Author's Note: If you haven't heard the song "The Call" by Matt Kennon, go listen to it now. It is an amazing song with an amazing message in it. When I heard it, this idea immediately popped into my head and wouldn't go away until I finally sat down and wrote it. This is slightly AU because I had to slightly alter some of the storyline to make it fit, but for the most part the back story follows along with the show. Please, please, please review!
Disclaimer: I own nothing related to One Tree Hill or the song this story is based off of.
In the backseat of a car
Two 18 year olds had let a kiss go too far
He said how are we gonna have this child
When we're both headed off to school?
He convinced her late one night there's only one thing to do
The Rivercourt held so many memories for him. This was where he'd grown up. This was where he felt the most at home. This was where his whole life had changed in one night with one magical basket. This was where he went to think. He'd spent so many nights here playing two on two with Skillz, Junk, and Fergie with Mouth sitting at the picnic table announcing the game. Games against Nathan once the brothers had finally overcome their hatred for each other. For him, the Rivercourt was Tree Hill. Almost every memory he had was somehow connected to this place. Any other memory was of the girl sitting at that same picnic table. The girl that currently had a sheen of tears and fear in her eyes. He'd finally found her after a vague, panicked voice mail on his cell phone that had been the only communication with her he'd had that day. It'd come two hours before their date that night, and he'd been searching relentlessly for the last hour. Haley hadn't seen her, Peyton hadn't talked to her, she hadn't been anywhere he'd looked. The Rivercourt hadn't even entered his mind until he remembered telling her that it was his place of solace, the place he went to clear his head. He saw her immediately after pulling his truck up to the court, and had known from the way she sat with her chin in her hands staring emptily at nothing in particular that whatever was going through her mind was serious. Lucas Scott knew that for the rest of his life, any time he thought of the Rivercourt or of Brooke Davis, this would be the first thing he remembered, the most dominant memory.
Brooke couldn't look at him when she told him the news. She didn't move when he reached for her hand, had acted completely unaware of his presence until his voice cracked as he begged her to talk to him. That was the moment both of their lives changed. One reckless night, and now she was five weeks pregnant. Two months before graduation, and all the plans they'd made were now ruined. They were supposed to spend two weeks at Daytona Beach this summer. Just the two of them. She was going to fashion school in New York in the fall. Lucas had a full scholarship to Duke to play basketball. He and Nathan were supposed to own the campus. The Scott brothers were going to be the best Blue Devils Duke had ever seen. A baby on the way? None of their dreams were possible anymore.
"Brooke, it's the only way," Lucas pressed. "You're going to New York. You're going to set the fashion world on fire. This is what you were made for, your destiny. There's no way you can do it with a baby."
"Luke, there has to be another way!" Brooke couldn't even believe Luke was suggesting this. She'd known he'd freak out and that they were too young, but pushing her for an abortion was the last thing she'd expected.
"I wish there was! You think I really want you to do this?" He started pacing back and forth in front of the table.
"If you didn't want me to, you wouldn't ask me to!" Tears formed in her eyes but she was determined not to let them fall.
"Pretty Girl, all I want is to have a baby with you," He stopped in front of her and reached for her hands but she pushed him away. "And someday we will. I've already told you I'm the guy for you, Brooke Davis. We'll have a million babies if that's what you want, but right now isn't the time. We're starting school in the fall in two different states! I can't be there for you in New York if I'm at Duke!"
"I can still go to Duke," Brooke finally locked eyes with him. "They accepted me too."
"No, you're not giving up on New York. You're going, Brooke," Lucas told her. "I'll go to New York. I don't need basketball." He'd give up his dreams before he let her give up hers.
"All you have talked about since they gave you the scholarship is how excited you are that one of the best basketball schools in the country wanted you. Not only that, but they wanted Nathan too. This is your dream, Luke. I won't let you give it up for me," Brooke said just as seriously.
"Then what else are we supposed to do?!" He threw his hands up in the air in frustration.
"I guess you're right, this is the only way," They'd been arguing for almost an hour and Brooke was exhausted. She didn't want to do it, but Lucas had an answer for every reason why they shouldn't do it. They had all their lives to have another baby when they were both ready for it.
"You know I hate this as much as you do, but we have no other options," He tried to step in between her legs and wrap his arms around her, but she still pushed him away.
"I need to be alone," She stood up and moved away from his touch.
