A/N: This is based on the movie(or should I say my FAVORITE movie:)) "Raising Helen". It's slightly AU, but basically Brooke has to take in her 2 nieces and nephew after her older sister dies. It has many of the same "details" as in the movie, as well as many new ones and some the same but "twisted" a little bit!! As always, I don't own anything (except for Lexi, Ryan, Olivia, etc.)! Please RR!!!!! Also, I know all of my facts aren't exactly straight…. just work with me!:)
Just a few notes:
-Brooke is about 26 in this fic. She has 2 older sisters (AU!)—Molly is her sister that died, and would be around 39, whose children are Lexi (15) Olivia (12) and Ryan (6) and then her sister Julie who is about 34 and has two of her own children, Hannah (5) and Tyler (3). Also, this story takes place in the L.A./California area, but there will be appearances by the OTH cast
Brooke Davis sat at the table in what used to be her oldest sister's dining room. For the past few days, it had been anything but. To
Brooke, it had been a room in which people had been in and out of, offering their condolences on the passing of Molly and her
husband Jack. It had been anything but the room that they had held countless family gatherings in. That room had been filled with love
and laughter. This room was filled with tears and sadness. A week ago, it had been the first:
Flashback:
Brooke ran up to her sister's house in the suburbs of Los Angeles, late as usual. What could she do? She worked at an extremley high profile publicist firm, and was hoping to land a spot as a publicist for some of Hollywood's A-listers. Between work and partying in LA, it was tough to make it to family gatherings, let alone on time! But still, she loved and cherished the time she got to spend with her sisters, brothers-in-law, and nieces and nephews.
She flew through the door just in time to hear the final verses of "Happy Birthday" and to see Molly blow out all 38 candles!
"I'm Here!!" she exclaimed, as only Brooke Davis could.
"Brooke!!" Molly jumped up from her seat, Brooke's nieces and nephews following. Brooke noticed Julie, aka Martha Stewart, roll her eyes, but chose to ignore it.
"I'm here!"Brooke laughed, "late but here!"
"Well, that's all we ask!" Molly chuckled back, hugging her tightly.
"Hey you guys!!" Brooke said to her nieces and nephews, trying to give them all 'half-hugs' at once.
"Come on, Come on, we need to cut this cake!!!" Julie said tightly from the other side of the room.
"Nice to see you too, Jules" Brooke said to herself. She started to follow Molly and the kids back into the dining room before she felt a tug on her arm. She turned to see her oldest niece, Lexi, standing right behind her. Lexi was the spitting image of Brooke at her age except her brown hair was streaked with caramel and blonde highlights... She was absolutley gorgeous, with perfect skin, a great tan, and, of course, the killer Davis smile.
"Hey, can I talk to you really fast?" Lexi said, seeming slightly distressed.
"Sure" Brooke smiled back, "Hey Jules, I'm going to grab the ice cream out of the freezer with Lex really fast, need anything else?"
"Oh great, yeah can you grab some more birthday napkins from the counter?" Julie called back.
"No problem" Brooke giggled. Oh Julie…ever the homemaker.
She followed Lexi into the kitchen and made sure the swinging door was shut behind her.
"So what's up babe?" Brooke said, looking at Lexi leaning on the counter, playing with her acryilic nails.
"Um…ok well I guess I'll just cut to the chase…could you sign this paper so that I could get a perscription for birth control?" Lexi said, spitting out the last part rather quickly.
"Wow…um sweetie have you talked to your mom about this?" Brooke asked her slowly. She didn't really know what to make of Lexi's request… 'What's the harm in it?' she thought to her self, 'better safe than sorry'. But, she knew Molly would probably kill her.
"No…" Lexi replied back " She would freak out if she even suspected I was THINKING about sex, let alone doing it!"
As far as Brooke knew, Lexi had come close, but hadn't actually done "it". Brooke and Lexi had grown pretty close over the past couple of years. Lexi came to her with everything. Brooke knew what Lexi had done with what guys and when, and a couple of months ago she had been the first one Lexi had excitedly shown her fake I.D. to. When Lexi had first mentioned to her about having sex with her current boyfriend Tony, Brooke had basically just told her to be safe about it and to do it when and if she felt right. Not too bad, if she did say so herself.
