Hi, this is my One Tree Hill fanfic story and it takes place roughly around the time of Brooke and Julian's wedding. I haven't really watched the show in awhile because well, there's no more Brooke and Lucas. So I made a story about Brooke and Lucas. The new characters may not be in here much because I don't know anything about them, however there will be a lot of the original cast.

So sit back and enjoy!


We're Still Here

This is a story about a boy who learns that the story doesn't quite end when the book closes, and a girl who finds out that after every ending is a new beginning. But most of all, this is a story about love.

Chapter One

There she was, behind closed doors, smiling, while her hands shook as she held her bouquet of lilies close to her chest.

Brooke Davis, the beautiful brunette. Brilliant, beautiful and brave, some could say. Her whole life, especially high school was a constant reassurance that she was beautiful and wanted. Or at least her body was. Only two guys ever saw her heart, wanted it and yearned for it.

Yet here she was, in her pristine white dress, sitting in a bed of tears.

She knew she should have been nervous when he pulled her away from the double doors that held the entrance to the altar where their family and friends were gathered. But she silently followed him back to the hotel near the chapel. She sat on the edge of the bed in her bridal suite and he took a seat beside her.

"I love you, Brooke Davis," he said.

I love you Lucas, and I probably always will.

He continued as he took her hand, "And I know you love me now," he smiled, "And maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow or even next month or next year, but you'll stop loving me."

She had tears down her face by that time as she looked into his eyes searching for answers because right now nothing he said was making sense.

"Hey," he let out once he found the girl he was looking for. Although he didn't want to find her like that; sitting against the wall in the chapel, defeated. There were no tears travelling down her face anymore, just the trace of them. The tulle of her dress fanned around her on the floor. In short, it was heart breaking.

The broken bride looked up at the familiar voice and for a moment her eyes widened in shock. But with a blink of an eye, she sat staring once again to the opposite wall.

"Hey," she greeted back moments later. "What are you doing here?" she voiced her curiosity.

"Well—is this seat taken?" he interrupted himself and pointed to the space beside her. When she shook her head, he moved down on the floor and tried to move the stubborn fabric so he could sit beside her.

"Well," he started again, "you see a few years ago, I promised this pretty girl that someone would say something nice to her on her wedding day. And I know Haley's smart an all, but I couldn't trust her with that task."

"You can save it for another wedding," she whispered and then loudly and bitterly, she said to no one and nothing in particular, "Because apparently there is no happy ending for one Brooke Davis!"

"I don't believe that," was his simple reply.

He hears a scoff, but no reply so he fills in the silence. "'Cause there's this beautiful woman before me, broken and bruised, but she is so strong. She is kind and honest, sure but insecure, she's humble, but she's greedy, funny but y'know pretty lame," he added as an attempt to get a laugh out of her. He heard a small sniffle accompanied by a small smile. "She's a beautiful walking contradiction. Brilliant, beautiful and brave, right?"

She nodded her head, and that was enough for him. For now that was enough.

They sat in silence for a while until he realized she had fallen asleep on her knee. He knew it couldn't be comfortable and she would pay for it later when the back pain started. So he picked her up, bridal style though he was no groom, and he guessed she wasn't really a bride anymore. He led her to the bridal suite seeing as she rented it until tomorrow afternoon.

"Don't leave," she rasped as he tried to gently ease her on the bed. "I know I'm supposed to be strong, but tonight can I just be weak, can I just lean on someone?" She sat down on the bed, just as she had when Julian approached her. And just like Julian, Lucas sat beside her.

He smiled a sad smile at the girl before him. She stopped crying now and he was glad. He has never been good with the combination of tears and girls. He wanted to be angry at Julian for putting her through this, but he knew he'd hurt Brooke before too, so he thought, he didn't really have a right to be mad.

She laid her head on Lucas' shoulder and closed her eyes. "He said I didn't give him my heart."

"You'll stop loving me maybe because you've never been able to be in love with me after all," Julian said with what she thought was certainty.

"Julian—I don't," she was about to say understand but he had cut her off. And on any other day and situation, she would have let him know that nobody cuts Brooke Davis off, but alas it wasn't any other day. Here they were on their wedding day, with anything on their faces but smiles.

"It's okay. Well it's not okay now. But it will be. One day, I'll wake up and say, 'I dated Brooke Davis, it didn't work and that's okay.'"

"What are you talking about Julian?" she asked with a hint of anger in her voice.

"I don't want you to marry me and think it was a mistake."

"I want to marry you! I love you!"

"I know. But there's this guy who has your heart and I don't even think he realizes it. And you have his."

For the first time since this conversation started, she thought sadly, I'm not getting married tonight. The dress, the party, the rings, the guy, she's not going to have it all.

