Hello Everyone! Here's another update yet again! lol, takes me a long time though doesn't it? lol, so yea, I have another fic now by the way... It's called CHanging Tides so everyone PLEASE check it out... PLEASE lol.. anyways beough with this rant, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I dont own OTH! LOL Short and Sweet!

Chapter 20: Lost

"Hey sweety." Haley smiled as she tip toed into Michael's room and sat on the edge of his bed. "Time to get up." Michael just gave her a hard look then turned around, his back facing her. "Mikey..." She sighed and rubbed his back. "I know you're upset with me." Michael didn't answer.

"We're going to the hospital today." Nathan said as he too walked in the room and sat next to Haley. He reached up to the window and pulled the strong to make the blinds go flickering up. The sun beamed in and Michael whined and placed a pillow over his head. "You have to come with us."

"No!" Michael finally spoke. He turned around and screwed his face up at them. "Im sleeping." He turned around again and pretended to sleep.

Nathan laughed. " Lucas has to go do something with Erica today. So, we wanted you to hang out with us. Natalie's getting her operation today, remember? Then if things go well in a week she'll be coming home."

"Im not going." He whined again.

"Mikey..." Haley protested in a stern voice.

"Im tired... Im sleeping." He continued.

"If you were sleeping you wouldn't be able to talk to us, little man." Nathan laughed.

"Mommy says I talk in my sleep." He grinned, knowing he won the argument. "Why can't I go with mommy and Lucas and Erica?"

"Your mommy is working today. And Luke and Erica will be at the hospital too, just not with us."

"What about my grandparents?" He asked. He never referred to Karen and Keith as grandparents. He hadn't even considered Lucas his father before. But now he was so angry with Nathan and Haley for blowing him off the night before, that he actually would rather spend time with his grandparents.

Haley just sighed, "I'll make the call." She got up and left. Nathan was still laughing at Michael's stubbornness

"You know, you're going to drive your aunt Haley insane." He leaned over and tickled Michael, making burst out loudly with laughter. Her squirmed and kicked, wanting to resist laughing and having a good time when he was so mad at them. But soon he gave in and sat in Nathan's lap laughing.

Outside their door Haley was still looking in. Smiling. When they finally got to be a family with Natalie, she was sure he'd be great at it, a lot better than she'd be.
"Hey!" Angela laughed as she bounced over to Nathan and Haley. "Where have you been?" She smiled. Haley thought back to all the trouble she had getting Mikey dressed, into the car and to Karen's.

"Kids..." She huffed. Angela looked at Nathan and beamed. Nathan smiled back as he wrapped his arm around Haley's shoulder. From the corner of Haley's eye she could see something distinct, threatening, but she failed to point it out, reminding herself that this time was about Natalie, not her marriage, or lack thereof.

"Well! They just brought Natalie into the O.R. It may take a while. But in the mean time you can fill out these few forms." She smiled at Nathan again, her smile bright and flashy as if her teeth themselves had costed a lot of money. Haley just nodded and shrugged Nathan's arm off of her shoulder. Nathan gave her a crooked look and walked next to her and leaned over to look her in the face.

"What was that about?" He asked. He should have known. But he didn't.

"Not now Nathan." She sighed. "Do you have Natalie's Health Insurance Number in your wallet?" Nathan nodded and pulled it out, noticing that Haley was definitely bothered by something. He leaned in and kissed her temple tenderly, making her find comfort in him. She leaned into his kiss and let him wrap his arm around her again. "Why aren't you wearing your wedding ring?" She sighed as she looked up at him with a small, sad smile on her face. She didn't say it in an angry way, she wanted this time in her life to be happy, not sad, she wanted to celebrate the fact that Natalie was going to be okay, she didn't want to argue. Nathan wasn't sure what to say, he just stared a his empty finger on the hand laying on Haley's shoulder. And shrugged.

"Daddy? Are we going to see Natalie?" Erica asked as she bounced around restlessly.

"Nope." Lucas wasn't sure how to explain this whole situation to Erica. Why did he even have to? She was only young and she didn't need that in her life.

"What are we doing here then?" She asked. Lucas looked down and rubbed his hand over her soft curls.

"I have to see someone, we have to see someone." Lucas answered. He smiled and pulled Erica into his arms making her laugh as he nuzzled her neck.

"Daddy!" She laughed and squirmed.

