Renewed Destiny

By: Laura369

"Don't be dismayed at good-byes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends."

"No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other's worth."

Summary: It had been ten years since they had last seen each other. Ten long years, it had been. The wounds from high school still left open. Tonight was the night when Brooke saw Lucas with her eyes for the first time in years.

Brooke Davis-Lyon walked into the gym for her ten year high school reunion holding hands with her husband of two and half years. Brooke's eyes wandered over the walls of the gym, there were enlarged pictures of her classmates covering the walls. Her eyes immediately stopped on a picture of Brooke hugging Peyton Sawyer, the girl who had been her best friend back then. Her eyes then landed on the picture of her and her friends the day they had graduated. They all looked so happy, but Brooke could see the sadness in her own eyes. That sadness was caused by the boy that was close to her side, Lucas Scott. The boy, Brooke refused to trust and caused her to break up with him the following week. She remembered that night for always.

"Honey, what's wrong?" asked Michael, Brooke's husband.

"Just thinking about everything," Brooke replied vaguely. Michael accepted her answer and let her be. He had learnt in the four years they had been together and the six he had known her to let Brooke come to him with a problem, not go looking for.

Brooke continued to walk into the gym, still holding Michael's hand tightly. Each wall she looked at she had another flashback, there were ones of her cheerleading, jumping up and down, and chanting cheers. All were memories of her carefree lifestyle she once lived. Brooke's life was now somewhat boring. She was a business woman in New York City. She spent the majority of her time behind her small desk tapping information into a computer. The only perk of her job was that that's where she met Michael Lyon, her husband.

Michael was her boss when she started her job. Brooke was freshly out of college when she applied for the job as Lyon and Bruce Lawyers and Associates. At their interview Michael was immediately taken aback by Brooke's good looks and charm. He hired her on the spot. Michael as most men was drawn to Brooke, she had charisma. After two years of working together and flirting, Michael asked her out.

Their first date had been nothing special. Brooke had been out of the dating game for sometime. She dated off and on during college but nothing serious and she was still leery of men. Her confidence in dating had been broken in high school. Not that anything seriously bad had happened to her after she was cheated on, but she still didn't trust men completely. She set herself up for failure. Brooke as usual blew Michael off after their first date, as she did after all of her first dates. But Michael continued to pursue Brooke until she finally gave into a second date. After about six dates Brooke became comfortable in the relationship despite the eleven year age difference and finally began letting Michael in. After a year of dating, Michael proposed. Brooke accepted and they got married seven months later in a small ceremony that only close friends and family were invited too.

Brooke's Tree Hill friends were not invited. They had lost contact over the years. She keep in contact with Haley and Peyton during her first year of college but the phone calls and emails began to come further and further apart until they just didn't come at all. Brooke had a new life, one that she was invited to some of the best parties in the city, wore designer clothing, and her husband was a man who most people knew and respected. That was Brooke's life now. She had married her rich man and she lived the life she always thought she would. Brooke was happy with her life, but she always known something was missing. And she knew what it likely was.

Brooke gently squeezed Michael's hand, "Let's go and find out table."

"Sure, honey," Michael said quietly and have Brooke a light kiss on the cheek. Brooke and Michael wandered from table to table looking for their place cards. Michael found their cards first. "Here we are," Michael called to Brooke, who was looking at a table near by.

"Okay," Brooke said as she walked towards the chair that Michael was holding waiting for Brooke to be seated. Brooke sat down and carefully crossed her ankles and smoothed her gray pencil skirt and adjusted the sleeves of her indigo blouse. Brooke had carefully chosen her outfit for the night; she wanted to look sensible yet with hints of sexy. The skirt was fitted but went to her knees, and the blouse showed an appropriate amount of cleavage.

"So how is it being back in your old school and town?" Michael asked as he took his seat next to Brooke. Last year when the pair had attended Michael's twenty year high reunion, they had plenty of fun. Mingling with Michael's old friends and even talking to some of his ex-girlfriends. The pair had left the party in the late hours of the morning both with large smiles plastered on their faces. Michael was hoping for a similar experience tonight.

"Very strange," Brooke replied. "I haven't seen anyone in years and I don't even know what to say when they get here." Brooke was kicking herself for arriving so early. It would have been much easier if they had arrived later. She would be able to join already going conversations.

"Well, just ask them about their lives, if they are married, have any kids, those types of questions," Michael suggested. "I know they are kind of bland questions but they might get the conversations started."

"True," Brooke said. She looked up and smiled at Michael just to let him know that she appreciated him being there so much. Her eye caught a picture on the wall she hadn't seen before. Brooke's eyes immediately went blank.

