It's three o'clock in the morning.
Lucas is lying in the plush guest room.
He can't sleep.
Maybe it's because he's not use to such comfort.
He tosses one of the many pillows to the floor. People with money like pillows.
He wriggles onto his front in an effort to get comfortable, groaning when another soft cushion gets in his way.
He groans, sitting up with a huff and that's when he realises that he's not quite alone.
'Shit' He jumps, startled by the pair of blue eyes peering up at him.
He clears his throat and shuffles his body round. 'Jamie, you made me jump kid' He smiles uneasily. 'What's up? Is something wrong?' He asks, noticing the tear stains marring the little boy's cheeks. 'What's up?'
'I, I need Mummy's shirt'
Lucas swings his legs over the mattress and pushes the covers away.
He understands instantly. The article of clothing that was his Mother's has become a comfort blanket of sorts and apparently he cannot be without it.
'Okay. It's alright. We'll go find it. It's probably downstairs' He welcomes the distraction from his inability to find sleep.
Jamie sniffles and hesitantly slips his little hand into Lucas' outstretched one.
Lucas finds the hall light and cringes as the brightness assaults his eyes.
They don't speak.
Sure enough the object in question is found on the sofa where Jamie had earlier fallen asleep.
He releases Lucas' hand, quickly retrieving the article he'd awoken pinning for. He drapes it over his shoulder and holds the collar over his nose.
It amazes Lucas how such a commodity could bring such relief and comfort.
'Okay buddy?'
Jamie's tired droopy eyes flicker and he nods wearily.
'Lets get you back into bed'
Lucas walks slightly behind the exhausted five year old, his hand naturally coming to rest on the child's back as his feet begin to falter on the staircase, dragging beneath him.
Lucas wonders if he should lift him and carry him the rest of the way but he's only known the kid for less than twenty four hours, he's yet to know what Jamie would and wouldn't be comfortable with. So instead he tells him that they're nearly there and sure enough they reach his bedroom just seconds after.
Jamie hovers in the doorway while Lucas pulls back the covers, urging him to clamber back into bed.
Jamie dawdles towards him.
The truck bed sheets are notably damp though and Lucas halts him from climbing onto the mattress.
On closer inspection he can see a sodden patch on the pale blue bottom sheet.
He exhales heavily. The kids wet himself.
Jamie tries to get back into his bed, clearly intent on ignoring his accident.
'Buddy, lets find you some pyjamas okay?' Lucas puts his hand on Jamie's back and guides him away from the soiled bed.
It doesn't take him long to locate a pair of clean pyjama bottoms in the draws of children's clothing.
He doesn't address the accident. He can remember wetting the bed when he was little. He can remember not telling anyone. He can remember being scolded. He can remember being told he was a baby.
'There. You okay?' He smiles down at the sleepy infant, assuring him that everything's okay and that he's not in the slightest bit angry.
Jamie nods and yawns.
It's late and Lucas hardly feels like stripping the bed and going in search of clean sheets and the kid can barely keep his eyes open.
'You wanna come and sleep in my bed?' He's sure there's several other bed's he could settle him in but Jamie's clearly unsettled and something tells him he's going to be getting up and down all night to the frightened five year old.
Jamie nods, relief clear on his little features. He doesn't want to be by himself, even if the company is a stranger.
-X-
A relentless tugging at his arm is what wakes Lucas the next morning. Only it's not morning. It's nearing midday.
He's not surprisingly confused and disorientated but he's quick to get his bearings as he takes in the little person peering at him.
Jamie's hair is sticking up in all directions and he's still clad in his pyjama's and Lucas wonders how long he's been awake.
'Ders someone at the door' He quietly informs the startled adult. 'I'm not allowed to open the door' He further elaborates.
Lucas nods. 'Yeah, that's, that's wise. Good call' He mutters, dragging himself from the warmth of the bed.
Sure enough he soon hears a loud doorbell chiming below with a encore of knocks and he fleetingly wonders how he didn't wake at such noise.
Jamie follows him down the staircase, his blue shirt being dragged behind him.
They pass a trail of plastic dinosaurs as they go. He's been up for several hours, for which he's spent the most part playing on the stairs. A safe zone. He's too scared to venture to the ground level by himself.
Lucas is with him now though and he contentedly hops off the bottom step onto the cold marble, his tummy rumbling. He's not eaten all morning and he wants to go and sneak a biscuit from the biscuit tin but he's also eager to know who their visitor is. Maybe it's Mummy and Daddy.
Lucas has a good idea who their visitor is and isn't the least bit surprised when he pulls back the lock.
She'd promised to come by tomorrow and today was tomorrow.
'Oh thank god' Peyton exhales when she's finally granted access. She hurries into the house and wastes no time in wrapping her arms around Jamie. 'Are you okay honey?'
He nods into her neck, clearly startled by her fierce hug.
She glares at Lucas and it truly astonishes him how much she can say without words. She's asking him why the hell he's left her standing on the front door step for the last forty minutes. She's asking why he didn't pick up the house phone. She's wondering what the hell he's been doing. She's wondering why Jamie's still in his pyjama's. She's wondering if he's been fed.
