I know I should be updating Starting Over and Broken – and posting Superman Tonight but this idea just came to me after watching season six again. I hate how Lucas just writes off his friendship with Brooke after getting with Peyton and how badly they both treat her so I'm putting it right – in a slightly unexpected rather AU way. Despite my love of Brucas for all you diehard fans this may not be the fic for you, unsure of the ending as yet but looking likely it won't be Brucas.
The story starts with Brucas, Naley, Pake and Karen/Dan but these may all change as it progresses – well except Karen/Dan.
Basically the story starts when the characters being thirty somethings, Brooke was pregnant in season 1 and told Lucas before he dumped her for Peyton so Brooke never knew about their brief affair. Peyton's dad was offered a job across the country and she went with him. Mostly the high school years are the same and everything else gets explained. This is mostly Brookecentric.
I liked how Dan turned into a nicer guy with regards to Karen after Keith's death, he never really stopped loving her and I explore that in this fic a little. However in my fic Keith did die but Dan did not kill him simply because Peyton was not at THH so Lucas didn't go back into the school therefore Keith didn't go in on the day of the shooting.
Brooke loved the first day of the new school year, she loved the crisp clean pages of the notebooks, the sharp pencils, the shining new book bag but mostly Brooke loved the feeling of relief. Relief that for a large portion of the day her children would be at school. Except this year was very different, while she was waving Natalie off to start her junior year in high school Aaron and Sam were both starting at the University of San Francisco. Aaron was studying criminal justice while Sam studied sports medicine. While it had been difficult to leave them she had been glad to see their efforts had paid off. Her beautiful boys had poured over research and later university applications in order that they attend university together simply because that was what they had always done. So identical in appearance and yet so different in personality. Except of course when it came to basketball. That was hardly surprising given their family though. She pulled her thoughts away from her eldest children and put her car into drive, glancing at the clock only long enough to confirm she was in fact running late.
She pulled into the underground lot of the Tree Hill newspaper and parked her car in her designated space. Thank goodness for small mercies, her position as managing editor came with the perk of parking space right near the elevator. Despite being harassed knowing she was late, the fact she'd not managed to speak to the boys on their first day of classes and the fact that she knew the Christmas supplement was well behind in the planning she couldn't help but smile as the elevator took her up the four floors between the parking lot and the floor on which her office was. She'd fought hard to convince Lucas that going out to work was the right thing for her when Natalie had begun middle school. Lucas' mother had worked herself incredibly hard when he was growing up just to make ends meet and while he admired that he also wanted it to be different for their children. The way he saw it was that he was earning enough money to allow Brooke to be there for the children whenever they needed her. A point of view she'd happily gone along with until Natalie turned eleven. The fact was Brooke didn't feel fulfilled by being at home all the time when the children weren't. The boys were in their final year of middle school and they all seemed to need her less and less. While the idea of working was a little daunting given that she'd been a mother before finishing high school, married just days after graduation and a mother again just months after that therefore had never actually had any experience of paid employment she could also see just how much enjoyment everyone around her found from their work. The people she loved had a sense of self gained from their careers and it was something she found herself craving, an identity separate from Lucas' wife or Aaron, Sam and Natalie's mother.
