"Claudia?" Nathan called as he walked into the kitchen. Claudia was sitting on the counter reading a magazine. 

"In here!" She shouted back as she flipped through the pages. "There's coffee. We pretty much share this house 50/50, don't you think?" Claudia asked, she was reading Brooke's magazine and the article about couples moving in together.

"Yeah. Why?" Nathan asked and Claudia shook her head as she closed the magazine.

"Brooke's magazine." Claudia stated and Nathan nodded his head as he slowly walked over to the fridge. He looked like he was in pain, he had his first slamball match last night and he hurt himself. "Do I even want to ask?" Claudia sighed.

"I'm fine. Really, I'm fine." Nathan reassured but Claudia's eyes were fixtated on his massive bruises that were down his side. "What?" Nathan asked confused and Claudia gave him a sympathetic look

"Your body." Claudia whispered as she got off the counter and walked up beside Nathan. She gently touched his bruise and Nathan shuddered a little. "It hurts?" Claudia groaned as she looked up at Nathan.

"A little." Nathan lied and Claudia placed her hands on his bare chest. She raised an eyebrow at him. "Okay, it hurts. But it was one game, I will get better." Nathan explained and Claudia nodded her head unconvincingly before she hugged onto Nathan. 

"You better." She whispered seriously as she pulled out of the hug and looked into Nathan's brown eyes. "By the way never dance again." Claudia laughed and Nathan joined in. "Grace came down the stairs scarred for life." Claudia joked and Nathan rolled his eyes.

"I am a great dancer." He argued and Claudia shook her head.

"Stick to basketball, honey." Claudia smiled sweetly before she kissed Nathan. 

___

"I will take one unfinished wedding dress. That's all I want, and I'll pay top dollar for it." Claudia smiled as she walked into Brooke's store with her two kids.

"Well, I'll pay top dollar for one song off of an unfinished album." Brooke smirked back and Claudia pouted a little.

"I don't like this game anymore." Claudia groaned and Brooke nodded her head.

"Mm, I feel you." Brooke muttered upset.

"So, what's going on with baby Brooke?" Claudia asked intrigued, that was Brooke's new clothing line. She designed it when she was looking after baby Angie. Millicent decided to speak up.

"Victoria's lawyers say she owns it. Brooke's lawyers say Victoria's lawyers can baby Brooke themselves." Millicent replied serious and Claudia nodded her head.

"Have you thought about starting a new line, Brooke? You've done it before. You can do it again." Claudia suggested deadly serious. 

"I appreciate the vote of confidence, Claudia, but I'm just not feeling inspired lately." Brooke stated upset. Claudia knew how to make her feel better.

"Well, speaking of, Owen looked pretty hot last night. Didn't you think so, Millie?" Claudia asked smirking at Brooke.

"Totally. What did you think, Brooke?" Millicent asked and Brooke turned to face Sam who was riding her skateboard with the twins. 

"I think Sam is driving me crazy, wilding about like a feral cat! Sam, this is a boutique. It is not a skate park." Brooke shouted and Sam continued to ride on her skateboard.

"Well, you could have fooled me." Sam replied monotone.

"If you have a plan to fill this place up, have at it. Otherwise, go skate in traffic." Brooke stated deadly serious and Claudia laughed a little at Brooke's parenting.

"Clearly, I've upgraded Sam's foster-living environment." Claudia joked as she looked at Millicent.

"Clearly." Millie smirked as the Scott twins ran up to them.

"Mama, can I sleep over at aunt Brooke's tonight with Grace?" Jamie asked excitably. Claudia gave him a more stern look. 

"Oh, sweetie, I don't know if aunt Brooke..." Claudia began to say but Brooke interrupted.

"I would love that. It would be nice to have a man in the house and a little princess." Brooke smiled down at the Scott twins.

"Awesome. Thank you." Grace smirked before her and Jamie high-fived each other.

"And speaking of, I thought Owen looked pretty hot last night. Didn't you think so, Millie?" Claudia asked pointedly and mockingly. Millicent nodded her head.

