Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill or Gossip Girl...I own nothing but this story's plot!!!

In Another Life

Part 10:

Later that night, Brooke found herself stepping off her private elevator and back into the penthouse. She wasn't really clear on all the events of the night; everything had pretty much been a big blur. All she was sure of is that she felt happier than she had in a long time.

She threw her coat onto the coat rack that stood in the entryway and pulled her cell phone out of her purse. She touched the screen to read a new text from Serena that made her giggle. She walked over to the staircase and started to walk up it, but was stopped abruptly in her tracks.

"And so she finally returns," a loud voice boomed across the entrance hall.

Brooke turned around, Eleanor's voice did not seem happy in the least. "Sorry," she offered with a smile. "I didn't realize what time it was."

"Brooke, that excuse is not going to work with me," Eleanor told her flatly. "How can you not realize the time when you have your cell phone in your hand. It has a clock on it, correct?" She asked in a smart aleck tone.

Brooke just stood there. She wasn't sure which shocked her more, the fact that Eleanor was getting an attitude with her, or the idea that she was actually getting in trouble for coming in late.

"From your lack of an answer I'm going to assume you've run out of excuses. Now Brooke, from now on you need to be home by 11 on weeknights," she said sternly. "Coming in at 1:30 is no longer an option."

Brooke just shook her head as if she understood. "Yes ma'am," she answered like a good little girl.

"Good," Eleanor repeated. "I'm glad we see eye to eye on that. And now for this outfit, Brooke what were you thinking?" She asked as if she was disgusted. "I tell you to dress appropriate and this is what you come up with?"

Brooke looked down at herself; she didn't think anything was wrong with the way she looked. Sure maybe her top was a little low, and her skirt was a little short, but she wore things like this all the time in Tree Hill and no one seemed to care.

"You need to stop dressing like Serena. Maybe her mother lets her run around in whatever crazy outfit she wants, but you are a Waldorf for God's sakes. I care about your reputation honey, and the way you are wearing the family name. I just don't want certain doors to be closed to you in the future because of things done in your youth. So please, do not let me catch you in something like this again or I will have Bernice start hand selecting your outfits. Am I clear?" She asked, her eyes narrowed as she started Brooke down.

Brooke just shook her head in response to Eleanor. She had always thought she had it bad with Victoria and Cole ignoring her, but maybe this was actually worse. It seemed like everything Eleanor ever said to her was some type of criticism. Was she really that awful of a daughter, that big of a disgrace?

"Now go get ready for bed. You do have school tomorrow, after all," Eleanor instructed as she turned and went back into the living area.

Brooke watched her walk back to the wet bar and pour herself another drink. Then she shook her head from side to side. The feelings of happiness from earlier were long forgotten; now all she could think about was the fact that no matter which version of herself she was, she was never going to be good enough.

Brooke woke up with her alarm, bright and early. She knew she had to be at school in a few hours and she had every intention of being on time. Maybe if she worked harder, she could be the better version of herself that everyone expected her to be.

She ignored the calls to her phone from both Serena and Nate. She was sure they would be coming up with a way to distract her, keep her from getting to school on time.

She took a shower, dried her hair, and applied her makeup. It was simple, well very understated compared to the makeup she usually wore. The she pulled her hair up halfway with a slight poof at the top. She put on her Constance uniform, and her pearl jewelry to accent her look.

She glanced at her reflection in the mirror. She hardly recognized herself, but she was sure Eleanor would be proud to acknowledge this version of her daughter.

She grabbed her bag and rushed down the stairs, eager to show her mother that she could in fact be the girl she thought she could be.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs she found the living room to be covered with racks of clothing and being swarmed by various people that she had no idea who they were. Searching through the crowd from her perch near the stairs she was able to spot Eleanor sitting on the loveseat seeming to be going over some charts of some sort.

She made her way over to the where Eleanor sat, hoping to catch her attention in a good way this time.

She cleared her throat in front of the woman. "Mom," she started, her quieter than she thought it could be.

