A/N: Okay so I lied to you guys. This isn't the last chapter. There will be a short epilogue posted a few days from now! When I finished this chapter, I decided I couldn't end it there. But instead of ending the story with a HUGE AN, I decided to do it on this chapter! So before you start reading, I want to thank you. All of you. Those of you that have stuck with me from the start of this story and stayed with me until now means so much to me. This story was my baby. It was my first multi-chapter story and I can't believe the response I got for it. I have enjoyed writing this story more than you can imagine. I have put my sweat, hard work, and tears into this story. And there are no words that can express how much it means to me that everyone liked it!
I have to make a big shout out to a few people really quickly. To Tamarindo, rachtree, and kay0340….You three are so awesome! The three of you have been loyal reviewers since the beginning and have been so supportive. Thank you so much!
To Morgan…Girly you have no idea how much you have helped me. I mean it when I say that if it wasn't for you, this story wouldn't exist! You have not only been a beta for me, but you have been a friend. And I love you girly! Can't wait til you come down to Texas next month!
Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill or its characters!
Fifteen Years Later:
"Jackson Timothy Smith! How many times do we have to tell you that you are not allowed in Ava's room? Get back down here right now!" a voice yelled from the bottom of the stairs.
"Damn it Dom! Why do you always have to rat me out to your mom?"Jackson whined, walking out of Ava's room with her following behind him.
"Hey it wasn't me this time! Maybe you're just too dumb to outsmart Mom!" Dominic laughed, meeting them at the top of the stairs. The three of them walked downstairs and into the kitchen, greeting Brooke, Nathan, Haley, Lucas, Peyton, and Tim.
"Aunt B, you act like we're doing it or something! You know we're just best friends!" Jackson defended himself, grabbing a piece of bacon from the plate on the kitchen table.
"Ew, please do not make references to my baby sister doing it! Especially with you!" Gavin joked, taking a seat at the kitchen table before piling his plate full of bacon and eggs.
"Jackson, I know you and Ava are best friends. We all know that. Personally, I think you get a little too defensive about it, maybe there is something going on between you two!" Brooke joked. She filled her coffee cup as the rest of the kids crowded into the kitchen. Jackson, Gavin, Dominic, and Ava were already seated at the kitchen table. Tristan, Emma, and Gracie took their seats at the table as Avery and Sadie sat at the breakfast bar on the stools. The parents all stood around the kitchen sipping their coffee.
"So why is everyone here? Don't yall have to go to work or something?" Tristan joked, looking at his parents and his aunts and uncles.
"Yes, we do. And you have to get to school! So hurry up and eat! Dominic, you drive the boys to school. Emma, you take the girls!" Nathan instructed, placing his coffee cup in the sink, motioning to Lucas and Haley that it was time to leave.
"Wife, I love you! I'll see you tonight," he whispered, kissing Brooke on the lips, "Kids, I'll see you at school. And Gavin, no skipping on the first day again! You too Jackson!"
"Why do our parents have to work at our school?" Jackson whined to Ava, who just laughed at him.
"Aw, Jacky, you don't like it?" she laughed, finishing her food and taking her plate to the kitchen.
"Mom, are you gonna work with the squad again this year?" Avery asked Peyton. Peyton looked from Avery to Brooke and back to Avery before answering.
"Actually, I was thinking that maybe this year we could try out another coach. I'll still help out, but with the record label doing so good right now, I might have to make more trips to LA than we thought."
"What? No! You can't quit! Mom, you know the squad was better than ever last year with you helping," Avery cried, getting upset with her mother.
"I know baby, but I can't help it. Business is doing good now! Besides, we were thinking of having your Aunt Brooke help out!" Peyton cheered.
"Really? That's awesome!" Avery squealed.
"Great, another parent lurking around our school, waiting for us to screw up!" Gavin mumbled, rolling his eyes.
"Ah, but Gav, if you didn't screw up so many times in the past, we wouldn't be waiting for you to screw up again!" Brooke chuckled, kissing his cheek, "Now go get your stuff. You guys need to leave soon!"
