Welcome back, to either my longest chapter or my second longest... I think I wrote one 15,000+ before, but I can't remember lol!
This is actually only half of the actual chapter I have written (the second portion is being currently edited).
Disclaimer: If you don't like sexual moments (but still keeping it PG-13) or moments of discussing race then don't proceed, as this chapter deals with both!
Happy reading!
Story of My Life: One Direction
Written in these walls are the stories that I can't explain
I leave my heart open but it stays right here empty for days
She told me in the morning
She don't feel the same about us in her bones
It seems to me that when I die
These words will be written on my stone
And I'll be gone, gone tonight
The ground beneath my feet is open wide
The way that I been holdin' on too tight
With nothing in between
He wasn't dressed like Elvis, so that was a plus.
The preacher, that's who wasn't dressed like Elvis, the man who stood with a bible in his hand standing between—Jamie and Madison. And he wasn't dressed like Elvis, that was the bright side Haley was finding in all of this.
"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here on this night to join together, James and Madeline".
Haley clutched her husband's hand, her fingernails digging into the back of his hand, which she became aware of when she heard him hiss as quietly as he could.
"Sorry" Haley whispered.
Nathan pressed his lips tightly together as she pulled her fingers out of his skin, and he softly rubbed her hand.
"If any person can show just cause why they may not be joined together - let them speak now or forever hold their peace".
Haley could fill her tongue dancing in the back of her throat, dying for her mouth to open, but found herself paralyzed—in fear, maybe? Was it her nerves that shut her up?
But, just as her lips finally parted she looked up and saw a pair of blue eyes looking at her's—Jamie's. And she despite all her efforts she couldn't speak, she could hear her mother's voice—she could hear Lydia James who made this decision so many years ago, echoing through her veins.
"Then let us proceed," the preacher said.
Jamie and Madison were getting married, but wait, you might have missed something.
Maybe we should start from the beginning...
4 Am
Jamie was sleeping, or he was trying to, but he could feel himself beginning to stir. The teenager fought it as hard and as long as he could, there was no reason he should be awake, or why his body was even attempting to rise, with this much exhaustion flowing through his veins.
He opened his eyes, and for a passing second, he wasn't sure what room he was in or why, it was dark but the bright streetlights shining in revealed the abstract of the room he was in, which was not his.
Jamie's bed was far more comfortable and far bigger—he was used to the open window breeze coming from up above his head on the left, the window was open on his right side, and there was no breeze. He shifted his head in the direction and the memory beat the exhaustion as he realized where he was.
Freaking Texas.
For a second Jamie thought it was mid-morning, at least. The bright lights of the city were very convincing, especially when you come from a small town with four street lamps, but once he looked past the raging lights he saw the sky, which was dark.
Jamie didn't have to turn his head to glance at the alarm clock that sat on one of his side tables, flashing four twenty-seven. He looked at the clock, waiting for his eyes to slowly adjust from the lighting outside his window, and he couldn't help but wonder how long that clock had been sitting in that same spot. He presumed it had been there long before he was born.
A five-star hotel couldn't afford to replace an alarm clock ever five years? Or was it ten? Two? Did it have an expired by, or change out date? Was like it a toothbrush or more like a car battery?
Jamie glanced at the alarm clock on the side of his bed, that he was sure had been sitting in the same spot since long before he was born. He figured a five-star hotel could afford to replace the clocks every five years—or was it ten? Two? Did it have an expired by, or change out date? Was it like a toothbrush—or a car battery?
It didn't really fit in with the chic room—dear God he had been spending too much time with Brooke.
He couldn't decide which was worse that these were his thoughts this early morning, or that he was actually awake.
Why was he awake? He was so tired, exhausted, but yet he was awake.
Knock, knock, knock.
Oh, yeah. That was it. A noise woke him. Well, that made more sense.
Someone was knocking at his door, at four in the morning—that just begged the question, who in the hell was waking him up at four in the morning?
Jamie kicked them cover's off of the one side of his body they covered and swung his legs over the side of the bed, but he didn't get up right away. He sat there, waiting for some sort of energy to return to his body, but found it never did.
Knock, knock, knock.
The noise made against the door was light, and calm, but persistent. Jamie smiled because he knew who it was that was on the other side of the door.
He stood up and walked to the door, but he paused for a second "Sasha, is that you"?
"You're not funny".
Jamie pulled the door open and saw Madison standing on the other side. She had a pair of hot pink shorts on that he almost missed over the shirt of his she was wearing that nearly swallowed her whole, but he had to admit was so sexy.
"Was you asleep"? She asked looking at him, her arms crossed over her body, and biting down on her lip.
It was a stupid question, she knew that, but for some reason, it was the first thing to fall from her lips.
"No, I just got back from a 5K marathon," Jamie said crossing his arms as he leaned against the door.
Even the sexiest girl in the world wasn't immune to Jamie's sarcasm.
"If you want to go back to sleep I can leave," Madison said and began to back away.
Jamie reached out, and grabbed her hand, pulling her. Act right away. He didn't say anything as he led her into the darkroom, shutting the door behind them.
Madison felt him let go of her hand, and she let out a small whimper—unwillingly, as she lost physical contact with him, even the feel of his hand in hers, made everything seem as though the sky wasn't falling.
The light flipped on and when she looked up Jamie was standing by his bed, next to the lamp, and she watched as he slowly sat down on the edge of his bed.
Madison hesitated, at first, not entirely sure what to do, but eventually, she swallowed and walked across the room, in front of his bed. She into all went to sit down next to him, but Jamie blocked her from doing six taking her wrist once again, pulling her over to him.
She found herself sitting on top of Jamie, straddling him down on the bed, and watched as he laid back, tucking his hands behind his head, his eyes only half-open.
Madison asked, "Is this what I have to look forward to"? She half-smiled. "I'm going to be the one who has to make the coffee every morning when we live together"?
Jamie nodded. "In nothing but you're underwear".
Madison smiled, she didn't have a choice. It was such a teenaged boy response, not at all something she thought she would ever hear him say.
"You knew I wasn't a morning person when you fell in love with me," Jamie said, tucking his hand up that back of his shirt, that she was wearing, grazing the small of her back with his thumb.
Madison shuddered at the contact, the skin on skin, it sent a tremor down her spine and suddenly she wasn't thinking about today—later. She was thinking about her half-naked boyfriend, and all the ways he could make her forget about everything in the world.
She looked down, and there Jamie lay, shirtless of course because—why not? He was wearing nothing but the same pair of oversized shorts he wore almost every time he went to the river court, she wanted to roll her eyes, someone with as much money as him and he wore the same thing over and over, typical. But, they were his favorite pair.
They hung just below his waistline, low enough so that she could see the tattoo on his hip, but not so low she could see the entire drawing.
"On a scale of one to ten" Madison began, as she traced the outline of the Rose, she could see, that was embedded in his skin with her finger, she supposed to keep from looking at him. "How mad are you".
"What's one and what's ten" she heard Jamie's voice but still didn't look up at him.
"One is a little, and ten is you never want to see me again".
Jamie reached out and took Madison's hand, effectively stopping her from whatever the hell it was she was doing, except that he did know. It's this little tic she did when she got nervous, or scared. She felt the need to keep her hands moving and avoided any and all eye contact with anyone.
Except he wasn't just anyone, and he was the only one here with her.
Jamie sat up, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist—holding her as close as he could, so she would have no choice but to look at him. "There is nothing you could do that would ever, and I mean ever, make me not want to see you again," he said brushing a loose strand of hair away from her eyes. "I love you too damn much".
"Yeah"?
"Yeah—Maddie, I'm allowed to worry, and be upset that you didn't tell me," Jamie said. "But, that doesn't change the way I feel about you. I'm not going to lie to you—I'm pissed. But, I think you're nervous enough without me giving you some big lecture or yelling at you, that's now what you need right now".
"Then what do I need"?
"Me".
Jamie said it matter-O-factly and hasn't wrong. That's why she was here, they both knew it. She smiled at him because even when he was upset or mad, he still found a way to make her smile, to put her needs before anything he was feeling.
