Brooke sat looking at her phone, trying to decide whether or not she should make the call. Lucas had gone with Skills to the gym for a while and she'd come back home. She sighed, making the call anonymous. "Hello?"

"Peyton?"

"I should have known," Peyton said, smiling.

"I was afraid you wouldn't answer if I didn't block my number," Brooke admitted. "How are you? Where are you?"

"I'm in Tennessee," Peyton told her. "And I'm fine. How are you doing?"

"My bruises have turned green and yellow," Brooke told her. "I look like Frankenstein's monster."

"You do not," Peyton said. "I'm sure that even with yellow and green bruises you're beautiful."

Brooke shook her head. "I scared Jamie," she told her friend.

Peyton laughed. "Maybe you do look awful."

"I told you!" Brooke said, grinning. They were silent for a minute. "Are you mad at me?"

Peyton sighed. "No, Brooke, I'm not mad."

"I'm so sorry, Peyton."

"You have nothing to be sorry for," Peyton told her, pulling up to her hotel. She leaned her head back against the head rest and stared out at the dark sky. "I think I should probably say that I'm sorry," she said softly. "I think I always knew it was you and Lucas and I just couldn't admit it."

Brooke was quiet. "Are you going to be okay with us being together?" she asked after a moment.

"I am," Peyton said. "But I need this time, Brooke."

"I know," Brooke said. "But I had to talk to you, to know you were okay."

"I'm okay," Peyton told her. "I love you, Brooke Penelope Davis."

"I love you, too, Peyton Elizabeth Sawyer."

After they'd hung up Brooke walked to the deck and looked out at the water. Peyton had laughed, but she'd heard the hurt in her voice. Brooke hated that she was part of the reason it was there. "Brooke," she heard Lucas calling from inside the house.

"Out here!" she called.

"Hey," he told her, walking up to her and wrapping his arms around her.

Brooke leaned back into him, sighing. "Hey," she said, smiling.

"What are you doing out here?"

"Just thinking," she said.

"You seem to be thinking a lot lately," he remarked.

Brooke nodded. "I've had a lot on my mind."

"Want to take a walk on the beach?"

"Sure," she told him. She took her shoes off and they held hands as they walked down the steps and into the sand. "I love the feel of the sand."

Lucas smiled. "I can't think about the beach without thinking about you," he told her.

Brooke laughed. "Really? Why?"

He shrugged. "We've spent a lot of time on the beach." Brooke nodded. "The way the water sparkles always reminds me of your eyes."

Brooke looked at him. "Really?"

He nodded. "Really. It always has."

They walked for a few minutes, and then sat down by the water. "I don't want to leave here," she said suddenly.

"What?" he asked.

"I want to stay in Tree Hill. Forever."

Lucas watched her in the moonlight. "Me too," he said.

"Good," Brooke told him, leaning her head against his shoulder.

"Is Victoria going to be okay with that?"

"She's coming around," Brooke told him.

"She scares me a little," Lucas admitted with a chuckle.

"Tell her that," Brooke told him. "It'll make her happy."

"What will make you happy?" he asked her.

"I have a list," she said.

"Oh yeah? Let's hear it."

Brooke straightened, excited. "I want to start a new line for men. It'll be Clothes for Bros. Not right now, because we're still building up our other line. But in the future, I think it could work." She grinned at him. "And you can model all of the designs for me."

"Why, Ms. Davis, I'd love to," he told her.

"Good," she told him. "I want to have a good relationship with Victoria. I want us to be like a family."

"That makes sense," he told her. "What else?"

"I want to marry you, Lucas Scott," she told him.

"That would make you happy?"

She nodded. "So happy," she whispered, leaning over to brush her lips against his.

His phone rang. "Crap," he groaned. Seeing it was Skills, he almost ignored it. "Yeah?" he said.

"Luke," Skills said, his voice catching on a sob. "Q's been shot. He's in bad shape."

"What?" Lucas asked, straightening up. "What are you talking about?"

Brooke watched him as he talked on the phone. Something was very wrong. "I'll be there as soon as I can," Lucas said into the phone.

"What is it?" Brooke asked when he'd hung up. "What happened?"

Lucas put his face in his hands. "Quentin was shot," he told her. "He might not live."

Brooke stared at him, shocked. "What?"

"Someone shot him," Lucas said, looking at her. "Someone was robbing the gas station and shot him."

"Oh no," Brooke said, putting her arms around him. "Do they know who it was?"

Lucas shook his head. "They don't know."

"Where are we going?" she asked, standing up.

"I have to go to the hospital," he told her. "Some of the boys have gathered there, and Q's mother will be there." He looked at her. "You don't have to come, Brooke."

"I'm coming," she told him. "You need me."

Lucas kissed her softly, squeezing her hands. "Thank you."

Brooke nodded. "Let's go. I'll call Nathan and Haley on the way," she told him. "They'll both want to know."

Lucas nodded. In the short time they'd known him, Quentin had become an important part of all of their lives. "I don't want to lose him, Brooke."

"We won't," she told him. "We won't let him go."

He looked over at her, thinking again how lucky he was to have her. "I love you."

Brooke smiled at him. "I love you, too."

Everything was going to be okay.