"Brooke, you do realize that your middle son, the troublemaker as you call him, and my oldest daughter are dating now right?" Tim asked Brooke. She gagged on her coffee at this realization.
"What?" she choked out, looking directly at the direction the two had just gone, Gavin's room.
"Dom, Kaden, did you two know about this?" she asked her other two boys.
"Mom, everyone but you and Dad knew. Gavin said he didn't want to tell you yet. Thanks a lot Uncle Tim! Now I'll have to listen to him bitch the whole ride to school!" Dominic complained, walking out of the kitchen with Kaden, Ava, Jackson, Gracie, Emma, Tristan, and Sadie behind him.
"Dominic Nathan Scott! Watch your language! Gavin Reed Scott, Avery Brooke Smith! Get your butts down here right now!" Brooke shouted up the stairs. The rest of the kids hurried outside towards the cars, not wanting to be caught in the middle of that discussion.
"Mom, we're gonna be late for school! Can't this wait til tonight?" Gavin asked, walking into the kitchen with Avery behind him.
"No, it cannot! When were you gonna tell your father and I about the two of you?" Brooke asked angrily, running a hand through her hair.
"Dad! I can't believe you told her! You promised!" Avery yelled, her eyes shooting daggers at her father.
"Don't blame him for this; blame yourselves! Gavin, this family has always been honest with each other. Why couldn't you tell me? And you do realize that you two are practically family right?"
"Aunt B! That's gross. We're not blood related. That would only be a problem if Gavin dated Emma or Gracie; and that's sick!" Avery grimaced, "Besides, what's it really matter? You dated Uncle Lucas before you got with Uncle Nathan!"
"How do you know that?" Brooke asked in shock, her eyes going as wide as Peyton's and Tim's were.
"Emma found this book in Uncle Lucas' office that he wrote when we were little. It was all about you guys when yall were in high school. We know all about yall!" Gavin told them, smirking at his mother.
"Gavin Reed, get that look off your face. If you think for one minute that you can use that book to blackmail me out of being mad at you, forget it. I played that game long before you did and I'm way better at it. Now go to school; your father and I will talk to you about this later!" Brooke demanded, feeling like steam was blowing out of her ears. Gavin and Avery walked outside, hand in hand, smiling at everyone as they got in the cars.
"Did you know about this book?" Brooke asked Peyton and Tim.
"No, did you babe?" Tim asked Peyton.
"Yeah, um, Haley told me about it one time," she admitted, earning a shocked and frustrated look from Brooke. "Look, it's not a big deal! He never got it published. She said it was just a way for him to remember it all. And it doesn't get too into detail. I mean, it talks about Lucas cheating on you with Haley and then me and Tim hooking up at that party before we got together. And Haley getting pregnant and then the fight you had with Nathan when you got pregnant. He even mentioned me slapping Nathan after we found out you were pregnant!"
"Are you kidding me? So all the kids know about Molly?" Brooke asked, in tears.
"Brooke, all the kids knew about Molly Erin. She was never a secret!" Tim reassured her, rubbing her shoulders.
"No, but Timmy, they don't know everything about her. They just know that she died when she was a baby. They don't know that it was all my fault!"
"Brooke, don't go there. It wasn't your fault. We've been over this way too many times in the last seventeen years! Now come on, dry your eyes. You've got a store to get to!" Peyton said with a smile. Brooke nodded her head, grabbed her purse, and left the house, Peyton and Tim behind her.
THHS:
"Psst! Jackson!" a voice whispered from behind him. He turned around to see Gavin sitting there.
"Gav, are you even supposed to be in this class?" Jackson asked, laughing.
"No, but that's beside the point! Listen, a few guys from the team are talking about ditching last period and going to the Blue Post for a few drinks. Wanna go?"
"Are you kidding me Gavin? It's the first day of school! And you heard your dad this morning. There's no way we can get away with it with him, Aunt Haley, and Uncle Lucas here. Besides, you're already in enough trouble with your mom about you and Avery!" Jackson told him.
"Mr. Scott, can I help you?" their teacher asked, stopping to stand by Gavin, knowing he wasn't in this class.