He opens and closes his mouth but she's not interested in his answers. She's made up her own.
'Come on Jimmyjam, you must be starving'
She's brought shopping with her. There's all kinds of food in the brown bags and flowers too.
Lucas watches with confusion as she sets the bright and cheerful sunflowers in a vase on the kitchen counter.
She makes Jamie a healthy and most nutritional breakfast and the five year old actually smiles and hums appreciatively while he munches on the array of fruit.
She baths him and helps him get dressed after and when she comes back downstairs she's carrying the dirty bed linen.
She puts them in the washing machine and then disappears to go make the beds.
She's non stop. She spins from room to room doing the little things that she doesn't think Lucas will think of doing and all the while she's playing with Jamie too and magically keeping him entertained.
'There's a social worker coming at 2'O clock' She tells Lucas when she reappears in the kitchen to transfer the bed things into the tumble dryer.
He looks up from the coffee he's nursing. He's so tired. 'Social worker?'
'To check up on Jamie and you, to see if this can work'
He instantly feels sick. He's seen enough of these people over the last few days. He hates them. They came to him for help, they're the ones that asked him to do this and yet they treat him like he's the bad guy.
She's gone again before he can ask any more questions.
He sighs. He gets why she's being cold. He's not exactly made the best impression or shown that he can do this. She turned up to find the kid still in pyjama's, unfed and his bed soiled.
He drags a hand over his forehead. He's tired and wants to sneak off back into bed.
'Where's Peyton?'
He looks up from the kitchen counter.
Jamie's standing in the doorway, rocking back and forth on his feet as he awaits an answer. Predictably, there's a puddle of blue material hanging from his left hand, while his other grips onto a book.
'Er, I'm not sure, what's up?'
'I wanna story' He holds up the colourful hard back.
'Right' He nods. 'Why don't you go take it back in the living room and I'll go find her for you?'
He knows the sensible thing would be to offer to read it to him himself, considering all the stuff she's already done but reading isn't he's strong suit and even though the kids only five he can't be dealing with being humiliated.
'Okay?'
Jamie gives him a dutiful little nod and obediently disappears back into the lounge.
As he goes in search of the curly haired blonde, he wonders what the outcome of the social worker's visit will be. A part of him both hopes and expects it to be decided that in this case Jamie is best to be placed in Peyton Sawyer's care and not with a blood relative that he doesn't know.
He could be back living his old life by morning.
Only he doesn't want his old life. Not when he has the option of all of this.
He eventually finds her. The furthest door on the landing is ajar. He's not been in there.
He gingerly pushes it further open and she jumps.
Her face is red and splotchy and a tear races down her cheek.
'Er, sorry' He mutters. 'I didn't mean to...Jamie's asking for you'
'Right' She shields her face from him, furiously wiping her eyes and then she's standing up and brushing past him.
She's gone.
He loiters in the doorway as though he's trespassing. He supposes in a sense he is.
This is their room, or was their room.
He can smell a girlish fragrant lingering in the air and he thinks it smells nice. It smells how he'd imagine a mother to smell. It smells pretty and safe and nurturing. It smells of Haley James Scott.
There's a scattering of photographs on the bed.
It's what Peyton had been looking at just moments before. It's what lures him further into the room that he has no right stepping into.
There are wedding, high school and childhood photos.
He wonders if they were as in love as they look in these images, or if it was all just a façade. He wonders if their love grew stale and they just had to keep up pretences for their son.
He homes in on one of the high school snaps, the boys are dressed in basket ball kits and the girls in cheer outfits.
He spots Peyton standing next to her. They're both wearing short skirts but Lucas can only seem to focus on Peyton's and how long her legs are. He wonders if she ever wears anything this short now. He hopes so.
And then he shakes his head, his stare returning to seeing both girls, to see their arms around each other. They were friends and Peyton's clearly hurting right now and he's wondering if he'll be privileged enough to see any of her flesh.
He's a dick.
He needs to get his mind out of the gutter.
So far, he's not exactly warmed to her. Yeah she's hot, but she's also a stuck up bitch as far as he's concerned.
He knows what she thinks when she looks at him and he reminds himself that he doesn't care what she's going through or how close she was to Haley and Nathan Scott.
He drops the photo back onto the pile and walks back out, closing the door behind him.
He won't step foot in that room again.
-x-
The social worker has arrived.
Her name is Denise.
Denise talks a lot. She asks a lot of questions.
Then she politely asks Peyton if she can speak to both Lucas and Jamie alone.
Neither one of them are happy to see her exit the room.
They're on their own with her now.
She's got greying hair, pulled back flat against her head into a neat bun.
She's wearing glasses on the tip of her nose and her eyes divert from the papers in her hand to peer over the frames at her awaiting subjects.
She smiles too much when she addresses Jamie and he sinks further and further into his chair.
Lucas doesn't get a smile.
He feels like he's eight years old again. He's thrown a football through his foster parents window. It was an accident but he's had a lot of accidents under the Mckenzie's roof. He accidentally left their darling daughter's rabbit cage open. Poor Poppy's bunny was never to be seen again. He accidentally kicked Mr Mckenzie in the shin when he was encouraged to try harder at school. He accidentally dismembered Poppy's barbie dolls. He accidentally dragged Mrs Mckenzie's house keys along their brand new car. It was one accident too many.
