Stockholm

Prologue

Brooke couldn't believe she was now in the biggest jewelry store in Los Angeles returning her engagement ring. Actually it wasn't her engagement ring if she had said 'no' to the proposal, was it? Anyway Lucas told her to keep it even if she had said 'no' because when he bought it represented his love for her. Brooke didn't want to accept and he finally said it was a gift that she could go to the store and exchange for something else. Surely Brooke wouldn't accept it but when she realized he wasn't changing his mind she finally accepted the 'gift' but with the intention to do exactly what she was doing now. She was going to return the ring and get it refunded to his credit card.

After avoiding this moment for almost one week she finally decided that today was the day when she would finally leave her past behind her. She was about to graduate from UCLA and she wanted a new life. She was going to be a writer as she always had dreamed about and this new life she wanted didn't include Lucas Donovan anymore. Much water had been under the bridge with the athletic blond guy. They had this on again off again relationship ever since high school and she wasn't sure if he indeed loved her or their best friend Peyton. Truth be told Lucas had been dating one of the two girls for the past five years and Brooke was tired of it. She had forgiven their betrayal in high school because well, it was high school after all and they were all sixteen. Stupid, inconsequential, immature teenagers that didn't know what they were doing most of the time. Surely they were aware of their actions but Brooke actually believed that they didn't know what they really wanted and when you're this lost making a mistake is just bound to happen.

They broke up and Lucas and Peyton tried to be in a relationship but it didn't work out. A year later Brooke and Lucas tried again but when Peyton confessed that she still loved Lucas, Brooke decided to break things up with the blue-eyed boy to avoid any heart break. Not only had she called things off but also pushed the two brooding teenagers together. Lucas had resisted the best he could but at some point it was hard for a man to say no to a woman like Peyton.

They tried again at the end of their senior year and dated for two and a half years until Lucas finally broke up with Peyton because he had realized Brooke was the right girl for him. Surely Brooke didn't think so and had denied him what he wanted at first. But again, it wasn't that easy to keep saying no to a man like Lucas. They weren't the irresponsible and stupid teenagers they were before and she had actually decided to give him a chance after he tried for months. He even got transferred to UCLA to try to fix things with the woman he loved.

Now more than one year later here they were. He was proposing and she was declining it. Truth be told when she gave up on him during their senior year Brooke's feelings started to change. Surely she was in pain for a long time because she had loved Lucas more than she thought it was possible to love. But 'had' was the key word. She had moved on, she moved to LA and started a new life. And now she found herself wanting the same thing again and if she wanted a new life she needed to have one without Lucas Scott.

They were friends above all and she didn't want to hurt his feelings, especially because she knew Peyton had been truly hurt by his decision to break up with the former nerd girl to be with the always cheery one. Peyton had been the biggest reason why Brooke had said no to Lucas in the first place when he looked for her in LA. But as time passed Peyton had seemed to finally resign to the fact that Lucas maybe had never loved her. Surely he was infatuated by the girl he had seen from distance. The girl of his dreams as a teenager but Peyton knew he had only truly loved one girl in his life and said girl happened to be her best friend, who had reciprocated the feeling. The art student finally saw that it was pointless for her to be the impending reason for two people that loved each other that much to be together and also taking an airplane she had an honest and definitive conversation with her still best friend, giving her blessing to Lucas and Brooke.

Everything had been too overwhelming for Brooke. She had done the same thing for Peyton in high school, except that she was the one to actually break up her relationship with Lucas while later on Peyton was the one that had been dumped. Brooke wasn't sure if she still loved Lucas when he asked for a third chance but Peyton finally convinced her best friend that he loved her and she also loved him and that the only reason why they weren't already married planning a baby was because of her. Peyton assured Brooke that she was going to be the friend she should have been in high school and that she wouldn't be between the two lovers as she had been back then.

It was like the world wanted and pressured Brooke to be with him again and she couldn't do anything about it so she accepted 'their' offer. She had regretted it uncountable times ever since that day. Not only her friendship with Peyton had never been the same anymore but also her relationship with Lucas was nothing like she expected it to be when she had said yes to him.

And now she was here, to return the symbol of his love for her. Most of the time she did believe he loved her, just like when he proposed but she couldn't pull away his feelings for Peyton from the back of her mind. And now she was sure she had not only hurt her best friend but also the only boy she had ever loved in her life but that somehow she didn't love anymore.

Her thoughts were abruptly cut off by a man announcing a robbery. Before she could even react she felt a pair of strong hands grabbing her arms and pulling her against him as he spoke with a deep voice "Give me your cell phone, be quiet and you won't get hurt"

Brooke could feel the cold temperature of the gun that was touching her arm as he held her and was now aiming at her back, actually touching her top. She turned to give him what he had asked as he allowed her to. She winced as she turned to look to the masked man that had the gun then pointed to her chest but it wasn't only because of the unexpected situation she was now. Somehow the steady and deep voice didn't match the trembling hand with which he held the gun ever since he touched her and that still trembled until now. She looked up to the covered face but the moment her hazel eyes locked with his tender and scared chocolate ones Brooke's heart skipped a beat and another wince ran down her spine. That couldn't be good.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own One Tree Hill, or any of its characters. It all belongs to The CW

AN: I'm reporting this fic. I had no inspiration to write Brulian because I'm not watching the show anymore. I hated the storylines they decided, so I dropped it. But I like this story (plot) a lot and I decided to adapt this and make a The Vampire Diaries story (Delena, sorry other ships fans) and with this update both stories because I hate leaving stories incomplete. So here you. I'll post all chapters as soon as I finish editing them. Just like for TVD I want to thank my beta May for her work with my fics.

xoxo

Babi