"Well…okay fine!"Brooke giggled. She loved getting to be Lexi's pseudo big sister. "But, if your mom finds out you have these, I had NOTHING to do with it," Brooke smiled. " And you still have to use protection, got it?"
"Got it" Lexi smiled back, obviously relieved.
Brooke signed the sheet and handed it back to Lexi. She went to pull the ice cream out of the freezer. "So…does this mean that you and whats-his-face are like doing it now!?"
Lexi just smiled mischieviously back at her.
"Oohh my little Lexi is growing up…just be careful okay?" Brooke added, a little more seriously. She loved getting to be "fun Aunt Brookie", but she still had to add in a responsible tidbit
"I will Aunt Brooke, I promise"
The two headed back to the dining room to join the rest of the family.
The rest of the evening was spent joking and enjoying eachother's company. After they had all finished cake and ice cream, Julie and her husband Mark stood up.
"We have an announcement to make" Julie said, smiling from ear to ear. " In about six months…well February 16th to be exact…we're expecting our 3rd baby!!"
The room exploded into sounds of cheers and congratulations. It was the perfect way to cap off a perfect night with her sisters.
About an hour later, around eleven, Brooke bade everyone farewell to get back to the city and start her night. Even though it was only Thursday, Brooke Davis had a thriving nightlife. She hugged everyone good-bye, and finally Molly. "Happy Birthday big sis" she said in her ear. "Have too much fun in Vegas this weekend, okay?" "Oh Brooke…I don't think I'll ever able to outdo you" Molly giggled back. "Okay well, have a safe flight on Saturday, and I'll call you next week to hear all about it!" Brooke smiled. And with that, she walked out the door to head back to the City of Angels.
Too bad they would never even get on the plane. On their way to the airport that Saturday morning, Molly and Jack's car collided
with another and was sent flying into the median. Both were killed instantly on impact. Now it was Tuesday night, and while Brooke
should have talked to her sister that morning about her amazing birthday trip to Vegas, she instead had spent it at her funeral. Julie had
held a reception at Molly's house after the funerals, and the two sisters had just finished cleaning up from the day's advance. They
were now seated in the dining room, sitting across the table from Molly and Jack's lawyer, who had come to talk with Julie and
Brooke about their sister's assests and, most importantly, the custody of her children.
"Well, I see it has been decided amongst yourselves that you are going to sell the property, entitled to John and Molly Ivers at 9389
Ravenswood Drive." The lawyer, Rick Jones said solemnly. While he was only their lawyer, he had known Molly, Julie, and Brooke
for quite some time, even when they had been younger and growing up in Tree Hill, North Carolina, as he had been friends with their
parents.
"Yes, that would be correct." Julie replied.
"Okay, well then, the monies from the sale of the house will go to trust funds set up for the children at the bank" Rick continued.
"Now, our next and most important issue. In regards to custody of Alexia Danielle, Olivia Lauren, and Ryan Graham, sole
guardianship is entrusted to Brooke Davis.
"What?"Brooke said, looking up from the table she had been staring at for the past 10 minutes.
"What?" Julie said, sounding totally defeated.
"They made it very clear. Brooke Davis." Rick said once again, digging into his briefcase. "She left a letter for each of you, explaining
her decision."
The two sisters each spent a moment looking over their letters.
"Well are there any exceptions? Any-Any- I don't know!" Julie started babbling, obviously flustered.
"If Brooke decides she is unable or unwilling to take care of the children, then you, Julie, are thusly appointed."
Before Julie could respond to that, Brooke cut in, "When should I tell them?"
"Tell them what?"Julie said, her voice shaking.
"That…. well we're going to be roomies!" Brooke said, trying to crack a smile
"You mean… you're going to take them?" Julie said, her voice reeking of disbelief.
"Yeah…" Brooke replied, "I think it might be good for all of us".
"Wait what?"Lexi said, looking at Brooke in disbelief.
"You mean… We're going to be living with YOU?" Olivia said, sounding even more shocked then her older sister.
"Yup" Brooke said, staring blankly at all of them.
"But I want to live with mommy" Ryan cried.
