A/N-Um…opps…Life's been hectic and I apologize for the wait for the last chapter of this story. I did have most of the chapter planned out, but I've been super swamped between work and school that I haven't had the chance to really sit down and right, but alas, I give you the final chapter of Whatever it Takes.
Ch. 46: Family plus One
"Doing whatever it takes doesn't just involve strength; it involves love and love she had. She had the love of her family and the love of her friends. It was strength in numbers."
The audience clapped their hands when their favorite author, Samantha Fletcher, finished reading an excerpt from her new book, Strength in Numbers, her second book to reach the New York's Best Seller list right along with her fathers.
Sam smile was wide as she took a look at all her fans. This was the moment that she looked forward to every time she would go on tour. She got to stand in front of her fans and just gaze their faces and take in their reactions to the words she had written down on the page. She enjoyed every minute of it and knew moments like those were hard to come by.
Her latest tour had started in Charlotte and had ended in Tree Hill. She had been away for the last couple months doing book signings and appearing on some talk shows to introduce her book. The only downside to the fame and fortune was being away from her family.
Sam looks down at the ring on her left hand and smiled. She really missed her family, but she would be seeing them soon at the family barbeque.
"I'd like to thank you all for coming. Though most of you probably already know me, it just means a lot that you still came. I will be signing books for the next two hours and then my tour comes to an end."
Sam takes a seat at the table and waits for her first fan.
*Whatever it Takes*
"Emma, can you come help me for a minute?" Brooke yells from the kitchen. Sam was going to be arriving soon along with the rest of her friends and family attending the BBQ.
Brooke hears a shuffling of feet and turned to smile at her daughter.
It had been about nine years since Brooke and Lucas and had brought Emma into the world. Emma stood in front of her with her brown hair up in a ponytail. Her blue eyes were shining with excitement for her sister to finally be home.
Emma and Sam had always had a close relationship. When Emma had problems she would first talk to Sam about them before turning to their parents.
Her relationship with Jamie was slightly different. Jamie was incredibly protective of her and it annoyed Emma like crazy. But she and Jamie had videogames in common so that was how they connected the most.
"Is Sam home yet?"
Brooke shakes her head with a small smile. She missed Sam too. "No, but she should be done within the hour."
Emma nods her head with a grin.
"What did you need help with?"
Brooke hands her a few bowls filled with some sort of food.
"Just bring these out into the yard and that's about it."
"And you couldn't bring them out there yourself?" Emma asks with an eyebrow raise.
Brooke playfully glares at Emma. She was starting to develop some of Sam's attitude and pretty early on.
"Just get out there you goofball."
Emma grins and skips out of the kitchen with the bowls in hand.
*Whatever it Takes*
"You are the last person I thought I would see here," Sam says as she packs up her bag.
The man standing in front of her smiled sheepishly and shrugged his shoulders. There were a few reasons why he was here, but the most important one was that it was finally time to catch up with the past.
"Honestly, I wasn't sure if I would get the guts to come back here. It's been awhile."
Sam looks back up at the man.
"Yeah, like ten years. I'm not the same person I was ten years ago though. I grew up."
"I'm not as selfish as I was either, but I did what you asked. I stayed away…until now."
"I appreciate that Julian."
Julian gives Sam a grin.
"I would like to catch up with you as well as bring an idea and I wanted your take on it."
Sam looks down at her watch and nods her head.
"I have about a half hour until I have somewhere to be. Do you want to get some coffee?"
"Not a coffee drinker, but I'd love some pie."
*Whatever it Takes*
Sam and Julian settle down in their booth and Julian places Sam's book on top of the table. Sam looks at it and reaches over before flipping through it. She noted the many notes in the margin and she couldn't help, but smile. Lucas's copy of the book was very similar. Sam pulls out a pen and signs her name. She places it back on the table.
"You didn't have to do that," Julian says.
"I know, but I wanted too," Sam grins before speaking again. "A lot has happened over the years and I don't know how much you know about Jamie and me. All I know about you is that you're very successful in your career right now."
Julian takes a bite of his pie.
"It's just a career. I've been seeing a girl and it's pretty stable right now. She wants kids, but I don't know if I want that. I mean I couldn't take care of you and Jamie so I don't know if I have that right."
"You do what you want to do, Julian. If this girl is special to you than marry her and have a family with her. You can't change the past. Jamie and I got that family we wanted and now I think it's time you had yours."
Julian smiles slightly.
"What about you and Jamie? How are things going for you two?"
"Great actually. Jamie is getting drafted into the NBA, but our parents told him he still needed to have some kind of schooling since he's only 18 so he's taking online classes. He just broke up with his girlfriend and things with me are great. I am married and I have a four year old son."
Julian's eyes widen in surprise.
"Wow."
Sam grins and nods her head.
"I was 21, but I was also married first. I married Max Fletcher when I was twenty and our son Anthony was born about nine months later."
"Honeymoon baby," Julian chuckles. "Congratulations."
The two sit in silence for a while before Julian brings out the reason why he showed up at Sam's book signing.
"I have to confess something. It's true that I did want to catch up, but I also wanted to talk to you about something. I've read your book a few times and I know there is more of a story to tell. Normally I only do movies, but I think that this book, your book could be a television show."
Sam takes in Julian's words and if she was honest with herself she felt amazing that somebody thinks that her work could be more than just words written in a book, but that it could be words acted out on television.
Julian takes Sam's hesitation in speaking as a bad sign so he continues talking.
"Before you say no, let me explain why I came to you with this. There isn't much that I want to change about the book. I figured I could rent or buy a soundstage here and have the television show be filmed here in Tree Hill. More importantly, I want you on the writing staff as the lead writer."
