A/N: Another chapter to make up for the filler :)

"I win! I win!" Ava cheered, jumping up on the couch in excitement. "I win!"

She had been spending a bit of her time with her brother at his new apartment. She liked going over to Nathan's because he spoiled her rotten. He let her eat what she wanted and he let her watch as much tv as she wanted, which also included video games.

"Man, that's two in a row!" Tim groaned. "She's gotta be cheating!"

"How can I cheat? I have one good arm!"

They were playing NBA Live on Nathan's playstation and Ava was better at the game than either of the boys thought she'd be, much to Tim's chagrin.

"Get down off the furniture, you goof." Nathan chuckled in amusement, tapping her leg to get her attention. "I don't want your shoe stains on my couch and you're still recovering."

Ava might not have had a fever anymore, but she still had the sniffles and a bit of a cough, which meant her body was still fighting off whatever she picked up at school.

"Can we play again?" Ava sat back down.

"Yeah, I definitely want a rematch." Tim nodded as Haley came in with some grocery bags.

"Hey."

"Hey." Nathan set his controller down, leaving Tim and his sister to play the game by themselves as he met Haley in the kitchen.

"I got everything but the drinks."

"Make it a BYOB." Tim piped up, eye focused on the tv. "Or BYOT, get it? Tim? 'T'?"

"You know." Nathan completely disregarded what his friend just said. It was much better that way. "If you need some cash, I've got some from selling the car."

Ava thought it was a shame that Nathan sold the car their dad gave him. She liked going for rides in it.

"No." Haley refused. 'This party's totally on me. But listen, I ran into some extra people and I didn't want to say no. But it's going to be low-key, I promise."

"Okay."

"You're having a party?" Ava turned around and asked. "Can I come? Pretty please?"

"No." Haley shook her head. "Absolutely not."

"Come on, Hales." Nathan vouched for his sister. "Let her have some fun. It's gonna be low-key and she'll probably get bored and go home or something."

"Nathan, her mother will kill me." Haley deadpanned. "There's probably gonna be alcohol and she's just a kid. Why do you want her to hang around all our friends anyway?"

"She knows better than to touch that stuff." Nathan insisted. "And I'm trying to make up for lost time. I have nine years of stuff to catch up on, and so does she."

"Fine." Haley relented, knowing this was a really really bad idea. "But if her mother finds out about this, you're taking the blame."

"You got it."

"I can come?" Ava perked up.

"Yeah." Nathan nodded. "But stay away from the drinks. If you get thirsty, Haley and I will get something for you, okay?"

"Okay." Ava nodded and went back to playing video games with Tim.

"Okay." Haley began to put some stuff away, making her shirt ride up, revealing the tattoo she had recently gotten of Nathan's jersey number. "What?" She asked when she caught him looking.

"You're just lucky Tim and Ava are here." He whispered in her ear. "Cause I've got a thing for girls named Haley James."

"Really?" Haley wiggled her eyebrows. "Well you're lucky Tim and Ava are here, too."

The couple stared at each other flirtatiously, well aware that the only thing stopping them was the fact that they had company.

"Tim, Ava, go home." They spoke in unison, never taking their eyes off of each other.

"What?" Tim was always confused.

Ava often wondered how he had gotten all the way up to the eleventh grade.

"Um, I've got more stuff in the car, so go play. I'll kiss you later." Haley broke away from her boyfriend.

"Alright."

"She sure was a surprise." Tim said once Nathan sat back down and picked up his controller. "It's like everything you touch turns cool. You're like King Midol, or something."

"Midas." Ava corrected, focused on the screen in front of her. "He turns stuff to gold. Midol's a drug for cramps."

She wasn't sure why there was a drug for cramps. People got cramps all the time, but maybe this was one of those things she'd understand when she got older.

"See? Cool."

"It wasn't cool when he turned his daughter into a gold statue." She shot him down.

"You're as nerdy as Haley, how do you even know that story?" Nathan shook his head, turning to Tim. "Have you been playing this whole time?!"

