A Rabbit's Foot

Author's Note: This is a one-shot for a missing scene in 1x19 "How Can You Be Sure" between Brooke and Lucas. I got the idea a few weeks ago, but finally put pen to paper last night. I hope you enjoy it. Please review.

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She was frozen in fear. Sitting behind the wheel of her car, her ex-boyfriend sitting next to her, Brooke Davis was frozen in fear. As she looked straight ahead, Lucas reached out for his ex-girlfriend's right hand as it was still clutching the steering wheel.

"Brooke, we have to go inside", the blond boy says gently.

"Why?" Brooke croaks out, still staring ahead of her.

"You can't avoid this. We have to know", Lucas says as Brooke remembers the conversation the two had just minutes earlier at the River Court.

"I think I'm pregnant." Brooke says quickly to Lucas.

"What do you mean, you think?"
"I mean, I'm late. Like, late."
"Did you take a test?" Lucas asks and Brooke shakes her head, "Okay. Okay, um. Look, we have to know, okay? Maybe it's a false alarm, you know? Come on. Drug Store's still open. We'll do it together. Okay?"

Snapping herself out of her reverie, Brooke reaches for the door handle and slowly steps out of her powder blue VW bug.

"Are you coming?" she asks Lucas harshly.

Lucas nods wordlessly and exits the car, reaching out for Brooke's hand again, "I'm here for you, Brooke", he tells the girl.

Brooke snaps her hand away from his and glares at him, "Whatever", she grunts. The former couple walks silently into the CVS that lies just outside of Tree Hill. Brooke did not want to risk running into any of her classmates or worse, her friends.

Eyeing the signs above each aisle which dictate what each aisle holds, Brooke finally spots the home pregnancy section and saunters toward it. Once she gets there, she's faced with so many choices. Lucas stands there, even more dumbfounded than Brooke.

"So, which one?" Lucas asks.

"I don't know. Do I look like a pro at this?"

Lucas shrugs and looks away from Brooke.

The 16 year old brunette grabs an EPT box and turns it over, scrutinizing the label. She grabs another brand's box and looks at that label, too.

"I think they're all the same", she finally says.

"Then just pick one", Lucas responds matter-of-factly.

Brooke frowns and sits down in the middle of the aisle. Lucas quickly bends down to sit next to the girl.

"This can't be happening", a teary Brooke laments.

Lucas starts to rub Brooke's back, but she scoots away, "We don't even know if it is happening."

"I can't be pregnant, Lucas."

"I know…"

"My G-d, could you imagine me as a mother?" Brooke continues, a soft chuckle escaping her lips.

"I think you'd be a great mother", the boy says quietly, trying to soothe the girl but also walking on eggshells.

Brooke chortles loudly in response to Lucas, "Yeah, right", she says.

"Brooke…you need to take a test."

"I can't be pregnant", Brooke says again, "I'm only sixteen."

"We need to find out for sure", Lucas says as he begins to stand up, while Brooke remains seated, ignoring Lucas.

"I mean, I'm sixteen and a slut and I drink too much and the baby's father is an asshole…"

"Brooke."

The girl looks up directly into her ex-boyfriend's blue eyes. Her own green eyes are seething with anger and fear, two emotions Brooke knew well. "What?" she spits out.

"Get up", Lucas instructs the girl, extending his hand to pull Brooke up off the aisle floor.

Brooke keeps her eyes locked with Lucas' and she pulls herself up, now faced with the rows of pregnancy tests again.

"This is not how I intended to spend the night of the Boy Toy Auction", Brooke mutters.

"Yeah, I bet", Lucas mutters back.

Ignoring his dig, Brooke continues, "Should I get one test or two? Or maybe five?"

"I think one is probably enough. These tests are expensive", Lucas says as he notes the $10-$15 price tags.

"Just another reason on the long list of reasons not to have sex at sixteen", responds Brooke casually.

The #1 reason on that last would have to be the subsequent baby that could appear in 9 months.

"Yeah…well."

"I wonder if they have any rabbits' feet here. You know, for good luck?" Brooke wonders aloud, remembering the often brightly colored pieces of fur that would adorn her backpacks as a kid.

"You're stalling", Lucas says.

Brooke looks at him angrily again, "If you were about to find out if you were pregnant at 16, wouldn't you stall, too?" she asks, "Ugh, forget it." The girl grabs a random test off the shelf and marches towards the front of the store.

Even from yards away, Lucas can see that Brooke is shaking. But then he looks down at his own hands and notices how much they're shaking, too.

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