sorry to confuse you all, but some how this chapter got deleted... so I'm reposting it.

Author's Note: Hey guys! So I am updating a little bit earlier then I thought I would and it is mainly because of the overwhelming amount of response I got. It was so amazing and so unexpected and I am just thrilled that everyone seems to be liking the whole concept so far. I will say, when I started writing it, I didn't think I would make it to the end of the first chapter but I am really getting into it and I hope you all are too! With that being said, here is Chapter Two. There are a lot of flashbacks and it will definitely start to give you all a look in to how everything came to be. It for sure won't answer too much though, so just bare with me, I am trying to work everything in bit by bit. Hope you enjoy and I hope to hear all of your thoughts!

Also, thank you to my beta for this chapter, FTW. You did a wonderful job!

Here it is… enjoy.


Chapter Two:

"Luke?" Her voice is soft but he still hears her, he doesn't look up though. "Everyone's outside… they are all worried about you…" she moves to the crib in the corner of the room and carefully places the sleeping baby in to it before moving in front of his sitting figure. "Listen…I know how hard this is okay, she was my best friend, but you can't shut people out, you have to let them help you…"

"Please, just go away…" He replies, his voice void of emotion completely. He still doesn't lift his head to meet the hazel-green eyes gazing back at him. She slowly takes a seat next to him and waits , to see what he will do; if he will get mad, if he will yell. But he does nothing, so she slowly places her hand on his lower thigh "Brooke go…" he pushes, but he doesn't move an inch. She, however, doesn't move away, but instead moves her thumb up and down and waits again. Still though, he does nothing, so she takes a leap of faith as she wraps her arms around him. She hugs him tightly and he doesn't respond "Brooke." he says more sternly but the brunette just shakes her head, clearly not going anywhere and takes a deep breath trying as hard as she can to keep her tears at bay

"Shut up Lucas." She says softly "Just…shut up and hug me back." She says and it takes him a minute. It takes him more then a minute actually, it takes him a few, but slowly he lifts his hand and places it on her back. The minute she feels his hand, she can't help but let a tear slip out. Lucas felt the tiny droplet of saltwater hit his shoulder, and as it soaked through his shirt onto his shoulder, he pulled her tighter to him, finding comfort in her embrace.

The two held each other for what seemed like days, saying nothing, yet meaning everything. It's not until the sound of a baby's cries fill the room. Neither move for a minute the brunette waits to see what the man in her arms will do. He does nothing though and Brooke takes the initiative and moves away from his embrace. Taking a deep breath, and wiping away her tears, she waits for him to get up and tend to his daughter. But he doesn't, he just puts his head back down and as the cries just get louder. She looks down at him, eyebrow raised, but still, he does nothing so she does. She sends him one more look before moving to the crib. His been through a lot, that's all. or at least that's what she tells herself to justify her actions, which she knows will only lead to him ignoring his responsibilities more.

"Hey baby girl, it's okay…" she soothes he small baby in her arms "It's okay…"

"Can you just…" Lucas starts, his eyes fall to the baby, and almost in fear looks back down "Just… take her out of here please."

"Lucas…" Brooke starts but he cuts her off

"Never mind, I'll just… go" he starts, standing from the bed, and for a moment, she thinks he is going to take the baby from her, but instead he grabs his jacket from behind her and makes his way out the side door, leaving Brooke to tend to his responsibility, "He's been through a lot" She says to herself, as if to justify his actions not only to herself, but also to his daughter, who is sleeping soundly in her arms by now.

"We haven't heard from you in a while…" Brooke says as they both sit on the couch in her living room

"I know…" He sighs "I just have been trying to get everything worked out so I could come back…"

"Don't take this the wrong way Lucas… but why now? Why are you coming back now, five years later? Why did you wait this long?" Brooke can't even begin to fathom why Lucas would come back after all these years. After millions of key moments he's missed with Ellie.

"It's complicated Brooke…" He sighs again, not meeting her eyes, knowing she's looking at him with complete disapproval. He can't take that kind of look from her, the woman who's taken care of his daughter for five years.

