"Okay so I have been gone for a few days, and you have already forgotten my name. Who is BIL?" Lucas asked as he walked up to Claudia and his girlfriend Haley.

"B-I-L; Brother In Law." Claudia explained as Haley linked arms with her boyfriend smiling. Claudia has never seen Haley so happy for her and it made her feel so warm inside. 

"That's you!" Haley exclaimed patting her boyfriends arm.

"Oh-ho, crap. I'm related to you?" Lucas exclaimed and Claudia laughed. "Look, I know...I was sketchy when I left but...just, you know, you surprised me and...I just want you to know I'm happy for you Claude." Lucas said sincerely. They stopped walking and Claudia hugged him, that meant the world to her.

"I know and I am happy for you too. You guys are an amazing couple and no one can tear you both apart." Claudia said as she broke away the hug and pointed to him and Haley.

"Thank you." Haley replied smiling, Lucas hugged both of his best friends. Nathan came up and pulled Claudia to himself, she kissed him quickly.

"Get your own wife." He laughed as he looked at his half-brother.

"OK, that just sounds weird." Lucas said and the married couple laughed. They met Brooke as they walked into school. 

"Oh look, it's our very own Britney Spears and...whoever she married this week." Brooke joked and Claudia smiled at her. "I have a question for you guys; what do you think? Pink booties or blue?" Brooke asked and Claudia looked at her confused. 

"Booties? Brooke, I'm not pregnant." Claudia stated sternly and Brooke laughed.

"No. The only way this isn't totally screwed up is if you're knocked up but don't worry, your secret's safe with me." Brooke said winking at the couple and Claudia rolled her eyes. 

"Excuse me. I have to go find my lame brother, want to come?" Claudia asked looking up at Nathan who nodded his head.

"Sure." Nathan replied before they said goodbye to their friends, they walked off hand in hand.

"Can't believe she thinks I am pregnant." Claudia laughed and Nathan laughed along with her.

___

Claudia sat on her old bed in her deserted room holding her teddy bear- Mr Waffles. She looked lost and she cried. All of her boho room decor was moved into her new apartment. All of her records were in her new apartment, all of her clothes were in her new apartment. There was nothing for Claudia in her house except for her parents and brother.

"All these empty bedrooms." Josie said as her and Tom walked up to Claudia's door. "We could open a crack house; an upscale one." She joked looking at her daughter. Jack walked in and hugged his little sister. 

"Yeah, like a crack resort." Tom continued.

"She came back for Mr Waffles." Josie said in a motherly tone as Claudia struggled to breathe after all the crying. 

"Nathan do something?" Jack asked sternly and Claudia shook her head.

"No. His um...mother, she said-" Claudia began to stutter upset before Josie interrupted.

"You were ruining her son's life." She said and Claudia nodded her head as she hugged her teddy bear.

'Yeah, basically." Claudia exclaimed. Josie looked at husband before they walked over to Claudia's bed and sat beside their children.

"Of course she did. In-laws are like the FBI honey. They have a system and they follow it. First manoeuvre is you're ruining her child's life." Josie explained and Claudia laughed gloomily. 

"Yeah, then it goes to; she can't cook." Tom listed.

"Her house is dirty." Josie extended.

"We found some hash in the guestroom." Tom laughed as did the rest of the family. 

"There's only one way to deal with them kiddo." Josie said.

"Screw em. I mean, you know, don't actually have sex with them." Tom began to say awkwardly and Claudia was revolted at the language but laughed all the same.

"Da-ad!" Claudia exclaimed as she hugged tighter into her brother.

"What your father's saying is, if you're gonna come home crying every time you let them get the best of you; you might as well move back in now, before we give your stuff to charity." Josie began to say and Claudia looked desolated. "You wanted this Claudia." Josie continued and Claudia sighed. "Time to grow up." Josie said holding onto her daughter's hand who nodded in agreement. 

___

Claudia was sitting on her bed looking at all of her hippy chic clothes, Nathan walked in and raised an eyebrow, he was confused as to why Claudia's clothes were all over the floor.

"Babe, what do I wear to this?" Claudia groaned as she stood up.

"Oh not this again!" Nathan moaned and Claudia marched up to him.

"What do you mean by that?" She asked confused and Nathan smiled down at her.

"Last time you asked me that, we were sitting in your favourite thrift shop while you tried to find an outfit for my dad's birthday." Nathan explained and Claudia looked up at him smiling.

"Yeah but at this rate, I will be wearing one of your tops as a dress." Claudia groaned as she wrapped her arms round his neck.