"Yeah, your team sucks." Tim laughed as Dan walked in and stood at the door behind them. That had successfully killed his mood. "Hey, Mr. Scott. I win. See ya." He got up and hesitated before passing the man.

Ava knew that Tim was weird, but this was a different level of weird. It was like he was nervous around her dad for some off reason.

Dan kept a neutral look on his face before relaxing his features. "How's my wife?" Tim didn't bother answering as he hightailed it out of there.

"Hi, Daddy!" Ava lit up and jumped in his arms, forgetting all about the game they were playing.

"Hi, sweetheart." He pretended to groan once he caught her. "You're getting heavy. I won't be able to do this much longer."

"That's not true." Ava giggled.

"No, it's not." He smiled genuinely. "You weigh absolutely nothing. In fact, I think I could toss you into the kitchen from here, wanna try?"

"No!" Ava shrieked and wrapped her arm around his neck so he wouldn't be able to.

"Alright, fine. We'll work our way up to that. What have you been up to?"

"I was playing video games with Nate." She answered him, fiddling with his necktie. "I won two games."

"You keep giving him a run for his money." Dan encouraged. "I need to talk to your brother for a few minutes." He set her down.

"Go find Haley." Nathan told her. "Put on your hat and your jacket. It's cold."

"Okay." Ava shrugged and grabbed her jean jacket and bucket hat before leaving the apartment, closing the door behind her.

"She's getting attached to you." Nathan spoke as soon as the door closed. "She's calling you 'Daddy'."

"Do you have a problem with that?" Dan asked, curious as to what the answer would be.

"I'm not sure yet." Nathan was quick with his comebacks. "Are you planning on doing to her, what you did to me and Lucas? Because if you are, then the answer is yes, I do have a problem. Luke and I are almost adults, we can handle your crap. Ava's nine. She's not gonna be able to handle that kind of rejection. So for once, try to be decent and don't break her heart. Apparently, she sees something in you the rest of us don't."

"I've made a lot of mistakes, but I don't plan on hurting her."

"Whatever." Nathan dismissed him. "Why are you here?"

"You want to tell me why some guy I've never seen before, came in to put a security system in a new Mustang? A Mustang I thought I had given to you as a gift!"

"Cause I sold it."

"You had no right to do that."

"Dad, look, I've got expenses now. Like rent."

"Uh uh." Dan shook his head. "You don't get that as an out. I'm offering you a home. You turn me down, you're on your own. I want the rest of the money from the sale. I'll take cash or check. Or you can keep the money, and come home with me now."

"Thanks for stopping by, Dad." Nathan wrote up the check and handed it to him. "We should do this more often."

Dan sighed and made his to the door, before his son stopped him in his tracks.

"She's gonna see you for what you truly are if you don't change." He said. "No amount of sheltering or overprotection can hide that."

"Okay, don't accept any drinks from anyone, don't pour yourself a drink, don't drink from anything lying around, don't—" Haley rambled as someone knocked on the door.

"—I know." Ava rolled her eyes. "Answer the door."

"Hi." Haley deflated once she opened the door and found Tim standing outside. "You know Nathan's not even back from work yet, so if you want to come back later."

"Somebody's got to kick this off.' Tim entered the apartment. "What up, Nose?"

"It's Mouth."

Ava just shook head. Tim was an absolute imbecile.

How he and Nathan were best friends, she didn't know.

Maybe she'd ask him one day.

Because honestly, any explanation she came up with in her head, didn't make any sense.

"No one's coming." Haley spoke after a about an hour of waiting. "I'm sure of it."

"Most people don't want to be the first at a party." Tim assured her.

"Nathan's late, too." She huffed in defeat before the doorbell rang. "Oh, finally!" She breathed out a sigh of relief as Tim leapt off the couch and answered the door.

"What's up?" Tim he greeted s few people Haley had never met. "Party in the house!"

"Um, Tim? Do you know any of these people?"

"Not really, but it's a party, Haley. You wanted people to show up, right?"