"Um, no, sorry, got lost! I'll be leaving now!" he stammered, jogging out of the room and on to his actual class.
At Lunch:
"Dominic, you need to have a talk with Gavin. He's already talking about skipping!" Jackson told Dominic as they sat down at their lunch table. Just like their parents, all the Scott kids and the Smith kids were the most popular at Tree Hill High.
"Hey! I just mentioned the idea. I didn't say I was gonna do it!" Gavin said, defending himself as he sat down next to Dominic, Avery on his other side. Kaden was next to Jackson. At the next table was Tristan, Emma, Gracie, Ava, and Sadie. They sat at two tables back to back and always turned to talked to each other.
"Gav, seriously, you act more like Uncle Tim than Jackson or Tristan do. You're not skipping. End of story. Got it?" Dominic asked, ever the protector.
"Yes Dad!" Gavin said, saluting him.
After School:
"I think today was a successful first day!" Haley said as her, Lucas, and Nathan walked to Nathan's car in the parking lot. They rode to school together every day.
"I dunno about that. I caught Tristan making out with some girl in the hallway between classes!" Lucas laughed. Nathan just shook his head. His son Gavin, and Peyton and Tim's twins, Jackson and Tristan, have always been the wild ones. The troublemakers as Brooke called them.
"Hey, so Brooke and I were thinking about having a family barbecue this weekend for my birthday. You guys in?" Nathan asked them as he noticed his oldest, Dominic, smacking Gavin upside the head on the other end of the parking lot as they walked to Dominic's car. Kaden, Tristan, and Jackson were behind them. He looked at the car next to Dom's to see Avery, Sadie, and Ava in the backseat laughing at the boys with Emma in the driver's seat and Gracie in the passenger seat.
"That sounds great! Maybe we can get Mason to come down for the weekend too!" Haley said, missing her oldest.
"Oh, babe, Mason called me earlier in-between his first two classes. He said he can't make it this weekend anyway. Some kind of big meeting for work," Lucas said, not sounding very convincing to Nathan. Haley just nodded her head though.
That Night:
"How was work B?" Nathan asked his wife as they sat down on the couch in the living room after dinner. Dinner at their house was always a big deal. Since Brooke and Nathan didn't have the best childhood with their parents, they decided to have a sit down dinner at the dining room table almost every night if they could. It was always a loud affair too with three eighteen year old boys and a fifteen year old girl. And like always, after dinner, the kids would retreat to their bedrooms to spend the nights together before they went to bed. Brooke and Nathan felt so blessed to have children that were so close.
"It was okay. Nothing too exciting. You?"
"Well, none of our kids got in trouble the first day! That's always a good thing!" Nathan laughed. Brooke took a sip of her drink and rolled her eyes.
"Actually, that reminds me, we need to talk about your middle son," she started.
"Oh, so he's my son now? When they're good, they're your kids. But if they're bad, they're mine? That's not fair!" Nathan whined jokingly.
"Yes, that's right! And you know why? Because you were the bad boy when we were younger too. So you get them when they're bad!" Brooke laughed.
"Hey, wait a minute! You weren't exactly an angel either! I can remember several times you should have gotten in trouble if your parents would have been around to see it!"
"Okay, besides the point! Did you know that Gavin and Avery are dating?" Brooke questioned him. Nathan's eyes became as wide as Brooke's were this morning when she found out.
"What?"
"Yeah, apparently everyone but us knew about it, according to Dom. He said Gavin didn't want to tell us yet. And when I confronted Gav and Avery, they tried to turn things around on me! I guess their great Uncle Lucas wrote a book about all of us when the kids were younger. Peyton said it was his way of 'remembering it all.' Bullshit. Anyway, so Gavin tried to basically blackmail me into him not being in trouble for lying by bringing up the fact that I dated Luke before you! Can you believe him?" Brooke steamed.
"Well, he is your son!" Nathan jested.
"Oh no! I told you he is your son right now! It doesn't matter anyways. Nathan, he lied to us! What are we going to do?"
