"Whoa daddy can fly." Jamie exclaimed after they watched Nathan play slamball. Claudia grinned at her husband who was walking towards them. 

"Yes he can. Oh I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see you playing again." Claudia confessed as Nathan hugged her. 

"Thanks baby. You know it'd really make me happy to see you play again. You haven't been in the studio in a while." Nathan replied as he hugged his kids. 

"I haven't had the chance to even think about music." Claudia confessed laughing a little. 

"Well the deal was we both go after our dreams remember?" Nathan asked and Claudia sighed in defeat. Grace tugged on her Claudia's long dress. 

"Yeah mama. I like when you sing." Grace grinned and Jamie nodded his head in agreement. Claudia raised her eyebrow at Nathan.

"Oh you do huh? Well um, let's think." Claudia smirked as she thought of what to sing. "What you want baby, I got it. What you need do you know I got it all I'm askin' is for a little respect when you get home." Claudia sang slowly and her children just loved it. "

"I'll see you." Nathan smiled before he kissed Claudia.

"Okay bye." Claudia smirked over at  husband.

"See you buddy. Bye Princess." Nathan grinned to his children who hugged him tightly. 

"R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Find out what it means to me. R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Take care, TCB." Claudia sang as her and her kids walked out of the gym. Grace and Jamie started to join in and they all sang together. Nathan watched them leave laughing. 

___

"Haiku is a Japanese poem which consists of three lines of five seven and five syllables respectively. A good example of this would be ..." Claudia taught to her class, just as an angry Brooke walked in. She marched up to Sam and placed her hand out, Sam awkwardly gave Brooke's lost items to her. Brooke smirked to Claudia before she walked out of the classroom. "My friend Brooke Davis, Blowing through my class like wind, Sam in trouble no?" Claudia teased in Haiku style. Everyone laughed- except Sam. 

___

Claudia was sitting at her desk as Brooke leaned across her on one, they were both in Claudia's classroom.

"I'm sorry I disrupted your class." Brooke admitted and Claudia shook her head.

"It's okay. I turned you into a haiku." Claudia replied and Brooke didn't know what that was.

"Gesundheit." Brooke said and Claudia laughed a little.

"It's a type of poem." Claudia added and Brooke nodded her head. "I take it things aren't going very well between you and Sam." Claudia sighed. 

"She stole my I.D. last night and snuck out. When you asked me to take her, I thought I'd be getting little orphan Annie. Instead of singing and dancing. I have stealing and disappearing." Brooke explained infuriated and Claudia felt like some of it was her fault, however, she knew that Sam needed this.

"Do you want me to talk to her?" Claudia offered but Brooke shook her head.

"No. no I'll handle it." Brooke stated and Claudia nodded her head. "How do I handle it?" Brooke asked needing help and who better than the teacher.

"You got to talk to her tonight and lay down some ground rules. She needs structure. She's actually a really bright kid." Claudia instructed sternly, she knew how to deal with kids with situations like Sam's. 

"Fine. For you I will try. I just ... I need her to try too you know? Even if it's just a little." Brooke explained and Claudia nodded her head.  

"I think that's totally fair." Claudia smiled and Brooke nodded her head. 

"Good. I'll let you know how it goes." Brooke replied and Claudia grinned like the Cheshire Cat.

"Thank you Brooke." She smiled gratefully, because Claudia was. Brooke was doing something magical in it's own way.

"Yeah thank me if I don't kill her by tomorrow." Brooke teased before she walked out of the classroom and Claudia laughed a little. She left her classroom and walked down the halls nostalgically, she ended up in the library. She walked to the corner at the back, there was some markings. On their first day of Freshman year Claudia and Haley both carved their names into the wood. Claudia traced her finger across it.

"I miss you Hales." She whispered to herself, Claudia was missing her best friend so much right now. Luckily, she will be back soon. 

___

"Baby, baby, baby. Tell me, do you really love me? Baby, baby, baby. Will you always be there for me?" The busker sang as Claudia walked past her. She blushed with embarrassment as that was her song. "I love your music." She complimented.

