Chapter Seven
"I'm right here Grandma!" Savannah's entire demeanor changed at the voice and if Brooke hadn't been so terrified at having to face Nathan's mother she probably would have laughed at the way Savannah obviously knew to manipulate people to get her own way. "Grandma, Nathan brought a girl!"
Brooke's eyes lock on the woman who has appeared in the open doorway. She's a petite brunette with her hair pulled back into a slightly sloppy ponytail and a dirty apron wrapped around her waist. Through all of this, though, it's obvious that she's beautiful. She's got a smile spread across her face as she comes down the steps to great them, "You must be Brooke. I'm Karen, Nathan's mom." She wraps her arms warmly around Brooke, and Brooke's surprised to find herself returning the hug. "I'm so glad you could come to dinner, Nathan didn't think you'd be able to make it. Come in, come in." She's pulls away to hug and kiss her son, who stands a full head taller then her.
Savannah grabs Brooke's hand and dragged her to the front door, but for the first time since Brooke got out of the car she didn't resist. The instant she steps through the door though all of Brooke's senses are overwhelmed, the air is heavy with the mixed scent of tomato sauce and something sweet and just off toward the right the sound of the TV is blaring. "Mommy! Mommy!" Brooke finds herself being dragged toward the sound by Savannah and before she can react she finds herself in the middle of the living room with six pairs of eyes no longer glued on the TV but onto her.
Karen's standing right beside her with a hand placed gently on her shoulder, "Everyone, this is Brooke, Nathan's friend." Within moments Brooke's being introduced to Nathan's entire family. Nathan's beautiful red headed older sister with just barely a stomach bump to give away the pregnancy that Savannah had spoken of earlier. Beside her was her fiancée Cooper Lee, who Brooke would have to under-exaggerate to deem gorgeous. Gigi, Brooke notes with amusement, could easily be a younger teenaged version of Karen and while her first reaction had been that Nathan looked just like his mother it's obvious that he actually took more after his father who had hugged Brooke just as Karen had. Dan's brother Keith and wife Jules is present as well.
Brooke's parents had always been friendly people but she was so shocked at how open and welcoming the Scotts are.
"Alright, dinner's nearly ready," Karen states as soon as the introductions are finished.
"Mom, the game is almost over. Five minutes okay?" Once the introductions had finished the family had turned their attention back to the basketball game, "Carolina's about to beat Duke."
Karen nods and walks way muttering something about being glad when March madness was over. Her words, however, are drowned out by the entire room erupting into words of annoyance at something that's happened in the game. Brooke had been a cheerleader so she knew that someone had been fouled but she doesn't know anything about college basketball. Nathan's already wrapped up in the game so Brooke decides to wander toward the direction that Karen had left in figuring she could at least offer to set the table.
She's quickly distracted though by the pictures hanging on the walls, they're a range of ages and events in the Scott family. She smiles at the picture of a young Dan and Karen on their wedding day right next to one that Brooke can only guess must be their senior prom both with royalty crowns on their heads. "That picture was taken a long time ago," Karen's voice sounds amused as she comes to stand beside Brooke in the hallway, "don't even ask me how long ago it was taken."
"You guys were high school sweethearts? That's so sweet."
"Dan and I have been together since we were Gigi's age and we had Rachel when we were just a little bit older then you."
"That's so cute," Brooke's eyes travel the wall, "you've got a really great family."
"They're a lot to handle at once."
"That they are," Brooke laughs as her eyes settle on a picture of a smiling blond boy. He couldn't be more then 15 or 16 and he wears a blue and white basketball jersey with a basketball under one arm and a trophy in the other. "Your other son?" Brooke offers the question quietly, soft enough that if Karen wants to pretend she hasn't heard the question that it's feasible.
"Lucas," Karen nods, "he was two years older then Nathan."
Brooke nods, "Nathan mentioned him, earlier, when we were talking about our families."
Karen looks more than surprised at this, "He told you about Lucas?"
Brooke shook her head, "Not really. He mentioned that he had a brother once but he didn't say anything other then that. I think I pushed him too hard and he flipped out...I have a tendency of pushing people to hard. It's part of my nature; I've always been like that. My mom says that it's because I'm an only child." Brooke bites her lip, she was rambling and Karen's expression gives away her amusement. "I didn't mean to upset him or anything..."
Karen gently pats Brooke's arm, "He reacts like that whenever Luke is brought up, and it's not your fault. Now this," Karen takes a couple mini steps down the hall, "this is the picture that Nathan hates that I have out on display, so of course that's the reason it's here."
Brooke's gaze follows to where Karen is gesturing and she laughs at the picture hanging there. It's taken at an odd angle, like the person taking the picture didn't have a good grip on the camera, and it's of who Brooke can only guess to be a toddler Nathan and Lucas. Both boys are stripped down to absolutely nothing but mud is covering their faces, arms and legs. Lucas is mugging for the camera but Nathan's pointing to something off screen and his tears are mixing with the mud as they run down his cheek. Brooke giggles, "That's awesome."
