Nathan and Claudia were sitting on the bench at the River Court. Nathan had just told Claudia that people were building a case against Lucas about the point shaving. Just when life was going great, as well.

"There's only three things I'm afraid of losing in this world, Claudia... you, our children, and the game." Nathan stated as he looked down at his wife. Nathan was devastated.

"How bad will it get if they find out about you and Daunte?" Claudia asked. 

"They'll take my scholarship for sure. And I probably won't play anywhere... ever." Nathan explained as he dropped the basketball he was clutching onto and Claudia comfortingly rested her head on his shoulder, she was worried. However, she didn't want to show Nathan incase it worried him- more. 

___

"Hey." Lucas smiled as Claudia walked into his room, Claudia looked terrible. She was worried and she hadn't slept. 

"Hey." Claudia muttered as she sat down on Lucas' bed.

"Jeez, you look worse than I do." Lucas joked but Claudia wasn't in the mood. She was scared.

"Yeah. Um, listen, uh, the thing is that, uh... Nathan said this whole gambling thing's just gonna go away, and I don't real know, uh, how much I believe that, and I just wanted to know what you thought ... if you think that he's right or... or do you think he's right?" Claudia asked awkwardly as she turned to face Lucas. She needed help and who better then her best friend.

"No. It's not going away." Lucas replied honestly and Claudia sighed worried.

"'Cause he said that they're just focusing on you, and then they're not gonna find anything, and nothing's gonna happen." Claudia explained getting worried.

"Yeah, but, see, that's the problem. You know, yeah, I mean, I missed a couple free throws, but I'm a sub. I played half a season, 15 minutes a night. No gambler's gonna build a point-shaving scheme around a reserve." Lucas explained and Claudia's breath hitched.

"Okay, so, what is gonna happen, then?" Claudia asked worried as she pulled on her long sleeved stretchy top.

"Well, I think that after they're done looking at me, that they're gonna start taking a look at Nathan." Lucas replied and Claudia looked worried, hell she was worried. Her husband's dream was going to be taken away from him. Everything he had worked for, gone. "I hate to say it, Claude, but when they do... it's gonna end up really bad." Lucas adding Claudia out more.

"Okay. Okay, um... How bad is... is really bad?" Claudia asked stuttering.

"Well, Nathan's not gonna go to jail. But he's not gonna go to Duke, either." Lucas replied honestly and Claudia was devastated. She had to do something.

___

The front door to Brooke and Peyton's new apartment opened. Peyton looked at Brooke frightened, she thought it was Derek/Ian.

"Did you leave the front door unlocked?" Peyton asked as she sat beside Brooke on the bed. 

"No." Brooke replied as they both leaned over to see who was there, scared. Claudia and Haley entered the room. 

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I have a key." Claudia apologised as she entered the room.

"We... we didn't know if you were sleeping. Sorry." Haley added as she walked in too. Peyton and Brooke sighed with relief.

"It's okay. You locked the door, right?" Brooke asked as Haley and Claudia sat on the bed with them. 

"Yes, I did." Claudia replied as she got comfortably with her baby bump.

"I used to love my room, and he took it from me. Psycho Derek. It's like I... I really thought if we just fought back, like, if we attacked our attacker, that he would go away, but he hasn't." Peyton explained sadly. 

"It's really gonna take some time, Peyton." Haley sighed. 

"You guys went through something really traumatic." Claudia added and Peyton rested her head on Brooke's shoulder.

"Yeah, but what if you have finals and you can't sleep and you don't have time?" Peyton asked, 

"Well, then, hopefully, you have a friend who's gonna tell you that life kicks you around sometimes." Brooke started saying as she placed her hand on Peyton's knee. "It... It scares you, and it beats you up. But... there's a day when you realize that you're not just a survivor. You're a warrior." Brooke explained and Peyton sat up as she wiped away her tears. "You're tougher than anything it throws your way. And you are, Peyton. You are." Brooke said comfortingly before she turned to face Claudia and Haley. "And so are you, Claude and you Haley." Brooke smiled.

"Thank you." Haley replied as she squeezed Brooke's hand.

"And so are you, Brooke." Claudia added.

"Thanks." Brooke smiled as Peyton rested her head again on Brooke's shoulder.

"Come here." Brooke whispered as she hugged Peyton. Claudia knew that they were going to get through it because they were strong females. Strong females that could face anything and come out on top. 

___

Claudia and Nathan were lying in bed together. They were back in Nathan's old bed since they moved back into his old house.

"We talked about not saying anything. Lucas... he was supposed to do nothing." Nathan explained, Lucas had said it was his fault. That it was not Nathan's. He lied to protect his brother.

"He's really just trying to help out." Claudia replied.

"It's just so Lucas, you know? Trying to be the hero." Nathan replied as he sat up and rested on one arm. "I'm not gonna feel guilty about it. Nobody asked him to do this." Nathan added as he looked down at Claudia.

