Author Note: To BJQ, Jack is what he goes by throughout the story, but the people in the bar sometimes refer to him as Jay. But for the rest of the story 'Jack' will be the name everyone uses most probably. To GUEST, yes he's the same age as Lucas and Nathan, he's just a few weeks older then everyone else who has a question, feel free to ask, if not, hope you enjoy the story and thanks for reading.

General POV

"I'll catch you tomorrow Jerry," Jack mumbled, eyeing the people a few yards away. He'd never seen them before. They were no friends of his.

"Bright and early."

The bartender mumbled a goodbye, closing up the doors, before heading down the street and disappearing into the night. None of them had realized how late it was, but being here, it didn't really matter.

Both Nathan and Lucas continued to stare at the guy who might have been there older brother. They couldn't really make out his face, with the bruises and cuts, and the hood hiding most of him. Yet both of them tried to process every little bit of information they got.

"What do you want?" Jack asked, not once moving. The two guys had a dumb look on their face as they watched him while the girls stood behind, trying to look as calm as possible. "Are you just gonna stand there looking stupid?"

His bluntness caught Lucas off guard. "Umm, sorry. We just wanted to…actually you see…"

"You're Jackson Scott?" Nathan cut in, finally finding his words.

The plan had been to track their brother down and find him. They didn't know how long I'd take or what would happen but that had been the plan. However being here, actually asking the question they'd asked in their head a dozen times, it felt almost like a fantasy.

They waited, waited for something, anything, to confirm what they already knew.

Jack continued staring them down, his vision a little blurred from the knock he took. He didn't like these people. He sure as hell didn't trust these people, yet he found himself staying put.

"Jack's fine. Who wants to know?" He finally spoke.

Lucas gestured to himself and his brother. "My names Lucas and this is my brother Nathan. It's good to meet you."

Lucas stuck out his hand bodily and waited. He stayed waiting as Jack eyed his hand before looking back up, not once moving.

"Alright then," Lucas whispered, dropping his hand. "Is there a place we could talk?"

"Yeah rain's coming down pretty hard," Peyton, added with a smile, before it dropped seeing the guys face.

Haley noticed Jack's hesitance and knew they we're freaking him out. They had about a minute before they totally blew this.

"Coffee," Haley piped in. She had noticed a 24-hour diner across the street that she hoped they'd go to before all of this cause she'd been starving. "Can we buy you a coffee and explain ourselves? It must be a little weird in the rain."

She was harmless, Jack knew. Of all of them, she had practically hid behind the taller of the two guys, the one named Nathan. She was tiny compared to him and spoke softly as if trying not to scare him off.

Raised in New York his entire life, he had an eye for people who stuck out, tourists of the sort. And without a doubt these people did not belong here. They sure as hell had no business in a place like this, at a time like this.

He still didn't trust them though.

Yet Jerry had taken off, all his money now gone, and a long night awaited without any food. He hated everything about it, but he was hungry, and stupidly found himself nodding towards the small girl.

Nathan POV

"So what do you want?"

Nathan watched as Jack pulled back the hood of his sweater and sip on his coffee. The diner was empty thankfully as they found themselves comfortably out of the rain and into a warm setting.

Millions of questions he had to ask, yet the only thing Nathan could focus on was taking in every detail of his brother.

He had dark hair like him and his dad, unlike Lucas. Short too, probably for fighting though. Last thing a fighter wanted was his hair being pulled. His eyes, or eye, the other had become shut from the swelling, hinted at a darker blue, a trait all three had.

Besides the dark hair, Nathan couldn't really see their father in him. He had a small stubble growing, something he or Lucas did not have, and a scar above his right eyebrow that looked to be quite old.

Probably from an old fight. Nathan thought.

The girls had thankfully sat a few tables away, far enough that the three of them could have a private conversation without Jack feeling pressured. At first they had argued but Lucas pointed out that none of them would like to be in the situation Jack would find himself in soon.

"Listen, I'm tired," Jack started. It was half true. The other half was how weird he felt with the two guys staring at him. "Thanks for the coffee."

