No One Left to Run To

"Nathan?" came Haley's call from the kitchen.

"Yeah?" he asked as he emerged from the nursery.

"Did you get her to sleep?" She nodded to the closed door.

"No, but she's quiet at least. I'm sure she'll fall asleep eventually."

Haley laughed. "You sound so unconcerned."

"Well if she's anything like Cody, we won't have a problem with her sleeping habits," he said with a smile.

"Speaking of which, where is Cody?"

"Taking a nap."

Haley laughed. "Of course," she said, flopping down on the couch. "Anyway, what I was gonna' ask you is if you've heard from Lucas lately."

"Not since he left for New York," replied Nathan, moving her over so he could sit down too. "But I'm sure he's just having tons of fun with Claire," he said sarcastically.

"Be nice," said Haley, warningly. "Claire's sweet."

"Oh yeah. Remind me never to let her near my children again."

"Just because she suggested that we let her pierce Cody's ears when she was babysitting, doesn't mean she would actually have done it."

Nathan laughed. "Why does he even stay with her?"

"Lucas? Truthfully, I don't know." Haley sighed. "I just worry about him a lot. I mean all he really does is work and write. I just think it's a good thing he has Claire. It's someone to keep him company."

A ringing of the phone interrupted their conversation. Haley leaned over to check the caller ID. "Speak of the devil," she said with a smile, picking up the phone. "Hey Luke. We were just talking about you."

"No kidding? What a coincidence," came his voice. "How's the baby?" he asked.

"Brooke? She's great. Cries a lot, though," Haley said with a laugh. "So how's New York?"

There was a pause. "It's…fine."

Haley frowned. "Well it doesn't sound…fine. Is everything ok?"

"What? Yeah," said Lucas quickly. "It's just…"

"Luke? What is it?"

Nathan looked confused. Haley just shrugged.

"Well…I ran into Brooke."

"The baby?" asked Haley in shock. "No…I didn't think so. Wow! Brooke!"

"Yeah…"

"Well, how is she? Does she look ok?" Haley was overloaded with questions.

Nathan looked bewildered. Haley covered the mouthpiece with her hand. "He ran into Brooke!"

Nathan looked shocked. "What?!"

"Lucas, are you there?" Haley returned to the phone.

"Yeah. I am. She looked…fine. Great, I guess."

"Wow…" said Haley, still shocked.

"Hales?" Came Lucas' voice, sounding struggled.

"What's wrong Luke?"

"…I have a daughter."

IIIIIIIIIIIII

Brooke Davis was not one to tone down the mood of a boring executive meeting on a weekday afternoon. Most of her colleagues would normally drag themselves into the conference room on those days, sink into a chair, and pop a Tylenol. But Brooke bounded into the room. Stood at the head of the table. Always had her presentation, her lecture, her key points, her complaints. Never once let her smile fade. And that is what made these meetings bearable. Brooke's seemingly endless supply of energy seemed to provide for the 20 or so other people who looked like an anvil was permanently resting on their heads.

Today was an exception. It was 2:41 on Monday, and Brooke was nowhere to be seen. Sure, she was there, giving her lecture, her presentation, but she wasn't actually there. She would stop in mid-sentence, space-out, repeat herself, give long pauses before answering questions, and mindlessly stare out the window.

Her colleagues noticed this. She seemed so distracted, often stopping in the middle of a statement, and forgetting what she was talking about. Kayla, especially, who was having an increasingly amount of difficulty in summarizing the key points of the meeting, seeing how there didn't seem to be many key points at all. Others, she noticed, had let their minds drift away from Brooke, and were either immersed deeply in their Blackberries, or absentmindedly fiddling with their pens.

Finally Brooke dismissed the team, asking people on a last reminder to please read over the meeting summary that Kayla would email them that evening.

All others rushed out, but Kayla lagged behind, watching Brooke gather her things.

"Brooke?"

Brooke looked up. "Oh, hey Kayla."

Kayla had known Brooke for quite some time now. They had both started out as fact checkers at Allure and had climbed their way up the career ladder, always having each other's backs, even when things got nasty. When Kayla met Brooke, Emma was only two months old, and Brooke would often bring the baby to work. Kayla would spend hours playing peek-a-boo with Emma, and needless to say, the two got very close.

About 6 months ago, Brooke had been offered the Editor position at Vanity Fair and had pulled Kayla along as her 2nd in command.

"Hey. Do you want to get a drink after work?"

"I can't, actually. I have to get home to Emma."

"Come on, Brooke. You haven't been out in weeks. Months, actually."

Brooke sighed. "I'm sorry Kayla. I've just been really busy."

"I know you've been busy. I've also watched you be really distant all day long, and all day yesterday when we went shopping. What happened this weekend?"

