Hey Hey, so this weekend is a busy one for me. :) and the whole reason I decided to do early updates this month. Thanks to those of you who take the time to read this story every week. I know that sometimes weekly updates are a little slow, but thank you all the same for that. Special thanks to Rocklesson86, NALEY23alwaysforever and Naleylover87. for the reviews. Catch you later.

Chapter 4

It wasn't everyday that Quinn James opened her mother's front door to see a Scott standing there. When she was a teenager, yeah sure, but now- well that wasn't something that happened all that often. Her mother wasn't the biggest fan of Karen Scott at the moment; yes Lydia knew that it was the depression talking more than anything. But it was the way Karen reacted whenever she saw her that had Lydia completely on edge. The two had been friends for years, but as soon as Nathan and Haley left, things changed, Lydia was still grieving for her husband, as well as coming to terms with the fact her youngest child had run away. But Karen's absolute refusal to believe that it was anyone's fault but Haley's had caused, what now seemed like an irreparable rift between the two. Quinn had thought for sure, out of the two of them, it would have been her mother who had lost it, having lost both a husband and a child. But no her mother was a pillar of strength, who believed that they only reason Nathan and Haley left was because they had no other choice, and one day, maybe- hopefully they would find out what that reason was. Quinn knew her mother had her own theories of whom, not what but who was to blame but she had never once shared them with her. One thing she did know was that, just like it had been for her, it was odd for her mother to not see so much of the Scott family; most if not all of Quinn's childhood memories contained the Scott family, she'd gone to Nathan and Lilly's christenings and she was sure she'd probably gone to Lucas's as well being a year older than him. Their families used to be so close, and now well, she still saw Lucas and Keith out and about, and Lilly always stopped to talk to her when she wasn't with Karen; but things were not the same as they used to be, and unless her mother's theory of Nathan and Haley coming home was correct they never would be that way again.

"Lucas Scott, well you were the last person I expected to find standing out here. I thought for sure you were Clay. What can I help you with?"

"As you may or may not know, mum's therapist lowered her meds and wanted to see how she would react to any information about Nathan. So we hired I guess you could say a private detective to find them. Knowing the most he would probably find would be what the rest of us already know. Just to see how she would cope, and she did pretty well. However that is not why I'm here; this guy, he actually found stuff that we didn't know, or that those gossip sites didn't know. Now most of the things concerning Nathan dad and I already knew. Actually the whole town knows, and now I guess we don't have to hide it from mum but I digress it was really where they had moved to after they left Seattle that dad and I didn't know Georgia if you were wondering. Anyway the reason I'm here is because, as the detective left this morning he gave me this. It's all about Haley, he said Lydia might want to know what happened to her, you know as she's rarely mentioned, and when she is, it's just that she's Nathan's wife." said Lucas Quinn smiled and let him in walking with him into the kitchen where her mother was talking to some friends.

"Mum, Lucas is here" Quinn knew that, her mother wouldn't mind so much, it was the friends she had over that would give him dirty looks. There were some people around town that believed Nathan being a "bad boy" talked Haley into leaving because sweet little Haley James could never have thought of such a thing. It was rather amusing to anyone who actually knew Haley, because she may have been the good girl, and she may have been the nicest one out of her friends. But there was a side of Haley James that not a lot of people knew about and for good reason, most people didn't piss her off, but Haley could be as bad as the rest of them when she wanted to be.

"Lucas, Honey how-

"What do you care about THAT family Lydia? The bad seed took your baby girl away, too much like his uncle that one." Lydia looked over at her friend with a gaze that clearly stated she was not impressed with the outburst.

"Well for one Nathan is my son in law, I'm sure you've seen the news whenever Nathan's wife is mentioned, that she is, my Haley, and I'm sorry Dawn but if you continue to think like the rest of the small minds in this town I am going to have to ask you to leave." said Lydia her friends looked at her shocked, how could she on earth believe anything that family said.

"You heard me, I have known the Scott family a lot longer than I have known any of you, and as much as you would like me to blame Nathan for all this I can't, because I do not believe he and Haley did this willingly. I believe that they were given no choice, and one day I hope to prove you all wrong. Today however is not that day. So if you are not comfortable, with me greeting someone I have always considered family, then I suggest you leave. Because I will not ask my godson to leave my home, when I know it couldn't have been easy for him to come here for the first time in many years; just to make the three of you comfortable." Lydia looked at the three women who dared not look her in the eye as they packed up their things and headed for the front door. Once they were gone Lydia turned back to Lucas and her daughter and smiled. The look of complete amazement on both their faces told her, that once again she had surprised them with the amount of strength and resolve she had.

"So Lukey- Luke what brings you by after so many years?" she asked using an old pet name for him Lucas groaned he hadn't heard that name in years.