Lucas had after months of discussion finally agreed that if she'd really wanted it that badly then perhaps part-time employment wasn't such a bad idea – so long as it didn't affect the children too much. She wasn't quite sure how it had happened but he'd been the one to help her gain employment – on the same newspaper that he worked for. Lucas had gotten a job as a sports reporter on the Tree Hill Weekly straight out of college. It was a job that had seemed at the time made for him, he'd spent his time studying journalism at the local community college while she was at home with the children and he worked part-time at his father's dealership. Brooke had spent many a year thankful for Dan Scott's ridiculous generosity. He overpaid Lucas dramatically – it was as close to a handout that her husband's pride would have allowed him. While Lucas was a valued reporter he'd never pursued his career at the paper any further because he had decided relatively early on that being the boss was not what he desired. For him it was about the words, which is why staying on as a reporter with a steady income while writing his novel had been perfect. Lucas no longer needed to continue to work at the paper, his novels brought in enough with her income that it wasn't necessary. But he enjoyed his work. Particularly during the times he suffered writer's block with his novels. So given his good standing despite the lowly rank he occupied he'd obtained her a position as features columnist. She'd mostly covered fashion but it wasn't an area that was widely read in the Tree Hill Weekly and she'd discovered a desire for more. So in the five years she'd worked there she'd worked her way from features columnist to features editor to managing editor. There were still some at the paper who were convinced that she was only there because of Lucas' good relationship with Mitch the editor, but that didn't particularly concern her. She loved her job and knew she was good at it. There was nothing more she needed to say about it, others would always have an opinion.
As she strode through the office her secretary Millie met her and began to walk with her to her office. Brooke threw her coat onto the stand, placed her briefcase on her desk and pulled out the documents she needed. As Millicent continued to relay the morning's messages to her they both made their way to the conference room. Brooke as always was only half listening to Millie. She knew that the wad of post-its Millie was placing in her hands contained all the messages Millie was telling her currently. Just as she knew that once the meeting was over Millie would once again run through the messages as well as her appointments for the day. However just as she laid her hand on the door handle to the conference room one word from Millie drew her full attention causing her to pause.
"Did you say Peyton Sawyer?" Ever efficient Millie nodded her head. "Did she say what she wanted?"
"No Brooke, only that it was quite urgent you contact her as soon as possible. She did say not to interrupt any important meetings though so I assume it's not life or death." A hint of a grin etched itself onto Brooke's features. Peyton Sawyer. It must have been close to ten years since she'd seen the blonde. Peyton Sawyer had been the closest Brooke had ever had to family when she was younger. From when they met until when Peyton moved away with her father when she was sixteen – just a matter of months before Brooke had her boys – she and Peyton had been inseparable. They'd not seen much of one another since Peyton left Tree Hill, Brooke had been too busy with family and Peyton too busy with work. But they'd maintained contact and a relatively close relationship for two busy women who never really saw one another. Despite this regular contact Brooke was surprised she'd called her at work. Peyton and she rarely called one another settling instead for quick text messages or lengthy e-mails that were squeezed in between this meeting and that. Brooke knew by the end of her meeting the curiosity of why she was calling would be almost killing her – however she didn't have the time to return the call before the meeting. Instead she smiled at Millicent and went inside the conference room, she was the last there and Mitch raised an eyebrow at her followed by a glance at the clock.
Brooke sighed deeply cursing the traffic that was slowing her progress. Lucas' parents and sister were coming over for dinner and Brooke had suddenly realised she was without a key ingredient. Sometimes she wondered how she'd become a woman who was so utterly at home in her kitchen. When she was growing up there was always some member of paid staff in her parents' home to provide food for her, then after that there was Peyton's mom, and later after her parents had disowned her following the news of her pregnancy at age sixteen there was Lucas' mom. If Brooke was honest she'd learnt almost everything she knew about being a wife, mother and homemaker from Karen Roe. Karen had discovered she was pregnant with Lucas just before she graduated high school. His father had left them both and continued on to his dream life in college, within months of that happening he'd impregnated a woman called Deb Lee, who he subsequently married. Their son, Nathan, had been in the same clique as Brooke had been in at high school. It wasn't until their junior year that Dan Scott and Deb's marriage begun to fail. In the meantime Karen had finally realised her feelings for Dan's older brother Keith. Keith had supported her for Lucas' entire life. When Lucas and Brooke were in their final year of high school Keith moved in to the crowded house. Sadly Keith was killed only months later by a drunk driver. Karen was devastated – she was also pregnant. The death of his brother and the end of his marriage changed Dan Scott. Instead of being the bitter hateful man his own wrong choices had made him it gave him the opportunity to rise above the past and be the man he perhaps would have been if he'd stayed with Karen all those years ago.