"Hey..." A voice sighed as Lucas turned that dreaded corner, he hadn't realized he was that close to this moment, but now he was in it, staring dreadfully into the eyes of Erica's father. And for the first time in his life, he saw the eyes of her father, weren't his own.

"Hi..." Lucas's smile faded as he stared at Jake.

"Hello!" Erica smiled and laughed again. Jake smiled and took a step towards Lucas, but Lucas stepped back.

"Luke, man, you know I don't want this anymore than you do." Lucas raised his eyebrows at him. "I didn't mean it that way." Jake laughed. "I just mean, I don't want to take your daughter away from you, and I don't want to be the person who ruins it all."

"Where's he taking me?" Erica asked.

"It wasn't you Jake, it was Peyton, this is her fault." Lucas began to walk again, this time Jake walked next to him.

"Peyton with the hair like me?" Erica asked. No one was answering her and she was growing impatient. "Where's he taking me Daddy?" She whined.

"He's not taking you anywhere Erica." Lucas held her tighter.

"Hey Brookey!" A voice said in a mocking manner. Brooke looked up from her desk which was swamped with designs that were yet to be made. She rolled her eyes then looked back to her work.

"What the hell do you want Peyton?" Brooke sighed, already annoyed by her presence.

" I was wondering if you knew where my daughter is?" Peyton grabbed a glass ornament from Brooke's desk and started tossing it up and down in the air.

"You have a daughter now huh? Does your daughter have a mother?" Brooke said in the same one as Peyton was using towards her. Peyton raised one eyebrow at her, then continued to throw the ornament.

"You certainly aren't it." She said in a snippy voice. It seemed that Brooke's presence in Erica's life was really bothering her, as if she had been there through it all.

"And you are huh?" Brooke stood up and walked over to a half clothed mannequin, sticking safety pins into the fabric that barely covered it's plastic body.

"I will be..." Peyton smirked. " As soon as I take Natalie away from you and Lucas."

Brooke let out a small pitiful laugh, unable to believe what she had heard. "Natalie? You're going to take Natalie away from us?" She questioned, wondering if she had heard right. Peyton just smirked, still throwing the ornament up and down, up and down.

"You do realize that Natalie is Nathan and Haley's daughter right?" Brooke said in a voice that you'd only use to the most incomprehensible person. Peyton didn't catch the ornament this time, it went crashing to the floor, glass shreds smearing the carpet.

"I mean..." Peyton started, wanting to cover up what she had said. She searched around but couldn't find her answer.

"Erica..." Brooke finished for her. "Why are you doing all this, you obviously don't have any real interest in the matter." Brooke sighed, becoming impatient with the situation.

"I like to watch you squirm..." Peyton grinned. Brooke didn't speak at first. Peyton was playing around with everyone's lives, lighting fires underneath them and watching them try to get away. Hurting everyone, even her own daughter.

"Just get out Peyton." Brooke sighed sadly, resting her head on the mannequin so that she didn't have to see her. She heard Peyton laugh, and then the door shut. Brooke closed her eyes tightly as she stood there with the plastic mannequin, tears stinging in her eyes. Had she known her return to Tree Hill would cause this much drama, she would have stayed far away, like she had for the past five years.

And in these simple, bitter moments, the lives of these two couples were changing. Roles were being reversed, tables being turned. As Lucas sat in the laboratory his blood being drawn into a small needle, cotton swabs drenching the sides of his mouth, his daughter and Jake at his side mocking his moves, he wondered where this would all go from here, how their lives would all be altered by these small tests.

As Nathan sat with Haley in that small waiting room one last time. Haley still staring at his bare finger, Nathan finally realized that Haley walking out on the relationship wasn't what he should be worried about. She had her ring still planted firmly on her finger, while his laid in the ashtray of his car. She was still hanging onto a marriage that had been declared over, and he, the one who had been fighting for it, had given up without even realizing it.

And Brooke, standing in her office alone. The night starting to settle in once more, another day passing her by, she finally recognized this pain that was surfacing inside of her. It was a pain she had felt before, five-almost six now- years ago when she had to leave Lucas. She looked around the office, at the pictures of the small family her and Lucas had built. And she cried. H er life hadn't turned out how she had wanted, No one's had. It wasn't supposed to be like this. She suddenly felt lost in her own life. Everyone had their thing to do and she was kept on the outside without a hand in it all. The days were passing her by like colors swirling, mingling to make one awful color, and she couldn't even catch her breath anymore in the madness.

Alriety There ya go... hope you liked! REView.. anmd check out my new fic pretty please!