Lucas Jr.

Shooting Hoops

"I don't get it." Jamie asked. He was sitting on the bench with his father.

Nathan chuckled. "Okay, I'll explain it one more time. The boy with the ball  is named Lucas." Nathan pointed to his newly found nephew. "His father is your Uncle Lucas." He pointed to his half brother even though he knew that his son knew who that was. "Since Lucas is my brother and your Uncle that makes that boy your cousin Lucas." Nathan said slowly hoping his son would stop being so confused.

"I get that part." Jamie rolled his eyes. "But how come Uncle Lucas never said I that had a cousin before."

Nathan took a deep breath. "Well, Uncle Lucas didn't know. He just found out recently." Nathan watched as his nephew blocked his brother's shot and stole the ball. He smiled with pride. The kid was a chip off the old block. "You see son, Aunt Brooke is your cousin's mother and she didn't tell Uncle Lucas about Lucas junior."

Jamie pouted. "Why not?"

Nathan blew out a breath. "Because she was young and scared. Your Aunt Brooke was just a teenager and so was Uncle Lucas, their relationship was.." Nathan thought of a way to explain it to his five year old son. "They were in a rough patch.. and when Brooke found out they would be having a son she had decided to give him up for adoption without telling Uncle Lucas because she was scared of how he would react." Nathan gave his son a small smile. "Do you understand?"

Jamie nodded, but he was still pouting in confusion. "So Aunt Brooke was scared of Uncle Lucas? Would he hurt her?" Jamie squinted one eye. "Uncle Lucas wouldn't hurt her.. Would he?"

Nathan shook his head. "No, what would make you ask me that?"

"Because momma said scary things are things that we think will hurt us and as long as you and mommy are with me I will never be hurt so I never have to be scared, so if Aunt Brooke was scared then she must've thought that Uncle Lucas would hurt her."

Nathan sighed. "You'll learn a lot more about fear as you get older. They're different kinds of fear.. and hurt. I think Brooke was just afraid that Uncle Lucas would leave her alone and she was afraid to raise a son alone. I know I couldn't do it without your mom." He smiled. "Being a good parent is not easy without some help."

Jamie nodded. "Okay." He thought for a moment then he called out to Lucas.

Lucas came rushing over. "What's wrong little man?" His uncle asked.

Jamie shook his head. "I didn't say Uncle Lucas." He pointed to the boy shooting an orange ball into the basket across the court. "That Lucas!"

Lucas chuckled and waved his son over. "Hey son! Jamie wants you!"

Lucas dropped the ball when he heard his biological father call him "son". He took a deep breath and jogged over to the bench. "Uh, yeah, what's up kid?"

Jamie looked him over and made a face. "Hmm, I guess you do kind of look like Uncle Lucas and Aunt Brooke, a little bit." He pinched his fingers together in front of his eye.

Lucas Friar chuckled. "Thanks."

Jamie smiled. "You're my cousin?"

Lucas looked at his father then his uncle, they both gave him a smile and nodded their heads. "Yeah. I am."

"So you look like that and you play basketball? Do you have a girlfriend?"

Lucas smiled at his little cousin and nodded. "I do. Her name is Maya."

Jamie nodded in approval. "Okay, I guess you're cool enough to be my cousin then. Can I meet Maya?"

Lucas, Lucas Jr, and Nathan started laughing, but Jamie looked serious.

"You can meet her and the rest of my friends. How does that sound?" Lucas held out his hand in a high five.

Jamie smiled and slapped his hand against Lucas' larger one. "Cool!"

Lucas chuckled. "Cool. My friends are back at my mom's house."

Jamie jumped of the table. "Cool! Let's go to Aunt Brooke's! I can introduce you to my girlfriend, Sam! She is the coolest girl ever!" Jamie yelled.

"Uh, I met her already, actually." Lucas chuckled. "She got my girlfriend in trouble and got grounded." He stated.

"Sam always gets grounded, but she is still the coolest and the prettiest!"

Lucas looked over at his half brother. "They grow up so fast." He chuckled.

Nathan rolled his eyes. "At least yours is old enough to have a girlfriend."

Lucas chuckled while following his teenage son and young nephew with his younger brother. "Yeah. I guess I missed the part where he was a goofy adorable little kid like yours."

Nathan shrugged and threw his arm around Lucas' shoulders. "You got time to make up for what you missed. Don't worry about it too much. It'll just upset you." He sighed. "I can already tell your son is a good kid." Nathan pat his older brother's right shoulder. "Way better than you were."

Lucas shoved his arm off of him. "You're one to talk. You son is already better than you were." He teased.

Nathan shrugged. "That's true, but Haley and I taught him everything we know so our kid is gonna be smart and cool. He'll be the star basketball player and everything." He grinned with pride and playfully hit Lucas.

"Yeah, well 80 percent of that credit goes to Haley and the basketball thing is because he takes after his Uncle."

Nathan shoved Lucas. "Oh yeah right! You wish you were better than me!"

Lucas shoved Nathan back. "I am better. And I'm faster." He said then he took off running past their kids.

"Cheater!" Nathan yelled after him.

Lucas chuckled. "Are they always like that?" He asked his younger cousin.

Jamie nodded. "Pretty much. Momma says she's just happy they get along like brother should. They used to hate each other and fight a lot." He stated.

Lucas frowned. "How come?"

Jamie shrugged. "Something about my grandpa, but then my daddy started dating my momma and eventually they had to start to get along, now they play just like real brothers."

Lucas smiled as his birth father and uncle ran up his birth mother's steps.

"I win!"

"No, I win!"