"And a shower wouldn't hurt".
And then there was that.
Madison shoved her boyfriend back on to the bed and watched as he rolled, laughing. When he didn't stop she chose that hitting him in the ribs was more than well deserved.
"You're still not funny".
Jamie stopped laughing and ran his hands up under the shirt she was wearing, and on to her bare hips. "I didn't say you would be alone," he told her.
"I didn't know Chuck was awake, which room is he in"?
Jamie was sure Chuck was in the next room, and he was even more sure that the sound of Madison squealing woke him when he flipped the two, her landing against the soft bed.
Madison felt as Jamie pressed his hard body against hers. The breath in her lungs was trapped in her throat, the closer his lips got to hers—until he kissed her lightly.
Then he kissed the corner of her mouth, and his lips trailed down the side of her neck. "You really think there is something, anything that Chuck can do to you, that I can't"? He whispered in her ear.
Madison looked up, into Jamie's eyes, and she smiled.
"If you'd like to give it a shot," he said, kissing her neck, again and again. "Be my guest, I'm sure he could even make your toes curl?" he told Madison sitting up balancing himself on his knees. "But, we both know—I can make your whole body shake".
Madison could hear the shake in her breath as she watched Jamie reach beneath her and pull her shorts off, throwing them to the side. "Which do you prefer"?
"You're an ass".
Madison said it, and she meant it, but she couldn't think of anything else, at least right now. And he was right, for the record.
Some call it sex, some call it making love, and some refer to the act in the most vulgar way you can think of, but whatever you call it, that's what they did. And continued to do, until they both ran out of energy to move.
Not long after, Madison was lying in her boyfriend's arms, tracing her finger along his chest—smiling, because she couldn't stop. She wasn't sure he was even awake until she felt him running his fingers through his hair when she looked up—she saw the sun had begun to rise over the city outside the hotel.
"I'm nervous," Madison said, wrapping her arm tightly around his waist.
"I know baby, but these people aren't your parents" she heard his voice. "Be nervous when you meet them".
"They might be, I mean they could be, what if Lauren was mistaken"?
"And what if she wasn't"? Jamie asked. "Is that what you're nervous about—meeting them? Or that they might be your parents—or are you nervous that they might not be"?
Madison looked up at him, to find he was already looking down at her. There were advantages and disadvantages to having a boyfriend who knew you so well, she couldn't decide which this was.
"What if I go in there and they tell me that they aren't my parents"? Madison asked. "What if I go in and there I find out they are dead? Or worse? And I never got to know them—or they don't know. And I will never know".
"And that might be the case, they might be dead, or they might know. But, you wanted answers" Jamie told her. "You can't get scared just because they might not be the answers you expected. I don't want you to go in there and have high expectations that they will even tell you. Or that they will even know about your biological parents, you don't even know how you came into their possession".
"Wow," Madison said. "You make me sound like a beat-up old 1987 chevy caprice".
Jamie laughed, but just for a second. "Maddie, these people are on death row—you don't know who they are or what they are capable of doing," he said. "I don't want you to go in there with high hopes".
"I would have thought that you, of all people, would have wanted me to find out—who I am," Maddie said. "We have talked about having kids one day. We can answer any and every question about your side of the family, but not mine. I deserve to know and I deserve to be able to tell our children if they are either half Latino or if they are half Spaniard's, I want to look at them and be able to say you're from a Spanish decent—our family comes from Spain or you're from Mexican descent, our family comes from Mexico. I know you're upset, but I thought you would be on my side about this, at least".
"I think you're taking this the wrong way," Jamie told her, stroking his index finger down her bareback. "I am on your side, always, I want you to know everything about yourself there is to know, I just don't want to see you get hurt—that's why I don't want you to go in with high hopes. But, I'm on your side regardless—no matter".
Madison reached up and cupped the side of Jamie's face "I didn't think it was possible to love you more than I already do, but somehow you always find a way to make me love you more".
"I plan to do that until my last breath".
"I'm going to hold you to that".
6:47 am
Haley reached her hand out, it was a habit she had fallen into over the years, but when she felt nothing—emptiness, she opened her eyes. The other half of the bed she was curled up in was vacant, nothing but a hollow hole existed where Nathan had laid his head just hours before.
She sat up in the bed, looking around the unfamiliar room—glancing into the open bathroom, and found her husband nowhere in sight.
"Nathan"?
Haley listened, but didn't hear her husband's response, she didn't hear anything but the traffic from the streets. She got up from the bed and made her way over to the window, pulling it closed, trying to remember why it was closed in the first place.
She knew she hadn't closed it. She also couldn't think of a reason Nathan would have opened it, it was Texas—perhaps the maid had left it open when she cleaned the room the day before.
Haley looked around the dimly lit room, and the first thing she noticed was the duffel bag with Nathan's things in it open—and his shoes were missing.
Where on earth had he gone?
They weren't home, he knew very little about where they were and he disappeared so early in the morning—and just like that she knew where he was.
Haley slipped her own shoes on and pulled Nathan's hoodie over her head before finding her way out the room, and through the hotel. After ten minutes or more of wandering around, she found her husband, within the walls of the basketball court located inside the hotel.
Of course, Jamie picked a hotel with a basketball court, she should have known.
She watched as her husband made basket after basket, not missing a shot.
Nathan didn't notice her, not at first, but when he did he half smiled—but his unsteady breath effecting it a little.
"What are you doing down here"? Nathan asked holding the ball steady in his hand.
Haley walked towards him, with her arms crossed. "I believe I could ask you the same thing," she said.
Nathan looked down at his wife and shrugged. "I couldn't sleep—didn't want to wake you".
"Really? Because I can't sleep when my husband is not in the bed" Haley said taking the ball from him.
"Hales—".
"Nathan, what's wrong"? She asked. "I know you, and I know something is wrong—so, just tell me".
Nathan ran his fingers through his sweaty hair, thinking of pretty much any way to avoid the conversation, all together.
"Is this about the babies"?
Haley asked a question, and they both knew the answer to it, they both knew what was wrong and what the cause of his insomnia was.
"If I say yes, does that make me a bad dad"?
"If it does then I am right there with you," Haley told him. "Two babies, it's a big responsibility, a big change to our family".
Haley watched as Nathan made his way over to the bleachers, sitting down, taking a large and long drink of the blue sports themed drink he had waiting for him. "Do you realize these will be our only kids that are close together in age—it can't be healthy to keep spacing them out like this".
"That's why you didn't want any more kids, isn't it"?
"Hales, we had one moving out in two years, and now we are starting all over," Nathan said. "We will never be done if we birth another before every graduation".
"You're upset".
"I'm not—I promise, I would never be upset over you being pregnant".
"Ahem, Jamie," Haley said doing her best fake cough as she spoke.
"Subtle," Nathan said looking up at his wife.
Haley sat the ball down, smiling, as she walked over and joined her husband on the husband on the bleachers, sitting to face him.
"That was different, that was—I was a kid, I was young," Nathan told her. "I was—I don't even know, it took me a little bit to wrap my head around it".
"Just like it's going to take you time to wrap your head around this" Haley said rubbing his bare arm. "This is just like with Jamie—".
"No, no it's not," Nathan told her. "We have been married a year when you got pregnant with Jamie, now we have been married for almost two decades, as we are young. We are still young. We would have been in our early forties when Lydia graduated. Now we just pushed that back too—we will be fifty-two or fifty-three—Dan wasn't even that old when he died".
"Dan was shot, it's not like it's hereditary," Haley told him. "And fifties isn't that old—".
"It will feel that way when we just spent the past thirty-four years raising kids," Nathan told her.
Haley didn't say anything, that was a good point, as badly as she hated to admit it.
"I will not love these babies any less than I love Jamie and Lydia, but we were only married for a year before you got pregnant with him," Nathan told her. "And we spent a great deal of that apart—I love our family, but I love my wife and I loved her first, maybe I'm selfish but I want to wake up and still be young enough that we can live our lives—do you realize that we are going to have children in either middle school or high school and have grandchildren"?