"Brooke," The plea in his voice was enough to make her fall apart, but she was determined to keep up this strong facade until she was away from him. There was no way she was letting him see how broken she was at this very moment.
"I know, okay? It's the only way. I just need to be alone right now, Luke," Lucas grabs her arm as she walks away and pulls her to him. His heart breaks at the tension he feels from her, so he leans down and presses his lips to hers. Instinctively her arms wrap around his neck but just as he tries to deepen the kiss Brooke pulls away and steps out of his arms. There's a look in her eyes he's never seen before, and for the first time he's afraid of losing her.
"I love you, Brooke Davis," Lucas says softly.
Brooke only nods, unable to speak and not sure if she wants to, before she turns her back and heads across the court. If she looks to her right, she can see and younger Lucas telling a younger her the Rivercourt was his world and she could be the biggest part. This place is full of memories of both of them, filled with an innocence they both lost tonight. They would never be the same young, madly in love kids again. She didn't turn back and look at him, but she could feel his eyes following her. It wasn't hard to imagine what he looked like. His shoulders would be sagging, as if he was holding the weight of the world on them and about to lose his balance. The tears in his eyes because he knew what this night meant for them. The breaking heart and knowing this moment could so easily have been avoided.
Brooke didn't sleep that night. It was the first time in a while that she didn't go to bed in his arms. Except for a text message that said he loved her, they hadn't talked since she walked away from him at the Rivercourt. Peyton and Haley called several times, but the phone rang unanswered. Brooke hated herself for what she was doing, but they had no other option. Neither one would let the other sacrifice their dream because they both feared resentment in the future.
She was the first one in the clinic that morning. It was almost as if she was a zombie. The alarm had gone off at 6:30 that morning, and she'd gone through her morning routine as if on autopilot. Hair and makeup were perfect, and even with the sweats and t-shirt she was still beautiful. Lucas wasn't there, but that's the way Brooke wanted it. This wasn't something she could go through with him there. Truth be told, he didn't even know she was doing it so quickly.
The few times she did manage to fall asleep, she dreamt of a little girl with Lucas's eyes and her dimples. They were heartbreaking images; pictures that woke Brooke up with tears streaming down her face and a pain in her heart unlike any she'd ever known before. The dreams alternated between a picture perfect family--days at the beach, picnics in the park, everything she herself had ever wanted growing up. Those dreams morphed into a little girl with a sadness Brooke and Lucas both knew well. The pain of wondering why one of her parents doesn't love her. It went unspoken, but that was their biggest fear: that her having the baby with both of them about to be so far apart would destroy their relationship and leave their child with parents that weren't together.
"Brooke Davis," a middle aged nurse called out into the nearly empty waiting room. Brooke's head shot up at the sound of her name. She had been waiting almost an hour, but at that moment it felt like she hadn't been waiting a second. As she stood, her legs shook with fear for what was coming. The nurse led her back to the exam room after stopping quickly to take her weight.
She was scared to death in that waiting room
When the nurse asked how far along are you
She said 5 weeks and just about then her phone lit up
And his call came in
"You're here to get an abortion, is that correct?" The nurse asked.
"Yes ma'am," Brooke answered in a small voice.
"How far along are you?"
"Five weeks," Just then the sound of Lucas's ringtone sounded from her purse.
"Where are you?" Lucas asked frantically not even giving her a chance to say hello.
"At the clinic, Luke," So he'd gone by her house then. Brooke had left a note on her pillow that simply said 'I love you. We're doing the right thing'.
"Stop, Brooke. Don't do it," He pleaded.
"Luke--" Brooke was cut off by a commotion outside the room and seconds later the door burst open and Lucas stood in the doorway. It was as if time stopped in that moment. Green eyes locked on blue eyes, both still holding their cell phones to their ears.
Lucas was thanking whatever higher powers were out there that he'd made it in time. Like Brooke, his night had been a sleepless one plagued with dreams and nightmares of a little girl. His mother had found him sitting at the kitchen table early that morning and he'd poured his heart out to her. After he'd told her of Brooke's unplanned pregnancy and the impending distance between the two, Karen had told him of how close she'd come to terminating her own pregnancy so many years before. How she hadn't wanted Lucas to grow up without a father. She'd pleaded with him to change his mind, change Brooke's mind, and not go through with it. He and Brooke had the love so many people dreamed of she'd said. In that moment, Lucas watched his mom slip off the ring Keith had given her for the first time.
