Author's Note: The timeline in Broken Wings differs somewhat from One Tree Hill. Both Peyton and Brooke have been back in Tree Hill for a while, Lindsay is out of the picture already. Lucas and Peyton are not engaged or married yet, nor is she pregnant. Lucas' movie is beginning production, and so this throws it off slightly from the series. But enough about timeline differences- read, enjoy & review for more!

Disclaimer: One Tree Hill does not belong to me, I simply enjoy taking the characters out to play every so often.

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One: You Don't Know Me

...Three Months Earlier...

Brooke Davis sat in her boutique in Tree Hill, Clothes Over Bros. She had been working on sketching the wardrobe for Lucas' movie, as she had been hired to do. As much as she had disliked the producer, Julian upon his arrival in Tree Hill, she knew that this was just another chance to help in developing her career. Besides, who knew more about what the characters in Lucas' novel wore than one of the characters from the book? Brooke rolled her bottom lip between her teeth for a moment as she looked at the sketch that she had been working on of the varsity basketball team's jackets. "And I think that should do it."

"Aww, Brooke, are we talking to ourselves again?" Instantly Brooke looked up at the sound of Peyton's voice. That had truly been the highlight of her moving back to Tree Hill. Being able to spend the time with her best friend again, and to take their friendship to a whole different level. Sure, they had lived together when they were in high school, but there had also been an insane amount of drama that had come along with them living together. But now? It were as though they were catching up on the last four years that they had spent apart, and she was glad that they were back together.

Brooke placed her pencil down on the desktop, shooting her best friend a look. "Very funny, P. Sawyer. Some of us are actually working today."

"Touchy, touchy." Peyton let a light laugh pass her lips, her eyes browsing the clothes and handbags on display in her best friend's boutique. She tilted her head slightly to the side as she looked at an emerald green strapless dress. Lifting the hanger she held the dress in front of herself, as though picturing how it would look if she were wearing it. "I just stopped by to let you know that I won't be home for dinner tonight, so you're going to have to entertain yourself."

Brooke watched as Peyton imagined herself in the dress. "You should buy it." She spoke after a moment, noticing how perfect the color looked against her friend's complexion. Then a moment later, Peyton's words finally hit. "Wait. You're deserting me tonight? I have to tell you all about Victoria Davis and her latest ploys to ruin my life."

"Okay, sweetie first of all, you're just trying to boost sales." Peyton allowed a short pause before continuing. "And secondly, what did I do for you to mention that woman's God awful name?" There was a short string of laughter as she finished, knowing that Brooke's thoughts on her mother were no more pleasant than her own. With that Peyton took the dress over to the counter, waiting for Brooke to desert the desk where she had been sketching to ring her up.

"Alright, you caught me. I'm totally trying to boost sales." Brooke joined her friend at the counter as she slipped behind the cash register. "As your best friend I can't allow you to buy this dress." She spoke before raising her eyebrow slightly in challenge. As she stood there she glanced down at the dress, and then to Peyton's face. "So, why don't you tell me why you won't be home for dinner tonight."

Peyton rolled her bottom lip between her teeth shortly as she glanced down at the dress, and then back up to Brooke's face. "I've just got other plans, is all."

Brooke easily noticed the smile that was seemingly impossible to remove from her best friend's face as well as what seemed to be a nervous avoidance of what tonights plans were. "Other plans that involve wearing this dress?" She challenged easily, a somewhat knowing smirk crossing her lips.

"Well, I-" Peyton was interrupted by the sound of the opening and closing of the store's door, and couldn't help but think that she was saved from what seemed to be a game of twenty questions. "Well, I hate to do this to you, B. Davis, I do. But I think you've got a customer to tend to, so if you'll let me cash out my dress I'll be out of your hair."

"Not so fast, Peyton." Brooke tilted her head to the side slightly, a small grin crossing her lips. It was then that she glanced over Peyton's shoulder. "Hey Julian, I'll be right with you." Leaning forward slightly over the counter she spoke slightly over a whisper to Peyton. "Next time you try that little side step of yours, you might wanna glance over your shoulder."

