Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill!

The minute I open my eyes, I'm confused. When did I get to the guest room? Or more importantly, HOW? I turn over on my side to look at Sophie, only... she's not there. Huh. Just as I sit up in bed, I hear a door shut somewhere in the house.

"Soph?" I call out but hear no response. Soon enough, I hear footsteps out in the hallway and my bedroom door flings open, and in walks...

Karen. Oh.

"Brooke." She stops dead in her tracks, although by this point she's already in the room, and we just stare at each other in surprise for a moment. "What are you doing here?"

"Karen, this isn't what it looks like," I say as I pull the covers up, even though I'm still wearing yesterday's outfit. Weird.

"Oh, because it looks like you're sleeping in my son's house. That's just beautiful, Brooke."

We're both startled to hear the front door shut and soon enough Lucas appears in the doorway.

"Mom? What, what are you doing here?" He stammers, and I can tell he's just as surprised as I was. Or still am.

"Don't I have the right to come over here and drop off some food for my son? Is that okay with Brooke?"

My eyes widen and I finally break my silence. Don't be such a coward, Davis. "Why wouldn't it be? Karen, ever since I got here you've been targeting me non-stop. I mean, I know I'm not exactly your favorite person right now and I can understand that, but you can at least be just a little bit easier on me."

Lucas and Karen both look at me as if they're surprised to find I actually have a voice. To top things off, I notice Sophie stopping at the doorway, a mug of coffee in her hand. God, that smells good.

"Sorry, am I interrupting? Should I..." She glances at Karen's angry face, and I can definitely see why she would hesitate.

"No," Lucas and I both say in unison. Then, "It's okay, Soph, come in," I stand up now and walk over to her, taking the mug from her hands and winking at her gratefully.

Again, at the mere sight of her, Karen's eyes fill up with tears almost instantly. Lucas looks down, clearly uncomfortable, but I stare straight into Karen's eyes.

"Karen, there's someone I want you to meet. Sophie, this is Karen...Lucas' mom. Karen, Sophie."

Sophie lets out a little gasp, and then puts her hand up to her mouth and blushes. Lucas smiles a bit and I do too, as Karen steps closer to her and just takes her in her arms. And just like that, the tension from earlier flies out of the room. Sophie holds Karen just as tightly, and when they finally break away from their embrace, Karen smiles but still avoids looking at me.

"Oh, honey, you're beautiful. Absolutely beautiful," she says quietly, almost to herself.

"Mom, why don't you take Sophie over to the cafe? We went out this morning, but she hasn't had breakfast yet. You should cook for her."

Karen looks first at Sophie, then Lucas, and then finally moves her eyes over to me. I nod slightly, and tell her with my eyes that I want her to. She turns back to Sophie who tells her that she'd like that.

After they leave, Lucas offers to make me breakfast, and although I refused at first I finally caved. I can't remember when I last had a hearty, home-cooked breakfast, and I suddenly feel so hungry. I sit at the kitchen table and watch him take out a carton of eggs and some toast.

"So if this new Brooke is anything like the old Brooke, I know you still have no idea how to cook," Lucas chuckles as he cracks a few eggs into a pan.

"Hey! I make a mean grilled cheese sandwich, okay?" But I can't help but laugh at this too. This boy still knows me so well; it amazes me. "So where were you and Sophie this morning? And how the hell did I end up in the guest room? Last I remember, we were all still on the couch."

"We all slept there last night. Sophie and I woke up early this morning. But you, Miss, are clearly sleep deprived and you were still knocked out. So I took you to the bed and Sophie and I headed out for a walk. I took her by the Rivercourt and then we went over to the bridge for a while. It was nice. She told me all about her life in New York, and about her childhood. It was really nice."

I smile as the delicious smell of warm food fills the small kitchen all around us. "What exactly did she tell you?" I ask, raising my eyebrow slightly.

"She told me about how you would read her a bedtime story every single night, no matter how long of a day you'd had in the office. And how, every year for her birthday, you'd custom-design and make a beautiful, one-of-a-kind dress for her and tell her she's a princess," he looks at me admiringly now, and I feel my face flush. "Then she told me about this new boyfriend of hers... I don't know, Brooke, I'm not sure about this guy."

I can't help but laugh at his serious expression. "Luke, he's a good kid. They're happy, it's cute. Stop being such an overprotective dad, sheesh."

We both stop at this comment, and it just hangs in the air between us for a second, but then Lucas cracks that shy smile of his and I let out a breath.

