nathan's dream

"Hey, sweetie!" Deb Lee said to her son Nathan Lee when he walked inside of the bar she owned that night. Nathan smiled at his mom, as he walked up to the bar with different envelopes in his hand and he sat down.

"What's up, Mom? I got the mail; some, uh, bills, a letter from Uncle Cooper, and, uh... this." Nathan said, dropping a college application on the counter, and he knew it wasn't his. "Thinking about taking some classes?" He asked his mom.

"If they offer a course in making ends meet." She said.

"You ever regret it? Your folks cutting you off?" Nathan asked her, and she shook her head.

"Not for one second, Nate." She said, laying her hand down on top of her son's. "Otherwise, I wouldn't have you." She said, and the two of them smiled at each other. "Besides, money buys you nothing but misery." She said, picking up the mail that Nathan set down and sorting through it. "I mean... look at Dan, Karen, and Lucas."

"Well, you know, you could up the traffic in here by hiring some... hot girls to dance on the bar," Nathan said, and Deb rolled her eyes, while a man who was sitting at the bar, Otis, smirked and pointed at Nathan.

"Yeah, there you go." He said, and Nathan shrugged while he wore a smile on his face.

"Just saying."

"Speaking of hot girls..." Nathan looked up to see his best friend Brianna Davis walking inside the bar. Haley was already at work, and she was back in the kitchen. Brianna and Haley both work as dishwashers in the kitchen because they are not old enough to serve alcohol. "...Sorry I'm late. The school bus driver ran out of gas." Brianna said. [A/N: In certain states (if you're from America) you do have to be a certain age to serve alcohol as a waiter/waitress. In my state you have to be 19 to serve it and 21 to be an actual bartender]

"Where were you today?" Nathan asked her.

"I told you, Mr. Hirshfield took us to the planetarium. If you ever listened to me, maybe you would know that." Brianna teased and Nathan rolled his eyes.

"Okay, alright... I just can't believe you went out in public with that hat on." He said, and Brianna glared at Nathan as she took her hat off of her head, and she rolled her eyes while Haley laughed.

"Remind me why I'm friends with you again," Brianna said, and then the bell to the bar dinged and Brianna looked up to see her brother Beckham walking inside. He first stopped at Haley and gave her a quick kiss before walking to the bar and sitting next to Nathan.

"What's up, Nate." He said, and Brianna laughed as they did their handshake that all guys do all the time when they see each other.

"Nathan, this is from that basketball camp," Deb said when she looked at the High Flyers letter and opened it up.

"Yeah, I'm a finalist, it's no big deal," Nathan said nonchalantly as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Nate! Are you kidding? That's a huge deal." Beckham said, and Deb nodded her head.

"Yeah, as Beck said, it's a huge deal, honey. I'm really really proud of you." Deb praised her son and Nathan smiled at his mother.

"Yeah, me too!" Brianna said, and Nathan shifted his gaze over to her. "Congratulations. Well, we'll have to celebrate later. Right now... dirty dishes are beckoning." Brianna said, throwing a dish towel over her shoulder and she smiled at Nathan. "You rock, superstar... don't let it go to your head." She said before walking back to the kitchen and Nathan smiled as she left.

"You're so smitten with her." Beckham teased and Nathan rolled his eyes.

"Who the hell says smitten?" Nathan teased back and now Beckham was the one who rolled his eyes, and Nathan laughed.

"Beckham's right. You two are going to end up married someday." Deb said to her son and Nathan shook his head as he looked at his mother.

"Stop it! We've known each other forever; we're just friends." Nathan said.

"That's what they all say," Beckham said. And Deb laughed as she took a sip of the water in her cup, and she shrugged at her son.

"Good place to start." She said, and Nathan rolled his eyes.

"Keep dreaming."

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Nathan Scott and Brianna Davis now sat at the Street Market Docks and Nathan was telling her about how Brianna's sister, Brooke came and ambushed him in the shower. Although Nathan is friends with Brianna and Beckham Davis, he's never once had a conversation with Brooke before, and the only things he knew about her, were what got spread around school and things that Brianna and Beckham said about her.

"And she was totally naked?" Brianna asked, a slight snort escaping her lips because she could completely picture her sister doing this because she was pretty sure she did it to Lucas before he started dating their best friend Peyton. Brianna knows of Lucas, but she doesn't like him.

"As the day she was born," Nathan said, and Brianna groaned a little and shook her head. "Only a lot more... curvy," Nathan said, and Brianna laughed.

"Well, what happened then?" She asked.

"I got the hell outta there!" Nathan said, and the two of them started laughing.

"You and my sister, Brooke Davis. Captain of the 'CheerSults!' That is hard to picture." Brianna said, and Nathan raised an eyebrow as he laughed at her.

