Okay, so I won't lie reading the reviews totally made me jump for joy.

Nicole, I am a sucker for little sister stories also, I love writing the connection between the brothers and her. So I hope that I don't let you down on the relationship!

Becki- Thanks for replying. I am glad that you read it and took the time to let me know that it can be confusing, I like to know that. Just let me know if you have a spots that utterly confuse you and I will try to clear them up.

Roses1619- Thanks for reading and I will keep on going…………

Title: Let Love In

Disclaimer: I wish I owned the boys! But mostly just Ashlyn and a few other future characters are mine.

Pairing: Nathan and Haley, Lucas and Brooke

Summary: They had a lot more in common than they wanted: Last name, a father, and the love of the game. What happens when one sibling runs away for the game, one gives it up, and one only knows the game? "So what if we found it, lost it and now want it more than ever?"

I smile sweetly, "Excuse me." I squish my tiny body right through the two of them. They probably think that I am ass, but I run as fast as I can to the girls locker room. I slam the door and run straight to the shower. I turn the water on, hot as hell, jersey and everything I step in.

My jersey is soaked, so am I. I stood in there so long that the water went cold. They are probably waiting for me, but I don't want to face them.

I take my time putting on my sweatpants and I have never cared how my hair looked, but spending five extra minutes making sure it looked good, didn't hurt. As I stood there, with my hair perfect, my sweatpants on and my black bra I looked at my reflection. All my scars, all my bruises that are around my heart, and I guess what really hurts is no matter how sick my heart gets, it still flutters every time they walk into my gym and watch.

I pick up my cell phone and dial Jon, knowing he is with Collin.

"Are you okay?" He asks right away.

"Yeah, I am fine," I tell him. I get right to the point, "Did you leave yet?"

"No." I can hear him telling someone to shut up. "I am in the bleachers waiting for you, actually we all are."

"Who is we?"

"They are here. I figured I would be your escape, so are you ready to go?"

I throw on my shirt and grunt into the phone.

I open the locker room door, I see Jon. "Yeah." Jon gets out of the bleachers so fast and runs to me.

"Ready to go?" I nod. He wraps his arm around my shoulder and leads me to the door. Halfway out the door, I spot Nathan and Lucas. I try to look away, but then I see Dan. "You know what?" Jon whispers. "Your dad is an ass."

I look at Dan then Jon. "Yeah he is an ass, but he is not my father."

Lucas and Nathan see us coming and jump towards us. "Ashlyn!" Nathan calls.

I want to stop, I really do. I tug on my sweatshirt and sip it all the way up and pull my hood over my head. I smile at Lucas and Nathan, they never were bad brothers, but I was a bad sister.

"Hey," Lucas greets me. Please, just walk away, like I did to you. Please don't smile at me, I really don't deserve that. Please stop loving me, just stop.

With all the strength I have I weakly say, "Hey Luc."

Nathan smiles so bright when he hears my voice, I wish he wouldn't.

"You played great!" Don't. Please don't tell me that, don't make me feel good.

I nod. "Thank you." I look into his eyes, his blue eyes. I know he is thrilled to see me, but I can't return the feeling, not yet.

We stand there in silence for a minute. For second I thought I would walk away, but every time I looked in your eyes, they were calling me.

"Ashlyn," Lucas says.

"Can we not do this," I say.

"When do you want to," Nathan snaps quickly. I look at him, he really did miss me, he was scared, and he really needed me.

I look at the sidewalk ahead of us, I start fidgeting with my hands. Those are the first sings of failure.

Lucas points to my hands, "Some things never change." I tear my hands apart and grab for something else.

"Some things do." I start walking away.

"Just tell me something," Nathan calls. I turn at him, "Was it worth it? All of this," he points to the school. "Was it worth it, with out us?"

No. It wasn't worth it, I can't tell you that though. It was hard getting on that bus, it was even harder walking of that bus, because the moment I did, it all changed. No Nathan it wasn't worth it, if I could go back I would, I promise.

I look Nathan in the eyes and shrug. "No," I whisper. I know he didn't hear me, but I really wish he did.

