncle Nate surprised her with a mini vacation," Isabella said. She looked down at the ground and shuffled her feet. "She's been sad recently and he wanted to take her mind off of things."
Lucas nodded his head in understanding. "How are you?" He asked. It was a dumb question, but he wasn't sure what he was supposed to say. He didn't think do you hate me was an appropriate question to ask her.
"Me? I'm fine," she forced a smile.
When she didn't say anything else, Lucas questioned her again. "How are your grades?"
"I have an A in everything."
Lucas smiled with pride. It felt good to know that his daughter was a good student. He remembered how much he had loved school when he was her age. As he stared at his daughter in front of him, he realized just how much she was like him.
"I start cheerleading camp in a few weeks."
/flashback begins/
"Does this uniform make me look fat?" Brooke asked, coming into his bedroom. She was dressed in a blue ravens cheerleading skirt and short shirt and she walked towards him.
Lucas almost fell over in his desk chair as he looked up at her in confusion. "Brooke, you are no where near fat. And that uniform doesn't make you look fat it makes you look sexy."
"Good answer."
Lucas nodded his head and brought his lips to hers. "Yeah, very sexy."
/flashback ends/
He chuckled, knowing that it had probably been Brooke's idea for her to become a cheerleader. "Like your mom," he whispered and she nodded her head sadly. "I'm sure you'll be great at it. Do you play any other sports?"
"Jake and Uncle Nate try to get me to play basketball with them but I don't really have anytime. Between dance class and home work and my friends it's hard for me to get into it," she said as she climbed on the wooden porch fence. "But sometimes I play down by the river court with my friend Jenny."
Lucas grinned. "I use to play there."
"I know. Mom told me."
Lucas looked at the floor and then sighed. He wasn't sure what else Brooke would have told her and he couldn't really blame his ex. There were lots of things that she could tell Isabella that he wouldn't be proud of but he silently wondered if she had told him any of the good things. "Look, Isabella…" Lucas fumbled for the right words. She jumped off the fence and threw her arms up in the air. "Dad listen. I don't want to make this easy for you. I really don't. You ran away and you left mom and me here and that wasn't fair. But you know what- if you're here now…you're really here now… then I will accept that and we can start over."
Lucas stared at the girl in front of him and smiled. Here she was, at ten more mature than he had really expected. "What about your mom? I think she has a say in this."
"She's going to be mad but you're forgetting one thing."
Lucas raised an eyebrow and smirked. "What's that?"
"That despite the ten years she still loves you."
……
Brooke raised the bottle of wine and took a swig of it. She grinned down at Nathan and then kicked his arm with her left foot. "Truth or dare," Brooke said as she raised an eye brow.
"Truth." Nathan laughed. They had been in the cabin for a few hours and after a long bath, Brooke had decided it would be fun to play one of her old games. It was an innocent game until Brooke started to drink and then all the dares became more and more objectionable. So, as he looked at Brooke's drunken state, he decided it was more safe to go with a truth.
Brooke thought a moment and then rolled her eyes. "Is it true that you use to have feelings for Haley?" She questioned. Nathan looked away from her and down at the floor, regretting his choice. Brooke's dares couldn't have been that bad.
"Yes," he whispered barely loud enough for himself to hear it, let alone her. But as he looked up at Brooke, he knew she had heard. Her smile had turned to a frown and she put her hands on her hips.
"Well did you ever tell her?" She asked and Nathan cut her off.
"It's not your turn Brooke. Now, truth or dare."
Brooke started to protest but rolled her eyes. She took another sip of the red wine and handed it to him. As Nathan took a sip, Brooke sighed. "Truth." Nathan thought for a moment and wondered what questions he should continue to ask her. But as He took another gulp of the wine, he reached out and tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear.
"Is it true you're happy?"
/flashback begins/
"Are you cold?" Lucas asked as he wrapped a blanket around her shoulders. She shook her head no but leaned against his body anyway. It was unusually cold weather, for an August evening as they stood with their friends saying goodbye to summer. On Monday they would go their own separate ways and everyone would be heading off in another direction.