"Aren't you one of those cheer sluts? Wait... aren't you Co-Captain?" Nathan asked, and Brianna rolled her eyes, but they both started to laugh again.

"I'm just the cheer part... not the slut." She defended herself and Nathan laughed.

"But, I would definitely say hard is the right word," Nathan said, and Brianna rolled her eyes while smacking him on the arm as Nathan was looking inside the box of crackerjacks he had.

"You're disgusting." She said, and they laughed more as Nathan pulled out the purple bracelet from the crackerjack box that had small red, white, and a green flower charm on them.

"Okay, what's this?" He asked.

"Oh score, a bracelet. Last time I got some fake tattoo with a random number." Brianna said with a wide smile on her face.

"Well here," Nathan said, he grabbed Brianna's hand, slipped the bracelet around her hand, and pushed it down onto her wrist with a small smile on his face. "It matches that thing you call a shirt," Nathan said, and Brianna looked down at the poncho she was wearing and rolled her eyes.

"Brooke made this for me, and shut up!" She snapped, and Nathan laughed.

"You shut up."

"You shut up," Brianna repeated, and then she smacked Nathan on his hand which caused him to drop hers. She looked at the bracelet and pretended to show it off while Nathan chuckled, and pointed at his best friend.

"Don't say I never gave you anything."

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"As you see class, galaxies come in three main...-" The teacher droned on, but no one was really paying attention to what he was saying, and Nathan was telling Brianna how Whitey showed up to his house yesterday, telling him to beat Lucas in a game of basketball for the High Flyers spot, because he can only pick one of them to go.

"Of course, you're going to do it, you have to play this game!" Brianna said to him.

"Brianna... it's Lucas." Nathan said, and Brianna shook her head, to her that was an excuse for him to not do something that he knows he wants to do for the chance to get something that he knows he deserves.

"So, you can't let him stop you from chasing after your dream!" Brianna said.

Nathan sighed as he shook his head, to Brianna it seemed simple, but Nathan knew it was more complicated than that. "That's easy for you to say," Nathan said.

"Dude, nothing is ever going to happen for you if you don't put yourself out there." She said, and then she pointed to the slideshow that their teacher was showing of the galaxies. "You gotta shoot for the stars!" She teased, and they both started to laugh.

"What about you? What are your dreams?" Nathan asked her.

"Chocolate," Brianna replied instantly.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, chocolate," Brianna said with a small laugh, and then she noticed the serious look Nathan was giving her and she nodded her head. "Um, well... I've never told anyone this... but I kind of want to be a playwright." Brianna siad.

"A playwright?" Nathan repeated.

"Yeah, you know like... writing plays for local theatres and hopefully making my way up to writing musicals, maybe get my musical on Broadway." She said. Nathan turned away from his friend and he started to laugh which caused her to roll her eyes.

"Oh, you think that's funny?" Brianna asked.

"No... I just... Brianna. I've heard you play the piano." Nathan said, and Brianna rolled her eyes and slapped him on his bicep and Nathan laughed more.

"Shut up! Just because I'm a little musically challenged, doesn't mean I can't dream." She defended herself and Nathan chuckled.

"No, yeah... you're right. You're right. I guess it doesn't." Nathan said, and Brianna laughed. When Nathan looked at his best friend, he had a warm smile on his face as he looked at her, and then his mother's words were playing through his head again.

"You two are going to end up married someday."

After class, Brianna was approached by her best friend Peyton Sawyer, but she seemed nervous. "Hey, Bree... you're still a tutor right?" Peyton asked her.

"Hey P. Sawyer... you're still the jackasses girlfriend, right?" Brianna asked back with a small laugh, but Peyton rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Guess we're both right. Uh, look... I know you're friends with Lucas' brother." Peyton said, and Brianna sighed.

"Half brother... and his name is Nathan," Brianna said.

"Is he your boyfriend?" Peyton asked.

"Peyton... you would know if he was my boyfriend! Why does everyone always assume that? He's not into cheerleaders, and what am I? Co-Captain of the cheerleaders!" Brianna exclaimed, and Peyton looked at her best friend and grabbed her hands.

"Okay, B. Davis 2.0, retract the claws." She said, and Brianna let out a deep exhale and nodded her head. "Second; Lucas is planning on doing something to Nathan tonight, before the game," Peyton said, and Brianna raised an eyebrow.

"What is he gonna do?" Brianna asked.

"I don't have any specifics... but, he will do anything to get into that stupid basketball camp. So you might want to warn Nathan... I just thought you should know." Peyton said, and then she turned to walk away from her but Brianna called her back

"Hey, P. Sawyer!"

Peyton turned around and raised her eyebrows. "Yeah?"

"You deserve better than him. Don't allow yourself to be treated like that."

