Okay I suck, I know, this has been a ridiculously long time coming. How about you just hit me or something, go on, you know you want to, just once. Okay, ow.

And with absolutely no further ado we will dive right in (you all remember what had not happened right?)

The lights were off in the cabin, but Brooke's screen flickered in front of her. As usual when thousands of feet in the air she was not able to sleep, but the film wasn't very good and the headphones lay round her neck.

She knew even before she allowed her eyes to slide over to him that Lucas was awake too. His similar inability to sleep on planes was exacerbated as hers was by his circulating thoughts, turning over the events (or event) of the last 24 hours.

Amy had lifted the armrest between herself and her father and was asleep with her head in his lap, lying across the seats with her legs curled up. Brooke reached out a hand and stroked her shoulder, running her fingers over the ends of her hair. She saw Lucas' hand move, and his fingers met hers. She froze, and glanced up at him, but he was still watching a film, and didn't meet her eyes.

Tentatively she slid her fingers over his, taking his hand in hers. He gave hers a light squeeze of reassurance, just a small sign that things would be okay. She smiled, and she saw a flicker of a smile on his own lips too. He released her hand, though he left his own on Amy's shoulder, close to hers. When they were no longer touching he allowed himself to glance at her.

She met his eyes for a second before he looked down at his hand, his fingers reaching out to touch the ring on her fourth finger. He brushed the ruby set in the thick band; it was the ring that had belonged to her grandmother, although as it had been Lucas who had obtained it and given it to her, Brooke always associated it more with him. It used to balance out the engagement and wedding rings that had resided on her other hand, but they of course were no longer there.

He seemed to look at it absently for a moment, and then glance up, coming out of his daydream. He gave her another fleeting smile before he turned back to his film. Brooke found herself watching him for a moment before she looked away, bringing her hand self consciously into her lap where her fingers played over the ring, twisting it round her finger.

At the airport Brooke kept glancing at Lucas as they all said their goodbyes. Amy had fallen asleep on the plane and was lying in her father's arms; at some point Brooke would need to take her but she was trying to postpone saying goodbye to Lucas for as long as possible. The inevitable awkward moment would come when they would feel like they had to say something to each other, and she had no idea what she wanted to say.

She drew back from a hug with Peyton and turned to find he had just finished saying goodbye to Haley. There was a seconds pause before they both realised it would look ridiculous if they didn't say anything to each other, and Brooke forced a smile and then held out her arms for Amy. Lucas blinked, thinking she was going to hug him for a second, and then remembered Amy, stepping forward, flustered, and passing her over. Brooke settled her on one hip and then there was another slight pause before she gave him a brief one-armed hug.

"See you soon."

"Yeah…see you."

"Thanks so much for this Brooke," Haley said as she packed some of Leyla's stuff into a bag.

"Oh come on, it's no problem, I love having time with my niece and nephew! Plus with Ames back at school I really have nothing to do with myself!"

Haley smiled. "Yeah, cause it's not like you run a large section of a global, multi-billion dollar company or anything…"

"A small section! And besides, I still owe you for years of being an intermediary with Ames…not to mention babysitting for her whenever Alex is out…"

"You know it's our pleasure."

Jack came into the room at that moment and grinned as he saw Brooke. He ran up to her and she lifted him into her arms. "You psyched about today, Jacko?" she said. "I'm thinking the park, the zoo…maybe a little ice cream," she added in an undertone. Haley rolled her eyes and Jack's grin widened. He nodded his head up and down and Brooke gave a nod. "Yup, I think definitely some ice cream, we've gotta have you all pumped up on sugar when I return you to your mom this evening."

Haley raised her eyebrows and Brooke laughed. "Just kidding."

"Yeah sure…"

Haley went to go and get Leyla and Brooke put Jack down. Nathan came into the kitchen, his hair wet from the shower.

"Hey Brooke," he said, leaning over and kissing her cheek. "Thanks for taking them today."

"No problem. You're in a chipper mood."

"Well I've got a day alone with my wife for the first time since you don't want to know when!"

Brooke chuckled. "Okay, say no more. Sounds like you should have held off on that shower though."

Nathan grinned. "Valid point."

Lucas readjusted one of his headphones as he jogged, feeling a trickle of sweat run down his back.

In the summer he usually went jogging in the evening rather than the middle of the day but he had been feeling restless that afternoon and so had decided to brave the hot sun. Although it was pretty intense he was glad to be out running; his head had cleared and his feelings were reduced to a vague awareness of the burning in his legs.

