"Knock, knock." Mouth said as he opened Lucas' door. It was about seven in the morning. Lucas had been up for an hour and Lily had just woken up. Lucas looked up from his computer with a smile. Mouth and Skills then walked in.

"Hey guys, what are you doing here?" Lucas asked.

"We wanna hang out." Skills said as Lucas smiled.

"Well, guys I actually can't. I need to go to TRIC and work a few things out."

"With Lily." Mouth said as Lucas rolled his eyes.

"Aw, where are you gonna take her?" Lucas asked as they could hear Lily playing in the hallway.

"Well I want to take her swimming." Skills said.

"And I want to do something educational with her. I want to go to the zoo with her." Mouth said. Lucas smiled as he listened to his friends.

"So which one is it gonna be?" Lucas asked.

"We can't decide. We are both her godfathers, so neither one of us can play the godfather card." Mouth said as Lucas laughed.

"Yeah dawg, did you make us both her godfathers as a joke." Skill said as Lucas raised an eyebrow. "You really want to know why I chose you two?" Lucas asked as they both nodded. "You two are my best friends. You guys helped me through a lot. I could never have chosen between either of you." He said as Lily ran into his room.

"Uncle Mouth!" Lily yelled as Marvin smiled. He got down on Lily's level and picked her up.

"Obviously Lily can choose between us." Skills said under his breath as Lucas laughed.

"And how is the prettiest little princess doing today?" Mouth asked as Lily giggled.

"Good." She said.

"How did you sleep?" Mouth asked.

"Good." She said as he smiled.

"Do you want to go to the zoo today?" Mouth asked as Skills looked at him.

"Or do you wanna go to the pool?" Skills suggested. Mouth set down Lily and she looked at both of her uncles and then at her dad.

"Or you can stay with daddy." Lucas said as Lily walked to him and he picked her up. He then set her down on his leg. She then looked at her uncles who were pointing at themselves. She then looked at Lucas who was pointing at himself. Lily continued to look at them and then got upset. She got down from Lucas' leg and ran to her room. Lucas looked at his friends and then got up and followed Lily. He walked into her room and she was crying a little. He sat down next to her and rubbed her back. "Baby, what's wrong?" He asked.

"I…don't…want to…choose." She cried as he sighed. He didn't realize that he was pushing her. He pulled her into his lap and wiped her tears.

"Well, we aren't making you choose one." He said. "Uncle Mouth, and Uncle Skills aren't going to be mad at you for choosing one over the other." He said as she nodded. "So which do you want to?" He asked.

"I wanna go to the zoo with uncle Mouth." She said as he smiled.

"Then that's what you can do today. Uncle Mouth and uncle Skills will take you to the zoo and after that, they can drop you off at the high school." He said. "How does that sound?"

"Good." She said with a smile. She got down and ran out the door. She then ran back to her room. "Daddy, where's Lindsey?" She asked as he looked at her. He smiled. He loved how much Lily loved his girlfriend.

"Honey, she's still in New York." He said as she frowned.

"Do you miss her?" He asked as he got up.

"Mhm, Lindsey takes me places." She said as he grabbed her.

"Hey, little lady, I take you places to." He said as he kissed her cheek.

"The gym doesn't count." She giggled as he rolled his eyes. He tickled her as he set her down. He then got her ready for the zoo. He pulled out his phone and called Lindsey.

"Hi Luke!" Lindsey said as he smiled.

"Hi Lindsey." He said as he looked down at Lily. "There's someone here that misses you." He said as he got down on the floor. He then handed the phone to Lily.

"Hiya!" Lily said into the phone.

"Hi Lily!" Lindsey said with a huge smile. "I heard you miss me?" She said as Lucas chuckled and walked out of the room.

"Mhm." Lily said as Lindsey laughed.

"Well I'll be back late on Sunday. We can play all day Monday. How does that sound?" Lindsey asked.

"Good!" Lily said.

"Can you give the phone back to your daddy?" Lindsey asked as Lily walked to find Lucas. She found him talking to Mouth and Skills. She then handed the phone to him and he walked out of the room.

"So Lily we are going to go to the zoo and have a picnic." Skills said as Lily smiled at them. Lucas walked back into the room. He had just gotten in another fight again. He sighed as he put his phone in his pocket and then looked at his friends.