"Wait—what"?
"If Jamie has kids at the same age we had Lydia—we will be raising kids at the same time our son is".
"Well, now I feel old—thank you," Haley said shaking her head. "Nathan, people have kids our age every day—".
"You're right, they do," he said. "It's not about our age, it's—just promise me, we're done after this? No more kids, in eighteen years it will be just you and me like it was before".
"Nineteen".
"What"?
"Well, I'm pregnant so technically it's nineteen—but that's not the point," she said when she saw Nathan's face change erratically. "Yes, no more kids".
"I don't want to seem ungrateful because there are people—like Brooke who can't get pregnant at the drop of a hat," Nathan told her. "We have two perfectly healthy pain in the asses, but I want to take my wife out on a date without worrying about a sitter or take a vacation where we spend most of the time naked—hell all of the time naked. For the love of God, I want to have sex in my own house without worrying about one of the kid's hearing".
Haley laughed. "Do you even like our children"?
"You really have to be careful what day you ask me that question".
"Nathan, I get it—I think all parents do, some just don't want to admit it," Haley told him. "But, we have time for us—we do".
"When"? He asked. "When was the last time we took a trip together? Just us? Or when was the last time we went out just to eat pizza just us? We are always with the kids, and if we aren't with them that's what we talk about. Over ninety percent of our conversation pertains to our kids, now? Now, there is going to be more, we are going to be outnumbered. There are four of them and two of us—oh, God and Jamie is going to be their leader. It's going to be like that movie" he said snapping his finger. "What's that movie—we watched it a thousand times, with Gerard Butler, it's got numbers and —".
"300"?
Nathan nodded. "Yeah, that's going to be our kids," he said and deepens his voice as rough as he could "this is Sparta"!
Haley reached over and took the drink in his hand and sniffed the liquid inside earning a puzzled look from her husband. "Just checking," she said handing it back. "You're being a little dramatic".
"I'm panicking—join me will you"? He asked. "Twins, that's two people, and how are you so calm"?
"Because, the doctor said maybe—the hormone levels mixed with the baby gestational age, but it could be a thousand different things," Haley told him. "But, even if we do, it's not the worst thing Nathan—Brooke did".
"Brooke didn't have a moody teenager and miniature Deb"!
"Did you just compare our daughter after your mother"? Haley asked.
"She has imaginary friends, any signs of physiological break down immediately gives my mother credit," Nathan said. "She might be naked after your mother but she the Lee in her runs deep, any crazy in our kids comes from my family".
"I'm sensing that," Haley said as she observed her husband.
"What? Me? You think I'm crazy"?
"Well, you're the one in an emotional crisis right now" Haley pointed out. "Look, having twins is a big deal, but it's babies—I know we decided to quit trying, but it's done. We are having two precious babies, who when you hold you'll forget all about how you feel right now—just like with Jamie".
"I'm sure I'll remember when I have to buy half of the diapers in aisle six," Nathan told her.
"Will you"? Haley asked. "Or will you be too eager to get home because one started crawling, or because they said their first word, held their bottle for the first time. You're panicking now, but I'm a year, you won't remember this".
Nathan looked at his wife, and he knew she was right. He knew that despite everything he was feeling, and everything he was thinking in a year it wouldn't matter.
None of it would.
"But, until we know for sure that it's twins—let's not talk about it or think about, let's treat this like a normal pregnancy," Haley told him. "Because chances are that might be what it is".
Nathan nodded. "I was just going to suggest that, you seemed to be having a mental break down over nothing".
Haley pinched her husband's side and he laughed, looking over at her he ran his fingers through her long wavy hair. "Just promise me something"?
"Yes, it's the last one—or ones," she said huffing.
"No—I mean thank you, but that's not it," he said. "Promise me we start making time for us, alone time, raising all these kids I don't want to forget what made them, us, you and me and the fact that we fell in love all those years ago".
Haley pressed her forehead to his, and gently kissed his lips. "I don't think anyone could ever forget that, but yeah—we will always make time for us".
"I have an idea, let's go on a trip," he said.
"A trip"?
"What do you call them—a baby star"?
Haley laughed. "A babymoon"?
Nathan smiled but nodded. "The baby or babies should be here before summer, we could take a trip before they get here. Spend some time together, just us, no one else".
"I like that idea," Haley said and looked around. "You know you have been sitting here talking about being alone and spending some time together—just us, and we have an empty hotel room upstairs, why aren't we using it"?
Nathan looked at her and smiled "come on".
He stood up and pulled Haley by her hand. They kissed as they ran out the door, and they kissed as they rode the elevator, but it wasn't until the burst through the door to their room that it all really began.
Nathan lifted his wife as the two made their way into the bathroom, he opted for the shower as he knew the sweat leaking from his skin wasn't the most appealing.
The couple stood beneath the falling water kissing, skin on skin until the water turned cold.
Until Haley couldn't breathe anymore until it was all they could do to hold themselves on their feet before they made their way to their bed before they laid there—watching as the morning traffic slowly escalated until cars filled the highway from one end to the other.
"So," Haley said as she laid comfortably in her husband's arms. "When exactly are we taking this trip"?
Nathan looked down into her eyes and smiled. "I don't know, I will have to check on my vacation time with Clay when I get back, I'm sure he will move some things around—he owes me," Nathan said. "I covered a lot of time when Quinn gave birth".
"If we go away, and I spend a week or more like this—I may never want to go home," Haley said planting a small kiss on his chest.
"I can't say I would disagree".
Haley picked up her husband's wrist and looked at the time on his watch "okay we have to get up".
"Says who"?
"Says continental breakfast".
Nathan laughed as he watched his pregnant wife quickly dress, so find her way towards a free breakfast.
8:12 AM
Keith was new to technology, but he was thankful that muting a television had yet to change. He picked the remote up and pressed the button, silencing the movie that was playing on the flat screen in front of his bed.
Although he half wondered why he felt the need to turn the volume off just to answer a door. Was that something he had always done? His entire life had become nothing but a series of questions, things that felt normal and part of his everyday life suddenly made him question everything.
Was it normal—or was it a sign of something wrong with his brain? Was the surgery botched? Was it an after effect of surgery? Was it caused by lying in a coma for so many years?
Would he ever feel the same, or sane?
Was everything he did going to cause him to question himself for the rest of his life?
When Keith opened the door, it pulled him out of his horrible train of thoughts, and on to a new set.
"Good morning," Lily told her father, though he had only just met her he could hear the shift in her voice that he wasn't familiar with.
"Is it"? He asked, crossing his arms.
"Erm—can I come in? I brought breakfast" she said holding the tray in her hands up full of food.
Keith opened the door, and she slowly walked past him, sitting the tray down on the table.
"I didn't know what you liked, I just know what mom told me," Lily said. "But, I didn't know if you still liked that or if something had changed, so I get one of everything, but then I thought what if you're really hungry and you only liked certain things, so I got two. But, then I wanted to eat with you—and I didn't know what you would like and how much so I got four, but then I didn't know—".
"You're rambling".
"I know," Lily said biting on her lip. "I do it when I'm nervous".
"You didn't seem nervous last night when you were yelling at Luke".
"That's different," Lily told him. "Luke is my older brother and he tries to tell me what to do".
"Probably because he is up until now he has been the only prenatal figure you have had since your mom passed," Keith told her sitting down at the table. "You know he didn't have to take you in or take care of you, but you the things you needed, let alone the things you wanted".
Lily sat down in the vacant chair and pushed her hair behind her ears. "Do we have to talk about Luke"?
"We could move on to you running away if you'd like," he said.
Lily tucked her legs beneath her and crossed her arms. "I didn't run away," she said, trying her best to contain her tone. "I went with a friend".
"Without telling any of the adults in your life, let alone getting approval".
"No one would have let me if I had"! Lily told him.
"Probably because you shouldn't be crossing the country by yourself at sixteen," Keith told her. "What if the three of you had broken down in the middle of nowhere"?