"Please, do not mention that name ever in public or I will get Lilly to call you Lydi and I know how much you hate that, I swear I can still taste the soap from the time you washed my mouth out with it." Lydia laughed and nodded before offering him a seat when she saw the file in his hand. She went to ask what it was when Lucas slid it over to her.

"It's all about Hales, the detective dad hired, actually found something, and mum didn't go, well you know- she did ask not to know about Hales but he gave me this anyway- I didn't read it, I thought you should do that first being her family and all" said Lucas. Lydia smiled and nodded before opening the file, she came across the same birth certificate that Lucas had when he opened it on the porch of his parent's house. A gasp escaped her lips as she looked up at Lucas who smiled.

"I'm a-

"It looks like it, that's the only things I saw when I checked what was in there. I didn't want to give you some gruesome file of all these foul things she had done." Lydia nodded went back to flicking through the items in front of her. What caught her, the most was a picture of Haley with a little boy of about three. He was wrapped up in Haley's arm his face scrunched up as she kissed his cheek. She loved Vivian's stepchildren, but they had actual grandparents people who were related to them.
This little boy was her very first grandchild, her flesh and blood. He was also named James just like his grandfather. She picked the picture up and held it close to her heart. As she did she noticed another one, this time it was just of Haley. Her daughter was sitting on a couch, she had reading glasses on her arms were folded and she looked like she was glaring at the camera. She looked up as Quinn lent in and picked up the picture smiling.

"Hey baby sis" she said quietly running a finger over her little sister's hair.

"Thank you Lucas." Lucas shrugged it was the least he could do for how his mother had treated them in public whenever she had seen the over the last seven years. They all knew that Karen wasn't herself and not to take to heart what she said, but even so, all the things she had called them and Haley over the years had stuck with all of them.

"She was one of your best friends do you ever wonder what happened to her?" Quinn asked Lucas nodded of course he did every day all the time. Haley had been one of the most important people in his life, even though she was a year younger than him.

"I know you must have a thousand things to do Lucas, but I would greatly appreciate it if you would stay and look at this with us" said Lydia wrapping an arm around him Lucas nodded and smiled.

There were photos of Nathan, Haley and James at different points in their lives; it was surprising actually to all three of them, that they weren't grainy at all, like they had been taken from a distance these photos had been taken by people who were part of Nathan and Haley's life. There were a few small mentions of Haley doing gigs in and around Stanford as well as some places after she graduated. At the very end was an article that Lucas picked it up and began to read it out loud.

"The Best of Both Worlds, My Name is Haley James-Scott and I am in many ways just like the rest of my class. I spent months in high school trying to decide which college to go to, and could I really afford it. So I was thrilled when I got offered a scholarship to, two really great schools. But unlike the rest of my class I had other things to think about, things that a normal eighteen year old getting ready for college would never have to consider.
Which school was my husband going to go to? How would we raise our son if we went to schools that were not only hours but states away from each other? What would a school say about me having a three month old with me? Thankfully I didn't have to worry about Nathan." Lucas stopped for a minute and looked up to see Quinn wiping a tear from her cheek while Lydia had given up wiping them away. All she had to do was look at him to tell him to keep going.

"We were offered scholarships at the same schools. So we knew what we would do. But I still had worries about what we would do with Jamie, no school was going to let us be in the same dorm married or not. Would it really be fair of me to have a roommate and expect them to be ok with having a young child living with them? Nathan and I had been on our own since we were sixteen we didn't have family we could turn to for help. We couldn't leave Jamie with them even if we wanted to, they hadn't seen us in almost two years and they didn't know Jamie, plus they lived on the other side of the country. There was no way Nathan or I wanted to be away from our son that long. So what were we to do? I will not even begin to describe the images that floated into my mind during that summer; they were some of the strangest and most unrealistic idea's I have ever had.
Our first day here Nathan and I decided we would walk in as a family because that's what we are a family. So that is what we did, most people looked at us strangely but we said nothing, we just kept on walking. That was the day we met Erin Cunningham she worked in Admin and had heard about a couple with a young son who would be attending Stanford that year. Erin helped Nathan and I out so much in our freshman year. She found us a place not too far from campus, a place that was neat, clean, and wouldn't cost us too much. But most of all it allowed us to have Jamie with us. Nathan and I were able to live in two worlds thanks to Erin, by day we were just normal college students worrying about class assignments and cursing that there were never enough hours in the day. By night we could be parents and watch Jamie grow up we didn't have to miss anything we had the best of both worlds." as he finished Lucas put the article down so that Quinn and Lydia could see the small picture that was under it. It was a picture of Nathan in his Cardinal's uniform grinning down at Haley who held baby Jamie in her arms. The caption said The Scott family at a Cardinals home game.