One month later…
"Welcome to Tree Hill, enjoy your stay!" the cheerful flight attendant smiled at Jay as he got off the plane. Jay smiled back, which wasn't a hard task considering he hadn't wiped the grin off his face since his alarm went off in Chicago this morning. The weekend of Lucas and Peyton's wedding was finally here after the longest month of Jay's life. He and Brooke were constantly texting and Skyped at least once a week, but the thought of seeing her in person again gave Jay butterflies unlike anything he'd ever felt before.
Jay walked through the airport, searching for a familiar pair of beautiful hazel eyes. He suddenly heard a raspy voice call his name and turned around with a huge smile on his face. He ran up to Brooke and before even saying hello, captured her lips in a perfect kiss to make up for the long 32 days apart.
"Ew, grossss," a little voice whined, and Jay looked down to see a little boy holding Brooke's hand and giving him a dirty look.
"Brooke?" he asked worriedly, "Did you forget to tell me something?"
Brooke burst out laughing and bent down to pick up the young boy. "Jay, this is my godson, Jamie. Jamie, this is Aunt Brooke's friend Jay. Can you say hi?"
Jay's heart sank a little at being called a "friend", but he knew they had never had that conversation. He made a mental note to talk to her about it, then waved to the little boy in Brooke's arms.
"Is this the boy you always talk about?" Jamie asked Brooke, ignoring Jay's greeting.
Brooke blushed. "Yes, this is the detective from Chicago," she explained, then turned her attention to Jay, who still looked confused. "Haley and Nathan had a meeting with a realtor today, so I got stuck with this little monster. But I'll make it up to you," she promised, leaning in to meet his lips again.
"Still gross," Jamie whined. Brooke laughed against Jay's lips and Jay couldn't help but smile. The initial disappointment of not being alone with Brooke was gone; he knew he'd even be happy with Brooke even if they were stuffed in a room with a million people.
Brooke pulled away and winked at Jay before putting Jamie down and grabbing his hand. She grabbed Jay's hand with her free hand and intertwined their fingers. "Let's go," she smiled, leading her two favorite boys out of the airport.
xoxoxoxoxo
Brooke sat on her patio, watching Jamie and Jay have a catch with the football. As she thought about her bizarre situation, her heart swelled. She had met Jay over a year ago and they've spent approximately three days together, ever, but she was absolutely positive she was falling in love with him. She hadn't felt this way since the first time she saw Lucas. Even then, she hadn't felt this good.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Jamie's giggles as he ran onto the patio and dove onto her lap. "What are you doing?" she asked, laughing and pulling the little boy in for a hug.
"Jay's trying to tackle me!" Jamie tried to catch his breath but was unable to stop laughing as Jay walked up to Brooke's chair.
"Oh, you want me to protect you?" Brooke couldn't stop laughing either, between Jamie's infectious giggles and Jay's goofy smile as he looked down at them.
"Pleeeease Aunt Brooke!" As Jamie begged, Jay reached down and easily picked both Brooke and Jamie off of the chair, earning matching squeals from both of them as he began to walk to the pool.
"Don't you dare!" Brooke screamed, trying to be serious but still unable to stop laughing. "Jay-"
Before she could finish, the three of them were underwater.
"You are so dead!" she screamed as soon as her head reached the surface. Jay and Jamie high-fived and her jaw dropped. "Oh my god, you two ganged up on me!" she realized she'd been played and tried to act mad, but once again her overwhelming happiness won and she broke out in a smile.
Jamie swam over to the steps and got out of the pool, grabbing a towel to dry off. "I like him better than Owen, Aunt Brooke." He announced.
Brooke rolled her eyes. "I'm so glad he has your approval,"
Jamie beamed, ignoring his aunt's sarcasm. "My mom is here! I have to go home to feed Chester. Bye Aunt Brooke! Bye Jay!" the little boy took off into the house and Brooke and Jay were finally alone.
Jay swam behind Brooke and wrapped his arms around her, squeezing her tight. "I missed you," he mumbled into her neck between soft kisses.
Any ounce of annoyance Brooke had from being thrown in the pool melted as she turned around to face him, meeting his sky blue eyes. "I missed you so much," she rasped, crashing her lips to his. Her hard, passionate kiss was the complete opposite of the soft kisses Jay had been giving her seconds before. She ran her tongue across his bottom lip, begging for entry. He responded, opening his mouth as she tugged at the short hairs on the base of his neck. His hands found her hips and he lifted her so she was sitting on the edge of pool, then his hands found their way all over her body, their lips never separating. Jay's lungs begged for air but he had missed the feeling of her and her lips so much he wasn't sure he could pull away. Eventually they pulled apart, foreheads against each other, gasping for air.
"What are we?" Jay blurted out before he could stop himself.
"What?" Brooke asked, caught off guard.
"When you introduced me to Jamie," Jay stood up straight so he could look into her eyes, "you said I was your friend," he put emphasis on the last word.
Her smile faded. "Jay… you know I like you. A lot. But we've literally spent three days together in our entire lives. I wasn't going to throw a label on us, especially not in front of a three year old,"
Jay tried to hide the disappointment in his eyes as he nodded. "I get it,"
Brooke reached up and cupped his cheek, not missing the flicker of hurt that crossed his eyes. "You know we're gonna figure this out, right? I've just been really quick to rush into things before and I don't want to ruin this. I'm still all in," she reminded him of their conversation in Chicago last month.
