BRIEF NOTES:

So, thanks again for the reviews. :D and for believing in me enough to keep reading the story.

Yeah, Lucas finally came to his senses - I didn't wanna drag it out, because that would be making things overly dramatic.

He will be seeing Dan, and the letting go part will be short and sweet; because earning Peyton's acceptance and Robby's forgiveness is going to take him a while… a long while.

Enjoy.

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CHAPTER TWELVE

"Still no Lucas?"

"Nope. And from what I hear not for another week."

Derek Sommers chuckled as he took a swig from his beer. "Gossip much?"

Nathan smiled and shook his head, bending down to target the cue ball "When you have a wife named Haley Scott, your friends' lives are pretty much second-level priority. 9 on the left corner pocket."

He took the shot, the ball missed by a mile.

"Touche. Seriously Nathan, you should learn to play – it won't be too fun if I beat your ass all the time."

The pool table tucked away in the Scott Auto Body Shop, previously owned by Keith, stolen by Dan, and now nurtured by Nathan, was their guilty pleasure. Ever since Derek came home to Peyton, he had bonded with the younger Scott. In the course of 3 years, both men had become very good friends.

"Well, see Derek, if you and I put a hoop here instead, you'd probably get bitchslapped. But I'm a kind man. And you're old, so there you go." Nathan stepped away from the table and leaned at the countertop. "Your shot."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." He said. He positioned himself, focusing on the task at hand. "9. Right corner pocket." The ball swooped inside the pocket with ease.

"Hoops were a better idea." Nathan mumbled as pulled a $5 from his pocket and handed it to the older man.

Derek took it and put it inside the fish bowl full of bills – another guilty pleasure he and Nathan conjured up. All bets they won from each other were placed inside the bowl; at the end of each month, the money pile was spent on a day out with the little boys.

"I still can't believe that out of all of us, you knocked the sense back into Lucas's head. No offense, man. All I'm saying is it's a little surprising – good, but surprising." Nathan said as he set the billiard balls in a neat triangle.

"Sometimes people surprise you" was all the marine had to say.

"What'd you say to him anyway?"

Derek recalled the moment as he poised to break-in for the new pool game.

"Exactly what he needed to hear."

It was a lazy Saturday afternoon in Tree Hill when the bell atop the café's door chimed as two pairs of mother and son entered.

The two little boys ran to greet the woman they had come to know as their grandmother. Karen gladly welcomed them in her arms with a warm embrace.

"How are my boys?"

Ryan was the first to chirp. "Good, grandma! Aunt Peyton took me and Robby to Tric cuz she had a apoimen."

She looked at him questioningly. "An appointment, you mean?"

He looked at her with furrowed brows. "Yeah, that's what I said."

Peyton politely interrupted, "Say it slower, Ry. It gets mixed up when you do it fast."

Ryan tried again. "We went to Tric cuz Aunt Peyton had an ap-point-ment."

The doting women clapped at his success. Karen then diverted her attention to the younger boy. "How about you, honey?"

Robby flashed a smile as he gave her a gentle hug. "I'm okay, gramma. I made you a picture when we were in Tric." He retrieved a piece of folded paper from his jeans pocket and offered it to her.

Karen unfolded the paper and was amazed at the child's work. It was a piece good enough to be mistaken for an adult's stroke. At 3 years old, her grandson had a master's hand. "You're so good at this, Robby." She complimented.

The child beamed with unspoken pride, as did his mother. Robby humbly replied, "I did it good cuz it's for you."

She looked at the drawing again, more intently this time. It was a sketch of him together with the different people in his life – his mother, aunts and uncles, Ryan and Kaity, and her – laughing together at a park. She hadn't failed to notice that Lucas was not drawn in.

She curiously asked as she showed him the sketch, "Umm, sweety… I can't seem to find your daddy in the picture. Could you point him for me?"

He looked at her, his eyes turning a colder shade of blue. Not bothering to check his work, he simply said, "He's not in it."

The words from his mouth drew Peyton's and Haley's attention. Karen carried an expression of combined shock and worry, but she proceeded with her inquiry. "Oh, I see. Why isn't he in it?"

His answer was something all three adult women wanted to hear.

"Cuz I forgot him. Sorry, gramma." He finalized his statement with a nonchalant shrug and walked away, dragging his older cousin to where Kaitlyn was seated.

"I guess when you have that much people around you, you can't really pinpoint everyone, huh?" Haley supplied, hoping to ebb the tension that rose from the little boy's reply away.

Karen smiled sadly. Both she and Peyton did. They didn't need any further elaboration to Robby's answer. The simplest of words had held his most profound thoughts; thoughts the women were saddened to acknowledge.

Peyton spoke first, in an attempt to comfort Karen. "Karen, I --"

The older woman approached her and immediately closed their gap with a hug. When Peyton was released, Karen looked her in the eyes.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Peyton. This isn't your fault. True, I wouldn't want this for my son, but I can't blame you or Robby for feeling the way you do. You don't deserve the man he had become."

