"Hey Karen, hey Andy." Nathan said, coming into the café.

"Nathan, how are you?" Andy asked, taking a sip of his coffee.

"I'm good. I wanted to ask you guys something."

"Go for it."

"Well you know that we have spring break next week."

"Right." Karen nodded.

"And Luke's birthday is that week."

"I am aware." Karen smiled.

"I was wondering what you guys had planned. I wanted to do something special for him but I didn't want to interfere with anything you guys already had in the works."

"We had nothing in mind quite yet." Karen said, glancing at Andy.

"Unfortunately I will be on a business trip most of that week so we might have to hold off on plans of our own. What were you thinking of doing?" Andy said.

"I hadn't gotten that far." Nathan admitted.

"It's sweet you want to do something for him." Karen said.

"When I was growing up, my friends and I would kidnap each other on our birthdays and go surfing or ride dirt bikes, something like that. We wouldn't tell them where we were going or what we were doing. It was always a blast though." Andy smiled, reminiscing.

"That's really cool actually." Nathan said.

"I think Lucas would love that." Karen agreed.

"This could be great."

"Listen, pick an activity and a location and let me know. I'll make arrangements." Andy said.

"Are you sure?" Nathan asked.

"Absolutely. I'm sure it will be a great time."

"Hey Luke can I talk to you?" Dan said, knocking on Lucas's door.

"Sure. What's up?"

Dan shut the door and sat down on his son's bed.

"I wanted to give you something. It's not exactly a birthday present, but I always thought one way or another I would give this to you once you turned eighteen."

Dan pulled out a small box and handed it to Lucas. Lucas opened the box and saw a diamond ring nestled inside.

"I don't understand." Lucas said, taking out the ring.

"It's an engagement ring. I got it for your mom. When we were younger. I actually bought this before graduation, before everything happened."

Lucas shut the box quickly, tears forming in his eyes.

"Hey, I didn't want this to upset you." Dan said quickly, putting his hand on Lucas's arm.

"How could it not? This is a reminder everything I missed out on." Lucas said quietly.

"I'm sorry Lucas. This wasn't supposed to be a bad thing. I was a different person when I bought that ring. My thought was something good could come from it after all these years."

"Why did you keep it?"

"I'm not really sure. But I wanted you to have it, even when we didn't have much of a relationship. I just didn't know how to give it to you."

"Why do you want me to have it?"

"I thought maybe you could give it to Brooke. Someday. If you want to. Your mom and I, we weren't meant for forever. But we were meant to have you. And I'm beyond grateful to finally celebrate that with you this year."

"Thanks Dad."

"If it upsets you, we don't have to keep it. You can sell it. Whatever you want. It belongs to you. I want you to have it, if only to remember that at one point your mother and I did love each other a lot, and we both love you now."

"I do want it. I want to give it to Brooke."

Dan said nothing for a moment.

"Someday." Lucas added.

"Yeah, I think I need at least one of my kids to get out of their teens before getting married."

"Even if I proposed in the next five minutes Brooke would still probably require a year or two of wedding planning."

"Yeah I can definitely see that being true. Just promise me you'll wait until you're absolutely ready to do anything."

"Deal. And thanks again, this actually is pretty awesome." Lucas said.

"Good. I'm sorry I didn't think about the implications before coming up here. I guess that was pretty stupid of me."

"It's okay. I get where you're coming from now."

"So, can I ask? Are you planning on asking Brooke to marry you at some point?"

"I'd like to. I'd actually like to go over and do it right now. But I also want to be practical about where we are in life and all that."

"I'm glad you found someone who loves you. Which she clearly does. I don't know what the right timing is for all this, but I want to support you in any way I can."

"Me too. It means a lot that you would support me."

"Of course. Just promise me you both have a high school diploma in your possession before you do anything."

"Deal."

"Maybe even a college one?"

"Maybe." Lucas laughed.

Nathan slammed the ball into the basket and smiled at the cheers from the crowd.

As he made his way down the court again, another player slammed into him and he crashed to the ground. His knee exploded with a sharp pain.

The crowd kept cheering. It was like nothing was wrong. Lucas was watching Jake pass the ball to Eric, who made a shot.

"Luke?" Nathan called out.

Lucas did not acknowledge him at all.

Nathan scanned the crowd and found Haley. She wasn't looking at him either. She was cheering on the team, oblivious to Nathan calling out to her.

He tried to stand up but his knee was in too much pain.

"Haley!"

No response. The crowd was getting deafening.

His teammates ran past him, ignoring him.

Finally a hand reached out to help Nathan up. It was the guy from Duke.

"It's just not good enough. We were wrong."

"What?" Nathan gasped.

"We changed our mind. We don't want you at Duke."

"Haley?" Nathan pleaded as she walked past him.

His knee gave out and he crashed to the ground before she could respond.

Nathan searched around for Lucas. He was walking straight past him, heading towards the rest of the team.

"Lucas!" Nathan yelled, jolting awake.

"What's wrong?" Lucas asked breathlessly.

"Huh?" Nathan mumbled sleepily, trying to focus.

"I was asleep. You screamed out my name. Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry. Bad dream."

"Want to talk about it?"

"No. That's okay."