"Yeah." Haley wasn't so sure about all of this, but Tim was right. It was a party. "Sure, cool."

As the time passed, more and more people flooded into the apartment.

And Haley didn't know a single one of them.

"Nathan Scott and your own apartment." Some girl smirked, clearly impressed. "You have, like, the best life ever."

"Well, thanks, I mean it's not my apartment, but—" The girl obviously didn't care for anything Haley had to say, and just pushed her away into the apartment, trailed by a bunch of her friends.

"Hi, Haley." Maddie came in after them and smiled up at the teen. "Is Ava here?"

"Maddie, what are you doing here?"

"You're having a parry right?" Maddie grinned once she spotted her friend. "Hi, Ava!"

"Great." Haley rolled her eyes. "Just what I need, two nine year olds at a party with alcohol."

The plan was to have a small party and invite some friends over to enjoy it, but this venue was quickly getting out of control and she wasn't quite sure how to stop it.

"Haley, who are all these people?" Lucas asked, startling her out of her thoughts.

"I don't know." She threw a hand up in defeat. "They all just…..showed up!"

Now she had figure out how to get them out!

"How did you get Lucas to let you come?!" Maddie asked Ava, shouting over the loud music, as her friend rummaged through the fridge.

She found some beef jerky and pulled out two pieces.

One for her and one for Maddie.

"I didn't." Ava bit into the delicious snack. "I asked Haley and Nathan if I could come. And Haley said no."

"And…?"

"Nathan said I couldn't pour my own drinks, but I could come if I wanted to."

"He's way cool." Maddie chuckled. "I take back everything I said about him before. He's not as bad a I thought."

"Don't get carried away." Ava shook her head with a giggle. "He's alright."

That wasn't true. She loved her brother to the moon and back.

"But are we keeping him?"

"He'll do."

"I cannot stop the madness!" Haley began to panic as everything got out of hand.

People were having too many drinks and they couldn't handle it, a couple of guys had decided that carrying Mouth across the room would be fun. The music was so loud, Haley was sure the neighbors would call the police, and the place was definitely going to be trashed by the time Nathan got home.

The only thing she felt good about, was the fact that Maddie and Ava got so bored with all the loud music and the noise, that they decided to hang out in Nathan's room, probably to play on Nathan's handheld game system Ava was always messing with whenever her brother wasn't around.

"Okay." Peyton laughed and handed her a cup of an alcoholic beverage. "You know what? Drink this, you look like you could use it."

Haley looked at the drink for a split second, before she gulped it down like a champ.

"Wow!"

"So, you two are playing games." Brooke jumped in with Nikki, Jake's ex, also the mother of his child, right by her side. "Watch out for them, they look like they might cheat."

"Oh, you're still here." Nikki looked at Peyton. "I thought you'd be running off to tuck in my kid."

"Someone's got to." Peyton didn't miss a beat.

"Yeah, well, hopefully it's not some ugly boyfriend thief."

"I'll drink to that!" Brooke agreed.

"Look, why don't you do what you're really good at and disappear?"

"You have a problem?" Nikki stepped closer to the blonde.

"Wow, Nikki, she's not worth it." Brooke tried to pull her back, but Nikki wasn't having it.

"Get off me." Nikki wrenched her arm away. "I asked you if you had a problem."

"Yeah." Peyton nodded. "I do. It's called, you."

As soon as the words left her mouth, Nikki slammed her up against the fridge and slapped her, startling everyone else in the room.

Peyton wasn't one to take that kind of aggression, so she tackled her, causing them both to fly over the coffee table.

Even Maddie and Ava heard the commotion and left Nathan's room to see what was going on and were shocked to see the two wrestling on the floor.

Nikki threw a stool in Peyton's direction and missed, sending it right through the window, shattering it.

"Come on, stop!" Lucas shouted after they broke the coffee table, pulling them apart.

"What are you doing?!" Brooke gave Nikki an incredulous look.

She wanted to antagonize Peyton to make herself feel better, not destroy everything in sight!

"Isn't this what you wanted?' Nikki fought against Tim's strong grip.

