a/n Sorry again for the long wait for the update, please please review. It's all I ask, I promise! Just review! ah go on , you know you want to!

CHAPTER 11

"Are you sure about this?" Nathan stared at his brother uncertainly, not quite believing what his brother was telling him.

"Of course i'm sure, why wouldn't I be? I love her and I want to marry her." Lucas shrugged as if this was the most obvious answer to his brother's question. He couldn't understand Nathan's less than overjoyed response.

"After everything that has happened? It's a little soon don't you think? It's only been 6 months..." Nathan trailed off and looked to Haley for backup but she was even more shocked than he was.

"No I don't think it's too soon. I'm moving on, leaving the past behind me. I thought you guys would be happy for me..." Lucas leaned back in the chair and eyed his brother and best friend warily. He knew they were a little protective of him especially over the last few months but he expected a more enthusiastic response to his news.

"Lucas..." Haley began slowly. "It's not that we don't want you to move on, but this is a little extreme, especially for you. You don't usually make such rash decisions... you're only 23 Luke, why would you want to get married?"

"Oh come on Haley, this from the girl who left home at 17 and set up house with her boyfriend and had a baby a year later. Settling down worked for you guys, why wouldn't it work for me?" Lucas ran his hand over his newly shaved head. Cutting off his spiky blond locks had been phase one of the new and improved Lucas Scott.

"That's different Lucas, we've been together a long time and what works for us might not necessarily work for you..."

"Don't patronize me Haley..." Lucas gave a short laugh and shook his head. "We both know that long term relationships aren't exactly the one way ticket to domestic bliss. I'm happy, Haley. I'm getting married. Rachel Gattina is the kind of woman I can see a future with."

Haley bit her tongue. She knew exactly what kind of woman Rachel Gattina was, and now the bitch had dug her sharp claws firmly into her rebounding best friend. Haley decided to keep quiet as she knew how vulnerable Lucas was right now and if she and Nathan opposed too strongly to his engagement to Rachel they could lose him completely.

"Fine." Haley sighed and reached for Lucas's hand. "If you're happy, then we're happy, right Nathan?" he nodded his agreement. "Congratulations." she smiled, trying to make it believable and the way Lucas beamed back at them she knew he bought it.

"I can't believe her. She is unbelievable!" Haley paced back and forth angrily, wearing the carpet thin. Lucas had left their apartment half an hour ago and she was still seething. They had to do something, they couldn't let Lucas take such a drastic leap to forget his past. "Rachel's really put a number on him, Nathan. What on earth can he possibly see in her?"

Nathan almost choked on the sandwich he was wolfing when he realised that his girlfriend was waiting on him to answer her question. "Um... I don't know. She's good looking I guess, if you're into the long-legged, busty, red-haired type."

Haley narrowed her eyes at him. "They're fake, Nathan. Even the red hair."

"Listen Hales. We need to stay out of it. Let Lucas do what he has to do. I doubt he'll even go through with it - give him a few more months of getting over Brooke and he'll see how ridiculous he's being and end it. Besides, do you really think Karen is going to let him marry her? I'd love to be there when those fireworks get lit..."

"I guess you're right. I hope he sees sense, he still has to get through Law school and find a job. He's completely blind to her isn't he? She can see that Lucas is going places and she's tagging along for the ride trying to get what she can out of it. She's so... vacuous. I think that's the right word for her."

Nathan stood and grasped Haley firmly by the shoulders. "Haley. Calm down. Let's not get worked up over something that may not even happen, ok?"

"Ok." Haley's posture sagged and she sighed heavily. "I just worry about him. He took the break up so hard, Nathan, and he jumped into that relationship too soon. I wish he would just tell me what's going on in that thick head of his."

"I know you worry, but Lucas is a grown man. He's completely capable of fixing himself. He doesn't need you to do it for him. Now let's change the subject, Sophie will be home soon and we don't want her to see you so upset." Nathan pulled Haley into a firm hug and they both stood there in the silence of their living room for a few moments before a loud rapping on the front door broke them out of their troubled reflection.

Haley pulled away and before she fully opened the door, her daughter was bouncing into the apartment, bringing it to life with her jabbering and sprightly energy. She was closely followed by Deb who struggled to catch her breath and keep up with her hyper grandchild.

"Mommy! Daddy! Look what grandma bought me!" Sophie squealed with delight, eager to show her prize as she held up a Bratz sticker book and a large pile of stickers.

"Did you say thank you?" Nathan asked as he whipped Sophie up into his arms and kissed her cheeks and blew raspberries on her neck which always caused an explosion of giggles and squeals.

"Yes Daddy!" Sophie giggled, twisting and squirming to be let go but delighted at her father's attention. "Grandma, will you help me put the stickers in the right place?" She wriggled free from Nathan and ran to her usual spot on the living room floor and began to spread out all of her stickers and sing happily to herself.