Dan supported Karen through her pregnancy and her grief. When Lily was born he'd taken them both away from Tree Hill for several years, allowing Karen time to come to terms with the loss of Keith and providing an environment where in Karen fell in love with him again. During which time Lucas and Brooke had continued to live in Karen's home with their three children. By the time Dan and Karen returned to Tree Hill in time for Lily to start school Lucas was more than able to provide a home for his family. Karen had insisted that Dan give the huge house which he'd shared with Deb to her and move into her home stating she didn't want a big house, her cosy home and the people she loved was all she needed. It had been difficult for Lucas to accept his mother loving Dan again given all he'd done to them. But Lucas had done his best to move past it simply because he wanted his mother to be happy. But Brooke knew that what sealed the situation for her husband was in fact his little sister. Lily adored Dan, and Dan filled the role Keith's death had created in her life. While they were all careful to explain to Lily as she'd gotten older the truth Dan loved her as his own nonetheless. The situation almost mirrored how Lucas had felt about Keith. And so he'd allowed himself to build a relationship with his father.
Karen had of course been less than pleased to discover that she'd spent 16 years working herself into the ground to provide a good life for her son only for him to make the same mistakes she had. She and Karen had a rocky start to their relationship. But despite the animosity Karen had insisted Brooke come and live with them. During her pregnancy Brooke had allowed Karen glimpses of the childhood she'd had, which had given Karen and understanding of her and fostered a closer relationship. Brooke had relied so heavily upon Karen's help and advice when the twins were born that she had become like a mother to her. Lucas had often joked that she was closer to his mother these days than he was. Karen had owned a cafe back then and had even gone to study cookery in Italy. Without even realising it was happening Brooke had learnt not only how to cook but how much enjoyment could be found in it from Karen.
However the downside was Brooke constantly compared herself to Karen Scott, and usually she found herself wanting. Karen never seemed flustered by all her responsibilities like Brooke was. Which is why she usually planned the dinner's which were attended by Lucas' family with military precision in order to ensure nothing went wrong. She finally pulled her car into the parking lot, cursed again at how busy it was meaning she was parked a good half mile away from the store and almost ran the distance. Thankfully the store had just installed self-service checkouts which many people still avoided, Brooke wasn't particularly keen on them as something always seemed to go wrong when she used them on her own – never a problem when the children were there though – but today she was rushing and given she had just the one item she reasoned there couldn't possibly be a problem. Thankfully she was right and she rushed back to her car to drive home.
Brooke couldn't have been less pleased to walk into her kitchen to discover a bomb had hit. At the impact site stood her daughter. Looking rather angry and distinctly guilty. Brooke began the usual one to ten count in her head before finally asking what on earth had happened. Natalie then launched into a speech about something to do with home economics class and needing to practise because she'd boasted a long family history of being a fantastic chef but as Brooke well knew her daughter hadn't done anything meaningful in a kitchen since she was about five and baked brownies with her mother. The long and short of which being that Natalie had arrived home from school and decided that her grandparents and aunt coming over was the perfect opportunity to practice her cookery skills by making a simple apple pie. The only words in Brooke's head was questioning where exactly her husband had been during this farce. After instructing Natalie to get it cleaned and in future ask her for help when practising anything food related she went in search of her husband. Not surprisingly he was locked away in the attic in what had been designated as his study since they'd first looked at the house.
In fact as Brooke recalled the attic room was really rather a wreck when they'd viewed the house, the previous owners had tried to convert the attic into useable space – themselves. They'd failed miserably but she had seen the possibilities and had created within her mind a vision of how big, light and spacious the room could be. Perfect she'd imagined for two growing boys, with enough room for both their beds, closets and even a small seating area for when they grew older and had friends round. She'd won her husband round on the house that he clearly didn't see the potential in like she did. Only of course once the bare bones of the attic room had been created and Lucas had seen it he revealed that he desired the room for his study as it would be away from the hustle of bustle of family life so he would be able to write. The fact she'd become so successful in her career meant she'd been allocated a small area for storage of her work things but her computer and desk were relegated to a corner of the dining room. Lucas' study was indeed his sanctuary.
