Paths Led

AU. Lux has lived her whole life believing that The Petersons are her family but when they move to Portland. She discovers that she finds easy to connect with his basketball coach as if they were family

A/N: Completely alternative story. Baze still owns the bar, but works at head coach as Westmonte High School. He and Cate haven't seen each other in 16 years, but as Lux he listens to her on the radio every morning

Chapter 4: Paths crossed

Jones had invited Lux to his football game that Saturday. Baze was assistant coach and Mr. Lee was head coach. Lux didn't really like Mr. Lee; he wasn't as cool as Baze had been. She had invited her parents and little siblings to the game

"Hey you came!" Jones said happily when she saw her sitting in the crowd "I honestly thought you had stood me up"

"How could I? You were the nicest person in this school, who didn't think of me as a geek" Lux said giggling, her father turned to Jones

"And who might this boy be?" Thomas stood up to shake hands with Jones "are you the boy my daughter constantly talks about?"

"I don't know, I hope so" Jones said confidently "nice to meet you Mr. Peterson"

"Are you playing?" Sarah asked, Jones nodded "well then you should go, I think they are all heading to the lockers"

"Mom!" Lux hissed. But Jones just smiled again "you are right, I should go, I'll talk to you later Lux, nice to meet you all"

"You too" Sarah said "good luck"

"Thank you" Jones left the bleachers and headed to the back, Lux saw Baze whisper something to him

"Pretty decent boy" Thomas said "Jones is it?" Lux nodded. Britt smiled "he's cute!"

"Yes he is" Sarah said "is his family a decent one?"

"I don't know, it's not like he's introduced me to his parents, I've just been here for a week" Lux said turning red "he's the nicest person I've met so far"

"Well, that's good, I think it's important that you fit in, at least while you are in high school, it is an important passage in your life" Sarah agreed "Jones seems decent enough"

"What about the teachers?" Thomas asked "are they nice?"

"Yeah, they all are really welcoming" Lux said. She specially liked Mr. Rogers and Baze, who she had learned from Tasha were best friends

"Hey Lux!" Tasha came trotting towards her "you want to sit with us? Oh, hi"

"hello" Sarah said sweetly "are you a friend of Lux's?"

"yes, this is Tasha, she's been helping me around" Lux said "can I go?"

"of course sweetheart, go ahead, have fun with your friends" Sarah said. Lux climbed down to the first few rows, just behind the team's bench

"hey" she whispered to Jones "good luck"

"thanks" he whispered back. She turned red. Tasha offered her some popcorns

"so that's your family huh?" she asked

"yeah, what about your parents?" Lux asked "Are they here?"

Tasha bit her bottom lip "no, they are not really into sports". The truth was that she lived in foster care, her family was really nice but they just looked for a babysitter to take care of their little kids, she had even been surprised when she had gotten an scholarship out of her gangs full highschool. Her foster parents had been really supportive because they got a monthly check from the state every month and a bit more from the sport scholarship

"right, well my parents aren't either, I just kind of dragged them with me or they wouldn't let me come" Lux said "my dad is still not over about leaving DC"

"but I thought he was the reason why you had moved?" Tasha inquired. Lux nodded awkawardly

"yeah, but he isn't good with changes" she pointed out "I think he really didn't want to leave DC, he just considered this to be a greater opportunity"

"yeah, adults and money" Tasha sighed "pathetic, right?" they continued to watch the game and cheered for Jones. Once it was over Lux returned with her family and thanked Tasha for taking her away

They made their way outside. Tasha had already left to celebrate the teams victory with Jones and a couple other kids. It was raining so they hurried to the car, but it didn't start. The engine appeared to be dead

"dam it!" Thomas muttered under his breath "wait here" he got off the car and tried to restart the car, but water was pouring and he couldn't really see what he was doing

Baze was parked a few feet away. He hurried to help Thomas "rain sucks right?" Thomas looked up. Baze was taller than him. way taller "Portland has a way of ruining good cars" Baze was born in raised in town so he knew his way around the city. he leaned closer to take a closer look and just like magic, Thomas heard the car roar back to life "it's just wet, but you can turn it back on now, you should take to a car shop though, it might need some work"

"thank you…" Thomas said climbing back to the car

"Nate, Bazile" Baze said. He noticed Lux curled up at the back "hey"

"hi" she said shyly. "dad this is Mr. Bazile, he's the basketball coach"

"well, Mr. Basketball coach, we are really grateful" Sarah said "you must be freezing"

"not really, I'm used to the wheather here, I guess it isn't as different as DC" Baze said "Lux told me that where she is from"

"yes, well it doesn't rain as bad as it does here, that's for sure" Thomas said "thanks again"

"sure, anytime" Baze gave them a big smile and then waved goobye "see you on Monday?" he asked Lux. She nodded and he walked away

"really nice, not everyone would have stop and helped in a rain like this" Sarah said as she examined Baze "is he your teacher sweetheart?"

"he's just assistant coach" Lux said "I like him, he's nice"

"yes, he is" Thomas said. But he wasn't fully conviced about that guy, there was something about him that disturbed Thomas. It wasn't that he was a man teaching girls how to play basketball. It was the way he could see the resemblance between him and Lux. He wasn't sure if sarah had noticed

That night, while everyone was sleeping Thomas kept thinking about Baze. He had been nice to his family. So what was it that made him be so restless. Sarah noticed her husband absent mind

"you noticed too?" she asked quietly. He nodded "I'm sure we are just being paranoid"

"are we?" Thomas asked. sarah remained quiet "I don't know"

Baze's POV

That kid had just made something inside him change, it wasn't in the strange creepy way. He had just felt a connection with her. He had noticed her father's cold glare. Maybe he though he was some pedofile of something, but there was just something about Lux that reminded him of himself when he was little

Cate's POV

I hadn't been able to get that image off my mind. Nate Bazile. The back of his mom's minivan. Zima. Spin doctors

There was something about him that had always fascinated her. And then she had been deflowered during winter formal by the guy she had least expected. He had been a jerk after that, even denying that they had slept together

"Cate?" Ryan asked. They were about to start the show. But she hadn't really been herself since the day Peterson had arrived.