They saw Nathan first. And as they walked with him along the corridor towards Haley's room the injuries to his face from the airbag in the car made Brooke's stomach churn. But the churning abated when the door opened and her eyes fell on her friend's smiling face.

As Lucas had predicted, she was fine. Well, as fine as she could be, with a couple of cracked ribs and associated bruising.

After some talk about how it had happened, Brooke was happy her friends were okay. But when Haley babbled about how much she missed her children a churning of a different kind grew.

"I can't believe you left me in charge."

Haley quirked her eyebrow. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Haley you could have died and you left those precious little angels with me."

"Well Brooke, you are their God mother. Its kinda part of the job. Plus I can't think of anyone better to take over if I'm not there."

"Please don't talk like that. I can't lose you Hale's." Brooke gingerly leaned over the hospital bed to pull her friend into a hug.

A short nurse hurried into the room brandishing a clipboard. "You two can't be in here, it's well past visiting hours. You'll have to come back in the morning."

Brooke glanced at her watch, realising for the first time that it was after midnight.

Lucas placed a hand on her lower back. "We can find a motel close by and come back in the morning. Haley and Nathan should rest anyway.

Brooke hugged Haley again and gave Nathan a kiss in the cheek promising to bring coffee and donuts when the sun came up.

"That's sorted. They had a cancellation, so we're in." He smiled at her, his white teeth glinting in the dim light.

Raising her head, she smiled back at him. A simple, genuine smile. Then her mind put together what he'd just said. "A cancellation?"

"It's a twin room, so don't panic. I just hope you brought some sensible pyjamas."

Her pulse fluttered at the thought of sharing a room with him. Even one with twin beds. There was an intimacy involved that she hadn't experienced in a long time.

He didn't miss her hesitancy. "We're not going to get anywhere else at this time of night."

"I know."

After a moment he looked down at the gravel at his feet, deep in thought. Then he raised his head, pinned her with his fathomless eyes and stepped towards her. Brooke pushed her body away from the car, stood a little taller, knowing in doing so that she wasn't discouraging his approach. In fact she might as well have been daring him to make a move.

She smiled a little shyly. Trying to let him see that things had changed.

When he was inches away from her he looked into her eyes and laughed a low laugh. It was a deep, rumbling sound that seemed to shake his broad chest before it made its way into the air. "Don't go giving me that look, Brooke Davis."

She continued to smile back at him. "What look?"

"Oh, you know what look. You're flirting with me."

Tilting her head to one side, she blinked, her voice husky. 'I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm just glad you found a room."

He laughed again, waggled a long finger at her. "You're doing it again. Quit."

With a tilt forward onto her toes, she closed the minuscule gap left between their bodies, still looking up at him with her head to one side.

"I feel like I've had the weight of the world on my shoulders." She shrugged the shoulders under discussion. "And now it doesn't seem so heavy any more. That's all. I guess it's liberating."

The smile he gave her was affectionate, and he reached the previously waggled finger forward and gently brushed her hair back behind in ear, his fingers lingering there. "You let a lot of stuff out. That was a big thing."

Brooke continued to smile, before she felt the wave of shyness roll over her once more. Standing back on the flat of her feet, she looked at her favourite button on his shirt. The button at the base of his strong neck, where a steady pulse was beating.

"You okay?"

"This is just a bit strange, I guess."

"What I find strange is that you've managed to spend so much time together over the last week without anything happening."

Without thinking, she raised her hand and toyed with the button, twisting it between her thumb and forefinger.

Lucas lifted her chin up so her eyes met his. "Last time you ran. Will you run this time too?"

"I don't want to run. I'd like to see what comes next."

"You have a lot on your plate right now….."

"That's not a reason to step back, though. Is it?"

It wasn't? Lucas was having to exert every ounce of self-control he had. It was getting to be a constant inner battle when she was around. And he was only human, after all. But there was a fine line in operation here, and he knew it. He didn't want to be Brooke's 'rebound' in her emotionally suppressed life. He wanted something longer-lasting than that. And somehow he had a feeling that to lose her now would be even more painful than it had been when they were younger.

It was going to take a little time, that was all. "You have no idea how hard it is not to kiss you right now."

The smile she gave him was seduction personified.

"Brooke, stop it."

The hand on the bottom stilled, then rose to touch the side of his face. His hand landed on her hers, holding it against his skin.

For a second he closed his eyes, let the sensation of her touch wash over him. "I think we should get to know each other better this time."

She continued smiling. "Oh, so do I."

The statement raised another small burst of laughter. "That wasn't what I meant." Tangling long fingers wither hers against his cheek, he lifted her hand from his face, keeping their fingers entwined. "We could do with taking things slow."

When she raised an eyebrow in question, he added in a low rumble, "There are other ways of being intimate."

"There are?" Brooke was surprised at the breathless tone to her voice.

Lucas nodded, slowly and deliberately.

And her throat went dry. "Such as?"

Tangling his fingers in and out of hers, he rubbed his thumb back and forth against the soft flesh at the base of her thumb. "You'll have to trust me."

That was just the thing, though. She already did, didn't she? It wasn't just a lot of old teenage angsts and emotional constipation she was letting go of, thanks to him. It was also her inability to trust someone who was able to touch her heart. And that was a big step. One that had been creeping up on her of late and she hadn't even noticed.

To have trusted him with the children, to have accepted his help. To have gone to him first when she had a crisis, and more than anything to have let him get to know the real her. All those things told her that trust was already in place. He was special.

"I do trust you, Lucas."

His thumb stilled. He blinked at her for several long, heart-worming moments, and then leaned forward and pressed his warm mouth against her cool temple. He lingered there for a long time, breathed in deeply the scent of her hair, and then removed his mouth and preplaced it with his forehead, his eyes looking deep into hers, up close.

Brooke smiled. She couldn't seem to stop smiling. It was one of the most intimate moments she had experienced in a long time. And that was just from a kiss on the forehead. Where would the amazing journey take her next?