Disclaimer: I am a woman, and therefore not the wonderful Mr. Mark Schwann, so I do not own any of his work such as One Tree Hill or its characters and locations.

Chapter 5 - Tree Hill Part I

When the Thompsons met Mr. Sorenson at the airstrip, they were amazed at the private plane that would take them to the East Coast. Even though they had been told about it, they still could not believe it. The flight to Tree Hill passed easily and before they knew it, they were landing in Tree Hill Airport and meeting Mr. Sorenson's North Carolina counterpart Ms. Matthews. After greeting everyone, Ms. Matthews offered to take them to the house they would be staying in to get settled in before they headed out. Jessie had fallen asleep on the drive over, so she did not see much of the outside of the house as the car pulled up. They briefly toured the downstairs with Jessie mostly in a post-sleep daze, but her eyes shot open when Ms. Matthews showed her the room that would be hers for the duration of her stay.

"So this will be your room for as long as you are in Tree Hill, Jessie," Ms. Matthews said with a smile as she took in Jessie's reaction.

Jessie walked into the room and looked around in shock. She couldn't believe it. The bedroom walls were red and lined with hundreds of records and original drawings. "It can't be," she muttered as she walked to the closet.

"It can't be what sweetheart?" her father asked as she paused at the closet doors with her hands on the handles. She took a deep breath and swung the doors open, only to see writing on the inside of the doors.

"Oh my gosh, it is! This is Peyton Sawyer's bedroom! Are you kidding me?! I really get to stay here?"

"Indeed you do. Mr. Sawyer is far away for long periods of time and Ms. Sawyer no longer lives here, so Mr. Sawyer was happy to allow you to stay here for the duration of your visit," Ms. Matthews replied.

"I don't believe this," Jessie commented with wet eyes, "this is more than my wildest dreams. Thank you!" she said, giving everyone a hug.

"Well believe it Jessie, and remember, our day has just begun," Mr. Sorenson said with a grin.

"Take a closer look at the closet," Ms. Matthews instructed.

Jessie did as she was told and gasped. "These are all Clothes over Bros, and they are in my size!"

"Yes they are all yours. If they don't fit for any reason, please let us know and we will make the exchanges for you. Now, Mr. Sorenson and I need to make a few calls, so why don't you freshen up and change into some of your new clothes, and we can leave in about 30 minutes to grab some lunch before heading to the River Court. How does that sound?"

"Sounds great, thank you both," Mr. Thompson answered for his family. He knew he was getting hungry, and his daughter did not really look capable of speech at the moment. Jessie just nodded.

When the group reconvened, Jessie in her new Clothes over Bros attire, Mrs. Thompson was the one to ask where they would be going for lunch.

"Not to worry Mrs. Thompson, we have already made reservations at a wonderful little establishment," replied Mr. Sorenson.

Ms. Matthews and Mr. Sorenson found themselves chuckling again at Jessie's reaction as they stepped out of the car in front of Karen's Café. The Thompsons found amusement in it as well. They did not know all of what was planned, but they knew enough to know that Jessie would absolutely love every minute of it. They were just happy that they could be here to share it with her. "We're eating here? Really!?"

"Of course. We figured that a dream trip to Tree Hill, with such a fan of the novel based here, could not be complete without a stop at Karen's Café," replied Ms. Matthews.

Jessie found herself in complete awe as she walked through the door. As she looked around she saw an empty table with a sign on it reading 'Reserved for Jessie Thompson V.I.P.' She just smiled and tugged on her dad's sleeve to point out the table as she found herself incapable of speech at the moment. As they sat down and began to peruse the menu, a woman came by to take their order. After the server put their order into the kitchen, she began cleaning up here and there when Jessie called her over to ask a few questions that she was dying to find the answers to.

"Um…excuse me…I know you must get questions all the time from fans of An Unkindness of Raven, but would it be alright if I asked a few? I mean, I don't want to take you away from your work, so if not, I understand."

The woman just smiled at Jessie for a moment. "You're right, we do tend to get a llot of questions, and usually the policy is not to answer them so as to protect the privacy of those in the book. However, since you are such an important young lady, and Tree Hill's premier V.I.P. for today, I don't think it would hurt anything if I answered your questions," she replied with a wink.

This diverted Jessie's attention for a minute. "I'm Tree Hill's premier V.I.P.?" she questioned.

"Of course you are. We have heard a lot about you Jessie, and knowing how big a fan you are of the book, we want to make sure you enjoy yourself here in Tree Hill. That being said, I doubt that was the question you wanted me to answer."

"Haha, no, of course not. I'm sorry, I just got distracted. Um…" Jessie trailed off, flustered by her seeming inability to construct a sensible thought. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson were chuckling and Mr. Thompson held his hand out to the woman.

"I would just like to shake the hand of, and thank, the woman who has made my daughter so speechless she is incoherent," he laughed.

"Haha, very funny dad. I'm laughing…hard…on the inside…really," Jessie responded drily.

"Ah well, there's my girl. I knew it was too good to last." At this, Jessie merely shoved him lightly, but with a small smile breaking through her faux-annoyed expression.

"Anyway," Jessie said, "as I was saying, have you always lived here in Tree Hill?"

"Yes, I've lived here all my life."

"Do you know any of the people in the book?"

The woman smiled at this. "Yes I do, as a matter of fact. When you have been in this town as long as I have, you tend to get to know a lot of its inhabitants."

"What can you tell me about them? What happened after the book ended? Did all of their dreams come true?"

