The first day in an old world.
A day earlier.
Karen Scott walked into her kitchen where her husband Keith was sitting peacefully eating his breakfast and reading the local newspaper. Upon seeing his wife he laid the newspaper on the free chair, so he failed to notice the first name in the obituaries: Haley James. Karen took her seat in the one opposite Keith, also not realising the article.
"You have some post" Keith said pointing to the package on the kitchen counter.
Karen studied the large envelope for a moment before turning back to her breakfast.
"I'll open it later" She said. She had recognised the writing and wanted to be alone when she opened it. She knew what this meant.
Karen was the only person Haley had kept in touch with, and the only person Haley had told her real reason for leaving to and the only person from Tree Hill who knew about Haley's cancer. Haley had felt that Karen was the only person who would talk to her and hear her out. She had proved a great friend and had done as she had promised, and told no one of Haley's whereabouts or situation, except Keith, who joined her on her yearly visits to see Haley and the twins.
Keith left for work and Karen picked up the package and headed into the living room. She sat on the sofa and opened the envelope at the creases slowly and out dropped a tape and a letter.
On the envelope was a small note saying Open me first!
"Typical Haley" Karen chuckled to herself quietly.
Karen unfolded the letter and began to read:
My dearest Karen,
If you are reading this then I have obviously lost the battle with cancer and i can never thank you enough for helping me through.
I'm so grateful to you for everything you've ever done for me but there is one more thing i need you to do for me, well two actually.
First of all, could you please look after Kyle and Grace. You're the most motherly person I have ever met and I will rest easy knowing they are in your care. I know that by their age I was already living alone but I don't want that for them. I am not asking money from you I have an account for each of them for living expenses and I spoke to my lawyer and he'll sort it out. I also want them to get to know Nathan, it might be too late but i want them all to try.
Secondly, the tape enclosed i need you to show it to Lucas, Peyton, Brooke, Keith and of course Nathan.
I love you.
Haley Marie James.
Karen sobbed for what seemed like hours and Keith came home and read the letter himself. He too shed a tear and comforted his wife. One by one he called Lucas, Peyton, Brooke and Nathan to come into town tomorrow for something very important and he set to making up what would become the twins' new bedrooms.
XOXOXOXOXOX
Nathan Scott woke up in sunny Los Angeles and started his day. He rolled over and he saw Leah, his latest conquest. Nathan Scott has quite the reputation and at 34 has never been seen in a real relationship since Haley. He smirked and headed to the shower, got dressed and left.
The day passed normally for Nathan but when he got home there was an odd message on his answer machine from his uncle Keith.
Hey Nathan, it's Keith. You need to come to Tree Hill tomorrow at 2 o' clock. It's really important, i don't want to say why on the phone but you have to come.
Nathan packed his bags and got on the first flight home.
XOXOXOXOXOX
Lucas and Brooke Scott had been living together, happily married for 7 years now and had 2 children. One girl, Reagan who is 16 and one boy Matthew who is 10. They live Tree Hill where Lucas works as a writer and Brooke has her own fashion line which she operates from there, instead of New York which she didn't feel was a suitable place to raise children.
Ring Ring
"Luke honey will you answer the phone" Brooke called through the house.
Lucas got up from his seat in their spare room which was converted into a library for him and made his way to his office. It is filled with sports memorabilia and pictures of his childhood. One imparticular caught his eye. It always did. It was a picture of him and Haley when they were ten, just after they had built the golf course on the roof of the café. It is still there because Lucas didn't have the heart to take it down but he was the only person who ever went up there anyway. Remembering the reason he had came in in the first place, Lucas picked up the phone.
"Hey Keith, yeah sure we'll stop by the café tomorrow, 2 o' clock that should be fine. What's wrong? You sound upset. Okay, see you tomorrow." Lucas rung off and went to tell Brooke.
'That was weird' he thought to himself.
"Who was on the phone" Brooke asked interrupting his thoughts.
"It was Keith, he said we have to go to the café tomorrow for 2 o' clock, it was really precise and he said it's really important" Lucas said.