"NO wait," Nathan said, trying not to screw this up. "We get it, we don't know you, and you don't know us. But please let us explain."

Jack hesitated but relented.

"My names Nathan Scott," He started, feeling his mouth dry up. "I was born and raised in Tree Hill North Carolina. This is my older brother Lucas Scott."

Jack looked at the two, his face never changing, as Nathan continued.

"18 years ago, my father hooked up with a girl in high school. He didn't know, but the girl, Carol Danvers, got pregnant and had a baby. She left Tree Hill before our dad could find out, but a couple days ago, she let us know. The reason we're here is that we think you're that baby."

Chips on the table, everything out in front of them, Nathan watched the look Jack kept on his face. He never faltered, not once, as he heard their explanation.

Nathan almost thought he'd spoken to low for anyone to hear, but he saw a small smile break Jack's face before he whispered something.

"Sorry?" Lucas asked.

Jack looked up and stared them straight in the eyes. "I said go fuck yourself."

Without another word, Jack got up and took out the door without a second glance. They'd come this far, hoping for something, anything, and they walked out with a 'go fuck yourself'.

"Screw that," Nathan said, chasing off after him.

Lucas watched his brother run out the door and watched as Haley almost did the same. "Haley wait! I'll go get him. You guys stay here!"

Nathan had already caught up to Jack a block out. "Hey, hey I'm not finished."

"Screw off man," Jack shouted over the rain, his back always to him.

"Nathan get back here," Lucas shouted chasing after his brother.

Ignoring both his brothers, Nathan grabbed hold of Jacks shoulder and spun him around. He didn't expect the punch, catching his off guard and sending him to the floor.

"Hey what the hell," Lucas shouted, kneeling down to help his brother up.

"I told you guys to back the hell off," Jack shouted, finally looking at them. "Leave me the hell alone, I don't know you."

"We're your family," Nathan shouted, grabbing is sore jaw. Jack had a wicked right hook, he'd give him that.

"You ain't shit," Jack fired back. "So crawl back to whatever the hell Tree Hill is and leave me alone."

"But…"

"But nothing," Jack said, cutting off Nathan. "You and me, we're nothing. So get that through your fucking head."

One last look was passed between the three boys before Jack took off once more. Both Nathan and Lucas watched him walk down to street, and like the bartender before, he disappeared into the night.

They didn't follow. They weren't sure what had happened. All this way they came in hopes of meeting someone who clearly had no interest in the same thing. They'd failed.

"You all right?" Lucas asked.

"I'm fine."

"You sure cause…"

"I'm said I'm fine Luke," Nathan shouted, pushing his brother back.

He didn't hear Lucas call after him. The trip had been a disaster. All he wanted to do now was walk back towards Haley, grab the others, and get the hell out of here. He'd come this far for nothing. His brother didn't want anything to do with him.

Fine. Nathan thought. Go screw yourself too.

Lucas POV

They were all worried he knew. Over the past hour he'd gotten a dozen phone calls and text messages asking where he was. He'd answered the first saying he was fine and just needed some time.

Truth was he'd followed Jack. It was difficult, but Lucas found himself in a taxi following Jacks car wherever it was heading.

He'd not so subtly told the driver that he was chasing after someone. But all the cabbie did was mumble okay as if it were a normal thing.

The area Lucas found himself in was pretty abandoned from the looks of it. In fact when he noticed Jacks car pull up, he noticed a lack of anything around.

"Stop right here," Lucas said, eyeing his surroundings. A large factory was the only building nearby besides a station for city buses that had long been closed for the night.

"Thanks," Lucas mumbled, throwing the cabbie a fifty and heading towards the large building.

A steel fence surrounded the place except for the narrow path Jack had led his car through. It was closed, whatever this had been, but the signs 'for sale' and 'shut down' littered the place.

Jack's car, a late beaten down Camero with an unnatural color, sat put near the corner of the building. It'd been turned off, and as Lucas watched, he noticed a lack of any movement.

He must have been about a hundred yards out, but still he could see clearly no one get in or out of the car.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Lucas whispered, hiding behind some bushes.

