Author note: Thanks to everyone whose read so far, really appreciate it. Any questions feel free to ask. Also, sorry for not updating on the weekend, but this will probably be a recurring theme. So most probably no weekend posts. Thanks and enjoy...

Peyton POV

It'd been almost an hour since they'd hit the road and the entire time the person sitting next to Peyton had their arms crossed and a no nonsense pissed off look etched on their face. They hadn't said a word the entire time, only mumbling a hello and sitting angrily in their seat.

At first Peyton was concerned, but now she wished she had taken Lucas's offer and sat shotgun.

"So…." Nathan started.

"So," Lucas repeated.

The two shared a look but remained quiet. They'd both been on the receiving end of an angry Brooke throughout the year; they didn't need to piss her off in a car too.

"This is awkward right?" Haley whispered to Peyton.

Before Peyton could answer, Brooke mumbled, "I can here you."

"So you do talk!"

"Haley please don't," Peyton whispered.

"Don't what?"

"THAT JACKASS!" Brooke shouted. She'd had enough, she couldn't hold back any longer. "Calling me short sided and desperate. If I had the time I'd drive us back and kick him straight in the balls."

"Thank you Haley," Peyton mumbled.

"I mean, me, Brooke Davis, desperate." She continued. "I'm a lot of things, but I am not desperate. He was the one swimming in my pool I might add. Talk about desperate."

Haley looked at towards the boys in the front hoping for some clarity. "Am I missing something?"

"Brooke's naked neighbor," Nathan sighed.

"My goddamn naked neighbor," Brooke shouted. "FYI, his other neighbor had a pool, why not go there, little perv."

"Wait go back a sec," Haley interrupted. "There was a naked guy? How come I didn't see?"

Brooke huffed. "Maybe your blind."

"Wait why would you want to see," Nathan asked, trying to get his wife's attention through the mirror.

"Everyone else got to see!" Haley whined.

"Some up close," Peyton mumbled.

It was true, after Brooke raced down the stairs; Peyton had heard the confrontation from her friend's room and chased her down in hopes of avoiding a fight.

But it was too late.

Brooke stood over her pool, her arms crossed, shouting that the guy get out now. He'd listened, but not at all worried about walking butt naked, and stand directly in front of the girls.

He'd left Peyton alone for the most part, his attention sorely on Brooke, and the two went back and forth for a bit with Brooke shouting and Felix, the naked guy introduced himself as, flirting.

They bickered for a bit before he took off triumphantly and Brooke took off angrily.

"I can't believe that guy," Brooke mumbled.

"I can't believe my wife wants to see another guy naked," Nathan chimed in.

"And I can't believe we're even talking about this," Lucas whispered.

Haley raised an eyebrow. "Jealous Luke?"

"What!" Lucas and Brooke said simultaneously.

Brooke coughed uncomfortably, but it was Lucas who answered. "I'm not jealous."

Peyton, sensing the tension in the car, decided to change the subject for someone said something they might regret. "I think we have bigger issues."

"Yeah, Brooke agreed. "Like how we're going to deal with this jackass nudist."

"God the sexual tension is strong with you two," Nathan joked from the front, earning a glare. "She's glaring at me isn't she?"

"Yes I am," Brooke answered. "There is no sexual tension, just regular good old-fashioned angry tension. There will be no sex with him, all right, no sex allowed. Understood?!"

"Poor Felix," Lucas whispered, not noticing the box of tissues thrown towards his direction. "OW! What the hell was that for!"

Brooke rolled her eyes. "Poor Felix."

"It was a joke."

"A terrible one."

"Fine no jokes."

"Fine."

"Fine!"

"Guys!" Haley shouted, interrupting the two. "We get it, Brooke your pissed, Lucas your not funny, Nathan stop stirring the pot."

"I didn't even do anything!"

Peyton, watching everyone begin to argue, sighed tiredly. "Has it really only been an hour?"

Haley POV

Sitting comfortably in the passenger seat, Haley hummed quietly along with the song playing on the radio. She'd never heard it before but it had a catchy beat and she found herself inadvertently trying to sing along.