Getting in the car and watching them fade away in the review mirror wasn't easy. As it started to rain I pulled over on the side of the road, much to the dismay of Jon, I get out, and cry in the ditch.

That night falling asleep I don't know which was louder me sobbing or the thunder outside?

In the morning I look over at Jon, he is wide awake reading some article. "Hey," he greets me.

"What time is it?" I ask rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

"Almost ten, they stopped here. I told them that you would meet them at the park," He tells me.

"You what?" I asked shocked. "Please tell me you are kidding."

He shakes his head, "Ashlyn Scott, they are your loving brothers…"

"That I ran away from!" I remind him.

"Time to make peace," he jokes.

I jump out of bed and run at him. He stands up ready for a fight, "Why?" I ask him again. I can't do this. I am not even close to being ready I really want to run away again and I think Jon knows it.

"You can't run again. If you don't talk to them, you will." Jon grabs my wrist as I am about to hit him. "Ashlyn," He says. "What does the tattoo mean? If it has nothing to do with them, I'll let you go."

"How the hell do you know about that?" I snap.

"Right above your ass, right?" he says.

"Yeah," I whisper holding up my shirt.

He reads it out loud for me, "If you're a bird, I'm a bird." He traces it with his finger tip, "3, 13, 23."

I pull my shirt down, I shut my eyes and I turn to him. "They don't know I have it. Lucas would kill me and Nathan wouldn't talk to me. Brooke let me get it," I told him. "Happy? I'll go to the park."

Jon and I have always had this weird connection. His mom was my mother's best friend, and when my mother died Jon became very over protective. I never showed him the tattoo because he would have demanded that I get it removed.

"I like it," He finally says.

"You do?" he is probably feeding me a line of bull.

"I guess I have no choice."

"So you don't like it, and you are just saying you do?" I look him straight on in the face.

Jon looked at me and then sighed, "Shut up and get in the shower."

"You don't like it," I told him walking towards the bathroom. Wait. He knew where it was, how? In the bathroom door frame I turn and ask, "How long have you known?"

He laughs at me, "Don't worry about it." That's the thing, I have to worry about it, it's the only thing that make my life good.

When I was nine my mom took me to the park for the day, we got ice cream and fed the ducks. That day I felt like I was going to be okay, I felt alive, but I was only nine. I was at that age where having the same shoes as your best friend was cool, we all tried so hard to be just like each other, but that day I was free, I was me.

When I was ten, a year from that day my mom took me to the hospital, because I fell out of the tree in our back yard. That day I was scared, they hooked me up to machines and asked a thousand questions. That day was also the day I found out my mother had cancer. We were in room 201 when the doctor told her the test came back positive. That day was the worst day of my life, the day I truly thought I was going to die, the day I wish would have.

I am on my way to the park. I can see the green slide from here, where I am standing at the corner. I have been here for at least 15 minutes, I don't know if I should go anymore I am having second thoughts, then third thoughts and then fourth thoughts. I just want to turn around and walk away

from all of this, I did it once, and I know I can do it again.

As I approach the bench where they are sitting I notice that Lucas

hasn't changed much, neither has Nathan. They notice my presence and they both stand up, I smile at them.

"Hi," I quietly say.

Nathan smiles at my voice, "Hey Ashlyn."

"Hey Buddy," Lucas also grins. "Do you wanna sit?" he asks.

I shake my head, "Not really."

"We need to talk," Nathan says. I nod at him. "Let's walk then."

So we did, Lucas on one side and Nathan on the other.

"How have you been?" Lucas asks. I think he doesn't really understand how sorry I am.

"I've been good," I tell them both. Lucas and Nathan nod their head in approval. "What about you?"

Nathan smiles, "Good, I've been playing for the Lakers. Haley and I are still engaged," he smiles when he talks about Haley. "Its hard, but we had to wait until we found you."

Ouch. That one actually hurt, he waited for me, for his own wedding. "Oh," I say. "Sorry."