Nathan smiled at Deb and Haley and shrugged his shoulders. His daughter was as crazy as 4 year olds come but he couldn't be more proud.

"Can I talk to you and Haley for a moment, Nathan?" Deb asked, a little too furtive for Nathan's liking. Ever since Deb had stepped out of the shadows 6 months ago, Nathan had been waiting for the other shoe to drop. He couldn't help but be suspicious of this mother, and who could blame him with the upbringing he had. What had started as a few afternoon visits to Sophie had gradually turned into dinners and day trips that involved all four of them. Ever so slowly, Nathan had allowed his mother back into his life, but he was still fearful of the day that she would revert back to her old self and prove that he should never have trusted her in the first place. Deb cleared her throat and took a seat at the table in the open plan kitchen/living room. Haley and Nathan joined her, both glancing at each other a little confused.

"An opportunity has come up for me to start up my own business. A business that I think might interest you, Nate." Nathan glanced at Haley again, more puzzled than before.

"What are you talking about?" Nathan was more than a little wary, after all, his mother had lived with Dan Scott for over 20 years.

"You know the company I work for designs and sells sports equipment, right? Well, they've decided to branch out by opening purpose built gyms throughout the state. They are building state of the art gymnasiums - a full gym floor, Olympic sized swimming pool, a tennis and basketball court - both indoors and outdoors, you name it, these places are going to have it. And i've been put in charge of this project. From the design, development, construction, right down to running the sister company that will operate these gyms." Deb paused and waited for her son to respond.

"Um... well that's great Mom. Congratulations. Nice break. What does this have to do with me?" Nathan was perplexed but Haley had started to get it and a small smile played on her lips.

"Nathan, I want you to join me. Be my partner. I want you to help me run the company."

"Excuse me? Are you serious? Ok i'm lost..."

"Son, I've been made Managing Director of a company that will operate 5 gyms throughout the states of Connecticut and New York. I need someone who I trust to be a competent, smart and innovative person to help me. That person is you, Nathan." Deb looked at her son meaningfully. "You don't have to decide right away, sweetheart. You and Haley can talk it over and get back to me. But just to put your mind at ease, this isn't any kind of ploy. This is a legitimate business offer and I would not be offering you the job if I didn't think you were capable. I'll leave you both to discuss what you need to." Deb hugged her granddaughter goodbye and smiled warmly at Haley before she left the apartment.

"Did that just happen?" Nathan was still in a daze. This certainly was a day filled with surprises. First his brother's shotgun engagement and now a too-good-to-be-true job offer from his mother.

"What are you thinking?" Haley asked him, jolting him back to reality.

Nathan watched his girlfriend carefully for her reaction. "My mother just offered me a job."

"I know. A good one." Haley chuckled. "It sounds too good to be true, right?"

"Which means it probably is." Nathan snorted and shook his head. He really didn't know what to think.

"I don't think Deb has an ulterior motive here, Nate. I think this is genuine, we have no reason to believe she's not."

" I have a job. We're getting by just fine." Nathan reasoned.

"We're scraping by. Granted, the money is a little better since you became a qualified mechanic and my assistant manager salary isn't awful." Haley agreed.

"And you graduate soon and you can start teaching so the pay will be better again."

"You have your GED Nathan, you can go further too."

Nathan sighed and they sat in silence for a few minutes, the only sound coming from Sophie who was singing one the of the songs from High School Musical.

"It does sound like a good job doesn't it?" Nathan spoke quietly. "I don't know the first thing about running a gym, or gyms as the case will be. I don't know how to run a company..."

"Dan didn't know much about cars when he started a dealership. Karen didn't know much about catering when she opened her cafe." Haley had a playful smile on her lips and a twinkle in her eye.

"It would be really challenging. Demanding too. It could be kind of exciting..."

"Very. You would have to wear a suit of course. I'd miss the greasy monkey suit." The brunette wriggled her eyebrows suggestively at her boyfriend and he rolled his eyes. "We could get a bigger apartment." Haley noted.

"Maybe even a house."

"We could buy new car."

"We could take a vacation."

"We could get married." Nathan looked at Haley completely serious.

"We could if you asked me..." Haley examined her nails and mischeviously ignored her partner.

"If I asked you, would you say yes?"

"I'd think about it... consider my options." Haley grinned wickedly at him.

"I'll keep that in mind." Nathan leaned back and watched his girlfriend as she went over to play with their daughter. I guess I'd better take that job he thought, almost giddy with excitement.

"You're joking aren't you?" Peyton Sawyer snapped. "There's no way in hell the Lucas Scott I know would actually consider marrying such a venomous parasite!"

Lucas clenched his jaw and glared at his childhood friend. "I would appreciate it Peyton, if you didn't refer to Rachel like that." he spoke calmly and with as much patience as he could muster but his anger was building. For the last few months he had been defending his relationship with Rachel, so what if he had started dating her only 1 month after he left Brooke. Rachel made him forget and that was exactly what he needed. Why couldn't his friends understand that?