Anita the social worker hadn't been happy. She'd worked so hard to find him a nice family and she'd been sure to tell him so. She didn't understand why he tried so hard to screw things up. Anita hadn't been long out of college. Anita had been yet to get to know how kids like Lucas worked. She hadn't been able to relate to his life. She'd been provided for and loved her whole life. She hadn't been able to see that he expected to be chucked out. She couldn't see that he was pushing the boundaries because he knew nobody could ever love him and he didn't see the point in hanging around.
Denise may be interrogating him now and looking at him like he's inadequate but she's not the same as Anita had been.
She get's how this works. She's nearing her fifty's. She's been doing this forever. She knows the child's never to blame. She knows it's not Jamie's responsibility to make this work, she knows it's Lucas'.
'So you understand? Obviously all the Scott's financial assets have been left to James so you won't have to worry about providing for him financially'
She's given him a load of documents. She's organised appointments for him with the bank, with Jamie's kindergarten, with Jamie's doctor and she suggests he sees a psychiatrist considering the trauma he's been through. She also suggests that he throw Jamie back into a routine to establish a sense of normalcy.
He nods with the bewilderment of a child who's been given too much information at once.
Denise adjusts her spectacles on her nose. 'We'll review this arrangement in a few months and when we feel confident this is the right choice for James we can discuss how to move forward and the option of official adoption'
She slides a form in front of him. 'By signing this you're agreeing to be this child's guardian and caregiver and accepting full responsibility for his well being'
He thinks it sure as hell sounds like an official adoption already.
His hand shakes as he picks up the pen.
This isn't binding. This isn't binding. He repeats it over and over. He wants a get out clause just incase. He's not ready for this to be final.
'Do you accept these terms of temporary guardianship Mr Scott?'
He scribbles his name across the dotted line.
He accepts.
Jamie's disinterested by all the grown up talk. He's migrated to the floor, idly lining up his toy cars. He does it quietly and almost robotically, as though he's going through the motions of being a child but he's forgotten how to really do it.
Denise rises.
She wishes them all the best.
Peyton reappears and it's clear she's been eaves dropping on the entire exchange. She leads the social worker out as though this is her house. They speak in hushed voices in the foyer and Lucas wonders if Peyton's already dishing out the dirt on him and urging this woman to reconsider.
When she returns though, she smiles at him and it's thankful and sincere and maybe she's not the stuck up bitch after all.
But then, as quick as it's there, it's gone. Her face scrunches up. It's as though something's just occurred to her.
'I hope you're not doing this for the money because it's not yours. It's theirs. It's Jamie's. You're not entitled to a penny of it and I'm not going to let you throw away everything they worked for, worked for, for him' She says quietly but fiercely.
He clenches his teeth together. Stuck up bitch is back. She's looking at him like he's scum again.
He's been given that look all his life and it still doesn't hurt any less but he's pretty adept at hiding his feelings.
But maybe what's pissed him off most is that maybe her assumption is spot on. Maybe he is here for that only.
'It's getting late' He states politely. 'You've probably got things to be doing'
He's telling her to leave without actually saying the words.
Her eyes narrow.
'I was going to make Jamie some dinner' She retorts, challenging him to protest.
He protests. 'I've got it' Or not quite got it. He wonders what the hell he can put together that the kid will actually eat.
She's crossed her arms and he knows she wants to yell and loose her temper but she's too stubborn to let him win and she's not about to start cursing at him in front of Jamie.
'Jamie will you be alright if I go now?' It's a question that she's willing the answer to be a negative because if Jamie says he wants her, Lucas will have to deal but then she realises how childish she's being. 'I've got to get going' She rewords. She can't let her dislike for Lucas affect this innocent boy. She has to try and make this work for him even if she detests that she's got to put up with listening to a man that should have no say what so ever. She should be making the rules, she's known Jamie since he was four hours old, only she doesn't get to make the rules. Lucas shares his blood and that unfairly so, gives him the right to call the shots.
Jamie's not all that impressed. Peyton's presence makes him feel safe. He gets fed and hugged and played with when she's around.
'I'll ring you up to say good night okay?' She appeases his long face. 'You be good' She ruffles his uncooperative hair and gives him a goofy smile.
She leaves and a silence looms.
Jamie stares at him. Lucas stares back.
'How do you feel about take out pizza Jamie?'
The child wonders if it's a trick question.
'I always have the extra extra cheesy one?' His eyes have lit up at the prospect. His Mummy and Daddy only got take out on special occasions. This wasn't a special occasion.
'Whatever you want buddy'
'I like the extra extra cheesy one' He repeats.
They venture into the kitchen together, in search of a take out number.
Jamie finds it.
Lucas dials and Jamie smiles up at him as he orders two extreme cheese pizzas. And it may be little but that little smile makes Lucas realise that he's here for Jamie, not to reap the benefits of his half brother's death, not for the money but for Jamie and he can only hope he doesn't screw it up.