Hi all! Sorry it's been a little bit, I've had the busiest month ever.

Thanks for reading/reviewing. I love all the discussion/opinions.

"So what are you going to say to your dad?" Haley asked Lucas.

"Hell if I know. What could I say?" Lucas replied, taking a bite of his breakfast.

"You can't just leave that out in the open though, Luke."

"I wasn't planning on telling him."

"Too late now."

"Sorry." Nathan said, his mouth full of pancakes.

Lucas rolled his eyes and gave his brother a half-smile.

"It's okay. Want to talk to him for me?"

"Nope."

"You just need to talk to him. This isn't a bad thing, you saved his life." Haley pointed out.

"I guess. I should get going. Thanks for breakfast Hales." Lucas said, standing up.

"It will be okay." Haley assured him.

"Coming home tonight?" Nathan asked.

"We'll see. I'll let you know." Lucas said, clapping his brother on the shoulder before heading out.

"This is all my fault." Nathan sighed.

"This is better out in the open."

"I know, but I promised him I wasn't going to tell and I only said it to punish him."

"You were upset, he understands."

"I guess."

"How are you doing by the way?"

"I'm okay. I can't believe it's been almost two weeks."

"Me either."

"Thanks for being there for me, Haley."

"Of course. Thanks for letting me."

"So when do you go to see your parents?"

"I'm leaving on Tuesday."

"I'm going to miss you."

"You could come, you know. They'd love to see you."

"I'd love to but I have so much to do to get ready for school and the vow renewal."

"I understand."

"However, I'm all yours tomorrow. If you'll have me."

"That could be arranged."

"I'm going to head out now, but I'll call you later?"

"Okay. I love you."

"I love you too."

Lucas's thoughts where interrupted when his mom screamed out his name.

"Lucas Scott!"

"What's wrong?" Lucas called out.

"Get down here right now." Karen yelled up the stairs.

"Jeez Luke, what did you do?" Andy asked quietly from his office.

"No idea." Lucas whispered.

"Good luck, whatever it is."

"Are you hiding?"

"Yes. Sorry mate, I know better than to walk into the line of fire."

"Fair enough." Lucas sighed.

"I'm waiting!" Karen yelled.

"Mom, what's wrong?" Lucas called out as he came downstairs.

He stopped in his tracks when he saw his father sitting next to Karen on the couch.

"Sit down." Karen said firmly.

Lucas avoided Dan's gaze as he sat down.

"Your father told me about the fire."

"Oh." Lucas said quietly.

"What were you thinking?"

"I don't know."

"You could have been killed."

"I know, Mom."

"How could you be so reckless?"

"What the hell, Dad?" Lucas asked, finally looking at Dan and ignoring his mother's question.

"She needed to know." Dan said quietly.

"Lucas don't you dare. I'm tired of these secrets."

"I didn't want it to be like the HCM." Dan said.

"Well I appreciate that Dan." Karen replied.

"Mom, I didn't want you to worry about me. I'm okay, Dad's okay. What's the problem? Everyone's okay."

"You could have been killed."

"Well I wasn't."

"Do you realize that this is what Nathan got upset about?"

"Of course. But I didn't want him to tell Dad. Hell, I didn't want Nate to know in the first place, but Haley told him."

"Why wouldn't you just tell me? Or at least the police?" Dan asked.

"I don't know." Lucas sighed, running his hands through his hair.

"Son, I understand that you weren't exactly aiming to save my life because you wanted me around."

Lucas swallowed hard and didn't respond.

"Honey, it's okay. We were just worried about you."

"Then why the hell would you yell at me?" Lucas snapped.

"Luke." Dan said sharply.

"Sorry." Lucas mumbled.

"Lucas, I panicked. I'm sorry." Karen said softly.

"I'm sorry too." Lucas said.

"Look, I don't really know what to say either, but for right now does thank you suffice?" Dan asked, approaching Lucas.

"Sure. That sounds good." Lucas said gratefully.

"Thank you." Dan said quietly as he embraced Lucas.

Later that night, Nathan sat down next to his father on the couch and follow Dan's gaze to the screen.

"I love this movie." Nathan said.

"I remember taking you and Tim to see it." Dan said, smiling.

"Yeah that was a great day."

"How are you doing, Nate?" Dan asked, putting his arm around his son and pulling him close.

"It's getting easier. I think. Some moments are really hard."

"They will be. But it will get easier, I promise."

"Luke and I made up, so that's good."