"Thank you." Claudia smiled. 

"Your album is one of my favorites." She added and Claudia looked at the busker, it was so overwhelming and humble to have people speaking to her. She thought everyone forgot about Claudia Scott after she practically died after her album.

"Oh Thanks." Claudia replied grinning. 

"I even have a slot reserved in my CD case for your next record. There is gonna be a next record right?" The busker asked and Claudia paused for a moment. 

"Don't tell anyone, but there is one in the making." Claudia smirked and the busker grinned. 

"That's great, your voice is incredible. It's just so soulful." The busker gushed and Claudia nodded her head.

"I love singing soulful, I was once quoted as 'a white girl who can sing like a black Janice Joplin." Claudia laughed a little, as did the busker. "You voice was really good too, any chance you have a CD I can buy?" Claudia asked honestly interested. 

"No no. I ... I just do this for fun. But it must be amazing to sing for a living." The busker confessed and Claudia nodded her head.

"It used to be. So much has been going on lately music doesn't seem to matter much." Claudia answered honestly. 

"That's too bad because it matters to a lot of other people." The busker replied and Claudia nodded her head.

"Well it looks like your music matters a lot too. You don't want to keep your fans waiting." Claudia grinned happily and she looked at all the people waiting patiently. 

"Neither do you." The busker teased before she started to play Claudia's song 'Baby Baby Baby'. Claudia walked away smiling to herself. 

___

"Hey buddy." Nathan smiled as him and Claudia walked into where Jamie was sitting playing the XBOX. "Your mom and I would like to talk to you for a second. Think you could pause that game?" Jamie asked as they both took a seat on the couch, Jamie was in the middle. 

"Not if I'm in trouble." Jamie replied and Claudia smiled a little, Nathan did the same too. 

"You're not in trouble. We just heard you got in a fight at school today." Nathan explained and Jamie looked at the ground sad. 

"A kid grabbed my cape. He wouldn't let go of it. He said it was stupid." Jamie replied down and Claudia felt bad for him. 

"Sounds like that kid is stupid. I mean a man should know never to grab another man's cape." Nathan replied seriously and Claudia shook her head. 

"Nathan." She hissed and Nathan stopped speaking. "Your cape kiddo is not stupid okay? When I was younger I had a crocheted bag, that everybody else said was really ugly but I really liked it so I kept using it." Claudia explained and Nathan smiled a little as he thought about the bag. "And that's what you should do. If you like your cape you should just wear it whenever you want and ignore what everybody else says." Claudia added honestly. 

"Well what if he keeps picking on me?" Jamie asked. 

"Oh well I can teach you how to deal with bullies." Nathan replied and Claudia shook her head again. 

"And what your father means by that is if somebody's picking on you. You should just walk away. Right honey?" Claudia asked pointedly and Nathan nodded his head in agreement. 

"Yes. Yes she's right." Nathan agreed truthfully. 

"But I want to be tough like daddy." Jamie added. 

"Why? If you can learn to walk away. You'll be tougher than I ever was." Nathan replied honestly.

"Momma, can you cheer Jamie up?" Grace asked as she walked into the living room and sat on Nathan's knee. She overheard the whole conversation. Claudia didn't know what to do or say. "You never speak about England." Grace added and Claudia nodded her head.

"Well what you want to know?" Claudia asked, she was intrigued with her children.

"Do you speak another language?" Jamie asked and Claudia was confused, she thought they would know she spoke english.

"We speak England in Britain." Claudia laughed alongside everyone else.

"Yeah, but you say words that none of us know." Grace replied and Claudia nodded her head. "Like knackered, is that right?" Grace asked trying to say the word.

"Knackered, means tired." Claudia replied and the Americans looked at each other before nodding there heads. It was now Nathan's turned to join in. 

"You always say gutted, what does it actually mean?" Nathan asked, he had known Claudia for seven years and still didn't know what gutted meant.

"It means sad or disappointed." Claudia replied and they all, again, nodded their heads. "Like, I am gutted that still nobody has fed Chester." Claudia smirked pointedly and her children sighed. 

