Destiny's Way

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Twenty-six: A Touch of Normality

Over two months had passed since Will had entered into their lives and Lucas had watched his mother die and suddenly become responsible for his baby sister. Now, he was responsible for three kids, not to mention a nephew and his sister's unborn child.

Which wasn't exactly true. Susan and Nathan were perfectly capable of taking care of their kids, but Lucas was starting to worry about what would happen if something happened to them. And he wasn't talking about demonically. Demon trouble he could handle, but if the worst should happen and he had to assume responsibility for all of the kids. Could he handle it?

Susan was growing bigger by the day—though no one dared mentioned this to her face—and at seven months pregnant, she was already preparing the nursery for her new bundle of joy. Thankfully, since the last incident, demon activity had been light.

"It's a good time to get ahead," Susan had remarked as she had cleaned out her closet, converting it into a nursery for her baby. Shawn had moved into the manor, which was starting to feel overcrowded slightly, but considering the amount of room that was left, the house could use a few more occupants.

Lucas had originally worried about his mom's café and it being destroyed because there was no one to take care of it. His mother's beloved café and her nineteen-year-old business. However, Susan and Deb managed to smooth over those worries by taking it over and managing it just as well as his mother had. It helped that his mother had taken Susan on as a sort of apprentice and taught her all of her recipes, something that both of them had enjoyed. He hadn't minded the two of them spending time together, but now that he thought about it, he wished that he'd spent a little bit more time with them. All of that time that he'd spent with Brooke or the twins or at the newspaper or at school could've been with his mom. And now that was something he'd never get back.

Both his brother and sister had been great ever since his mom died. Susan had practically yanked him out of bed when he insisted he wasn't going to get out of bed, just spend it sleeping.

"Staying in bed isn't going to help matters much," she told him as she held the blankets out of reach. Lucas tried to use his telekinesis to yank them back, but she had managed to retain a good grip on them.

Nathan had helped out by baby-sitting for the twins a lot when he needed some time alone or with Janie. He even listened when Lucas needed to talk. His little brother wasn't the greatest listener, but even he had kind of understood what he was going through.

Lucas was pulled from his thoughts as his wife waltzed through the kitchen, each of the twins on a hip. "Give me a hand here, will you?" Brooke said as she attempted to put both of them in the high chairs at the same time.

Trying very hard not to smile, Lucas stood up and walked over to her, hoisting Peyton into his arms before setting her into the chair. She squealed at her father, grinning wildly, as her aunt came into the room.

"Okay, we've got a problem," she said quickly, making way towards the pot of hot water on the stove.

"Family problems or demonic ones?" Lucas asked dryly, glancing up at her with an amused smile on his face. Her pregnancy had made her positively crazy. Or at least crazier. She was always a little nutty. But she was allowed her eccentricities.

"Family, of course," Susan said, making a face. "Look, I'm supposed to go talk to Will's principal this morning, because they called and said they needed to talk to me, but Deb just called and said that she can't come into the café this morning to cover for me."

"What about Haley?" Lucas asked, frowning. "Oh, wait—doesn't she have that Whitelighter thing to go to today?" Susan nodded. "Okay, forget Haley. Uh, Nathan . . . has class right now. Brooke . . ." He turned towards his wife.

"Has to meet with somebody, because they are interested in taking Clothes Over Bro's for a fashion line," Brooke finished up for him. "What about Shawn? Can't he cover?"

"Talk to your husband about it," Susan said, giving her brother the evil eye. "He's the one who insisted that my boyfriend not pick up any of the slack at the café or the club."

"I said I would prefer for him not to help out and that was only when he scared some customers away when he said that his favourite band was one that was from the forties." Lucas rolled his eyes when both women stared at him. "Is there any point in arguing this?"

"No," both of them said at the same time.

"I'll go talk to Shawn," Brooke said, rolling her eyes. "You go take care of Will, okay?" Without waiting for a response, she headed out of the room to go talk to their former Whitelighter.

Susan turned towards Lucas, her hands on her hips. "You know, Luke," she said sweetly, "things might be a little easier around her if you would let up holding this grudge against your future brother-in-law." He hated the way that she emphasised the words.

"Can I help it if I don't want anything to happen to you?" he asked. Susan smiled dryly. "I just don't want you to get hurt again, little sister. I mean, how long is this going to last? What if he gets made a Whitelighter again? He said he's only on probation."

Susan sighed. "Well, then, we'll deal with that when it happens. Trust me, Luke, nothing bad is going to happen."

"You realise that every time somebody says that, something usually always does?" Lucas asked. "Especially in this house. And especially with the Source still trying to kill us."

"He's not coming after us right now and our main problem is that my big brother will not give my boyfriend a break," Susan shot back. Lucas sighed. "Now, I have to go get Will and take him to school. Can you please try and make an attempt to settle things with Shawn by the time I get back?"

Lucas shook his head, defeated. "Fine," he said, suppressing a sigh. "I'll try. But it's for you, not for me, all right?"

Standing up, he was almost out of the room when Susan said, "Lucas Eugene Scott." He stopped and turned around. She was smiling. "Thanks for caring," she said gently.

Smiling at his little sister, Lucas said, "You're welcome." Climbing the stairs, he headed for his and Brooke's room to help her with the kids.

