"Julian, why are we here?" Brooke asked as Julian ushered her into her store.
"Because this is where I asked you to design the wardrobe for Ravens," Julian said.
"So?" Brooke asked.
"I liked you when I asked you to design the wardrobe," Julian said.
"I thought you were a jerk," Brooke admitted.
"The whole town thought I was a jerk," Julian said with a smirk.
"Yeah, but you showed everyone what a good guy you are," Brooke said with a smile. She pulled Julian closer and kissed him.
"I felt like I already knew you from the book, but you're even more amazing than Lucas wrote you," Julian said.
"Really?" Brooke asked with raised eyebrows and a smirk.
"Really," Julian said with a smile. "I love you, Brooke Davis."
"I love you," Brooke said.
"One week is all it took for me to fall for you. One month and I knew I didn't want to leave you when the movie was over. I've wanted to do this since my dad came. Look, I know it hasn't been that long. I was going to wait, but I want to do this before we go to the doctor because it has nothing to do with your pregnancy." Julian looked into Brooke's eyes as he dropped to one knee. He pulled a velvet jewelry box from his pocket and opened it. "You are the girl I want-pregnant or not. Brooke Davis, will you marry me?"
"Julian, it's been less than two months! We can't get engaged!" Brooke said.
"We can if you say yes," Julian said.
"Julian…"
"Think about it," Julian said. He pushed the jewelry box into Brooke's hand.
An hour later Brooke and Julian were sitting in the waiting room at the doctor's office. They had an unspoken agreement not to talk about Julian's proposal. Julian knew Brooke needed some time to process everything. He was still a little hurt that she wasn't as sure about their relationship as he was, but he understood his proposal was out of the blue.
"Brooke Davis," the nurse called.
Brooke and Julian rose from their chairs and followed the nurse back to an exam room. Brooke sat down on the exam table. Julian stood beside Brooke and took her hand.
"The doctor will be back in a few minutes," the nurse said before leaving them alone.
"I had a false positive when I was in high school. I went to the doctor to find out if I was pregnant. I was alone, and I was so scared. It's funny. It's only been a few years. Now I'm here with you, and I'm actually kind of excited," Brooke said.
"Me too," Julian said with a smile.
"Were you scared when you found out Caitlin was pregnant?" Brooke asked.
"So scared. And then Caitlin said she wanted to take care of it, and that scared me more than her being pregnant. That's when I knew I already loved my child no matter how scared I was," Julian replied.
The doctor came in. "Hi, Brooke. I'm Dr. Stephens. How are you feeling today?"
"Good," Brooke said with a smile.
"You think you might be pregnant. Have you taken a home pregnancy test?" Dr. Stephens asked.
"Yeah, it was positive," Brooke replied.
"When was your last menstrual cycle?" Dr. Stephens asked.
"About five and a half weeks ago," Brooke replied.
"And you're usually regular?" Dr. Stephens said.
Brooke nodded. "Yeah."
"OK. I'm going to take some blood." Dr. Stephens prepared the needle. Julian held Brooke's hand tightly as the needle pierced her skin. Brooke looked away from the needle. She focused on Julian. His eyes held a certain warmth and gentleness that made Brooke feel at ease.
"We'll call you when we have the results," Dr. Stephens said. He walked them to the door.
"I got this," Julian said. He took a twenty-dollar bill out of his wallet to pay the co-pay.
When they got home, Julian knocked on Sam's door.
"Come in," Sam called.
"Hey Sammy. Do you want to go to the beach for the rest of the afternoon? We can go surfing," Julian said.
Sam raised her eyebrows. "They have surfing here?"
Julian shrugged. "It's not like our surfing, but yeah."
"OK," Sam agreed with a smile.
It had been a little while since they'd hung out just the two of them. At home they went surfing together every Sunday morning and then they went to brunch. Julian taught her how to surf when she was just a little girl.
"Is she pregnant?" Sam asked.
"We don't know yet. They're calling with the results," Julian replied.
"Do you want her to be?" Sam asked.
"I love you so much. Every time I see you smile or laugh or learn something new, it makes me so happy. I love being a dad. Yeah, I want another kid. And I want you to have a brother or sister. I always felt alone. My dad was always working-"
"And Grandma was always drunk," Sam commented with a smirk.
"I want you to have a big family. If anything ever happens to me, I don't want you to be alone," Julian continued.