"What is it?" asked Michael as he looked towards the picture Brooke's eyes were focused on. The picture was of a younger Brooke jumping into the arms of teenage boy. The boy was dressed in a basketball jersey and she was in a cheerleading outfit. He knew what he was looking at. That was his Brooke and with the boy that had a bit of Brooke's heart to this very day, Lucas Scott. As much as Brooke denied it, Michael knew it. Brooke had told Michael about her relationship with Lucas, not leaving a single detail out about it, but Michael saw it her eyes, she still had lingering feelings for Lucas.

"Nothing," Brooke said, removing her eyes from the picture. She remembered that day that shot was taken. It was before everyone knew about Lucas' HCM and he was still playing basketball. They had just won the game and Brooke as a supportive girlfriend ran and had jumped into his arms. Brooke looked down, afraid to look into Michael's eyes. She began to fiddle with her place card. The card had her name, Brooke Davis-Lyon, written in perfect gold calligraphy.

"Brooke," Michael said quietly as he touched her shoulder ever-so slightly.

"Yes," Brooke said looking up. Still afraid to look into his eyes she focused over her shoulder and saw Haley standing near the doorway, obviously waiting for someone. "Hold that thought," Brooke said abruptly, "I see someone I know. Let's go."

"Okay," Michael said, he was excited that Brooke was excited to see someone. He stood up and Brooke grabbed his hand and led him towards a woman standing alone at the entrance.

"Haley!" Brooke squealed as soon as the old friend was in ear shot. Haley hadn't changed one bit. Her hair was still long, wavy and blonde. She was dressed simply in a black knee length dress with capped sleeves.

"Brooke," Haley exclaimed, as she pulled the old friend into a hug. "How are you?" It had been years since she and Brooke had seen each other. They had run into each once in New York while Haley was promoting her new CD. Haley had a short-lived career in music and she then turned her attention to school and became a teacher.

"I'm pretty good." Brooke said grinning from ear to ear. "This is my husband, Michael Lyon," Brooke said proudly.

"Hi, Haley Scott," Haley said as she extended her hand.

"Hello," Michael said as he took her much smaller hand into hers and gave it a firm shake, a business man's shake.

"Scott, so you and Nathan are still married?" Brooke asked.

"Yes, and we have three kids now," Haley said proudly. "Nathan's is just in the bathroom, I don't know why he didn't just go at home, but whatever."

"So you guys live in Tree Hill?" Brooke asked.

"Definitely, we both could never leave here," Haley explained.

"So you have kids, how old are they?" Michael asked, hoping to help keep the conversation going. Michael vaguely knew who Haley was from Brooke's high school stories but from what he could remember she was the type of woman to be proud of her family.

"Well, Hayden is the oldest and she is eight, then there is Keith who is five and the youngest is Natalie and she is one," Haley said grinning.

"Keith after Uncle Keith?" asked Brooke.

"Yes, and Hayden is named after me and Natalie is named after Nathan," Haley said answering Brooke's questioned. Soon after Haley and Nathan began trying for children Nathan had made Haley to promise to name their first boy after his late Uncle Keith.

"Brooke," a voice said from behind her, she instantly recognized it as Nathan. She turned smiling. Brooke quickly ran up to Nathan and gave him a large hug. Brooke introduced Nathan to Michael. They all began chatting about work, marriage, and life in general. The conversation was going quite smoothly when the announcer of the night announced for everyone to go and sit in their assigned seating so the night could begin with a slideshow and some memories shared by their classmates.

Brooke and Michael made their way back to their seats and Haley and Nathan made it to their seats which happened to be two tables over. At Michael and Brooke's table two seats were still empty across the table. But either side of Brooke and Michael was Mouth and his wife, Maria and on the other side was a girl named Kendra and her fiancé. Just as the announcer began speaking the empty seats were filled. Brooke's attention was focused towards the front until she heard a small gasp from Mouth and she turned to see what had happened.

Lucas Scott was holding a chair out for Peyton. Brooke let out a much louder gasp causing Lucas to look up from Peyton. His eyes immediately connected with Brooke's like they had many times before, ten years earlier. Brooke's mouth was slightly open with shock, but she looked as beautiful as ever. When Brooke had abruptly broken things off with Lucas after senior year and they both left for their respective colleges they had never had a chance to talk. Peyton and Lucas continued their friendship and it eventually turned into a romance. They married shortly after but never having kids.

