Episode 6 Ch.4 Duty Calls

Nathan is standing in front of the courtroom. "You may speak." The judge told him.

"I have to admit that I haven't always been on my son's side where this pregnancy is concerned, but my son has always stood by his decision. From the moment he found out he was going to be a father he knew that he wanted to keep his child. He never once drifted away from that thought." Nathan looked at his son. "I think that he is too young to be a father, but that doesn't matter because whether he is too young or not he is going to be a father. It doesn't happen often when the teenage male wants to be apart of his child's life, but Hunter not only wants to be apart of his child's life but he wants to raise his baby without the mother. That says something about my son's morals and values and about his reputation as a man. The moment he made the decision to have sex with Miss Sawyer he became a man, and from that moment on he stayed a man when most would have sunk back to being worthless boys."

Nathan takes a deep breath and let's out a breathy sigh, "Please don't take my son's child away from him just because the mother is afraid of losing her childhood. It isn't fair to him because he may be young but he is ready to love his child in every way that he can." Nathan smiled at Hunter. "And I am very proud of my son for taking responsibility for the things that he has done. It takes most men years to learn to do that."

Nathan took one more breath, "And if you give Hunter custody of his child I promise that I will help him out every single day. I know that I have a coaching job that keeps me away from my family, but because of recent events I have decided to step down as the head coach and let my assistant take over. I need to be there for my family, and I know that if you give Hunter custody I will definitely have to be there for him and his baby."

Brooke was shocked. She had wanted Nathan to quit for years and now he finally was.

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Peyton is waiting in the hall for Savannah to come out of class. "Mom…" Savannah is surprised to see her mom. "What are you doing here?"

"Why didn't you tell me that there was a father/daughter dance tonight?"

"What's the point?" Savannah rolled her eyes. "It isn't like dad can take me."

"You don't know that. He has been feeling a little better."

"It's a waste of time. I'm not going." Savannah turned to go back to her classroom.

"Wait one minute young lady…I'm not done talking to you."

Savannah sighed and turned back around.

"You are going to that dance."

"Who is going to take me?"

"Keith will take you."

"It isn't the same. My dad should be able to take me. He's just so helpless and worthless. I just didn't want to be disappointed."

"Don't say that about your daddy. You know that he loves you, and he is by no means worthless."

"Mom, can I go back to class now?"

"Yeah," Peyton shrugged. "But just know that'll I have your dress ready for you when you get home. I'm not going to let you miss your dance."

"Fine," Savannah walked back into her classroom. Peyton hoped that she was making the right decision by forcing her to go.

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Keith walks into COB and smiles when he sees Jacey behind the counter. She was absolutely gorgeous in her short purple dress. She was right where she belonged. "Hey…"

"Oh hey," Jacey was always nervous when she was around Keith. He knew her better than anyone else in the world, and she was afraid that if he was around her too much he would figure out that something was wrong. "If you aren't here to purchase something I'm going to have to ask you to leave. I'm extremely busy."

"Um…" he scrambled around and picked up some lip gloss. "I want to buy this." He smiled at her.

She smiled and rolled her eyes. "I don't think so."

"What? I can buy anything I want."

"Yeah but that is definitely not your color." She picked up a darker shade of the lip gloss and he touched her arm.

"What happened?"

"What?"

"What happened to your arm?"

Jacey pulled away from him. "Nothing…I just probably bumped it or something."

"Oh…" Keith wasn't completely convinced. He sensed that something was wrong. "Are you sure it is nothing?"

"Yeah Keith…now if you don't mind I have other customers. Are you going to buy this or not?"

"No it's okay, but Jacey do you promise if something was wrong you would tell me?"

Jacey walked back behind the counter. "I'll see you later Keith."

Keith put the lip gloss down. He still wasn't convinced that Jacey was okay.

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Lily and Aidan are lying amongst all the paint on the floor. "You have paint all over you."

"You do too." Lily laughed.

"I think this is the beginning to all the fun we are going to have in this house." Aidan kissed her forehead. "So why exactly did you choose red?"

"Your favorite color is red." Lily smiled.

"No it's not. My favorite color is blue."

"Oh…I thought you told me it was red." Lily then remembered that Spencer's favorite color was red, and that they had once talked about painting the living room red.

"It's okay…You were probably thinking of one of your other boyfriends." Aidan joked.

"Yeah," Lily really was thinking of Spencer. She couldn't believe she messed up their favorite colors. "It doesn't matter though. I think the living room is going to be the best room in the house."

"I agree." He kissed her again rubbing the paint on her body.

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Summer answers the door to end the horribly loud knocking. "What?" She isn't pleased to see Jeremy.

"We have to talk."

Summer rolled her eyes. She didn't care to hear anything he had to say.

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Peyton walks into the house to see Lucas sitting on the couch. "Hey…" She smiles and sits next to him.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong. Why do you think something is wrong?"

"Because you have the look that you get when something is wrong," he reminded her that he knew her probably better than she knew herself.

"I just found out that Savannah has a father/daughter dance tonight, and she wasn't planning on telling me about it."

"A father/daughter dance?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah, but she doesn't want to go. I'm playing bad cop and I'm making her go."

"Why are you making her go? It isn't like she is going to have a father to dance with."

"Luke," Peyton looked at him as he stood up.

"You shouldn't make her go. That isn't fair. She shouldn't have to be the only one there without a father."

"She'll have Keith. I called him and he said he would take her."

"No Peyton…This is a father/daughter dance not a brother/sister dance. I'm not going to do that to my daughter." He started to slowly walk up the stairs.

"Lucas I don't want her to miss out."

"She'd still be missing out if she went Keith. It wouldn't be the same."

Peyton dropped her head. She couldn't win for losing. She thought Lucas would be happy that she was making her go.

Lucas felt like a horrible father. He hated that his kids were missing out because he was sick.

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Hunter, McKenzie, and their families are waiting to hear the verdict.

"Okay in the case of Sawyer vs. Scott I have made a decision. This was not an easy decision but it never is when it involves a child. I have to do what is best for the unborn baby and after hearing what all of you have to say I believe that the child would be better off with its father, Hunter Scott."

Hunter's heart drops into his stomach. He was suddenly hit with the realization that he was going to be responsible for a little life. He looked over at McKenzie who had tears running down her face. She was sure that the judge would side with her. She was going to have to watch her child being raised without her. That isn't what she wanted at all.

Okay so I know most of you wanted that to happen. Let me know what you thought of Nathan's speech. I liked it pretty much. There is only one more chapter left for this episode.

I can't wait to read what you guys have to say.