Chapter 454: Raven Hill

Tuesday, February 14th, Morning

The alarm stirred him awake; as he reached over to shut it off, he saw his wife stirred. Shaking the cobwebs out of his head, he rolled up into a sitting position. He's retired; he shouldn't be getting up early. There even had been talks of his wife retiring and them moving somewhere. He'd play golf all day and join her for lunch at the country club.

That all changed three years ago when he welcomed his youngest son's three youngest children. Now he got up and got them ready for school along with his youngest, a daughter.

Nathan Scott watched the bed as Haley got up and headed to the bathroom. Shaking his head, he stood up and leaned on one leg gingerly, he tested the other one, and it accepted his weight. After a moment of reflection, a deep breath to steel himself, Nathan was off.

Nathan's first stop was his grandson's room. He was fortunate that his daughter got herself up, and typically his daughter-in-law would bring her to high school.

Nathan opened the door and found Lennon laid out on his bed. The dirty blonde eleven-year-old had the natural constitution of The Dude from The Big Lebowski. Nathan shook his head and walked over to the young man's bed.

Gently, Nathan shook Lennon's shoulder.

"Grunt," Lennon said; Nathan shook his head, the boy actually said grunt.

"Wake up, Lennon," Nathan said.

"I have school today?" Lennon asked.

"Yes, why do you act like you don't?" Nathan asked.

"Isn't today a holiday?" Lennon asked.

"You mean Valentine's Day?" Nathan asked.

"Yes," Lennon said.

"It's a holiday," Nathan said.

"Yay!" Lennon said.

"Just it's not a school holiday," Nathan said.

"Awe!" Lennon said.

"Get up; you're going to be late," Nathan said.

Lennon sighed, "Yes, Papa Nate," he said and started moving.

Nathan shook his head and left the boy's room. The next room was his granddaughter's. Nathan only had three granddaughters, and Lacy was the youngest at six years old.

He found the six-year-old redhead sitting on her bed, playing with her creepy Halloween build-a-bear in the room. The girl looked at Nathan and smiled with a wicked twinkle in her eye. Somewhere deep down, Nathan knew this girl would be trouble.

"Morning, Papa Nate," Lacy said.

"Morning, Lacy," Nathan said.

"Is it time to go down?" Lacy asked.

Nathan nodded, "Yes, it is," he said.

"Okay," Lacy said.

"Hurry up, or we'll be late," Nathan said.

"Okay, Papa Nate," Lacy said.

Nathan shook his head and left. That exchange with Lacy went way too easy. Lacy was either behaving or had something planned. Nathan wondered if it was terrible that he suspected it was the second. Nodding, Nathan walked down the hall, preparing to try and defuse Lacy's plan.

Shaking his head again, Nathan reflected that she was only six years old. With a sigh, Nathan opened the last door and found his youngest grandson, Darren, up and about. Nathan watched the boy and smiled; at five years old, Darren was two when he came to live with them. Already, Nathan and Haley had it planned to get him into counseling.

"Ready to get dressed, Darren?" Nathan asked.

The five-year-old nodded, "Yes, Papa Nate," Darren said.

"Let's get you dressed," Nathan said.

"Okay," Darren said.

"Okay," Nathan said and smiled.

"Papa Nate," Darren said.

"Yes, Darren," Nathan said.

"Happy Valentine's Day," Darren said.

"Happy Valentine's Day," Nathan said.

Nathan helped the boy get dressed. Once they finished, Nathan led the boy out of his bedroom. Darren ran ahead for the kitchen.

"Darren, slow down," Nathan said.

Nathan shook his head and stopped at Lacy's door. He knocked and waited a minute.

"Lacy, time to head down," Nathan said.

"I'm coming, Papa Nate," Lacy said.

Nathan shook his head and went to Lennon's door. He knocked on the door.

"Lennon, time to head down," Nathan said.

"Coming, Papa Nate," Lennon said.

Both doors opened after a few moments, and the two kids walked out. Nathan herded them to the kitchen. Once there, the kids took their spots, and Nathan went to the breakfast bar.

Nathan kissed Haley and helped pass out breakfast. Once finished, Nathan went upstairs and dressed for the day, including his knee brace. Once finished, he returned to the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee.

Walking by the breakfast bar, he stopped to kiss Haley. He noticed she was still packing the kid's bags. Nathan looked it over. He picked up something.

"What are these?" Nathan asked.

"Valentines," Haley said.

"Valentines?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah, Valentines, it's Valentine's Day after all," Haley said.

"I know what day it is, but I'm surprised they still do valentines," Nathan said.

"That they do," Haley said.

"Mhmm," Nathan said.

Haley sighed.

"What's wrong, Hales?" Nathan asked.

"I always looked forward to Valentine's Day," Haley said.

"I remember. You've told me this before," Nathan said.

"I would hand-make my valentines; I even did it with the boys," Haley said.

Nathan nodded, "I remember," he said.

Haley shook her head, "This year, everything has been too much, and I bought the valentines for Lacy and Darren," she said.

Nathan nodded and rested a hand on Haley's shoulder. He gently rubbed Haley's shoulder. "It's only one year," he said.

Haley sighed, "It's not the point. Anyway, I bought cute ones for Darren," she said.

"And for Lacy?" Nathan asked in an almost scared voice.

"She wouldn't accept anything but some Nightmare before Christmas Valentines," Haley said.

Nathan nodded, "That sounds like Lacy," he said.

"Anyway," Haley said.

"Anyway, what?" Nathan asked.

"I got a babysitter for tonight," Haley said.

"You did?" Nathan asked.

Haley nodded, "Yeah, I want to take you out to dinner," she said.

"With my credit card," Nathan teased.

Nathan shrugged, "Okay," he said and drank his coffee.