Lucas grins at me flinching, "Brooke and I are great, we had our baby boy…"

"Sawyer Keith Scott," I finish for him. He looks down at me, "I knew okay? Like 9 months old?" Lucas smiles and shakes his head yes. "Yeah, I'm an aunt, I know." He smiles, but doesn't ask how, and for once I think him not asking made me realize that I need him to ask.

We walk a little longer until I see a bridge heading over the water. Beyond there is a basketball park, I've been there many of times. I go there a lot to think, but its my place that I go alone. I quickly stop walking.

"Whoa!" Nathan says stopping also.

"We can't go over that bridge," I tell them quickly.

"Why?" Lucas rubs his head confused.

"We uh… just can't," I can't think of an excuse.

"Fine," Nathan groans. "We'll talk here."

Fine. God he is such a dick when he wants something, but I did runaway. We walk to the bench, just across the path and sit down.

"So," I say. "I'll start with I am sorry, and what I did was wrong, I know that now."

Nathan shook his head, "Why? Why did you leave?"

I laugh, "Nathan. You were letting them take my life away!" I defend myself.

"There were other options," Lucas says.

I turn to him, "Oh really? What? Having me hooked up to machines on a hospital bed. No thanks, I've been there."

"That's no reason to run," Nathan speaks up.

"Fine, but I still did." Give it up. I ran away, there is no going back, so Nathan deal with it.

Wait no that is a reason to run! "No." They look at me confused. "You let them take it away; piece by piece they were taking away my life. The good parts became hazards!" I exclaim. So much for staying cool. " I was slowly crumbling to the ground, it was like at the age of 15 my life was coming to an end. I wasn't ready for that, I wasn't ready to give it all up, Hell I'm still not ready!"

Nathan sighs, "Wow."

"What do you want from me?" I ask.

"Do you remember the day we found out you had HCM?" Lucas finally asks.

I nod my head. I was 13, I was in a car accident and my heart got screwed up. "Yea."

"I told you that we were going to get through this…"

"You watched them take my life away, I felt it," I remind him. "It hurts."

"No." Nathan snapped his head in my direction. "We felt it too. We were there the days you couldn't walk, the days when all you did was sleep and go pee. We were there when you didn't wake up for 3 days." He stared me down. "Ashlyn we felt it. The days you were drained, so were we." The tears are glistening through his eyes.

"I wanted you to fight it," Nathan finally says. "And you did. You were my idol, you've got to know that. But we felt it too, because I cried when you cried."

"Tell me Nathan, how did it feel when the said no more basketball?" I ask. A sharp pain hit my heart, that day I remember like the back of my hand.

Lucas takes a deep breathe, Nathan looks in the distance. They can't answer that question.

"I felt like I had no purpose; no reason to live," I tell them. Hot tears stream down my face; I have no intention of stopping them. "I felt like I wasn't Ashlyn Scott anymore. I didn't feel worthy enough to wear that name, or even have it. I thought my life ended that day in the doctor's office. I didn't feel like a Scott anymore." I have both of their attention, their full attention. "Basketball connected us. It was like this weird bond we had, the three of us against the world. Who would I be without basketball?

I wasn't ready to find out who I'd be." I stood up and looked down at the both of them, "I felt like I was that girl again, the one who had just lost everything. I felt the need to start over…" I start walking away. "Its not that hard, I felt like shit that day, what did you feel?"

Neither of them says a word. "I wish I would have felt that way," I snap. I hold my chin high, I will not cry, not here. I walk out of the park completely. I find my phone in my pocket, I dial Jon.

"Hello."

"I did it," I choke out. "I told them how it felt."

"Are you crying?"

"No," I say. "I think I am actually bawling…"

Truth is I really can't see straight, I don't know what the hell is happening. I try to cross the street but I hear a horn honking, I think it's too late. The pavement is cold, really cold, or maybe is that blood. Wait! Is that my fucking blood? Oh my god I am bleeding, did someone call 911? I would but I still can't see, actually I really can't hear anymore. Oh fuck… somebody talk to me, please.

I light squeeze is added to my hand, I don't know who it is, I can just see the outline of their body. Dark hair, they keep telling me to be strong, and they love me.

I smile like a fool not knowing who they are, "You shouldn't love me…"