"Did you realise our daughter was planning on destroying the kitchen?" Lucas jumped and turned as she spoke. His boyish grin covered his features and she felt the frustration thaw a little.
"Natalie said she wanted to help out by making dessert – I thought it would be nice for you to have one less thing to worry about." Brooke shook her head, as much as she loved her husband she was the first to admit that Lucas did not view the world in terms of practicalities. Some would call him a dreamer though she knew it was wrong. Dreamer implied a nature that was not prepared to work or fight for that which was dreamt of. Lucas worked incredibly hard and had a steely determination to succeed – whether in his work as a sports journalist or his passion as a novelist. Brooke thought the term optimist was perhaps better suited. Lucas was optimistic about people's capabilities which allowed him to see the good intentions rather than the fact that they weren't up to the job in hand.
"As considerate a gesture as that was perhaps it would have worked a trifle better if you'd supervised her." Lucas was sometimes a little sensitive when she constructively criticised the way he handled things so she let her voice be as sweet as she could manage when inside she was on breaking point over the fact in just an hour and a half his family would arrive and she'd not even begun to make dinner, nor could she do so until she'd brought her kitchen to order.
"We live and learn." Brooke began the one to ten yet again, aware that at this rate she'd be better off just spending her life counting and seeing how high she went. She was well aware that she had always indulged Natalie, however nothing could compare to Lucas' indulgence where their daughter was concerned. Whenever Brooke had tried to question it over the last sixteen years she got the same response. She understood exactly how he felt when he looked at Natalie. She remembered the horrified looks she'd gotten during the last weeks of high school when news of her second pregnancy had hit. How utterly irresponsible they all thought, that much she knew. She could even agree to an extent. To the outside world one unplanned pregnancy while still in high school was irresponsible, but a second was lunacy. They should have been more careful for no one understood the consequences better than they did. Which of course was all true, but when several doctors tell you that due to an incredibly difficult delivery the chance of you ever being able to have another child is pretty much non-existent you don't really consider contraception being high on the list of priorities. She'd not really given much thought to what the doctors said at the time, after all she was sixteen and had just had two gorgeous twin boys. But after about a year the truth had hit them both, they would have no more children, both mourned for the daughter they knew they'd want someday and would not be able to have. Natalie's conception was hailed by the doctors miraculous. Her miraculous birth was the reason she was bordering on spoilt. But where Brooke tried to keep her the right side of spoilt Lucas could not resist giving her whatever she desired.
"That may well be true Lucas but your parents and Lily will be here in less than two hours and I can't possibly cook dinner in the pit that is our kitchen." His attention had turned back to his work before she'd replied and that act alone caused her blood pressure to go higher. She felt the vein at her temple pulse and throb and she wanted to scream. But that wouldn't achieve the goal.
"So just order take out. I'm sure no one will complain this once." Once again he spun to her with a boyish grin, but this time prepared she'd turned her head so his grin did not hit her. She rolled her eyes and began the count again.
"Lucas I need you to come and help me clean the kitchen, then I need you to prepare the drinks while Natalie sets the table and I make dinner. And I need you to do all this now – not 'in five minutes honey' which inevitably will turn into an hour. An hour which we currently do not have." His eyes narrowed at her and she knew it was down to the frustrated and slightly aggressive tone. She also knew that the words in his head were the usual retort – if you hadn't insisted upon working these things wouldn't happen. It wasn't that her husband was a dinosaur when it came to women in the workplace. He admired it in other women – just not her. She made allowances because of his childhood and she knew had she decided to work once Natalie had reached university rather than middle school he'd have supported her wholeheartedly. But she hadn't been able to wait that long to stake a claim on independence.
