Looking around the yard, Brooke had to almost pinch herself to believe she was actually, finally in Port Charles. And she was meeting in person all the people she had heard about so much over the years. Doctors Monica and Alan Quartermaine, Luke and Laura Spencer, Mac Scorpio and his niece Robin, Marcus Taggert, simply everyone she had ever wanted to meet seemed to be here, enjoying themselves.

Strangely enough she found herself looking, waiting for Sonny to walk through the door or the back gate. She found it hard to believe that in a town the size of Port Charles that none of the girls knew him. Though based on the cost of his casual outfit, he probably ran in a different circle than Dara, Simone, Amy, Felicia, and Bobbie. Although she couldn't see him hanging out with the Stepahnie Forresters of the world.

What was it about him that intrigued her so much? She was a happily- - she was a married woman. Married to the man she had dreamed of forever, the man she had six children with. Maybe it was because he was different from any other man she had met or known. Her dad, Storm, Eric, Dave Reed, even Ridge. Although his arrogance could match Ridge's, his dimples, his laugh tempered it. Somehow made it seem okay. Or maybe it had been how he was so captivated by Willow. The charmer and the flirt had met his match. If the situation had been reversed, Ridge never would have talked to her. A woman with six kids. He would have maybe flirted a little with her if no other better options were around, but he would have paid zero attention to her kids.

Well maybe that was unfair to think. She was just feeling grumpy because she couldn't get her husband on the phone. They were playing phone tag again and it was becoming increasingly frustrating with every call. He still thought she was sitting at home in LA when instead she was on the other side of the country enjoying herself at a bar-be-que. Or she would be enjoying herself if she could stop thinking about him and Sonny. Glancing to her right, she saw the kids had found other kids to play with and were having a good time. Even Budge had called a halt to her "make everyone as miserable as me because I'm not with my daddy" campaign. Thank God for that. She didn't know how much more of the attitude and crying she could take. She knew

her daughter was a daddy's girl, but this was ridiculous. Though who was she to complain, her mother often told her she was just as much a daddy's girl too.

"Brooke," a voice called out interrupting her wandering thoughts.

Turning to the sound of the voice, Brooke smiled when she saw Tom Hardy walking towards her. "Tom. How good to see you," she greeted with a hug.

"Don't lie. Last time you saw me you were cursing me out. Using words I'm not even sure sailors know," Tom replied.

"That's because you were continuously stomping all over my best friend's heart and being the dick of all dicks."

"There's the Valley girl showing her claws. Alive and well. And you were right, I was being a dick and hurting the two people I loved more than anything, but I've changed," Tom declared.

Staring into his blue eyes, she could see the change. This was no longer the confused, angry Tom that had returned from Africa. This one was calmer, grounded, more like the man Simone had first introduced her to all those years ago, except there was a hardness around the eyes and in his eyes now. "Yes, yes you have."

"Phil tells me you and Ridge remarried."

"Phil?"

Tom nodded. "My nickname for Felicia."

A smile spread across Brooke's face. "Yes, Ridge and I are remarried and had another daughter."

"I saw the Christmas picture. Cute kids."

"Thanks," she beamed. "They are very cute, if I do say so myself. How are you?"

Knowing her question went deeper than the superficial, Tom answered her honestly. "I still have dark days, but I know better now then to lock myself in a room and brood all day. I get out into the sunshine, spend some time with Tommy, with Maxie and Georgie, and have lunch with my mom or Phil. And if that isn't enough to get me over the dark period, I talk to someone who's been there."

Brooke nodded. Thomas Hardy, Senior had come a long way. It saddened her a little that he couldn't have made this progress when he was married to Simone. It would have saved them and their son a lot of heartache. But some things weren't meant to be she guessed.

"Hey, what are you two talking about over here to have you looking so dark and gloomy?" Felicia inquired, throwing her arms around Tom from behind.

"The usual, my girl's best friend threatening to dismember me if I hurt you in any way," Tom replied.

Felicia smiled. "I've got the greatest girlfriends in the world and the greatest man."

"We both concur," Brooke told her.

Leaning down, Tom kissed Felicia passionately. She remembered when she and Ridge used to kiss like that, when they couldn't keep their hands off each other. What changed? Forrester, the kids, life. She wished they could get it back.

"Ahhhh, I think I need a cornea transplant," Maxie teased, walking up to the trio.

"Well, it's a good thing the WSB has such great insurance and we know so many terrific doctors then," Felicia commented to her oldest daughter, as she kept her hold on her lover.

"You'll get used to it, Mariah," Brooke informed the young girl.

"Aunt Brooke," Maxie complained.

She shook her head as she kissed the top of her niece's head. "You have a beautiful first name and I refuse to call you by that nickname."

"But Aunt Brooke- -"

"Maxie, give it up. Just give it up, the more you complain the more Brooke is going to do it," Tom said.

"Tom, don't fall into my daughter's trap. This is a running argument between the two every time they see each other."

Tom watched the interaction between the three females and prayed that one day he and Tommy could have this type of easy flowing, loving relationship. Maybe they could if Tommy ever learned to fully trust him again.

"I had a vision of love- -"

"Aunt Brooke, no, don't sing, please."

"Come on, join me. You'll always be the original Mariah to me. Treated me kind- -"

Maxie ran off to join her sister and friends.

"Is my singing really that bad?" Brooke asked.

Tom and Felicia laughed.

"I thought I did a pretty good impression of Mariah."

Tom and Felicia laughed harder.

Seeing the tears rolling down her friends' faces, Brooke let the laughter she had been holding back come forth. Boy, did it feel good to laugh, to be surrounded by people she loved, and to just let go.