"Order is restored in the universe?" Dan teased.

"Something like that. Speaking of which, have you talked to him?"

"I actually went over to Karen's earlier."

"Why?"

"To tell her about the fire."

"Oh jeez, Dad. Luke must be pissed."

"He was. I think it's okay now."

"It's okay now." Lucas said from the doorway.

"Hey. Your mom let you out of her sight?" Dan asked.

"Unwillingly, but it's Friday night. It is officially my week with you."

"I'm glad you're here. I hope you're not too upset with me. It didn't feel right to keep that from your mom."

"I get it." Lucas said, sitting down on the other side of Dan and sighing.

Dan pulled his other son close and smiled.

"She just wants what's best for you. It isn't fair to keep secrets from her."

"You're right."

"See, two parents working together can be exhausting." Nathan said.

"Two? I have four." Lucas laughed.

"Yeah, where was Andy earlier?" Dan asked.

"Hiding."

"Smart man." Dan nodded.

"How are you doing little brother?" Lucas asked, looking at Nathan.

Nathan laughed a little and sighed.

"Sorry, am I like the millionth person to ask you today?"

"Yeah but it's okay. I'm okay. I'm working on it."

Lucas nodded silently.

After some time, Lucas had nodded off, leaving Dan and Nathan to reminisce about Tim.

"It will be weird not having him here for my birthday." Nathan mused.

"It will be hard, but you know he wants you to enjoy yourself."

"That's definitely true. Tim would be pissed if I had a lame birthday."

"What do you want to do?"

"Maybe I'll get a stupid tattoo like my big brother."

"Yeah you can skip that one. What does his tattoo even mean?"

"It means fun. Or so he was told."

"Why did he get it?"

"He doesn't remember getting it."

"Wait, what?"

"Dad, come on. He was drunk when he got it."

"Oh. Yeah I probably should have guessed that." Dan laughed.

"At least I didn't pierce my nipple." Lucas mumbled sleepily.

A few days later, Lucas quietly opened the door to Nathan's bedroom.

"Hey." Lucas said, shaking Nathan awake as he sat down on his bed.

"Jeez." Nathan gasped, sitting straight up.

"Happy birthday little brother."

Nathan rolled over and looked at the clock. It was 4:27 in the morning.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously. This is revenge for all of the times you've woken me up at ungodly hours."

"Dude, never past 3AM." Nathan protested.

"Yeah, well. I asked your mom what time you were born, and she told me 4:27. So in addition to this being my revenge, it's also quite fitting for your birthday."

"You are seriously weird."

"Nuh uh."

"You are, but I love you anyway."

"I love you too. Okay. Bye." Lucas said quickly, getting up.

"Wait, what?"

"I'm going back to sleep. You should too, you're being kidnapped in a few hours."

"You seriously got up just to say Happy Birthday?"

"Of course. Now I'm going back to sleep. Big day tomorrow."

"What are we doing?"

"Are you unfamiliar with the concept of kidnapping? I'm not telling you." Lucas said.

"Come on, tell me." Nathan said, pulling Lucas back.

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Come on."

"Not a chance."

"Please?"

"Fine."

"Softy."

"Bitch.

"Give it up."

"You promise to act surprised?"

"Yes."

"Okay. We're going skydiving."

"What? You're joking."

"No joke."

"How did you know I wanted to do that?"

"You said you wanted to last summer."

"You remembered that?"

"Yup."

"You're the best brother ever, did you know that?"

"No, I disagree with that completely. But you're a pretty damn good brother and deserve a hell of a birthday."

"Thanks Luke. That really means a lot to me."

"Of course. I mean it."

"So what are we going to tell my mom we're doing? She'll spend all day crying if we tell her the truth."

"I told her dirt bikes."

"Good call."

"I hope you enjoy yourself because I'm actually a little terrified of doing this."

"It will be fun. Besides, didn't you say you weren't going to be afraid of living?"

"One can live without skydiving. But I'll do it for you."

"This is so cool."

"I'm glad you're excited. Don't forget to act surprised."

"I won't."

"Good…" Lucas said sleepily.

"Are you falling asleep?"

"No." Lucas whispered.

"Liar." Nathan laughed.

Silence.

"Night, Luke." Nathan said, settling back on his bed.

This was a bit of a transition chapter, but coming up...

Dan/Deb's vow renewal and all the fun family dynamics that comes with it

Haley heading off to college/Jake and Peyton moving to CA

Scott boys getting ready for college