"So, you guys are going to the zoo." Lucas said as Mouth looked at Lucas. He could tell there were some things going on.

"Yeah." Skills said as he picked Lily up.

"Have fun." Lucas said as they all said goodbye. Skills and Mouth walked out to the car and Skills put Lily in the back seat.

"Uncle Skills." Lily said as Skills got in the car.

"Yes princess?" Skills said.

"Why don't I have a fancy seat like in Daddy's car?" She asked.

"Because your daddy babies you." Skills said as Mouth hit him.

"Because he cares about you." Mouth said as he drove to the zoo.

"When am I gonna meet Grandpa Dan?" She asked.

"Lily, we have told you we don't know." Mouth said.

"Who is he?" She asked. "Is he my grandpa?"

"Lily, stop." Mouth said as she made a face. Skills saw it and started to laugh. Mouth looked at him. "You're encouraging her." He said as Skills shook his head.

"Mouth, we are supposed to be the fun ones." Skills laughed as Mouth parked. They got out and helped Lily out. She was wearing a pink dress with white sandals and a pink headband. Lily was holding Mouth's hand as they walked into the zoo. They walked inside and Skills saw that they had wagons. He looked at Mouth who was shaking his head. "Lily wanna ride in a wagon?" He asked.

"That's for babies." She giggled as Skills rolled his eyes.

"Oh my bad Miss Princess." Skills said as Mouth smiled. The guys walked around for a while showing Lily the different animals. Mouth made it educational by telling Lily a little bit about each animal. Skills found this a little boring. After they had finished lunch, they started walking around again. They were by the flamingo exhibit when two college girls that were there distracted them.

"So you are seniors at Tree Hill College?" Skills asked.

"Yeah." Katie replied.

"We are both education majors too!" Allie said, as she smiled at Lily.

"So, what are you doing later tonight?" Skills asked as he and Mouth followed them. As they followed them Lily had her back to them and the boys left her. Skills and Mouth walked the girls to the exit and smiled as they got their numbers. They then turned to each other.

"Alright, Lily ready to go get a snow cone and then to the gym?" Mouth said as he turned around and saw that Lily wasn't behind him. "Where's Lily?" He asked.

"I thought you had her?" Skills said.

"I thought you had her." Mouth said back as they both started to panic.

"Lucas is going to be so mad." Skills said as the boys walked around to try and find her.

"No, he won't." Mouth said as Skills looked at him. "He will kill us. He won't have anyone to be mad at." He said as Skills shook his head. They continued to look around and then split up. Mouth went and looked at all the main exhibits while Skills went to the last five exhibits they went to. They decided that they would meet at the flamingo exhibit. After twenty minutes of both boys running around yelling Lily, they met up at the exhibit. They were about to find an officer when Mouth saw Lily still looking at all the flamingos. He sighed with relief as they both walked up to her. "Thank god Lily." He said as she turned around and looked at them.

"Honey, we are so sorry we left you." Skills said, as Lily looked confused.

"You left me?" She asked with the biggest eyes. Both boys felt terrible.

"Yeah, we're sorry." Mouth said as he picked her up and started walking with her.

"Let's not tell daddy about this. Okay?" Skills said as Lily nodded.

Lucas had the biggest smile on his face. Mouth and Skills had picked Lily up and was spending the day with her until it was time for practice. Lucas was sitting in his office looking at a picture of him and Brooke back in high school. He thought about the times they have shared. He smiled thinking about the shot he made and the conversation he had with Rachel.

Lucas was sitting on the bench at the river court thinking. He had just walked in on Brooke and Chris Keller's on a date.

"I can't believe she's doing thins." Lucas said as he looked at Rachel. She immediately rolled her eyes.

"So she's on a date with Chris. It doesn't mean anything." Rachel said.

"No, it does!" He said quickly. "This guy's caused a lot of trouble. Brooke knows that." He said as he squeezed the basketball in his hands.

"Okay, so, what is the deal with you and Brooke anyway?" She asked.

"She's just not ready to commit." He said as he shrugged.

"Right, that's usually what I tell guys I'm not really in to." She said with a classic smile.

"And she wants to make sure I'm serious about her, you know?" He laughed and then got serious. "Plus…" He started to say.

"Plus, what?" She asked.

"She's the 'one.'" He said with out hesitation.

"Why?" She asked. He looked down and clicked his lip.

