The trip to Savannah, Georgia was long and hot despite the fact that it was almost Thanksgiving. It was unconceivable to Brooke that she and Nathan had been living together for four months. One hot day in July had changed everything for them. Now they had a chance if they could just throw away all the old bullshit and face their fears.
"When Ally was about eighteen months old," Brooke turned her attention from the endless fields of Georgia to Nathan's profile, "she had the worst bout with pneumonia."
"Oh my God," Brooke inadvertently grasped his hand on the stick shift.
"She had been feeling badly and had been to the doctor a few times in the weeks leading up to her diagnosis. The doctor kept saying she had ear infections, she was colicky, she was teething but I knew something was wrong. One night after I had been up with her for thirty hours straight, called into practice and was just tired I put her down in her crib determined take a fifteen hour power nap before I lost my head."
"What happened," Brooke whispered the question.
Nathan stopped at a red light, "she stopped breathing. I woke up within a minute of noticing she wasn't crying and she was starting to turn blue. I called 911, resuscitated her, I have never been so scared before in my life. I sat in the waiting room of the Emergency Department for two hours until she was stable enough to bring to the NICU. While I was there I thought of calling you a million times because I knew somehow, some way, you would get to Chicago and start threatening and demanding everyone's job until our baby was healthy and happy back home."
"Why didn't you?"
"I was still angry with you, I was still hurt, I was worried that you would take one look at Ally and decide you wanted her too no ifs, ands or buts."
Brooke's eyes watered, "why are you telling me this?"
"Because," he moved his hand so that they were lacing their fingers, "I want you to know every detail you missed. I don't want you to be surprised by anything. I want you to know that even though I try hard to be the kind of man you want to be with sometimes I fall short. I'm only human Brooke but if you ask me to I'll try and be your superhero."
"I'm not a superhero," she whispered.
"You hold yourself at a high standard and it makes everyone around you want to rise to that level," Nathan pulled into a small driveway and Brooke looked around, confused, "we're here."
0000
In the three years since they had laid eyes on Peyton Sawyer she hadn't changed much. Still blond, still green-eyed, still abnormally thin, Brooke thought sourly.
"Fucking anorexic," Brooke murmured.
"What'd you say," Nathan asked.
Brooke shook her head and continued to stare at the woman in the small backyard who still hadn't noticed them. She was hanging long white linen, which was so cliché, onto a clothes line and whistling a Metallica tune. In a rush there were so many things that Brooke wanted to know about how Peyton had gotten to this spot in her life but her memory only allowed the picture of Peyton with Nathan to seal in her mind.
"Did you kiss her," Brooke's questioned was whispered yet that was the moment Peyton noticed them.
Nathan took her hand, "I never kissed back."
"Okay," Brooke squeezed his hand and stepped forward.
0000
The house that Peyton Sawyer occupied was lovely if not dark, nothing unexpected. There were records and CDs everywhere along with a very high tech looking stereo system.
"Can I get you something to drink," Peyton asked. Brooke and Nathan shook their heads. They stood in an awkward group for a few more moments. Peyton sighed, "maybe you want to tell me why you're here? The last time I saw you, Brooke, you were spitting daggers at me and telling me our friendship was over. I never saw you again after that night."
"I moved to New York, I created and expanded Clothes Over Bros," Brooke told her stiffly.
"I know," Peyton sat on her recliner, "I've seen your stuff, its good Brooke, really good."
Nathan took a seat on the couch and pulled Brooke down beside him, "we wanted to talk to you because-"
Brooke interrupted him, "why did you do it?"
"After all these years," Peyton questioned leaning forward.
"Yeah, I want to know," Brooke replied.
Suddenly the air in the room, all ready simmering, was crackling with tension. Brooke's anger was palpable. Peyton crossed her fingers in a motion of prayer, "I thought I loved him."
"Liar," Brooke replied smoothly and quickly.
"I thought that he was the one for me not you," Peyton continued, "I thought I could love him better, be a better match. I thought we could be happy together!"
"At any point," Brooke rose, "you can stop lying to my face, Peyton."
Peyton took a deep breath and as if a huge flood gate had been opened her mask slipped and all of the emotion bottled inside of her was released, "I was jealous!"
"Of what," Nathan asked.
"Me, us, the girls," Brooke replied.
Peyton glared at her, "did you ever stop to consider how lucky you were? You were born rich, you met the man of your dreams while he was unattached in high school, you were captain of the cheerleading squad, you were prom queen, formal princess and voted most likely to succeed. Did you ever consider the fact that no one else had it as easy as you? You just ran around telling everyone to try harder, that things would get better but you didn't know a damned thing about any of the shit any of us went through, including Nathan's crap with Dan. You raised the bar higher and higher until no one could clear it!"
Brooke stood in shock it was the second time in an hour that someone had told her that her standards were too high, first Nate and then Peyton. Maybe she had been too hard on everyone. She thought she was doing them a favor by pushing them, by pulling them out of their ruts all the time.
"So you decided to come after me," Nathan asked.
"Not exactly," Peyton conceded, no longer even trying to pretend she had done it out of love.
"What do you mean," Nathan was concentrating on Peyton. It had been a long time since she had felt a Scott's penetrating glare.
"Think about it Nathan! You had been out of college for months but you still hadn't decided on a pro team, your opportunity would be lost if you didn't make a decision before the May draft picks."
"So you did it because you knew I'd leave him and then he'd be forced to make a decision immediately," Brooke questioned, startled that Peyton had gone that far, had hated her so much. How could she have not known her best friend despised her?
"No," Nathan shook his head, his eyes narrowing, "Dan."
Peyton nodded slowly, "I won't make excused anymore but I will say that man knows how to manipulate situations. I don't know how he knew how I felt but he talked to me. He talked me into going out with you that night, he told me that you had told him you were tired of Chris stalking around and wanted to teach Brooke a lesson. I should have known better. You loved her far too much to ever hurt her that way."
Brooke looked at Nathan, her nose flaring in surprise at Peyton's observation, "why did you go out with her?"
"Because she was lonely, because she was a friend and I thought if both of us showed up you'd want to come home and hang out with both of us more than Chris," Nathan admitted.
"Brooke," Peyton looked her in the eyes, strong and steady, "he never kissed back, at all. He pushed me away and told me you were the one, that there had never been any doubt."
"Thank you, Peyton," Nathan rose and took Brooke's hand. As they walked toward the door Brooke stopped and turned back to Peyton, who was still sitting in her chair.
"You know I heard Jake was back in the area, I heard that he owned a bar in the historic district," Brooke told her and followed Nathan out of the house, gently closing the door behind her.