"What do you want to do? Lock him up in his room and keep him from seeing her? Brookie, Avery is like family to us. What's the big deal?"
"That's exactly the big deal! They're like family!" Brooke squealed.
"Not blood related though. And they're just kids. It probably won't work out anyways."
"You know that's what people said about us when we were that age!" Brooke reminded him with a smirk.
"Yeah but we've got something that they didn't know about; a love like no other!" Nathan said quietly, leaning over to kiss his wife.
"Gag me with a spoon! Dad, I didn't know you were such a romantic!" they heard from behind them. They pulled apart to see all their kids standing there laughing.
"Gavin Reed, don't think you're getting out of this. I'm still mad that you lied to us!" Brooke said as they all sat down in the living room. Gavin and Kaden sat on the smaller couch, Dominic in the recliner, and Ava on the floor at her parent's feet.
"No, I didn't lie. I just didn't tell you!"
"It's still a lie by omission young man! So here are your ground rules for dating Avery: 1) I don't want to see you hanging all over each other or making out. 2) You are on kitchen duty for two weeks for not telling us. And 3) If you don't treat her like she should be treated, you will have to deal with me and your father. Understood?" Brooke said, earning a slight laugh from Nathan. She smacked him in the chest and he straightened up, wiping the smile off his face.
"Yeah Gavin. You listen to your mother. You never know what she's capable of. Trust me!" Nathan choked out, trying not to laugh.
"Thanks Nate. Make me look like a fool in front of our kids!" Brooke joked.
"That's okay Mom. We already know you're a wuss!" Kaden kidded, making his mother gasp.
"You think I'm a wuss? Alright, that's it, I'm gonna whoop your butts right now!" she shouted, jumping up from the couch at the same time Gavin and Kaden did. For the next hour, the Scott family play-wrestled in their living room floor.
That Weekend:
"Mom! Dad! Everyone is gonna be here soon for the barbecue! Don't you think you should get out of bed?" Gavin shouted, banging on his parent's bedroom door before opening it.
"Holy crap! I think I'm blind!" he screamed, slamming the door and running into the backyard.
"I can't believe he just walked in!" Brooke said, a little embarrassed at her son finding her and their father in such a compromising situation. She walked into their closet and grabbed a pair of jeans and a red tank top, quickly getting dressed.
"I can't believe you just stopped and got up! I was enjoying our morning!" Nathan complained, grabbing a pair of khaki shorts and a black t-shirt.
"Nate!" Brooke squeaked, feeling Nathan's lips on her neck again.
"Mom, what is Gavin screaming about?" Kaden asked as he walked into his parent's room to see his parents making out.
"Oh, that's gross! Mom, Dad, yall are way too old to be acting like that!" Kaden yelled.
"Old? We are not old! Don't ever say that again!" Brooke shouted with a laugh.
"I'll go start the grill. See you out there," Nathan mumbled as their front door opened, Lucas, Haley, Emma, and Gracie walking in. Luke joined him and the other boys outside as Nathan started the grill. While it was warming up, they quickly started a game of basketball, the teams getting bigger when Tim, Jackson, and Tristan joined in a few minutes later.
"Do you think there will ever be a day that they don't play basketball?" Haley asked Brooke and Peyton. The girls just laughed at her question as they continued chopping lettuce and onions and slicing tomatoes. Emma, Gracie, Ava, Sadie, and Avery congregated in the living room, sharing any new piece of gossip they had heard.
"Hey, you guys need a ninth player?" everyone heard a voice shout from the backyard. Haley, Brooke, and Peyton looked to see Mason on the half court in the backyard being hugged by his father.
"Mason!" Haley screamed, running into the backyard, wrapping her arms around him immediately.
"I missed you so much baby boy!" she gushed.
"Mom! I'm not a baby anymore!" he laughed, hugging his aunts.
"Happy birthday Uncle Nate!" he said, giving Nathan one of those man hugs.
