A/N: If anybody loves watching Once Upon a Time and is a Captain Swan shipper, please check out my new story "There's No Place Like Home" and let me know what you think.


Chapter Thirty Four

Nathan waited for an answer. When his brother didn't give him one, he turned back to the unexpected guest, who had come out of the car by now. He just gave him a smirk. "Nathan, what a pleasant surprise. How long has it been since we've seen each other? Ten years, right?"

"What the hell are you doing here?" Nathan demanded. He couldn't believe Daunte was acting like he was friends with him when he was well aware they had never been friends. "And don't tell me you're here to visit your old friends because you don't really have any here. You just have clients."

Daunte just chuckled at him. "Boy, you haven't changed a bit. The rumor around town is you're going through a divorce. That must be rough. If you need any money, I would be happy to help you out with it."

Nathan was calm as he responded. "Thanks for the offer, but I can take care of it myself. Besides, I know how you operate and I'm not interested in making a business deal with you. Now if you don't mind, we're playing a game here."

"Actually, I'm here to discuss things with your brother," Daunte explained. Nathan turned to Lucas who had a guilty look on his face. Nathan couldn't believe Lucas had made a deal with Daunte. "But I can see he is a little busy." Nathan just glared at his brother as Lucas tried to explain himself, but Daunte wasn't done with what he wanted to say. "Your deadline to repay me is coming up. I just want to remind you of that."

Neither brother said anything as Daunte climbed back into his car. Lucas waited for the fireworks. However, Nathan was still quiet as he still tried to wrap his head around what he had just heard. He was finally able to speak but Lucas beat him to it. "Look, I'm sorry for not telling you, but I didn't want to bother you since you were dealing with the divorce."

"You could have come to me. Or my dad. Or Andy," Nathan said. "But instead, you had to go to the one person who would want you to repay him back in some way or form. And he is pretty good in knowing what weakness to use against you." There was a short pause as he looked at his brother. "What exactly do you have to do to repay him?"

"It doesn't matter because you don't have to worry about it," Lucas told him. "It's my problem. It's my responsibility to take care of my family, not yours. Besides, I didn't want to tell you. After all, I was the one who wanted to move out and get married." He let out a heavy sigh. "I thought being married would be easy, but all that changed once we found out Brooke was pregnant. And I really wanted to go to Duke, but we can't do it with the baby coming. Nobody would be around to watch her while we go to class or work. If we stay here, then we would have people we trust to watch her when we can't do it."

"I still don't understand why you just didn't come to me," Nathan said. "You know I would have helped you. We're family. What were you afraid I was going to do? Make you and Brooke move in the house with me? Would that have been so bad?" Lucas didn't answer. Nathan tried to read his brother's mind. "Oh, I get it. You were afraid I wouldn't treat you like an equal, right?"

Lucas let out a heavy sigh as he sat down on the bleachers. "That was part of it, but it's more than that." There was a long pause as Nathan joined his brother. "I thought marriage would be easy, but you were right. I'm not ready for this big of a commitment. Of course, we were doing just fine until Brooke told me she was pregnant. Now we're fighting about money and college and it's just becoming too much for me. I do love Brooke and I do want the baby, but this is all too fast."

"Is this why you feel you have to go to community college?" Nathan guessed. "You want to make sure your marriage stays intact? And you can't feel you can do that if you are at Duke and she is still here with the baby?"

Lucas nodded. "I meant what I said. I want to be with my family, but I also need some space right now."

"When I was feeling that way about my life, I would go off for a weekend away from everybody. Once a weekend was over, I was ready to come home and get back to work. Maybe you and Brooke should take a weekend away from each other," Nathan suggested. Lucas hated the thought of leaving Brooke since she was pregnant and Nathan could sense that. "You know Haley and I will keep an eye on her. You need to take a weekend for yourself."

"Good because I sometimes worry Victoria will get out of jail and try to kidnap her again," Lucas replied. "I know she has a bunch of charges against her, but that doesn't mean she still doesn't have her little friends out there doing her dirty work."

"The only person you have to worry about now is Daunte," Nathan told him. He wasn't going to let this subject go. "Now what the hell did he ask you to do?" he demanded.

Lucas stood his ground and made an excuse to leave. "I have to go meet Brooke at her doctor's appointment," he said before he left his brother on the River Court. Lucas wished he could tell Nathan about the deal, but he couldn't do it. If Nathan knew what he had to do for Daunte, it would break his heart.

Nathan felt he had to clear his head before he returned home. In order to do that, he had to shoot some hoops. However, the conversation with his brother about Daunte wasn't going away and it made him miss every shot. He let out a groan of frustration.

"Wow, I'm glad I never got on your bad side," a familiar voice said, startling Nathan. He turned around to see Haley with a container of food in her hands. "I thought I would bring you and Lucas some breakfast, but I guess he has already left." Nathan didn't answer as he went to retrieve his ball. "I take it your bonding time didn't go so well."

"We were just fine until a former classmate of mine showed up unannounced and warned Lucas his deadline was coming up," Nathan told her. Haley was lost. "Daunte Jones is a loan shark. And apparently, Lucas and Brooke are in some financial trouble and he decides to go to him for a loan. Do you know what that bastard does to have you repay him? Something you shouldn't do. I don't know what Lucas has to do, but I'm going to find out. He should have known better than to go to a guy like that for money."

"Nathan, I know you're angry with him for not asking you for help, but he's an adult now," Haley gently reminded him. She knew how he felt, but they couldn't really do anything about it. "You can't bail him out of trouble unless he asks for your help."