Brooke had once again fallen asleep and for the second time that day, Lucas laid her down on the king size bed. The sleeping brunette somehow found Lucas' hand and held on to it. Content, Lucas sat on the armchair beside the bed. He watched her sleep, praying that it would only get better from here.

He sent a quick text to Haley, who he was sure, was worried. "She's with me. Don't worry." He can't help but think that the last time he texted Haley not to worry, he ended up being engaged to Peyton. He suddenly felt her grasp on his hand tighten and he looked over to see that she was still sleeping. For a moment he thought, he wouldn't really mind if he fell asleep holding her hand ten thousand more times. And with that thought, he drifted to sleep, not knowing that this would be the first of many times he would fall asleep with Brooke's hand in his.

Brooke woke up being irritated by the organza of her neckline. She couldn't believe she slept through the night in her ball gown dress. But most of all, she couldn't believe that Lucas had stayed and held her hand the whole time. She allowed herself to smile despite the recent events in her life. Brooke was about to untangle her hand from his when he noticed the lack of a wedding band on his ring finger.

"I tried to ignore it, I told myself that those letters to him were just a thing of your past, that the cut out of the passage from Unkindness of Ravens was just because you were so proud of him, that you keep that green baby blanket he gave you as a reminder of Angie," Julian sighed, "but it's not is it?"

She was sobbing uncontrollably now and she wanted to say that was it, all of those things mean nothing more, but something compelled her not to. Instead she just stayed silent and whimpering.

Julian could only nod at her silent confirmation. The brunette in front of him just about dissolved in her tears and he too, was barely keeping it together. He felt like he should be strong or he wouldn't be able to walk away from her like he should.

She looked up at him and finally his eyes fluttered open. He noticed her look between his eyes and his ring finger. He squeezed her hand reassuringly, "Hey don't worry about that. Let's get you home, everyone's worried about you." She nodded and made her way to the closet. She picked out an outfit from the suitcase she packed the day before, thinking she'd be going on a honeymoon by now. She wiped a tear before it traveled too far down her cheek.

She took a deep breath and looked at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. A reflection she could hardly recognize. When was the last time she cried? All this time, she had been happy, right? She looked down at the dress that she now hated. It was a stupid dress, a stupid, stupid dress, she told herself. As she stepped out of her dress, she kicked it against the wall.

. . . . .

They sat in his car in silence as he drove her back home. He figured he should be quiet maybe she wanted to be left alone in her own thoughts. After a few minutes of silence though, she spoke up. "So where are you staying while you're here?"

He wanted to tell her that he was staying for good and that he was going apartment hunting during the next few days. But he decided it wasn't time for that yet. "I'm gonna stay back home with ma." Karen, Lily and Andy finally settled down in Tree Hill and he was glad that they did.

"That's nice," she gave him a small smile which still felt foreign on her face. She wanted to ask him about Peyton and their beautiful daughter, Sawyer, but she thought he'd just wave it off since she just got left at the altar. She studied his face while he drove. He didn't look sad or heartbroken, she mused. He looked fine; in fact he looked better than he did when she saw him a year ago. She decided not to go down the train of thoughts so she spoke instead, "When are you going back to New Zealand?"

"Not anytime soon." She decided to leave it at that. She looked out the window again and they fell in a comfortable silence.

He walked her to her door when they finally arrived in her house. They looked at each other, unsure of what to do. He wanted to stay and make sure she would be okay, but he knew she probably wouldn't agree with that. "You should go home, Luke. I can manage from here." He was right.

"Are you sure?"

She nodded, stood on her tip toes to give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "I'll be fine," her voice was raspier than usual so he checked her eyes for any sign of crying. However, before he could, she had turned to face the door. "Bye Luke," she said, but he barely heard her.

Once she closed the door behind her, she still willed herself not to cry. And even when she saw that all of Julian's things were gone, she still tried not to cry. She tried, she really did, but the tears escaped her eyes anyways. So she sat on her couch and allowed herself strictly five minutes to cry. When her five minutes were up, she stood up, straightened her dress and made herself a cup of coffee.

. . . . .

Lucas pulled into the driveway of the place he still called home. He debated whether he should enter through the side door that led to his bedroom or the front door. He looked at the side door and chuckled a little at himself. Karen never liked that sad, dark, black door that he painted. She had forced him to paint it over once more in high school. She had gotten him red paint, but he didn't think it would be suitable for his room anymore. He opted for a nice shade of blue. Looking at it now, he would give anything for it to be red again. He walked the familiar steps towards his front door, deciding he shouldn't barge in from his room. However, before he could knock or ring the doorbell, the door flew open and out came his sister.