He rounded a corner in the path and came out onto the edge of one of the big greens in central park. There were some kids playing baseball on one of the diamonds, and people with dogs everywhere. He felt calmed by the scenes of summer life, and was just thinking he should come more often in the afternoon when a particular child caught his eye.

He recognised the short dark hair immediately, and was just looking round for Nathan or Haley when he spotted the woman the child was running back to, her defined features and brunette waves definitely not those of his sister-in-law.

Lucas slowed and considered turning back. But it was too late.

"Uncle Luke!"

Jack stood up and ran towards him, and Lucas saw Brooke's head jerk up. He slid his headphones of his ears and fixed a smile on his face as he went towards them. He scooped Jack up into his arms as he reached him.

"Hey Jacko, how's it going?"

"I saw the polar bears this morning!"

"Really? Did you go round the whole zoo?"

"Uh huh. Aunt Brooke took me."

Brooke had stood up from her position on the grass, and was standing holding Leyla on one hand. Lucas smiled tightly, and she smiled back. "Hey Lucas."

There was a second as they stood facing each other, holding the two children, before Jack starting talking about the other animals he'd seen.

"Wow. It sounds like you had quite a blast," Lucas said when he was done. "Aren't you lucky to have a whole day with your aunt Brooke."

He caught Brooke's eye, and she gave him a small smile.

Jack nodded. "And later we're going to get ice cream."

"Uncle Luke!" Leyla was holding out her arms, wanting to be held by Lucas. Lucas hesitated for a second before setting Jack down and taking Leyla from Brooke, her arm brushing against him as she handed her carefully over.

Brooke looked down as she stepped back, her senses momentarily overtaken by their close proximity. His T-shirt was damp with sweat, and his arms tensed as he held up his little niece, giving her a kiss. Her fingers itched to touch the curve in his biceps.

"So how've been?"

Brooke's eyes lurched to his face as she heard his voice. "Um, you know, pretty busy now Amy's gone back to school, with work."

"And babysitting," he said with a smile.

"Yeah, that too. How about you?"

"Training's back to full force after the summer. So I've been enjoying the delights of ice baths."

"Ouch."

"Yeah." He checked his watch. "Actually I've gotta finish this run - "

"Yeah, of course. Wouldn't want you to….get out of the zone or whatever."

Lucas caught the small smile on her lips, and smiled back. He handed Leyla back to her and laid a hand on her elbow for a second. "I'll see you soon."

She just nodded, and murmured, "Yeah."

He glanced down and gave a half nod before turning back towards the path, breaking into a jog again.

Brooke watched his retreating figure, finally dragging her eyes away from his T-shirt which clung to the sinuous muscles in his back.

She wished, as she did at some point on most days, that things weren't so awkward between them. She wondered if she should have called him, if they should have talked about what had (or hadn't) happened; if she should have put it down to the starry sky, romantic atmosphere and a little two much wine and just pretended it had never happened; if she should not have got Haley, or Carrie, or Alex to drop Amy of at his apartment at the weekends so they barely saw each other for weeks on end.

She thought about all these things, as she did at some (or several) points on most days. And she also wondered why, even after six weeks, she could still not get a lean-in - a nose-graze…a brush of fingers - out of her head.

Lucas took another sip of his glass of wine, relishing it. With the start of the season coming up the team were on a strict training regime – one which didn't often allow for glasses of wine, let time for a meal long enough to enjoy one.

Today however he had some free time after an early morning session, and so was having lunch with Haley to catch up.

"So what do you think of Brooke's new car?" Haley asked, as the waiter came and took their plates.

Lucas looked up, his eyebrows drawing together. "What?"

"She hasn't showed it to you?"

"Um, no."

"Wo, she's had it for like three weeks, I would've thought all of New York had seen it by now."

"Oh. Well, I, uh, haven't seen her that much recently."

"Oh, really? Well I guess you're busy with the season starting again and everything. I'm sure you'll see it soon. It's kind of silly, even she admits, because we all know what garages cost around here, but it's just so beautiful."

"Does she drive it in the city?"

"I don't think she does much, but I guess it'll come in handy if she gets a weekend place like she's been talking about."

Lucas's eyebrows shot up again.

"Tell me you've heard about that! She's been talking about it ever since Italy!"

'And that's pretty much exactly when she stopped talking to me,' Lucas thought.

"She's going to get another place?"

