Thank you to NaleYLuV01, JeniRose, xSmile, Duckygirl, naleyluv, SnowWhite213, krizue, bellasmomma, every1luvsme24, love2beME, ransom note, luvnaley23, La Filme Michelle, for reviewing. I'm especially thankful to those of you I recognise from before – again, I'm sorry to have taken so long to update before.

I am having a bit of difficulty getting back into this story, so you shouldn't expect the 3 or so weekly updates I used to make when I was writing this first last year, but I will do my best. At the moment I'm slightly stuck on where I want this story to go, and how to get there, but I will decide shortly: have several ideas, just need to draw them together. Hopefully then I'll be able to speed up with posting. In the meantime, rest assured that I have every intention of finishing, and will be updating when I have material to update.

SnowWhite 213 – thanks for the long review, and don't worry about Faith. I wouldn't make her so screwed up without the intention of fixing her. It's the how that's evading me at the moment, but it will happen.

ransom note – I hope your appointment wasn't too important! I'm glad you're enjoying the story.

Enjoy the chapter.

Deb was numb as she sat in her car outside the house she had shared with Dan, on and off, for the last fifteen years. She had finally done what she should have done so many years ago, and now she was alone. She had known that it was going to happen, but still.

There had always been a possibility that Nathan would understand.

That he'd realise she'd only done what she needed to do.

And, after all, she hadn't really had any good reason to believe that Dan was responsible for Faith's kidnapping. It had been more of a theory. He'd certainly never said anything. And, after all, he'd been investigated before: surely it hadn't been her responsibility to provide a motive for the possibility that her husband might have been involved in the commission of a crime? Wasn't that up to the police? Weren't they the ones who were supposed to build up cases and check out the facts and the background?

She hadn't really known anything. Except that Dan had been happy. Extremely, and obviously happy, for a good two or three weeks after the kidnapping. And later, she'd discovered that his father had changed his will when Faith had been born, moving what Dan saw as his rightful inheritance from him to his grand-daughter. Royal had done so knowing it would infuriate Dan, but had been trying to make a point about what he saw as his son's abysmal parenting. Apparently he'd considered Nathan first, but had decided that he was following too closely in Dan's footsteps.

She had thought maybe that didn't mean anything – by the time she discovered it, fourteen months had passed and Faith was long gone. And nobody had found any other connection between Dan and Faith's disappearance – so really, it hadn't been her fault. She had guessed maybe he might know something, but had had no idea exactly how much. And, after all, anybody who knew Dan could've guessed that he might be involved.

She fully believed that the main reason the F.B.I. had taken her seriously was not because of the strength of her argument, anyway, but because she had been – and still was – his wife. If she believed that he might be involved, and could come up with some kind of motive to back it up, then of course her allegations had to be considered.

Closing her eyes, Deb breathed deeply, and reached out with trembling hands to flick on the radio. She needed to stay out just a little while longer. And while she was there, she needed to drown her thoughts.

There was an initial static before the radio tuned in. ". . .crowd went wild!"

Deb gave a muffled laugh as she opened her eyes. The radio, of course, was tuned to the local sports station, so that she could hear about how Nathan was doing – he never told her himself anymore, after all.

Her hand on the dial, Deb was about to switch to something else – easy listening, maybe, or a classic rock station if she could find a good one – when her movement was arrested by a comment made by the loud, jocular voice emitting from the speakers.

". . . Haley James! It's not often you see something like that at a basketball game!"

"No, Ken, you're right about that! Almost overshadowed the actual play, even for a sports nut like me."

"And it's not often that that happens for me, either, Josh! But I suppose it's been such a huge story, and we're all wondering what'll happen next. It's clear that Scott wasn't concerned about the tabloid theory of infidelity, though."

"They were tabloid pictures, of course. Maybe Scott was making a statement? "The past is in the past"? Or "They were fakes, let it go"? Chris Keller's certainly denied the romantic involvement."

"Well – one thing they can't deny now is that there's definitely still something there between Haley James and Nathan Scott."

"Not after that pre-game make-out session, anyway!" Josh laughed. "But really, who wouldn't want to make out with Haley James? No wonder the game was so superb!"

"Very true, Josh!"