"Okay. Try to get some sleep. Big day tomorrow."

"Right."

It was finally the night of the championship game. Nathan was pacing around the locker room, trying to calm his nerves.

"Isn't it a little warm for a jacket?" Lucas asked as he walked in.

"I'm good."

"How are you feeling? You look nervous."

"I just don't want to screw it up."

"Don't worry about it. Just kill it like you have been this whole season. Just remember that you're going to Duke, and your family and friends are either on the court with you or cheering out in the crowd for you. Including Haley."

"Including Haley." Nathan smiled a little bit.

"You never talked to her did you?"

"She was gone when I got back to the lunch table. I've been distracted ever since."

"Well, in my opinion, after you kick some ass at this game you should go and make things right with her."

"That sounds like a good idea."

"Let's do this, bitches!" Tim yelled as he slammed his locker shut.

"Ready little brother?"

"Now I am. Let's do this."

"See you out there."

"This might be the night I've been dreaming about." Whitey said to Lucas as the game was about to start.

"You deserve it coach."

"You do too, Scott. I hate that you're not out there but I'm glad you decided to be a part of it this time."

"Thanks coach."

Lucas watched as the team walked out, one by one. Jake gave him a huge grin and slapped hands with him as he walked by.

"I'll be damned." Whitey said quietly.

"What?" Lucas asked, following his gaze.

Nathan walked out and tossed his jacket aside. He wasn't wearing his regular #23 jersey. He was wearing Lucas's jersey instead.

"Ladies and gentleman, it looks like Nathan is paying tribute to his older brother and assistant coach, Lucas Scott!" The announcer said.

"What are you doing?" Lucas asked Nathan, unable to contain his smile.

"I wanted you to be out there with me." Nathan said, squeezing his brother's hand.

Up in the stands, Dan looked down for a moment. When he lifted his head, he was smiling and there were tears in his eyes.

"That's amazing." Karen said quietly, touched by Nathan's gesture.

Andy smiled and patted Dan on the arm. Dan returned his smile.

"Nathan Scott is tearing up this game!" The announcer said happily.

"Alright men, you guys are doing great. We only have a little time left. Let's not get cocky. Their offense is nothing to sneeze at. We don't want them to catch up."

"Let's crush them." Tim said.

"Do you remember the play Lucas showed you last week?" Whitey asked the team.

They all nodded.

"Let's do that. They won't know what hit them."

"Are you sure?" Lucas asked.

"Of course. You've got a talent, Lucas. Don't doubt yourself." Whitey said firmly.

"Ravens on three!" Nathan yelled.

"One, two, three, RAVENS!" The team yelled.

Nathan flashed one last smile at his brother before getting back to the game.

This was nothing like his nightmares, he was going to make sure of that. This was everything he had been dreaming of.

Nathan found Haley's face in the crowd. She was sitting next to Karen.

How to make this unlike his nightmares? It was time to put it on the line. Be brave. Take a risk.

Nathan made sure she was looking right at him.

"I love you." Nathan mouthed to her, pointing on "you."

Haley smiled widely and mouthed it back to him.

Several minutes later, Nathan took a deep breath and shot a three-pointer into the basket. Two seconds later the buzzer sounded and noise erupted all around him.

He barely had time to process what was happening before his teammates ran up to him and lifted him onto their shoulders.

"We did it!" Jake yelled, unable to contain his excitement.

"Hell yes we did." Nathan said, giving Jake a high five.

Once he was back on the ground, he ran over to his brother, who was being congratulated with Whitey by a crowd of people.

He made his way over to Lucas, who ran over and hugged him.

"That was incredible Nate."

"Luke, everything I've done this season has been for you. I want you to know that."

"That means a lot to me."

"It's true."

"I'm so proud of you Nate."

"I'm proud of you too Luke."

"I guess my jersey is lucky, huh?" Lucas teased.

"Definitely." Nathan grinned.

"Out of my way, there's a man I need to kiss." Brooke said, playfully shoving Nathan aside and jumping into Lucas's arms.

"Hey Cheery."

"I'm so proud of you baby. Both of you." Brooke said, smiling at Nathan.

"Congratulations!" Haley said, running up and hugging Lucas.

"Thanks Hales."

"Congratulations Nathan." Haley said shyly, tucking her hair behind her ear. She was wearing the bracelet from the Cracker Jack box.

Nathan didn't say anything, he just grabbed her and kissed her as the crowd continued to cheer.

"Finally!" Brooke squealed.

Nathan and Haley broke apart, smiling.

"That day in the parking lot was…"

"Awkward." Haley finished for him.

"I can't think of a more perfect moment for us than this." Nathan said earnestly.

"I couldn't agree more." Haley said, kissing him again.

"Scott boys! Get your asses over here!" Whitey called.

"To be continued." Brooke said, blowing Lucas a kiss.

Nathan kissed Haley one more time before following his brother over to the team.

"Now that's what I'm talking about." Lucas said, patting Nathan on the shoulder as they joined the rest of the team for a group picture.

Nathan and Lucas stood next to each other. Just as the picture was being taken, Nathan grabbed Lucas's hand.

"This is what I call the best week ever, big brother."

NALEY!

Finally.

:-)