Brooke woke up to a feeling of dread. The snow falling lightly outside the window was meant to give her the feeling of peace and serenity it had always brought to her as a child; now it was daunting.
It was Christmas Eve Day.
She was meant to spend the night at the Scott Mansion before she and Lucas got on a plane for their belated honeymoon in Madrid. She rolled over to face Lucas and found an empty bed. He had already disappeared. As she walked out into the living room she found that he had already had their bags packed and they were waiting at the front door. She glanced at them curiously as she made her morning coffee. Normally, Lucas didn't do anything around the place; he usually left it up to her. As she ate breakfast she waited for him to come through the doors but he never did. They were meant to be at his parents by one o'clock for lunch and it was nine o'clock and he wasn't around.
She turned on the television and flicked through channels. She made the bed and cleaned the bathroom. She has watched some more television and then at eleven thirty decided that she should probably get ready. She was just finishing her makeup when she heard the door slam.
Lucas was home.
"Brooke. Where are you?" Over the last three months this had grown to become his normal greeting. As the tension continued to slowly slip away he needed to constantly know where she was.
"In the bathroom." She called back before walking out to greet him. He was fully dressed for his parents. "Where did you go?"
"Just a meeting." He smiled. "Ready to go?" Brooke nodded.

Three months and Brooke still hadn't grown accustomed to Lucas's driving. As they sped towards the Scott Mansion, Brooke brought up the topic everybody had seemed to ignore.
"Are Peyton and Leon going to be there?" She asked quietly. The two had arrived home only a month ago and so far Luke had only seen them once. Peyton hadn't faced anybody else.
"I think so." The response came hard. The topic of his twin sister always made him tense. Brooke went to talk again but the beeping of her phone silenced her. She glanced at the message and smiled. Even though Lily had been living with them for the last couple of months she had spent some time with Keith before going to her parent's place as well. She wanted to know where Brooke was. Haley hadn't arrived yet and she was slowly going crazy.
Five minutes later Luke's car was in the driveway and Brooke was climbing out of her seat. The driveway was already full. Dan and Karen's cars' were locked in the garage but Keith's car, Luke's car, Leon's car as well as a number of extended family and business associate's cars filled up the driveway. Nathan and Haley were yet to arrive.
Luke took her hand and squeezed reassuringly. A large gathering like this at the Scott mansion still scared him slightly. "You ready?"
Brooke nodded; but it didn't matter because they were already halfway to the door.

.:.:.:.:.

Dinner had just finished and Brooke bolted to the sanctuary of the bathroom before she lost her mind.
"Are you okay?" Haley had followed Brooke up the stairs, recognising what she felt at her first Scott Christmas.
"I'm fine Hales." Brooke lied between her teeth. The truth was she'd been feeling sick all day. "Go back downstairs."
She listened to the retreating footsteps and then stood up to face herself in the mirror. Her hair was hanging loose and as usual she looked beautiful but she really wanted to scream. As much as she loved Haley and Lily and grown to like Luke, the family was fucked up.

She washed her face and walked back down the stairs. Extended family, friends and business associates had left so the atmosphere had tensed. Dan and Karen were sitting at opposite ends of the room. A rift having formed between them since Lily moved in with Brooke and Lucas. Keith was sitting on the large armchair with Deb next to him. Deb wasn't the most accepted person in the family and it was evident. Lily was opposite them glaring at Keith and Deb. She didn't trust Deb and what she was doing.
Jamie was playing on the floor with his toys while Haley and Nathan had snuck outside. Brooke sat down to play with Jamie and noticed Luke in the kitchen talking quietly on his phone and Peyton and Leon in the corner, ignored by the rest of the family.

When Luke finished his conversation in the kitchen, instead of joining the family he stormed off to the bedroom. Knowing he had to be angry over something she excused herself and followed him up the stairs.
"Luke, are you okay?" She asked quietly walking into the room. "What's wrong?" She found him in the bathroom leaning over the sink.
"Nothing." He snapped. Brooke stopped at the door to the bedroom.
"Who was on the phone?" Her voice was quiet so the conversation wouldn't carry downstairs.
"Nobody." He snapped again. He turned around and stormed into the bedroom, narrowly avoiding Brooke. He brought out their half empty suitcases and started throwing clothes into them.
"What are you doing?" She moved into stop him.
"I'm taking you home. I have to go take care of some business." Brooke grabbed his arms so he couldn't keep moving.
"We are not going anywhere." She whispered. "It's Christmas Eve and we're at your parent's house. Tomorrow afternoon we need to get on a plane. You are not leaving me at Christmas so you can go do business."
He looked like he was going to argue but stopped himself. Reluctantly, he let Brooke guide him back downstairs.

.:.:.:.:.

The snow that had mocked Brook the day before continued to mock her. It was Christmas day and the snow was still falling.
"Merry Christmas." Luke murmured, half asleep, next to her. They had spend last night how the usually spent their nights, the tension evident in the evening after the argument, missing.
"Merry Christmas." She murmured back, not moving.

Brooke barely made it through the morning. The Scott festivities were everything her whole past hadn't been.
In the afternoon when their suitcases had been packed and loaded into the backseat of the chauffeur driven car Brooke let herself relax a bit. She had denounced the continued feeling of nausea as stress on top of a common stomach bug. She said her goodbyes to the family and slid in next to Luke who was already on the phone.
Her please for 'no business' the entire way to the airport were ignored.

His phone was eventually turned off for takeoff. They were both buckled into their seats and Brooke was sipping from a water bottle. She may have relaxed but the nausea hadn't disappeared.
They weren't even out of America when it finally hit. She made ito the toilet just in time for Christmas lunch and dinner from the night before to come up
"Are you okay?" A stewardess asked Brooke as she took her seat again. Luke had jis headphones on and didn't notice.
"I'm fine." Her voice was hoarse and the other woman saw straight through it. She handed Brooke dry crackers and water which Brooke graciously accepted.
It was when the cabin was dark and Brooke was drifting off to sleep when a sudden thought pulled her back into conscience. The more she thought about it, the more it made sense and the more it made her want to cry.

By the time they arrived in Madrid the next day Brooke was a mess. Luke absent mindedly took hold of her hand as they exited the plane and squeezed it. She could only offer a weak smile in return.
For the entire ride to the hotel Brooke didn't say a word. She needed to know if it was true or not before she could say something that would eventually wind up in all the tabloid magazines.

She was in luck. Once they reached their room Luke had to make a phone call. Using this time she slipped out of the room and onto the street. She only had a limited knowledge of Spanish so after she went through the ordeal of finding a drugstore she had to communicate her needs to the slightly creepy, old man.