The Way They Should Be

Aftermath

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Brooke rolled her eyes as Lucas rounded the car and helped her out, leading her to her house. "Not that I'm not loving the attention, Luke, but seriously, stop being so worrisome. You're driving me bonkers!" She exclaimed, taking him by the shoulders and shaking him playfully.

Lucas took her by the waist and caressed her sides. "I'm sorry I'm being a little over protective."

She raised a brow in skepticism. "A little?"

Lucas narrowed his eyes and rolled them. "Okay, a lot. But I'm just making sure you're all right."

Brooke smiled warmly at him and reached up to kiss his lips softly. "I understand. Now," she said, taking his hand and leading him towards the front door. "The doctor said that I could skip school for a little while, but we both know I'm not going to do that. So, why don't you arrange it so you can spend the night with me and we can prepare each other for school tomorrow." She gave him her puppy dog eyes and he had no choice but to relent.

"You do know my mom is not going to buy that for a second." He told her as he wrapped her up in his arms gently.

Brooke smiled and looked down. "It's probably not a good idea to ask you to leave her right now, is it?" The funeral for Kieth had just ended not but a few hours ago, and she knew that Karen was still in mourning for her lost love.

Lucas sighed and rested his chin on her head. "Probably not, considering the situation. Would you like to stay over at my place? I'm sure my mom could use your company; she really likes you."

Brooke pulled away and smiled as she met his pretty blue eyes. "You really think she'll let me stay over?"

"It's never stopped you before." He reasoned with a shrug.

She smiled beseechingly and fluttered her eyelashes. "This is true. Well, what are we waiting for." She dragged him into her house, closing the door behind them as they went to gather her stuff.

…

…

…

"Thanks for letting me stay, Karen." Brooke said as she hugged Lucas' mom.

"It's no problem Brooke." She met eyes with her son and smiled at him reassuringly as she tightened her arms around the brunette before pulling away. "How are you feeling; any pain?"

Brooke wrapped her arms around her middle and shook her head. "Nope, not yet, thankfully."

"That's good, I'm going to get back to the diner, I left Haley there alone for a little too long. You two be good, I'll see you around dinner."

They both nodded and watched her leave before they met eyes with each other. "I'm surprised she's already back to work." Brooke said, walking towards Lucas' room.

Lucas looked back towards the door and nodded. "Yeah, I think she's just trying to keep her mind off everything, you know?"

Brooke bit her lip. "I'm so sorry this had to happen, Luke." She whispered gently, taking his hand and lacing her fingers around his.

Lucas shook his head and moved the hair out of her face. "Don't apologize, I'm just glad you are okay."

She leaned forward and kissed his lips. "I'm more than okay, now that I'm with you."

A/N: To say the least, I'm trying very hard not to delete this story. Only because I'm having terrible writers block, but I know I can get somewhere with this, I just don't know what. If you guys have any ideas, please share, and I will give credit to all who do. Thank you so much, and I'm sorry for this lousy chapter, but I thought something would be better than nothing at all.

Thanks again.

Jung-Hee