A/N: Here I am yet again with another idea for a multi-chapter OTH Brucas inspired fanfic. I really do hope readers enjoy this one. I'm trying to carefully plan and work hard on it.

Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill obviously

Here is Good

I grew up in Tree Hill. I spent most of my life here. It's what I wished for. I like Tree Hill like this: warm, safe, loved. It doesn't mean there haven't been hardships, but I'm here, and here is good.

Chapter I: Bring-out-Plum and Blend-in-Black

Dropping the pencil back into its holder, she brought her finger towards the canvas, rubbing in the area for added depth. Once satisfied, a grin graced her lips as she stared back at the sketch now just waiting for some color.

"What exactly are you working on?"

Turning away from her drawing, illuminated by the lamp light she worked by, the brunette faced the woman now walking into the main room. "Trying not to be frightened by you," her raspy voice spoke up.

"You knew I was here," the other girl reminded her with a playful eye roll. Walking around the brunette in the chair, she tempted to peer over the girl's shoulder, only to have her best friend hunch over the canvas in frenzy.

"Haley!" she shrieked.

Tucking strands of hair behind her ear, Haley sent the girl a frown, dropping the envelope in her hand onto the desk. "For you."

"It's a surprise," the brunette smoothed over, referring to the drawing she had yet to color, before grabbing the envelope addressed to her.

"She sent it to my house," Haley said casually, watching as the girl tore open the envelope to reveal and embossed card.

"She has a name, you know," the brunette pointed out, trying to keep her tone light. Haley only nodded, and the girl knew it was because she still resented the curly haired blonde that all of Tree Hill was sure was Lucas's destiny. "Is it really her fault that he just wasn't the one?" Her voice faded to a whisper, her hazel eyes pleading as they glanced back at her best friend.

Swallowing, Haley dropped her shoulders, looking as if she had accepted defeat. "But what it did to Lucas…"

"He's fine," the girl in the chair reasoned.

Just then, the thuds against the pane of glass of the boutique's door alerted the pair to a visitor. "Brooke!"

"Aunt Brooke!"

Or two visitors...

"Your boys are here."

Arching a brow, Brooke tossed Haley a look.

"Right, I'll just go get the door, and you just keep stabbing Lucas in the back with whatever it is you're drawing."

"Sketching!" Brooke hollered after her, tossing the previous and now crumpled design at her so called best friend. With the target secured, Haley only rubbed the spot where the paper ball had collided into the back of her head before continuing her walk for the door.

"Haley…"

Brooke smiled, shaking her head as she pictured the surprise coating Lucas's baby blues as he caught sight of his best friend instead of the owner of this boutique. Spinning in her chair, she turned herself back towards the desk, lifting an olive green pencil from the holder.

"I hope you have enough for me…"

"Oh, hey, Mama…"

"Your boys bring you ice cream."

"Way to kill the surprise, Mama."

Laughing, Brooke dropped the pencil she had only just selected, deciding this was as far as she'd get today.

"Oh and hide that…"

Before Haley even finished the sentence, Brooke had grabbed the card she had opened earlier, but not in her friend's intention. Looking up in the next moment, she found Jamie grinning at her while holding out an ice cream cone. "Uncle Lucas said you could use this."

"I could actually," she said, grabbing the treat from him and squishing his nose with her index in the process.

"He said you'd been working hard all day."

Which wasn't an entire lie. She'd dealt with a few bratty teenaged girls arguing over dresses, approved a few fabrics for upcoming designs, finished the sketch for Peyton's wedding dress, and her bridesmaid outfit. Now all that was left was Haley's…

Turning her eyes back over to the design for Haley's bridesmaid outfit, she wondered if black was the way to go. "Or maybe a dark shade of plum," she voiced aloud.

Craning his head to the side, the little boy standing before Brooke gave his aunt a most peculiar expression. "Uncle Lucas, I think she needs yours too."

Staring up at Jamie, she sent him an odd expression in return.

"Two ice cream cones," he repeated in sympathy.

"One is fine," she smiled before scooping the boy in her lap. "I was just wondering what color would go best with a black eye."

"Who got punched?"

"No one yet, but if your mom keeps opening her mouth when we see Peyton, she might."

Jamie let out a gasp, jumping out of Brooke's lap and dashing for his mother. "Are you getting into a fight, mama?"

"What?" she frowned, facing Brooke.

Brooke ignored her, turning to Lucas instead. "Your friend is going to try and defend your honor and fail miserably."

"I'm what?"

"She thinks your still drowning your sorrows in all that is blonde and curly," Brooke continued, still ignoring Haley.

"Brooke?"

"Yes, tutor Mama, plum will bring out the bruise more, black will blend it in, which do you prefer?"

"You're being such a," she began, covering Jamie's ears with her hands, "bitch," she whispered.

"Tut tut, Haley," Brooke said after noticing the way Jamie's eyes lit up at his mother's rather colorful choice of vocabulary, "there are little ears in the room."

At this, the little blonde turned to face his uncle. "I don't get it," he said with a scrunch of his nose, "sometimes I have big ears, sometimes their little…"

Lucas chuckled before Haley announced it was time for them to head home, to which Jamie made a display of his displeasure: whimper, pout, and slight kick of the feet.

"He could have stayed," Brooke stated, watching the red faced four year old exit with his mother with tear stained eyes. "I would've dropped him off."

Checking the watch wrapped around his wrist, Lucas frowned. "It's late," he informed, "and you know how Haley is about punctuality."

Brooke matched his frown. "My mother never gave me a bedtime."

Folding his arms, the blonde decided to alter the catalyst for their conversation. Besides, anyone friends with Brooke Davis knew how sensitive the whole parents issue was for the girl even after all these years. "So are we going with black or plum-purple?"

Gazing at his arched brow and slight smile, Brooke slightly giggled. "Plum-purple with some black lace. It'll be fab." Her eyes fell to the sketch of her best friend's dress. Behind Lucas's façade of a smile, Brooke knew there was some unresolved pain, and she knew the upcoming events weren't going to lighten that burden anytime soon. In fact, they just might highlight the issue more. Turning back to him, she sent him a sympathetic smile, one he quickly turned away from.

"Brooke, I'm okay…" His sentence trailed off as he stuffed his hands into the pocket of his jeans. "I'm over it." Baby blues traveling around the space, Lucas often wished it would magically transform into what it once was-what it once was for him, Haley, his mother, and Uncle Keith. However, then he'd see a part of that dream hanging from the ceiling and the issue would dissipate. After all, this was the place where everything was better and everything was safe.

Reaching over, Brooke placed her hand upon his shrugged shoulder, which relaxed under her touch. "Take it from someone who's been the footnote of someone else's love story, the pain doesn't really go away."

Meeting her speckled eyes, Lucas opened his mouth. When it came to love, angst, and Brooke, he knew the two reasons behind it, him and the girl who was the result of his current pain. With a dry mouth, he said, "Brooke…I'm…"

Realizing what he was about to say, she quickly removed her hand away from him and darted her eyes towards the clock tacked to the wall. "It's late. We should head home."

Clearly, the brunette wasn't ready to discuss her own issues yet. From what he'd learned from Haley and his own return to Tree Hill, North Carolina, Brooke hadn't had a real date since their senior year of high school.