The rest of the day went by smoothly. Dan showed up thirty minutes after Mason, Karen right after him. The Scott and Smith families sat down to a birthday lunch for Nathan of hamburgers, hotdogs, potato salad, coleslaw, and regular salad. After they ate lunch, Karen surprised them with a birthday cake she made herself. And then Nathan opened a few presents. Most of them were normal birthday gifts; a gift card from the Smith family, another gift card from Lucas and Haley's family. From Dan and his three boys, he got a replica of his Ravens jersey from high school, framed, with his boys' signatures on it. From Ava, he got a picture of the two of them from their summer trip to the beach in a frame.
But the best present he got was from Brooke. After he had opened all the other presents, she handed him one last package. Tearing off the wrapping paper, he saw another frame, the picture in the middle not what he expected.
"Brooke, is this what I think it is?" he whispered, not showing anyone else.
"Yeah, it is Nate," she whispered back, a smile on her face.
"You mean you're…?" he stammered.
"I am. I wanted it to be a surprise!" she said, not looking at anyone else.
"Do you know what it is?" Nathan asked her, making all the adults realize what was going on.
"It's twins. A boy and a girl," she said a little louder than before.
"You're pregnant?" Gavin shouted, making his siblings gasp.
"Way to be subtle Gav," Brooke mumbled, "But yes, I'm pregnant. Eight weeks along."
"That's great! Congratulations!" Haley cheered, giving Brooke a hug. Peyton and Tim eyed Nathan from their seats.
"Nate, isn't that great?" Peyton asked, nudging his arm. He snapped out of his trance and looked at them before looking at Brooke.
"Yeah, um, great. Excuse me," he muttered, walking inside the house.
"You've got to be joking me!" Lucas stuttered, watching his brother walk away from Brooke for the second time.
"I'll go get him B!" Tim said, confusing the kids as to what was going on.
"No, it's okay. We're all adults this time. I'll go talk to him," she said, deciding not to back down this time.
"Nathan!" she shouted, walking into the house.
"In here," she heard him say back. She found him in their bedroom, sitting on the floor next to their bed. She sank down to the floor to sit in front of him.
"Nate, are you mad?" she whispered. He looked up at her and she saw the tears in his eyes.
"You think I'm mad? Brooke, baby, no. I'm not mad. Shocked, yes. But not mad."
"Then why did you walk away from me? Again!"
"I'm sorry B. I didn't mean to. I was just shocked. And to be honest, I'm kind of scared. I never showed it, but when you were pregnant with the boys, and then with Ava, I was terrified we would lose them again like we did Molly. I don't want to lose another baby Brooke!" he cried, not noticing his children walk in the room.
"Dad, can we talk to you?" Ava asked, sitting next to Brooke. Gavin, Dominic, and Kaden sat down all around them. He nodded his head, wiping the tears from his face.
"Look, I know Mom told you about Uncle Luke's book. So you know that we know about Molly Erin and everything that happened back then," Dominic started.
"Kids, this isn't the same thing," Nathan said.
"No, we know that Dad. That's what we're trying to tell you. We all read the book. We know how you reacted when Mom got pregnant with our older sister," Kaden told him, "But we also know that you're not that person now. We all know how hard it was for you and Mom back then. We read the book. And Aunt Peyton and Aunt Haley kinda told us some stuff about it too. But Dad, the thing is, you're not that guy anymore. And we know you're scared to lose these babies, like you were to lose us when Mom was pregnant with us."
"But Daddy, we want you to know that it's okay to be scared. And we want you to know that we're here for both of you. We'll help out with whatever you need throughout the whole pregnancy!" Ava said with a smile. Nathan sat up straight and looked at each of his kids before resting his eyes on Brooke. He smiled, bringing a smile to her face.
"We have some great kids Nathan Scott. And these two are gonna be just as amazing," she whispered.
"I think you're right! I love you," he whispered back, leaning forward to press a quick kiss to her lips.
"Okay, we might have said we'd be supportive, but if you keep that up, it's gonna make me puke!" Gavin joked, making his parents and siblings laugh.
"We love you too Gav!" Nathan said laughing, hugging his middle son.
A/N: So what'd you think? Click the little button and let me know!