Disclaimer: I do not own OTH or any of it characters places or such. I am simply borrowing them.
AN/ Here is the next chapter! I am so proud of myself for getting up two updates in two days. I am already working on the next one. This is some insight to how Andy fits into the picture, more to come on that. Thanks for all the reviews and all of the encouragement. Please don't forget to review for this chapter.
As always suggestions are welcome!
"Andy?" Nathan asked
"Isn't that the guy Deb was going to marry before she got sick?" Lucas asked
"Yea"
"What does he want?" Nathan asked growing angry. When Andy heard the word cancer, he ran.
"He said that he wanted to offer his condolences about your dad" Karen said
"What else did he say, Mom?" Lucas asked
"He said that he had something to tell me. I don't care to know what is though. I haven't spoken to that man since he left."
"How did he find out about dad?"
"I don't know. My guess is that he has been checking up on us"
"Did he say anything about her?" Nathan asked
"No. I am sorry, Nathan"
"It is okay, Mom. Luke, you ready to head to the house?"
"Uh, yea" Lucas said
"Look out for him" Karen whispered to her oldest son, "I know that he is still upset about what happened with Andy"
"I will, Mom" Lucas said following his brother out of the café
"How about this one?" Brooke asked as she picked up a light green dress from the rack and held it up in front of her
"Brooke, I thought we were shopping for Mouth."
"We are, but it doesn't hurt to look a little. Beside we need to find you something for your date with Nathan"
"Can you even have dates when you are already dating someone?"
"Yes, you can have dates anytime. Now, what do you want to wear?"
"Jeans and a T-shirt" Haley responded
"Tutor girl, those are not date clothes. Those are everyday clothes, well at least for you"
"Not all of us can have your style, Brooke"
"I know and that is why I am the fashion designer and you are the teacher. I have the style and you have the brains"
Haley laughed at Brooke's comment before being dragged out of the store and towards another one
"Mom, Dad" Peyton yelled into the house as she and Jake entered the front door.
"Kitchen" Anna yelled back
Peyton and Jake walked hand in hand into the kitchen where Anna and Larry were sitting down to lunch.
"Hey guys" Larry said as he took a bite of his turkey sandwich
"Sorry to catch you guys on your lunch break" Peyton said walking to sit at the table across from her mom.
"It is okay, sweetheart" Anna told her daughter
"Anna, Larry. Peyton and I have something that we would like to tell you" Jake said sitting across from Larry.
"Uh oh. The last time I heard those words, you were telling us that you were getting married." Larry said sitting his sandwich down on the plate in front of him, "What do you have to tell us now, are you breaking off the engagement?"
"Daddy, no" Peyton said
"She called me daddy, it must be something big"
"Well I am glad that it is not the engagement. We are so looking forward to having Jake as a permanent part of this family" Anna said
"So, if you are not here to tell us that you are breaking up, then you must be here to tell us that you are moving the wedding up or that it is going to cost me more" Larry said smiling at his daughter
"Actually, we are here to tell you that we are going to be adding another member to our family" Peyton said
"What do you mean adding another member to the family?" Anna asked looking at her daughter
"Are we adopting another one of your friends?" Larry asked taking a bite of his sandwich, "I thought we had them all"
"No, you are going to be grandparents" Jake said
"What?" Anna asked as she stood from the table
"We are going to have a baby," Peyton said also standing.
"Oh, my gosh!" Anna yelled as she came around her husband to hug her daughter, "Oh I am so happy for the two of you"
"Daddy?" Peyton asked once her mother released her hug and moved to hug Jake. When Larry didn't answer, Peyton sat back down in her chair and leaned towards her father, "Daddy, please say something"
Larry moved his eyes towards his daughter and a smile spread across his face, "I am going to be a grandpa"
Lucas and Nathan entered the Scott house through the back door. Nathan entered his room and closed the door behind him. He walked over to his closet and pulled out a box from the top shelf. He walked to his bed and sat down opening the box as he did.
Inside the box were pictures that Nathan had asked Karen to take out of his photo album. The pictures were of Andy.
Nathan picked up the first picture and held it up at eye level. In the picture were Deb, Andy and Nathan sitting on the front porch of their home. Andy had his arm lovingly around Deb as Nathan sat on the step in front of them smiling. He flipped the picture over and read the words written on the back in Deb's handwriting, 'Dad, Mom and me. September 1994'. Nathan remembered that time; it was right after Andy had asked Deb to marry him.
"Nathan, can you come here please?" Deb called through her three-bedroom house to her 5-year-old son
"Coming Mommy" a little voice answered followed by the sound of running feet.
Nathan entered the kitchen and ran to jump into Andy's lap at the kitchen table. Deb sat across from them and looked at her son
"Nate, we have something that we would like to talk to you about" Deb said smoothly
"Okay"
"Nathan, how would you feel about Andy and I getting married?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, we would have this big party and then Andy would come live with us all the time"
"Really?"
"Really"
"Can I call you dad, Andy?" Nathan asked turning around to look at Andy
"Of course" Andy answered the young boy
"Cool. When are we having the big party?"
Deb and Andy laughed at the young boy enthusiasmA knock on his bedroom door pulled Nathan from his memory. He looked towards the door as Lucas opened it and peered in at his brother
"You okay?"
"Yea, just looking at some pictures" Nathan said, "How is the cleaning going?"
"I am done. It wasn't that bad. Just clothes everywhere."