"Dad, don't say that," Sam said. She knew nothing was going to happen to her dad, but she didn't even want to think about what would happen if something did happen to him. It had always been them against the world. She couldn't imagine not having him there.
They drove in silence for a little while until Sam asked another question that had been on her mind. "Did you ask her?" Julian told her that he was going to propose. He wanted to make sure she was OK with it. She still didn't know how she felt about it, but what could she say? She'd learned the hard way that trying to sabotage their relationship didn't work.
"I asked her. She hasn't given me an answer yet," Julian said.
"What did she say?" Sam asked.
Julian hesitated. He didn't want to lie to Sam, but he didn't want to repeat what Brooke had said to him in an intimate moment. "She needs some time to think about it."
"Why? If she loves you, she shouldn't have to think about it," Sam said with a hint of anger.
"Sam, we haven't been together that long. The proposal was out of the blue. She was surprised," Julian said.
"Why are you defending her? You asked her to marry you. You told her you wanted to spend the rest of your life with her. And she didn't say yes," Sam muttered.
Julian sighed. "I know."
Sam saw the pain in her dad's eyes and softened. She knew he had to be hurting. She remembered how hurt he'd been after he broke up with Peyton. "I'm sorry, Dad. Are you OK?"
"Not really," Julian admitted.
"I love you, Dad. I want you to be happy. You deserve to be with someone who knows how lucky they are to have you in their life," Sam said gently.
"What did I do to deserve you?" Julian said with a smile. Sam was probably the only person who could make him smile when he was going crazy wondering if Brooke would say yes.
"Everything," Sam murmured. She didn't intend for Julian to hear, but he did.
"What do you mean?" Julian asked.
"Dad, I wouldn't exist if it weren't for you, and I don't mean in the normal I'm comprised of half your gene pool way. Mom would have aborted me if it weren't for you. I literally wouldn't exist. You made everything OK for me then, and you make everything OK for me now. You're always there for me. You do everything for me," Sam said.
Julian frowned at the reference to Caitlin. It was one of very few times Sam had brought her up since Caitlin showed up. The frown was quickly replaced with a smile when he heard the rest of Sam's explanation. He stroked his daughter's hair and put his arm around her shoulders.
The rest of the afternoon was filled with light fun. Neither of them broached the subject of the proposal again. They joked around and surfed.
When they got home, Sam went into the bathroom to take a shower. Julian went into Brooke's bedroom. She was sitting on the bed with a magazine open, but she wasn't reading it. She'd just gotten off the phone with the doctor. She looked up at Julian with a smile on her face. "I'm pregnant. I'm going to be a mom."
Julian broke into a smile. He sat down beside her and pulled her into a hug. "I'm so happy. Are you happy?"
Brooke nodded. "I've never wanted anything more."
"You're going to be a great mom," Julian said.
"You already are a great dad," Brooke said with a smile.
"Speaking of Sam, I want to go tell her the good news," Julian said.
Julian knocked on Sam's door.
"Come in," Sam called.
She frowned when she saw that her dad was with Brooke. She saw the smiles on their faces and knew Brooke was pregnant. Julian looked into her eyes and told her what she already knew. "Brooke's pregnant."
Sam forced herself to smile, but the smile didn't reach her eyes. "That's really…great." Her eyes focused on Brooke's left hand. Brooke wasn't wearing the engagement ring. The forced smile faded. "Look, I'm tired from surfing, so I think I'm going to take a nap."
Julian and Brooke left. Sam flopped down on her bed. She didn't know what she was feeling. She didn't know if she wanted her dad to marry Brooke. Nonetheless, she was filled with anger that Brooke hadn't said yes to Julian's proposal. Her dad was hurting now, and Brooke was the one who had hurt him. He'd been so good to her. Sam couldn't believe how badly she was treating her dad.
Brooke and Julian sat down on the couch. Julian pulled Brooke into his lap. His hands instinctively went to her stomach. His baby was growing inside of her.
"Do you think she's going to be OK?" Brooke asked.
"She? What makes you think it's going to be a girl?" Julian asked.
Brooke rolled her eyes. "Not the baby. Sam, you knucklehead."
Julian frowned in confusion. "Sam? Yeah."
"Julian, I don't think she's happy about this," Brooke said.
"I talked to her about it. She's fine," Julian insisted.
"What did she say?" Brooke asked.
Julian frowned as he tried to remember. "Well, she asked me if I wanted you to be pregnant, and I said yes."
Brooke raised her eyebrows. "And?"
"And she was fine with it," Julian said.