3 months later....
Julian showed up to Tree Hill High School, he saw Nathan coaching the team.
"Hey Coach...Scott."
"Julian, hey, Sam's not here yet."
"I know, she's doing this after school thing, she should be here in like ten minutes."
"Cool, hang out, it's just practice, hopefuly we can win this week." Nathan blew the whistle and the guys started the play all over again.
"Given the season, I don't see that as a possibility." Julian laughed.
"I have an excuse, Lucas left me this team, and I have to figure out what I'm doing wrong."
"Wait, Lucas isn't coming back."
"Peyton is the number one priority, he's not coming back until the baby is born."
"And this is what you've got."
"Yeah. Lucas is so much better with the team leadership, I just made my own rules when I played for Tree Hill."
Soon practice ended, Sam hadn't shown up yet, Julian and Nathan walked into the coach's office.
"I thought Sam would be at the gym by now."
Nathan laughed. "She has been looking at one of the guys on the team, probably didn't notice you weren't here."
"Great, it's starting all over again."
"Again?"
"When we lived in LA, it was a tattooed guy named Ben. Now she's best friend's with Jack, then another guy."
"Dude, she's a teenager. I was twice as bad, and I turned out okay."
"Aren't you worried about Jamie? I mean what about when you have a daughter? Maybe it's just rumors, but you used to be the guy that most fathers want their daughters to stay away from."
"Unfortuntely, guilty as charged. Until Haley came into the picture, I had basketball, Dan and Peyton."
"I was so hoping that wasn't true."
"All we had between was sex, man, that's it. At first we had the good, relationship stuff. But I was so into basketball and being number one, I didn't give anything a chance pass the bedroom."
Julian looked at the ground before asking. "After you and Haley got married, I know it was high school, did you have any doubts."
Nathan glanced at Julian at the corner of his eye. "Segway into why are you asking me this? Are you having doubts."
"This is all new to me. The last time I felt like this was with Peyton and we all know how that ended."
"Brooke, she's happy, dude, that's it. You are...it. She has the family she's wanted for a long time. Sam...she's great, she the miniature type of Brooke Davis in High School. And yeah, I had doubts. Especially after Haley came back from the tour and I came back from high flyers. But now, I wouldn't take anything back, even the rough times when I thought I had no future with Haley. I have a beautiful son and I wouldn't change a thing."
"Yeah."
Nathan got up and leaned against his desk.
"Just between us, would you change a thing?"
Julian looked up at him. "I don't know."
"Well Brooke's pregnant, you asked her to marry you, you legally adopted Sam. It's kind of too late to back out now, don't you think."
"I know that. I'm going through everything at once."
"And Brooke isn't. Brooke is the one who's life is turned upside by having this. You may not know it yet, but that woman, she's a superhero. She is the one who will give you what you want without realizing how to do it. Just remember that."
Julian walked back into the gym to find Sam sitting on the bleachers.
"Am I really late?"
"I just got here. I was ready for you be angry for being late."
"Yeah, we're both late. What if we both agree not to tell your mom."
"Deal." They shook hands. "Can we go get food? I'm starving."
"What about the cafeteria food?"
"You do want me to live another day, right?"
"That bad?"
"Let's just say the lasagna moves before you touch it."
The next morning Brooke woke up to the alarm clock and Julian was already gone. It was almost nine and his morning runs were usually around six. She got up, felt her belly and knew she had gotten bigger overnight, like twice the size she was when laying down the night before. Her sweats weren't fitting her. Her only option was to throw a sweatshirt of Julian's on, and it worked.
She came out to the kitchen, Sam was studying.
Brooke yawned. "Where's Julian?"
"I don't know, he was gone when I got up at like eight."
"And why aren't you in school."
"Becuase it's Saturday." Sam focused on Brooke. "Are you okay? You see...weird....and you're obviously growing."
"Thanks for that hint at my figure slowly dropping hotness points. Any idea where he went."
"His runs only last an hour, maybe he's doing a slow walk."
"I'm going to go take a bath, take a message if the phone rings."
"You got it."
Brooke let the warm water run down her body and over her belly. The showers always felt so good. But today felt different. Her heart wasn't in the right place without knowing where Julian was. She was constantly worried. Ever since he proposed after the news about her pregnancy, she has questioned his motives. Does he really love her or will he just love her and the baby because it's the right thing to do. What is going on? This is Julian Baker. The guy she flew across the country to see and not know if he really loved her or not. Why is she having these feelings. Brooke felt the water turn cold and turned the water off. She grabbed the towel from the shelf and wrapped it around her....not fitting around her body like it used to. Then she noticed it.
"My boobs are bigger." She felt her face and her hands, everything was getting bigger. "I'm fat!" Brooke was almost freaking out and was wondering what ways she could cut down her diet. Then the moment that changed everything. "SAM!"
Sam ran upstairs to the bathroom. "Are you decent?"
"Clothing wise."
She opened up the bathroom door. "What's up, you screamed, I thought you fell or something."
"Wanna feel the baby?" Brooke smiled.
Sam hesitated and put her hand out and Brooke put her hand on her belly. She smiled. "That's so cool, that's my little brother."
"Or sister..."
"Yeah whatever, Julian wants a boy."
Brooke looked up at Sam. "He told you that?"
"Mom, every guy wants a boy. Someone they can throw the football with, someone they can teach how to be a man."
"Has he said anything about girls?"
"Seriously, he doesn't care, as long as it's healthy."
"Good. I'm gonna get dressed, then we can do some shopping."