Haley and Nathan had returned from their summer on the road and Haley was heading to New York. Nathan wasn't sure where he was heading, having decided to take the year off in search for something better than Tree Hill.
Peyton and Jake would be attending Duke along with Brooke and Lucas but weren't sure that they'd see each other as they once had. After all, Jake and Peyton had Jenny and Lucas and Brooke were starting off their college life.
"Are you happy boyfriend?"
Lucas wasn't one to smile, so when a grin broke across his face, Brooke couldn't help but laugh. "I'm more happy with you than I ever have been," Lucas said. "Then I ever could be. Are you happy?"
"As long as I have you, I couldn't ask for more."
/flashback ends/
Brooke sobered with the question he asked her and she took in a deep breath. "I'm happy. I have a good job, a pretty cool kid, loyal friends…and I have you." Brooke smiled. She leaned her head down against the pillow and looked at him once more. "Truth or dare?"
"Truth."
"Would you be with Haley if it wasn't for me?" Brooke blurted out.
Nathan was shocked at Brooke's question. Mostly because he had been thinking it a lot recently. But as he stared up at her brown eyes he shrugged his shoulders. The answer wasn't something he knew how to explain. "Brooke, there are a lot of reasons that Haley and I never got together."
"But you liked her. She loved you. So what happened?"
Nathan rubbed his forehead. "Life happened, Brooke. Yeah, we both liked each other but there was always something else. First it was popularity, and then it was Chris fucking Keller… and when Haley went on tour the first time, I realized that I had waited too long. She never would have left if she had known. But she was happy. I went to see her that summer. She was playing in New York and Brooke she was amazing. I watched her up on stage and I realized she was born for that. She was born to be bigger than me and anything I could offer her."
"And then what?"
Nathan sighed and realized Brooke wasn't going to let this go. "So I came home. We all started college and then you got pregnant. When Lucas left you, I made a promise to myself that I'd be there for you. You know I never told myself I was going to fall for you. But somehow, I did. So yeah, you are a reason why. But that doesn't mean I would change things."
Brooke nodded her head and shut her eyes for a moment. She had pretended for so long that Nathan and Haley hadn't been in love. It was easier for her to pretend then it was to face the truth and she was sure that Nathan felt the same way. As she opened her eyes a tear fell. "Do you ever think about what would have happened if Lucas would have stayed?" She asked him, and he nodded his head sadly.
"Like if I would have played a roll in Isabella's life, or if I would have ever touched your skin," Nathan said, rubbing her arm gently. Brooke nodded but pulled away.
"Like if Lucas and I had worked things out," Brooke hesitated. "Would you and Haley be here instead?"
And even though Nathan didn't answer, Brooke had known the answer. That question had been on both of their minds. Nathan turned away from her and remembered the last time he had thought there had been a chance for him and Haley.
/flashback begins/
"Thanks for coming Nathan," Haley's soft voice rang in his ear as she wrapped her arms around him. He held her, and breathed in the very scent of her. "It means a lot to see a familiar face."
Nathan didn't pull away as he shook his head. "I missed you Haley."
Haley pulled away and smiled at him. "I missed you too."
"I had to come. When Lucas told me you were in New York I decided to drive up here. How does it feel to be out on that stage?"
Haley chewed her bottom lip and sat down on the bench. They were in central park and he had even managed to make a picnic basket filled with a light lunch. "It's great. Everything I dreamed of. Just getting on stage and singing my own lyrics is amazing. But to have people listen to them, really listen. To have the lyrics mean something to them individually is the best feeling in the world," Haley said as she pulled open her sandwich. She took a bite and he just smiled at her.
He opened the box of cracker jacks he had packed away and shoved a couple into his mouth. The prize fell out and he ripped it open, to reveal a multi colored beaded bracelet. He looked over at Haley and grinned. "Here. It's for you," he said as he slipped it onto her tiny arm. When it was placed gently around her wrist, he squeezed her hand. "Don't say I never gave you anything."
Haley looked up at him, and held her breath. He was so close to her and she could feel his breathe on her skin. She smiled as he leaned in gently and placed a kiss on her cheek. "I'm glad I came Hales."