Julian laughed lightly and shook his head as he noticed the quiet encounter between the two friends. "No rush, Brooke."

"So Peyton, the dress?

Before Peyton had the chance to respond, Julian's eyes landed on the dress that was in question. "Nice dress, Peyton. Is that for the big date tonight?" He asked, seemingly unaware of the fact that the topic was something that Peyton had been tip-toeing around only moments before. Unable to speak for a moment , Peyton's jaw slacked slightly.

"Julian!"

"See? I knew that you were hiding something from me!" Brooke crossed her arms over her chest at the realization, wondering why Peyton would be trying to keep the fact that she was going on a date tonight to herself. It was then that the realization hit her. "Wait, wait." Brooke pinched the bridge of her nose for a moment before continuing, "you're going on a date with Julian tonight? You came all the way back to Tree Hill for that? You could've done that in LA."

"Hang on. Let's back this up real quick." Since hearing his name being inserted into their conversation, Julian had joined the two Tree Hill natives at the counter. "Let's get something straight real quick. I am not the one that Peyton is going on a date with tonight, Lucas is."

"Julian!" Peyton's wide eyes landed on Julian once again.

"Peyton Elizabeth Sawyer!" For a moment Brooke was wide-eyed as the information slowly sank in. "I can't believe that you didn't tell me. And- how is your ex in the loop more about your love life than I am, Peyton?"

Peyton shrugged her shoulders lightly before speaking. "I wouldn't say that it's a love life, Brooke. It's just a date, that's all. And Julian only knew anything about it because he was there when Lucas asked me to go with him. And obviously he doesn't know how to keep his mouth closed."

"I didn't realize that it was privileged information, Peyton." Julian laughed.

"Oh, you are so impossible, Peyton." Brooke rolled her eyes slightly before she slipped the dress into a bag without allowing Peyton to pay and handed it back to her friend. "It is a love life, because guess what? You love Lucas, and he obviously loves you too, which is why he asked you out tonight. You are forgiven for ditching me and my famous penne in vodka sauce tonight. But if, and only if, you share every detail of your date tonight with me when you get home." Brooke paused as though her mind was digesting the thought before she added. "Okay, maybe not every detail of tonight." She finished with a perfect smirk crossing her lips.

Peyton opened her mouth, as though ready to protest to something that Brooke had said. Instead she simply shook her head, knowing that it was easier to simply let Brooke win this battle. "Alright I'll see you tonight. Bye Julian!" It was Peyton's turn to send a smirk in her best friend's direction. "Julian? Brooke's penne is amazing... dinner is at, what, six Brooke?"

It was Brooke's turn to send an incredulous look in the other woman's direction. "Peyton!" Peyton simply grinned as she offered the pair a wave before disappearing out the same door that she had so many times in her teenage years, while the store was still under the ownership of Karen. Brooke watched her friend leave in silence before finally turning her attention back to Julian. "So, what can I do for you Julian?"

"I actually just stopped by to see if you were making any progress on the designs for the movie. We're going to have to start casting soon, and we'd like to have a basic wardrobe for each of the character's in mind." Julian explained after a moment, tapping his fingers lightly on the counter as his dark eyes studied her attractive features closely. "I thought that we should probably review your ideas. You know, just to be sure that we're both on the same page."

"Yeah, I've actually been doing a lot of working on the sketches these past couple days." Brooke assured him as she stepped out from behind the cash register. Slowly she made her way over to the desk where she'd been working on the sketches for Lucas' movie. Brooke pursed her lips together for a moment, trying to gather all of the sketches together so that she could show them to Julian. "If you just give me a minute, I can gather what I have done together so you can review them."

Julian glanced down at his watch for the first time and then looked back to Brooke. "I'd love to, Brooke, but I'm on a bit of a tight schedule until about five o'clock tonight. Do you think that you could finish the last of the sketches up by later tonight? We could meet up so we can review them and maybe discuss any necessary changes."

"That's fine. Tonight is pretty wide open. What's good for you?"

Julian paused shortly, as though mulling over something before he finally spoke, a boyish grin crossing his handsome features. "Six o'clock would be perfect. Oh, by the way? I love garlic bread with my penne."

