Finding the Only One Tree Hill

By Emily Carol

Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill, just the CDs and DVDs and my obsession with James Lafferty. On the other hand…Jessica, Michelle, Lauren, and Justin are all mine! So don't steal.

A/N: I'm very sorry about not updating this FOREVER, I know you probably hate me. But I have been writing, on my personal site and I have two One Tree Hill pieces that are not here, including one I'm really excited about The Search for Who He Was, and Is which is AU (my favorite type of fanfic). So please check that out but in the meantime…

Enjoy!

-Emily Carol

Chapter 3: Late Night Talks

"I'm really worried about Lucas," Haley told her husband as they snuggled into bed for the night. "I wish I could have found him after the Brooke incident but I didn't want to crowd him."

"I know exactly what you mean," Nathan said.

"Don't lie, you hate comforting other men," Haley teased him.

"Okay, yeah," he replied. "But what is up with Brooke just randomly popping up after almost eighteen years? And she's not giving us any answers either. I wonder how Peyton's gonna take it."

"She didn't take it well," Haley replied. "I talked to her, she saw Brooke before Lucas did and totally bitched her out."

"Did you just say 'totally bitched her out'?" Nathan questioned his wife. "Are we still in high school?"

"Well we both spend a lot of time there," Haley said. She also worked at Tree Hill High, a choir director in the newly founded music program.

Brooke lay back on her hotel bed. Their furniture hadn't arrived from New York yet, a lot of their stuff hadn't, so they were staying in a hotel for the next few nights. She felt awful about the scene with Lucas, how she just popped up on him. But how else was she supposed to do it?

She'd left all those years ago and broken his heart, she'd known it as she was doing it too. But she couldn't bear to see what would happen with his life if she had dropped that bombshell on him.

It had only been two years since the surgery that had fixed his heart, no more HCM, when she'd found out. He had finally gotten back on track with basketball, pro scouts were going after him and she couldn't just ruin all of that for him.

She loved him too much for that.

Lucas stared at the hotel looming in front of him. It was the nicest hotel in Tree Hill, Brooke had to be there.

How could she do this to him? Just pop up after being gone almost eighteen years. After she'd ruined his life by breaking her heart.

He'd had pro scouts after him, but after Brooke left, he just couldn't put his heart into it. It was ironic; his heart had kept him from playing before the surgery and two years after his heart was keeping him from playing again. And that's when he fell back onto his major in secondary education and went to Tree Hill High to work as the rest of his friends pursued their dreams; Peyton to the large record label, Haley to recording again, despite the twins, and Nathan to the pro leagues. And while eventually they had all returned to Tree Hill themselves, Haley and Nathan even back to Tree Hill High with him, he'd always resented Brooke for keeping him from his dream.

Lucas finally got up the courage and walked into the hotel. He got the number of Brooke's room and marched up to the door and knocked loudly.

Peyton flipped through one of the scrapbooks Brooke had made for her over their long friendship. This one dated back to seventh grade and every picture featured the duo and their large smiles. Cheerleading was also a huge staple, because seventh grade had been the year that Brooke had gotten into cheerleading even more, and Peyton had followed along as always.

The staircase creaked behind Peyton and she turned around to see Michelle sneaking down the stairs.

"Michelle," she said with a warning tone. "Where were you going?"

"Just outside?" Michelle tired. "For some fresh air?"

"Nice try, go back upstairs."

"What are you even doing down here Peyton? It's nearly one," Michelle chided.

"Excuse me, Peyton? I thought it was Mom," Peyton replied.

"I figured since you and John were getting divorced I'd stop calling you Mom and Dad," Michelle said defiantly.

"Well un-figure that and go back to Mom and Dad," Peyton told her. Michelle just rolled her eyes. "Now go back to bed." But instead Michelle walked over to the couch Peyton was curled up on and sat down next to her.

"What are those?" Michelle asked. She had surprised herself even in trying to connect with her mother, something she never did.

"Scrapbooks, my friend made them for me a long time ago," Peyton replied.

"Haley?" Michelle asked.

"No, I didn't even know Haley in this one," Peyton said. "These are from my friend Brooke," a hint of sadness was in Peyton's voice as she said Brooke's name.

"Why haven't I heard of Brooke before?" Michelle asked.

"Because right before our senior year of college she disappeared, she didn't even come to your dad and mine wedding," Peyton explained. "Broke poor Lucas's heart in the process and that's when he didn't go back to basketball and go pro like everybody expected."

"That's why love sucks," Michelle said. "It gets in the way of everything you really want to do."

"Like what?" Peyton asked.

"Just a lot," Michelle said. "Think about how much fun I could have had dating if I hadn't been tied to Justin all that time."

"Michelle, I don't want you looking at love like that," Peyton said. "Love can be screwed up, but other times it's amazing."

"How would you know? I didn't think you'd ever been in love," Michelle replied coldly.

"I've been in love," Peyton said.

"Well certainly not with Dad," Michelle stoically pointed out.

"You're right," Peyton said.

"What?" Michelle screeched, amazed her mother would admit that.

"I was never really in love with your father, I just thought I was," Peyton said. "I was using him to replace Jake."

"Jake who?" Michelle asked.

And with that mother and daughter finally began to connect as they dug into the past.

"What's wrong little brother?" Jessica asked, standing in Justin's doorway.

"Don't call me that," Justin grumbled. Jessica had a few minutes on him and she always liked to rub it in. A bit like Uncle Lucas was with her dad.

"Sorry," Jessica said, she made her way into Justin's room and sat down on the edge of his bed. He was flat on his back staring at the ceiling. "So what happened?"

"Michelle told me she didn't love me anymore," Justin replied softly.

"I'm sure she didn't mean it," Jessica tried to consol him.

"No, she meant it," Justin said. Jessica wasn't sure but she thought she saw him blinking back tears. Justin had always been the more emotional of the two, her mom said it came with the musician's territory.

"I'm sorry," Jessica said, not sure of what else to say after that.

"Lucas?" Brooke squinted as her eyes adjusted to the bright light in the hall.

"Why Brooke? Why?" Lucas asked her furiously. He wasn't drunk but two more beers would put him there so he was slightly wobbly and unsure of what he was doing.

"Why what?" Brooke asked confused.

"Why did you have to come back? You broke my heart and you ruined my dreams," Lucas said accusingly. "You left and I didn't play basketball anymore, I didn't go pro, and now I'm a school teacher. A fucking school teacher. For that matter, why did you have to leave in the first place?"

"Mom?" Lauren's groggy voice came from in the room. "Who's there?"

Lucas looked at Brooke, confused. But she just blinked back the tears and softly shut the door in his face.