Chapter Ten

Dan Scott returned home that night with a smug smile on his face having had a good day at work, selling fancy cars that were just a little over-priced. Setting his briefcase down and taking off his jacket, Dan walked into the kitchen to see his wife preparing dinner. She turned around when she heard him come in and gave him a tight-lipped smile. "Hello."

"Hello, Deb. Where's Nathan?"

"He's out playing basketball with his friends."

"Well, why doesn't he play here? What's the point of having a basketball court if he doesn't use it?" Dan questioned.

"You use it, Dan. And his friends wanted to play at the river court." Deb turned away from him to get back to the microwave.

Dan still wasn't satisfied. "Which of his friends would rather play there than here?"

Deb was glad Dan couldn't see her face at that moment because she was smiling as she said, "Lucas."

Dan practically choked. "What?"

"I said Lucas," Deb answered with more composure.

"Nathan and Lucas aren't friends," Dan said with absolute certainty.

"Not very much, but they have friends in common and I think they're getting to know each other better."

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Deb!" Dan yelled.

"Don't shout at me, Dan! I had nothing to do with it."

"But you sure as hell aren't going to put a stop to it, are you?"

"Of course not. I think it'll be good for Nathan to get to know his brother. And Karen is a very nice lady."

"What? You've never met her!"

"On the contrary, Dan, she was chaperoning on today's trip as well," Deb said, deliberately 'forgetting' to mention that they had been meeting for a week prior. "She's a very nice lady. She and I are having lunch with Keith next week. I would invite you, but…well, I just don't want to. And I'm sure Keith and Karen are much happier without you in their life."

Still reeling from the blows of this conversation, Dan struggled to find a cutting comment to hit Deb back with. "Are you even going to be here next week?"

Deb made sure she was looking Dan straight in the eye when she replied. "Actually, I am. I've been worried about Nathan and our situation here so I'm cutting back hours at the foundation. And no more away trips until he's much older." Then, as if she hadn't just torn his whole world down Deb reached to get something from a cupboard and said, "Dinner will be ready in ten minutes."

Dan had a feeling he wouldn't be smiling anytime soon.

At the river court, Brooke, Peyton and Mouth were sitting on the side and watching Nathan, Skills, Tim, Fergie and some of the other boys play basketball. Peyton was having a good time watching Mouth talk about the game as they played. She thought it was really funny the way he held that piece of his paper and pretended it was a microphone, but he was enjoying himself so she thought it would be rude if she laughed. She looked over at Brooke who appeared immersed in the game before her, but Peyton knew that Brooke was waiting for Lucas to come.

Skills scored a basket and Junk cheered loudly. Lucas' friend Junk was also sitting with them, as the teams would be uneven if he played too. Peyton thought that Lucas' friends all had weird names. Fergie was the only normal sounding one, but even that sounded like a girl's name.

"What time is it?" Brooke whispered to Peyton.

Peyton held out her new watch that her Dad had bought her from one of his trips for Brooke to see. Brooke nodded and turned away, as Jake walked off the court and told Junk that he could take his place.

"You're not playing?" Peyton asked.

"I have to go home," Jake told her.

"Your parents make you go home so early?" Peyton wondered.

Jake shook his head as he sat down next to her and took a sip of water from the water bottle. "Not usually. It's just that they're going out and they want me to baby-sit my sister."

"How old is she?"

"Almost 2."

"2? That's so little," Peyton said.

"Yeah. But Hilary's really sweet. And she doesn't cry a lot."

"You must be a really nice big brother," Peyton said a little teasingly and nudged his shoulder, causing Jake to blush.

"I guess you'll have to ask Hilary."

"She can talk already?"

"Just a couple of words; not sentences or anything. But, I meant when she's older."

"Oh." It was Peyton's turn to blush. "I knew that."

Jake turned his head and saw a car parked just ahead of them. "My Dad's here now. I should go."

"Okay. Hey, do you want some company?" she said suddenly.

"Huh?"

"Uh, I mean…" What did she mean? "You'll be alone when you're babysitting Hilary right?"

"Well my parents told our neighbours to drop in a little, but mostly, yeah. Why?"

"Um…if you need help babysitting I could come," Peyton offered. "Or if you just want company."

"That would be nice. My parents won't mind."

"Okay." Peyton got up and waved bye to Brooke, who gave Peyton a look as she followed Jake to his parent's car.

Their exit was followed less than two minutes later by Haley and Lucas' arrival.

"Hi," Brooke and Mouth said simultaneously.

"Hi," Lucas said.

"Hey," Haley smiled at both of them. She sat down next to Brooke on the bleachers before turning to watch the boys, especially Nathan, play.

Lucas walked onto the side of the court and motioned to Skills. "Can I join?"

"Sure," he replied with no hesitation.

"But then we'll be uneven," Tim reminded them.

The boys all looked around, but no one was particularly willing to give up their spot. Lucas was about to say he'd wait until the next game and join Mouth and the girls on the bleachers when Nathan tossed him the ball. "You can play instead of me," he told him.

Lucas stared at him, surprised, but Nathan just jogged past them to the grass.

"That means you're on my team," Fergie said and they began to reassemble to restart the game.

Nathan grinned at Haley as he walked up the bleachers and took a seat right next to her. "Hey."

Involuntarily, she blushed. "Hey."

As the boys played, and Mouth explained to a much more animated Brooke how sports commentating worked no one noticed Haley sliding a little closer to Nathan on the bench, and Nathan's hand finding hers.

A/N: That's the end…almost! Only the epilogue is left. I've written about half of it already, so as soon as it's finished I'll post it.