* * * * *

"You know you have got to be the most impossible and ridiculous person that I have ever spoken to in my entire life!" Brooke shouted into her cell phone as she paced back and forth in her kitchen, a clear look of irritation playing across her features. She stopped for a moment, as though unsure of what to say next.

"Now, Brooke, is that any way to speak to your mother?"

Brooke let out a short laugh at Victoria's words. "My mother? Is that what you're going by now? You're only involved in this business because of the money, and you know it. You advising me on my business decisions has absolutely nothing to do with motherly concern. You can recommend that I leave Tree Hill all that you want, tell me that opening the store here was a horrible business decision- but guess what, Victoria?" Brooke paused shortly while in thought, running a hand roughly through her dark tresses. "Not every decision that is made in life has to do with profitability, sometimes it has to do with happiness. Look, I've got to go." And without so much as waiting for a response from Victoria, Brooke ended the call, irritated that her mother had interrupted her in the first place. She had been trying to prepare for Julian meeting her for a business dinner, to discuss the wardrobe for the movie. She'd been in the middle of making the vodka sauce for her penne when she'd received Victoria's call.

It was then that it hit her. Brooke turned quickly on her heel and made her way over to the stove. "Son of a bitch!" Brooke tried quickly to salvage the sauce by stirring it with the wooden spoon that was on the stove, but to no avail. The entire bottom layer of the sauce was burnt to the bottom of the sauce pan, the top layer in a seemingly constant state of bubbling.

"Brooke?" It was Julian. He had arrived at Brooke's house a few minutes prior and had tried knocking on the door several times, only to find that there was no answer. So after waiting patiently for a few minutes he had decided that he would try letting himself in the house- afterall, she was expecting him.

"Julian." Brooke whispered his name and her eyes closed shortly for a moment. She was absolutely not ready for this business dinner, not by a long shot. It was going to make her look so incapable, so unprepared. "Uh, Julian? I'm in the kitchen!"

"Brooke, hey, sorry I'm late. I hope you weren't waiting on me." As the last word slipped past his lips Julian took in the sight of the kitchen, in a state of disarray as well as the look of distress that was playing all over Brooke's face. It was not lost on him then that Brooke hadn't been waiting on him at all. As he looked at her it seemed as though she were about to have a breakdown of some sort. Julian closed in the distance between himself and the counter and placed a bottle of wine on the counter, not feeling the need to say that he had felt as though he should bring something. Especially seeing as though she was going through all of this extra trouble for him.

"Oh, no worries, Julian. I wasn't waiting on you." Brooke turned her back to him, not in an attempt to be rude but she roughly grabbed the ruined vodka sauce from the stove and shoved it into the sink with a loud clatter. "I was speaking to Victoria Davis about another inadequate decision that I have made in my life- and as usual, she has effectively ruined everything. Including dinner." Brooke spoke flatly before re-approaching the stove and grabbing for the pot that contained the pasta that was well past al dente.

"Just slow down there a second, Brooke Davis." Julian spoke after a moment before slipping the coat from his shoulders, tossing it on one of the barstools that stood beside the counter before making his way over to her side. "Just because Victoria spoiled your mood, doesn't mean that you have to take it out on the pasta. It's fine."

"No, Julian, it's not fine! None of this- none of it's fine." Julian stepped around Brooke then and grabbed the pot that contained the penne and walked to the sink with it, pouring the pasta into the strainer. "Julian, what are you-"

"Brooke. Sit down." He told her after a moment, walking over to her cabinets and opening several doors before finding the one that contained wine glasses and removing two of them. Within a few moments he had convinced Brooke into getting out the corkscrew so that he could open the wine. "Leave the rest up to me. It'll be perfect, Brooke Davis. Scout's honor." And with that Julian Baker sent one of his heart-breaking smiles in her direction, rendering her speechless, if only for a moment.

