Brooke walked into Lucas' house without knocking. She went into the bedroom, where Peyton was lying in the bed she'd been spending pretty much twenty-four hours a day in since the doctor told her to take it easy and Lucas decided that meant bed rest. Haley was already in the room visiting Peyton.
"Hey guys. What are you doing?" Brooke said.
"Nothing. Just going crazy," Peyton said with a smirk. She'd been complaining about being stuck in the house non-stop.
"I brought Peyton the latest issue of B Davis magazine and Mia's new track," Haley explained.
"Did you bring me gossip from the outside world?" Peyton asked hopefully.
"I'm sure Lucas told you all about the movie. Bitchtoria is still trying to convince our shareholders that my company would be better off without me," Brooke said.
"It's your company," Haley said.
"I know," Brooke said emphatically. "But she said she's the one who spins the straw into gold. Apparently she thinks she can have B Davis magazine without B Davis."
"No!" Peyton said.
"I'm not surprised. It is my mother we're talking about," Brooke muttered.
"How are things going with Julian?" Haley asked to change the subject to less hostile territory.
"Yeah, are things going better with Sam?" Peyton added.
"Well, they were for about ten seconds and then Julian told her he was going to propose and I didn't say yes, so now she's back to hating me," Brooke said.
"What? He proposed?" Peyton exclaimed.
"Hasn't it only been like two months?" Haley pointed out.
"Thank you. That's what I said," Brooke said, grateful that someone could see why she wouldn't want to rush into marriage after two months.
"What is wrong with him? Is he scared that he's going to lose you when he goes back to LA?" Peyton asked, trying to think of any reason he would pop the question so soon.
Brooke hesitated. She hadn't planned to tell people yet, but she knew Peyton and Haley would keep asking questions until they had a reasonable explanation. Plus she wanted Peyton's advice on how to handle Sam. "Actually I'm pregnant."
"Congratulations," Haley said with a smile.
Peyton squealed. "We're pregnant together! Our babies are going to be best friends!"
"Totally," Brooke agreed. "But what should I do about the baby daddy?"
"I think you should say yes. He makes you happy, and you deserve to be happy," Peyton said.
Brooke nodded. She'd been leaning towards saying yes, too. She knew she loved Julian, and she wanted her baby to have a family. "Even though his daughter likes me about as much as I like Victoria?" She asked with a hint of sarcasm.
"If she's mad that you didn't say yes, she'll get over it when you do say yes," Peyton said.
"Yeah, if you got through to her once, you'll be able to do it again, Brooke," Haley added.
"I don't know about that. She wants to leave. She wants to go back to LA while Julian and I stay here," Brooke said.
"There's no way Julian will let her do that," Peyton said.
Back at Brooke's house, Sam took the first opportunity she'd had alone with Julian to find out if he would let her go back to LA. She didn't want Brooke around to take his side. She knew he wouldn't want her to leave, and any negative influence could be disastrous.
"I have school and cheerleading practice soon. I have to go back to LA," Sam said.
Julian nodded. He knew school started soon. He'd been thinking about where they would live since Sam asked him the other night. "It's going to be at least a month until I wrap production. Brooke's pregnant and her doctors are here. How would you feel if we stayed?"
"I don't want to stay here. My life is in LA. All my friends are in LA," Sam replied.
"You'll make new friends," Julian said.
Her dad didn't even seem to be thinking about letting her leave. Sam knew she needed to do something. She knew better than anyone what buttons to push to get her way with Julian. Getting angry would only make him more determined not to let her leave. Her only hope was a guilt trip that would make him feel so bad he wouldn't be able to tell her no. She looked at him with puppy dog eyes. "Dad, I've gone wherever you were filming for fifteen years and I've never complained. I didn't even complain when I was home-schooled for three months because you were working on that film in Paris. I don't want to leave my school and my friends. I can understand if you want to stay here, but I don't. Please try to understand that."
"You're fifteen years old. You can't stay by yourself," Julian said uncertainly. Sam could see in his eyes that he felt bad. He didn't want to disappoint her.
"I have before. You've left me alone when you were going on short business trips. And I won't really be alone. I'll have Granddad if I need anything," Sam pointed out.
Julian finally relented. "OK."
"You're the best! I love you!" Sam said with a smile. She gave her dad a big hug.
Julian smiled sadly and kissed the top of her head. He was losing his little girl. He knew it was hard on her to keep moving her all over the place because of his job, but he would miss her terribly if she was all the way across the country.
Brooke walked into her house with a smile on her face. She felt much better after talking to her friends. She was going to say yes. She was finally going to have the family she'd always wanted.
"Hey. I told Peyton and Haley that I'm pregnant," Brooke said. Her smile grew even wider when she mentioned her pregnancy.
Julian looked up in surprise. "I thought you wanted to wait."
"I did, but I've never been good at keeping secrets," Brooke said.
"Especially when they're about pregnancy. Didn't you tell everyone when Haley was pregnant?" Julian said with a smirk.
"Only because everyone thought I was the one who was pregnant," Brooke said defensively.
"It's always the quiet ones. Haley was the valedictorian and I was a mathlete," Julian commented.
"Trust me, it was much easier for everyone to believe I was pregnant," Brooke said.
"They didn't know the real Brooke Davis," Julian said.
"I was pretty slutty," Brooke admitted.
Julian looked into Brooke's eyes. "You were also a good friend to Haley. You let people think you were pregnant. You're so selfless. You're going to be a great mom."
"I love you so much," Brooke said with a smile. "And I've been thinking. My answer is yes."
It took Julian several seconds to figure out what Brooke was saying yes to. His eyes widened in surprised and then he lit up. "You're saying yes?" He asked just to make sure, as though it was too good to be true.
Brooke laughed. "Yes. I love you. I want to be with you, and I want to give our baby a family."
Julian pulled Brooke into a tight embrace. "I love you, Brooke Davis."
"Where's Sam? We can tell her, so she can go back to being nice to me," Brooke said.
Julian's face fell. "She's not here. She went out to dinner with Sean."
"That's okay. We can tell her later," Brooke said, but Julian still looked sad. "Is something else wrong?"
"She's leaving on Friday. School starts next week," Julian explained.
"We do have schools here, you know," Brooke said with a smirk.
"I know, but she doesn't want to stay," Julian said.
"I know how she feels. My parents moved to LA when I was in high school. I moved in with Lucas' mom because I didn't want to leave Tree Hill," Brooke said. She hesitated, unsure if it was her place to comment further. "But my parents were gone before they ever left. They were never there for me."
Julian nodded. "Yeah, mine either. I don't want to repeat the same mistakes our parents did. But I've moved Sam all over the place because of my job. This is the first time she's asked me not to move her."
Brooke frowned. She couldn't help but think this time had more to do with her and the pregnancy than moving to Tree Hill.