"I would call a tow truck".
"You have no cell phone service, now what are you going to do"?
Lily looked at him. "I don't know what the right answer is, I know that you're mad at me—and that really sucks, and I'm sorry, but my friend needed me. Don't you understand that? Didn't you ever have friends that needed you and you would be there for them, no matter what"?
Keith looked at Lily, who was clearly beyond words upset, but she kept talking anyway. And the more she talked, the more questions she asked, the more one person came to his fragile mind.
"There was one person, she was my best friend," Keith told Lily. "Your mom, I would have done anything for Karen".
Lily smiled when he mentioned her mother.
"And I'm trying to think what she would have said to you or how she would have handled this" Keith told her. "If she had woke up and her sixteen-year-old daughter had run away, and don't defend it because that's what we are calling it. If she woke up and was completely frantic that you had just left in the middle of the night no note, no nothing—".
"If I did anything I would have texted, no one leaves notes anymore," Lily told him.
"I do," he said. "I leave notes, every time someone tells me something that might be worth remembering I write it down, so I don't forget a middle name or a birthday or the fact that I have a daughter—I woke up and I was robbed of a big piece of not only my life but yours, I missed everything. I am trying to push nearly two decades in my head, but my brain isn't cooperating, every time I forget something I wonder if it's my brain or I just simply forget which humans are allowed to do—I am allowed to do. And I worry that I'm going to forget something, or someone, that is one of the downfalls of brain surgery. It can cause memory loss from your past and affect your future, and I wake up and you have taken off—you're not allowed to do that".
Lily felt bad, she looked at Keith with a tear in her eye, and she knew at that moment how bad she screwed up.
"I spent my whole life praying that by some miracle I would get to meet you, somehow—someway, if it was in a dream or—something and now you're here," Lily told him.
"Then why would you take off like that"? He asked. "Why would you leave the next morning"?
Lily took his hand. "You can ground me or whatever, I really am sorry I worried you but I have a friend, a friend who needed me, I've never had a friend before," she said. "I have never had someone who needs me, and who I needed—I'm sorry, daddy, I really am".
Keith squeezed her hand lightly as she laid her head on his shoulder.
The sound of a door opened caused Lily to turn around, to see Deb walking out of the bathroom—dressed, but her hair wet.
"Oh" Lily said. "I didn't know you were in here".
"We shared a room," Deb told her.
Lily looked back and forth from her father to Deb, and could only muster up one word. "Eww".
"There are two beds Lily" Deb pointed out.
Lily looked and was thanking all the gods in heaven that they both look slept in, but then an even more disturbing thought crossed her mind.
What if they had sex in both beds? What if they had sex—at the table?
"Okay" Lily said jumping up. "I'm going to go and let you two—whatever".
"I thought you wanted to eat breakfast"? Keith asked her.
"I'm good, Chuck is downstairs—I will eat with him," she said.
"Would you stop it"? Deb asked. "She is weirded out" she explained to Keith. "She thinks we had sex, which we didn't".
"Technically you have, when demon Dan caught you and I don't want—I'm just going to go".
"You told my daughter we had sex"? Keith asked.
"Great, you can't remember if you're left or right-handed but that you remember"? Deb asked.
"Doesn't matter—I'm going to go?" Lily said ducking out the door as fast as humanly possible.
Deb looked up at Keith who sat at the table playing with a piece of bacon, a lot longer than he should have. "You like it," she said as she began brushing her wet hair.
"I know I do, but do I like it because I tried it before I knew or do I like it because I used to like it"?
Deb blinked. Twice. "It's bacon, who doesn't like bacon—I would have sex with someone that smells like bacon".
Keith looked at her, both eyebrows high into his forehead.
"It was a joke, you and your daughter are the two most paranoid people I have ever met," Deb told him. "And for the record—you're not going to forget Lily".
Keith looked up "you were eavesdropping"?
"Of course, I don't think she got what you were saying but I did, and it's not going to happen".
"The doctor said a traumatic event could alter my brain and what I have already learned—about myself, or worse—others, Lily".
Deb sat down in the seat Lily had been sitting in and she took Keith's hand. "I won't let that happen, we won't. You're going to get through this".
"Will I ever get my memory back? The pieces I'm missing—the years I spent with Karen"? Keith asked.
Deb wanted to answer him, she wants to tell him that one day he would wake up and he would remember it, all of if. But, she knew what that would entail, she knew that meant he would remember it, the moment that changed his life forever.
The moment his brother picked a gun up, and aimed it at him, and pulled the trigger—and that was something she worried he would never recover from.
"I don't know," Deb told him rubbing his forearm softly. "But, I am here, I'm not going anywhere, I will see you through this".
8:45 Am
Peyton didn't know if it was possible to yawn bigger until she did—again and again until her jaw almost felt sore. It seemed like a never-ending tragic game as she walked through the dining room of the hotel, find the first pot of coffee she could find—not paying attention if it was regular or decaf, though she would come to regret that decision later.
As she mixed her sugar she wondered if she had slept at all, she remembered lying down and waking up, and then she remembered—nothing. No rest, no dreams—she tossed and she turned in the empty bed, wishing for nothing more than something to settle her mind and her body. All of which were few rooms down, but couldn't find herself to walk the halls to him.
Jake.
She couldn't even remember why they agreed to sleep in different rooms, but they had.
Whatever it was had to be a stupid reason if she couldn't even remember it now.
"Do you know the best part about a five-star hotel"? Haley asked coming up behind her taking the large coffee pot and pouring herself her very own glass.
Peyton shook her head, mid-yawn, assuming her friend was going to answer anyways, probably something to do with literature. Or—Nathan.
Neither of which Peyton had the patience for this early.
"A five-star breakfast," Haley said as she took a large bite out of her muffin. "This is so good".
"Get a room," Peyton told her as she watched Haley devour the food in her palm. "Or did you already"?
"What"? Haley asked, almost incomprehensible.
"For a five-star hotel, they have one-star walls—and I am in the room next to some sex-crazed nymphomaniac's," Peyton said. "I woke up to a porn show—without the visualizes, thank God! Who wakes up at the awe crack of dawn and decides to have sex"?
"I'm sure you have—woke up before and had some—amazing, morning sex before, too," Haley said as she swiped her finger across the cinnamon bun, eating the icing, not looking at Peyton.
"Oh, my god—that was you"? Peyton groaned.
"I never said it was me".
"So, you're telling me you didn't just have sex"?
"I definitely didn't say that," Haley said smiling.
"In case you didn't know most people are okay with waking up to the sound of birds chirping, not a porno," Peyton told her.
Haley took a large sip of her coffee and shook her head "you're crabby".
"Should you even be drinking that"? Peyton asked.
Haley glanced up. She knew what Peyton meant, she just didn't know why, or how.
"It's decaf—Wait, you know"?
"With every pregnancy, you get worse and worse at hiding it," Peyton told her but glanced down at the coffee. "You got your coffee from the same pot I did".
"And it still reads decaf," Haley said holding it up.
Peyton looked down into her mug filled with liquid, realizing why she hadn't had her morning jolt she was used to, it didn't have the caffeine she needed. She groaned and dumbed the cup into the nearest sink, before refilling it with the correct liquid.
"Congratulations by the way," Peyton said as she mixed sugar in. "Do you congratulate when it's the third baby? Or is it like the hunger games, may the odds be ever in your favor"?
"Please, please don't make that joke to Nathan, he was already doing his 'this is Sparta' impersonation—which is dead on, so whatever you do keep that comment to yourself," Haley told her.
Peyton chuckled. "So, Nathan isn't excited about the pregnancy, that answers my were you trying question".
"I don't think it's the pregnancy that's got him in a tizzy," Haley told her. "There is a chance it might be twins—but we won't know until we get back".
Peyton looked up at Haley, her eyes wide. "Twins"? She asked. "That sounds—exciting".
"It sounds like two births in one" Haley told her. "That's the only part I'm nervous about, Nathan is a little—apprehensive about it".