Sam's eyes widen even more.
*Whatever it Takes*
Lucas wraps his arms around his wife when Brooke enters the backyard again. He noticed that Sam was already a few minutes late.
"She'll be here shortly," Lucas states whispering in his wife's ear.
Brooke turns in his arms and smiles slightly.
"I know that Luke. It's just been awhile since we last saw her."
Lucas grins as he spots a familiar figure looking out the window. Sam would come out when she was ready. He also knew that Emma was there and he decided to let his girls have a little sisterly bonding time.
"She may be closer than you think. I am going to start the grill because our girls are in the middle of a conversation and our son is currently trying to fix his nephew's shirt."
Brooke looks across the yard and her son and smiles brightly. At 18, Jamie had a lot of things going for him career wise, but every so often she would catch the look on her son's face that he would give it all up if that meant he could spent every moment of the day with his family. It was the same look he had on his face now while he was helping his nephew with the collar of his shirt.
When Sam had first told the family she was pregnant, there were a lot of mixed emotions for everyone. Jamie had grinned and said he was going to be the best uncle in the world. Lucas looked like he wanted to kill Max for knocking up his daughter and Brooke didn't really know what to think. There were times when she thought it had been so soon since the wedding that Sam may not have been ready to be a mother, but then there were the times when she remembered what Sam had gone through in her life and instantly she knew that Sam was destined to be a mother and she was going to be amazing at it.
"What are you thinking about?"
Brooke turns her head and looks at her son-in-law. Max had entered Sam's life in the exact moment Sam needed. The only other boy in Sam's life that Brooke had met was Jack and he wasn't a very good guy for her daughter, but Max Fletcher was no Jack Daniels and that was the absolute truth. Max made Sam experience a relatively normal teenage life. Max had only ever treated Sam with respect. He was gentlemanly as well. Max had asked for Sam's hand in marriage and both Lucas and Brooke realized that they could never say no to him. He was Sam's soul mate and that was never going away.
"Life…I never thought I would get here," Brooke shakes her head. "I never thought I was going to be able to be a mother. Lucas and I adopted Jamie and then adopted Sam. We got Emma and on top of all of that we are grandparents. It's a little surreal."
"Sorry that we made you grandparents a little too soon, but our little guy is amazing and I wouldn't change that for the world," Max says as he smiles adoringly to his son as he watches Anthony run towards him.
"Dada, come see…come see," Anthony says as he holds out his hand.
"What do I have to see?" Max asks as he grabs his son's hand.
"A worm," Anthony says with a squeal.
*Whatever it Takes*
The moment that Sam had entered her parents' home she was wrapped into a bear hug by her little sister.
"Emma bear, what can I do for you?"
Emma grinned and looked up at her sister.
"I just missed you is all."
Sam places a kiss on her sister's forehead.
"I missed you too, Em. Tell me what you have been up to since I've been gone. How is that writing going?"
Sam drops her bag at the door and walks into the kitchen. Emma stands next to her sister as Sam just stares out the window.
"Writing is harder than I thought it was going to be. I don't know how you and dad do it all the time. It gets kind of boring after a while."
"Don't sweat it Emma. You're nine. I didn't really start writing until I was fifteen. You've still got a lot of time left yet and just because dad and I are writers doesn't meant that you have to be one too. You can go into fashion like mom or play a sport like Jamie. You could even go and be an astronaut if you wanted."
Emma shakes her head with a sigh.
"No, I don't want to do any of that. I just want to have fun."
Sam grins and nods her head.
"You have tons of time to do that. Now, is everyone outside because I am starving and I would really like to greet my husband and son?"
Emma grabs onto her sister's hand and tugs her forward.
"Come on Sammy…let's go."
*Whatever it Takes*
"So, I met with Julian today," Sam says nonchalantly as she sits down next to her mother.
Brooke sets her drink down at the table and looks at her daughter.
"How'd that go?"
"It was okay. We aired out a lot of our issues and then he offered me a job."
Jamie had started listening intently when he heard his sister mention Julian. He remembered that man, but he didn't know how to feel about it.
"What kind of job?" Lucas asks as he flips the burgers on the grill.
"Yeah, mama, job," Anthony says with a smile as he cuddles closer to his father.
"He wants to make my book into a television show and he wants me to be the lead writer. I took the offer."
Max smiles and notices the small smirk his wife had on her face. He knew the main reason as to why Sam would take the offer making her stay in Tree Hill and not go on any book tours. He wasn't going to say anything about it though. Sam wanted to be the one to tell her family.
Sam pulls out a piece of paper from her pocket and hands it over to Jamie.
"Julian says you can call him at any time and he will be happy to spend some time with you. If you don't call he understands, but he's leaving that decision to you."
Jamie looks at the paper in his hand and nods his head.
"I think I will."
"Does that mean you are staying for a long time and not going away again?" Emma asks as she looks at all the adults at the table.
Sam nods her head. Emma grins widely.
"Cool. I don't like it when you go away."
"Well I won't be going away for a while. No more book tours until after the baby is born," Sam says with a small smile wondering if anyone caught what she was saying.
It was a chain reaction and it all started with Lucas when he dropped his spatula. Brooke's eyes snapped to her daughter and she grabbed onto her hand. Emma squealed with excitement. Jamie fist bumped Max and Anthony just giggled, not really knowing what's going on.
Lucas placed all the food at the table and locked eyes with his wife in silent communication. They both had smiles on their faces and knew that they wouldn't come off for a long time.
They were going to be grandparents again.
And they were definitely okay with that.