Jay smiled and leaned in to kiss her forehead.
"Come on, get out of the pool. We've got places to be." Brooke ordered, standing up from the edge of the pool and grabbing a towel.
"What? Where?"
"You're coming to the rehearsal dinner with me, obviously! Plus I need all of the most important people in my life to get to know each other," she smiled at Jay and handed him a towel as he walked up to her. "We'll see if you still want a label after you hear the stories I'm sure they're gonna tell," Brooke laughed, but she was secretly freaking out about what her friends would tell Jay. Especially if high school came up in conversation – she had shared pieces of it with him, but there were still some pretty ugly stories she didn't need him to know.
"It's going to take a lot more than old stories to scare me away, Brooke Davis." Jay promised as she led him into the house to get ready.
xoxoxoxoxo
"Would you calm down?" Brooke squeezed Jay's hand as they walk towards the restaurant. "You've already met some of them, everyone's going to love you."
"But they're all so important to you-" Jay started but she cut him off.
"So are you," she reminded him, squeezing his hand one last time as she pushed open the restaurant door.
"B. Davis!" Peyton was the first to spot them and ran up to give her best friend a hug, then turned to Jay. "Jay, good to see you again." She smiled. Haley and Jamie came up next, followed by Nathan and Lucas and more people whose names Jay couldn't remember. He smiled at how much everyone loved Brooke and how happy she was around these people – he hoped she would be this comfortable and happy when she got to Chicago.
They finally sat down at their table, with Brooke & Jay between Lucas & Peyton and Nathan & Haley. After they ate, Lucas and Peyton disappeared to talk to more guests and Brooke and Haley got up to check on Haley's kids, leaving Jay and Nathan alone.
"She likes you a lot, ya know," Nathan told Jay.
"What?"
"Since she got back from Chicago, every time I walk in my house she's there, talking to Haley about you," Nathan laughed. "I haven't seen her this into a guy since my brother. But I think you're better for her than he ever was."
Jay didn't know what to say. "Thanks, man."
"Just take care of her. No one deserves happiness like Brooke does. I told you I've known her since we were in diapers, and I wasn't kidding. She's had it really rough – the things that have happened to her, if they happened to any other person, they'd be done – but somehow that girl comes back stronger than ever every time."
"What do you mean, the things that have happened to her?" Jay couldn't help but ask.
Nathan shrugged. "She raised herself. Her parents were never around; her own mother told her she was a mistake. Now she'll show up once every few months to reap the success of the company. My douchebag brother cheated on her three times, and every other boyfriend she had in high school probably cheated on her too. She almost got herself killed by a psychopath murderer trying to save Peyton. She ran back into our high school when there was an active shooter to try and help whomever she could. She climbed into a car hanging off of a bridge after a car accident to get my son out. She's fostered children before and they've been taken away from her without notice. She's been attacked – you know that. But she's always come back and been… Brooke. She's just Brooke." He shook his head.
Jay got chills listening to Nathan talk about Brooke's past. He wasn't sure how to reply, and as if on cue, he felt a pair of arms around his neck, hugging him from behind. "Talking about me?" Brooke asked.
"Just about how amazing you are," Jay smiled, turning his head to look up at her.
"With Nate? Yeah right," Brooke laughed, not believing that Nathan could be serious for the two minutes she and Haley were gone.
"Hey!" Nathan objected. "I have very nice things to say about you, Brooke Davis. Unless you wanted me to tell him about the geometry exam-"
"Okay, okay, okay!" Brooke cut him off. "I believe you," she rolled her eyes.
"I was actually just about to tell him about that time you became Jamie's favorite person ever," Nathan told her.
"You mean the day he was born?" she joked, sitting down on Jay's lap.
"You wish. Anyway," he looked at Jay. "Jamie has this red cape that he's obsessed with. Says it helps him jump higher to shoot a basketball. A few months ago, he wore it to preschool and this kid starts making fun of him, saying capes are for babies. What does this one do? She makes me a matching cape for me and I wear it to Jamie's school to show all the kids that even cool NBA players wear capes. Then, obviously, everyone wants capes, so Brooke spent an entire day making red capes for Jamie's entire preschool class."
"It was awesome!" Jamie chimed in, having returned to the table with Haley.
Brooke felt Jay's arms around her waist tighten and she blushed. "Anything for my favorite boy," she told Jamie, who stuck his tongue out at Jay, earning a round of laughter from the table.
xoxoxoxoxo
"I was right, you know. Everyone loves you." Brooke looked up at Jay. They were lying on her couch, her head in Jay's lap, watching some rom com on TV.
"Oh no no, if tonight taught me anything, it's how much everyone loves you." Jay smiled down at her.
"They have to love me," Brooke shrugged, then sat up and faced him. "But seriously, I don't remember the last time Haley approved of a boy I was dating,"
"Dating?" Jay raised his eyebrow.
"After seeing you with Jamie today, and all of my friends… I don't know, it just feels right. I know I said, like, 8 hours ago that I didn't want to rush things, but I also don't want to miss out on this," Brooke bit her lip nervously.
"On what? I already told you, I'm all in whether you want to label us or not. If you're doing this because of what I said earlier-"
She shook her head. "I'm not. I'm doing this because I want to, boyfriend. Because I'm falling in love with you," she said quietly, leaning forward to press a soft kiss on his lips.