"Let's go Jamie." Grace sighed as she took Jamie's hand and walked off. Claudia then had an idea.

"Grace can I ask you a question?" Claudia asked and Grace nodded her head as Jamie walked up to the bedroom. Claudia placed Grace on her knee. "What's Chuck like?" Claudia asked, Grace would tell her.

"He's my boyfriend, we are in love." Grace smiled and Nathan looked shocked. Claudia had to hold in her laughter. 

"Boyfriend?" Nathan asked and Claudia covered her mouth. Grace nodded her head like it was nothing. 

"Yeah, he asked me out a couple of days ago." Grace shrugged and Claudia just nodded her head. "I better go feed Chester." Grace added before she got up and left. Claudia turned to Nathan who was still in shock and laughed so much. 

"This isn't funny." Nathan stated seriously and Claudia still couldn't stop laughing. "I told her she couldn't date till she was at least forty." Nathan exclaimed and Claudia laughed so more. 

___

"What happened to walking away?" Nathan asked as he looked at Claudia who was leaning on the counter in the kitchen. 

"I know but you didn't see her. She was such a bitch." Claudia groaned with annoyance as she looked straight ahead. 

"Sounds like you made that pretty clear." Nathan replied and Claudia sighed as she turned to face Nathan.

"Jamie's been through so much lately the last thing he needs is some bully picking on him." Claudia explained as she leaned on the counter.  

"He'll be fine. He's a tough kid. But you know what? I'll take care of it. In the meantime just try not to kill anybody okay slugger?" Nathan asked jokingly and Claudia sighed a little. 

"What are you gonna do?" Claudia asked a little intrigued. 

"I'm gonna call his mom a bitch and then push her." Nathan answered and Claudia smiled a little as she sighed. "Oh that's right. You already did that didn't you?" Nathan smirked jokingly and Claudia fake laughed. "Look I don't know what I'm gonna do okay? But I'll take care of it. I'll think of something." Nathan finished comfortingly as he walked up to his wife. 

"I'm sorry." Claudia pouted. 

"Oh are you kidding me?" Nathan asked and Claudia looked up into his eyes. "My girl is a badass. That's hot." Nathan smirked before him and Claudia kissed. 

___

"So Nathan told me about the capes. You are officially the world's greatest godmother and you've totally made Jamie's year. Thank you so much Brooke." Claudia thanked Brooke, if it wasn't for her then they wouldn't have had capes for the kids. 

"At least I made one kid happy today." Brooke replied gloomy and Claudia thought it had something to do with Sam. 

"What happened?" Claudia asked concerned. 

"I was gonna talk to Sam last night like you said. And she never showed. And I just told her I can't help her anymore. I'm sorry Claudia." Brooke answered sympathetically and Claudia felt bad. She needed Sam to be looked after.

"No no. I should not have forced her on you. I just thought... If anyone could handle her you could Because you were a lot like her and you got past it. I thought she could too if somebody gave her a chance." Claudia replied, she felt so bad Sam needed someone. 

"Well I guess I'm not strong enough." Brooke sighed and Claudia shook her head. 

"Brooke you ... you're the strongest person I know. You just gave up a multimillion dollar corporation and you seem fine about it. I wish I had your strength." Claudia admitted honestly, it was all true as well. 

"My strength?" Brooke sighed. "Claudia you gave up your singing career to be with Nathan who was at least as screwed up as me or Sam when you got a hold of him. And now he's the best guy I know. Look it was scary. I was scared to death to give up the company. But it wasn't fun anymore. And now I get to do what I fell in love with design clothes on my terms." Brooke explained and Claudia nodded her head.

"Yeah. that sounds familiar." She added. "I met a girl who sings on the street every day for fun. It's amazing. She seems so happy. Music used to be like that for me and it's just not anymore. Now it's a job, I had to record new records, they wanted me to win another BRIT or more and I couldn't do it." Claudia explained and she missed music, a lot. But she knew her family came first, however, she was tempted to see the busker again. 

"Well then you need to make it fun again. Find what you loved about it and start there. You're too strong not to." Brooke replied and Claudia nodded her head. 