"You can explain to Lindsey why this next chapter is going to be late then." She bite back the remark that if sacrificing an hour meant a late chapter then clearly he hadn't been working hard enough. He was doing as she requested despite doing it bad humouredly and so she knew better than to push him.
It didn't take too long for Lucas to return to his jovial self thankfully. Brooke had the food in the oven, Natalie had the table ready and Lucas had the arrangement of drinks prepared just minutes before the chime of the doorbell. Brooke smiled to herself at the formality of it since she knew well enough that despite ringing the bell Karen would come in without waiting for anyone to answer the door. Not that Brooke minded, she didn't even bother with a knock when she went to Karen's – or Haley's for that matter. Natalie had whisked Lily off to her room for some teenage girl frivolity or other before Brooke even had chance to greet her niece. The girls were separated by just a few months in age, along with Jamie, Natalie's cousin and Lily's nephew they were born within four months of one another meaning all three would be disappearing from Tree Hill at the same time, leaving three sets of sad middle aged parents. Well not quite, Nathan and Haley still had eight year old Jilly, she and Lucas weren't quite middle aged and Karen and Dan were probably classed as being slightly past middle aged. It was a scary thought really that when Natalie was leaving high school Brooke would be just thirty four years of age, the same age Karen was when she had Lily. Brooke couldn't imagine doing it all again now. While she dearly loved her children the idea of starting from scratch just made her feel utterly exhausted. She instead was looking forward to all the things she and Lucas planned on doing, and rather joyously they were still young enough to enjoy every single thing they planned. While having children at such a young age had not been ideal and they'd suffered many a downside it did meant that from the age of thirty eight they would financially be beholden to nothing as all three children would have completed college and their level of responsibility greatly reduced as their children would then be adults. Brooke shook her head in amazement at the responsibilities some women took on in having children when they were forty somethings. She just wondered how they found the energy.
Dinner finished, plates cleared and stacked in the dishwasher by the girls and two bottles of red wine later the adults were once again left to their own devices. Lucas was most cheerful and Brooke finally had the opportunity to share her news with him, and Karen and Dan by default.
"Peyton called me today." Karen looked vaguely confused, Peyton had left before Brooke had been and established member of the Scott family so Karen and she had little to do with one another. Brooke guessed the last time they'd seen one another would have been her wedding sixteen years ago. Dan seemed mildly curious, his son had once dated Brooke's curly haired blonde friend.
"How is she? I can't remember the last time she called." Brooke smiled.
"About a million years ago, calls aren't really our thing these days. I was delighted to hear from her, particularly given her exciting news."
"Is she finally marrying that poor guitarist...is it Jake something?" Lucas was never really good with names, the fact he couldn't remember the name of the boy who'd extended the hand of friendship to him when he'd joined the Ravens in junior year was no great surprise to Brooke. Jake had left town shortly after Peyton to find his daughter. He and Peyton had met up around five years ago and been an item since.
"I doubt it very much since she's decided she's moving back home."
"Back home, to her father?" Brooke laughed at Lucas' naivety.
"Well she called to ask if I knew of any job opportunities in Tree Hill, of course I asked why and she explained she'd been toying with the idea of coming back and decided if there was no chance of work she'd take it as a sign, and if there was take that as a sign too. Well it just so happens we have a spot on the paper since Chase qualified as a pilot and I know it would be perfect for her given that it's a music spot so I offered her it there and then. She has to give a month's notice at her current job and put her house on the rental market but I can safely say my P Sawyer shall be back in Tree Hill by October."
"That's good for you Brooke, I remember how close you girls were." Brooke graced Dan with her rare but megawatt smiles.
"We really were, I can't wait to have her back. She's always been like a sister to me."
"In which case pretty girl I predict Peyton's arrival bringing only good things." Brooke smiled up at her husband as he dropped a kiss on her head and topped up their glasses. He was right she knew, having Peyton home would surely help fill the ache of having her son's gone. And she was certainly looking forward to discovering whether the delectable Mr Jagelski would be making an appearance with her. Good things were certainly coming.