"I'd say," Peyton told her. "But, it will be okay, it will all work itself out".
"That's how I feel—but when I left Nathan he was planning a vacation, he acts like we are never going to be alone," Haley said.
Peyton rubbed Haley's shoulder. "Out of our entire dysfunctional group you and Nathan are the most kick-ass parents, those babies are lucky to have you two".
Haley smiled. "I have really been stressing over my parenting skills, so I will take the compliment".
Peyton, now pumped full of caffeine, glanced over her shoulder and observed the large room—looking for one person in particular. When she saw that she was nowhere in sight she turned back around and said: "I need a favor" in a very low voice, just loud enough for Haley to hear, and only Haley.
"I need you to talk to Brooke—check on her for me".
"Why can't you"? Haley asked.
Peyton bit down on her bottom lip, there was really no way to lie around that question, no matter how many different ways she thought of in her head—Haley was too smart for any of it.
"Well," the curly blonde said, risking her life as she reached out and took one of the muffins off of Haley's plate. "It's about her and Luke, I think, I don't know entirely, are they okay"?
Haley slowly nodded.
"They're dating right"?
Haley was now the one attempting to come up with a lie in her head, but it wasn't because Peyton was to smart to fall for it, she was, but Haley was a bad liar. If her life depended on her lying, she would just go on and pick out the best casket she could find.
"Why do you think that"? Haley asked. "I mean what makes you think that? Or what's the cause of your thought process that makes you think that your best friend is dating your ex-husband"?
Peyton rolled her eyes. "Relax, Haley, I know," she said. "If they're not, they are thinking about it".
"Why would you—"?
"Can we skip the part where you pretend that you don't know like I said I know everything even when no one tells me"? Peyton asked. "This is about Brooke, I am worried and I am relying on you for this".
"Wow, you know everything," Haley said. "And no one doesn't not tell you anything—did that make sense".
"Unfortunately, perfectly," Peyton told her.
"No one leaves you out," Haley told her.
"Really? So, you're telling me that Brooke doesn't know that you're pregnant"? Peyton asked, tilting her head, as she waited for an answer that she already knew. "She was really drunk yesterday as if she was drinking for two people—perhaps so no one would know that you were pregnant? That wasn't what was going on"?
Haley didn't answer, she just looked at Peyton, sympathetically.
"Relax, I'm not upset or anything. I'm actually happy for you" Peyton told her. "When Luke and I moved away a lot of things changed, I always thought I would stand next to Brooke when she got married but you were her maid of honor, it was my own fault, I couldn't make it to the wedding, but you're her best friend now. Not me. It's completely fine when I came back a lot had changed, Luke fit right back in as if no time had passed, and I'm sitting over here like an outsider".
"You're not an outsider".
"Haley, I'm like Kip on friends".
"Who"?
"Exactly," Peyton said. "It's fine, Brooke and I were once best friends, and now that's your job, even when she traveled with Luke and me if she had a problem she called you and not talk to me, who was right there. But, it's all fine—I'm totally team Braley".
Peyton wasn't trying to make Haley feel bad, she really wasn't, but she was. And the with every "fine" she was Haley felt worse and worse. The former singer couldn't help but think of all the times she had been left out, unintentionally—for the most part. Or all the times they got together without her, with no one realizing she had forgotten to be invited.
Haley quickly realized no one had even thought to invite her on this trip, but there she stood.
"This isn't what I want to talk about," Peyton said, jerking Haley out of her own thoughts. "I was talking to Brooke last night, and she got a little upset, I mentioned how I was thinking about having sex with Jake and—".
"You two haven't had sex yet"?
Peyton rolled her eyes. "You have been spending too much time with Brooke" she pointed out. "You're not one to judge me, you waited until you were married".
"I was seventeen, though—does it really count"?
Peyton didn't answer, because the point was a solid one. "Anyways," she said. "Brooke got really defensive when I mentioned something about my body, all I was was my body wasn't the same as it was when I was a teenager and we haven't been together since—".
"Are you kidding"? Haley asked. "I'm about to expand for two humans and you're worried about your size four problems"?
"I'm worried that I am never going to be able to finish a sentence," Peyton told her.
Haley looked up from her coffee, half smiled and half pouted. "Sorry," she said crossing her arms, but she only half meant it.
"Has she had sex with Luke"?
"You're a really cool ex-wife, in case no one has told you," Haley said smiling.
"Haley, she got really upset—defensive" Peyton told her. "She started going on and on about how people would kill for a body like mine. She walked away so fast—Brooke has always been very confident, at least when it comes to her body".
"And you think she is feeling insecure"? Haley asked.
Peyton shrugged. "I don't know, that's why I need your help".
"My help"?
"I can't just waltz hip to her and figure out if she is feeling some type of way about her body—especially if it had to do with Luke".
"You really need to familiarize yourself with the definitions for can and can't," Haley told her. "You could, you very easily could. You just won't".
"Fine, I just won't".
"Why don't you just tell her that you know"? Haley asked.
"I slept with Lucas while they were still together, it was years ago I know—it's water under the bridge but this is how I'm trying to make up for it," Peyton said. "She will tell me when she is ready, I'm not going to push her. I am going to let her figure things out, with me out of the equation, then when she is ready, she will come to tell me" she told Haley. "There was a time in our lives when we shared everything, including Luke, but we aren't teenagers anymore. I am going to give her, her space and let her figure things out without me. I feel like if she knew I knew it would complicate things for her, she needs to decide if she wants to be with Luke for herself. Brooke knows she has my blessing, but for now, that's all she needs to know. This decision she has to make has to be for her and only for her—I owe her".
Haley took Peyton's hand and gave it a small squeeze. "So, you want me to talk to her"?
"Please"? Peyton asked. "I can't—but she needs to be able to talk to someone, if she is feeling insecure or hurting she needs to talk about it, so someone can hit her over the head with some facts. Regardless of what's wrong, and something is, she needs to talk to someone".
"I suppose you don't want me to mention that you sent me either"?
"If you could find a way around it, I would appreciate it".
"I think I can figure something out," Haley told her.
Peyton smiled. "I owe you one".
"Babysitting, I will need lots of babysitting".
9 Am
Lucas reached the door he had been looking for and wasn't entirely shocked when he found it propped open, only halfway. He double-checked the suite number before pushing the door, just another quarter of the way open, just to be safe—not like another embarrassing moment would affect his track record at this point in life, but he preferred to keep them within his own state lines.
"Brooke"?
"Yeah" he heard her familiar voice, though wasn't sure where exactly it had come from. "Come on in"
Lucas walked over the threshold and closed the door tightly behind him.
"I got your texts," he said as he walked further into the room. "What's up"?
Brooke walked out of the bathroom, with nothing on but a skin-tight pencil skirt—and the fact that he knew that was somewhat shocking, and a bright pink bra. "I need your help deciding what to wear"?
Lucas leaned against the dresser the large television sat on and smiled. "Well, as sexy as that is—I do advice maybe a shirt".
Brooke rolled her eyes. "I need to look professional, I guess," she said. "Black is threatening, red is the color of blood—neither of which I need today".
Lucas smiled and walked over to her bed looking at the insane amount of clothes spread out across it.
"What about this"? Lucas asked holding a shirt up.
"That's a corset," she said. "It goes under my clothes, but good to know you like it".
Lucas looked down at the white lacy undergarment, he smiled before she jerked it out of his hand, and tossed it to the side.
"Black and red are out, what about white"? Lucas asked pointing at a shirt.
"After Labor Day"?
Lucas scoffed. "Why exactly did you call me to come help"? He asked.
"I know it seems crazy—considering you wear the same shirt six times in one week—".
"And the fact that you are a multi-million dollar fashion designer"? Lucas asked, cocking a smile at her.
"Yes, I know what's in style—I write the book for what's in style, but not to walk into a prison and look presentable," Brooke said. "Or if I'm supposed to, but you had a father in prison once—".
"Who I never went to see" Lucas reminded her. "And if I had, I wouldn't have dressed up to go".