"Tomorrow is not guaranteed. Someday may never come. You may think this isn't the right time, and that raising a child is impossible right now, but I've watched you and Brooke make your way back to each other. I've watched the love between the two of you grow into something I didn't think existed. Don't go through with this, Luke. You may never get another chance," With those words, Karen placed the ring in her son's hand and closed his fingers around it.
Lucas sat with his hand still closed the ring long after his mom had left him alone. The memory of him telling Brooke one night at the Rivercourt she could be the biggest part of his world popped into his head, and he'd known what to do. Without a second thought, he'd raced to her house to tell her he wanted this baby with her and had found the note she'd left. Instantly Lucas knew where she'd gone, and that's when his prayers to make it to her on time had started. Never before had he driven so recklessly through their small town, but he knew there was no time to waste. One second could have been the difference.
Saying baby I was wrong about everything
I've already bought you a diamond ring we're gonna start a life
Would you be my wife
Boy or girl; pink or blue; yeah either way
"Brooke, remember what I told you that night? You asked if you got to be a part of my world, and I told you you were the biggest part," Lucas took one of her hands in his and placed his other hand on her cheek. "You still are the biggest part, and you always will be. Basketball was my life, but it hasn't been the most important thing since the night I found a half naked cheerleader in my backseat. I want this baby. I want our baby. I know it's going to be hard, and I don't know how we'll do it but I'll do whatever it takes."
"Luke--" Again, Brooke was cut off.
"I love you, Brooke Davis. And I'm the guy for you. That's never, ever going to change," Lucas dropped to a knee. "You told me once you wanted me to fight for you. Well, I'm fighting for you, for us, for our future, for our family. Marry me, Pretty Girl."
"Oh, Luke," Brooke slid off of the exam table and into his arms. "I love you, Broody."
"Don't leave me hanging, Pretty Girl," She wanted to laugh at the nervousness in his eyes.
"God, yes, I'll marry you," At her words, his face lit up with the biggest smile she'd ever seen on him. Lucas kissed her with such love, such passion that it brought tears to her eyes. Brooke thought her heart might explode with happiness when he pulled the ring from his pocket and slid it onto her finger. "If I don't, some other cheerleader might think she can hide half naked in your backseat."
* * * * * * * * *
Brooke ended up at Duke that fall with Lucas, Nathan, Haley, Peyton, and even Jake complete with a big, round belly and a new last name. They'd fought for two weeks over who would change schools, and in the end Brooke had won because she wanted their friends and family to be a part of their child's life. Brooke and Lucas wanted their child to grow up with Jamie, Nathan and Haley's son that had been born on their graduation day.
"Lucas Eugene Scott, you are never touching me again!" Brooke screamed as the nurses and doctor instructed her to push once more. All of them had been back in Tree Hill for Christmas break for three days before she'd woken Lucas up in the middle of the night telling him it was time. Their friends, Lucas's mom and sister, and Nathan's mom Deb were all anxiously sitting in the waiting room.
"I love you, Pretty Girl," He'd heard the same threat a million times throughout the hours they'd been at the hospital. It was midmorning, and he was exhausted but he couldn't wait for the birth of their child. They'd decided to be surprised with the sex of the baby, and it had just about killed them to not know. His son or daughter was so close to being born, and he was going crazy wondering what she was having. "You're doing great, Brooke Scott."
"I want a fucking divorce," She snarled but he could see the love for him in her eyes. She pushed once more before the room was filled with the sound of a newborn baby's cry. It seemed like forever, but it was only a few seconds before the doctor announced the sex of their baby.
"Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Scott. You are the proud new parents of a gorgeous baby girl."
"You did it, baby," Lucas pressed a kiss to Brooke's forehead. "I love you so, so much."
"I don't want a divorce anymore," She whimpered to the amusement of everyone in the room. "I love you more than anything, Husband." They waited as the nurses took their daughter and cleaned her up and took her height and weight before handing her to the excited new parents.
"She's gorgeous," Lucas whispered reverently.
"Meet your daddy, Logan Kynleigh Scott," Brooke leaned into Lucas's chest to bring him and his daughter closer together.
Later after the new family had moved to a recovery room that was filled with their friends and family and Karen was holding her granddaughter, Brooke grabbed Lucas's hand and looked up at him with tear filled eyes.
"I'm so glad you called."
All she could say as she felt those tear drops fall was
I'm so glad you called