"That's the thing. He should have come to me for help," Nathan replied. "He wanted to ask me, but I was too busy with settling my divorce with Rachel to make time for him. I don't even have time for you anymore. I was lucky we were able to go out last night with Jake and Peyton."

"To be fair, I have been working on my classes and helping Quinn with planning her wedding," Haley said. "But I miss you too. Once your divorce is final, you won't have to worry about Rachel and her mother anymore. You will be able to focus on your friends and family again."

Nathan shook his head as he picked up his stuff and headed towards his car. "I can't wait that long with Lucas. I've got to fix it now."

Haley wished she could stop him, but she could tell he had made up his mind. "Nathan, please be careful."

As the days went by, Nathan observed Lucas closely to see if there was anything out of the ordinary. At the same time, he tried to focus his mind on other things like spending time with Haley. Even though their plans for Valentine's Day was to baby-sit Ryan, Nathan still wanted to make the day special for her. He bought her a bouquet of red roses, a bag of her favorite candy and a beautiful pair of diamond earrings. Haley loved all of her surprises and felt bad she didn't get anything for him. He assured her being with him was enough.

He also was getting his team prepared for games. They were so close to going to the State Championship that he wanted to push his players to continue playing their best. The only one who was struggling was Lucas and Nathan knew why he was having a hard time concentrating on playing, but this wasn't the time to slack off.

Lucas wasn't the only one who was stressed out. Haley noticed Brooke wasn't doing too well either. Millie hoped her baby shower would cheer her up and turned to Haley and Peyton for assistance. Haley made arrangements for the baby shower to be at the club and Peyton made the invitations for the party guests. Quinn also offered to help with the party. When Lydia heard about Brooke's baby shower, she offered to make the food. Even though Brooke wasn't her daughter, she treated her like she was family.

"I'm so glad you didn't invite Lindsey," Brooke told Millie as they watched Mrs. James and Peyton work on last minute preparations for the shower which was starting soon. "I just hope she doesn't crash the shower because I so don't want to deal with her crap right now."

Haley couldn't help but overhear the conversation. "You two still aren't getting along?"

"We haven't gotten along since Lucas rescued me from my mother," Brooke told her. "Now she hates me because Lucas married me and I'm carrying his baby. After all, that was their plan before Lucas realized he was moving too fast in the relationship and broke up with her. Now she does everything she possibly can to ruin my life."

"Brooke, I'm sure you're overreacting," Haley said. "Yes, she is probably upset that you are with Lucas, but I don't think she is acting out in revenge." Brooke wasn't convinced. "If she does anything to you or your daughter, I will personally kick her ass."

"I wish someone would have done that to Victoria," Millie said. "That way, my best friend wouldn't have suffered for so long. Does she even know she is having a granddaughter?" she asked Brooke.

Brooke shook her head as she placed a hand on her bulging belly. "No and I'm not planning to tell her. She doesn't have the right to know about her granddaughter, just like she doesn't have the right to see her. Why should I tell her about Kendall when she really didn't want me? As far as I know, she is dead to me. I have no mother. My family is my husband, daughter and my friends."

"Now that is what I like to hear," Lydia replied, speaking up as she came over to the three young women. "Your parents may not have seen how special you are, but you don't need them. You have us. Now I think you have some guests to greet." Brooke smiled as she saw some of her friends enter the room and she and Millie happily went to greet them. Lydia turned to her daughter. "I can't believe how much that girl has changed from when I first met her and it is all thanks to you."

Haley appreciated the compliment. "I think it was more Lucas than me," she replied as she watched the scene fondly. "I never would have allowed her and Lucas to take off and elope, but I guess I can't stop fate."

"No, you certainly can't," her mother agreed as she looked at her watch. "Now where is that Taylor? She promised to be here with the rest of the treats. I knew I shouldn't have trusted her with those desserts."

"Taylor's back in town? When did that happen?" Haley asked. She hadn't heard from or spoken to her sister since the Thanksgiving disaster. "Don't tell me she is bringing Julian with her. I don't want him to cause any drama with Nathan."

"Your sister arrived alone last night," Lydia replied, trying to calm her daughter down. "I don't know if they are still together or not. But even if Julian did return, I'm sure there wouldn't be any problems between him and Nathan. They are both adults and fighting over you would be simply childish." Haley didn't answer as her mother went to serve the guests the food.

"Well, I'm going to sneak out of here," Peyton told Haley as they watched the guest of honor chatting happily with her friends as they ate the food. "I don't want Brooke to feel uncomfortable by having her teachers here. Would you care to join me?"

Haley nodded. They quickly said goodbye to Brooke and her guests and she thanked them for all of their help. Lydia spoke. "Don't worry about a thing. Quinn, Millie and I have everything under control."

"We'll see you girls in class," Haley told the group before she and Peyton left the club. Haley waited until they were outside before speaking again. "I'm glad you got us out of there. I can only imagine what kinds of games my mom would force us to play. The only game I don't mind is betting when the baby will be born."

"This is why I'm not planning to have a baby shower for this baby," Peyton replied as she touched her stomach. "One party is enough." She changed the subject. "We have the whole afternoon to ourselves. What do you want to do?"

"How about we just go to the café and relax there?" Haley suggested as they reached her car. "All of this party planning wore me out and I'm afraid of taking you shopping." Peyton frowned as she wondered why this would be a problem. "I'm afraid you're just going to buy every baby outfit you see."

Peyton gave her a look. "I wouldn't do that unless I know for sure the baby is going to be a girl." Haley just gave her a smile as they climbed into the vehicle and she drove the car away from the club, not realizing they were being watched.