Author- Emily-Grace Mendes (Brookebynature)
Disclaimer- Sadly, I own nothing other than this computer and my story.
A/N- You could call this AU I suppose, or not, perhaps just future fiction. Whatever you decide. Hope you enjoy, and please review!
It Ends Tonight
He'd watched the whole presentation standing at the back of the room, his eyes transfixed on her face like it would actually kill him if he looked away. His lips had curved into a smile as she got more excited, her hand gestures getting more frequent as that smile grew on her face.
He knew she was only in town for a couple days, they all did. Nathan and Haley had taken her out for lunch, they knew that. But Lucas couldn't offer. She wouldn't talk to him.
Peyton knew she was back, and during the past few days in that house, they'd barely spoken. Neither of them brought her up, although they wanted to more than anything. She knew he still loved her, still wanted her.
And if she guessed correctly, she'd know that Brooke still loved him. But so did she.
----
He made sure he was out of sight when she left the building, that smile faltering slightly. It had been five years, and he still knew she was unhappy when those hazel eyes didn't have that same sparkle, and that smile wasn't showing her dimples.
He couldn't help but know, and sometimes, when he looked at her, he wished he no longer had that power. That way, it wouldn't hurt so much. But he did. And it hurt more than anything.
Lucas contemplated following her, heading to her hotel room to tell her just how he felt, and how he wished she hadn't left after Nathan and Haley's wedding.
But he used his better judgement and decided against it, instead, heading home, to his house where Peyton and their children would be waiting. His life was as a husband and a father now.
And he knew there shouldn't be a place in there for another woman. But he'd made that place for her, because he just couldn't let her go. He could kiss Peyton, share a bed, tell her he loved her. Because he did.
But he was in love with Brooke.
----
The rain was pounding against his windscreen, so much so that he could barely see to drive along the highway. But he had to get to that airport.
He'd left it five years too long to tell Brooke how he felt, and now she had to know. And Lucas could only pray that the rain would delay her flight back to New York.
----
He spied her, sitting in the departure lounge, a magazine in her lap, yet she was paying no attention to it. Lucas followed her gaze to the screen showing flight information, and for a second, he thought that for once, things had gone his way, and her flight had been delayed.
But the board only told her to proceed to the gate.
"Brooke!"
She turned round cautiously-she knew that voice.
"Brooke don't go" His voice was near to cracking, and when he looked at her brimming eyes, he had to put his hand on her arm, just to stop it shaking.
"Lucas don't do this. Please, not after all these years."
"Five."
"What?"
"It's been five years Brooke. Five years too long and I can't not chase you now."
Her own hands were shaking now and all he wanted to do was kiss her lips to stop them from quivering.
"You chose her Lucas, okay? Not me. You chose Peyton."
"But I want you."
She pushed his hands off of her as she attempted to steady herself.
"I spent five years trying to get away from this Lucas. Don't make me go through it again."
He could have left there and then, told her goodbye, cried to himself in the car, let her finally have the peace she wanted, needed. But he was too selfish.
"I love you Brooke."
The tears were falling down her cheeks, and right now she didn't care. She just had to get him to listen.
"What about Peyton?"
"What about her?"
"You love her Lucas. You always have. You have children together for God's sake. They need you."
"How did you…."
"Haley told me."
He nodded a little, offering her a small smile.
"How old are they?" She asked.
"Mason's nearly four. He comes to the river court with me everyday."
She smiled at him, and the thought of him teaching his son how to play the game he loved. But her smile faltered when she remembered the dream she'd had one night, that night back in junior year when they thought she was pregnant.
Lucas had taught their son to play.
"And Ellie's one."
"You named her after…"
"Peyton's mom." Lucas nodded as he told her.
"And you should be with them Lucas, not here trying to stop me from leaving. I'm not part of your life any more."
"But you are." He argued "I want you to be."
"All these years I've been wishing that I was you I was going home to. Every time I opened that door, I hoped you'd be there, telling me you loved me too."
"I do love you Lucas!"
There. She'd said it. Five years spent trying to deny it, and he had coaxed it out of her within minutes.
"So stay."
"And then what? You'd leave Peyton and your children for me? I'll leave my life in New York to come back here?"
"I'm not asking you to do that Brooke." He said softly, his blue eyes pleading with hers as his body stiffened.
"This is why I didn't want to come back here."
"What is?"
"This" she told him "Between us, it's too hard. I don't want to leave okay? If that makes you feel any better, right now, don't want to get on that plane and fly back to New York."
"Then…."
"But I have to." She cut in before he could say anything else that caused her to loose it completely.
She stepped a little closer to him, so that she could almost taste that scent he was wearing, the same one he had worn all those years ago, and her eyes closed involuntarily, her lips meeting his in a searing kiss.
"I love you Brooke."
Her lips touched against his, brushed against them even, as she let her shaky breath out against his own.
"And I love you too. But this." She indicated their entangled state, his hand clutching hers, their swollen lips, tear stained faces. "It ends tonight."
He nodded, agreeing as she pulled away, and he breathed in her perfume and her shampoo one last time. And he smiled a little as he watched her disappear amongst the sea of people preparing to board the same plane.
It ends tonight.