Title: She Holds A Key
Summary: Everything in Tree Hill is all changing at once. Lucas is engaged. Brooke's life is falling apart. A tragic death hit's the residents of Tree Hill. Based on spoilers for season six.
AN: So this story is based off all of the spoilers for season six that are out there so far. Not everything is exactly how it's going to go because I do not know how it's going to go. The first few chapters will focus on all of the characters but it's centered around Brooke and Lucas. I hate to write Lucas and Peyton together but they will be for a few chapters. I'm going to try and make each chapter as if it were an episode so you can consider the first chapter as episode 6.01. There are some spoiler scenes that we know of that I didn't include but it's probably because Lucas and Peyton are in them and I just can't stand them, no offense if any LP fan is reading. I would love to hear everyone's response to the story so please review and thank you for reading. Oh and the part in italics in this chapter is a dream sequence. And I made it in this story so Dan didn't get hit with a car because we all know that it's something to do with Carrie and I don't feel like bringing in that drama with this.
Chapter One
Lucas Scott sat inside Tree Hill's airport with two tickets to Las Vegas in his hand. He glanced down at his phone that was in his other hand then let out a huge sigh. He couldn't get everything Haley had preached to him earlier about following his heart of his head. He knew she was right, that's exactly what he needed to do he just didn't know what his heart wanted. Lindsey, the girl he has loved for the past few years and almost married. Peyton, the girl who broke his heart and never seemed to actually want him until he was happy. Or even Brooke, they hadn't been together since high school but all the time they had been spending together lately honestly made him question whether or not he made the right choice letting her go all those years ago. Lucas's thoughts were interrupted by a man who had just taken a seat next to him and was now trying to start a conversation "you headed to Vegas to?"
Lucas looked over at him and nodded "yeah" he replied politely.
"It's a great town to go to, I make sure I go at least once a year. You going alone?"
Lucas then cast his glance down to the two tickets that were in his hand "I'm not sure yet"
"I'm Gus by the way" the older black man extended his hand for Lucas to shake.
Lucas shook his "I'm Lucas"
"Well I hope you have a good time" he looked at his watch "the flights not for another two hours I think I'm going to find me some coffee around here, it was nice talking to you" he said as he disappeared.
Lucas watched the man disappear and leaned back. He only two hours. Not even two hours to decide just where his heart was at. He leaned his head back going into deep thought but as he did he slowly started drifting off to sleep…
Lucas found himself standing in the middle of a crowded sidewalk in front of a table with three cards on it laid face down. A man suddenly appeared, it was Gus. Lucas looked around then over at Gus "what is this?"
Gus pointed to the three cards and started flipping each one of them over "this is your future" he said as he finished flipping all three of the cards over. One card with Brooke's face on it, the other with Peyton's, and the last with Lindsay's face.
Lucas looked down at the cards confused "what am I suppose to do with these?"
"It's really simple. You have three wonderful choices but you and I both know you can only pick one. But I think you need a little insight before making this big of a choice" he pushed Brooke's card closer to Lucas "she's a beautiful women but let's see what your life would be like if you chose her" he pointed across the street.
Just across the street was Lucas he was walking up to an apartment building with red roses in his hand. He was met at the door by Brooke "hey baby…sorry I'm late" he said as he leaned in to kiss her.
Brooke smiled to herself then kissed him back "I forgive you this time…but our next anniversary you might not be so lucky"
Lucas laughed lightly and handed the roses to her "these are for you"
"They're beautiful, I love them" she gushed as she looked down at the roses.
Lucas smiled to himself "let's go, shall we?" he asked as he grabbed her hand and got into a taxi with her.
The taxi dropped them off at a small but formal restaurant and they both went inside and took their seats and their table. As they ordered their food they still hand one of their hands connected together. Brooke looked over at him after she was done ordering and smiled "I'm so glad we got married, this has been the best year"
Lucas lifted her hand up and kissed it "yeah it really has been"
"You know, when you first proposed to me I thought you had went crazy. And it was hard at first and I know we've both gave up a lot to be here. My friendship with Peyton and you moving to New York. But I wouldn't change it for anything" she said softly.