"Not really though, it's pretty simple if you ask me… she is your daughter and you had a responsibility to her…" Brooke said firmly. She wasn't going to let this one slide; maybe after a couple months, but when Lucas left Ellie in her care for all those years, Brooke had gained a need to constantly protect the girl, at whatever cost that may be.

"Well I didn't ask you alright… I get that I messed up, I don't need you telling me." Lucas huffed placing his head in his hands. He was the one that had to deal with the guilt everyday from himself for leaving his daughter at a time they both needed each other. But he didn't leave only his daughter, did he?

Brooke chuckles, throwing her head back slightly before shaking it and looking at him. "So what? You just thought you would waltz back in to her life after five years and have no one say anything? Are you nuts… wait no; you are because you left in the first place, but really Lucas? Come on. You haven't seen her since the day you left five years ago." She can't help but be a little happy that Lucas had actually come, but she wasn't going to let him go without a fight.

"I know!" He yelled lifting his head out of his hands "I know and it kills me, I just… I couldn't do it Brooke." He hopes she'll let him go with this, hopes that she'll just maybe understand how he was feeling at the time. How just thinking of his daughter would bring back memories of Peyton. Memories of cookie dough fights, nights in bed while she was pregnant, dreaming of how their daughter would turn out and how many other kids they would have. Those memories were the exact memories that tore him to his core, and brought him to a place he didn't think he could turn back to.

"What and you thought I could? She wasn't even mine Lucas… you don't think I was hurting, you don't think it killed me just as much as it did you. We were best friends since we were nine Lucas. Other then the problems we had because of you, we were always together. She was my best friend…" A single tear dared to drop from her eye, and as it slid down her smooth porcelain face, she couldn't help but feel a tinge of anger at the blonde before her.

"And she was supposed to be my wife!" he cut her off. He stood from the couch and started pacing the room, letting out a huff before dragging his hands over his face. "Look… I know I have messed up, okay? I have had to live with that every day of my life these past five years. I know that I don't deserve to be in her life, but you have to understand Brooke. You have to understand that there isn't a day that goes by where I don't think about her. I have every single picture you have ever sent me in my wallet, and I keep every single letter she writes me on my bedside table, where I can see it every morning, just to get me through the days without her. I love my daughter Brooke… and regardless of what it seems, she means the world to me." Lucas pleads, sitting back down on the couch. He meets her eyes for the first time, and her anger falls slightly at the sight of him.

"Lucas, I never questioned your love for her, but I just never… no, I still don't get why you have done the things that you have. You write maybe once a month, call once every two weeks… you missed her birthday for Christ's sake! I mean think of what Peyton would…"

"Don't…" He stops her "Don't bring her into this, it is hard enough." He holds a finger up to her in anger, sending her a stern look.

"Well damn it Lucas its true! I am sorry that all this is something you have had to go through, and no one should ever have to, but we all went through it okay? We all loved her. The point is you made the choice to take the easy way out, and Peyton would have been pissed at you and you know it." Brooke said angrily, standing up and ignoring his finger in her face "I get that you have realized your mistakes, and I am glad you are back, but for how long? A day or two? Maybe a week? It isn't fair to have you come in to Ellie's life if you are just going to walk out again. You left her in my care, and you knew when you left that I would do everything in my power to protect her, and I'm sorry it's come down to the fact that I need to protect her from her own father. But what choice have you really given me? I mean you didn't even call to let me know you were coming, you just showed up on my doorstep at nine o'clock at night out of the blue…"

"I know, and I'm sorry… I was going to call, but I figured," He paused, trying to put the thoughts in his head to words he could use to help his case. "I just thought that this was something I should do in person…" Lucas sighs before looking back down to the floor

"Yeah… and what if she had still been awake, then what? I was just putting her to bed when you came. What if she would have seen you?" Brooke questioned

"Well seeing her is what I am here for…" Lucas stated

"Oh no… when you left you gave up the right to her Lucas… I'm her guardian now and you get to see her when I let you see her. She might be your daughter by blood but she has been mine for the last five years…" Brooke wasn't going to let Lucas off easy here. She was going to let him have all the guilt he deserved.

"Brooke you can't tell me when I can and can't see my daughter…" Lucas grunted looking up at her. Goddamnit, she was his daughter. Both by blood and by nature, and he was willing to fight Brooke to get Ellie back.

