Disclaimer: I do not own OTH or any of it characters places or such. I am simply borrowing them

AN / Here is the next update! Usually I reply to every review however, I have been so extremely busy lately that I have been able to reply to reviews for the last two chapters, but I want to thank you very much! Look for an update next week sometime! Merry Christmas!

As always suggestions are welcome

Nathan sat stunned, he couldn't breathe. It was just a picture, but it was Michael and Bevin that the bullet meant for him had hit.

"Nate?" Lucas asked as he looked towards his brother, "Nathan?"

"I need some air" Nathan said quickly as he got to his feet and ran out the front door.

"Should we go after him?" Theresa asked from her spot on Skills's lap.

"He needs some time to himself" Mouth answered as Haley looked longingly towards the front door.

"Could this night get any worse?" Lucas asked angrily as he quickly rose from his spot on the living room floor and walked towards the kitchen. A couple of seconds later, the group heard the back door slam shut.

"What is going on?" Anna asked as she and Lydia James walked into the living room from the dining room adjacent to the kitchen, "Who just went out the back door?"

"Lucas" Peyton answered

"Where's Nathan?" Lydia asked noticing the other Scott brother was missing.

"Front door" Skills answered.

"What happened?" Anna asked again

The group sat silent, all looking towards the unused fireplace except for Haley and Brooke, each of them looking towards the doors where the Scott brothers had gone through. Both wanting to comfort them and each having no idea what to do.

"Come on Mom, Aunt Lydia, let's go in the kitchen" Peyton said as she left her spot on the couch she was sharing with Haley.

Nathan stood on the front porch looking up into the night sky filled with bright stars and a moon that was so full it was huge. 'Did Dan kill them?' Nathan thought. 'Did Dan kill my wife and son?' Nathan quickly shook his head. Dan could not have known about Bevin or Michael. Nathan almost wished that Dan had been the one to cross that double solid yellow lines and run head on into the Honda Accord that Bevin had been driving. He had been living the last 5 years without knowing the person that took the lives of his wife and son and simply crawled away. Nathan felt the tears threatening to fall; this day had been enough to break the World's strongest man. He couldn't do it anymore. Nathan walked off the front porch as the tears began to fall and kept walking.

Lucas had walked out the back door and through the woods that were behind the James's house. He had played in these woods as a child and knew them very well. It was black and Lucas could not see anything, but he used his childhood memories and felt his way deep into the woods to the place he was searching for, the clubhouse. When he felt the rough piece of wood in front of him and one of above that, he knew that he had found the steps. He quickly started to climb the steps until he reached the first landing. He walked softly across the landing towards another set of steps and started to climb. He reached the top landing where the actual clubhouse sat and walked towards the door that was to the left of the stairs and in the middle of the landing. He found the makeshift door handle they had used and opened the door.

Nathan walked around aimlessly feeling lost; he had no idea where he was going. He was just walking. He found himself walking towards the church and towards the graves that held his family. He entered the cemetery, the moonlight helping him to find his mom's grave. He sat down with his legs out in front of him and just stared at the tombstone looking back at him, 'Deborah A. Lee March 14, 1971- August 22, 1995. Beloved mother and friend. She will be missed by all' Nathan placed his hand on the headstone and stood to his feet. He then walked towards the newly turned dirt directly behind Deb. There was no headstone there yet, but there would be. It would read, 'Keith James Scott October 25, 1969-October 8, 2014. Beloved husband, son and father. A gift from God to this earth.' Nathan looked at the headstones of two of the most important people in his life and felt fear. There were places that he always went when he was scared of something even as a little boy, his parents, the clubhouse and basketball. He stood from his spot and left the cemetery heading towards the river

The clubhouse was full of cobwebs as Lucas opened up the door. The clubhouse was high enough in the trees that there was a little bit of light from the stars and moon shining in, enough for Lucas to find the flashlight that was stashed to the right of the door behind the shelf of baseball cards and Barbie dolls. He pulled the flashlight out and turned it on, looking around the old clubhouse. So many memories were held here. This had been the safe haven for him until he thought he was too old to have a clubhouse, which had been 12 years old ago when he became a teenager. The gang would meet there after school to talk before going home until finally everyone stopped coming.

Lucas remembered the day that it was built. Keith, Larry and John worked hard to build the clubhouse while four five-year-olds told them how they wanted it. Of course, Karen, Lydia, Deb and Anna were worried about the children being so far into the woods by themselves, so the club house went up high enough that the light could be seen from Haley's 2nd story bedroom window. That didn't set well with the mothers either so a fence was put around each of the two landings. Lucas laughed as he remembered that day. Everyone had been so happy and everything was right with the world. Things seemed to fall apart within the next couple of years.

Nathan walked on to the river court lit by lights that came on when they sensed movement. He looked towards the far right corner and stared. The man that stood there earlier in the night had caused him and his family much pain. Nathan walked over towards the overturned trash can and lifted it. There, like always was the basketball waiting. Nathan kicked the ball out of the blackness beneath the trash can and set the trash can back down. He walked over to where the ball had rolled and picked it up. He walked towards the center of the court and shot the ball. It went in the basket with a smooth motion. Just like it always did. Nathan ran after the ball and walked back to the center and shot it again. Again it went in. Nathan began to have memories of days at the same court in the same spot with his dad on the sidelines or Bevin and even Michael. He began to think again, 'what if Dan did kill Bevin? Would he really do that?' Nathan mind began to flood with questions. He fell to the concrete in a heap. He felt like the world was closing in on him. For 5 years, he had forgotten about this town, and them. Now he was going to have to face it.