"Nothing happened. I just can't get anyone to watch Emma."

"What about Ryan? I'm sure he'd be happy to do it."

Brooke sighed, then smiled. "Fine."

Kayla laughed. "Ok. I'll meet you downstairs at 6."

"It's a date," responded Brooke with a smile.

IIIIIIIIIIIII

When Brooke stepped out of the elevator at 6:07 pm, she noticed Kayla standing by the revolving doors, talking to a tall man with his back turned to Brooke.

Seeing Brooke, Kayla paused in whatever she was rambling on about and beckoned Brooke over. Brooke smiled and, shifting her purse to her left shoulder, headed across the marble floor of the lobby to Kayla.

As she stepped up to Kayla, the man turned around and the smile fell from Brooke's face. It was Lucas.

"Brooke, I'd like to introduce you to Lucas. He just caught me and saved me from breaking my neck when I slipped on my heel," Kayla said with a laugh.

"We've met," responded Brooke coldly, not looking at him. "Are you ready to go?" she asked Kayla.

"Wait, you two know each other?"

"Not anymore," said Lucas, speaking in a tone equally as cold as Brooke.

"Right…" said Kayla, nervously shifting her glance between the two. "Um…then, it was nice to meet you Lucas," she said quickly, moving to the revolving door. Brooke was about to follow, but Lucas grabbed her arm.

"Brooke…wait."

Brooke pulled away and whirled around to face him. "What are you doing here, Lucas," she snapped.

"I just wanted to…can we talk?" he asked, somewhat desperately, jerking his head away from Kayla, who was standing on the opposite side of the revolving door looking thoroughly confused.

"I have plans," she said, turning away.

"Brooke, come on!" he said, jumping into the revolving door with her. She eyed him coldly, but he continued. "Look, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have blown up at you, and I shouldn't have said what I said."

They emerged on the street. "Lucas…it's fine…whatever. I think that we both made it perfectly clear that we don't need to be in each other's lives. Now if you want to talk about Emma – "

"Emma?" Kayla cut in. "What about Emma?" She had been listening to the entire conversation, and it still made no sense to her

Brooke ignored her friend. "If you want to talk about Emma, you can call me or email me to make an appointment."

"So I'm only worthy of an appointment – like your clients? Look, Brooke, I want to be in your life. I want us to be friends."

Brooke sighed and looked wary.

"Please…if you aren't going to do it for me, do it for Emma."

That hit Brooke strongly. There was a silence, and then she spoke. "Ok," she smiled slightly. "For Emma."

Lucas smiled. "Ok. Then how about I take you and Emma to dinner tomorrow?"

"I – fine," said Brooke, giving in with a smile.

IIIIIIIIIIIII

The two women entered the bar five minutes later, Kayla still looking bewildered. They sat down at a table and placed their orders – Brooke just asking for a coke.

"Ok…what was that about?" Kayla asked.

Brooke sighed. "That was Lucas."

"Yes…I'm aware. He did introduce himself to me. But what does that have to do with – "

"Kayla, that was Lucas."

A look of comprehension dawned over Kayla's face. "Lucas," she breathed. "That Lucas?"

Brooke nodded.

Kayla was silent, obviously mulling things over in her had. Then she spoke. "He's hotter than you described him."

Brooke laughed. "Is that all you can say?"

"Well…yeah, guess." Kayla smiled.

Kayla knew all about Lucas. It kind-of came with the story that Brooke was a single mother. And, just like other close friends who had heard the story, Kayla had tried on numerous accounts to convince Brooke to tell Lucas about his daughter.

"So…how did he find out?"

"Well...he ran into me and Emma in Starbucks."

"Starbucks?"

"Starbucks. And the story just kind-of unraveled from there."

"Was he mad?"

Brooke laughed. "If you had a secret daughter who had been around for five years that you thought had been aborted against your own will, would you be mad?"

Kayla laughed. "I see your point," she paused. "Well, it looks like you two made up."

"Yeah, but between everything that's happened between us, and the fact that we haven't seen each other in six years, I feel like it's going to be hard for us to be friends. I think I mainly want to do it for Emma. I mean, she doesn't deserve to grow up with a mom and dad who can't stand to be in the same room as each other."

"How are you going to tell her about him?"

"God, I don't know," said Brooke, stirring her coke with her straw. "I mean, she knows that she has a dad, and she knows he's not in her life. Whenever she asks about him, I tell her what I can, and just say that he wishes he could be in her life. But it's a hard situation. I mean, I don't want to just bring Lucas over and be like 'this is your dad.' But I don't want to wait a long time until they know each other well, and then tell her. That might wreck their relationship."

"Well," said Kayla with a sigh. "No matter how or when you do it, it's going to be hard for her to understand."

"I know," Brooke responded quietly. "I know."