"She just is. I feel it. You know, Pascal says: 'the heart has reasons that reason cannot know.'" He said as she looked at him.

"What did Pascal say about Chris Keller?" She asked as he looked away, clearly annoyed. "Sorry, cheap shot." She said as she stood up and walked towards the goal. "Okay, here's the gig: you miss a shot, and you drink." She said as he stood up on the bench and threw the ball. "You make a shot-" She started to say as the ball went through the hoop. He looked at her and waited for her to say something, "I drink." She said as she opened the can. "Ok, this was a bad idea." They continue to play the game until all the beer is gone. Lucas shoots the ball through the hoop and Rachel catches it. Well, that's the last of it. Nice shooting, Tex." She said as he holds his arms out.

"So are we gonna call it a night?" He asked.

"Or we could play a new game." She smirked. "How 'bout strip basketball?" She said as she walked towards him.

"You know, I always figured if I met the devil, she'd be hot and holding the basketball." He said as he leaned forward. "But, I'm gonna pass."

"Because of Brooke?" She asked knowing the answer was yes. "Who's on a date!" She said as he looked away. She then stops in front of him. Ok. Take your shirt off." She said as he squinted at her.

"Rachel." He said.

"I'm not gonna touch you, you sissy-virgin-boy! I'm trying to make a point. Take your shirt off." She said. He scoffed disbelievingly and then shakes his head. He then takes his shirt off. She tosses the ball at him and he catches it.

"Alright, you say Brooke's the one; your soul mate." She said as she walks behind him and takes his shirt from him. "Well, if that's the case…call upon destiny or…providence…or whatever forces are gonna bring you two together." She says as Lucas looks away and laughs. "And make the shot." She said and then paused as she covered his eyes with the shirt. "Blindfolded."

"This is ridiculous." He laughed.

"Come on! It's your destiny. You can't miss." She said as she stood in front of him. "Ok, can you see me?" She asked.

"No." He replied as she started to dance a very embarrassing dance. He doesn't move.

"Ok, I trust you. Now follow my voice. Brooke's the 'one' make the shot." She said as she walked backwards to the goal. He takes his time and bounces the ball once. He then aims, shoots and the ball goes in."Wh-what happened?" He asked as he pulled off the blindfold.

"It went in." She said.

Lucas was broken from his trance when he heard a knock at his office door. It was Quentin at the door. "You wanted to see me?"

"Close the door." Lucas said as he placed the picture back down on the desk.

"Let me guess, huh? You want me back, right?" Quentin makes himself comfortable in the chair across from Lucas and put his feet on the desk.

"Take your feet off my desk." Lucas said in a very stern voice.

"Oh, man, I get it. Local boy becomes coach, feels pressure to win big, needs a star player to make it happen. Yeah, I guess I could help you out." Quentin smirked as he took the coach as a joke.

"Let me tell you how it's gonna go." Lucas said as he leaned in on the conversation. He continued to talk very sternly. "I'm the coach. You do what I say, and I do not ask you twice. For instance, there's the matter of your feet on my desk." Lucas says as he looks at the feet on the desk. Quentin takes his feet off the desk. "I'm building a team. You play your part and do as I say or you are gone. Just so we're clear."

"Look, we both know I'm the best shooting guard in the state, so why don't we just cut the crap, huh? I'm not playing no zone defense. Matter of fact, I might not play no defense at all. And on offense, I need my minutes, so Ima play when I want and Ima sit when I want. And that weak-ass point guard? Find somebody that's gonna feed me the ball, man. You do that, you can stand on the sideline, hold your little clipboard, and watch me work. And when we win, I might even let you take the credit. Quentin gets up and starts to head out. He turns back around and looks at Lucas. "Oh, you can call me "Q," coach. I like you, man, but, uh, that's how it's gonna go. Just so we're clear." He walked out of the office. Lucas watched as he left and he shook his head.

Skills walked into the gym with Lily. It was about thirty minutes before practice was going to start. Skills grabbed a ball and started to shoot. Lily was running after his ball for him like she does for Lucas. When she would get the ball instead of throwing it to him, she would run up and hand him the ball.

"So when your dad ask how the zoo was, what are you going to say?" Skills asked as Lily thought about what Mouth and Skills told her to say.

"Uh…the zoo was really fun. I saw tigers, and lions, and bears, and penguins and otters. Oh and uncle Skills and uncle Mouth lost me." Lily said as Skills' eyes got big.

