Kindergarten

Summary: Blood is thicker than finger-paint.

Disclaimer: I don't own One Tree Hill.

...

"Daddy, can you tie my shoes?" Sawyer asked her father.

Lucas looked down at the bubbly five year old, smirking at her inability to stand still.

"Sure thing buttercup. And hey, high five for putting your shoes on the right feet." He tied her shoes and gave her the once over. "Did mommy let you dress yourself?" He asked, as he looked at her yellow shirt, sparkling pink tutu skirt, green socks, and blue shoes.

"Yes! Do I look like a princess?" The little girl asked.

"Yes, your royal highness!" Lucas said in a fake accent and bowed his head. His daughter giggled.

"Luke, can you put some coffee in my travel mug? I'm not going to have time for breakfast." Peyton yelled from upstairs.

Lucas went to the kitchen to do just that. He grabbed a pop tart for Sawyer as well. He knew Peyton was running late and rushing around like a crazy person, so he figured he would help out by giving Sawyer breakfast and doing her hair. While Lucas put two pigtails in her hair, Sawyer chattered on about any and everything; from being snack captain when she gets to school; to wanting to plant and grow a rainbow in the backyard.

"I'm not quite sure that's how a rainbow works Soy." He told her.

"Yes it is daddy. You just gotta have rainbow seeds."

Peyton came downstairs and whisked through the kitchen grabbing her coffee mug, phone, and keys.

"Sawyer, are you ready to go?" She asked her daughter.

"Yes mommy; come on! I'm the snack captain today."

"Okay, let's go." Peyton said. She approached her husband with a smile on her face. "Thanks for getting her ready." She kissed him.

"No problem...Anything for you." He deepened the kiss.

Peyton smirked. "Anything?"

"Anything babe; especially after last night." His hands began to roam her body.

Peyton chuckled; "See? That's why I'm running late now; I'm exhausted!"

Lucas was about to say something else but was interrupted by a loud sigh.

"We have to go!" Sawyer whined.

"I never met a kid so eager to go to school." Peyton said.

Lucas laughed, "She would be Haley's perfect student." He mused; reminding himself to call Haley and Nathan. It had been a while since he checked in on them. And of course he had to check in with his favorite and only nephew, Jamie.

"Okay, okay. Let's go." Peyton said.

Lucas followed them outside and buckled Sawyer into her booster seat. "Have a good day princess. I love you." He kissed her on the cheek.

"I love you too daddy. Be perduftive today."

Lucas and Peyton laughed.

"It's pronounced "productive". And I will be. Thank you." He corrected his daughter.

Lucas closed Peyton's door and leaned in to kiss her again. I'll call you on your lunch break. I should be done with the video conference by then. And hopefully I'll knock out another chapter on this book." He told her.

"You can do it. I believe in you." Peyton said.

Lucas waved to his girls as they drove away.

...

"Okay sweetie, we're here. Are you ready?"

The little girl shook her head no.

"It's okay. I'll be right there with you, okay?"

"Okay." The little girl replied.

They walked into the building and stopped abruptly, realizing they didn't know where to go. They looked around the hallway, seeing coloring and art drawings on the wall. They saw cubbies filled with children's coats and backpacks. One wall read "Mrs. Wilkes' Class". Another wall read "Mr. Dent's Class".

Neither of them were her teacher.

Just then, the entrance door they had just walked in, opened and a little blonde girl skipped right past them. She seemed to know where she was going. Her mother on the other hand was busy texting on her phone; not paying attention until she bumped into them. "Oh, excuse me. I'm so sorry." Peyton exclaimed as she bumped into a man and his daughter.

"It's okay...Can you help me? We're new here and we're looking for Ms. Clayton's kindergarten class.?"

"Sure, that's where we're headed. My daughter is in that class. I'm Peyton, nice to meet you."

They shook hands.

"Nice to meet you too. I'm Andrew Carter, and this is Morgan."

Peyton smiled and waved at the little girl. "Hi Morgan."

"Hi." She replied in a small voice.

"She's a little shy." Andrew explained.

"That's okay. My daughter was shy too, but as you can see she's a little ball of energy now. Hopefully with them being in the same class, they'll be great friends. Sawyer, come say hi." Peyton called to her daughter as she turned the corner into another hallway.

Sawyer slowed down while her mother and these new people approached her.

"Mom, we have to hurry. I'm sn-"

"Snack captain, I know honey, but don't be rude. Say hi."

"Hi, my name is Sawyer."

"My name is Morgan."

"See, they're friends already." Peyton laughed. Andrew smiled.

They finally arrived to the kindergarten class. Peyton helped Sawyer put her jacket and backpack in her cubby. Andrew talked to the teacher, while Morgan looked around at the classroom and her classmates.

"Would you like to stick around for Morgan's first day? We know how overwhelming it can be." Ms. Clayton asked Andrew.

"Uh, sure."

"It's okay to be nervous, but no need to worry. Morgan will be fine and Ms. Clayton is a wonderful teacher." Peyton told Andrew as she approached the desk. "I have to get to work; but Ms. C, my husband will be here to pick Sawyer up after school."

She nodded and Peyton hugged her daughter and went on her way.

"Okay children, we have a new student here. Her name is Morgan. And we will all be; she paused for effect...nice (the class said in unison) and...kind (they replied).

"Okay, let's get her a cubby and find her desk. They're in alphabetical order." Ms. Clayton said to Andrew. After hanging up her jacket and backpack, Morgan was seated next to Sawyer.

