What Lies Ahead

Both boys decided to get a jump start on the day, and quickly call the girls over. Their plan to have an all weekend fuckfest to celebrate their engagement, was shot to hell. Then again, Tim always had a way of ruining things. They both knew he would continue to pester Nathan into letting him crash for a while, and like the brothers agreed, it just wasn't happening.

"Did you call them?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah, they'll be over in a few minutes." Nathan replied while he helped Lucas clean the apartment.

"So I've been thinking."

"Yeah?"

"About our wedding."

Nathan instantly smiled at the thought.

"What about it?"

"How soon do you want to do get married?"

Nathan stared at his brother, "To be honest, I'm not sure. I know I don't want to do it in the middle of the school year."

"Yeah. Me too. So...during summer vacation then?"

"Works for me."

"But..."

Nathan got worried, "But what?"

"I think it would be smart not to get anywhere near married in Tree Hill."

Nathan laughed in relief, "No arguements here."

Both of them finished the cleaning and sat down on the couch discussing further details of their wedding. Both wanted to go somewhere where no one knew they were related. Also, that eloping was the best way to go, and to have the ceremony on the beach. They figured that the least they had to spend, the better. Plus, they had no desire to wear tuxes. Their conversation was interupted, however, by the knocking at the door.

Thinking it was the girls, Nathan immediately opened the door.

"Hey, come on..." Nathan's greeting was cut short however due to the sight before him. To his great dismay, it wasn't the girls as expected. It was Tim. And he was surrounded by overnight bags. Thinking quickly, Nathan blocked Tim from barging in the apartment.

"Tim, what the fuck are you doing here?!" Nathan asked harshly.

"I told you, I need a place to crash." Tim said, who apparently thought nothing of Nathan's tone, while trying to gain entry.

"And I told you no!"

"Come on. I'll sleep on the couch. It'll be great. Just imagine when everyone finds out we're living together, everyone will wanna' come over all the time."

Nathan was baffled at the boy's stupidity, "Did you not remember our conversation last night?"

"Yeah. You were joking with me right?"

'You stupid mother fucker' Nathan thought. In fact he was about to voice his thoughts, but Lucas called out, "Hey Nate, who's at the door?"

Nathan looked away from Tim long enough to show Lucas who it was. Unfortunately, Tim took it as an invitation to enter, and pushed his way through with his things.

"What the hell is he doing here?" Tim yelled.

"I can ask you the same thing!" Lucas yelled back.

"Nathan's letting his best friend crash here."

"NO HE'S NOT!!!" Lucas shouted.

"It's not you decision if I can or can't be here." Tim said smugly, thinking Nathan would back him up.

"Actually...it is." Nathan spoke.

"What?" Tim was confused, as usual.

"Lucas is my roomate. He pays half the rent, half the bills, half the groceries, half of everything. His name is on the lease next to my own." Nathan explained as hewalked over to Tim's stuff and started tossing them outside, "I want him here, and he's staying here." Nathan looked Tim dead in the eye, "And he's right...you're not crashing here." He finished as he tossed the last of Tim's things.

"What? You're choosing him over you're best friend? I thought you hated him?"

"Tim, you've been gon for quite a while. In fact, Lucas and I became good friends before you were sent away, you knew that."

"I though it was all some huge joke you were playing on him."

"It wasn't." Lucas piped in.

"So you're turning down partying every night for this loser?" Tim pointed to Lucas.

Nathan gave his older brother a pointed look, then advanced on Tim. Lucas saw what Nathan was going to do, and decided to lend a helping hand. Both of them grabbed Tim by the arms and forced him out of their home, and quickly closed and locked the door.

"Come on Nate, how can you pick you're bastard brother over me?" Tim asked as he started pounding on the door, too dense to see he was tredding dangerous territory with his scathing remark.

Nathan was seeing red the moment those words left the dipshit's mouth. Nobody called Lucas a bastard. He was about to completely tear Tim a brand new asshole, when he felt Lucas straddle him in an effort to keep him in place. Lucas sensed danger the moment Tim made the mistake to uttered 'bastard', and knew Nathan would fly into a fit of rage. He put as much weight on his baby brother as possible to keep Nathan at bay. Although he loved seeing Nathan being very protective of him, he did not wish his future husband to be convicted of murder.

"Nathan, you need to calm down." Lucas whispered in Nathan's ear to try to soothe him.

"But..."

"Calm down." Lucas interupted softy. He was trying to coax his brother's anger down, but Tim's constant whining and pounding at the door wasn't helping, so he tried one last attempt to get Tim to leave.

"TIM, I SWEAR TO GOD! IF YOU DO NOT LEAVE IMMEDIATELY, I'M CALLING THE COPS!" Lucas yelled.