Lucas smiled over at her "Neither would I…I love you, Brooke"
"I love you too" she said as she looked into his eyes.
Lucas's dinner with Brooke is cut off and now he is back at the table with Gus. Gus glances over at him "that would be a very nice life but like she said you both had to give up a lot just to be together" he pushed Peyton's card towards him "let's see what life with Peyton would be like"
Lucas then was in Tree Hill outside of TRIC. He looked down at the red roses there were in his hands and started going up the stairs to where Red Room Records was located. He found Peyton sitting there listening to music while she was on the phone. He waited until she hung up and a small smile crept on his face "happy anniversary Mrs. Scott" he said as her handed her the roses he had bought for her.
Peyton smiled then stood up and went over and kissed him "happy anniversary to you too Mr. Scott"
Lucas pulled away and smiled her "so I was thinking…tonight they have this band in town and I know you've been dying to go hear some live music so I figured we could go there and then out for dinner if that's okay with you?"
Peyton just nodded and kissed him again "it's perfect" she pulled "I can't believe we've been married already a year. I knew that night when you called I would've never been able to say no and I'm so glad I didn't"
"I am too…" he smiled at her but then found himself right back at the table where Gus was.
Gus pushed over the last card "one more to go…"
Lucas then woke up to an apartment building that he recognized as Lindsay's. He got up and saw her typing away on her laptop. He smiled to himself and then over at kissed her "hey you…so what do you want to do for our one year anniversary. I was thinking we could go take a stroll in Central Park today and then tonight I'll take you somewhere you want to…"
Lindsay then cut him off "Maybe tomorrow"
Lucas groaned "Baby come on, it's our anniversary…what's wrong with you?"
"Well I'm busy editing the book you wrote about Peyton today!" she glared at him then went back to typing.
"Okay…how many times am I going to have to tell you that's not about her and can you please not bring that up today!"
"Okay I won't bring it up today because I won't be here" she got up and grabbed her coat and left. As soon as Lucas got up to follow her, he was already back in front of the cards.
"Well that's all of them" said Gus as he put the cards back in a line "now pick one"
Just then Lucas saw everyone of his friends and family appear all at once and start to say the same thing as Gus. Just as Lucas reached out to pick one…
Lucas jumped up out of his seat after his dream. He knew what he had to do. The dream was practically screaming to him just what the right choice would be. He pulled out his phone and started speaking when he heard a voice answer "hey it's me…listen. I'm at the airport, I've got two tickets to Las Vegas" he was quiet a second "do you want to get married tonight?"
At least thirty minutes had passed since Lucas hung up the phone. The flight was boarding in ten minutes and he really at this point didn't think she was going to show up. He looked over and saw Gus coming back over "so I take it you are going alone?" he asked.
Lucas shook his head "We'll see in the next few minutes" he looked over at him "you know I just had a crazy dream and you were in it"
"Me?" he laughed "what was this dream about?"
"Well I had to choose between three girl and you were this card dealer and you were showing me what my first anniversary would be like with each of them"
"Is that so?" he smiled "I'm guessing that dream had something to do with what is going on in your life right now?"
Lucas nodded "yeah…I actually just called one of them and asked her to marry me"
Gus looked over and saw Peyton coming towards Lucas with a huge smile on her face. Gus tapped his leg and nodded towards her "I guess you made the right choice" he excused himself and got up and got ready to board the plane.
Lucas got up and put his hands in his pockets nervously "so you came"
Peyton nodded and moved over closer to him "you're a mess Lucas, calling and asking someone to marry you over the phone" she then leaned in and kissed him and then pulled away 'but you're my mess and I love you"
"I love you too" he said then started kissing her again. He kissed her for just a minute longer before pulling away "let's go get married"
The next morning, Brooke opened the door to Clothes Over Bros and walked inside and sat her keys and handbag down on the counter. She stood there a minute just taking in the silence. Angie hadn't even been gone twenty four hours yet and she was already missing her to death. Brooke's thoughts were interrupted by the bell on the door dinging as it opened. She looked back and spotted Millicent walking in "Hey Brooke…" she looked around "where's Angie?"