Sensing his worry Brooke said "I'm sure it's nothing, we haven't seen them in a while, they must just be busy the rest of the day."
Lucas sighed, hopeful that she was right.
XOXOXOXOXOX
"Hey Jake"
"Hey Peyton"
Jake and Peyton had been married for fourteen years and were living together in Savannah but are due to move back to Tree Hill in two weeks. Jenny is eighteen and they have a son Sawyer who is 13. Peyton is an artist and has a chain of galleries and nightclubs across America and Jake is a basketball coach and teaches music in his spare time.
"We have to be in Tree Hill tomorrow at 2 o' clock" Peyton started "Keith called and said it's important, you don't have to come he just said me but you can come if you want to" She smiled.
"Of course, lets go pack and tell the kids"
XOXOXOXOXOX
The next morning Karen and Keith followed the same routine as the previous morning but both felt anxious for the rest of the day. It was going to be hard to say the least and would turn Tree Hill upside down.
Karen headed out to the café and started on with her day. She worked in the café all day and kept looking back at the tape that lay in the kitchen. Everyone was coming at 2 o' clock to watch the tape. Keith hadn't said what it was about but he had said it was very important. The hours flew by and but 1:30 the whole gang was there waiting impatiently but Karen refused to start until 2 o' clock.
The clock chimed signalling to Karen that it was two o' clock and she turned the sign on the door around to closed and made her way over to the large screens she had had installed so people could watch sports at the café. She connected the VCR and silently put in the tape. Nobody had said anything and before she pressed play Karen turned around to face all of them.
She looked at them all with a sadness in her eyes, they were about to get such a shock and could feel her grief welling up inside as she realised the one person that was missing was never coming back. She watched for a few moments as Jenny, Sawyer, Reagan and Matthew sat at a table together talking quietly and catching up and Lucas, Brooke, Peyton, Jake, Nathan and Keith sat at another impatiently waiting for Karen.
"Okay before you see this you need to promise me that all of you" she looked at Nathan "will stay for the whole thing" Karen said.
She pressed play on the VCR and Haley's face came on the screen, there was a collective gasp and as Nathan began to stand Keith gave him a warning look and Nathan took his seat again. Nathan noticed that Haley looked gaunt and pale and that she was sitting in a bed.
"Hi, before you all leave or turn off the screen please hear me out, this is my last chance to say sorry for all my mistakes and to say" she took a deep breath "Goodbye"
She moved slightly in her seat.
"I have cancer, and if you are watching this then it has finally beaten me. I wish i could have come down to say goodbye to you all personally, I've missed you all so much, but by the time i realised thst this was it, it was too late."
"I know that this is really unfair on all of you but there are a few things you need to know. God i haven't even checked if the little red light is on, what if you get this and you're staring at a blank screen, oh god let me check"
Haley got of the bed and went over to the camera. A rustling sound was made and Haley came back into view.
"Good okay it is working, and you all just heard me go nuts over the camera."
Lucas chuckled which caught a few people off guard. All except for Nathan were sitting there with tears running down their faces. Nathan was just still and in shock, he didn't know how to react.
"Well, i don't really know what to say now, i had it all planned in my head but that all went out the window the minute i started babbling."
"The first thing i guess you want to know is why i left and what happened to me. Well it's quite simple. I was pregnant. After the fight Nathan and I had just had, i wasn't sure if I could face it so I did the stupid and cowardly thing of running away. I know it definitely wasn't the smartest choice and everyday i wished i could come back, but there's no point dwelling on that, and once i heard Nathan got a scholarship to Duke, i knew i made the right choice, i had got the chance to live my dream and now he got the chance to live his." She smiled.
"Anyway, i gave birth to twins on the 23rd July 2006. A boy and a girl. Grace Ann Scott and Kyle Nathan Scott"
Nathan sat there in utter shock, he had two children, and they were 17. He felt a mix of emotions, part of him was angry, part sad and part happy.
