Chapter Thirteen – Everything Isn't Perfect In Paradise
A week after the welcome back party, back in New York, a couple fought behind closed doors…
"Jenny. Go to your room and shut the door." Jake instructed his daughter.
"All you do is work, eat and sleep, Jake." Rachel complained. "You never even touch me anymore, let alone in public."
"Oh shut up, Rachel!" Jake shot back. "I touch you just fine."
"Whatever. I'm seriously starting to think you're still hung up on Peyton. The love of your life. Which is complete crap. She has moved on, Jake. That boat has left he harbor. You're boat on the other hand isn't even in the damn water. It's up on blocks in your garage. So what's the problem, Jake, why cant you?" Rachel asked angrily.
"You don't know what you're talk about." Jake informed her. "Me and Peyton have been over for the past four years, you're just too stupid to realize it." Jake stood up from the couch. "You know what? I think you do know that its over between me and Peyton. That it has been over. I think you just like to have that in handy for every time you pitch some stupid argument with me about some lame ass thing that doesn't even matter."
Back in her room, Jenny grabbed a small note book full of emergency phone numbers. Running her finger down the page she waited till she saw the right name and stopped. Nathan Scott. She ran her finger across from his name to where it said his phone number. She grabbed the phone off of her nightstand and punched in the number. After three rings Brooke answered the phone. "Hello?" She asked groggily. I was nearly ten a clock and her and Nathan had decided to go to bed early that evening.
Jenny paused, considering whether to talk or not.
"Hello?" Brooke asked again a little more awake.
"Hi…" Jenny finally said into the receiver. "Is Nathan there?"
"Who is this?" Brooke asked. "Jenny? Is that you?"
"Yeah…" Jenny answered. "Is Nathan there?"
"Hold on a sec, honey." Brooke told her. "I'll go get him for you.
Jenny could here mumbling on the other end of the line, but couldn't make anything out. A moment later Nathan's voice was on the phone. "Hey Jenny, what's up? Is something wrong?"
"Hold on." Jenny told Nathan. Running across her room she opened her bedroom door, where her father and Rachel's arguing became clearer. "Listen." She whispered to Nathan and held out the phone into the hall way so he could hear the couple arguing.
Nathan listened to his friends argue. Brooke sat up in bed next to her husband. "What's wrong?" She asked genuinely concerned. Nathan put up his hand telling her to hold on as he listened.
A few minutes later, Jenny pulled back the phone and shut her door. "What do I do?" She asked.
"Where are you?" Nathan asked.
"In my room." Jenny told him. "Daddy made me come back in here. Rachel and Daddy keep screaming."
"I know." Nathan sighed. "Go out into the living room and give your dad or Rachel the phone."
"Ok…" Jenny said. Nathan could hear Jenny's bare feet hit the hardwood floor in the hallway as she ran out into the living room. "Here." She said thrusting the phone to a crying Rachel. Giving her father a dirty look before running back to her room. Jake automatically felt bad.
"Hello?" Rachel sobbed into the phone.
"Hey Rach." Nathan said softly. "You ok?"
"Yeah." Rachel whipped away her tears with her free hand. "Did Jenny call you guys?"
"Yeah." Nathan sighed.
"Oh, she woke you guys up? I'm so sorry." Rachel apologized.
"It's fine." Nathan said. "What's going on?"
Brooke laid back down in her bed and waited for Nathan to hang up the phone. A few minutes later Nathan said good bye and hung up the phone.
"What's happening?" Brooke asked concerned.
"They're fighting again." Nathan sighed laying down. "I don't know what's up with them lately. That's all they seem to do. Fight."
"Tell me about it…" Brooke sighed.
"They need to work it out." Nathan said. "It's not fair to Jenny."
"It's late." Brooke said rolling over onto her stomach. "We'll call them again tomorrow."
Nathan Scott sighed. He really didn't want to be there, in his father's basement, cleaning out his the enormous amount of crap that had been collected there since Dinosaurs roamed the earth. Nathan chuckled to himself. Dinosaurs. Dumping out another box's contents onto the ground he sorted through his fathers collecting. The last few boxes had been filled of worthless basketball cards that were too damaged to sell and left over stuff from Dan's basketball days. But this box was a little more interesting. It was filled with mostly pictures. Dan when he was a young boy with Uncle Keith. Dan and Karen. Dan, Deb and me. Me. Lucas. Dan and his girlfriend. Me and Lucas. Pretty much photos that he had collected since the dawn of time.