Eleanor looked up from her papers, seemingly annoyed that she was being interrupted. She stared at Brooke through the glasses that were perched at the end of her nose. "Yes," she said expectantly.

Her harsh tone took Brooke aback; she wasn't expecting to be received so negatively. "Umm, I just wanted to tell you that I was leaving for school," she said, smiling as she tried to seem unfazed.

"Okay, well, alright then," Eleanor told her, looking back down at the paperwork before her.

Brooke took this action as her cue to leave. Obviously she was no longer wanted around here, so she hoisted her purse a little higher on her shoulder back out of the room.

She watched from a distance as Eleanor was completely surrounded by a mass of people. And all of those people she seemed to have the time of day for, but then again, those people weren't her.

Brooke walked aimlessly down the street. She had given up on the whole going to school thing. She had taken down her hair so now it was a voluminous mass of waves. And the pearls were gone, replaced by an extremely large pair of hoops she had found in her shoulder bag.

She needed to clear her head, and the only place she could think of to do that was somewhere not in town. So she hopped in a cab and headed towards Brooklyn. It was the only place she could think of where she wouldn't be disturbed until she was ready to be.

She walked into a seedy looking little bar, unsure of what she might find, but just hoping they didn't have an issue with serving minors. But if they did, she always had her fake idea to fall back on.

Lucky for her, the bartender seemed to be as enamored with her as she was with losing herself in the alcohol. She took a drink of the beer he passed her as she walked to a booth in the corner of the bar.

She sat by herself and drank. She wasn't sure how it had come down to this, but she guessed no matter where she was living, she was always going to be the girl who was never good enough and ended up alone.

Of course she still had Nate and Serena, but she was sure she would find some way to mess that up too. It was only a matter of time before they found out that she wasn't who they thought she was, that she was just a girl, and she was just herself.

Somewhere into her third beer a guy came up to her and sat down in the booth across from her. She didn't know him but she thought it was strange that he was wearing a St. Jude's uniform.

She twirled a finger around and ended up pointing it at him. "So why aren't you at school?" She slurred the question out of her mouth.

The guy across from her stifled a laugh and then said, "I could ask you the same thing, Brooke."

Brooke looked at him confused. She was pretty sure she had no idea who this guy was, but somehow he knew her. "I don't think it is very fair that you know my name, but I don't know yours," She stated, leaning back onto the booth's padded seat.

The guy across from her let out a laugh as he crossed his arms across his bony chest. "Don't feel like you're out of the loop or anything. It's just that everyone knows you and no one knows me. Just the way it is," he explained to her.

Brooke pouted her lips and shook her head as if she was really taking in the information. "I see," she stated with another point of her finger. "So why aren't you at school boy no one knows?" She asked him as she took another drink of her beer.

"God I am going to have to tell my dad to stop hiring bartenders who serve to minors," he said half to himself.

"What was that ditching school boy?" Brooke asked as if she had missed something.

"Oh, nothing," he said with a wave of his hand. "And just so we can stop the name calling, it's Dan," he told her with a shy smile.

"What's Dan?" She asked, picking up her drink and realizing it was empty. "Hey, hey, you," she called, waving her arm and getting the attention of the bartender. "Can I get another one of these?" She asked, pointing to the empty bottle in her hand as she dazzled the bartender with her smile.

The guy smiled and nodded in her direction as he headed back to the bar with a box from the back.

"You really don't need another one of those," Dan told her. "What you need is to be at school."

"Don, look," Brooke said, not really able to focus her attention on his face. "I have enough people judging me in my life. I don't really think I want to add another to the list. So how about you stop worrying about me and you just head to school, okay?"

Dan just looked at her, a little shocked by the sudden attitude that had emerged. If he had to guess he would say that he had hit a nerve. "Look Brooke, I didn't mean—" He was instantly cutoff.

"No, you never mean anything," She said loudly. "But it all hurts just the same," she said, grabbing her purse from the seat beside her. She threw a wad of money on the table and dashed out the door.

Dan stood up and rushed after her; even though she had totally brushed him off he knew she was in no shape to be running around by herself, from her words he could tell all her anger was not directed at him anyway. "Brooke, Brooke wait," he called after her.