Andrew sat next to her to help put her name tag on her desk. After a few more minutes of adjustment, the class jumped right in to their activities for the day. There was learning the alphabet, learning numbers, arts and crafts, which Morgan really enjoyed. She and Sawyer were talking and laughing, while they were finger painting. That put Andrew at ease. He knew she would be okay.

"Look! Look! Look!" Morgan said excitedly as she showed him her painting.

"That's amazing!" He said as he looked at it, not sure of what it was. "Maybe if you show it to mom, then she'll put it on the fridge."

Morgan's eyes lit up. "Okay, but I have to make it more pretty and more beautiful-ler." She said. "Sawyer can I see the pink paint?"

Sawyer shared the paint and she held up her painting. "Mr. Morgan's dad, do you like my picture?"

Andrew smiled. "It's amazing! Good job, the two of you."

Seconds later, all of the children began asking him what he thought of their paintings. Andrew told them they were all masterpieces.

During snack time, Andrew figured he should go. Morgan seemed to be enjoying her first day of kindergarten. The children wouldn't let him leave before he had snack time with them; which was supplied to him by Sawyer the Snack Captain and Morgan the Assistant Snack Captain.

...

A few hours later

"How was work?" Andrew asked his wife. They were in the car on the way to pick up Morgan from school.

"It was fine." She sighed.

"That doesn't sound fine."

"I just hate that I missed my daughter's first day of kindergarten."

He rubbed her shoulder. "Don't be so hard on yourself babe. Everything went well."

"Drew, this was important. It was important to me and I know it was important to her. I can't believe I missed it. I'm the worst mom ever and I'm including my mother too."

"You'll never be as bad as your mother. And it's okay, unexpected things come up, and you had to be there to handle it. Morgan is fine. I saw that with my own two eyes. She really enjoyed herself and I'm sure she can't wait to tell you all about it."

"Thanks for being there for her. Thanks for always being there when we need you. They stopped at a red light and she leaned over to kiss her husband deeply to show her appreciation.

Cars honked their horns behind them, alerting them that the light turned green. She broke the kiss first. "Babe, we have to go."

"Everything is a go over here." He said shakily.

She laughed. "Come on silly man. Let's go."

They pulled up to the school. Andrew went to get Morgan. As they walked out of the door, Morgan spotted her mom in the passenger seat.

"Mommy!" She took off, running to the car. Her mom opened the door just in time to scoop up her daughter in her arms.

"Hi sweetie! How was your day?" She asked her daughter.

"It was so fun mommy! We played outside, we counted numbers, we used paint and I made a pretty picture mommy I can't wait to show you!"

Her mom put her in her booster seat. "That's great honey! How about we talk more about your day over ice cream?"

"Yay!!!!" Morgan squealed in excitement.

...

After almost spoiling her appetite by eating ice cream before dinner, and having to take said dinner home; Morgan was sleeping tiredly in her room. Her mom wistfully looked at her. She looks like her dad. She thought, as she tucked her daughter in and began to tidy her room up a bit. She picked up the toys that were scattered across the room and she placed dirty clothes in the laundry basket. On her way out of the room, she almost tripped over her daughter's backpack. As she reached down to get it, a folded and slightly wrinkled piece of paper fell out. She picked it up and unfolded it, revealing a painting inside. This must be the picture she was telling me about. She looked at the painting and smiled. She couldn't quite make out what it was supposed to be, but she was proud. As she left out of the room, she put the backpack in the closet and took the painting with her.

Walking into the kitchen, she heard her husband turn the shower on in their bathroom. If she timed it just right, she could drink a glass of wine before he finished. She knew he didn't like her having too much wine; it had been a problem early on in their relationship. But those days were behind her, and a glass or two couldn't hurt.

While sipping on her first glass, she looked through her phone, checking voicemails to see if she missed anything important. The first few were telemarketers. She deleted those. One voicemail was from Morgan's new school.

To the parents of Morgan Scott, we welcome you and your child to our learning community. Our mission statement here at...

She skipped the rest of the message. She knew it was going to be a long drawn out speech. Besides, Morgan had a welcome pamphlet in her backpack, and she knew she was going to have to read it.

The next voicemail was from their realtor; babbling on and on about their condo. After a minute, she skipped that message too. Next, a familiar phone number popped up. She took a swig of wine and pressed play to listen to the message.

Hey, it's me. Should I say my name so you know who this is? Because it's been a while, and you might've forgotten us. Just so you know, we haven't forgotten you. We miss you. We love you. Hope to hear from you soon.

She sighed, then saved that message, moving on to the next one.

This message is for Brooke Davis-Carter. I'm just confirming your shipment of the following fabric and materials for the listed address...

Brooke listened to the rest of the message and forwarded it to her supply manager at her new store.

While still going through her messages, Morgan's painting caught her eye again. She was well into her third glass of wine, still trying to figure out what the painting was when she finally gave up. She's just going to have to tell me tomorrow. Brooke smirked, taking another sip.

She smoothed out some of the wrinkles and creases from the paper and grabbed a magnet out of the drawer. As she puts it on the fridge, she saw that the right corner is still folded. She unfolds it and drops her glass of wine on the floor; her mouth open in shock.

"Babe, are you okay?" Her husband calls out to her.

But she doesn't hear him.

She's still staring at the refrigerator.

This wasn't her daughter's painting. The name on it read, "Sawyer Scott".

...

Author's Note: Did you figure it out? I put subtle clues in to make it interesting. :) Tell me what you think is going on. Let me hear it in the comments/reviews.

Also, Hate Is Safer Than Love is coming back. Be on the look out for that.

It feels good to be back.

-Extra0rdinary