"Me too," Haley whispered as he pulled away. "Me too."
/flashback ends/
As Nathan brought his attention back to Brooke, he had realized she had fallen asleep. He chuckled to himself and stood up, pulling the blanket up around her. As he tucked her in, he bent down to place a kiss on her forehead and heading towards the bathroom. His cell phone rang and he quickly grabbed it.
"Hi Haley," he smiled as he shut the bathroom door. He could barely hear anything except screaming fans.
"Nate? You there?" Haley questioned from the other end of the line.
Nathan laughed. "Yeah I am here. What's up? Is something wrong?"
"No nothing's wrong. I guess I was just calling to let you hear the noise! You should be here- never mind. You'd hate it," she laughed. Nathan smiled and waited for her to continue. "Well I was just calling to say thanks. Again. Peyton and I are having a blast. OH! They're back on, talk with you later. Bye!" Haley rushed.
Nathan chuckled to himself as he hung up the cell and put it back in his pocket. He turned back towards the bedroom and climbed onto the bed beside Brooke. Reaching for the light, he turned it off and laid his head back onto the pillow. "Night Brooke."
Brooke turned to the other side and snuggled into the pillow. "Goodnight Lucas," she mumbled unaware of her mistake. Nathan shut his eyes. It would only take a little more time until Brooke came face to face with the truth he had been avoiding for weeks. Their relationship was falling apart and there was nothing either one of them could do about it.
……
"And this is my bedroom," Isabella said as she opened her door and let her father peek inside at her world. The room was painted a sea blue and he could tell that Peyton had drawn the mural on the bigger wall in the room. It was of a little fairy perched on a lily and as Lucas took a step closer, he saw his daughter's face. "Aunt Peyton did that, isn't it the greatest?"
Lucas nodded his head and ran his fingers over the artwork. It had always amazed him, his friends talent. Something he knew she had perfected over the years. "It looks just like you," Lucas said turning to her. Isabella nodded her head enthusiastically and smiled at her father.
"And those are my dance trophies," she said pointing towards her desk. There were quite a few, ranging in sizes and in different areas. Lucas looked at each one carefully and stared at the few pictures as well. On the bottom shelf of her desk there were books that he had read all those years ago. As he grabbed one of them, he rubbed his fingers over the worn book and realized that the books in front of him, had once belonged to him. "Grandma Karen gave them to me."
Lucas smiled. "That's great, I am glad you like to read."
"Actually… don't get me wrong, I love school and everything," Isabella hesitated. After a few seconds she broke into a grin. "My mom's the one that makes me read. She tells me it use to make her feel closer to you."
He looked back down at the desk and noticed several photos that had not been put into frames yet. There was one of Isabella and Brooke from what Lucas guessed was her birthday and Lucas smiled at the picture. Brooke had a firm grasp around her daughter and they were both beaming up into the camera. In the background Lucas could make out the outline of Nathan.
"Well, that's it really," Isabella said grabbing the photos from the table. She shoved them in the bottom drawer and turned to her father. "You want to get a soda before you leave?"
Lucas looked at his watch and shook his head no. "I think I should get going. I promised Jake I wouldn't keep you up past your bedtime," he explained. Isabella shook her head in understanding and looked down. Her smile had faded and Lucas reached his hand out to her. "Isabella, what's wrong?"
"I keep thinking that this is a trick. That when I let you out of my sight, you won't come back."
Lucas kneeled down in front of the little girl and tucked part of her hair behind her ear. "I am going to be here for you. However and whenever you want me. I don't want you to think I am just walking in and wanting everything, I do want that but I understand it's going to take time. I love you Isabella. I have loved you everyday since you were born, never doubt that."
"I don't," Isabella said. "I've never doubted you loved me. My mom wouldn't let me."
Lucas nodded his head and hesitated. It took every part of him not to bring his daughter into a hug but he knew that it was something that she had to initiate. So it had surprised him when small arms found there way around his neck and a small kiss was placed on his head. "I love you too," Isabella smiled. Lucas felt his heart jump and he stood up and walked towards the door.
"Goodnight Isabella."
"Goodnight," Isabella paused. "Dad."
tbc.
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