--

"Are you sure that you don't know what this is all about?" Susan asked her brother for the millionth time as she walked into the junior high with him. The last time that she'd been in this school was when she had enrolled him at the school. "You haven't done anything, have you?"

Will flashed her his famous "who, me?" smile and shook his head. "I swear that I don't know, Sue. He probably just wants to make sure everything is okay at home and all, considering the situation."

Susan sighed. "Only in Tree Hill."

"You can say that again." Will shook his head. "So, what's going on with Lucas, anyway?" She gave him an inquiring look. "I heard you guys arguing in the kitchen this morning."

"It's nothing," Susan sighed. Will raised his eyebrows. "That I cannot handle. He's just being the overprotective big brother."

"Yeah, I got me an overprotective big sister at home," Will drawled, wiggling one of his eyebrows. Susan couldn't help giggling slightly. She still wondered how he'd done that as they headed into the building.

"You sure that you don't want me to come with you?" Will asked her, frowning. "That principal is a real piece of work."

"Will, if I can handle demons, I can handle your principal. Now scoot, get yourself to class," Susan ordered, giving him a stern look. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. It's you that you need to worry about. Don't you have a test first thing?"

"Yeah," Will moaned.

"So go and get in some study time." Will made a face as she shooed him away. She sighed as he walked away, a girl hurrying up to him and talking to her younger brother.

A smile tugged on her face as she watched the two of them. It was nice to see him interacting with someone outside of family. She rarely heard Will talk about any friends at school since he'd moved here. She worried about it, despite the fact that she hadn't had many friends before she moved here, but she supposed that things just took time. Friendships couldn't be built in a day, after all.

Walking into the junior high office, Susan waited patiently for the secretary to finish up with a student before turning her attention to her. "Hi, my name is Susan Dawson-Scott. The principal called me yesterday and said he wanted to talk to me about my brother."

"What's your brother's name?" The secretary reached for a couple of files that were lying on the desk.

"Will Forester." Susan didn't miss the recognition that crossed the secretary's face and the loud sigh that emitted from her. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

"You'll have to talk to Mr. Thomas about it, Mrs. Scott," the secretary replied, casting a glance over Susan.

Irritation flew through her. Why did everyone insist on calling her by her father's surname only?

"It's Dawson-Scott," Susan replied, trying to keep a rein on her temper. "And it's miss, not missus."

The secretary was unabashed, however, and didn't bother apologising for the use of the wrong name. "My mistake," she said calmly. "Take a seat, Miss Scott. When Mr. Thomas is finished with the student that's in there, he'll speak with you."

Annoyance filled through her as she walked over to the chairs. "It's Dawson-Scott," she grumbled, rubbing her swollen stomach carefully as she felt her son give a vigorous kick, directly to her kidneys. "Oh, jeez. I swear, this kid is going to be a soccer player."

"And here I thought that the Scott kids would all end up in my gym," a familiar voice spoke up. Susan looked up and instantly grinned when she saw who was standing next to her.

"Coach Durham!" she said, greeting the old man with a hug. Whitey hugged her back. "How have you been? I thought you retired."

"I did," Whitey agreed as he helped her sit down and took the seat next to her. "Of course, that didn't keep me too satisfied for long. Thought that I might get another coaching job. Turner was going to recommend me to a school not to far away from here, but I had to track him down. His kid got into a heap of trouble a few days ago, thought I might be able to help out."

"You're gonna teach another high school?" Susan asked, frowning. She hadn't thought that he'd get another coaching position at another school.

Whitey shook his head. "Nope. College," he corrected. "About two hours from here. The gym's terrible, nobody comes to the games, and they haven't had a winning basketball season in twenty years." He grinned. "Perfect opportunity for a fool who won the state championship a year ago."

Susan chuckled, remembering the basketball tournament that her brothers had won last year. It had been after Anderson had been vanquished and demon activity had been light. She hadn't remembered when she'd had such a good time with her family. It had been the first time in a long while that she'd enjoyed herself.

"So, what are you doing here?" Whitey inquired. "Little early to be enrolling the new one in the school, isn't it?" He was grinning. "Aren't your niece and nephews only about a year old now? And that little cousin of yours is about the same, isn't she?"

"Yeah, I guess you haven't heard the latest scandal of Tree Hill, huh?" Susan asked him. Whitey raised his eyebrows. "I've got another brother, but this time it was by my mom. He's twelve years old and the principal called and asked me to come in."

"Your mom had another kid?" Whitey frowned. "Well, what about his dad? Where's he at?"

Susan smiled faintly. "Well, Will isn't just my brother, Coach. He's also my cousin."

It didn't take Whitey long to figure out what she meant by that. "Keith's kid?" he asked softly. Susan nodded just as Principal Turner headed out, followed by a kid that looked like he could be his son.

"Miss Dawson-Scott?" a voice asked and Susan glanced around towards the man that had spoken. "I've been expecting you. Come on into my office."

Without waiting for her to follow, he turned and headed into the office that he'd just come out of. Susan sighed and looked towards Whitey. "I'd better go get this over with," she said, standing up. "But it was really nice to see you again, Coach."

"Nice to see you, too, Susan," Whitey said with a smile. "And if you ever need anybody to talk to about your family and stuff, stop on by."

"I will," Susan said as she walked back into Principal Thomas's office.