Nathan's truck was in the driveway when Lucas got back home. He heard Jamie before he opened the front door. Those screeches usually meant he'd had it with staying in the play pen while Daddy was otherwise occupied. He followed the noise.

The playpen was in the hall. Jamie had pulled himself up on the side facing the master bedroom, where Nathan and Skills were painting the walls pale blue. Nathan was using a roller, while skills was detailing with a brush. While keeping their eyes on their work, they were trying to cajole Jamie into settling down.

He was having none of it. He'd tossed every one of his toys out and stood yelling and rattling the side of the playpen in a bid for attention.

"Hey, little man!" Lucas reached the playpen and scooped him up like a little basketball. "What's the matter dude? You don't like the color?"

"Oh Luke man, thank God." Skills glanced up from the floor where he was kneeling. "What happed to your beard?"

"It got itchy."

"Fair enough"

Nathan pulled a bandanna from his back pocket and used it to wipe his face. "That's one reason I don't have a beard, the other being Haley wouldn't like it. I actually thought you were Haley, she was supposed to swing by and pick him up after her morning class. Listen I'll make a deal with you. We will get the second coat finished before lunch but Jamie is all on you man."

"No problem. I'll watch him for you but didn't you have a meeting today."

"Yeah, but I really did want Brooke's opinion so I put it off, thought I would help you out with the reservations, never know when you will need a second room." He grinned.

Lucas threw him a look before turning to Jamie. "Let's leave daddy to work, huh."

"Great. His high chair is in the kitchen and Haley packed him a little box of Cheerios that should keep him occupied."

"You mind if I take him for a walk?"

"Nah, thanks bro."

Jamie bounced in his arms and mad a grab for his ear. "Oh, no, you don't."

As they walked out the front Jamie pointed to the sparrows hopping around in the tree in the yard, he walked him over so he could look up through the branches.

He started at everything as if memorizing if for a test later. His little eyes studied the leaves moving in the breeze, the chattering birds and a caterpillar he spotted on the tree trunk. Lucas held him close enough to the insect so he could see buy not grab it. He'd try to eat it for sure.

Because he soaked up his environment like a sponge, Lucas got a kick out of showing him things. He crouched so he could get a better look at a beetle pushing its way through the scrub grass. When a hawk soared overhead, he pointed to it and Jamie watch it until it was a tiny speck in the sky.

A downspout was dripping from the brief rain they'd had during the night. He let him catch the drops on his finger and laughed with him as the cool water tickled his skin. That was where they were when Haley came looking for them.

Haley gave an amused smile. "I almost hate to break this up. You're one heck of a babysitter."

He handed Jamie over to his mother and they started back toward the house.

Haley had brought over sandwiches and skills and Nathan were already digging in. Lucas joined them and Skills greeted him "What's up?"

"Well, I got Brooke pregnant."

"Get out!" Skills eyes widened "Didn't we teach you better than that?"

Lucas lowered his voice even though Jamie was too little to understand. "I used condoms, okay? And turns out she had like a five percent chance of getting pregnant, so this baby never should have happened, but she did."

"There is a lot of history there." Skills said around a bite of sandwich.

"That's right." Lucas took a deep breath and let it out again. "I proposed to her this morning and she rejected me."

"What a shocker." Haley shook her head. "No woman wants to be proposed to out of obligation. Especially considering your history."

Lucas bristled. "It's more than that. Our baby needs a family. A mom and dad, I won't let her grow up without a dad. Plus I wanna do this with Brooke."

"Did you tell her that?" Nathan asked.

"No, because she never gave me the chance. She said I was crazy and there was no way she was marrying me. She said that she didn't want to be in a relationship without love." He rubbed his hand through his hair. "She would rather take on all that responsibility alone, then let me in again."

Haley leaned forward and put her hand in his. "Then it might be a really good if you can trust her to be a good mom. Even better, you could let her know that you have confidence that she'll be a good mom. You broke her Luke, you need to build that relationship back up again. A ring isn't going to fix this and wrestling for control of that baby won't help either."

"Your right, damn it. But I want to be part of my daughter's life, Brooke's life and she sees me as a detriment."

"Then it's up to you to change her mind."

"I know, but how?"

"For starters, show her how good you are with Jamie. Noting like a cute baby to catch a fine woman." Skills smiled to himself.

"Right well, no more babysitting for Uncle Skills" Haley threw Skills a look, "but that's not a bad idea.

Lucas picked up his lunch dishes and loaded them into the dishwasher. "I need to run out to the truck and get my phone. I'll invite Brooke over here and we can take Jamie to the park, if that alright with you guys?"

"Excellent."Haley nodded.