"You are not wearing my clothes." Nathan laughed as he kissed his wife's head.

"Well what do I wear?" Claudia asked taking her hair out of the braids, her hair was perfectly curled.

"Anything, you look beautiful in anything." Nathan said smiling at his girlfriend as Claudia walked over to the clothes.

"Eh Husband, that doesn't help." She groaned as Nathan leaned against the door frame.

"Wife, just make sure you wear shoes." Nathan laughed as he left the room, Claudia ran up to the door.

"Ugh but they are so normal." Claudia groaned.

"Yeah but I don't want my wife to have broken toes." Nathan laughed and Claudia smiled at him before she turned around and found the perfect dress. "Where were you hiding?" She asked running up to it.

Outfit

"How do I look?" Claudia asked walking out of the bedroom and up to Nathan who was sitting on the couch playing video games, Nathan turned around and looked at her smiling.

"Claudia Scott, you need to stop getting so beautiful because I just can't handle it." Nathan gushed as he hugged his wife.

"Well Nathan Scott, can you stop being so utterly amazing because I can not handle it either." Claudia laughed before the teenagers kissed. 

___

Claudia and Nathan walked up the stairs amidst cheers and clapping. Claudia giggled and laughed happily, people sprayed them with string. Deb entered as she held a present. She felt completely out of place. She saw Nathan and Claudia as they hugged Claudia's parent, she realised that Tom and Josie are happy for the pair, Nathan was welcomed into their family. Unlike Claudia with Dan and Deb.

"Where is Lucas, this is unreal?" Claudia laughed as she stopped hugging her parent, she looked around to see Lucas chatting with Jack. "Well, well I think I have the best friend in the whole wide world." Claudia as she ran up to Lucas and jumped on him.

"Claudia, can you tell your brother to stop flirting with my girlfriend?" Lucas asked as he placed Claudia down, Claudia slapped her brother's shoulder. Nathan walked up to them and bro hugged Lucas.

"Jack, I swear to god if you ruin this relationship, I will cut off-"  Claudia began to shout at her brother before Nathan cut in.

"Let's just say she will hurt you." Nathan joked snaking his arms around Claudia.

"Hey Nate." Jack said before she walked off.

___

Whitey arrived at the party and walked up to Claudia and Nathan with a present.

"Coach! How are ya?" Nathan exclaimed as he smiled at Whitey alongside Claudia.

"Well I'm old, but I wasn't always that way. There was a time when I was young and in love like the two of you." Whitey reminsiced as he handed them a present, it was a baby quilt. "Here. Camilla stitched that during the first year of our marriage. It's a baby blanket." Whitey said as Claudia was awestruck. "Course ah, we spent all those years just the two of us in the nest but I think she'd like that to go to somebody she would have been really fond of." Whitey finished and Claudia grinned at him.

"Oh coach, that's so sweet of you, thank you, but I'm not pregnant." Claudia explained and Nathan shot an amused glance at Whitey. 

"Well you never know; he is a Scott after all." Whitey joked and everyone laughed. However, Claudia had to find Brooke and prove to her that she was not pregnant. 

"Would you excuse me for just a minute?" Claudia asked handing Nathan the present. 

"Yeah." Nathan replied and Claudia smiled at Whitey before she marched up to Brooke. 

"What do I have to do? Pee on a stick?" Claudia asked frustratingly.

"Um...if that's your kicks. Do I know what we're talking about?" Brooke asked laughing slightly.

"Brooke, I am not pregnant." Claudia stated sternly as she played with her pendant. Brooke rolled her eyes, she didn't believe it. "Look." Claudia stated as she lifted up her dress slyly so Brooke could see the birth control patch. "It's a birth control patch. I've had it for weeks." Claudia replied and Brooke looked around, finally understanding.

"So it really is just about love." She asked in a hushed tone.

"Yeah. What other reason do we need?" Claudia asked smiling at her best friend, Brooke smiled back- Brooke wanted that more than anything.

___

"Mom. You met Claudia's parents?" Nathan asked as he took Claudia's parents to meet Deb, who was looking at a baby photo of Nathan stuck on the body of a groom.

"Hi, I'm Josie this is my husband Tom." Josie smiled at Deb.

"Hi, nice to meet you." Tom said in his fancy english accent. Deb was surprised by their accents as well.

"Hi." Deb said awkwardly.

"Sorry to hear about your husband. How's he doing?" Tom asked sincerely.

"He's ah, he's struggling with a new reality, I suppose we both are." Deb explained and Nathan wanted to protest but at the same time didn't want to make a scene and ruin this day for Claudia. 

