AN- Hello! I really don't like posting stories before they are completed, but I really wanted to get this up. Please review and tell me what you think. It's only half written now, so if nobody likes it I'll just leave at this and make it an oneshot. As always there are plenty of kids so I'll do what I did for Hello Life-
Brooke and Lucas-
Leighton- Seven
Aniston- Five
Taylor- Three
Jenna- Two
Elijah- Newborn
Nathan and Haley-
Aaden- Eight
Miriam- Four
Thank you so much for reading this, it means the absolute world to me.
Disclaimer- I don't own One Tree Hill. Title is by Carrie Underwood.
Chapter One-
Brooke was lying in a hospital bed, tears streaming down her face. She had just given birth to her fifth child. Elijah Mason Scott. He was beautiful, she knew. He deserved more. More than the life she and her family were living. Lucas walked into the room, and she quickly wiped the teardrops off her cheeks.
"Hey Lucas,"
"Hey baby, you want to see Elijah?" he asked for the millionth time that day.
Brooke shook her head. She wished he'd stop asking her that. She didn't want to go see him. She didn't want to hold him. All she wanted was to go home, and try to raise the four kids waiting for her there; she didn't need to throw another one into the mix. It wouldn't be fair to Elijah.
"You can't pretend you don't have another son Brooke," Lucas said, adding to the anger Brooke was already feeling.
"I'm not pretending anything, I'm admitting the truth, I didn't want another child."
"Well that's fine, but you have one. You have a newborn son, and you need to start acting like it."
"I am acting like I have a newborn son. I am acting exactly like I have a newborn son. I'm also acting like I didn't want another kid."
"Stop it Brooke, you're turning into your mother."
"I'm turning into my parents? What about you, Dan Junior? Do you even know the name of Taylor's favorite stuffed animal? You don't."
"At least I want my children."
"Have you ever thought that I don't want another child because of you? I am raising our children alone! Maybe I'm not so thrilled with the idea of a newborn in the house because I already have four kids to raise! Maybe it's because Jenna still insists on me carrying her everywhere, and she should, she's two! But I can't carry her and a baby! And if you were good husband and father, you'd understand that!"
"I'm not a good father? Do you understand that I work over-time, every day, trying to get enough commission to feed our children? What are you doing to put food in their mouths?"
"I'm giving them a lot more than a meal. I'm giving them love! I'm taking care of them! I'm showing them that they are important to me!"
"Well that's great Brooke, but that's not keeping their stomachs full, clothes on their backs, or a roof over their heads."
"No, you're right, it's not. It's teaching them that money isn't everything."
"Well I just came in to tell you to call Haley, I can't take you and Eli home tomorrow; I'm trying to make money to keep him from starving to death."
"Fine. If you don't want to be there to see the looks on your kids' faces when they meet their new brother, fine. Have fun feeding us."
Lucas rolled his eyes and left the hospital room.
Brooke felt tears begin to well up in her eyes again. She missed her Lucas. He hadn't been himself since Taylor was born. He started working constantly. When he was home he wasn't happy. Leighton and Aniston had spent hours in their bedrooms crying. Taylor and Jenna didn't even know their father. They only knew the man that was home occasionally and always seemed angry about something.
Brooke knew the marriage was almost over. She needed support. She needed the support of a man. Someone to love her. Someone other than her kids to fall asleep next to. She needed a husband, and Lucas wasn't a husband.
She loved Elijah. She really did. But she regretted him. He was an accident, plain and simple. It almost seemed like a one night stand to Brooke. She and Lucas had slept together twice since Jenna was born two years earlier. And one of those times resulted in Elijah. She already knew that she would never call him Eli. She knew that other people would, but to her he would be Elijah and nothing else.
Her life was chaos. Her children weren't happy. Leighton and Aniston both missed Lucas. They were without a doubt the shyest of the family, and Brooke blamed it on Lucas. They were always quiet, but when Lucas stopped spending time with them it seemed as though they shut down. Leighton stopped hanging out with girls in her class; it became Nathan and Haley's son Aaden or no one. Aniston became lost in a world of dinosaurs and animals. He spent every second thinking or talking about them. He had one friend who was in the same world. Animals.
Taylor and Jenna hadn't gotten the chance to be directly hurt by Lucas. They barely knew him. Taylor thought the world of him, but Brooke doubted that they'd had a full conversation in a year, it ever. Taylor and Jenna had no idea what men were like. They were Brooke though and through. Taylor had become the maternal side of Brooke, watching over her brothers and sisters as if they were her own children. She had become Brooke's saving grace. She knew how to wash dishes and do laundry already and she was only three. The best part was that she loved it. Jenna had become Brooke from high-school. She was a little spoiled and enormously independent. Yet she relied on being near Brooke constantly. She wouldn't put on the outfit Brooke chose for her, but she needed Brooke there while she picked out her own clothes. She could throw a fit like none other, but she wasn't a difficult child, just a dreamer. She was a dreamer without a strong male support in her life. She was Brooke thirty years younger.
They needed Lucas. Brooke was scared of raising Elijah. She'd had Lucas for the first couple years of Aniston's life, but she knew she would be on her own with Elijah. When she thought about the future, she prayed it would be different. But she knew it wouldn't be. She knew in her heart that on the night of Leighton's freshman prom, Lucas would be at work. Not at home telling her date what was expected of him. And her date would most likely be Aaden, although he'd be sure to get a date in seconds. He wouldn't desert his friend. She knew how to talk to her girls about sex, but she was clueless about her boys. Who knew how boys thought? Would Elijah play sports, or become like Jenna and Taylor, mini-Brookes? She was scared he wouldn't get the stimulation he needed. She was simply scared, and she depended on Lucas to give her strength. But he wasn't there. So she was just scared.