"I know, but if this woman knows something about Madison's parents I need her to trust me, to tell me," Brooke told him. "My outfit can't be the reason this all goes to hell today".
"It won't be if it goes to hell—it won't be your fault," Lucas told her, and he leaned down. "What about these"?
"Jeans"?
"Skinny jeans, some cute heels, and that plain white shirt— sophisticated and casual, no big bright colors, and extremely sexy".
Brooke looked at him, and for whatever reason, she took the jeans out of his hand.
Lucas sat down in the chair by the window, and he wasn't even going to pretend to look away when Brooke shimmed out of her skirt and slipped into the jeans he gave her—and slipped the shirt over her head.
"Okay, so calling you was a good idea—you're right, I look hot," Brooke said as she looked in the full-length mirror. "It's not threatening, I look approachable—".
"You've got to stop watching Orange is the new black," Lucas said chuckling to himself. "You're going to a prison, you're not going to prison".
Brooke rolled her eyes, but she did it with a smile, a smile that lit up the room, and Lucas' world.
"You have two girlfriends here, and you called me to come help," Lucas said leaning back in his seat. "Does that mean you just wanted to see me"?
Brooke, who had begun curling her hair with a hot iron, looked at Lucas through the mirror she as in front of. "You want me to say yes, don't you"?
"It wouldn't hurt my feelings if you did," he said. "I'm happy you called me, it's been a long time since I have seen a half-naked Brooke Davis".
Brooke shrugged. "I guess that was part of it—and then I haven't told Peyton, about whatever this is," she said guiding her index finger between her and Lucas as she reached for her hairspray. "And I feel like I'm lying around her, I mean I am sort of. I'm hiding something from her".
"Do you want me to talk to her"?
Brooke turned around and looked back at him. "You would, wouldn't you? You would put yourself in an extremely awkward conversation with your ex-wife, for me"?
"Brooke, I would jump in front of a moving bus or a bullet for you," he said.
When Brooke turned back around to continue fixing her hair, she couldn't wipe the smile off of her face—and trust me, she tried.
"Thank you—but no" Brooke said. "This is something I need to do, I just haven't yet, and I don't know when I will".
"You take all the time you need," Lucas said looking at her. "I have waited for you for almost twenty years, I'm a patient man".
Brooke shook her head, trying her best to swallow the butterflies roaming around inside her body.
"Then Haley," Brooke said, attempting to keep the conversation going before it continued to Segway and she wouldn't be able to recover. "I didn't want to bother her either, she needed her rest. She has so much going on with Nathan, Lydia, Jamie, and now the baby".
"The what"?
Brooke turned around realizing that maybe she spilled the tea, that wasn't hers to spill.
"Oops," she said. "I don't know if I was supposed to tell you that—she's pregnant".
Lucas was genuinely shocked, so it was no secret he didn't know. "Wow," he said. "They are having another baby"?
Brooke nodded. "She just found out".
"How is she feeling"?
"Good, I think," Brooke said. "They have just decided to quit trying not too long ago, I think they were content with it just being them and the kids, so it will be an adjustment".
"Isn't every pregnancy"? Lucas asked.
Brooke nodded. "Yeah, but when you make a decision to not have anymore and when one comes out of left field—it's hard to get used to an idea that you threw out the window, but she found out early so that gives her more time to get used to the idea".
"How early"? Lucas asked.
"I don't even think she was late yet," Brooke told him.
"If she wasn't late, and they weren't trying, how did she find out so early"?
Brooke smiled because even before she said it, she knew she had one of the best people in the world to be her friend. She unplugged the curling iron and gave her hair a small toss, loosening her fresh curls. "She went to the doctor for a check-up, she planned to get pregnant—but with my baby".
"What"? Lucas asked, his face turning in a thousand different ways, as God knows what rushed through his mind.
Brooke laughed. "She was going to be my surrogate," she said walking over and string on the edge of the bed across from him. "She went to the doctor to find out—if she could".
"Your—surrogate"?
Brooke nodded. "I have been looking into it, I froze my eggs before Julian died, and I'm not getting any younger—especially if I am having at least three more".
"You want three more"? Lucas asked.
Brooke smiled wide. "I grew up an only child, hell I pretty much grew up all alone. Peyton was all I had, I spent very few nights with both my parents in the house—and even then dad stayed in his study and mom never left her room, they would fake a smile for holidays but I was alone. I think that's why I want this big family, I want the noise and the mess and the chaos, I want the movie nights and the game nights, the stress that comes with trying to find the perfect Halloween outfit for five different kids, I want to wake up with little feet in my face".
"Five kids, huh"? Lucas asked leaning forward taking her small hand into his.
"Yeah"?
"So, if you met this guy, who already had a child—possibly a hyperactive optimistic blonde—would the number change, or would it still be five"? Lucas asked looking up at her.
Brooke's eyes instantly took up her entire face. "Whoa" she said. "I think you just skipped a bunch of steps".
"I gave you a hypothetical man—what you did with that in your own head is on you," Lucas told her.
Brooke smiled, as she rubbed the back of his hand, twisting her fingers around the watch he was wearing. "If—if I met someone, he has to understand that three is just a number I put in my head, it doesn't mean I will make it to three and it doesn't mean I will stop at three," she said. "Whoever, 'he' is, he has to understand that I want a big family, and he has to be okay with it".
"You know," Lucas said running his hands up her bare arms, smiling. "I think I know someone—who might be okay with it".
Brooke laughed when Lucas pulled her over to him, she tucked each one of her knees on both sides of him, planting them into the large chair he was sitting in.
"In case anyone hasn't told you lately—you have a beautiful smile, pretty girl".
Brooke looked down at Lucas, melting completely. There were a thousand things she could say at this moment, there was a million she wanted to say—but she didn't.
She didn't say anything.
Her mind was racing and it crashed entirely when she felt his hands on her waist, Brooke looked down at herself—though not to look at him afraid she might do something that she wasn't prepared for, but she saw herself—straddling Lucas to the chair.
It seemed as though tearing her eyes from him made it worse—Brooke slowly lowered herself, completely into his lap and she moved forward, as close to him as she could.
Brooke was certain she didn't have control over her body anymore, because it no longer felt like she was fighting her urges.
All the things that ran through her head, of why this was a bad idea, of why the shouldn't—she couldn't remember them anymore.
Brooke closed her eyes softly when she felt Lucas reach his hand up and cup the side of her face, and she melted into him, with no intention of ever moving. She felt her whole body quiver as he glided his thumb across her bottom lip—and that was it.
Their lips crashed into each other's and though they had kissed before, it felt like the first time. Everything, everyone—vanquished from their minds.
Lucas, gently, parted her lips and wrapped his arms tightly around her as he picked her up, lay her across the bed—on top of all the clothes she had spread across them not bothering to take the time to push them out of the way. He was careful not to separate their lips, for even the smallest second.
He couldn't.
He wouldn't.
Brooke ran her fingers through the back of Lucas' hair, grasping his blonde locks in her hands before sliding her fingers down his body—and under his shirt.
She hadn't remembered his skin ever being this warm, she hadn't remembered his kisses being this intoxicating—perhaps she purposely blocked this part of her life from her mind.
And now—she was recalling why, why she chose to forget this.
It was too good to remember.
It was the little things that set her skin on fire, like Lucas running his hand halfway up the back of her shirt, and leaving it there, just the feel of his skin on hers was exhilarating.
Everything around her spun out of control—
The two parted for the first time at the sound of a ringing, her phone ringing.
Brooke groaned as she glanced over at her phone that sat at the head of the bed, she reached her hand out and picked it up.
"It's—my lawyer," Brooke told him.
Lucas kissed the top of her nose, and stood up—Brooke sat up, running her fingers through her hair—attempting to calm her breathing, before answering.
9:14 AM
Mouth did his best to keep up with Skills, he watched as his friend repeatedly looked down at the number he had written on his hand, then at the numbers that hung on the doors. He scratched the back of his head as he paused, glanced in two different directions, and then ultimately turned down a different hallway.
