The Food Court, Tree Hill Children's Museum

"Are you my dad?"

The question cut through the light-hearted air that had been surrounding Madison, Jamie and Jason for the past two hours as the small group had wandered through the halls of the museum. Jamie looked at Madison, panic in his eyes, he didn't know what he was supposed to say, or if he was supposed to tell the truth to his son.

Madison paused for a moment, looking at Jamie and then back at her 5 year old,

"Yes baby, Mr. Jamie is your dad, is that okay?"

"Cool! I've never had a dad before," the small child mused, looking at his parents, "can I call him daddy?"

Madison glanced at Jamie, nodding at him to answer the question - Jamie was frozen, he had never heard anyone other than Tyler call him dad, and to have another son asking him for permission made him feel terrible for his prolonged absence.

"Of course you can bud," Jamie smiled at Jason who grinned and took another bite of ice cream before looking inquisitively at both parents,

"So will you live with mommy and me now?" the question asked had been innocent, but Jamie knew Jason's pondering probably was scaring Madison to no end, they hadn't discussed visitation or how living would go between the three of them, but if Madison was thrown off by the question she played it off perfectly,

"No baby, your daddy has his own house. You can stay there sometimes if you want to, he has kids toys because he has a boy just a little younger than him and two," Madison paused to hold up two fingers, "babies coming soon with Miss. Julia so you will have kids to play with too!"

Jamie was proud of Madison for being so practical, and was relieved she had been the one to bring up his family, he never wanted Jason to feel like he was a second priority or somehow mattered less than the family he had with Julia - hell, if he had known about Madison back in the day he probably wouldn't even have another family at home right now, he had loved her with his entire heart.

Madison gulped at her verbalization of reality, she knew that the situation she had found herself in, having an illegitimate child with an NBA phenomenon who already had a fiance and kids, was going to be difficult, but she hadn't thought about having to explain to her son as he grew up why he wasn't with his dad from the beginning. It was her fault, that much she knew, but she had thought she was protecting both him and Jamie at the time, now she wasn't so sure.

As Jason ran off to play one of the claw machine games, Madison turned to Jamie,

"I'm sorry I just panicked. I didn't know what to say. Obviously you don't have to have him over if you don't want to, I would never ask you for that," Madison rambled and Jamie furrowed his brow,

"Maddy, he's my son. Of course he's welcome at my house, any day, any hour it doesn't matter," Jamie took Madison's hand and squeezed it, "you don't have to do it alone anymore Mads. I'm here, I want to be his dad, anything you guys need I want to give it to you."

"I know it's just you have a real family to take care of Jamie, I don't want to take away from that at all, it's not my place," Madison felt really bad about what she knew Julia must be going through, there was no way your fiance finding out he had a baby with his ex fiance was easy, especially while pregnant.

"You two are my real family too Madison come on," Jamie didn't know how to convey how horrible he felt about having left her and Jason out there for five years, he would never be able to make it up to them, "I already lost five years, I don't want to lose any more time."

"Actually," Madison paused, "there's something I have been meaning to tell you about and it would mean a lot to me if you were there," Madison drifted off and Jamie looked at her nodding for her to continue, "Jason has a doctors appointment Friday with a specialist, I don't think it will be groundbreaking or anything and I know you don't have HCM so you won't know firsthand what he's dealing with but your uncle had it and,"

"Jason has HCM?" Jamie interrupted, suddenly his heart racing and a terrible feeling twisting in his gut, he had given his son the only thing Scott men didn't want to pass on,

"Yes," Madison looked down, "I had it tested pretty early since my grandfather had it as well, so I knew even if you weren't his dad, that there was a chance he got it from me. It's okay he knows the rules to stay safe. But this appointment next week is to see if he can play soccer or not, and I don't want to be the only one there when he hears a no."

Jamie was silent for a minute, he felt terrible, it was his fault, his DNA was the reason his son couldn't run around with the other kids at recess and there was nothing he could do to fix it, "I'll be there."

The Bakers Beach House

"I'm sorry WHAT?" Lydia's best friend Michelle said quietly, as she stared at her friend's left hand, "you got married?"

"We eloped on our drive down here," Lydia answered, she wasn't sure what response she expected, but the breath catching hush that had taken over the kitchen certainly wasn't it.

"Are you pregnant?" Michelle said even softer, which was pointless considering no one in the room had said a word for quite awhile, Lydia looked at Jude, who gave her the same confused look, "you so are," Michelle hissed as she watched the couple exchange looks.

"I'm not pregnant" Lydia said firmly, "we just wanted to get married, so we did."

"She's not lying," Jude backed her up, "I haven't knocked her up yet, just made her my wife." Lydia shoved her elbow into Jude's torso, she did not like how casual he was about getting her pregnant, he always acted like it was inevitable and coming soon, which she did not appreciate. Jude looked at her confused, and Lydia rolled her eyes and went back up the stairs,

"I better follow her." Jude told his friends, who were all still so confused about what was going on. Jude walked up the stairs to find Lydia sitting on their bed her arms crossed, and her jaw tightened, "babe what was that?"