"Grace is very like Nathan, Brooke and Peyton put together, whereas Kyle is more like Lucas and I. I hope they will take the chance to meet all of you and that you will let them. I know you are all probably angry at me but please do no take it out on them. I have told them the same thing" She laughed.
"Karen, You have been like a mother to me, i couldn't have asked for anything better. You have always been there for me and take of my babies for me" Haley let out her first tear but quickly brushed it away. "I love you Karen"
Karen let out a sob, here was the girl who she had seen grow into a woman, leaving a type of emotional will. Karen knew then that she had to take care of those twins, even though she knew they would be a handful, with everything she had. For Haley.
"I love you too sweetie" she sighed.
"Keith, well i didn't know you too well but i loved you for the way you were with Lucas and the way you were with Grace and Kyle. You are and amazing person and Karen is lucky that she finally saw sense." Haley laughed.
"Lucas, my best friend. You may have stopped being mine but i never stopped being yours. I love you so much and I have missed you more than anything. I wish i could play one more round of golf on the roof, you know i'd kick your ass though" She laughed "I'm so proud of you and happy for the way your life turned out, and who knows, if I turn into a ghost, i promise you'll be the first person i haunt."
"I never stopped being her best friend, i miss her so much" Lucas cried as he wiped his eyes
"I know Lucas, she knows it too" Brooke soothed.
"Hey Tigger, I have to thank you for putting up with me for those few months in the apartment. You were a great friend and i don't know what i would have done without you. Grace reminds me of you sometimes and Peyton too, it's scary." Haley laughed "You'll like her and she'll like you, please help her with the things that i can't and won't get the chance too, and even if i was there i probably wouldn't know how to handle it" she laughed
Brooke sobbed, tears falling freely down her face.
"You have made my best friend so happy and for that i love and respect you, and i have a closet full of your clothes" Haley laughed.
"Peyton Jageilski! Who'd have thunk it!" Haley smiled "I've missed you, you gave me a second chance and I left again and I am so so sorry for that. Grace loves your artwork, she has my copy of the 'people always leave' picture on her wall. She is like you in so many ways, you may not take that as a compliment when you meet her but she'll grow on you i promise"
"Grace sounds like quite a character" Peyton said and Karen paused the tape.
"Oh she is believe me" Karen replied
"You knew?" Lucas asked
"Yes, I kept in touch with Haley, before she left i tried to stop her but she left anyway but i always kept in touch. I'd visit them once a year, twice if i could. But you have to understand she didn't want you all to know and that was her choice not mine, and Grace and Kyle are coming to live with me." Karen finished.
Lucas was about to argue but Brooke nudged him. She could tell this was hard for Karen and she didn't want Lucas making it worse.
They pressed play on the tape and it carried on.
Haley took a deep breath and stared straight into the camera.
"Nathan Royal Scott. I love you. I promise you I never stopped."
She paused for a moment regaining her thoughts.
"Always and forever has ended, properly this time. There wasn't a day that went by that I didn't think about you. When you got drafted for the NBA I was walking around with a smile on my face for weeks. I am so proud of you and everything you have accomplished, and I am so sorry that I have kept Grace and Kyle away from you, I tried once to tell you, but i got scared." Tears fell visibly down Haley's face.
"Please get to know them, you may have a hard job with Grace but give it time, please, for me? I know you don't owe me anything but please give them a chance. They know pretty much everything and they understand why you might be cautious, but they are so precious, don't let them get hurt."
"I love you"
The tape went blank.
Everyone looked at Nathan. He still hadn't cried but he was shaking.
"How could she do this? Be this selfish?The first time she has been in contact in 17 years and it's to tell us she's dead!" Nathan yelled
"What you'd rather not have known would you?" Lucas retorted, disgusted at his brother's reaction.
"Yeah probably, I could have gone on with my life as usual, and now she's dumping kids on me as well."
The argument was interrupted by the closing of the café door.
The group turned around and were faced with two teenagers, a brown haired boy wearing a sheepish expression and a brunette girl wearing and expression of pure fury.