I want to tell you something
That I should've, long ago
I wish that you and I had those kids
Maybe bought us that home
I wish that we were stumbling fast
Down on Irving and 14th street
I wish that we were still in your room
In your bed and you were holding me

Ryan Adams, Somehow, Someday

These Strange Conditions

Prologue: When We Were Young

"I'm pregnant."

As soon as the words escaped her lips, she could see the look of horror that crossed Lucas' handsome features. She fought a wave of nausea that threatened to overtake her. A part of her cheered for her honesty, she has been debating whether or not she should tell him for days. But tonight, a night that she promised herself that she would try and forget everything— including her broken heart and the subsequent betrayal of the only two people she had ever let into her life.

She was tired of being the vindictive bitch. Especially now, when her life was about to be drastically altered... She was responsible now for another human life.

"Is it mine?"

She winced at his scathing reply. She deserved that. She swallowed back her rising tears. "I haven't been with anyone else, Lucas. Even after— tonight was supposed to be the night where I'd start to force myself to forget you."

He seemed surprised at her choice of words, his gaze intense. He was giving her that look, the one where she became virtually transparent before him. She hated when he did this and often found herself battling to fight him. She wasn't perfect like Peyton.

"I know I hurt you, Brooke," he began, stepping off the picnic table.

No, her mind screamed. She knew exactly what he was going to tell her. She unconsciously backed away, her hand lowering protectively over her stomach. Suddenly, Lucas was becoming like everyone else in her life, using her as justification to leave.

"But how could you be—"

"You need to here me out," she interrupted, surprised at the growing strength of her voice despite her conflicting emotions.

"Brooke—" Lucas tried to reach for her.

She wrenched herself away from his grasp. "No! You need to listen to me. Let me tell the truth for once in my life."

Brooke struggled to stand her ground with Lucas' close proximity. "I just wanted you to know," she whispered, nearly choking on her tears. "You— you are my first and probably only love, Lucas Scott. And if you don't believe me, t—that's fine too. But I would have spent the rest of my life hating the fact that I kept this from you."

He said nothing and was completely unreadable to her. She desperately tried to search for something, anything— some sign that could let her know that he understood. She was greeted by nothing but silence.

"Okay then," she spoke quietly, pulling her jacket closer to her body for some comfort. She struggled with her quiet sobs. "Then I'll give y—you what you want Lucas. All ties are broken. Be happy with Peyton."

She turned to leave and like everything else in her life, she never looked back.

TBC

A/N: Don't worry. I'm not abandoning the Makings of a Resolution, I'm actually working on the next two chapters. But this plot-bunny just wouldn't leave me alone in Psychology, which was just unbearably boring today.

I was going to wait until my other fic was finished to do an older Brucas story, but like I said I was bored and decided to start earlier. To Wish Impossible Things seemed to be the perfect backdrop.

So in the next chapter expect to see Brooke ten years later, a lot older and wiser if you will.

Please review!