Lydia looked up at Jude, she hated that she was so sensitive about this, she should have considered that when she got married at 18, people would make assumptions about her, but she didn't like the stigma and she hated how flippantly Jude always approached the subject,

"I don't like when you say you're going to get me pregnant." Lydia replied and Jude looked confused, sitting down next to her, "you act like it wouldn't be a bad thing."

"Would it be?" Jude asked, still lost, he was always kidding when he made jokes about having babies with her, but he also meant it, and he knew if it were to happen it wouldn't be that big of a deal, he loved her, hell he had married her, why would a baby be a bad thing?

"Are you kidding me?" Lydia replied sharply, then took a deep breath, "Jude, I love you."

"I would hope so Mrs Baker" Jude slipped in and Lydia gave him a look that demanded he listen,

"And I love that I am now yours forever," Lydia paused, "and I want to have tons of adorable little babies with you" she reached out and took his hand, "one day. But I am 18. We are going to college in like six months, we don't need to make things any more complicated than they already are. We have forever to have kids."

Jude nodded, he understood what she was saying, and he had never thought past the 'if it were to happen' stage of things, it wasn't like he wanted her to get pregnant or to have kids, especially right now, it was just that he wouldn't be angry or dare leave her side if it happened.

"Okay I won't bring it up again," Jude replied, pushing a hair out of his wife's face, "can we go back down to our friends now?"

Lydia nodded, glad she had finally gotten her annoyances off her chest. The pair grabbed one another's hands and made their way back to the main level, where their friends were unpacking snacks and drinks. Lydia grabbed a beer, cracked it open, and took a long swig,

"Can we celebrate please?"

Tree Hill, Davis & Anna's new apartment

"Babe where does this go?" Davis yelled across the apartment living room at his girlfriend who was unpacking the small kitchenette in the apartment that the pair had decided to rent in Tree Hill during their senior year, now that they were back together he wanted to be there all the time for Carolina.

"In Carolina's room, it's her rocking chair," Anna called back, and Davis picked up the tiny chair and brought it down the hall, quietly opening the door to his daughter's bedroom. She was down for her nap still, and he couldn't believe how big she looked in her crib. She was a little over 6 months old now, and he was constantly surprised by how fast she was growing. Although he had tried to be quiet, he had clearly disrupted the sleeping child who rolled over and started babbling, he crouched down and scooped her up,

"Hi there sleepy head," he grinned at her and she smiled back at him, her bright blue eyes meeting him as he stared at the girl who he had thought was going to ruin his life, "you gotta be quiet or mommy is going to know I woke you up."

His daughter obliged, shutting her eyes and snuggling into him - he softly set her back down, this year was going to be better than last - this year they would be family. He looked around her bedroom, the walls painted a soft pink, stuffed animals strewn on the floor and unpacked boxes sitting waiting to be opened in the corner. The apartment wasn't much, but it was enough, a place that gave them privacy and a sense of family within the walls. He didn't have to ask his mom for permission, and her parents had been less than pleased about their reconciliation, so this allowed for them to have autonomy over their relationship and the way they chose to raise Carolina.

He emerged from the back bedroom to return to Anna in the tiny kitchen, snaking his arms around her waist and kissing her neck, Anna turned to face him, taking his face in her hand and pulling him towards her. He lifted her up softly to place her on the kitchen counter as she pulled his shirt off,

"Welcome home baby," he huffed as his hands wandered on her naked back, and she moaned softly. The pair christened their kitchen quickly, and as they laid laughing on the cold tile floor, Davis felt a sense of peace wash over him - this, this little two bedroom apartment with his two favorite girls, this was his heaven.

The Scott Household, following the Beach

Lydia tiptoed into her house, hoping to get to her room and unpack before she faced a barrage of questions from her parents, which she knew was inevitable. She made it all the way to her bedroom door when the house phone rang, and she heard her mom answer,

"Hello?" Haley answered, surprised to get a call this late at night,

"Did Lydia tell you?" Brooke's hushed voice came over the line and Haley's heart sunk,

"She just got home," Haley replied, "tell me what exactly?"

"Jude just walked in the front door with a ring on," Brooke replied,

"Like a promise ring?" Haley asked, super confused about the conversation she was currently involved in, their kids were barely 18 and had gone on a beach vacation, nothing that bad could have happened,

"No like a legally married in the state of North Carolina as of a week ago ring," Brooke answered and Haley's stomach flipped,

"Let me go talk to Lydia, I'll call you right back," Haley hung up and hurried to her daughter's room,

"Lydia Scott, I just had a very interesting conversation with Aunt Brooke," Haley started, and then stopped when her daughter turned to face her, a small but sparkling diamond on her left hand,

"Lydia Baker." Lydia said quietly, figuring her mom knew exactly what her and Jude had gotten into over the past week,

"Are you serious Lydia?" Haley snapped back and Lydia bit her lip and nodded,

"We stopped on our way down to the beach," Lydia stared at her feet, "it was kind of a spur of the moment thing I'm sorry Mom."

"Are you pregnant is that why you got married?" Haley bided, and Lydia deep sighed,

"I wish people would stop insinuating that, you literally were with me when I got my IUD," Lydia sat on her bed, "I just wanted to marry Jude I don't see what the problem is, it's my life, I am a legal adult I can do what I want."