"You have a great voice," Brooke said, breaking Haley's rhythm. The girl blushed, knowing she got caught. "Wasn't trying to embarrass you."

"I know," Haley said, smiling it off. Trying to steer of the conversation from her, Haley eyed the back seat where the two Scott brothers and Brooke were fast asleep. "So how are you doing?"

"I'm good," Brooke answered, looking at the GPS. "Nearly half way there. I can still drive."

"That's not what I meant."

Brooke sighed. "I know."

It sucked seeing Brooke like this. All her life Haley had never really had a female friend that she could talk to anything about. It'd always been her and Lucas. Trying to figure out the world just the two of them, one step at a time.

But things had changed.

They'd branched out, made new friends, discovered new things, and one of those things was the relationship Haley had with Peyton and Brooke.

She hadn't really been that close with Brooke the past year, but it'd been a huge improvement from the relationship they had before which was basically non-existent.

"So," Brooke began, trying to figure out a mystery that'd been bothering her. "This whole marriage thing? Fake?"

"Nope," Haley answered. "As serious as a heart attack."

"Hmm," Brooke tried to come at a different approach. "So….baby?"

Haley laughed. "No baby Brooke. Just a regular simple marriage."

"Those honor classes must have a different definition for 'regular' and 'simple. Cause that is not the way I'd describe it."

She had a point, but Haley knew that it just felt right. It wasn't something that could be measured or timed. Her life had been planned, and where she was wasn't where she'd expect to be.

"I love him Brooke." She eyed the driver, watching the flash of pain cross her delicate features ever so slightly. "Whether were 17 or 27, what I feel right now, it makes the rest seem so little. All I know is that today I want to be married to the person I love, and that's good enough for me."

She watched as the brunette tried to process that. It probably didn't make much sense to her, but it was the only answer Haley could give.

The truth.

"Then…." Brooke started, trying to find the right words. "Congratulations?"

"Thank you."

"I'm planning your bachelorette party."

"Fine."

"And I'm hiring strippers!"

"No way."

"One stripper," Brooke countered.

"One stripper," Haley sighed.

"Good."

"Good."

The two smiled at each other before turning back towards the empty highway. They had about 3 and half hours before they'd be in New York, and hopefully they got there before dark.

They'd all agreed that two nights was the max they'd stay. Nathan had tried to argue, but the others had shown him common sense. Finding the brother wasn't a guarantee, and they all had lives they needed to get back too. As much as it sucked, this was the reality of the situation.

"Question."

Haley's thoughts were interrupted by Brooke's voice.

"What's his name?" She asked.

"Sorry?"

"The brother," Brooke continued. "All this time, I've been referring him as the other Scott brother. Is that even his surname?"

"Um…"Haley racked her brain trying to remember what Nathan had told her the night before. "Jake…no Jason….wait Jackson, yes Jackson Scott. That's the name Carol gave Nathan."

"Hmm, Jack huh," Brooke repeated.

"Yeah I guess."

Brooke looked towards the back, making sure everyone was still asleep. She had been wondering this for a while now.

"What happens if we don't find him?" She finally asked. "Or worse, doesn't wanna be found?"

Haley leaned her head against the window, watching the raindrops fall down the glass. It'd been a question everyone was thinking but no one had the nerve to actually say.

"Lets hope it doesn't come to that," She said quietly. "Right now, both of them are committed to finding him. The last thing they need is meeting a guy who wants nothing to do with them."

"Yeah I guess," Brooke whispered, so low that even Haley wouldn't here. "I mean who wants to be rejected."

Lucas POV

Lucas didn't know how long he was out but when he came to, his best friend sat behind the wheel with his ex girlfriend asleep in the passenger seat. He shifted uncomfortably trying carefully not to wake the two next to him.

"How long was I out?" He yawned.

"Almost two hours," Haley answered. She eyed her best friend through the mirror. "Didn't sleep that much last night did you?"

"That obvious?"