"The girl's hotel is back that way" Mouth said, pointing. "Lucy said—".
"I'm not looking for their hotel room," Skills told him, plainly.
"I thought you wanted to talk to Madison".
"I am".
"I'm confused".
Skills scoffed. "While you were getting the girl's hotel number from Lucy, I did something productive, like getting Jamie's from Nate".
"What makes you think she is in Jamie's"?
Skills rolled his eyes. "Just a hunch".
Mouth looked back over his shoulders, feeling more than just slightly uneasy. "She is probably already nervous about today—do you think this is such a good idea"?
"Not at all" Skills answered more honestly than either thought he would. "But, I don't have a choice—I have too. I promised Lauren".
"Well, you're shaping into a good little prison wife," Mouth said clapping his friend on the back—which proved to be his worst mistake, from the look he got, and he removed his hand before he lost it.
"She hasn't gone to prison".
"Yet," Mouth said, and didn't realize he had actually said it, out loud, until he felt the vibration from inside his throat.
"Which is exactly why I need to talk to Madison," Skills told him. "Here it is".
Mouth crashed into the back of Skills when he came to an abrupt stop, and if Mouth had a threatening bone in his body Skills would have been terrified from the look he received. However, he didn't so his friend wasn't.
Skills didn't hesitate, he hit his knuckles against the door, twice. The two waited, not for long before the door opened, and there stood Jamie, wearing nothing but a towel around his waist.
"Do you ever wear clothes"? Mouth asked, looking at him up and down.
"Chill, Dawg" Skills told him. "It's not like he is going to take Lucy's v-card, too".
Jamie let his head hang at the comment. "For the record, I took one girl's virginity—the same one who took mine, my girlfriend," Jamie told them folding his arms. "What could I possibly do for you"?
"You could be a little more polite" Mouth mentioned.
Skills looked at his friend, and he knew what was happening, he knew that Mouth was simply trying to stall—he assumed that he would change his mind. At least until later.
"You could get Madison" Skills told him, ignoring Mouth. "I need to speak with her".
"Did you check her room"? He asked. "It's down this hall and take a right—".
"J-Luke, dawg—could you just get her"? Skills asked. "It's important".
Jamie looked at Skills and he knew that Madison was in his room, and Jamie knew that Skills knew, and the man he grew up with, one of his family's closets friends looked sincerely concerned—he just didn't know about what.
Jamie tried to think of what he could possibly want with Madison, they knew each other but it wasn't like they shared pizza every Thursday. Instead of trying to figure it out he nodded.
"Babe" Jamie called. "Come here, someone's at the door for you".
"Who is it"? They all heard Madison call back.
Jamie scoffed. "Oscar and Felix".
"Oscar and who"? Madison asked, her voice drenched in confusion as she appeared, with nothing but a large white bathrobe on, courtesy of the hotel. "Oh, hey—what's going on"?
Madison looked to Jamie for answers but got nothing more than a simple shrug.
"Is everything okay"? Madison asked.
"Lauren called this morning," Skills told her, immediately.
Madison didn't hesitate before turning on her heel, but Jamie stopped her, pressing his arm against the side of the door frame while his other was held against the door. Successfully blocking her from going anywhere.
"She just wants to talk," Skills told her. "She has been on house arrest but her court date, her sentencing is coming up—Maddie she might go to jail, for a very long time".
"I don't want to talk to her or about her" Madison said a small tear dwelling in her eye. "I trusted her, and I have nothing to say to her".
Jamie looked down at Madison and he knew that look, the one where he could see her breaking from the inside out, so he took his arm down and let her walkthrough. He watched as she stormed to the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.
"Jame" Skills said as he went to go after his girlfriend. "Lauren is looking at some serious time, she just wanted to talk to Madison, one last time. She isn't asking for anything else—her lawyer suggested that Madison testify".
"I don't think that's going to happen," Jamie said.
"Ten to twenty, that's what she is looking at," Skills said. "Ten to twenty years, all for taking in a child, raising her as her own—now because she did that she is going to miss her own growing up, she isn't a bad person we all know that, even Madison".
Jamie had a soft spot for Lauren, he always had, but he knew what Skills were saying was the truth. He knew that she wasn't a bad person, he knew that she didn't deserve any of what she was getting—but he loved Madison, and that outweighed it all.
"I will talk to her," Jamie said. "Once. I will ask her, and if she says no—it's no, I won't push her".
Skills nodded. "Thank you".
Jamie nodded in response as he shut the door, and carefully made his way to the bathroom.
He opened the door to find his girlfriend, standing there—doing her make up, not that she needed it.
"Did you hear"? He asked as he grabbed as he began shuffling around inside his bag.
"Did you hope that I wouldn't"?
"No, I hoped that you would—so that I get out of having to ask you," he said as he located a pair of underwear and jeans, and pulled them both out of his bag. "You can be pissed at Lauren all you want but you owe it to her to at least talk to her? She isn't asking you to testify, that's Skills. You owe her".
"Excuse me"? Madison asked looking over at him, to find her boyfriend pulling his underwear up his legs and under his towel. "I owe her? Whose side are you on, James"?
"Yours," he said as he began putting his jeans on. "I am always on yours, but if she hadn't done what she did I wouldn't even be on yours, social services could have taken you away from me before I got the chance to love you if it wasn't for her".
"But—".
"But, nothing Maddie," Jamie said. "She took care of you, fed you, the only thing she didn't do was tell you something—and she was probably trying to protect you. All Lauren ever did was look out for you".
Madison turned back, in an attempt to avoid her boyfriend—but that became impossible when she looked up into the mirror, to see him standing directly behind her.
"Can we not talk about it—at least today"? She asked.
Jamie leaned down, kissing her softly just below her ear. "I promise not to say anything else about it," he said wrapping his arms around her.
"Why are you doing your make up"? He asked.
"Just because I'm going a prison doesn't mean I can't look nice," Madison said and looked through the mirror to see a smile on Jamie's face. "Don't?" she said swatting him with her large makeup brush. "Whatever comment is running through your head—kept it there".
Jamie nodded. He knew better than to test her to see what would happen. "What's going on with you this morning"? He asked as he let go of her, turning around and leaning his back against the sink, with the perfect view of his girlfriend.
"I'm just a little nervous".
"That's not what I mean," he said, playing with the tie around her robe. "You have nice clothes laid out and you have redone your makeup six different times, what's going on"?
"I just want to look nice, that's all".
"Shouldn't you save that, for when you meet your real parents"? He asked. "Not these people".
Madison looked up at him and felt as he slipped his hand into her robe, pulling her body into his. With his hand nestled perfectly below her rib cage, his hand on her bare skin—she almost forgot to answer to him. "What if they are my parents"?
"Maddie".
"I'm serious," Madison said. "Lauren could have been wrong, she didn't have any actual proof that they weren't".
"Then doesn't that make this worse"? He asked. "If you're real biological parents left you, abandoned you? You're getting dressed up for a woman who either kidnapped you or a woman who birthed you and left you".
Madison stepped back, out of Jamie's embrace and walked back into the wall. She fought the tears, but they won when they all began to leak out of her eyes until they couldn't stop. "I'm basically in a damned if I do and damned if I don't situation—I just want to know who my parents are so bad Jamie—I need to know, I need this. If it's them and they are these horrible people, then at least I know".
"And you don't think you deserve better than that"? He asked. "Because I do—I think you deserve a hell of a lot better. Do you want them to be your parents"?
Madison didn't answer him instantly, because she didn't know. "If it's them, the hunt is over—and if it isn't I don't know what's next," she said. "I can remember them—I remember living in a multi-language home. She spoke French and he spoke Spanish, I spoke both, and we all spoke English—I remember you could never understand my mother very well even when she did speak English".
"She has a really heavy accent" Jamie defended himself, quickly.
"Even when they left that's who I had in my mind, they were my parents—they were who I was," Madison said softly. "I was the daughter of a sophisticated French woman and reckless and carefree man from Spain, if I go in there and they tell me they aren't my parents then everything is a lie—my whole life just goes out the door, and I don't know where to go with that".