Lucas felt sadness setting in as he looked around the four walls of the clubhouse. His light hit the string that was tacked to the wall above the window and hanging out the window facing the James's house. 'The com line' as they had called it, a clothes line between Haley's bedroom and the clubhouse, it was where they would pass notes back and forth with the house. Lucas spotted a note attached by clothes pin to the line. He removed the clothes pin and the note and opened it to find Keith's handwriting, "I miss the children who use to play in this clubhouse. One day they will come back and one day they will play in this clubhouse again. Because they know they can always come home again.' He turned it over and found the date. He wrote it last week Saturday. Lucas fell to the floor with tears running down his cheek. He was breaking and he knew it.

The James's house was quiet. Theresa had returned to a sleeping Meredith and told Karen what had happened. Karen came down the stairs looking for her sons and had been pulled into the formal living room with Lydia, Anna, Larry and John. Officer Reynolds received the statements that he had needed from the guys and had gone to the station. Jake with him, promising to look for Nathan and Lucas on his way home, Mouth and Skills were in the kitchen raiding the enormous supply of cookies. Haley, Brooke and Peyton sat in the living room lost in their own thoughts. Peyton's eyes began wondering around the room when she spotted a picture of the four musketeers on the fireplace mantel. She got off the couch and walked towards the mantel, picking it up.

"Gosh, that seems like so long ago" Peyton said as she looked at the picture of the five year olds

"It was like twenty years ago, Peyt" Haley reminded her

"Yea, I know. Remember when we use to say that I was going to marry Lucas and you were going to marry Nathan so that we could be sisters" Peyton asked laughing

"Yea and then it changed, I was still going to marry Nathan, but you were marrying Jake, Theresa was marrying Skills and Lucas was not going to marry anyone." Haley remarked

"Until, I came along" Brooke said, "Then it changed again. Nathan and Bevin, Lucas and me, Mouth and Hales, Peyt and Jake and Skills and Theresa"

"That was the couples in high school, well sort of" Peyton responded

"I just could not date Mouth. He is too cute!" Haley said

"Well, at least we are 3 out of 5, Nathan and Bevin got married, You and Jake are getting married and if Skills ever pops the question then Theresa and him will be getting married also." Brooke said.

"It is amazing how things change." Haley said

"Sometimes they are better off that way" Peyton responded

"I don't know" Haley said as she looked out the living room window towards the front porch, "Hey guys, I think I am going to go see if I can find Nathan. He has been gone a long time and he might need a friend"

"Yes, they both do. Someone should go fine Lucas too" Peyton stated

"I will go look for Broody. I think I might know where he headed." Brooke said.

"Clubhouse" Peyton said as she looked towards the backdoor.

"Peyton, are you coming?" Haley said as she walked towards the front door and looked back at her friend.

"No, you go ahead. I have something else to do" Peyton answered

"Okay, will you tell my parents where I went?"

"Yes"

"Okay. I will be back later. I have my cell phone. Bye B Bye P" Haley said as she walked out the front door

"Bye H" Brooke replied back before the door was shut, "What are you going to do?"

"I just have something to look into. Why don't you go find Lucas? I know he needs someone right now." Peyton said as she looked at Brooke

"Okay, Just as soon as I find a flashlight"

"Same place it has always been. Aunt Anna never moved it"

"Okay, Bye Peyt" Brooke said as she found the flashlight in the drawer and walked out the back door in search of Lucas.

Peyton walked over to her computer bag by the front door. She opened it and pulled out her laptop. She opened it and turned it on. She knew that you could find anything online nowadays and she was going to find the missing Samantha Scott.

Nathan heard footsteps coming across the grass and lifted his head to look in the direction of the parking lot. Walking towards him with her hands in her jeans pocket and her head held high was Haley. He knew that someone would come after him, but the last person he it thought would be Haley.

"Hey" Haley said softly as she walked onto the court and stopped beside him.

"Hey" Nathan answered back, "So they sent you to find me?"

"No, actually I told him that I was coming to find you."

"I am surprised Lucas didn't follow me out of the house"

"He did. He just went the other way out the back door. Brooke had a pretty good idea that he headed towards the clubhouse"

"What about you? How did you know where to find me?"

"Nate, how long have I known you?" Haley asked as she sat down and Nathan shrugged, "I know where you go when things aren't right with the world. Your parents, the clubhouse or basketball. I ruled out the clubhouse and went by the cemetery. I didn't see you there so I came here."

"I have already been by the cemetery"

"Yea I figured"

The two sat in silence as Haley turned her head upward to look at the stars and Nathan hung his head again.

"Haley, I think Dan might have killed Bevin and Michael?" Nathan said quietly as lifted his head up, "I need to find out who killed my wife and son"

AN/ Review