All whining and pounding instantly stopped. Lucas and Nathan sat there motionless for a few minutes, waiting to see if Tim would stupidly continue his efforts. Bot boys were about to breathe a sign of relief, when another knock came from the door.

"FUCK!" Lucas exclaimed as he darted to the door, a fist raised in the air, ready to throttle Tim. When he tore the door open, he was suprised to see no trace of Tim, instead he saw Haley, Peyton and even Brooke at the door. Lucas quickly lowered his fist.

"Sorry." He muttered as he ushered the girls inside, who were giving Lucas strange looks.

"What was that all about?" Peyton asked.

Lucas didn't say anything as a shut the door, and sat down next to Nathan. The girls tooka seat and wondered why the boys were both looking frustrated.

"What's wrong with you guys?" Haley questioned.

"Tim." The both answered in unison.

That one word uttered, and instantly the girls understood. Patience was non-existent whenever Tim was involved.

"You have got to be kidding me. He's back? I thought him being sent away was a permanent deal?" Brooke asked.

"We thought so too, but apparently not." Nathan answered.

"What did he do now?"

"Last night I get a call from him, saying he wants to meet me at the rivercourt. Keep in mind that it was three in the fucking morning, so I'm pissed right off the bat. So I get down there and he starts telling me how his parents won't let him back into the house and he needed a place to stay. He said that he tried everyone else, but they all turned him down."

"Gee, I wonder why." Peytin said sarcastically.

"Yeah, so anyway...he was hoping he could crash here for a while."

"Did he give the specifics of how long?" Haley asked.

"He said a couple of months. And you know, a couple of months will turn into forever with Tim. I told him flat out no, then left."

"Yeah. And get this...he showed up a couple of minutes ago with all his stuff trying again to convince Nate to let him stay here." Lucas finished.

"Hence the hostility you greeted us when we arrived, and the annoyed looks on your faces." Haley retorted.

"Yep." Lucas and Nathan said.

"We need your guys' help to get rid of him."

Peyton suddenly laughed.

"What?" Nathan asked.

"It's just funny. I'm getting a sense of de'ja' vu all over again." She continued to laugh.

"I don't get it." Brooke spoke.

"Last year, Nathan and Lucas wanted our help in getting rid of Dan. They knew he would do absolutely anything within his power to destroy their relationship if he found out. Now, they're apparently going throught the same thing with Tim." Haley responded and Brooke nodded.

All five of them sat there in silence for a little bit, that is until Peyton caught a glance at Lucas and Nathan's rings.

"Oh my god!" Peyton shouted.

"What?" Everyone else said.

"You two said yes to each other." She said while pointing to their rings. She had completely forgotten about the boys' proposal. After all, Nathan was the one who told her when he wanted her to distract Lucas for the day. And Lucas told her that same day what his plans were for his anniversary. When Lucas told her his plan, they both went out to pick the right ring for Nathan.

Upon closer inspection, Peyton thought it was ironic that both boys were sporting the same exact engagement rings. The girls looked to where Peyton was pointing and saw the rings Lucas and Nathan wore on their left ring fingers.

"I don't get it." Brooke was clearly confused.

"We might as well tell them" Nathan turned to his fiancé smiling.

"Might as well." Lucas smiled back.

"Tell us what?" Haley asked.

"Yesterday, on our anniversary, we proposed to each other." Nathan stated.

"We're getting married." Lucas said.

"Oh my god!" Brooke shouted, "This is so great. I love weddings, and I've always wanted to plan one, but you guys are well...guys, so it'll be a bit of a challenge. But a challenge I'm willing to take on. We've got so much to discuss..."

"Brooke." Lucas attempted to stop her.

"...where you want to have the wedding..."

"Brooke." Nathan tried to get her attention.

"...flowers, tuxedos, guest lists..."

"BROOKE!!!" Lucas and Nathan yelled.

Brooke stopped in mid rant, "What?"

"Lucas and I have already discussed what we're basically doing for the wedding"

They saw the crestfallen look on her face and instantly felt bad.

"Look, you can help us with the plans we already have, if you'd like." Lucas offered.

"Okay." Brooke cheered up again.

"So before we discuss wedding plans, we need to take care of a certain persistant asshole." Nathan stated, getting everyone back on track.

- - - ooo - - -

The boys treated the girls to breakfast at Karen's cafe'. They were going over different options for dealing with Tim. Peyton suggested finding someone who matches Tim's personality and interests and see if they'll take him. Haley thought they could convince Tim to apply for a job and help him find a nice low-income apartment for him to stay in. Brooke came up with the idea of bribbing his parents into letting Tim back into their house.

While the girls were giving their ideas, Lucas spotted his mom. Even though she wasn't too thrilled with his relationship to his brother at first, he knew his mom was also pissed at the fact that they waited so long in telling her. This time Lucas wasn't going to make the same mistake twice. Lucas nudged Nathan and gestured towards his mom, and Nathan picked up immediately what Lucas wanted to do.