Haley shrugged. "Not really, but most people don't know you as well as I do Bil."

"You hit your head while I was out?" Lucas asked, a smile breaking upon his face.

"Brother In Law," She explained, watching as her best friend groaned. "Oh yes, we're officially related. Which I guess means I'm related to Jackson too."

The name caught Lucas of guard as he heard it fall casually off the lips of his best friend. To any other person, it'd just be a normal name, but this name held a lot more. It was the sole purpose of their trip. A trip in which Lucas had no clue how it would end.

"I'm sorry," Haley apologized.

"It's just a name Hales," Lucas began.

"To most maybe, but not to us. Not to you."

"Yeah I guess."

He wondered what his reaction would be if they eventually found him. The closer they got, the more real the situation became and that began to scare him. For so long it'd been him and his mom. Then he became best friends with Haley and the river court guys, and his life seemed so full.

Yet the world just kept expanding.

He'd begun an actual relationship with his brother that seemed impossible a year ago. A relationship he didn't know he relied on until now.

Then he had the luckiest opportunity to become friends with two of the greatest girls he'd ever met. One was mysterious with the ability for him to talk about almost anything with. The other, so full of life and wonder you almost believed she was too good to be true.

He'd messed up both pretty terribly, his fault he knew, but was lucky enough to earn some sort of forgiveness and still have them in his life.

Lucas knew he wasn't done fixing everything he'd broken the last couple of months. It would take much longer then a silly note and a few weeks between them.

No, he knew he'd have to continue at being a better person, for his sake, and for the sake of those he hurt.

Yet even with all these people in his life he'd come to depend on, his mom, his best friend, his brother, the two girls who shared a part with him, he'd thought his life was pretty much complete.

Now, nearly there, he knew how wrong he was.

His life wasn't finished just yet, no, now it was just beginning.

Nearly an hour out from New York, Lucas found himself alone in a diner while the others figured out there own business. It hadn't taken long once the others woke up for someone to mention they were hungry.

Yet here he sat, alone, while the people who complained about food were nowhere to be seen.

"You order anything?" His brother asked, surprising him.

"Na not yet," He answered, handing him the menu. He watched as Nathan quickly scanned the menu. "Let me ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"What's are plan here?"

It'd been bugging him ever since they decided to leave.

They packed the car, filled the gas, set the destination, but had no real plan. All of them decided to take a day's trip to New York in search of someone that they had no clue what they'd do when they found him.

"I don't know," Nathan answered truthfully. "I guess we just introduce ourselves and work from there."

"Not much of a plan Nate."

"What do you want me to say Luke?" He asked, exhausted with over thinking everything. "I'm supposed to just go up to this guy and say 'hey man, we're brothers, wanna come back to Tree Hill with us and be a normal happy family'?"

Lucas rolled his eyes. "I think that's stretching it a little don't you think."

"You're the one with the questions."

"Like you're not asking yourself the same thing."

He didn't know every crook and cranny there was to understanding his brother's mindset. They were closer now then they ever were, but a year didn't make them conjoined twins. He was still getting to know his brother in all honesty, but he could tell that he was just as shook up about this as he was.

"So…." Lucas started, trying to find the right words. "You gonna pass up another shot to win the game next season or leave me to do everything again?"

Nathan's eyes darted up from the menu to see his brother smiling at him. "You want to talk basketball now? At a time life this."

Lucas shrugged. "This is are life Nathan, now more then ever. We can keep up the charade that we know exactly what we're doing. Or we can act like normal guys and talk about the upcoming season."

"You realize it won't change anything."

"I know," Lucas agreed. "But it'd make this whole situation seem a little more normal for me."

And it did.

They talked about basketball and the upcoming season. Who they thought would play better and whom they'd play with. They wondered if any new players would join the team now that some of the seniors had graduated.

For a short amount of time to the outside world, the two just acted like normal brothers talking about their love for basketball. It was all so natural to them. Behind the drama and uncertainty, they were still able to have a god's honest normal conversation.

And for now, that was good enough.