Nathan laughed before holding a picture out to his brother, "Look at this one"
Lucas walked towards his brother and took the picture
"Oh my gosh. We look so young," Lucas said. He turned it over and read the caption on the back aloud, "Lucas, Nathan, Peyton and Haley with their dads Christmas 1994"
"That is when you were telling everyone that Dad was your dad" Nathan said
"Mom said that I never called him anything, but dad" Lucas responded
"I think I was calling him daddy Keith or something like that"
"Where did you find these pictures?"
"They were in a box. I asked mom to take them out before she sent me the photo albums in Florida. She told me that she had put them in my closet"
"I always wondered where these pictures went"
"I didn't want to see his face after what he did."
"I know."
"I really can't understand it all. I mean how can you leave someone that you love when they need you the most?"
"I don't know, Nate. That is something only Andy can answer"
"I don't want to know why he left. I have gotten past that fact. What I want to know is why is he back?" Nathan said towards Lucas
Erica and Mouth stepped onto the sidewalk from the restaurant where they had been eating their lunch and started walking towards the car.
"So, how is New York?" Erica asked
"It is good, busy and nothing like Tree Hill"
"So you like it up there?"
"Yea, but sometimes I miss home. New York is so busy that no one really stops and smell the roses, so to speak"
"Yea, I heard it is really hustle and bustle there"
"Oh it is. You really have to walk everywhere you go"
"So, you don't have a car?"
"Yea, I do. I live on the outskirts of New York City so I commute back and forth to work. The company that I work for has a parking garage that allows me to leave my truck there as long as I need to"
"It must be expensive though"
"It is, but I like the freedom of being able to go for a drive when I feel like it"
"Still doing that Internet stuff?"
"You mean building websites?"
"Yea"
"Yea, still building websites."
"I always knew that you would something with the Internet"
"Yea, Lucas and Nathan used to tell me that I should be a sports announcer"
"Because you used to announce the basketball games?"
"Yea, I used to do it at the river court too. Enough about me though, what are you doing now?"
"I am in between jobs actually. I took a modeling job out of high school, did that for about 4 years and then decided to go back to school"
"What did you major in?"
"Law"
"That fits you"
"Yea, I guess. I passed my North Carolina bar exam a couple of weeks ago and then came home to figure out where I want to practice"
"So you are going to practice in North Carolina?"
"I haven't decided yet" Erica said looking at Mouth, "I was thinking about New York actually"
"Oh really?" Mouth said smiling at Erica as they reached the car
After the excitement of hearing they were going to be grandparents, Anna and Larry finished their sandwiches and talked with Peyton and Jake about the upcoming arrival.
"Hey mom, I have a question for you?" Peyton asked Anna later in the conversation
"Sure honey"
"Who's Andy?"
"Andy? Where did that come from?" Larry asked
"He was at the café a little while ago. He said something about knowing me when I was a couple of months old"
"Actually the last time he saw you, you were five" Anna said
"Who is he?"
"He was Deb's fiancée" Larry said
"Deb, Nathan's mom?" Jake asked
"Yea, Andy and Deb were suppose to get married the summer that Deb got sick. When we found out that Deb had cancer, Andy took off." Larry said with an angry voice
"Oh my gosh. I remember him now. Nathan used to call him dad"
"Yea, that is him"
"Nathan called him dad?" Jake asked not knowing the history of Andy
"Yea, when Deb and Andy decided to get married, Nathan asked if he could call Andy dad" Anna answered
"You said he was at the café?" Larry asked
"Yea, he was talking with Karen when we walked in. She looked really uncomfortable," Peyton said
"I wonder why he is coming back here now. No one has heard from his since he left" Anna said looking towards her husband
Brooke walked towards Haley with her arms full of polo shirts and khaki pants. Haley laughed as she looked over the pile.
"Are all those for Mouth?"
"Most of them are. I got an outfit for Nathan and one for Lucas. I figured they probably didn't bring any date clothes either"
"When is Lucas going to have a date?"
"Well, I figured since you and Nate are going out Friday night, then Lucas and I can go out tomorrow night. That way one of them is with Sam and Chris"
"Why not Saturday Night?"
"I have a Saturday afternoon flight"
"Oh" Haley said, "I totally didn't think about the fact that we are all going to be going our separate ways again"
"It is not something I want to think about"
"What do you think is going to happen?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I am going back to Montana, Nathan is going back to Florida, you are going back to California and Lucas is going back to Charlotte. Are we going to be able to keep our relationships going?"
"I hope so." Brooke said, "I don't want to think about that right now. Right now, I want to think about finding you a totally hot outfit for Friday night"
Haley sighed knowing that they were going to have to talk about it soon versus later
"Oh, how about this skirt?" Brooke said holding up a not to short light blue skirt
"Oh, that is cute." Haley said walking towards Brooke
"And this shirt goes with it" Brooke said grabbing a white and light blue pattern shirt from the next rack
"Yea, I think this is the outfit," Haley said
"Don't worry about shoes. I have some that you can borrow" Brooke said finding the right size shirt and handing it to Haley.
"Are we done now?" Haley asked
"Yea. I need some food anyway. Between getting Mouth ready for his date and shopping I have burnt off all my energy."
"Let's pay for this stuff and go by the café. I am in the mood for a grilled cheese sandwich," Haley said
"You like those sandwich, huh?"
"No one makes a grilled cheese sandwich like Karen" Haley said as the two girl walked towards the cashier