* * * * *

Brooke sat in her living room with her feet curled up beneath herself, glass of wine in hand. Silently, she took a sip of the Merlot before cradling the glass between her hands. "Julian?" Brooke paused for a moment, not knowing when things had gotten so relaxed with them. She didn't know if it was in the moments after he had rescued dinner, or if it was after the second glass of wine. But somehow they had made their way to the couch where they had been sitting in utter silence for a few moments. "I wanted to apologize for earlier. For the way I was when you walked in- that's not the way that I usually am before a business dinner. Victoria just had be all turned around, and I just wanted to say I was sorry."

Julian looked at her as though in surprise, though he didn't say anything at first. "Don't apologize, Brooke." Pausing for a moment he turned his body more towards hers, searching her face for a moment. "This was kind of nice. I mean, I know that things didn't go the way that you were wishing for them to, and that your sauce was ruined. But, it kind of gave me the chance to get to see this other version of Brooke Davis. The one that isn't always in perfect form like when she's in front of the press, the one who gets frustrated, and the one that once in a while, lets down her guard if just a little."

"Julian." Brooke breathed his name, barely audible. "You don't know me. And this, whatever this is. It can't happen- this is a business relationship, nothing more."

"Maybe you're right, Brooke. Maybe I don't know you that well, because I've only known you for a month now. And I know that when I first arrived in Tree Hill you couldn't stand me. You thought I was here to mess around with Peyton's head, to try to get her back. But that was never what this was about, it was always about Luke's movie." Julian paused before silently taking a sip of his wine, finishing off the last of his glass and setting it on the coffee table in front of them before turning his attention back to Brooke. "But maybe you are completely wrong. Maybe I know you better than you thought you'd allowed me to. I know you're that girl that would do absolutely anything for her friends, who is completely passionate about everything she does, who wants to be a mother, who is amazingly talented. This girl that- that allows herself to get broken down by her mother because she feels as though she owes something to her mother. That she has something to prove- and I understand that, I've been there. But above all, you're that girl that is guarding her heart because she's afraid of getting it broken again but who doesn't realize that in doing that she's also keeping herself from reaching that complete level of happiness that she's been yearning."

"Julian, how... I mean... give me a second." Brooke managed to whisper before taking three long sips to finish the last of her wine, placing it beside his empty glass on the table. "How can you possibly claim to know so much about me? How can you act like you're some expert on my life?" Before Brooke was able to further ask him another question without allowing him the chance to answer, she felt his hand resting against her cheek. She didn't know if it was the three glasses of wine that she'd had since dinner, but she enjoyed the feeling and didn't want him to stop. Despite the fact that she enjoyed the feeling, Brooke rest her small hand against his arm, gently pulling his hand from her face. "Julian. This can't happen."

"Why can't it?"

"Because, Julian. We're not in high school- I'm not in high school anymore!" Brooke told him before she breathed out slowly. "We can't do this because I'm not that girl from the book, because you think you know me to be this person and maybe you are right about some of it. But despite what you know about me, I know absolutely nothing about you, about your past- short from the fact that you broke Peyton's heart. And we can't do this because we are two professionals. And because Peyton is my best friend, and the two of you used to be in love." Brooke looked at Julian sadly, because the truth was that there was more than an attraction there, and he wasn't as bad as she had originally thought. The next words only came out as a whisper, "and Julian, that's only for starters."

"I'm glad you're not in high school anymore, that we're not in high school anymore. Because if we were still in high school I would never have a chance with you, Brooke Davis. I was a Mathlete for Christ's sake, and you were the captain of the cheerleading squad. I wasn't in the same stadium with you, let alone the same league. And- I don't want that version of you Brooke, I want this version of you." Julian was silent for a moment, taking in everything that she had said. "And maybe... maybe you're right, you don't know much about me. But that can change, I want you to know me. And for the record? I didn't break Peyton's heart, she broke mine."

"Julian-"

"I'm not asking anything of you right now, Brooke. Well, maybe one thing."

"And what's that? My undying love and devotion?"

Julian let out a laugh at that, placing his hand gently on top of hers, removing it before she had the chance to pull away. "No that's not what it is, though that would be nice. I just- want you to listen while I tell you about me, and how I understand your utter frustration with Victoria." Pausing shortly, Julian continued. "Oh, and I want you to remember one thing: you are completely and utterly wrong. I do know you, Brooke, and one day you'll realize that I knew you all along."