Brooke looked down then back up at her "they took her back yesterday"
Millicent gave her an apologetic look and walked over to her "Brooke, I'm so sorry"
Brooke shook her head "don't be, I should've expected to feel like this when she left"
Millicent just nodded slowly "so I hate to throw this out on you with everyone you are going through but…Mouth got a job in Omaha and I'm moving with him"
Brooke smiled and went over and hugged her "that's great" she pulled away.
"Really? You aren't mad?"
"No, I'm not mad. I'll miss you and Mouth but I'm happy for the both of you"
"Thank you I thought…" she was cut off by Brooke's shocked expression just as someone walked into the store. Millicent turned around to see Victoria standing there with a smug look on her face "oh dear" she mumbled "I'll be in the back" she said as she hurried past Brooke.
Brooke started walking closer to Victoria with her arms crossed "what are you doing here?" she asked coldly.
Victoria smirked "it's nice to see you to" she rolled her eyes and shook her head "I'm just here to get what is mine"
"What are you talking about?"
"Don't play dumb with me, Brooke. You know exactly what I'm talking about. It's around the time for you to submit the summer designs and a lot of them were my idea so I would like the ones that are mine"
Brooke huffed and glared at her "I drew them up myself, just because you thought of a few things doesn't mean they are your designs!"
"Brooke, don't make this difficult. Give them to me and I'll leave"
"You can stand here all day but you still aren't getting them so I'd just leave now"
Victoria glared at her "you'll regret this" she said as she walked angry out of the store.
Brooke watched her leave as Millicent came out of the back "I can't believe she had the nerve to just come in here and expect me to give her my designs!"
"I can…" she laughed lightly.
Just then a young girl, around the age of 15 came running in and grabbed something off one of the clothes racks and started storming out.
Brooke noticed her "hey what do you think you are doing!" she said as she tried grabbing it from the girl but the girl pushed her out of the way and got away. Brooke glanced back at Millicent with a look on her face and tried to see which way the girl had went but she was already out of sight.
Haley came into the kitchen and saw Nathan and Jamie sitting and the kitchen table both eating cereal. She smiled to herself and went and kissed the top of Jamie's head "good morning" she said to the both of them then kissed Nathan.
"Morning Momma!" he said happily as he stuffed some more cereal into his mouth.
Haley sat down beside Nathan and smiled over at him "you still on a high about making that shot last night?"
Nathan smiled to himself and nodded "how can I not be? I finally feel like everything is falling back into place. It's been slow but it's getting there"
"Daddy did real good momma, you should've seen it" said Jamie as he finished up his cereal.
Nathan looked over at him "I'm about to go to the gym to practice so more, you want to come with me?"
Jamie nodded "I'll be ready in five minutes" he said happy as he ran upstairs.
Nathan looked over at Haley as Jamie went upstairs "so what are you doing today?"
"I was thinking of going over to see Brooke. Lucas told me last night that they took Angie from her yesterday"
"I bet that's rough on her"
"Which is why I'm going to check on her" she looked down at her cell phone "you haven't by chance spoken to Lucas this morning have you?"
Nathan shook his head "no, why?"
"I called him all last night and all this morning and he's not answering and I'm really starting to worry"
"I'm sure he's fine Hales…he's probably still sleeping knowing Lucas" he saw Jamie coming back downstairs "I'll see you later" he kissed her before getting up and leaving with Jamie.
An hour or so later, Haley stepped inside Clothes Over Bros and saw Brooke sitting behind the counter sketching one of her designs. Brooke looked up and got up and came from behind the counter when she saw Haley "hey…what are you doing here?"
Haley went over and hugged her "Lucas told me about Angie…I'm so sorry Brooke"
Brooke gave into the hug and then pulled away "It's okay, I'll be fine…really" she said as she sat down on the couch with Haley.