"Like hell I can't" she stated firmly "She is not a doormat Lucas, you can't just walk in and out of her life!"

"I am not planning to." Lucas fought, clearly angry at the fact that Brooke would even think he would leave his own daughter after not seeing her for five years. Who did she think he was?

"Well until I am sure of that, I don't want her to know you are here" Brooke said in a matter-of-fact way

"Brooke, I am not going to wait for you decide whether or not I can see my daughter. I am not asking your permission…" Lucas shook his head as he spoke, his normally cool blue eyes turning to ice in his rage.

"Well you should be, because if you think I am kidding I am not. That little girl has been my whole life for the last five years and I am not letting you hurt her." Brooke said looking him dead in the eye. She refused to falter, even for a second to let Lucas think he was winning this battle.

"I am not going to hurt her; I want to be a part of her life…" Lucas said meeting her eyes. Once again, they softened, pleading with her to just let him see his daughter.

"And that is great, but until I know that I can trust you with this, you aren't seeing her." She crossed her arms over her chest, clearly adamant on what she was telling him.

"Brooke you aren't her mother…" Lucas said angrily. He said those words in an angry haze, knowing the extent the damage could do.

"Yeah, you are right, I'm not, but I am a hell of a lot more of a parent then you. I might not be her mother biologically, but you haven't left me with a choice to be her mother in her eyes. That little girl upstairs knows no other parent than me, thanks to you." Brooke stood firm still not breaking eye contact with him "If you want to fight me on this one fine, but you're gonna lose."

"Screw you Brooke." Lucas said shaking his head. He couldn't believe Brooke's insensitivity to his side of things right now. What happened to the Brooke that would do anything to see him happy?

"No Lucas, screw you. Screw you for walking out and leaving her all alone, screw you for never coming back, screw you for hardly ever writing her, or calling her, and screw you for being so selfish as to think you can just walk into her life and expect it to have no effect on her. She doesn't even know who you are Lucas! All she just knows is that somewhere out there, she has this guy that is apparently her father. But as far as she is concerned, you are just a person who happens to send her letters and calls every once in a while." Brooke ranted. There were tears in her eyes, and she really didn't know why. She was trying her hardest to hold them in but she was starting to lose it. "This is going to change her whole life, okay? This is a huge deal, and maybe you don't get that, but whether you stick around or whether you leave this will change her life forever."

"I think you are just afraid she is going to want to be with me. I think that you just want a child of your own so bad that you don't care that you're taking mine away from me." Lucas raged on, full out yelling at Brooke as his eyes squinted in anger.

"Get the hell out of my house." Brooke hissed through her teeth. "How dare you!" She yelled "How dare you come in here and say that to me! I gave up my life to raise the daughter you couldn't. I gave up everything because I felt like I owed it to Peyton, I gave up everything because you were too god damn selfish to get passed it all. So don't you ever, EVER tell me that I tried to take her from you. You gave her up, you walked out, this was all on you." Brooke spoke with fury. Her eyes changed from the soft hazel green ones he had grown accustomed to, to dark and unforgiving ones that almost seemed foreign to him. "So you get out of this house and don't come near me or Ellie. Stay the hell away from us both. Do understand… crawl back in to your hole of self pity and hurt and whatever else it is that made you this man I don't even know, because you aren't welcome here anymore."

"Brooke…" he starts, his voice back to normal, soft and pleading but she cuts him off angrily.

"Go Lucas, or so help me god I will call the police." He contemplates fighting back, to saying something, anything, to try and make her let him stay, but all it takes is looking in her eyes to know this is one battle he won't win. So, with a sigh of defeat, he stands and meets her eyes once more before looking to the floor and making his way to the door

It is a little past two in the morning. All the lights are out, she and Sam had gone to sleep hours ago, but the continuous banging on her door has woken her up. As she makes her way down the dark hallway she thinks maybe something happened with Sam. She tries to look through the small peep-hole, but it is too dark outside for her to see through it so she unlocked the latch and pulled the door open.

