The Scott family are sitting on their couch waiting for Lucas' mother and family to arrive.
"Mama who's Lily?" Sawyer asked all of a sudden nervous of the visitors coming to see her that she hasn't seen for over a year.
"Lily's your auntie, baby girl… but she's more your age." Peyton replies, now used to the zillion questions a day her daughter asks.
"Will Nanna know me?" Sawyer asks again.
"Of course she will know you!" Peyton replies. "She will be so excited to see you again!" Peyton assures. The child who for weeks previously couldn't wait for her Nanna to come now seemed like a blithering mess at the thought of it all.
All of a sudden Peyton hears the front door open and knowing that it's Lucas returning with Karen and co. she quickly turns to her daughter and says "They're here! C'mon lets go meet them!" Although trying to act cheery for her daughter, even Peyton feels a few butterflies in her stomach. While she has known Karen for a long time, and in many ways Karen has become her surrogate mother, she couldn't help but feel a little nervous at meeting her husbands mother. She wanted so much to live up to Karen's expectations of what her only son's wife should be like.
"Karen hi!" Peyton exclaimed quickly rushing over to embrace her. Karen, evidently glad to meet her daughter in law breaks into a smile and also steps forward to embrace. Pleasantries and greetings are exchanged between the adults and Lily who at 8 years old is a vivacious and confident little girl, always the light of the party.
Karen quickly turns her attention to her only grandchild, who overwhelmed by everything is now hiding behind one of the kitchen cupboards, sticking her head out when curiosity gets the better of her. Sawyer, noticing that her daughter is missing calls her over.
"Sawyer honey, come say hi to Lily, Andy and your Nanna Karen" Peyton encourages. Slowly Sawyer emerges from her hiding place, only to quickly grab hold of her mothers leg and try to hide behind them. Bending down, Peyton begins her introductions.
"This is Nanna Karen. Do you remember her for Christmas last year?!" Peyton enquires. Slowly, Sawyer shakes her head and hides behind her mothers legs once more.
"Hi Sawyer" Karen says trying to win over her granddaughters affections.
Everyone is now seated in the living room resting after their evening feast.
"So where have you guys been travelling this year?!" Lucas asks.
'Mainly eastern Europe this year." Karen replies.
"We keep saying that we should settle down soon and stop travelling so much. You know, to give Lily a little bit more stability, especially once she begins her secondary schooling but we just can't seem to decide on where we want to live."
"You don't think you'll come back to Tree Hill?!" Peyton asks.
"I don't know. It's still very…. raw… to be here" Karen replies quietly. Andy gently reaches out and rubs his partner's shoulder in an understanding manner.
"I always said we should return to the southern shores of New Zealand or Australia, but your mum seems to think that it's the other side of the world and too far away from everything!" Andy explains in his thick accent.
"Well I don't think we should settle anywhere just yet!" Lily exclaims with a voice full of authority. "I like our travelling!" Lucas immediately picks up in his little sisters attitude that this is likely a conversation that has been had before.
"What little sis, you don't want to see your big brother more often?!" Lucas asks innocently. Lily in return grins at him and promptly runs over to climb into his lap. "Of course I want to see you more Luke, but I still love travelling all over the world!"
Lucas laughs. His sister certainly has a way of sounding very grown up as she speaks.
"I am not going to call you that just because you are a whole one week older than me!" Jaime exclaims
"But it's true! Ask my mum! Ask Lucas!" Lily retorts.
"It's silly! I shouldn't have to call you my Aunt! You're not old enough to be an Aunt. Aunt's are…. old… and our parent's age!" Jaime protests.
"But I AM your aunt! Lucas is my brother and he is your uncle! Mummy says that makes me your aunt!" Lily says with authority.
Jaime ponders this for a while, before questioning, "What does that make Sawyer then?!"
In turn Lily thinks for a while… unable to come up with an answer. "I'll have to ask my mummy or Lucas" Lily resolves.
All of the kids are sitting in the back lawn of the Scott residence enjoying the summer sunshine. Over the past few days they have been close to inseparable, particularly the elder two children, who despite their near constant bantering thoroughly enjoyed each other's company. Sawyer was often welcome also, as Lily was keen to play 'mum' to her little niece. In her own attentive and caring way, she would ensure that Sawyer was indulged with everything she wanted and in turn was able to boss her little niece around in their games. Having quickly gotten over her shyness, Sawyer had become a fast admirer or her fast and witty Aunt, who always had something to say, and was usually always up to no good. Her Nanny Karen also rated highly in Sawyers books, as she found that her Nanny always had time for her granddaughter and was another great playmate.
"I'm bored!" Lily announces after they have been resting and playing games on the lawn for a little while longer.
"what do you suggest we do?" Jaime asks
"I dunno, why don't we go inside and see what's happening?!"
Quickly, all three children get up and head inside to see if they can find any new adventures ahead.
Lucas and Karen are sitting in their favourite spot on the front porch. He never realised how much he misses his mother and having her around, until she returns and it hits him.
"So how is married life treating you?" Karen asks innocently.
"It's great! Couldn't ask for anything more!" Lucas replies confidently. He knows that his mother approves of Peyton and couldn't be happier with the match. She told him shortly after their wedding that she always hoped he would marry Peyton as she could see that this was always the one that he loved.
"Ok I'm just going to blurt out my question, because it's only a matter of time before we get interrupted by someone or something" Karen half laughs.
"Any thought of more babies on the way?" She asks hopefully.
Lucas pauses before turning to look his mother in the eye. "Did Peyton put you up to this?!" Lucas asks suspiciously, but not angrily.
