Morning dawned cool and brisk as always, a shiver of light sliding its way through the gap in the curtains, casting a beam across the head of the bed. Brooke stirred from her sleep and stretched, reaching to the spot next to her and finding it oddly empty. Confusion knit itself between her eyes. Jake would never leave without saying goodbye. She pushed herself into a sitting position, glanced at the clock on her bedside table and balked. It was 10:30. Ella was an early riser; Brooke hadn't slept in this late in so long she couldn't remember.
A smile crept onto her face. She felt well rested and relaxed. Ella had finally slept through the night, which meant that she had as well, and Jake and Jenny were home. Her family was back together. She pushed herself from the warmth of her bed and crept down the stairs, following the noise in the kitchen until she found them: Jake with his back to her, busily preparing something on the stove, her floral apron wrapped around his taught body. The girls sitting at the island bar, feet swinging from the high stools until Ella caught sight of her.
"Hi sleepy!" She exclaimed.
Brooke grinned at her cheeky child and crossed the gap between them. Pressed a kiss to the top of Ella's head, then Jenny's, then stood beside her girls to watch Jake prepare breakfast.
"Look who decided to get up," he piped in sheepishly with a grin. "We've been making breakfast."
"I can see!" Brooke replied. In front of the girls was a large, empty bowl of waffle batter, the sticky white substance coating the surface of her kitchen counter with little fingerprints. Clearly the girls had been helping.
"What can I do?" She asked, rolling up the sleeves of her shirt and prepared to help.
"You can sit down with the girls at the table and enjoy," he said with a wink.
Brooke couldn't help the smile that reached ear to ear. She helped each of the girls down from their stools and settled them into the breakfast nook, already set with plates and cutlery and syrup, a little in disarray. Ella and Jenny had definitely set it. Jake carried the last of hot waffles from the stove to the table and the four of them sat down for their breakfast.
"You didn't have to do all this," Brooke said as they finished the last of their meal. The girls had already finished and run off to play.
"I wanted to," Jake replied. "Being on vacation was great but Jenny and I missed this. Our breakfasts, our dinners. Two weeks without you guys was too long."
Brooke gave him a half smile, leaned over and kissed his cheek. "Good, because you're not allowed to leave again!"
"We wouldn't dream of it," he said with another wink.
Jake and Jenny spent the day as they always did, hanging out around the house, watching a movie on a rainy day. Brooke felt whole again having them back in the house. She realized that it wasn't an ideal situation, that the girls could get confused, but it worked for them. They were each a stand in for the missing things in the other child's life.
When Haley called and invited them over for dinner last minute they didn't hesitate. Packed the kids into the car, picked up a dessert and wine from the store and headed to their house. They were waiting on the porch as they always were.
Jenny and Ella quickly disappeared to the playroom with Jamie leaving the adults to the kitchen. Brooke pulled the bottle of wine from the bag and pulled four glasses from the cabinet, uncorking the wine and beginning to pour.
"You'll only need three of those," Haley said, pointing to the glasses.
A quippy remark was on the tip of Brooke's tongue when the weight of what Haley said settled into her gut. She glanced up from the glass she was pouring and raised an eyebrow at her friend. Nathan was standing behind her, hand on her shoulder, grin on his face.
"No!" Brooke remarked excitedly. "You have to say it or I won't believe you!" She tried not to jump up and down in excitement.
Haley balled her hands into fists and placed them on the tip of her chin in anticipation of sharing the news. "I'm pregnant!"
Brooke let out a shriek of excitement and closed the gap between them, wrapping as much of both Haley and Nathan into her arms as she could.
"Oh my god!" She cried, literally. When she pulled away from them there were tears streaming down her face.
"Don't cry, Tigger!" Haley said, pulling Brooke back into a hug.
"These are happy tears!" She said with a laugh. She pulled away from Haley's embrace and looked into her face. "I could not possibly be more happy for you guys."
Tears sprung to Haley's eyes, too. "You're making me cry!" She laughed.
Brooke laughed with her and pulled herself together enough to clear her throat. "How far along?"
Jake sat down in the seat next to her after hugging Nathan and giving Haley a congratulatory kiss.
"Only about nine weeks. We just found out. We wanted you guys to be the first to know."
Brooke beamed. "I cannot even begin to tell you how happy I am for you," she gushed.
"Thanks guys," Nathan said.
"Well I would say lets cheers to it but apparently I've lost my drinking buddy," Brooke joked.
"I'll have Coke," Haley laughed.
They poured the drinks into their glasses and raised them, the clinking glass like a chiming bell, welcoming an unborn child into their lives.
OTHOTHOTHOTH
Peyton Sawyer was a lot of things but a mother was not among them. It pained her deeply that she had never been able to have children, especially to not be able to have Lucas' children. He had said that he didn't need them, that he could be happy with her alone, but the years had changed that. The first year that they left Tree Hill had been the happiest. They were finally free from the drama and clutches of all those they left behind, finally free to just be happy. But it hadn't lasted long. Their happiness had been tied into the fact that fate wanted them apart, and finally free from the forces trying to keep them away from each other, the relationship had turned monotonous. Talk of marriage had come up but it somehow never happened. When the couple discovered that Peyton couldn't have children it had caused an irreparable rift. Peyton always felt like she was inadequate, being unable to give Lucas a child. And no matter how many times he told her it didn't matter to him, she never believed him. Eventually he stopped telling her because he didn't believe it himself anymore either.
They had spent the next four years together but not really together. Living in a small apartment of the outskirts of New York city, Lucas had made somewhat of a name for himself as a sports writer, Peyton had stayed at her dead end job working for a record company that hated music.
It was a cold day when he decided that he was going home with or without her. It didn't matter anymore, being together. It hadn't mattered in a long time, really. But he decided to give her the option to come with him for history's sake.
"Home?" She said the word as if it had no meaning anymore.
"There are so many people we left behind," Lucas tried to reason.
"And we left them behind for a reason," Peyton argued.
Lucas shook his head. He was over fighting with her, exhausted by it. It really made no difference to him anymore whether she came back to Tree Hill with him or not.
"I bought you a plane ticket, I'll be on this flight. Maybe I'll see you there." He slung his already packed bag over his shoulder and walked out the front door, not knowing if she'd follow him, not really caring.