"Totally. What did you think, Brooke?" Millicent asked smirking.

"I think I don't like either of you." Brooke groaned and Claudia walked off smirking.

___

"I miss Quentin a lot, mama." Jamie admitted as he stood beside Grace and his mom at Quentin's grave. Claudia took them to Quentin's grave because Quentin deserved all of the visitors, he deserved people there with him at his grave. 

"So do I." Grace whispered as she looked down at the grave. 

"I miss him, too, kiddos." Claudia replied. 

"I think he's playing basketball, like daddy. Only instead of a trampoline, he can bounce on the clouds." Grace explained grinning. Claudia grinned at Grace as well. 

"Yeah? I like that." Claudia smiled.

"Did you always like Quentin, mama?" Jamie asked and Claudia sighed a little.

"You know, the first time I met Quentin, I thought he was a bad kid. But I was wrong. He had such a good heart. He was just afraid to show it at first. He reminded me of daddy, a lot." Claudia explained, she was just thinking about younger Nathan.  

"Early in his career, Hemingway was frustrated. He was a good writer who wanted to be great. And eventually, he discovered that less is more." The teacher explained before taking a pause. His eyes locked with his favourite student- Claudia. "Claudia describe Nathan in one word." The teacher asked and Nathan turned around so he could see Claudia.

"I am stuck between two words." Claudia muttered flicking her pen.

"Give it your best shot." The teacher replied encouragingly.

"Egotistical and depressed." Claudia muttered looking straight at Nathan who quickly turned around grumpily.

"Alright." The teacher stated awkwardly."Peyton. Describe Lucas using just one word." Everyone looked at Peyton. Nathan and Lucas both turned around. Claudia couldn't care less so she continued to write lyrics on her page. Claudia was a song writer.

"Choke." Peyton replied monotone and everyone laughed excluding Lucas and Claudia.

"Okay, be quiet please. Thank you. Lucas, care to respond and describe Peyton?" The teacher asked in one big sentence. Lucas looked at Peyton.

"Lonely." Lucas replied and Claudia smirked. The whole class made a chorus of 'oohs'. Nathan playing the role of the protective boyfriend. Decided to stick in his hand up.

"Yes? Nathan?" The teacher asked looking at Nathan from behind as he walked down the aisles.

"I can describe Lucas in one word." Nathan replied and Lucas looked at him. Claudia had to bit her tongue from saying anything.

"Bastard." Nathan replied monotone and Claudia looked at him angrily. The class 'ooh'ed.

"Alright, alright, alright, alright." The teacher said trying to difuse the situation. Lucas jumped out of his chair and attacked Nathan and two proceeded to fight.

"Knock it off. Knock it off!" The teacher shouted and both boys were sent to the office. The bell rang, Claudia grabbed her stuff and left the classroom looking for Lucas.

"We should get going, buddies." Claudia smiled down at her children.

"Okay. Bye, Q.  Chester says bye, too. He misses you like we do." Jamie said to the grave.

"Bye, Quentin." Claudia smiled down at the grave.

"Bye Q. Do you think he's lonely in heaven?" Grace asked as the family began to walk away from the grave.

"No. I think he's happy." Claudia smiled encouragingly, she honestly believed that. No lies.

"I think he is, too." Jamie added grinning.

___

"Hey." Claudia smiled as she walked into Lucas' bedroom. 

"Hey. What's up?" Lucas asked as he turned around to face her. 

"Oh, I just dropped off the little monsters at Brooke's for the sleepover, and, it's just Nathan and I tonight." Claudia explained as she sat down on the edge of Lucas' bed. 

"Bow chicka bow, bow." Lucas teased and Claudia rolled her eyes.

"Very funny." Claudia smiled sarcastically. "Actually, I was thinking about doing some music, taking a nice long bath." Claudia explained in bliss.

"And then. bow chicka bow ..." Lucas teased but he stopped with Claudia's facial expression, "sorry." He muttered as he sat down beside Claudia on the bed.

"Speaking of bad pornos, how was your movie offer?" Claudia asked teasingly and Lucas rolled his eyes.