"Well, I look forward to the day when we can all break bread and...argue about religion and politics and how best to raise our grandchildren." Josie joked.

"Yeah ah-ah, no hurry on the last one by the way." Tom teased Nathan who was laughing alongside Josie. Deb was not amused, Josie nudged Tom a bit, she was hoping for so help. "Well you've raised a fine man." Tom said patting Nathan's shoulder. Nathan felt happy at that moment it showed him that he had a fatherly figure that wasn't going to hurt him or abuse him.

"He's not a man." Deb stated angrily.

"Sorry?" Tom asked confused, Claudia looked like she could rip Deb's head off at any given time.

"I said he's not a man, he's a boy and none of this would have happened if you people had had enough common sense to stop it!" Deb shouted at Claudia's parents. 

"Mom!" Nathan shouted, Claudia was burning with anger inside.

"NO! I am not going to stand here and make nice and pretend like this is all OK when it isn't." Deb replied shouting, Claudia stood forward, Claudia had given up on trying to be nice to Deb.

"Then don't!" Claudia stated angrily. Everyone looked at her in utter shock. "It's one thing for you to raise your voice at me but don't come in here and dump on my parents! We made our decision, we got married and we're happy and if you're not here to celebrate with us, then you should just go home because I don't want you here!" Claudia shouted angrily and Nathan placed his arm around Claudia and stared his mother down. Tom did not look to happy either. Deb turned away and left, Nathan sighed as Claudia was unwavering. 

___

Claudia was sitting on the steps upset and tired,  Nathan came out and sat next to her.

"Nicely played." Nathan stated and Claudia looked over at him with just sadness in her eyes.

"I am so sorry. I-as if things aren't bad enough with your family." Claudia replied.

"You couldn't make it any worse." Nathan replied smiling at his wife.

"You know what's weird? I have never felt safer in my life." Claudia stated smiling at Nathan, she felt better already.

"You know what's weirder? Seeing you take my mom's head off back there actually kinda turned me on." Nathan smirked and Claudia sputtered.

"Five minutes in the elevator?" She asked holding Nathan's hand.

"How bout right here?" Nathan asked, Claudia smiled at him and then kissed him. 

___

"Ah, I guess it's no surprise that some would criticize us; call us unfit parents." Tom said into the microphone, he was giving his speech alongside his wife. 

"And normally...they would be right." Josie joked and Claudia smiled fondly at them whole Nathan looked fondly at Claudia.

"And for those who say they're too young, let me just say; hell you can drive at sixteen, go to war at eighteen, you can drink at twenty-one and retire at sixty-five so how old do you have to be...before your love...is real?" Tom asked as she smiled down at his daughter who had tears in her eyes.

"So here's to you Claudia, and Nathan; she's your headache now." Josie joked and Nathan laughed as Claudia rolled his eyes. Lucas walked up to the microphone and Claudia got worried, incase any embarrassing stories were told. 

"I think everybody...knows that Nathan and I got of to a pretty sketchy start." Lucas said and  Claudia smiled up at Nathan. "Nathan; mutual hatred sound about right?" Lucas asked and Nathan shook his head.

"Worse!" Nathan shouted and they both laughed. 

"You see, then a funny thing happened;" Lucas said before he took a pause, "Claudia, our little friend from across the pond. She showed me that you can find the good in everybody, if you just give them a chance. The benefit of the doubt." Lucas explained and Claudia's family looked over at Claudia who had tears running down her face. "Sometimes, people disappoint you. Sometimes they surprise you. But you never really get to know them...until you listen for what's in their hearts and that's what Claudia did with Nathan. That's what we should do for them. So for you sceptics out there, prepare to be surprised. So this," Lucas smiled as he held up his bottle of water, "is to my...brother and my little sis," Lucas continued as Claudia smiled widely at him,  "in-law, and in love." Lucas finished as everyone raised their glasses.

"Cheers!" Everyone shouted as Claudia and Nathan kissed. 

"I am not finished." Lucas said and Claudia looked at him strangely. "We have a certain songbird in this room." Lucas smiled at Claudia who was shaking her head. "Now I may or may not have been snooping through her things and found a song. That she should sing, plus I stole the music." Lucas laughed holding up the CD.

"That's where it went." Claudia laughed and she looked up at Nathan. "Don't divorce me when you find out how bad I am." Claudia laughed before she walked up on stage. Nathan couldn't stop smiling at her. Claudia placed the disc in the machine and walked up to the microphone.

"Here we go." She muttered and Lucas pressed play.

https://youtu.be/7CoDfarkp3c

(BTW You need to Listen to the Song!)