"No, no, no." He said as she smiled. He smiled at her cute cheeky smile.

"I get in trouble when I lie." She said as Skills set down the ball and walked over to her. He grabbed her hand and they walked to the bleachers. He sat down and set her on his lap.

"It isn't lying unless he ask." He told her, as she looked a little confused. "Unless your dad ask if Mouth and I lost you, you don't have to say anything." He said as she nodded.

"Okay!" She said with a smile. "Can I play now?" She asked as he nodded. She got down and started playing on the bleachers. Skills looked over at her and sighed. He knew that he had to tell Lucas. One by one players started showing up to practice. Nathan walked into the gym alone. Jamie was with his nanny at home. He walked up to Lily with a smile. He was still on crutches but doing a lot better. He sat down and Lily ran up to him and sat down.

"Hi uncle Nafan!" She said as he smiled.

"Hi Lils, how was the zoo?" Nathan asked as Skills looked over at them.

"It was fun." She said as Nathan nodded.

"What was your favorite animal?" He asked.

"I liked the pink birds." She said as she tried to remember the name of the animal.

"You mean the flamingos?" He said as she nodded. He smiled as Lucas walked into the gym. Lily continued to talk to Nathan as Lucas walked up to them.

"Lily!" Lucas said as she continued to play. He picked her up and hugged her. "I missed you!" He said as he kissed her cheek. She smiled and he laughed.

"Did you have fun?" Lucas asked.

"Mhm!" She said as he smiled.

"What was your favorite animal?" He asked as Lily looked at Nathan.

"Flamingos?" She said as Nathan nodded.

"Did you like them because they were pink?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah and I spent forever there." She said, as Lucas looked a little confused. He nodded and the guys started practice. As the team was playing shirts versus skins, Lucas and Skills were talking. "Hey so Lily said she spent a lot of her time at the flamingos. Do you think it's her new favorite animal?" He asked.

"Uh, I don't really know." Skills said as he looked down. "Listen, Luke. I need to tell you something." He said as he looked at him. "We lost Lily today." He said as Lucas looked at him.

"What do you mean you lost her?" Lucas asked.

"We walked away from her. When we were at the flamingos, we met some girls and walked off with them." Skills said as Lucas was looking at him annoyed. "When we noticed she wasn't with us, we searched the whole zoo. We found her right where we left her." He said as he sighed. "Luke, I'm sorry. I really am. You trusted us, and we let you down." He said as Lucas tried to keep calm.

"I'm mad because you didn't tell me when it happened." Lucas said. "I'm not mad that it happened, well I am a little. But, I've done it. I've walked away from her before, thinking she was right behind me. Luckily nothing happened." He said biting his tongue. He could see the hurt on Skills face. He looked over at Lily who was playing. Nathan had been listening to them the whole thing. He walked away and let them talk. Practice finished and Lucas handed Nathan a bag of Lily's things. "Have fun tonight." He said as he smiled at his little brother.

"You too." Nathan said, as he stood upright without crutches.

"Hey, are you going tomorrow night? To the opening?" Lucas asked.

"Of course wouldn't miss it for the world. Haley said that Carrie will babysit tomorrow night." He said as he left the gym.

"Lucas went back to his office and grabbed his bag. He walked out to his car and drove to Brooke's store. He parked and got out of his car. He walked inside and saw Brooke running around the store trying to get it ready for the grand opening. He walked over and stood by Mouth. They were catching up when Brooke interrupted everyone. She ordered everyone to help set up displays. The group has been working on the store for about four hours when Millicent arrives with pizzas.

"All right, guys. Come and get it. Now, words cannot express how much I appreciate you all being here on a Friday night doing manual labor, so I'm just gonna say this... do not get food on the clothes. Millicent will be distributing hand wipes... use them. Break's over in 20 minutes, and I love you all." Brooke said as she quickly ran to the back of the store.

"It's good to see that success and fame hasn't changed her." Lucas said as he watched Brooke ran around like a chicken with her head cut off.

"No really it hasn't, you should have seen her at cheer camp." Peyton said as she handed Lucas a plate with pizza on it.

"Hey, how's the new band going? " He asked as he took a bite of his pizza.

"I thought it was gonna be all good times and groovy tunes, and nobody warned me about obnoxious, self-righteous musicians." She smiled at him.