Jamie caught Madison before she hit the floor, and she cried and cried in his arms.
"Look at me," Jamie said cupping her face in both his hands. "I do, I know who you are—no matter what you find out today it doesn't change anything, you've always been Madison, that doesn't change".
"Doesn't it"? She asked.
Jamie lifted Madison and sat her on the large marble sink, he brushed her hair out of her face and kissed her lightly.
"I know that it feels confusing, and like it's been a lie—and maybe it has, but this doesn't define you, you define you. Not two people who made decisions for you" he told her. "No matter what happens today, you will always be the woman that I love, that I am in love with. That's not going to change—so if you're in there, and you start to lose it just think of me, knowing I am going to love you no matter who you are".
Madison wrapped her arms around Jamie's neck and she kissed him. "Part of me wants to go in there and find out that I haven't lived my whole life, thinking I was one thing when I was something else altogether".
Jamie took her hand and said, "come on".
Madison let him guide her out of the bathroom and to the large, full-length mirror in the room. He stood behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist—lying his chin on her shoulder. "Look," he told her. "I want you to look at yourself, I mean really look at yourself. What do you see"?
Madison looked, and naturally, the first thing she saw was Jamie. He was hard to miss, but she fought and she pulled her eyes up—on to herself. She saw her dark chocolate eyes, the small curve in her nose, and her full lips—but it was her skin, that she looked at the most. It was a perfect blend of caramel and almond, she was the perfect mix of light and dark.
"Do you look like the daughter of a Frenchwoman and a man from Spain"? Jamie asked brushing his hand down her cheek.
Madison turned around to face him and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. "I'm not their daughter am I"? She asked, burying her head into his bare chest.
"No, baby—you're not," Jamie said, playing with a loose curl bouncing from her scalp. "I think you have seen that for a long time—before you ever knew about this, but you didn't want to see it. I remember the man who claimed to be your dad, he wasn't dark at all—and your mom, hell she was whiter than I am. I never saw a resemblance between you and them, I used to think maybe you were adopted, but knowing what I know now—it's something else".
"So, I came all this way for what? For nothing" Madison said walking away and bouncing down on to his bed. "I risked everything, including my custody arrangement with Brooke to come here".
"Because you're right—you deserve to know everything there is to know about yourself," Jamie told her. "Where you're from, you need to know what box to check when you're filling out a job application, you need to know what to tell your kids one day—".
"Our kids".
Jamie looked up. "What"?
"You said your—as in, mine, they will be our kids—right"?
Jamie walked over to the bed, one step slower than the other, and sat down next to her—turning to face her. Perhaps he was stalling, perhaps he was just nervous, but he pushed her hair out of her face, and counted to twenty—in his head.
"You have talked about this big family we are going to have since our first kiss," he said, his voice rattling, and shaky. "What happens if we can't"?
"You don't want kids"?
Jamie looked down, and took her hand, lifted it—and pressed his lips to the back. "I never thought about it," he said, his voice cracking as he spoke. "I'm just sixteen—I know I want you for the rest of my life but being a dad, I never thought about it until I was sitting in a doctor's office being told that I couldn't, that I wouldn't ever".
When Jamie looked up, Madison slid across the bed, filling the space between them—wiping the small tears that had fallen out of his eyes.
"I know now isn't the best time to bring it up— but I can't get mad you for lying to me when I have been lying to you—or hiding something from you. Not telling you something" he said.
"Jamie—".
"I can never have kids," he said. "It's a long way away but I will never be able to get you pregnant".
"Why didn't you tell me"? She asked, stroking the side of his face.
He shrugged. "I was scared, I can't—I can't even begin to picture my life without you and—".
"You don't think I would leave you over that, do you"?
"No, not now anyways—but in ten years? When you're wanting all these kids we have talked about—that I can't give you"? He asked.
Maddie smiled. "Science is thriving now more than it ever has, there are ways," she said. "There is surrogacy, medicine, surgeries—and if we don't like any of those options, then we can always adopt. We could find a child who needs a loving family and give them just that, I don't need you to promise me children—I need you. I would never leave you over a theoretical child, you are real—you're the love of my life. I don't want anyone else" she said wrapping her arms around him. "Ever".
"Brooke"? Haley asked, looking up to find her friend wandering the halls of the hotel, as she exited the lobby. "Are you okay"?
"Yes—no," Brooke said, avoiding the lie she was going to go with, but ultimately decided she just didn't have the time. "I need to find Madison, have you seen her"?
"Not this morning—Skills, Mouth" Haley said pointing to the two walking out of the elevator. "Have you seen Madison"?
The two glanced at each other as if neither knew what to say.
Because they didn't.
"Now is not the time," Brooke said, quickly. "Lucas is looking for her, Peyton and Jake—I need to find her".
"She was getting ready—in Jamie's room" Mouth said slowly, earning a side glare from Skills.
"Oh, my god" Haley said throwing her hands on her hips. "You can't be serious".
"We don't have time for that" Brooke told Haley as they walked towards the elevator. "This is important, more important than them having sex".
"Brooke, what's going on"? Haley asked as they stepped inside the elevator.
"My lawyer just called with good news and bad," she said pressing the number six on the elevator and the doors slowly shut. "He was able to get us a meeting or whatever you want to call it with the mom, or whoever".
"That's the good news I suppose"?
Brooke nodded.
"Then what's the bad"?
"Someone, I don't know who, reported Madison—out of North Carolina, and it wasn't reported by me," Brooke said, her hands shaking nervously. "She is in the foster care system—".
"Brooke" Haley said taking her friend's hands.
"They are taking her," Brooke said, crying. "They want to take her, and I have twenty-four hours to get her back to Tree Hill—I don't know what to do".
The story of my life
I take her home
I drive all night
To keep her warm and time
Is frozen
The story of my life, I give her hope (give her hope)
I spend her love until she's broken inside
The story of my life (the story of, the story of)
Author's note: so there you have it!
What caused Jamie & Madison to be standing at an alter... getting married? Will they go through with it?
On a serious note, this chapter was probably my most fun to write. As a write we love to peel back layers, and with every couple "scene" or "moment", I tried to keep keep discussing the heavy stuff while still trying to make it fun, and sexy.
I feel like maybe along the way some people have gotten confused about Madison, so just in case I'm going to lay this out the best that I can. The people she lived in Tree Hill with before Lauren raised her was a woman from France, and a man from Spain (they story will be revealed), when they "leave" is where it gets kind of confusing. She has believed those people to be her parents her entire life, & has believed her heritage to have come from them, & their home. (France & Spain).
You probably remember in earlier chapters Jamie referring to her as a "Latino", of course coming from Spain she wouldn't be, but it was an ongoing bit from him, because she looked more like a Latino than a Spaniard, which believe it or not a lot of people can't tell the difference.
You will find out her true heritage soon!
I tried my hardest when writing Naley, to not make Nathan sound like a total ass but anyone would panic after having two kids ninety percent raised and turn around to do it with two more... or is there more than one baby? Is there only one? They won't know for a few more chapters.
But, it is something they are dealing with. Each in their own way. I did laugh though writing the "this is Sparta" mainly because I visualized it, and I never laugh at my own writing. I actually had to remove a section of this chapter that was a Nathan/Lucas because I worried that the chapter was too long, but a lot of changes and struggles are coming their way (not in their relationship, I could never harm Naley).
My Brucas heart is so happy I have finally reached this portion of the story, but at the same time I want to stay true to Brooke's character. From her first episode to her last there was so much growth, I love writing for her & Lucas, and to be clear she isn't self conscious about her body, but there is an underlying issue. (Another section cut because the chapter was exceeding 20,000 words)
I love, love, love Hilario Burton, but Peyton was never my favorite actor and it really shows in writing. I only keep her in this story for those who did love her, so in her section I used that.
This chapter (like I said was split into two) would have been extremely long, but is that what you prefer? Or do you like chapters like this, or shorter?
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and thank you all for reading!