And as the commentators moved on to discuss, play by play, how the game went down – and how Deb's son, fresh from a public declaration of his feelings for Haley, played what was probably the best game of his career – Deb listened.

Smiling.

Maybe things wouldn't work out for her, but Nate was doing well. That was what she had wanted, after all.

At Los Angeles International Airport, the bustle and noise of thousands of people could not drown out the importance of the moment for Keith and Karen Scott, as they arrived in the city on a visit to a long-lost relative: their great-niece, newly recovered from a very high-profile kidnap experience.

Faith Scott had always been important to them, her loss a blow that had been timed to match their discovery that they themselves were unlikely to ever have children together. And it seemed, now, that miracles came together, for Faith was back and, not a week ago, they had discovered that they would soon be parents.

This visit would serve a dual purpose, allowing them both to visit Faith, and to tell their family – real and chosen – about their news.

Right now, as he surveyed the worn black conveyor belt from which his and his wife's luggage was shortly due to be available, Keith Scott felt elation wash over him. This was his moment as well as Nathan and Haley's. His and Karen's. It was as if the bad luck that had been dogging the family ever since Haley and Nathan's acrimonious split was finally starting to lift. Faith was back. Haley and Nathan were (according to Lucas, at least) beginning to get along. Lucas and Brooke, while not back together, had apparently been "hanging out" a lot since Faith's return (Keith wasn't sure he wanted to know exactly what that term implied). Karen was finally pregnant. And Dan was in jail.

All in all, things were looking up for the Scotts. Or at least, for those Scotts that Keith still considered family. The only exception was Deb, who hadn't looked particularly happy the last time he'd seen her, when she'd picked up the new alarm code for Karen's Café. However, with that single exception, all those Keith considered truly important to him were happy, or at least exponentially more happy than they had been less than a month ago.

As Keith leaned forward to reach for a large black suitcase, and a green one directly after it, he glanced at his wife, who, much like him, appeared lost in thought.

He just hoped she wasn't thinking about the weird and almost incestuous convoluted relationships that would emerge very starkly when their child was born. Keith had considered it once, and decided that trying to work out the tangle wasn't worth the headache. Apparently, Nathan and the baby would be cousins, and the baby and Faith first cousins once removed. But there the simplicity was lost. Because the baby would be Lucas's cousin and half brother: Keith was pretty certain that was illegal. Plus, although he was pretty certain no real additional relationship existed between Nate and Keith's newly conceived child, it would be a bit weird that his cousin was younger than his daughter, not to mention that his cousin was a half sibling to his own half sibling.

Keith deliberately stopped considering this issue further. This was how the headache had started, and he wasn't a masochist.

Pulling the second case onto the trolley, Keith turned to Karen, his hand moving to her lower back, rubbing it gently. Karen moved into the touch, and smiled at her husband.

"Worried?"

Karen looked at her husband thoughtfully as her hand drifted, in an unconsciously protective gesture, to her abdomen. "No. I don't think so. I'm just excited about our news, and looking forward to seeing Faith and Haley."

"And Nathan?" Keith prompted.

Karen rolled her eyes. "And Nathan. But –"

As she was about to continue, Karen noticed her husband's sudden distraction, and frowned. "What are you looking at?"

Keith, his eyes still fixed above Karen's shoulder, started to smile, and Karen whirled around to see a small television tuned to a sports channel. At first, she wasn't certain what she was seeing, and then she knew.

It was Nathan, in his Lakers uniform, striding up the stairs in a crowded stadium, leaving the court behind him.

Haley, standing in the stands with a small, auburn haired girl by her side.

And complete pandemonium as they met, drawn together as if by some magnetic force stronger than either of them.

Faith sat down in the wake of the frenzy, as her father jogged back to the court, ready to start the game. Her face felt strained, and she realised that she was smiling so hard that it was starting to hurt.

She had known that this was going to happen. She had been looking forward to it.

Faith had seen the expressions on her parents' faces as they drew apart. That moment when they realised what they had done, and where, and that they didn't care. That moment when they realised that just being together meant more than anything. That moment when they realised that they'd never stopped loving each other.

And that they never would.

Now, all she had to do was make certain they didn't forget how that kiss, that moment, had felt.

Please review. Next chapter will be largely internal dialogue, I'm thinking, so it may be interesting to see Nathan and Haley's thoughts after this monumental occasion.