The blonde looked down, she couldn't bear to hear apologies on Lucas's behalf, especially one coming from his mother.

But Karen continued. "I don't know how he'll be when he comes back, and to be honest I would really understand if you find it hard to forgive him. But Peyton, all I know now is that before he left he realized how badly he handled things, especially with you, and he said he'd try to fix them when he returns."

"I don't know if I can handle it, Karen."

Karen Roe sympathized; she knew the amount strength it took to give people chances was not minimal.

"I'm not asking you to do anything, Peyton. Whatever happens, I'll respect it. All I'm saying is that this time, I hope the two of you finally find what's right… for both of you and for your son." Her last words were defined as she let her eyes trail towards the little boy laughing at the corner booth.

Her eyes darted back to Peyton, and she offered the young woman a comforting smile.

"Thank you. Robby's lucky to have you for a grandmother." Peyton said as she returned the affection.

She remained silent. It was all Karen Roe could do to restrain herself from crying.

The solitary drive back to Tree Hill was quiet, save for the smooth jazz tunes humming from the radio. For the first time in four years, Lucas Scott was at peace with himself.

He knew his mother would probably give him an earful, considering that the 4 days he promised had turned into 2 whole weeks. It wasn't like he meant to – during his 3rd day in Raleigh, Brian Cartwell, the editor from AuthorHouse, had given him a call and an opportunity he just couldn't pass up. They agreed to meet in Raleigh and go over his very first book deal.

It was a dream come true… something he wanted to offer to the loves of his life.

All of that, though, was secondary to the most difficult task he had finally accomplished – Forgiving his father.

Gray. Gray and dreary.

Those were the first words that popped into Lucas's mind as the prison guard escorted him to the visiting booths. If misery could ever be tangible, this place would be its epitome.

He vaguely heard the officer announce his designated area. He felt as if he was about to get another HCM episode – his heart had been running a horse race since his arrival yesterday. For a fraction of a second he even considered taking the coward's route and run, but immediately decided against it.

This was necessary.

"Booth 23 up!" The officer yelled.

Lucas thought it was impossible to string himself tighter than he already was, but he did. He stiffened even more as the dark-haired man sat in front of him, with obvious surprise written all over his face visible through the scratched Plexiglas.

He picked up the receiver on his side as Dan hesitantly did the same. Showtime, he thought with a breathy sigh.

"Lucas."

He opted to skip the pleasantries. "Don't talk, Dan. I have a lot of things to say and I refuse to interrupted."

The man in orange nodded in agreement.

"Good." He took in a deep breath and released it quickly. "I hated you, Dan – I hated you so much. Up until this very day I still wish Jimmy Edwards beat you to the punch and shot you to death. You killed the man I genuinely consider as my true father – your brother. I had never really understood why you did, but I get it now. I get that you're one jealous bastard who's still hung up on shoulda woulda coulda's. I get that you had to ruin our lives just so you could feel better about yours, because you're a selfish bastard."

Dan opened his mouth to speak when Lucas paused, but was quickly silenced.

"I'm not finished. You broke me, Dan. You broke me ever since that day at the River court when you taunted me, bribed me so I wouldn't join the Ravens. I thought I was better than you, but apparently I am my father's son. You know why? Because if I hadn't realized it soon, I would have become like you – bitter and resentful towards the good things given to everyone else. When I found out about the murder, I thought I could take the high road and try to get past it just as Keith had taught me. But I was wrong. I secretly harbored your sins and used them as fuel to ignite my rage, thinking that fate owed me for all the bitterness it's caused me. It started to eat me alive. I hadn't seen it until two days ago – that because I let you hold me prisoner to your wrongs, I had become more like you than the man I looked up to. I almost lost sight of the good things in my life, and I hurt the people that mean the most to me – Peyton and my son. And I messed that up, because I was too proud to set my pain free. But that – that isn't your fault. It's mine… because I let your misgivings eat me up. I let you strip me of my humanity. That's going to stop. Today. Because I have to get it together – for me and my family."

Lucas blinked rapidly to contain the tears that threatened to escape.

"I forgive you, Dan."

He was about to put down the receiver when the older man spoke.

"Thank you, Lucas. I know it isn't my place to say this, but Keith ---"

Lucas cut him off. "Don't. Let what's been said be enough for now."

Dan nodded as Lucas put the receiver down and nodded as a sign of his parting. The blonde boy was escorted out of the booth.

Dan watched him leave. He had never had a prouder moment. His son was more of a man than he would ever be. He silently repeated what he intended to say earlier – Keith would have been proud of him.

Outside, Lucas walked away feeling lighter – as if an anvil was excised from his insides. The calm that encased him was enough to set off a fire of determination he had been trying to develop since he left Tree Hill to see Dan.

When he returned, he wouldn't just be going back.

He would be going home.