Karen laughs out loud. "No of course not! I haven't even asked her, because something tells me that there is a story behind this and you may be the driving force."
It always amazes Lucas how observant his mother is. Quickly and briefly Lucas fills his mother in on how he feels about the whole ordeal about having another child and the risks that they will take. He wants his mother to understand where he is coming from and that there are reasons for his beliefs.
After a pregnant pause, Karen once again addresses her son.
"Luke, I want to tell you something. Not because I want to change your mind, but because I want you to make this decision based on all the facts. If this is how you feel because you have explored and exhausted every option that you see possible, then that's find and I respect that. But I could see all those years ago how much you and Peyton wanted kids, so I don't want you to settle for anything less."
Lucas remains silent, waiting for his mother to continue.
"Remember when you told me, just after Keith died that you had a heart condition? At that time there were a multitude of things running through my head. That you had been playing basketball all this time with a serious, life threatening heart condition and yet you didn't tell me, that you could have dropped dead a million times and yet, I would have not known why. And particularly, that I had just lost one of the most important people in my life, and how on earth was I going to live if I lost the most important person in my life. For some time you didn't play basketball. I knew you were doing it for me. For the people you loved. But you weren't yourself. Despite all of your efforts trying to convince us that you were 'fine' I could see it in your eyes. Basketball was a part of your life. There was no way we could take that away from you. Every time you walked past the river court or heard your friends talk about their game, a little part of you was pining to be there with them. I know you thought you hid it, but to a mother, it was staring me in the face."
"Part of me wanted to be selfish. To keep you safe and make sure nothing ever hurt you. I couldn't after all loose you too. But another, greater part of me wanted you to be happy and at least live life to the max. If basketball was part of that, then I had to find a way for you to have both, and to still stay healthy. Every time you stepped onto that court, my heart was in my mouth. What if something happened to you. I knew I would blame myself for it. And yet, it showed me that when all else seemed lost there are always other options. Sometimes I would look over at Peyton and I could see that she almost felt the same way. And yet, she was still happy to let you play, because it was part of what made you, you."
Karen paused, unsure of how to continue.
"I guess what I am trying to say is that we can't go through life trying to protect ourselves from every bad thing that may happen. One day, your life will change forever, in a way that you never predicted or a way that you never expected. We can't prevent or protect ourselves from all the wrongs. While you would give anything to spend just one more day with that person you love more than anything, I really believe that you will be more at ease and content with yourself knowing that they lived life to their fullest and doing the things that they loved."
Lucas was no longer sure whether his mother was talking about him anymore or Keith. Silently he pulled his mother close to him and hugged her. How is it that she knew all of his apprehensions? He really admired her. She was always there to help, without interfering, without forcing her opinions on him.
"Mum… there's something I want to share with you too." Lucas began, while reaching behind him. Silently he placed a copy of his manuscript of his new book in his mothers lap. She had not known he was writing this. He didn't know how to broach the subject with her. She stared at it wordlessly for a while, before tears welled in her eyes as she read the dedication.
"Oh Lucas!" was all that she could get out before she choked up again. Once more Lucas pulled his mother close to him, and for a while the two of them sat on the front porch with their arms around each other, sharing this moment, where both were thinking of the past and of the future.
"It's awfully quiet inside" Lucas commented to Peyton as he came into the kitchen, having come back in from outside. "Where are the kids?"
Peyton, who was getting dinner ready for when Haley and Nathan came over quickly replied "I think they are in Sawyer's room playing…"
"Hmm… it's just that it's….."
"Quiet?.... Yeah…. now that you mention it!"
As if on cue, Peyton felt a wet droplet fall onto her forehead. Confused, Peyton looked up and then exclaimed "Oh my GOD!" before running upstairs to investigate, Lucas hot on her heels. Peyton quickly ran into her daughters room to find the kids all there playing. Checking that the kids were ok, Peyton ran to the bathroom and opened the door, where she was confronted by a sea of water. Peyton was unable to speak. She merely let out a squeak, before heading to the bathroom to turn the rushing taps off. Inside it seemed the bath had been plugged up and the taps left on full ball. Noticing that Peyton was still speechless, Lucas, in equal shock hollered for the kids to come over. "Jaime, Lily and Sawyer, come here right this instant!" Come they did, for it wasn't often that Lucas sounded quite do authoritative. Upon seeing the state of the bathroom Jaime and Lily looked at each other in shock.
"what on…. Earth is going on here?!" Peyton asked.
"Ummm… I'm not sure!" Lily responded.
"We were going to give our dolls a bath, but then we decided to play another game instead. We didn't even turn the tap on!" Lily explained. Jaime nodded in agreement.
Peyton then moved onto the next victim.
"Sawyer honey, did you turn these taps on?!"
Quietly she nods her head.
"Dolly wanted a bath" she innocently explains.
"Honey, dolly doesn't need that much water. Why did you leave the taps running?"
"That must have been our fault Peyton as we called Sawyer away from the bathroom to come and play with us."
"Sawyer… honey… next time your Dolly's need a bath, you call your Mama ok" Peyton gently reprimanded. You have to admit, you have to see the funny side to the antics of a two year old or you would never live through it. Just last week, Sawyer was feeding her fish milk in their fish bowl, because they looked hungry!
Turning her attention to Jaime and Lily, Peyton said "you guys being older need to be much more vigilant with Sawyer. If she's getting too much, let me know and I'll take her out of your hands. You just need to watch her all the time". You couldn't after all get annoyed at the kids for this. Even Peyton sometimes struggled to keep up with her two year old daughter.
Sighing, yet trying to hide a smile, Lucas and Peyton set to cleaning up the bathroom and to clear evidence of the mess.