Brooke just about lost it hearing those words from her nephew. How badly she wanted him to be able to live with his mommy.
"Well sweetie, remember what you and Aunt Julie talked about earlier? Mommy and Daddy are in heaven now. And they still love you
very much, and while they can see you and watch you at my house, they just can't be here with you right now" Brooke tried to explain
to Ryan, without breaking down in tears.
"Otay"Ryan replied gloomily.
They all sat in silence for a few moments. "So… what do you girls think about this?" Brooke said, trying to break the silence.
"Eh… maybe it'll be fun." Olivia said back to her, smiling softly. Olivia was always the optimist, Brooke thought to herself. She was
usually quiet, much more so than Lexi, and Brooke knew that she would do anything she could to make this work out for all of them.
"Yeah…. it will be" Brooke smiled back. "Lex?"
"Whatever" Lexi muttered. With that, she pushed back her chair and ran up the stairs. Music could be heard blaring from above the
dining room seconds later.
Lexi's attitude surprised Brooke. For the past few days, they hadn't really had the chance to talk, with the craziness of the wake,
funeral, and people coming to the house nonstop. She knew that Lexi was probably taking her parents deaths a lot harder than she
appeared to be showing—well okay, scratch that, she knew she was—but she had expected her to confide in her, not run.
"Okay, well it's been a long day for all of us. Livvy, how about you take Ryan upstairs and help him put his jammies on, and I'll meet
you guys in your rooms to say goodnight," Brooke told her niece and nephew.
The two of them headed upstairs. Brooke went to the kitchen to start organizing some of the many casseroles and desserts neighbors
had brought over throughout the weekend. Julie had brought some of it home with her, but there were still dozens of things left on the
island in the kitchen. Molly and Jack were obviously loved by their neighbors just as much as they were by their family. After a few
minutes, she gave up and decided to go try and talk to Lexi.
She made her way up the stairs and knocked softly on Lexi's door. "Lex?" she called. She could still hear music playing faintly inside
the room, but it was nowhere near the sound-barrier breaking levels it was at before. "I'm doing stuff" Lexi called back shortly.
"Come on babe, open the door." Finally, the knob turned and the door opened a crack. Brooke pushed it open all the way to find
Lexi, sitting in the fuzzy chair in the corner of her room, typing away on her laptop, the faint sound of instant messages coming from the
computer's speakers. Brooke sat down Indian style on Lexi's bed. "Come on Lex, turn that thing off and talk to me."
Lexi rolled her eyes and put the computer down and came over and sat next to Brooke on the bed.
"What?" She said finally, a tone of annoyance in her voice.
"It's okay to be sad Lexi. You can talk to me. I mean, come on, we always talk." Brooke said softly.
"Whatever" Lexi replied shortly, playing with her nails.
"Lexi, please. You can't just shut out the world. It's going to be hard for awhile, but it'll be better if you don't just keep it all bottled up
inside" Brooke said.
Lexi sat staring into space for about a minute, and right before Brooke was about to open her mouth again, she saw two big, fat tears
roll down her cheeks.
"Oh sweetie" she said comfortingly, taking Lexi into her arms and engulfing her in a hug. Sobs racked Lexi's body, and for the first
time all weekend, she finally let her feelings out.
"It's okay baby, it's okay" Brooke said, stroking her hair. Brooke knew that Lexi wasn't one to show emotion easily. In fact, the only
other time that Brooke had even seen Lexi cry, aside from when she was a little kid, was about a year ago, when Lexi broke up with
one of her first boyfriends, Danny. Brooke had been at their house for the weekend, actually probably right around this very weekend,
watching the kids while Jack had taken Molly up to Napa for her 38th birthday. Lexi had come home from a party, and after a little
coaxing, admitted to Brooke that Danny had ended things and the tears started to flow. However, Brooke was able to fix that
heartbreak with some Ben & Jerry's and a pedicure. She could only wish that this would be as simple.
Ok...I know it's short but I just want to see if you guys like it! I have the next chapter, and most of the 3rd, already written, so I will upload them as soon as I get some reviews!!! Also, I promise there will eventually be some appearances by the whole OTH cast asap!!!