Hi there! Thanks for taking the time to check out my new fic!
This will be slightly AU, but most of what is different will be explained in the story. However, if you are confused about something, feel free to ask. And, as always, please leave a review, good or bad, and let me know what you think!
This is just an intro chapter so it doesn't give much away, I wanted it that way. I need to set up where they are coming from and what they are feeling before going into detail about everything. So, please don't get too frustrated, it will all be explained!
Thanks to Z (ariadnescurse), for reading this first and giving me some pointers.
Disclaimer- I don't own One Tree Hill or the song "Broken" by Seether featuring Amy Lee.
I wanted you to know
That I love the way you laugh
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain away
I keep your photograph and I know it serves me well
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain away
He'd memorized the words to that song. He knew them from the beginning. He knew them from the end. He could pick up anywhere in the song and complete the lyrics to it. Lately, that song held great meaning for him. Probably not in the way that the song writer intended for the words to be taken, but nonetheless, it's how he interpreted them. And it's exactly how he felt.
If he could hold her and take away her pain, he would. If he could make things better for her, he would. If he could make the sparkle in her eyes return, he would. If he could make the dimples in her smile come back, he would. But most importantly, if he could fix this for her, he would.
He was her husband. He was supposed to provide for her. He was supposed to protect her. He was supposed to be Man of the House. He was supposed to be there for her, to take away her pain, to comfort her, and to fix things that hurt her. Yet, he could do nothing about what was going on. It was out of his hands and it made him feel like a failure.
But this song, these words, said just how he felt. He wanted to take her away from everything and take away her pain.
"How many moments can you look back and say that's when it all changed?"
If you had told him nine years ago that his life would turn out the way it did, he would have told you that you were crazy. He would have laughed in your face and told you to get lost. Yet, if you asked him now if he would change any of it, he would still tell you to get lost. But only because the way it turned out has been far better than anything he could have imagined. That's not to say it hasn't been hard, but it has been worth every minute of it.
Nine years ago he met Brooke Davis in the backseat of his car. Now, anybody you ask will tell you that she was naked. But if you ask her, she'll laugh and call you silly. She will tell you she was not totally naked- she had been wearing mittens afterall. He knew right then that there was something about her. That was junior year of high school. And, with the exception of a few bumps along the way, they'd been together ever since.
She was loud, he was not. He was studious, she was not. She was cheery, he was broody. He read all the time; she read when she thought no one was watching. She had built walls to guard her heart; he'd fought to get through. He'd learned Brooke Davis was definitely worth fighting for. And, once he broke through her walls, once she'd allowed herself to be vulnerable with him, that had been enough to hook him. If you were lucky enough to get to know the real Brooke Davis, then you were pretty lucky. She gave her whole heart to those that she cared about and would sacrifice anything for them. He had been honored she'd allowed him to do the same for her.
Almost five years ago, despite the crazy looks and awful accusations, they'd decided to get married. He remembered how they would laugh when they told people they were getting married. You could watch their eyes go immediately down to Brooke's stomach and then right back up to meet her eyes, hoping she hadn't noticed. Apparently, you only got married that young if the girl was pregnant. It couldn't have been because they were in love. He couldn't help but laugh at the irony of all of it.
Getting married that young hadn't been easy, but they'd gotten through it and they felt as though it made them stronger than ever. They'd both finished college and set out on bright futures together. He began teaching Literature and coaching at Tree Hill High, writing some on his own here and there. She'd taken a job in the Marketing Department at Macy's, but still found time to work on her own designs. A few months later, the topic of starting a family had begun to come up more and more. Shortly after that, Brooke had stopped taking her Birth Control, her and Lucas deciding to just see what happened.
After graduating college, Nathan and Haley had decided to join the "marriage club" and had taken the plunge. They'd been together nearly as long as he and Brooke, but Nathan had a hard time "settling down," despite the fact he and Haley had been together for many years. Then, last spring, Peyton and Jake had joined in the fun as well, deciding they were it for each other and declaring it forever with the Marriage Certificate.
In the midst of all their friends getting married is when Brooke and Lucas first started to realize something may be wrong. After a year of being off Birth Control and nothing happening, Brooke had gone to the doctor. He had told her not to worry. He'd said
that was normal for young women that had been on the pill for years. It just needed time to get out of her system. He'd suggested they wait another six months and if nothing had changed to come and see him again.
So, she had busied herself with Peyton's wedding and tried to focus on anything else. However, it seemed the harder she tried not to think about it, the more she actually thought about it. The more she and Lucas tried to just "go with the flow" the more tense things got between them. Brooke became obsessed with what day of the month it was and how they were positioned, and Luke argued he didn't like feeling like he was on a schedule when it came to that. Needless to say, things had not been easy for them during that time.
After Peyton and Jake were married, Brooke and Lucas had taken some time for themselves. They had gone away for a long weekend hoping some time away from everything would help. And, much to their satisfaction, it had.
The worst is over now
And we can breathe again
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain away
There's so much left to learn
And no one left to fight
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain away
But, in retrospect they'd learned life is not that simple. Quick weekends away can't fix everything. Even though that trip had been a little over a year ago, it seemed like it had been much longer ago. So much had changed since then. However, there were some things that still remained the same. His feelings about this song hadn't changed. His feelings about his wife hadn't changed. And the fact that there was nothing he could do about it hadn't changed.