As Nathan sorted the pictures into different piles, he came across a picture he didn't recognize. It was of Dan and a woman he had never scene in his twenty three years on this planet. The woman had blonde hair a little bit past her shoulders, blue eyes, and what looked to be a pretty good figure, accept for the pregnant stomach. Behind that picture was a picture of Dan and a baby girl wrapped in a pink blanket. And the new few were of just the baby girl. Nathan was confused, and curious, but decided to figure it out later and placed the photos of Dan, the mystery woman, and the baby under the pictures of Dan and Karen.
Not really paying much attention to the box itself Nathan continued sorting photos until each was in its on section and category. Picking up the box that he had place behind him while sorting through its contents, he almost didn't notice the one thing that hang clung to the bottom of the box. As Nathan put his hand in the box to set the first pile of photographs he noticed a pink baby blanket at the bottom of the box. "What the hell?" He muttered to himself setting the pile of photos down and taking the pink blanket out of the box. In the bottom right corner of the blanket, Nathan noticed, it was engraved with a name. Alexis Nash. Nathan grabbed the photos of Dan, the mystery woman, and the baby and put them into his back pocket. Quickly placing the remaining photos back into the box in their respective piles, he had just finished shoving the blanket into his backpack when he heard foot steps on the stairs that led down to the basement.
"How are things coming, son?" Dan asked jogging down the stairs to his basement. "Find anything interesting?" Dan chuckled to himself.
"Not really." Nathan lied zipping up his backpack and stood up. "Brooke just called. She needs me back at home. So I'll have to finish some other time, ok?" he lied again.
Dan nodded. "As long as it gets done."
"See ya later, Dad." Nathan walked past his father and up the steps and out of the dusty basement.
An hour later Nathan walked through the front door and was bombarded at the door by Brooke. "Try this." She instructed holding a spoon of god-only-knows-what in front of Nathan's face.
"If you're trying to poison me, you're going to have to do better then that." Nathan laughed. "Before I put anything in my mouth. I want to know what the hell that is."
Brooke sighed. "It's tomato sauce." She rolled her eyes. "Now are you going to be a brave little Scott and try it?"
Nathan pushed the spoon out of his face and walked past Brooke. "Later." He told her simply. "I have to do…something." He finished.
"Wait." Brooke chased after him. "I kind of need to know now."
"Brooke-" Nathan started to complain.
"I need to know if it tastes alright before I serve it to Dan and Bree." Brooke cut him off. "So just shut up, and try it." Brooke smiled and held out the spoon again.
"My dads coming over?" Nathan questioned.
Brooke nodded. "We invited them last week after the party, remember?"
"I don't-"
Brooke cut her husband off again. "Just try the damn sauce." She laughed.
Nathan rolled his eyes and tried the sauce. "Not bad." He smiled and gave her a quick kiss, before walking down the hall to the computer room. "Needs more salt." Nathan called back to her.
Brooke smiled heading back to the kitchen to finish the food. Nathan sat down in front of the computer and signed online pulling up a person search. Opening up his backpack he checked the name on the blanket again and typed it into the search registry. About a minute later, an address showed up on the screen.
Nicole A. Nash
2929 Candido Drive
Panama City Beach, Florida
32407
Nathan waited for the address to print, and then folded the sheet and shoved it in his back pocket. Not really paying much attention as he walked out of the room, he bumped into Bree.
"Oh, hey." He said awkwardly. "I didn't know you and my dad were already here."
"We're not." Bree smiled. "Just me."
"Nice..." Not feeling anymore comfortable standing that close to her once he realized what she was wearing. Bree had a very short, very low cut, very tight red dress on. Not exactly 'a nice dinner at your boyfriends son's house' material. Nathan took two steps and politely smiled. "I'm going to go see if Brooke, my wife, needs any help."
"Uh-huh." Bree nodded. "You do the right thing, sweetie. Try and resist." She took three steps forwards and leaned forward to kiss Nathan. Nathan dodged that bullet and quickly moved past his fathers girlfriend who happened to be lusting over him at the moment. As he walked away and to the kitchen he heard Bree call back to him. "You're father has to work, so he wont be joining us. Just you and me." She smiled.
"And Brooke." Nathan called back to her as he kept walking.
That night's dinner was interesting to say the least. Dan ended up showing up after all, an hour late, and the rest of the evening… well… what do you expect? It's a dinner with Dan Scott…nothing short of dramatic.