"That's not exactly true." Claudia stated and Nathan looked at her confused. Claudia leaned over and switched on the lamp before she sighed deeply. She buried her faces in her hands before she spoke to Nathan. "He's doing this for me because I asked him to. And if you're not gonna feel guilty about it, then I sure as hell will, because he is my best friend and he's your brother and he's doing this for all of us. For you and me and our twins son, and, um... it just really sucks." Claudia explained and Nathan felt worse, way worse.  

"Damn it. I'm sorry, Claude. I'm sorry I put us through this. I'm sorry I made you ask Lucas to take the blame. I'm sorry I've been so weak about all this." Nathan apologised and Claudia placed her hand on his shoulder.

"You are about to make every dream you've had come true. Everybody understands that." Claudia replied honestly and Nathan shook his head as he stood up off of the bed.

"No, it's not worth it. I mean, what the hell was I thinking? We're gonna be parents soon. What would we want our twins to do? What would make us proud? And what am I gonna say to them someday when they asks about this? That I was Dan? That I put what I wanted in front of everything else?" Nathan asked frantically and Claudia watched frightened, scared for Nathan.

"Nathan... you're gonna lose it all... your scholarship, the game that you love." Claudia replied trying to get him to come to his senses. She hated what she was doing to Lucas but basketball wasn't his career but for Nathan it was all he had. 

"I won't lose it all. I'll still have you, and we'll still have our son... and we'll have that feeling that in the face of all this, we didn't lose our way. We still know right from wrong." Nathan explained as he sat back down on the bed.

"I'm just... scared for you." Claudia admitted trying to hold back the tears. "I love you for this, but... but it's just not... it's not my dream that's dying. It's yours." Claudia continued on the brink of tears.

"It's gonna be hard. I know that, but... the people I admire are the people that carve a life for themselves after their dream dies." Nathan explained before he sighed. "My father could never get past it, Claude. He could never let go of what he wanted when he was 17... and look what it did to him." Nathan added and Claudia sighed before she hugged Nathan. She hated what this game was doing to him and blamed herself.

"This is my fault." Claudia cried and Nathan shook his head. "It is. If you never married me, if we never dated then you wouldn't of had debts. You wouldn't of had to succumb to Daunte." Claudia confessed and she cried.

"Claudia don't." Nathan shushed her as he held her in his arms. "Let's just blame Lucas." Nathan suggested laughing and Claudia looked up at Nathan.

"That works with me." Claudia joked before Nathan kissed her on the top of her head. 

___

Nathan walked up to Whitey in the school corridor. 

"Coach." Nathan called and Whitey turned around to face him.

"I don't know how you can look your brother in the eye, Nathan." Whitey stated honestly. "This is a damn disgrace." Whitey added honestly.

"Coach, I lied to you on the River Court yesterday and during the playoffs. It wasn't Lucas." Nathan admitted.  

"I know." Whitey replied monotone.

"I'm sorry." Nathan apologised.

"So am I... more than you'll ever know." Whitey replied before he walked away from Nathan. Claudia saw and walked up to Nathan. She was going to be with him every step of the way. 

"You have got this." Claudia whispered reassuringly as she walked with Nathan hand in hand to the outside press conference. She saw Lucas and Haley standing beside each other in the audience.  People gathered in front of Nathan with microphones, Claudia took a step back.

"When I was 2 years old, I made my first basket. When I was 6, basketball went from being a game to a sport. Since then, I've played 7,072 official minutes... probably 20,000 or 30,000 unofficial. But for 32 minutes this season, over the course of two games, I did not compete to the best of my ability." Nathan explained and Claudia watched him proud. She was proud that he was doing this. "I regret this." Nathan added as people took photos and recorded him. "And I regret that the fear of losing the opportunity to continue playing the game that I've always loved prevented me from standing up and taking full responsibility for this sooner. I apologize to my coach and to my teammates and to all the kids who look up to me... especially to the kids." Nathan apologised. "And while I never lost a game on purpose, the truth is still the truth. And you can spin it and shade it and bend it, but there's still right and wrong, and I was wrong. And the truth is, I've forsaken a game that's always been incredibly good to me and teammates that have been like brothers... and a brother that was a teammate." Nathan continued and Lucas nodded his head at Nathan. Claudia placed a hand on her bump soothingly. "To my coach... my wife..." Nathan continued before he looked over at Claudia who smiled at him, "my father, and my family, I apologize for the burden I know this will bring." Nathan apologised. "I know that the integrity of the game cannot be compromised. I regret that my own integrity was not as steadfast. I'm deeply remorseful for the choices I've made, but I will accept whatever consequences there might be. I love this game. I'm sorry I betrayed it." Nathan finished honestly before he walked away with Claudia. 

"You did great and I am proud of you. We will figure this out together." Claudia said to Nathan once they got inside of the school. Claudia hugged him and he hugged her back.