"I call it like I see it, Lucas. I always have, and I sure as hell see Rachel Gattina for what she is. A parasite. Her only ambition in life is to marry a rich, successful fool, pop out a few kids, screw the gardener and screw you in the divorce. And Lucas, you're no fool."

"You're forgetting something Peyton! I'm not rich or successful. I'm a dirt poor law student, but she loves me anyway and she supports what I want to do. That kind of blows your theory right out of the water!" Lucas was trying hard to keep his cool but he was fuming. Why couldn't she play along the way Nathan and Haley had?

"You are so blind, it's almost pathetic! You may have nothing now, Lucas, but you're a student who interns every year at the D.A's office, you're top of your class every semester and you're smart as hell. You will be successful, Lucas, you will be wealthy. It's why you work so damn hard and she knows that! She'll be that first wife who claims to have made you the man you are to all the other social climbing gold diggers. She will bleed you dry, Luke. You're better than that! Why can't you see that?"

"Don't tell me what I need to see! I see someone who's trying desperately to hang on to the days where she didn't have to share her two best friends. Jake is perfect for you but you keep him at arm's length and don't you think I don't know why Peyton!" Lucas was yelling now, he had about enough of Peyton's high and mighty attitude towards his fiance.

"Bullshit, Lucas! I love Jake, I wouldn't be living with him otherwise..."

"Oh please, don't kid yourself! If Nathan walked in here right now and told you that he had been secretly in love with you for years and wanted you to leave with him on the first plane out of here, you would! I've seen it for years, Peyton!"

Peyton stood there in stunned silence. She took a deep breath and walked towards her living room window, overlooking the streets of Manhattan. Her job at Nouveau Productions as a researcher didn't pay much but she and Jake were getting by ok since he'd scored a staff writer job for a national sports magazine. Their west side apartment was tiny but the location was perfect and it was ideal for the two of them and Jenny when she came to visit. She turned and looked at her friend and was surprised at the hurt in his eyes.

"I love Nathan AND you like a brother. If after all these years you really believe that I would ever want anything more than that with him then you have NEVER really known me. Don't you ever dare claim to know what's in my heart, Lucas Scott. You're like a brother to me and that's why I refuse to stand by and watch you be made a fool of by Rachel. I've known her since college Lucas, I know exactly what she's like. And she will ruin you."

Lucas couldn't listen to this anymore, he couldn't contain his anger. He stood abruptly and walked towards the door. Both his voice and body were shaking when he spoke. "You have no right to make assumptions about my relationship with Rachel. You're a hypocrite, Peyton. You run down my throat when I make assumptions about you and Nathan but it's perfectly ok for you to stand there and tell me how I feel? Why can't you accept this? Nathan and Haley have..."

Peyton laughed bitterly. " Nathan and Haley should have spoken up, but they're afraid of losing you so it's left to me to try and make you see that you're acting crazy." Tears filled her eyes but she refused to let them fall as she swallowed the lump in her throat.

"So you're not afraid of losing me?" Lucas challenged her.

"I'm not afraid to tell you what I think. You can hate me for speaking the truth or you can actually man up and listen. I'm being honest with you, that's what friends are supposed to do. I know breaking up with Brooke was hard but you still love her Luke. You won't ever stop and you can marry a million Rachels but you won't forget her. And not a single one of them will live up to what you had for 4 years. Maybe if you swallowed your pride, you could have that back."

"Don't bring her into this, Peyton. This has nothing to do with Brooke. I'm doing this for myself, for once i'm actually putting myself first. Why the hell can't I be selfish for once? Why must I always be the good, dependable, responsible Lucas Scott?! Maybe I want to do something stupid, maybe I want to hurt her like she hurt me!" Lucas almost screamed. He wanted this conversation over, he wanted out of Peyton's apartment and away from her painful words.

"Rachel can't replace her Luke. I guess you'll find that out in time. But I won't be there to watch it happen. I don't want to see her destroy a person I love."

Lucas swallowed hard and stared coldly at the curly haired blonde in front of him. He could't describe how her words were pulling him apart, he felt as if he'd been kicked in the chest and he couldn't breathe. Could his best friend really be saying this to him? "15 years of friendship mean nothing to you?" he could barely get the words out.

Tears streamed down Peyton's face and she struggled to hold onto her resolve. "I can't do it. I love you and won't watch you make such a huge mistake. If you marry Rachel, our friendship is over."

Lucas visibly crumbled as he opened the door he had been standing next to. "If it's a mistake, then it's my mistake to make. Goodbye Peyton."

Peyton watched the door for 10 minutes after Lucas left, wondering if that whole scene had really happened. Shaking herself from her daze, she finally sat down on her sofa and cried for the 15 years she had just thrown away.