"Brooke," Lucas whispered, not wanting to cause a scene. But it was hard not to, seeing the girl who you thought was "the one" for the first time in ten years. Brooke did not look drastically different other than her hair. Her hair was now cut into a shorter style with soft layers surrounding her face, making her look older and more sophisticated.

"Lucas," Brooke replied, with a small smirk that was beginning to turn into a smile. "Nice to see you," Brooke said kindly as her smirk morphed into a smile.

"Right back at you," Lucas responded, he was not expecting this kind and friendly Brooke. He was expecting a meaner and bitter Brooke. He didn't know why, but he was hoping she still had feelings for him, although he was married and he knew she was also.

"Nice to see you too, P. Sawyer," Brooke said kindly although she was angry on the inside, she didn't not like the fact that Peyton had won the battle for Lucas but Brooke had a lot of practice keeping her composure, she was friends with the New York City elite. "Or is it P. Scott now?" asked Brooke noticing the large ring on a very important finger.

"Scott, Luke and I have been married for seven years now," Peyton said grinning.

"This is my husband," Brooke said as she nudged Michael to turn and look at the couple, "Michael Lyon. We have been married for a year and a half." Michael turned and smiled at the man he was convinced his wife still loved on some level and the woman that was likely responsible for Lucas and Brooke not being together. Both Lucas and Peyton nodded at Michael as an acknowledgment of his presence. The pair did not greet with the warmth that Haley and Nathan had.

"Now let's get on with the slideshow," the announcer said excitedly. The man sat down at a computer and tapped a few buttons and the large white screen on the wall light up with pictures and music began to pulse through the room. The first pictures shown were pictures of the alumni as children playing with each other, pictures of the basketball team, cheerleading squad and other clubs of sorts. The pictures moved onto more personal pictures, pictures of couples and friends. Their were pictures of Peyton and Nathan in the early stages of their short romance, pictures of Brooke with various boys, pictures of Haley and Nathan, and finally pictures of what was consider the royal couple of their school, Brooke and Lucas. The picture shown was the pair dancing in the center of the room at prom. Brooke was in a emerald green dress and had her head resting on Lucas' shoulder with her eyes closed looking completely content and Lucas looking at Brooke loving.

Both Brooke and Lucas looked up at each other at this moment and made eye contact. Not the same eye contact they had made earlier, this one was much more intense. The kind of eye contact that brought tears to Brooke's eyes, Lucas glanced at their respective significant others to see if they had caught this look, but both Peyton and Michael's were focused on the screen. The screen was now showing pictures of Whitey, who had passed two years earlier. "Brooke," Lucas mumbled, reaching across the table to grab her hand.

"Don't," Brooke said sharply pulling her hand away. Brooke had always known she had lingering feelings for Lucas, but she was never aware they were this strong. Not strong enough to affect her the way she was being affecting. "I have to go to the washroom," Brooke declared, as she grabbed her small silver clutch and she began to walk rapidly towards the bathroom.

"Brooke," both Michael and Lucas called as she walked away. Both Michael and Peyton turned to look at Lucas whose eyes were still focused on Brooke's small figure.

"Lucas," Peyton exclaimed as quietly as she could, "Why the hell are you looking at her like that?"

"What," Lucas replied as he came out his trace on Brooke. Peyton repeated herself and Lucas just chose to ignore her. Over ten minutes had gone by and Mouth was on stage telling everyone the story about when Lucas famously beaten his own brother on the Rivercourt.

Michael was carefully thinking and he had decided what had to be done, "Lucas," he said quietly. Lucas was still looking towards the bathroom, waiting for Brooke to come out.

"Yes," Lucas replied, trying his hardest to make it look like he wasn't looking for Brooke. He glanced over at Peyton who was obviously pissed. She glared at him and turned her attention onto Mouth once again.

"You go and see what's wrong with her," Michael said closing his eyes, "I know you want to and she probably wants you too."

"What!" Peyton exclaimed, many people turned to look at Peyton after her small outburst.

"They need to talk," Michael said simply, "And I think we should let them." Michael had carefully thought out his plan. They needed to talk, there was obviously some issues not dealt with and they needed to talk. He just hoped both Brooke and Lucas loved Michael and Peyton enough to stay with them.

"Okay," Peyton agreed. She did not want to have to live through another triangle with Brooke and Lucas so hopefully they would finally get some closure.

"Are you sure?" Lucas asked Michael.

"Yes," Michael said as he signaled Lucas to go. Lucas got up from his chair and headed towards the bathroom. Lucas stopped at the door and knocked quietly.