"Lucas!" the girl screamed as she jumped up at her big brother. Lily hardly saw her brother so she was always excited whenever she saw him.

"Hey Lily pad," he caught her sister and carried her back in the house. "You know you're not supposed to answer the door, right?"

"Yes, but I knew it was you!" she told him matter-of-factly, "I saw you from the window."

"Okay, smarty pants." Lucas put her down on the floor and just then his mom and Andy appeared from the kitchen.

"Hey, where were you?" Karen asked as she kissed her son on the cheek.

"Oh, I was with Brooke," he said as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

Upon hearing Brooke's name, Lily's eyes lit up, "Aunt Brooke looked so pretty yesterday!" The child was completely unaware that although very pretty, Brooke's wedding did not follow through. Lily was a flower girl, but she had forgotten that she didn't get to throw rose petals down the aisle. She and Jamie had been too busy talking and playing with the various decorations in the chapel the whole time.

Lucas cleared his throat and said, "And you looked very pretty too."

"But Aunt Brooke looked extra pretty. She was like Cinderella," the girl said in awe. "I want to wear a dress like hers one day!" she said exclaimed.

"Okay," Andy said, picking Lily up with just one hand, "you and I are way too young to think about that." He placed her on the chair in the kitchen and Lucas followed behind chuckling at the two.

"Do I smell pancakes?"

"Banana pancakes!" Lily said before taking a mouthful of said pancakes.

After they had all eaten breakfast, Karen expertly pulled Lucas away from Andy and Lily. They were now sitting on the front porch, each with a cup of coffee in their hands, just like they did when he was in high school. "How's Brooke?" Karen asked immediately.

Lucas wasn't sure how to answer that question. To be honest, Brooke was a mess, but he knew that she would be fine eventually because she was strong. "She's okay…I mean, I dunno…as okay as you can be after someone leaves you at the altar."

"Are we mad at Julian?"

Lucas chuckled, "Honestly, I want to be mad at him, but she doesn't seem upset or mad at him. She's just kind of…accepting it."

Karen nodded and sipped her coffee. "And how are you?"

"I'm fine," he said simply.

"You just went through a divorce."

"I know, ma. I was there," Lucas said earning a glare from his mother. He tried to come up with an explanation of what happened. "It was a mutual decision, one that we spent a long time talking about. And I think we're both happy about it."

"What went wrong?" his mother couldn't help but pry, she was his mother after all.

Lucas shrugged and averted his gaze from his mother to the familiar scene in front of him. He still remembered the route he always took when he ran around the block back in high school. Tree Hill hadn't changed much; the trees were the same, the sidewalk, and the houses were still the same. It was the people in the houses that changed; the people who walked the streets of Tree Hill. Some changed for the better, some for the worse, but many were still, after all of these years, finding their way. Finally he spoke up, "I think it wasn't right to begin with. I mean, don't get me wrong, I don't regret any of it, not a single day. She gave me Sawyer, y'know? And everything that has happened made me who I am today. But I think we realized that we were lost, and we weren't where we were supposed to be. We were just fooling ourselves for a year."

The wind started to pick up and he felt his mom shiver from where he was. He stood up and said, "I think that's enough storytelling for now." He smiled and Karen silently followed, knowing enough not to push his son further.

"I'm glad you're back," Karen said once they were inside the house, "And for what it's worth, I think you're in the right place now."

"Me too."

He spent the rest of the day catching up with his sister. Lily showed him her room, which was just beside his. She sat on a small chair that fit her perfectly. She offered another small chair to Lucas and he sat on it awkwardly.

She told him about school and how much she likes it and he had to laugh because she reminded him so much of himself as a boy. She showed him all the books that she's already read and told him that Harry Potter was her absolute favourite. She tells him that her mom won't let her read The Unkindness of Ravens or The Comet until she was sixteen. She chats about other things, like what he missed while he was away: Christmas and her birthday party and Jamie's too. When she talked about Mark, a boy in her class, his eyes darkened and suddenly he wanted to keep his sister indoors forever. She goes on to say that he keeps bugging her and pulling on her hair, but sometimes he'd bring an extra juice box for her which made her confused. He laughed because obviously the boy had a crush on her.

She let him know that she misses New Zealand, but that she loves the people in Tree Hill. He told her that he does too. She talked about her Aunt Haley and how she had been teaching her how to play the piano. And that her Aunt Brooke made clothes for her and that she got to help her design them. She told him that Nathan and Jamie teach her how to play basketball, even though most of the time, her uncle would just lift her up towards the basket. He smiled at her and thought to himself that he wanted Sawyer to be with these amazing people. And that now he had no doubt in his mind that he was right where he had to be.

After all, there was only one Tree Hill.


I hope you enjoyed it and comments are always welcome and appreciated!