"But you're pregnant, doctor said it's not a great thing for you to be shopping, not in your condition."
"Any other ideas of what to do until Julian gets home?"
Sam smiled. "I have the best idea."
Haley opened her door. "Brooke, Sam, come on in."
"Brooke has a few ideas about why we're here."
"That's okay, I just wish I thought of this when I had Jamie, but graduating high school was a top priority too."
"You had Jamie before you graduated high school."
"The day I graduated. He just couldn't wait to meet everyone. I had to tell everyone in the audience; parents and students that I couldn't finish because I was having my baby. I was rushed to the hospital, Nathan by my side the entire way and there he was, just as beautiful as ever." Haley had stars in her eyes remembering that day.
Jamie came from downtsairs. "Sam!"
Sam smiled, looked over. "Hey Jamie." She looked at Brooke. "Go play."
Haley waited until they were gone. "I love Sam, but I do miss the times we were able to talk, especially with your first pregnancy and all."
"It's going okay."
Haley put her hand over Brooke's. "Now tell me what's really going on."
"Julian left before neither Sam or I were up and he's not answering his phone; and...it worries me."
"Wait, Julian was over here. I thought Nathan had left his phone, I'm guessing Julian left his phone here. Jamie changes the ringers on Nathan's phone all the time, so I wouldn't be able to tell if Nathan left it here or not."
Brooke pressed Julian's number and the phone kept ringing, Haley picked it up. "Wow, seven missed calls."
"I called twice, I guess Sam got the other ones."
"I do admire what Sam and Julian have. That bond, instant bond. I can only hope I can have that kind of bond with Jamie when he is older."
"Sometimes I think she feels more comfortable talking to Julian about certain things than me, which is weird."
"Why? What things?"
"Sex."
Haley choked. "Scratch the idea of me and Jamie being that close. There are some things I probably don't want to know about."
"Is it okay to be jealous?"
"Yeah of course. A mother and daughter, biologically or not, always have this emotional bond. It's different that she feels that bond with Julian, but it's great, it's natural. Just be glad she's opening up to someone besides Jack."
"Jack has been coming over a lot lately."
"Oh, so are they finally going to start dating. I had them pegged from the beginning."
Nathan came in.
"Hey you two, what's all this."
Brooke smiled. "Scrapbooking. We're making this for when the baby comes."
"Great, Julian just went straight home. The running took a lot out of him."
"Wait, he always runs at like dawn."
"He has a lot of questions and we talk about stuff."
They all heard something fall upstairs, Haley got up quickly. "I better check on the kids."
"What questions?"
"As a friend, I'm gonna keep a secret. I told him it was just between us."
"Nathan, it's sort of too late for that since I'm having his baby."
"Look, he's just...overwhelmed. Like I was and Haley. We learned to adjust, we had nothing compared to now."
"You mean he's just scared?" She saw Nathan's face. "Or is it something I should be worried about."
"I can drive you home, leave the car here. I'm sure Sam can drive it home."
"No, she can't. Her license is suspended for shoplifting last month."
"Shoplifting."
"For jack, it was the grocery store."
"I can drive you home. It's not good for you to be driving and you look upset."
"Okay."
Brooke waved at Nathan and he drove off, she walked into the house. It was starting to rain and the living room was dark.
"Julian." She called out.
He walked around the corner. "Hey."
"Nathan said you two talked."
"He's already a father, so we talked, about life."
"Are you having doubts? I mean I'm pregnant and we're getting married so questioning all of t his is a bit late now."
"He told you."
"Not in so many words."
"Just because I'm overwhelmed doesn't mean I don't love you and Sam and our baby. It just happened all at once."
"Then why couldn't you talk to me about it? I'm here, not just for the good times, but for everything."
"Because you're pregnant, and I didn't want to scare you."
"So you think talking to Nathan about your fears about us is going to make me feel better?"
"And apparently it was a bad choice."
"Julian, I need you to be honest with me. When you said 'I love you' for the first time, I was scared to death. And look at us now. But where are we, who are we."
"Look, I've been in this place before. She wasn't pregnant, but I loved her and I thought it would be this big everlasting love."
Brooke wiped a single tear out of the corner of her eye. "Peyton."
"No, her name was Andrea Ryman. I was just out of college and I wanted to marry her. But she didn't. I got so caught up in wanting to be her husband and I think it scared her. And now I'm in love with you and wondering if I'm cursed."
Brooke smiled. "A curse?"
"High school, I played football, had a lot of girlfriends who just wanted to date the football player. And I didn't care about how they felt, even if....even if we had sex. And I thought maybe in some way I'm being held accountable for it. And I'm so scared of it going downhill."
Brooke kissed him. She held him so tight and never wanted to let go. "I'm not them and you are not who you were. Believe me, I had more activity in highschool then most cheerleading squads combined. We're both scared. But just be on the same page with me. Today I really felt alone, and I don't want to feel that way ever again."
"Ow." Julian looked down. "Something poked me in the stomach."
"He's been kicking all day. I think he senses you're here."
"He? So the baby is a boy now."
"Sam told me you wanted a boy, or mainly that all guys want a boy. So, the baby is a he this week."
"Joshua Alexander Baker." Brooke gave him a confused look. "I want our baby boy to be named Joshua Alexander Baker."
"And I thought we would never speak of Alexander, that is what you said."
"Well, not too long ago a beautiful girl told me to let go of the past. I've decided to embrace the past, concentrate on the future."
"The future?"
"Yeah, like tomorrow we start on the baby room. All blue."
"All blue, really? What about purple."
They talked about baby room colors all night.