"I will think about it." Claudia smirked and Brooke smiled back at her. "You're definitely done with Sam?" Claudia asked and Brooke was still smiling.

"I'll think about it." She answered coping Claudia. Claudia knew that Brooke was not going to let go of Sam just yet. 

___

"And then daddy jumped feet and dunked the ball. I was the most popular kid in school. I even got six girls' digits like uncle skills taught me." Jamie explained excitably as him and Grace sat on their beds. Claudia smiled at them. 

"Really? Uncle skills? Well I'll be having a conversation with Uncle Skills." Claudia smirked, Nathan was watching them the whole time. 

"Get used to being popular. You're a Scott boy." Nathan said over to Jamie, then he looked at Grace. "Sorry Gracie-May, Scott girls are nerds" Nathan joked and Claudia rolled her eyes. 

"We were not. Scott girls are cool." Claudia laughed as she gently shoved Nathan. 

"Momma why don't you use your bag anymore?" Grace asked as she tucked herself into bed. 

"I think one day I just outgrew it." Claudia answered honestly, the bag was actually in the bottom of her closet. "Good night buddies." Claudia smiled at her children before she kissed them goodnight.  "Good night." Claudia whispered to Nathan before she left the room. She walked into her bedroom and bent down at her closet. She saw her crochet bag in the back, she pulled it from the back and looked at it. 

___

"What you did for Jamie was amazing." Claudia confessed as she hugged Nathan on the couch. 

"I didn't do that for Jamie. I did that for Chuck's mom. I was afraid you were gonna kill her." Nathan joked and Claudia laughed. 

"Well, you saved the day for everyone like a big old superhero. You don't need a sidekick do you?" Claudia asked smirking and Nathan raised his eyebrow. 

"A sidekick?" Nathan stated and Claudia bit her lower lip. "No." He sighed and Claudia pouted. "No I think tomorrow I'll go back to being mild-mannered slamball player Nathan Scott." Nathan explained. 

"I wouldn't call you mild-mannered." Claudia replied and Nathan hugged her closer to him.

"What about you? What are you doing tomorrow?" Nathan asked intrigued and Claudia grinned. 

"I think I'm in the mood to do some singing." Claudia replied and Nathan was so happy that Claudia was back singing.

"It's about time." Nathan replied happily and Claudia nodded her head. She wanted another album out there. 

"Yeah, I mean the album is so close to being done. But, theres this girl I met yesterday who was singing on the street. I think I am going to join her." Claudia explained as she smiled to herself.

"That's my girl." Nathan replied back and Claudia grinned up at him. 

___

Claudia was walking down the street where she last so the amazing Busker. The busker saw that Claudia was coming her way. 

"Hey! Tell me you're on your way to the studio to make your new record." She smirked and Claudia smirked back.

"Uh actually I was thinking about doing singing for fun today. What do you think? You up for a duet?" Claudia asked and the busker's face lit up.

"Are you kidding? I would be honored. Singing with a BRIT winner." The busker grinned and Claudia felt so humble in that moment. 

"Great. What do you want to play?" Claudia asked as she stood beside her. She thought for a moment before replying. 

"Uh how about this one?" The busker replied before she started to play on her guitar, Claudia then joined in. It was just perfect their music. 

https://youtu.be/-jvOLUqmxKA

+++

Hello, Bonjour, Hola, Hallo, Olà, Namaste...

Thanks for all of your questions that you messaged me, if anyone has anymore you can still message me before I upload the Q&A. 

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter and the bit I added in. If you are wanting more of that please please comment! Also I will be uploading a own chapter soon, so excited for that. I was thinking about doing another flashback chapter- please comment ideas. A lot of people have said that they like these kind of chapters. I could do a chapter of Claudia writing a letter to Nathan while he is away at High Flyers? Or when Claudia and Nathan when Claudia comes back from tour? Or a chapter of Nathan and Claudia, when Carrie kisses Nathan? Just please tell me ideas. 

Thank you all for your support, 

Mrs N O'Brien