"You need to go!" Lucas told her.

"Well, isn't this sweet?" Nikki breathed, nearly out of breath from the fight. "Lucas Scott coming to the defense of his women. Oh, but wait! Shouldn't that include someone else? Don't worry, I can keep a secret, too." She delivered the killer blow before leaving.

That was one party that was successfully ruined.

"What did she mean by that?" Peyton looked at the oldest Scott. "Someone else?"

"She's the girl I met at the bar."

Ava didn't know much about having a love life, but she knew enough to understand that Lucas' was a complete and utter mess.

First he was in love with Peyton, then he started dating Brooke, and then broke up with Brooke to be with Peyton, but then they called it quits.

Ava didn't know anything about Nikki from the bar, but he must've met her after the accident, because she remembered their mother giving him an earful about leaving the house without saying a word.

She loved Lucas, but sometimes, he was really confusing.

"Lucas Scott betrayal train." Brooke rolled her eyes, leaving with Peyton. "All aboard."

Ava watched as Nathan finally came home to the mess everyone made and grimaced. His home was in complete disarray. "Haley? What?"

"Whose apartment is this?" A cop caught them all by surprise, slipping through the door while they were all distracted. "It's not gonna be that hard to figure out, so why don't you just save us some time?"

Ava and Maddie shared a worried look from their hiding place behind the kitchen island, making sure that the truly couldn't be seen.

Was Nathan going to jail?

"Alright, it's mine." Nathan shrugged.

"Everyone else, get out of here before we start checking ID's." Was all the cop had to say to make everyone clear out at warp speed as he began to write something down.

"Wait, what are you doing?"

"Writing you a citation." The cop told him as he did so on his little notepad.

"Me? I didn't do anything!"

"Underage drinking. Disturbing the peace..."

"Look, sir." Lucas quickly came to his brother's defense. "He had nothing to do with this. He just got here."

"It's his apartment. It's his responsibility."

"Great." Nathan scoffed. "I'm impressed. Did you learn that in detective school?"

"So, you want to smart off?" The cop got unnecessarily angry. "Fine. You can do that from a cell." He slapped some handcuffs on Nathan's wrists, much to everyone else's chagrin.

"Oh, come on!" Lucas protested.

"You want to join him?" The cop quirked an eyebrow. "I didn't think so. Come on, let's go."

Ava's jaw nearly hit the floor as she watched the cop take her brother away. Her heart rate quickened with worry, but she couldn't bring herself to say anything.

"What are we gonna do?" Haley ran a hand over her face.

This was all her fault. If she hadn't decided to throw a party in the first place, none of this would've happened.

Or maybe she should've just invited Brooke. Because then, Brooke wouldn't have crashed the party with Nikki and done all this damage.

Now Nathan had just gotten arrested for coming home from work.

"We're gonna go get him." Lucas rubbed her back. "It's gonna be okay. I'll drive."

"Okay, girls, let's go." Haley waved the kids over.

"What are they doing here?" Lucas' eyes widened.

He was so glad that the cop hadn't seen them, because that would've opened up a whole other can of worms.

"Nathan told Ava she could come and she invited Maddie, don't worry. They stayed in the bedroom the entire time. Let's go."

"I still don't understand why you thought that going to this party was a good idea." Lucas scolded his sister as they got out of the car and walked to the entrance of the police station.

They dropped Maddie off first, because her aunt's house was on the way, and then drove to the station.

"I wanted to do something fun." Ava shrugged, hanging onto his hand. Not that he would let go anyway. "But it wasn't. It was boring."

"Serves you right. You shouldn't have been there in the first place. Does Mom even know about this?"

"No, please don't tell her?" Her eyes widened.

"Did you drink?"

"No."

"Then I won't say a word." Lucas held up a hand to stop her from celebrating. "But, you have to promise never to do something like this again, okay? This time it was just us, next time, we might not be there and something could happen to you."

"Okay, I promise."