"You've always been capable of a lot more than you've given yourself credit for." He smiled as Peyton rolled her eyes.

"How's the writing coming?" She asked as he nodded.

"Actually, a lot better than expected. Something trigged in my head an I just started writing." He said as she smiled.

Nathan and Haley had just finished cleaning up the kitchen and walked outside to the backyard to see what the kids were doing. Jamie was playing with his basketball goal and Lily was sitting in the ground playing with a flower. Nathan smiled at Jamie and walked over to Lily. "Hey sweetie, what are you doing over here?" Nathan asked as Lily looked up at her uncle. She had tears rolling down her cheeks. Nathan quickly got down on the ground and picked her up. "What's wrong?" He asked.

"I want my daddy." Lily said as Nathan looked over at Haley. Haley sighed and walked over to them.

"Lily, your dad will be here tomorrow." Haley said as Nathan nodded. Lily looked at them and smiled.

"Lily do you want to go on a bike ride?" Nathan asked as he helped her off the grass. Lucas and Haley had both bought bikes for both kids when they moved back to Tree Hill.

"No fanks Uncle Nafan." Lily replied as he got down on his knee to be able to look her in the eyes.

"Why not?" He asked.

"I don't know how." She said as he sighed. He had recently taught Jamie to ride his bike and it was really rewarding, so he didn't want to take it away from Lucas.

"Well, what about a huge blanket fort and a movie?" Nathan suggested.

"Yeah!" Jamie cheered as Lily agreed. Both adults smiled and walked inside with the kids. Nathan starting building a fort out of blankets while Haley put the kids in pajamas. Lily and Jamie came running down the stairs. Jamie was in a basketball pj set and Lily was wearing a ladybug one. Nathan had a movie set up in the fort for the kids. Both kids got in and Nathan started to movie. As Nathan, Jamie and Lily watched Robin Hood, Haley was cleaning up the house. Haley walked into the living room and looked in the fort. Nathan was asleep with Jamie on one side and Lily on the other. Both kids had also fallen asleep.

The store was coming along great. Brooke and her friends had made a lot of progress on it. Lucas and Peyton were cleaning the windows and talking.

"So why do you think Brooke came back?" Lucas asked as Peyton giggled. "What?" He asked.

"Nothing, and I think she just being home." Peyton said. "I can relate. Living in a big city after living in this town is really hard." She said as they continued to clean. "How is everything with Lily? She seems to be really interested in Dan. How did that get started?" She asked.

"Uh…Jamie found out about Dan and told Lily about him." He said. "I don't know what to tell her. Grandpa Dan is my dad and the reason you will never meet your real parents." He said as she shook his head. He then looked over at Brooke and smiled. She was still dictating what others should be doing.

"So tell me about Lily." She said as Lucas chuckled to himself.

"She's fun." He said as he thought about her. "She loves drawing and coloring. She had this cute little nose that she scrunches up when she is thinking. She uh…she loves to read. She loves anything pink." He said as he smiled. "But, she doesn't like basketball, or well I think she likes it but doesn't want to show it. When it is just us at the river court she will run after my ball and give it to me. Sometimes I'll try to get her to shoot, she loses interest. So, I put her in basketball." He said as Peyton shook her head.

"You can't force it on her Luke. She will either like it or not like it." She said as he nodded.

"I know. I just wished she would like to play." He said.

"Like Jamie likes the sport?" She asked as he looked at her and realized she was right.

"Wow, I didn't even think about that." He said as Brooke walked over to them.

"How are you two doing?" Brooke asked as they smiled at her.

"Good." He said as Peyton smiled. Brooke smiled.

"Well, I think everything is pretty much done. It will just be some final touches later today." Brooke said as Lucas looked at her. He then looked at his watch.

"It's already six in the morning." He said. "I told Nate and Hales I would pick Lily up at ten. I only have fours hours to sleep." He laughed. "That's gonna be fun."

"Well go, go." Brooke said with a smirk. "I will use you later." She said as he laughed. Lucas smiled and left. Brooke and Peyton watched him leave. Peyton then turned to him.

"You so love him." Peyton said with a smile.

"Shut up." Brooke said as she tried to hide her smile. She then walked away. Peyton smirked.

"This is gonna be interesting." Peyton said as she crossed her arms.

Hope you enjoy this new chapter! Let me know! –M