"Look," Haley whispered into Nathan's ear, "Lucas followed her." Haley motioned towards the woman's bathroom that Lucas was now leaning against. Nathan just shook his head and raised his eyebrow. He knew this could be trouble, hopefully nothing would happen. "I can't believe it," Haley said, "Brooke and Lucas."

Lucas continued to gently tap on the bathroom door until Brooke finally acknowledged his presence. "What?" she yelled impatiently.

"It's Lucas," he said cracking the door slightly open. "Can I come in?" He opened the door completely and Brooke nodded. The bathroom had been re-done for the reunion. There were plants everywhere and a forest green velvet couch against the wall. Lucas sat down on it. "Michael sent me," Lucas said explaining.

"Why would he do that," Brooke exclaimed, "he knows our history. I told him everything."

"He said that we need to talk," Lucas said repeating Michael's words.

"Well, I don't know what to say," Brooke said angrily.

"Start with why you seemed all calm and collected and then a picture made you cry," Lucas said, hoping she'd open up to him. Brooke began fiddling with the seam of her blouse and sat down beside Lucas and crossed her legs.

"Because," she began then stopped. She did not want to seem vulnerable. "Because, I am not supposed to be angry when I see my ex-boyfriend from ten years ago walk in with my old best friend. Because I am not supposed have the feelings I do when I see your picture. Because I am supposed to be with Michael and I do love him but I still get these feelings." Brooke rambled. She didn't know why she really had reacted the way she did. She knew she had a spot in her heart for Lucas but she didn't know how large that spot was.

"Brooke," Lucas said as he reached for her hand. She allowed him to hold it. "I have another question for you." Lucas knew the next question was one he didn't really want to ask but he knew he had to, if he ever wanted any closure. "Why did you leave me?"

Brooke bit her lower lip, a sign of that she was thinking of crying. "Because I wanted to be the one who left, I wanted to break your heart this time and not have my own broken. I knew you would eventually pick Peyton, which you did by the way." Brooke explained.

"Brooke, I picked Peyton because you left, not over you." Lucas explained. After Brooke had left, he always hoped she would come back, but she didn't. So he settled for Peyton, he hadn't chosen Peyton.

"Well, it doesn't matter now, we are both married and I love Michael, maybe not as much as I should but I do love him," Brooke retorted. "I am going to go and join him now, thank you for this little talk. We might just have some closure now." Brooke stood up and began walking towards the sink to fix her face.

"Wait, one more thing," Lucas said as he grabbed her hand and pulled her close.

"What," Brooke whispered. Her lips were close to his lips. "I asked you what," Brooke whispered again.

"I just have to do one more thing," Lucas whispered and then kissed her. Not just a small kiss, this was a passionate kiss that sent chills through both of their bodies. They separated for a few seconds and then Brooke kissed him. Brooke broke them apart as soon as her mind caught up with her.

"Married," she said grabbing his hand and flashing both their wedding bands in front of his face.

"Married," he repeated. He sat back down on the couch and watching Brooke fix her make up. Brooke adjusted her clothing and hair and Lucas just watched.

"Ready," she said smiling. He smiled back at her and opened the bathroom door and allowed her to exit. She walked towards their table and took her seat next to Michael and gave him a small peck on the lips. Lucas did the same thing minus the kiss. He wanted to leave Brooke as his last kiss for a bit longer.

The night continued. There was lots of drinking, eating and mingling. Everyone was talking about their jobs, boyfriend or girlfriends, marriages, children and everything they could think about. The tables got moved back to make room for a dance floor. Music echoed through the room and everyone began dancing. The songs rotated from slow to higher tempos, from older songs to recent songs. People dance with each other and their dates. The night was slowly coming to an end. Peyton and Lucas dancing together and Michael and Brooke dancing together, and something happened. Their song came on, Lucas and Brooke's song came on. Both tried to not to filch in the arms of their significant others. They both continued to dance. Both couples made their ways towards the middle of the dance floor.

Brooke was the first to look up. Lucas was still looking at Peyton. Lovingly, Brooke had thought. Brooke's eyes closed and she thought about her husband for a few short seconds. Lucas looked up after trying to keep his attention on Peyton. Brooke's eyes were closed, likely thinking about Michael. But then she opened them. They again made eye contact. This time Brooke didn't cry and Lucas didn't want to run over and kiss her. This time they were content with their lives, and they both knew this was not the last time they would make that eye contact. They both knew, this was not the end of Brooke and Lucas' epic romance, not even close.

Complete…

A/N- I know it's long but I just needed something to write. I have the most major block. Please review. They are majorly appreciated. This was the first time I have written on One Tree Hill one-shot. Eek.