"Well it has only been a little over a year since the kids in the book graduated high school. I think they are on their way to achieving them, but I don't think they have reached their dreams yet. I guess you would have to ask each one individually what they think about it though."

"Oh, well would you be able to tell me about what they are doing now? Like an update or a post script to the book so to speak?"

"I can tell you a bit. What, or who, do you want to know about?"
"Well I heard Karen was traveling with her daughter Lily. Are they still going around the world? Is the café going to close? Does she keep in contact with everyone? I mean, she was basically 'Mom' to all of the kids in the book, right? Is she ever going to come back?" Jessie was out of breath by this point since she had said all of this very quickly. Everyone else laughed.

"Woah, woah, woah. Slow down, one question at a time," the woman laughed.

"Sorry," she replied sheepishly.

"That's okay. Yes, Karen is travelling with Lily and absolutely loving it. She does keep in touch whenever she can, but it is difficult with time changes and busy schedules. I think the kids email her whenever they are in need of 'parental advice' though. As for the café, I am not sure if she is going to keep it open or not. I know that she has gotten back in touch with Andy, and I believe they are giving their relationship another go. Karen does not make the trip back to Tree Hill often, but does make the trip every now and then if something important requires her attention, but it seldom occurs."

"Wow. I'm glad she and Andy are trying to make it work. He's no Keith, but he seemed like a nice guy from the way Lucas portrayed him. What about the kids? I know they are famous now with everything going on in their lives. So what is really going on with them?"

"Well, I'm sure you know that Brooke is in New York with Clothes over Bros. Getting the company up and running is taking up most of her time these days. She is working with her mother and becoming more of a household name every day. Lucas is finishing his second year at Gilmore College after coaching the basketball team to two straight championships. He is getting ready for his book tour now."

"Wait a second," Jessie interrupted, "I thought he was already on tour long before this. I mean, I know he is only just going to L.A. in the next few weeks, but I thought that was the end of the tour."

"No, actually, that is just the beginning of it."

"But the book has been out for months!"

"True, but he wanted to hold off on the tour until the end of the school term."

"Oh, I guess that makes sense," Jessie responded. She was listening with rapt attention as she heard what was going on with everyone. The others at the table were simply enjoying seeing how happy this was making her.

"Anyway, Lucas just found out that he was accepted as a transfer student to the University of North Carolina for the rest of his schooling. Nathan and Haley will also be leaving Gilmore in the fall, but they are headed to the University of Maryland. Haley received a full academic scholarship, and Nathan received a full basketball scholarship to finish their education there. Their son James is doing well and just shy of two years old now. Mouth is at Wake Forest University pursuing his dream of being a sportscaster. He is majoring in journalism. I guess you might want to know that Lucas is majoring in literature, Haley is majoring in literature as well, with a double major in education and hopes to be a teacher, and Nathan is majoring in business."

"What about Peyton?"

"Oh, did I forget to mention what she is up to?"

"Yes! And she was always my favorite character!"

"My apologies," she said with a slight knowing smirk, "Peyton moved to L.A. the summer after high school to take an internship with Sire Records and was hired at the end of the summer to continue her job there. Last I knew, she had left Sire and was thinking of taking her career in another direction."

"Wow," was all Jessie could say in response to all that she had learned. "How do you know so much?"

"Jessie!" Mrs. Thompson said quickly, a little offended by her daughter's slightly rude tone.

"Sorry."

"That's okay. As I said, I know these people very well. They used to come in here all the time, and I have worked here for longer than I care to admit," she said with a chuckle, "speaking of, I'd better get back to work before someone reports me to the boss." With that, she cleared the table, took their dessert order, and went to fill it.

As they ate their dessert, Jessie contemplated all of what had happened since Mr. Sorenson walked into her hospital room while her parents were simply happy to be with their daughter and see her so happy. Mr. Sorenson and Ms. Matthews were eagerly anticipating the rest of the day while wishing, not for the first time, that they could take credit for all of this. However, they realized that the credit didn't matter; they were a part of this wish come true for Jessie, and in the end that was all that mattered. After everything was clear, those at the table stood and readied to leave. When she came out from the kitchen, Jessie went to thank the woman who had told her so much about the people that she had fallen in love with in the pages of a book.

"Thank you. I know you said that nobody usually talks about the book, so I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you for making them real for me."
"Oh Jessie, it was my pleasure. Do you have a busy day planned?"

"Well, I'm not completely sure to be honest. I think we are going to the River Court now," she said, looking at Mr. Sorenson and Ms. Matthews for confirmation. They nodded.

"Unless you would like to rest for a bit first?" Mr. Sorenson asked. Jessie just looked at him incredulously. "Right, straight to the River Court then," he finished. Jessie just nodded and looked back at the waitress momentarily. As she turned to leave, the woman spoke again.

"Um…Jessie, I was wondering if you would like a guide to join you on your walk to the River Court? As I said earlier, I've lived here all my life so I could try to point out any landmarks from Lucas's book as we pass."

"Well what about the café? There is no one else to work."

"Don't worry, I was going to close for the day soon anyway. For some reason it is a very slow day," she said with a smile.

"Well then, sure, I guess. That would be nice Ms. …" Jessie trailed off.

"Oh, I'm not Ms. anything," she laughed, "It's just Karen, Karen Roe."

A/N: Ok so who saw that coming? I hope it wasn't too transparent. I know that this has been a long time coming, and I am sorry about that. Thank you to all of you who have stuck with me this far. Please know that although I may go a long time without updates, NONE of my stories will ever be abandoned. I hope you like this update, and I will see you next time.

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