"Well if you ever need anyone to talk to…you know where I am"
"I know and thank you for coming by" she looked over at her "but I do have to ask you something though"
Haley nodded "alright, what is it?"
"There was this girl that came in today and she grabbed some things off when of my racks and stormed out without paying for it. She looked to be around the age that you teach. She has really long brown hair and wears kind of bag clothes. She's not ugly or anything she just looks kind of like she's mad at the world"
Haley nodded slowly "sounds like you are describing Sam…she's in my fourth hour class and the description fits her perfectly. I'll keep a look out for any Clothes Over Bros clothes on her and tell you"
"Alright…" she was quiet a minute "so my mom came by today"
Haley's mouth dropped "what? Well what did she want?"
Brooke rolled her eyes "she wanted the designs that I drew out for my summer line because she claims that she gave me all the ideas for them!"
Haley shook her head "please tell me you didn't give them to her"
"I didn't" she laughed and then changed the subject "by the way have you talked to Peyton? I've been really worried about her she didn't come home last night and she won't answer her phone"
"No I haven't but Lucas won't answer the phone for me either…" just then they both received text messages Brooke got one from Peyton and Haley got one for Lucas and they both were just saying not to worry and that they were fine. They showed each other the messages and gave each other a look.
Lucas and Peyton walked hand in hand into a chapel in Las Vegas. Lucas looked over at her a smirked "so I was thinking we could have an Elvis wedding?"
Peyton laughed "in your dreams"
Someone then came over and told them they still had two couples ahead of them to marry but to fill out all the papers and they'd get to them as soon as possible.
Lucas and Peyton both sat down and started filling out the papers. As they were filling them out they watched on as the other couples had their weddings. One even decided to do it alien themed. Lucas sat down the papers and glanced over at her "we can't do this…"
"What…" she said her voice almost breaking.
"I don't mean it like that. I mean we can't get married like this. It's not romantic enough. Do you really want to get married in one of these stupid theme weddings and tell people this is how we got married?"
Peyton got what he was saying and shook her head "you're right this isn't how it should be happening"
Lucas stood up and grabbed her hands "let's get out of here" he said as they both walked out of the chapel.
Later that night Nathan came in carrying a sleeping Jamie. He smiled over at Haley "hey" he whispered.
Haley went over and grabbed Jamie from Nathan "I'll put him to bed" she said as she went upstairs and laid him down.
Once she took his shoes and everything off and got him tucked in she came into the room where Nathan was "you two look like you've had a long day"
Nathan nodded in agreement "oh yeah" he said as he started taking off his shoes "you should've seen Jamie today he was doing the Soulja Boy with Quentin" he laughed.
Haley laughed and rolled her eyes as she got into bed "oh gosh" she moved over and leaned against Nathan "so I think Lucas and Peyton ran off somewhere together"
Nathan wrapped his arms around her "are you serious?"
Haley nodded "yep…"
Nathan sighed "well maybe it will work out this time for them"
"Hopefully" she leaned up and kissed him "night, I love you"
"I love you too" he said as he reached over and shut off the light.
Peyton opened the door to a hotel room and looked back at Lucas "do you know where we are?"
Lucas looked around confused "a hotel room?"
Peyton laughed "yes but…this is the hotel room you proposed to me the first time at"
Lucas smiled gently and turned around to kiss her "I can't believe you brought me here"
"I was stupid when I said no to you before…but I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you Lucas" she said as their lips collided.
Brooke was in the back of her store. The lights were off in the front and it was getting late. She had already closed for the night but stayed back to work on some designs. She turned everything off in the back and started coming towards the front of the store when she saw someone from behind throwing things around in her store. Her mind immediately snapped to the name Haley told her, it had to be that Sam girl. Brooke walked up "listen Sam if you just put everything down now I won't…" she was stopped by a man who put his hands over her mouth. It wasn't Sam and she was wrong. Brooke tried fighting herself away from him but he pushed her down and just kept punching her and suddenly she slowly started to feel everything go black…