"Man, Luke, I'm sorry, I wasn't even thinking like that," Haley apologized. "I'm so sorry, I should've put my foot down, but when Nathan said he wanted to spend time with her I—"

"—Hales." Lucas chuckled. "It's okay. We're good."

There was no reason for him to get upset. Ava didn't consume any alcohol and she didn't get hurt. It was just a temporary lapse in judgement and he was sure it wouldn't happen again.

The three were just about to make their way up the steps when they stopped at the sight of Dan and Nathan arguing.

"Bang up job, Nathan." Dan was clearly annoyed at having to bail his son out of jail. "Every time I blink, you seem to sink into a new low. Part of me thinks I should've left you in there."

"Maybe you should have."

"This experiment of yours is over. You're coming home."

"Forget it!" Nathan snapped. He had just broken free from his father's clutches and he wasn't about to go back.

"Now!"

"Now way."

"Hey, I brought you into this world, I promise I can take you out." Dan reached out and grabbed him roughly.

"Let him go." Lucas intervened.

"And the disappointments just keep on coming." Dan turned the face his first born. "You stay out of this."

He hadn't even noticed Ava hiding behind Haley, confused as to why he was being so mean to her brothers.

"Haley, go get an officer." Lucas instructed.

And that's when Dan noticed her.

She was looking at him with fear etched on her features.

He never wanted her to see him like this, but it was too late.

"Let me get this straight." He continued. "Your mom runs off and has a fling, I get the cops to drop the charges, and now I'm the bad guy?"

"Dad." Nathan looked directly at Ava to get him to stop for her benefit.

"You might want to think before you start trying to make a case for what a great father you've been." Lucas challenged.

"What do you know about me being a father?"

"Exactly." The blonde smirked.

"You know what? Why don't you go home and talk to your mom? Tell her you want to know what really happened between us back then." He turned back to Nathan. "And you. You want to ruin your life? Go ahead. I'm done here." He gave up and left the four on their own.

They stood in silence for a while, mulling over Dan's words.

Nathan was pretty sick and tired of him, Lucas and Haley were confused for two completely different reasons, and Ava was hurt.

She thought that he was better than that.

Why was he always so nice when they were alone, but whenever he was speaking to someone else, he was so awful?

Didn't he care?

"Wake up!" Ava jumped on top of her brother early one morning.

She set her alarm clock the night before, but she didn't get much sleep because she was too wired and excited.

Lucas cracked an eye open and looked at her with contempt. "Go away."

It was like she was born to torture him sometimes.

"No way!" She poked his cheek. "We're supposed to go to the River Court today! Don't you remember?"

"Of course I do." He grumbled. "How could I forget? But why do you want to go? You know you can't play with a broken arm."

"I can, too, play with a broken arm, Lucas." Ava narrowed her eyes at him. "I just have to play differently. Now get up!" She jumped on his again right as someone knocked. "I'll get it!"

"No, you won't." Lucas shoved her off of him, making sure she'd land on the other side of the bed before he answered the door.

"Get dressed." Nathan told him.

"Dude, it's six am, what are you doing?" He guessed that both Nathan and Ava were early risers.

Lucky for him.

Not.

"We're going running."

"No, I'm going to bed."

"Nuh uh, Lucas!" Ava protested, hopping off the bed and stomping her foot. "You promised!"

"I'll just keep knocking." Nathan added.

"You both suck."

"Hey!" Lucas called to his sister while he and Nathan ran side by side. "Don't go too far ahead!"

"I won't!" Ava waved him off and dribbled her beloved basketball with her non-dominant hand.

It was a bit of a struggle, but she was managing. Anytime she lost control of the ball, her brothers would stop her and fetch it for her, but that was happening less and less as she continued practicing.

"Playoffs are next week." Nathan started. "Gotta get you ready, man. Workouts, studying game tapes, whatever it takes."

"Why?"

"Cause I want to win. And I need your help. Besides, you stood up to my dad the other day, I owe you."

"So, listen. There's something that's been bothering me…..That thing Dan said, about asking my mom what kind of parent he was. Any idea what he meant?"