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When Brianna was in the kitchen of the bar, washing dishes, she waited around to see if she would hear Nathan's voice, and as soon as she did, she walked back from the kitchen and let out a breath of relief, because she had been calling him.

"Thank goodness! Where have you been and why aren't you answering your phone?" She asked him, and Nathan looked at his best friend and laughed a little.

"Right here, and I'm... recharging the batteries. Why, what's going on?" Nathan asked.

"Because... Lucas is going to try something tonight, okay?" Brianna said, and Nathan looked away from her for a second, before turning back and looking at his friend.

"Let him, I'm not scared of him," Nathan said, and Brianna sighed.

"How noble. Will you just be careful, please?" She said to him, and Nathan nodded his head when he saw the worry she held behind her eyes and knew this was serious.

"I'm going to be fine, alright? I promise."

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"Well, ladies and gentlemen, the game's looking like a forfeit, with Nathan Lee a no-show...-" But Brianna cut Mouth off, she knew Nathan wouldn't just show up, and she shook her head.

"...-Not so fast, Mouth." She said, and then Lucas Scott came walking past her, and she roughly grabbed his arm and jerked him back around. "What did you do!?" She snapped at him, letting go of his arm. Lucas chuckled and turned around to face the girl, slightly smirking as he looked her up and down.

"What? It's not my fault your boyfriend finally grew a brain." Lucas said, running his finger across her cheek and down her chin. "...Sweetie."

"Peyton said you were gonna try something, and I swear Lucas if he's hurt, I will personally come after you." Brianna snapped at him, Lucas laughed entertained by her threat, and then from the opposite direction of the two of them, Brianna heard a car, and when she looked over.

Peyton was pulling up. Nathan was in the passenger seat.

Brianna immediately walked away from Lucas and walked over to Nathan at the same time his mother did. "Are you alright?" She asked.

"Yeah," Nathan said, and kissed his mother on the cheek and then he looked at Brianna. "Hey." A small smile came onto her face, seeing that her best friend was alright, and she gently touched his arm and let out an exhale of relief.

"Hey."

Brianna walked over and greeted Peyton with a hug, thanking her for bringing Nathan to this game, and when Whitey called for the four-on-four, Nathan stopped and said it should just be him against Lucas because that's the way it has always seemed to be.

The game started, and both boys making really great shots. They were playing to 11, by ones, and Brianna could barely keep up because they scored one after another, until Nathan missed a shot, and Brianna cringed. She didn't want Nathan to lose this game.

He couldn't lose this game.

"So, rank my last two girlfriends and you'll have the score folks; it's ten-nine, Nathan Lee." Mouth said, and Brianna was happy about the announcement because she needed to know the score, she needed Nathan to be ahead. Nathan continued to guard Lucas with good defense down the court, and as Lucas went up for a shot.

He deliberately elbowed his half-brother in the face.

"Oh, and that's a foul by Scott." Nathan fell to the ground, and it took everything in Brianna to not run out to him, and punch Lucas in the face. "That's gotta hurt." The cheerleaders were here, Bevin, Brooke, and some of the squad to cheer for Lucas, and after an argument with her sister, Brianna told her that she refused to cheer for Lucas, so she wasn't going to.

Nathan spit out some blood before standing upright to address the crowd. "No foul, the basket counts." He said, and Lucas wore a smirk on his face as he nodded his head.

"And Lee calls it good! It's 10-10, game point. The next basket wins." Mouth announced, and Brianna felt like she couldn't watch this last point go down, but she did, and she watched as Nathan weaved around Lucas and dunked the ball to everyone's surprise earning him the final point, and the win of the game.

Lucas walked up to his younger half-brother, and he held his hand out for him to shake. "Good game. You deserve to go to that camp." Lucas said, Nathan took his brother's hand and shook it, although he was very confused.

"Thanks."

"You're gonna be okay, just... come back to us soon," Lucas said, gently bumping Nathan on the shoulder before walking off in the opposite direction. Nathan stared on confused, but his vision of Lucas was taken away when Brianna was now standing in front of him.

"They haven't invented the words for how much I love you." She said to him with a small smile on her face, and Nathan smiled back at her. "Doesn't look like I'll be needing this anymore." She said, and she grabbed Nathan's hand and held it out, before slipping the purple bracelet off of her wrist and putting it in the palm of his hand.

"Don't say I never gave you anything."

Brianna said with a wink before she too backed up and walked away from Nathan. With a frown on his face, Nathan looked down at his hand, and instead of seeing the purple bracelet, Brianna's wedding ring was now in his hand. He looked back up at the court and it was empty, everyone was gone and he was there, alone.

"Brianna!?" He called out for her. He looked back at the palm of his hand and her wedding ring was still resting there. "Brianna!? Brianna!?"

present

"Brianna!? Brianna!?"