She stopped right outside the front door and turned to face him. "What do you want now?" She asked angrily.

"Just to make sure you're okay," Dan told her. "You shouldn't be out walking around in your condition."

"Funny how the only person who seems to even care what condition I'm in is the guy I don't even know," she stated. "If that tells you anything about how screwed up my life is."

Dan just looked at her and offered a sympathetic smile. "Look, just let me take you home," he said walking over to her.

"No," Brooke said, "I can't go home," she told him. "I don't know if I ever will be able to go back," she said, thinking about a totally different home than Dan thought she was.

Dan shook his head, growing exasperated. "Fine, fine," he started. "How about you just come with me to my house, sleep it off, then you can do whatever you want."

Brooke raised one of her eyebrows as she looked Dan up and down. "You look harmless enough," she said. "But how do I know you're not some complete creeper?" She asked, placing a hand on her hip.

Dan shrugged his shoulders. "You don't," he said, "I guess you're just going to have to trust me, or let me take you home."

"Fine," Brooke gave in. "You can't be any worse than the other guys I've dealt with," she decided, walking closer to Dan. "Lead the way."

Looks like an unlikely friendship is being forged…B and lonely boy? Whoever would have guessed? You know we didn't.

Brooke jolted up, as if she had just awoken from a terrible dream, although she couldn't remember any of it. She slumped back down on the pillows behind her, trying to stop her heart from pounding. But it was hard when she had absolutely no idea where she was. She turned her head frantically from side to side; trying to take in her surroundings…absolutely nothing was familiar.

"Brooke, are you alright?" Dan asked her, getting up from the chair at his desk and walking over to the bed, taking a seat in front of Brooke.

"Yeah, bad dream I guess," she suggested, running her hands through her disheveled hair. "It was Don, right?" She asked him, trying to remember Dan's name.

He cleared his throat before he began to speak, "Ummm, actually it's Dan." He hung his head and raised it again with a small smile.

"I'm so sorry," Brooke began to apologize. "I don't know where I got Don from," she said, giving him a dimpled smile.

"Yeah, yeah, I have no idea either," he said sarcastically, recalling the events of earlier in his head. "But look, are you sure you're alright. I mean, you kept calling out in your sleep."

"Oh my God, how embarrassing," Brooke said, flopping back down with a giggle. "What did I say?" She asked him, slapping one of the pillows over her face.

"Nothing too interesting," Dan told her. "You kept calling for Nate, someone named Blair, and someone else named Lucas."

At this announcement Brooke pulled the pillow off her face and slapped it down on the bed beside her. The Blair she could understand, but Lucas? "Are you sure it was Lucas?" She asked him, sitting up so she was face to face with Dan.

"Positive," Dan confirmed. "Why? Who is he?" He asked her. "The Nate part I understood, but who is Blair for that matter?"

"Blair is my cousin," Brooke told him, "Who I really need to talk to. Do you know where my phone is?" She asked him, turning to look for her purse. She picked up the blanket she was lying under and checked for her phone frantically.

"Yeah, uh, maybe it's in your purse," he suggested, picking it up off the floor and handing it to her. "Do you want me to call someone to come get you or call a cab or something?" He asked her trying to be helpful.

"No, not right now, if that's okay with you," Brooke said, looking up from searching through her bag to meet Dan's face with pleading eyes. "Just give me some time to clear my head and then I'll call Serena or something."

"Sure," Dan told her. And when he saw Brooke had discovered her phone he added, "I'll just give you some privacy," standing up from the bed and walking towards the door of his room.

"Thanks," Brooke said, waving her phone at him as he disappeared through the metal door. She couldn't deal with all this weirdness anymore, she knew it was time to talk to Blair and find out exactly what was or wasn't going on.

Okay...so like I said it is getting closer for the time the girls will meet back up. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter...I will try to get the nex part up before too long since they kind of go hand in hand...anyways, let me know what you thought! Reviews=Love! :)

Audra