"Hey, you guys keep pitching ideas, Nate and I need to talk to my mom." Lucas said as he and Nathan got up and walked towards Karen.

"Hey mom."

"Hey Lucas...Nathan." She greeted them with a hug, "How did your anniversary go?"

"Actually, that's what we want to discuss with you. Can we talk to you in the back for a sec? Nate and I need to tell you something."

"Sure." Karen said as they followed her into the storage room.

"What did you need to tell me?"

"Well..." Lucas was unsure how to inform his mom that he's getting married to his brother, so instead of putting it into words, he showed her the ring he was wearing. Nathan showed his as well.

Karen just stared at them, "I don't understand what you're trying to tell me."

"Well...last night, Nate and I proposed to one another. We're getting married, mom"

Karen sat down on one of the numerous boxes that were around, and stared off into space, "My son is getting married." She whispered to herself. Karen always thought her son would marry a nice girl. For a while, she thought that girl would be Haley, since the both of them were inseperable. But as time went on, she realized they would be nothing but best friends. When Nathan came into the picture, she had the foresight to see that he and Lucas would eventually become close, being brothers and all. But never expected their brotherly relationship to evolve into a romantic one.

When she found out about the two of them, she was rightfully livid. Brothers shouldn't be in a relationship with each other. Karen could understand why he didn't say anything, but if she hadn't caught them on the roof, there was no way Lucas would have willingly admitted anything to her regarding his love life. For all she knew, she thought Lucas was interested in Brooke. She was even more furious to find out that not only did Haley and Peyton know about them...they helped push the two together, and she didn't waste any time giving the girls a piece of her mind.

As time went on, she finally accepted the fact that Nathan truely and deeply loved Lucas in every possible sense, with a little help from Keith. She saw their love from a new perspective, and witnessed how protective they were for each other. But never did she think that the boys would ever consider marriage.

"Mom?"

She snapped out of her thoughts, "Yeah?"

"What do you think?"

"I don't know Lucas? Are you sure this is what you want? What you both want?" She asked.

"Absolutely. We figured we wuld tell you now, instead of waiting six months like last time."

"How considerate." Karen laughed lightly.

Lucas stared at his mom for a second. He was about to speak, when Nathan cut him off, "How do you feel about all of this?"

"I honestly don't know. I didn't think your relationship would have come to this. Have you thought all this through?"

"We have an idea. But we wouldn't mind discussing a more in-depth plan with you. If you're interested." Lucas said.

"Sure. What have you got so far?" Karen asked.

"Lucas and I want to get married over summer vacation."

Karen was shocked, "Why so soon?"

"Don't know really. It's just something we both want." Lucas said.

"Okay," she continued, "Do you want to get married in Tree Hill?"

"No." Both boys answered.

"We want to do it away from prying eyes." Lucas spoke.

"On the beach." Pipped Nathan.

"And we decided not to wear tuxes for this. The less money we spend, the better."

Karen nodded, absorbing the information. She was somewhat surprised with their plan so far. The fact that the both of them are taking their financial status into account, shouldn't shock her, but it does. Ever since Lucas announced he was moving in with Nathan, she has made sure they were stable enought to support themselves. She would sneek Lucas a little extra money in his paycheck without his knowledge. Even after she found out about the true nature of his and Nathan's relationship, she still didn't stop.

Once every week, she calls either one of them to make sure all their bills are fully paid, and they have enough food in the apartment. Sometimes she drops by to see for herself how well established they are and always leaves pleased with how the handle living together. She was even pleasantly suprised to find out they have managed to accumulate a rather large amount in their savings.

Basically nothing will change, with the exception of the status of their relationship from dating to married. And she could clearly see her son is happier than he's ever been. So Karen did the only thing that came to mind, she got up and gave both brothers a hug.

"Congratulations." Karen smiled at them.

"Thanks mom."

"I should probably get back to work. We'll get together this weekend and discuss wedding plans. I'm sure the girls will find some way to get involved." Karen chuckled.

"They already have." Lucas and Nathan said in unison.

Karen laughed again as the boys followed her out of the storage room. She went back to work while the brothers rejoined the girls.

"How'd it go?" Haley asked.

"Pretty good. Nathan and I are going to meet with her this weekend to discuss 'it' in further details."

The girls instantly knew what 'it' was.

"Oh and she suspects you three will worm you you way into helping with the planning." Nathan said.

"Well she suspects correctly." Brooke spoke.

"So any new developements with the Tim situation?" Lucas asked.

"No, nothing we haven't already discussed." Peyton said.

"Don't worry...it'll all work out in the end." Nathan assured Lucas.

"I hope so.” Lucas sighed.

- - - 000 - - -