Lucas Scott was woken up at the sounds of his brother shouting for his wife. He immediately stood out of the chair he was sitting in and he walked over to Nathan and gently shook him awake, realizing that he was dreaming.

"Hey, Nate?" Lucas said, and Nathan slowly opened his eyes, sighing when he saw that Brianna was still nowhere in sight. It had been a few months since she left and joined Broadway. She called Lucas once, she called Nathan and asked if he would watch an interview she was doing where Ethan made it seem like the two of them were together when they weren't.

Dan Scott stopped by and gave her a visit and gave her annulment papers that he said Nathan had already signed, but she couldn't bring herself to sign them. An annulment means it never happened, and she didn't want to erase her marriage to Nathan like it never happened.

"Hey it's me... don't worry. It's okay, it's me." Lucas said to him, and Nathan still remained silent and Lucas smiled. "Hey... welcome back, little brother. How are you feeling?" Lucas asked.

"Like I hit a brick wall," Nathan said. The boys went out to a race track with Nathan's Uncle Cooper who is a professional racer, Nathan crashed into the wall, Lucas needed to know if it was on purpose because on the track leading up to where Nathan crashed, there were no brake marks, indicating that Nathan didn't try and stop.

"Well, the doctor said you're going to be fine," Lucas said, and Nathan let out a heavy sigh and for a moment, Lucas said nothing. "You know, what was this anyway, huh? Some sort of messed up... anything Lucas can do, I can do better?" He asked, and Nathan shook his head.

"No... you wanna hear something really messed up though? I thought I died, and went to heaven." Nathan said, and Lucas slightly nodded his head.

"No kidding."

"Yeah. Only... heaven was a place where Dan chose your mom... over mine." Nathan said, and Lucas laughed a little shaking his head at the thought. Sometimes he thought about what their lives would've been like if Dan had stayed with his mother, but he was fine with the way his life turned out now.

"Brianna had no musicality at all, yet still wanted to write music," Nathan said, and Lucas nodded his head again. "But that was only a dream. I did kick your ass in one-on-one though." Nathan said, and they both laughed.

"Well, I guess it was a dream then, huh?" Lucas said, laughing, and when Nathan laughed again, he immediately stopped because of the pain that followed through. Lucas' smile faded from his lips as he tried to think about how to tell his brother the next thing.

"I know you... you asked me not to, but... I called Brianna." Lucas said, and he stayed silent as Nathan looked over and gave him a 'why would you do that' look. "She's your wife, Nate. And she loves you. She needed to know."

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Brianna Davis-Scott stood in the airport, ready to board her flight back to Tree Hill when she got Lucas' phone call, she was terrified, especially when he said that he wasn't waking up. She booked the first flight she could find back to Tree Hill and she would be back in a matter of hours, but then her phone started ringing, and in a rush to find her gate, she answered without knowing who was calling.

"Hello?"

"It's me, Nathan."

Relief washed over her when she heard her husband's voice and she stopped where she was standing and set her bag down, relieved that he was okay, that he was awake, and that he had called her. She had been panicking all day worrying that he wouldn't wake up.

"Thank goodness! What happened?" She asked.

"I'm going to be okay."

"Well, I'm glad. I'm coming home, tomorrow, okay?" Brianna said, she had a connecting flight, it was the fastest way back to Tree Hill and the cheapest she could find.

"Actually, no. It's not okay. Don't come home, Brianna." Brianna was shocked by his words, why wouldn't he want her to come home? After what happened, she had to come home.

"Nathan, I have to come home."

"No, you don't. You have to keep living your dream. You're on Broadway, Brianna. And I'm going to go after mine, because if we don't then... we're just going to end up regretting it... then we're going to end up resenting each other." He said, and although he couldn't see her, Brianna was shaking her head, she would never resent Nathan if she left the tour and came home right now.

"Nathan, I wouldn't...-" He cut her off.

"...-Yeah, but we don't know that. Nobody knows what's going to happen. Whatever choice you make today is going to affect the rest of your life. So, don't come home, Brianna." He said, and Brianna just wanted to say something, anything for him to not say those words to her.

"Nathan, listen...-" He cut in again.

"...-Because I don't want you to." The pain was stricken over both of their faces, pain that the other couldn't see. Nathan knew he wanted her to come home, but he also knew if she did, it wouldn't be a matter of her resenting him. He would be the one resenting her for leaving in the first place, and he didn't want to do that.

Brianna looked at her phone in shock as Nathan hung up, she had cried too many times before that her eyes were all dried up, and standing there in the middle of the airport, she didn't know what to do, it was almost time for her flight, but Nathan's words continued to ring in her head.

"Don't come home, Brianna. Because I don't want you to."

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ahhh, the next chapter will be the last one of season 2. 

don't forget to vote/comment. 

xoxo.