"Lucas? What are you doing here? Is everything okay?" She asked, her voice filled with concern. Ellie was in her carrier, she was bright red and screaming her tiny little lungs out. Lucas looked like he hadn't slept all week, his hair was all over the place, and he had spit up all down his shirt. Just looking at his face, she knew he had a rough time. His normally smooth chin was stubbly, and looked like he hadn't looked in a mirror for weeks.

"I can't do this Brooke…" He shakes his head, almost like he is in a trance. His voice is weak, and about to break as she moves to let him in but once again, he shakes his head. "No, I need you to take her Brooke, I can't… I can't do it, I just can't."

"Lucas hold on a second here, what are you talking about?" She was extremely confused as to why Lucas was showing up at her door at such a late hour, but she put her hand on his shoulder anyway, in an effort to comfort him even in the slightest.

"Brooke she won't shut up, she won't stop… she just keeps screaming and screaming and I can't take it anymore!" He's eyes are red, the veins that run through them are bright and stand out against the dark circles that surround his eyes.

"Well is she sick? Does she have a fever?" Brooke asks gently, bending over to feel the baby to check her temperature "Maybe she is hungry, did you try feeding her?" she questions but he is in too much of a daze to answer her. She looks up at him and stares for a while, plagued with worry over him, considering this is not the Lucas she knows. She carefully unbuckles the baby from the carrier and gently lifts her out rocking her softly while Lucas just stands there, unable to move "Hey baby girl, what's all the crying about huh?" She coos, wiping away the tears from the tiny baby's cheeks "You gotta give your daddy a break princess, you're running him ragged" she adds playfully but she notices Lucas tense as the baby lets out a loud screech before continuing to cry. "You're okay baby, it's okay…" Brooke continues to try and rock the baby, and it seems to be working, the more she holds the small infant, rocking her back and forth, the softer her cries get. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Lucas relax a little, looking down to his daughter before quickly looking away.

"You have to take her Brooke…" He says after a minute. She notices that his voice is rushed and his body returns to its tense and rigid state.

"Okay… I can keep her for the night, but you should go home and get some sleep… I still have some formula and some diapers from when Angie stayed here" Brooke tells him as she continues bouncing the now quiet baby.

"No Brooke, I mean you have to take her, I can't do it; I'm not… I can't be around her, I am horrible at this." He's flustered and she has no idea what he is trying to imply, she is just crossing her fingers, hoping he's not about to do what she thinks he is.

"Lucas she is only two weeks old, and you just lost Peyton. You are just having a rough time, it will get better." She tries to reassure him but she shakes his head rapidly

"No!" He yells, his voice is cracking and tears are welling in his eyes "I can't do this Brooke! I can't stand to even look at her!"

"Lucas, don't say that…" Brooke looks up to him, shocked at what he had just said.

"She looks just like her Brooke…" He says, tears slipping out of the corner of his eyes. His chin quivers and she shakes his head yet again "I can't… I can't do this." He drops the carrier and starts to back away with his hands in surrender, and Brooke calls out after him

"Lucas!" She yells "Lucas I can't just take her!" She calls out after him but he continues to back away "Lucas don't do this, just give it time! I can help you… just don't do this! You'll regret it, I promise, and soon it'll be too late for you to take it back!" She is yelling after him and the baby in her arm starts to squirm

"I'm sorry, I just… I can't Brooke." His hands are still up as he turns to walk back to his car, his back is to her and tears are filling her eyes

"LUCAS!" She screams "Lucas stop!" She keeps calling after him but he doesn't turn, he just continues to his car and the small baby in her arm releases a new set of screams "Lucas come back! You can't do this." Tears are pouring form her eyes as his car starts "Lucas please!" She is pleading from outside his window but he doesn't look to her.

He simply puts his car in reverse and pulls out of the driveway.

He doesn't even look back. That was the moment Brooke Davis knew Lucas Scott wasn't the man she knew. He wasn't her Broody, and certainly wasn't the man Peyton Sawyer would've left her child to look after.

Brooke made a decision that day, and it was to protect Ellie the way Peyton would've, and no one would waltz in, not even Lucas, to take that little girl away from her…no one.


I hope all of you that reviewed received my messages and to all the annomous reviews THANK YOU a hundred times. All of your guys kind words just make me want to make this the best it can be.