"Nice." Lucas laughed and Claudia joined in. "No, I don't know. I'm actually about to go meet the producer to talk about it." Lucas explained and Claudia was excited for him. The movie was going to be big, really big. Claudia knew it. 

"So, you think you're gonna do it?" Claudia asked intrigued.

"My agent thinks I'd be crazy not to." Lucas replied and Claudia nodded her head.

"You should do it." Claudia stated smiling and Lucas nodded his head. 

"So, how are you doing with slamball?" Lucas asked changing the subject and Claudia sighed deeply.

"You know, I've got a husband with a bad back, and he's playing a game called slamball, so you just let me know when I can breathe again." Claudia answered laughing a little. Lucas looked at her sympathetically.

"Claudia, he's gonna be okay." Lucas stated and Claudia didn't give him the most convincing look. "Look, Nathan wants what he wants, but he's gonna do it smarter this time. I mean, he knows that he has the best wife and children ever to consider in all this." Lucas explained truthfully and Claudia smiled to herself.

"Yeah. He has been really sweet through all of it. In fact, I think I'm gonna go home and visit with my sweet husband." Claudia teased and Lucas knew what was happening.

"Bow chicka bow wow." Claudia and Lucas sang in unison before Claudia left Lucas' house laughing. 

___

"Trying something new?" Nathan asked as Claudia sat at the piano, she was messing around with a song Jack had sent her. It was for his job in France, which him and Haley were loving, so was little Lydia.

"Yeah." Claudia smiled as she looked up at Nathan.

"Let me hear." Nathan replied and Claudia nodded her head before she started to play. Nathan was making some weird faces that Claudia couldn't help pick up on.

"What?" Claudia asked confused. Nathan went back to normal.

"Sorry. Nothing." Nathan replied and Claudia just nodded her head.

"Oh. Okay." She smiled before she went back to playing. Nathan was making those faces again. "What ... what is wrong with you? I can't play with you making faces like that." Claudia exclaimed laughing. 

"I know. Neither can I." Nathan replied smirking as he took a seat beside Claudia at the piano.

"You're so funny." Claudia stated sarcastically. "We were worried about you. It's not easy seeing you being thrown to the ground." Claudia muttered.

"My back is fine. I promise." Nathan reassured and Claudia just nodded her head.

"Okay. Well, it's too bad, 'cause, you know, Jamie and Grace are sleeping over at Brooke's, and, I thought maybe you'd want a little massage." Claudia teased before she stood up. "But, you know, it's fine." Claudia stated before she started to walk away.

"Well, it's not perfect." Nathan argued as he stood up. Claudia turned around to face him. "As a matter of fact, I was thinking. Maybe you could just carry me upstairs tonight?" Nathan suggested as he wrapped his arms around Claudia. 

"Carry?" Claudia asked laughing.

"Is that okay?" Nathan asked jokingly. 

"Carry you? I can't carry you." Claudia laughed as Nathan held onto her shoulders. They fell back onto the couch laughing. 

___

"I'm getting worried about slamball." Claudia sighed as she rubbed Nathan's shoulders. 

"It's my fault. I underestimated the speed of this game. Some of these guys are great athletes. They're fast." Nathan admitted and Claudia rested her head on Nathan's shoulder. 

"Well, you're gonna have to be faster, because I don't know if I can handle another game like the last one." Claudia smiled honestly as she placed her arms around Nathan's shoulders.

"I will be. 'Cause I know you're trusting me. I love you for that." Nathan smiled before he kissed Claudia's hand. Claudia smiled to herself, she loved little perfect moments like those. It just showed her how perfect they were together, made for each other. 

+++

Sorry it was short, an entire section got cut out which was so annoying. It always happens, it because my computer is like broken. Anyways, Nathan playing slamball is one of my favourite storylines so I am so excited to write this. Don't forget to vote and comment. 

Also check out my new book Heidi and Roman: Best Friends in Love. There is already seven chapters out. If you like the Naley storyline then you might like that book too.

Mrs N O'Brien