"Mom, please tell me you're not showing off all of the embarrassing pictures on the wall of shame." Nathan leads the group into the hallway and grins at Brooke, "Whatever she's told you about me, it's all a lie."
"I'm sure it is," Brooke flashes a dimpled grin at him, "who won?"
"Carolina kicked Duke's ass!"
"Savannah Georgia!" Karen scolds as soon as the words are out of the little girl's mouth, but instead of her glare being focused on the little girl it's instead focused on the adults standing behind her.
"Savannah, you've got a very pretty name," Brooke states in an attempt to break the awkward silence that had settled over the family.
"That's a place." Savannah declared with pride.
"I know," Brooke nods, "I've been there once with my mom."
"So have Mommy and Daddy. That's where they made me."
"As you can see Brooke," Dan swoops the little girl into his arms, "we've got a little firecracker in this family. But really, she's nothing in comparison to her mother, or her grandmother for that. Karen just wouldn't admit it," Dan offers Karen a good natured wink, "Dinner ready?"
"Nathan Scott! I can't believe you tricked this poor girl into coming home to dinner with you. I told you to invite her not hold her hostage." Karen scolds but she can't hide her laughter. Dinner was halfway through and Brooke's fairly certain that the entire family had not stopped talking the entire time. She'd learned a lot about them along with the fact that they had dinner every Sunday night.
"How else do you think Nathan got a girl to come home with him?" Rachel taunts, sticking her tongue out at Nathan from across the table. "Oh! You should come with us to the race this weekend Brooke."
The instant the words are out of Rachel's mouth it's like a flip has been switched in the dining room. No longer is the mood light and airy but the tension in the room is almost tangible and every single person at the table looks uncomfortable, even Savannah. Brooke's not sure what's going on, but she can tell that the source of the sudden tension is with Karen and whatever race Rachel had been talking about.
"You're racing this weekend?" Karen's words are quiet, but any of the light heartened-ness that had been there since Brooke walked in the door is gone.
"Mom," Nathan shifts uncomfortably in his seat, looking like a child that's been caught stealing or doing something awful.
"Nathan!" Karen's face has flushed red and she looks on the verge of tears and Brooke is still as lost as ever.
"Mom, please, not now." Nathan begs, his blue eyes flicking between Karen and Brooke in a silent plea that she doesn't embarrass him in front of company.
"I will do this right now. You just got out of the hospital Nathan, you have absolutely no business racing that damn car this weekend."
"Karen, I don't think now is the time to discuss this." Dan interrupts quietly but Karen's already jumped to her feet.
"No, I think now is the perfect time to discuss this. None of you ever want to discuss this and I've kept my mouth shut. But not anymore, I'm not going to sit back and watch all of you risk his life for some ridiculous sport all of you enjoy. Dan, dammit when are you going to stop trying to relive your glory days through your sons? And Nathan, d-dammit," Karen falters as she fights back tears, "Why must risk your health even more? Do you ever think about me? How hard it is to know that you're out risking your life, for what, an adrenaline rush? One of these days you're going to kill yourself..."
"That's it," with a scrap of his chair Nathan pushes back from the table hard, causing most of the plates on the table to clatter and some of the fuller drinks to slosh. "I'm out of here. I'm not having this fight with you again." And without even a backwards glance at Brooke he's left the room and slammed the front door behind him.
Brooke's face his tinted with pink, she still doesn't exactly understand what has just happened. "I'm – I'm sorry. Thanks for dinner."
"Sorry you had to be witness to a Scott family blow-out," Keith, who had been sitting next to her, said. "It was great to meet you."
Half of the family utters halfhearted comments along the same line, but Brooke has grabbed her purse and hurried out the door before anything else could really be said.
"Nathan!" He's already got the car running by the time Brooke hits the steps and he pulls squealing out of the driveway as soon as she's closed the door behind her. "What the hell was that?"
A.N. Hey everyone! I know it's been a while since I updated, and that I suck for taking so long. But freaking school got in the way, if I thought it was lucrative enough I would so give up the whole culinary school thing and just write fan fiction all day. But I'm fairly certain that chefs get paid a tad bit more then fan fiction writers so I had to take the finals I was presented with. I just took the last one, and even though I am taking summer school my schedule will be far less busy this summer so hopefully these chapters will get out fast. But Thalia and Ella convinced me to start the Naley that's been floating around in my head, and my Bake is still around but more time equals more writing time. Plus I've got a plane trip coming up and those are always awesome for writing! This chapter goes out to Ella who is not only my hand holder when it comes to writing but my sanity in life and now also my beta! Thanks to Christina for betaing as well, since I pretty much demand that when its ready it must be beta'd at that moment because I have the patience of a two-year-old. Anyway keep reviewing, and a special shout out to -Dukeforever- for getting my ass moving on this chapter ( I can forget your a Duke fan and everything! ;) )