"Probably just more of his mind games, man." Nathan answered. "That's the way he is."

"Right." Lucas should have known better to think much of what the man had said.

"Listen, Haley told me about what you said about Ava being at the party." Nathan stopped running and sighed. "I wasn't even thinking when I told her she could come. That was stupid. Too much could've gone wrong that night and it would've been my fault if anything happened to her."

"Don't worry about it." Lucas slowed down and shook his head. "And look, Ava's not a toddler. She knows right from wrong, and she knows she shouldn't have been at that party. Anyway, Haley told me you just wanted to make up for lost time. It's no big deal."

"Thanks. I just didn't want you to think that I didn't care. I do."

"I know you do." Lucas smirked at how his little brother had just opened up a little. "You know, you don't have to do anything crazy to get to know her. She's happy just taking a walk around the block as long as she has your full attention. She's an easy kid."

"I'll keep that in mind next time."

"Mama?"

"Yes, Rose-Bud?" Karen sat down next to her daughter at the kitchen table.

"Can I get my cast off today?"

"Not today, honey, I'm sorry." The woman cupped her chin. "But the good news is, that you only have a week left to go."

"That's a long time." Ava pouted and picked at her eggs as her brother came out of his room and sat down beside their mother. "You look awful."

"Shut up."

"Lucas, don't talk to your sister like that." Karen chided. "And Ava, don't antagonize your brother."

Ava stuck her tongue out her brother, making him sneer and roll his eyes in response.

Under normal circumstances, he probably would've tried to strangle her, but right now he had bigger fish to fry.

"The other night I saw Dan." He opened up the conversation. "And he said something."

"What?"

"He said to ask you what really happened back then. Any idea what he meant?"

"Who knows?" Karen shrugged, brushing some hair away from Ava's face as the child continued eating. "It's Dan."

"Yeah, but, I don't know. He was talking about what kind of father he was. Was he just messing with me?"

"Lucas." Karen sighed. She really didn't want to talk about this so soon, but it looked like Dan had opened up that can of worms for her. "You know that I always have yours and Ava's best interest in mind? Since day one. You believe that, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, um, after you were born, Dan asked to be in your life."

Ava's eyes widened right along with her brother's.

Dan wanted to be a part of her brother's life? Is that what he meant when he said that the whole situation was complicated?

Had Karen been lying to the both of them all this time?

"You told me he never showed up. That he didn't want anything to with us."

"He told me that he'd like to help raise you." Karen admitted. "And he asked for joint custody. I said no."

"Why?"

"I didn't trust him. And Dan was ready to sue until his lawyer told him since he had left me and gotten another girl pregnant, his chances weren't good. You know what Dan is like. I had to make a decision. I had to do what was best for you. And I knew that someday we'd be having this conversation, but that was a risk I had to take."

"I've got to go to school." Lucas stood up, processing what he had just been told. He couldn't believe that for all those years, his mother had been lying to him about his father. He thought Dan didn't want to have anything to do with him. "Ava, are you coming? I'll drop you off."

"Uh uh." The child shook her head.

"Lucas."

The blonde didn't want to hear anything else that his mother had to say and just left without another word.

"Mama? You lied?" Ava looked so heartbroken, that Karen didn't really know what to say.

"I did. The situation was very complicated and your father was an even more complicated man. I did what I thought was best at the time."

"Did you lie to me, too?" Ava hated to ask, but she felt like she had a right to know.

"No, of course not sweetheart." Karen smiled. "I would never lie to you."

"Promise?" Ava held her pinky finger out to her mother.

"I promise." Karen obliged her.

Well, good.

Because she didn't think she could handle her mother lying to her. She loved her so much that it would probably have crushed to find out that she couldn't trust her.

"Good." Ava grinned and kissed her cheek before getting up and snatching her bag off the ground and opening the door in such way it made Karen cringe. "Bye, Mama. I'm gonna see if I can catch up with Luke."

"I would never lie to you…...starting now." Karen sighed once she was alone.

A/N: Uh oh...