"So, I know my mom sort of attacked you when you got here the other day..."

"You do?" I groan and rub my temple. How embarrassing.

"She called me and told me, before you even showed up here that night."

"Really. And..."

"And, she lectured me more than she ever has in my entire life. And I more or less told her to butt out."

"Luke, you didn't!" I let out a gasp but he just nods and serves up my eggs, even though I'm increasingly losing my appetite.

"She had no right to ambush you like that, Brooke. She didn't even take a minute to acknowledge the fact that you actually stepped up and came down here. That takes a lot of courage, even if it did take you sixteen years."

"And that's why you didn't yell at me that night..." I mumble more to myself, but he nods again.

"Anyway, you guys have to sort this out."

I tell him that I know, and that I will make the effort to talk to Karen. We share breakfast and more lighthearted conversation, and it's absolutely delicious and something I really, really needed. When we're done, I tell him that I should go over to the cafe to pick up Sophie and talk to Karen. As I'm about to leave, he gives me a quick peck on the lips and for a minute everything seems so normal, like this simple gesture is not at all out of the ordinary. I ignore the ridiculous desire that is nagging at me from inside my chest, threatening to rise up and choke me at any given minute, and head out.

When I get to the cafe, I spot Sophie sitting at a table with a mug in her hands and a huge smile on her face. The rest of the place is empty and there's a CLOSED sign hanging on the door.

"Hey honey, how was breakfast?" I set my purse down and pull out a chair. At the sound of my voice, Karen appears from behind the counter, almost out of thin air, and joins us.

"It was SO good... like, out of this world good!" Sophie smiles and I reach out across the table and squeeze her hand. I tell her I'm glad she enjoyed it, and I even tell her how many mornings the old gang spent here, and how much we loved Karen's cooking. And finally, Karen herself breaks her silence.

"Brooke, we need to talk."

At this, Sophie looks from Karen to me and then back at Karen. "Do you want me to..."

"No, sweetheart, I think you should hear this too," Karen looks at me and I nod. I do feel pretty bad for keeping Sophie so out of the loop. It's so unlike me; we tell each other everything, always.

"Brooke, I'm so sorry for lashing out at you. I just had all this anger built up in me, and more than that I was hurt. I wanted to take care of my granddaughter, I wanted my son to get a chance at being a dad. I wanted my old Lucas back. And, I wanted my Brooke back," she looks deep into my eyes and I feel the tears blurring my vision almost instantly. "I couldn't understand why you would want to run away from us. You knew you had a family here, and you knew we would all love and support you and your baby all the same."

"I know, Karen. You don't know how much I've kicked myself over the past sixteen years for leaving Tree Hill." I'm aware of Sophie's surprised expression, probably because I've never actually admitted this aloud, but I keep going. "And I missed you and Lucas more than you know. You were my family, how could I not? And I'm so, so, SO sorry for hurting you. It's the last thing I would have wanted."

Karen squeezes my arm and I can see the tears in her own eyes now. "Well, these past few days have been pretty emotional, huh?" We all laugh and wipe at our tears. "I love you, Brooke Davis. And I love this amazing daughter of yours, too. And I'm so glad you're back and right now that's all that matters. And life is too short to dwell over the past."

Almost as if on cue, the door to the cafe opens and in walks a beautiful girl who looks to be Sophie's age. I look at her for just a minute before suddenly realizing who it is. I scramble out of my chair and pull her into a huge hug.

"LILY!" I can see the confusion on her face, and on Sophie's, but I can't help but hold her tightly. The last time I saw her was the day of our high school graduation, when Karen gave birth to her and I went with Lucas to visit. It was before I told Lucas I was pregnant, and shortly before I left Tree Hill.

"Uh, Brooke Davis? You're... in my mom's cafe?" I laugh and Karen introduces Lily to Sophie, and briefly explains to Lily why we're here (she's definitely surprised to learn that her big brother is a dad). I just look at her affectionately, and I can't help but think about how she's grown up without her dad, all these years. And my mind wanders back to the day that Keith was so selfishly taken from Karen, who didn't even know she was pregnant at the time.

And in that fleeting instant, I knew I could never take Sophie away from Lucas again.

AN: Okay so this chapter was kinda a filler chapter, only kinda not because I needed to fix things with Brooke and Karen before the story could continue. I'll be updating soon, but next week classes start so my updates may be a bit sporadic. Anyway, thoughts?!