The phone in his pocked continued to vibrate reminding him of where he actually was. Yet he let it go, needing to get to the bottom of this. He wouldn't let the last memory he had of his brother be a fight with his other brother.

Can't believe I just said that. Lucas thought.

The car's light stayed off as he walked towards it. If Jack had seen him, he wasn't doing a very good job at trying to just drive off.

Keith would have smiled at the classic car before him. It was a mess, but a good mess. Classic car like this, you'd never let them go. His uncle would probably scold him for the mess that it was in, but Lucas thought Jack wouldn't really give a shit what Keith thought.

"As if they'd meet," Lucas mumbled as he stepped closer to the car and ducked his head. He was about to knock when he saw Jack lying in the front with the seat down and his eyes closed. "What the hell."

He hadn't expected that.

"Hey," Lucas said loudly, giving the window a good smack. He watched Jack slowly shift before his eye opened. "You okay?"

"Fuck me," Lucas heard him whisper before he closed his eyes.

He watched as the guy inside the car shifted back and forth trying to get his footing. He wasn't really sure what to make of the situation, probably both of them thought the same thing.

"You have a hard head, you know that," Jack said, stepping out. Each of them stood on opposite sides of the car. "What now?"

"You're pissed," Lucas stated.

"Your clever."

"Look I get it, it's crazy," Lucas continued.

Jack held up his hand to stop him. "Right there, that word. Crazy. How can I believe anything that comes out of your mouth when you're using that word to start?"

"I….I'm not sure," Lucas mumbled, caught off guard.

"You're not sure," Jack laughed. "Well that's just great. You and your brother drove up to New York with your little gang and decided to go on some sort of a treasure hunt. News flash, this is the real world. You don't drop that kind of shit on someone. It's the last goddamn thing I need on my plate right now!"

"Because off all your other shit," Lucas said bitterly. "The fighting, the homelessness. That's why you're here right? Got nowhere else to sleep. We passed by your old place. A month now is it?"

"Screw you."

"No, screw you," Lucas shouted, stepping around the car towards him. "I'm reaching out right now, all of us are coming here. And what do you do, you sucker punch your own brother, and act like an ass."

"That guys not my brother," Jack fired back. "And neither are you."

"Yeah so how else we find you," Lucas explained. "Your mom gave us a name, an address, and what do we find, you. Makes sense to me."

Jack laughed. "Glad this makes sense for one of us."

Lucas watched as Jack leaned against the car door defeated.

The guy in front of him was broken. He was homeless, most likely alone, and he'd taken a severe beating just a couple hours before. He felt stupid for yelling at someone after all that, but he couldn't help it.

"Your lip is bleeding," Lucas stated randomly. He felt the tension drop immediately.

Jack chuckled softly, his hand wiping away the blood. "Damn things been busted for about three weeks I guess. Doesn't help when I'm constantly getting punched huh?"

Lucas smiled at his attempted joke. "Do you enjoy it?"

A flash of something passed through Jacks eyes, Lucas noticed quickly, but vanished just as fast.

"Look," Jack started. "Tell your brother sorry about the punch. But you guys got the wrong guy. I'm not sure what you came looking for, but I'm not him."

"But…."

"Please," Jack said, looking at him calmly. "Go home, forget about all of this. You guys are better off, trust me."

Lucas wanted to argue, but he knew he couldn't. There wasn't a way to force him to see sense; it was his life in the end. Whether he knew he could be better off wasn't up to Lucas. This whole trip wasn't about bringing Jack home with them, or becoming inseparable. They just wanted him to know he had some kind of family out there worrying about him, and they managed to kind of do that.

They'd done their job, but Lucas still felt weird about it. He was basically leaving his brother homeless and living out the back seat of a car.

"Here's my number," Lucas pulled out a pen and paper and wrote down every number Jack could reach them at. "You probably won't call, but just in case. Never know."

Jack grabbed the paper and smiled. "You're resilient, I'll give you that."

Lucas gave one last long at his brother. I'd probably be the last time he'd ever see him again.

"Take care of yourself Jack."

One more time, Lucas held out his hand. Jack eyed it like before but this time he shook it. "You too Lucas."