"Yeah, she's thinking about it. Somewhere out of the Manhattan, to go to in the holidays and maybe some weekends. I don't know if she'll actually do it because she loves the city so much, but you never know. I mean, we're all small town girls at heart."

Lucas nodded slowly. He wondered what it would be like if Brooke disappeared of the Hamptons or something every other weekend. Maybe Amy would start wanting to go too and he'd have to let her - Brooke would have some whole thing about how the fresh air was good for her – and then he'd hardly see his daughter at all. Maybe Brooke would like it so much she'd move out there, and she and Amy and John would become some nuclear family in the suburbs.

He shook himself, feeling a chill go down his back.

"So, um, what does John think about the weekend place idea?"

"God Luke, you're coach is working you guys too hard - you really are out of the loop. She broke up with him nearly a month ago." She chuckled at his expression. "Try not to look quite so pleased."

"I'm not! That was…surprise. I thought it was going well."

Haley shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe it was just a summer thing."

"Did she, er, did she say why?"

"You know what, how about you ask her yourself? You remember that thing you guys were doing last spring, where you actually talked?"

Lucas shrugged. "Yeah, alright."

Like that was going to happen.

"Hey Bi-atch."

Brooke looked up from her desk, raising an eyebrow at Carrie. "What did call me?"

Carrie shrugged. "I was gonna say B, and then it just came out. I was watching teen movies the other day…"

Brooke raised her eyebrow further.

"I was sick!"

"Aw, are you better now?"

"Yes, thank you. But anyway…what did I come here for again?"

"Um…you're skipping work?"

"It's my lunch hour. Oh yeah," she remembered, and sat down in a chair facing Brooke. "When was the last time you spoke to your husband?"

"My estranged husband," Brooke corrected.

"Your best friend. Excluding me of course. And I guess Peyton…and Haley, Nathan…" she waved a hand. "Anyway, you're very good friend and father of your child, Lucas."

Brooke shrugged. "A few days ago," she said, not meeting Carrie's eye.

Carrie narrowed them. "What did you say?"

Brooke gave her a weird look. "I don't know. 'Hey', 'Amy has math homework'."

Carrie rolled her eyes. "When was the last time you actually talked to him? In fact, don't even bother making excuses, because I know it was a very long time ago!"

"Did you talk to him?"

"…No. But I could have, because we're actually quite good friends entirely separately from you I'll have you know. But no, actually Nathan was in the office the other day and I was talking to him, and he said Haley had been to dinner with Lucas and apparently he hadn't even heard about your new car! So you, either you're afraid he's going to cut back on the alimony cheques or you haven't spoken to him in like a month."

Try more like three.

Brooke sighed. "I've been busy."

"That's the most pathetic excuse ever! Brooke, seriously, what's going on? Did you guys have an argument or something?"

"No. We're fine, I just…haven't seen him much. He's been training and stuff - "

"Everyone else has managed to see him. And anyway, the season's only just started. I haven't seen you together since way before, since like…Italy. My god Brooke that was in July!"

Brooke shrugged helplessly, and Carrie raised her eyebrows in disbelief.

Brooke sighed, struggling for words. "You know, we spent a lot of time together there and…I guess it…got a little weird."

Carrie frowned. "It got a little weird? Brooke come on, it's always been a little weird."

"What?"

"Well you guys not being together, that's always been a little weird."

"Well it shouldn't be. We're just friends, and he's with Emma. It shouldn't be weird at all."

Carrie opened her mouth to say something and then closed it, chewing her lip. It was pointless arguing with Brooke about this; she wasn't ready to hear it. "Is this why you broke up with John?" Carrie asked after a minute.

Uh, yes.

"No. No, it just, wasn't quite right. I didn't want to get into anything to long term, cause I wasn't really sure about him."

Carrie nodded slowly. She didn't really believe her, but there wasn't much she could do now, and anyway, it probably was better if she wasn't with anyone. There was no need to make the situation any more complicated.

"So you're sure there's nothing you want to talk to me about; nothing happened?"

Brooke shook her head. "No. Nothing happened."

And she wasn't even lying that time.

"Well would you just call him then? It's stupid that you guys aren't talking cause of a 'weird atmosphere'.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah okay, I'll talk to him soon."

Carrie nodded then checked her watch. "I gotta go back to work. Talk to him, okay?"

Brooke nodded again, and forced a smiled before she left.

She wasn't quite sure why she was so resistant to the idea of calling Lucas. As Carrie said, it was stupid to make such a big deal of a 'weird atmosphere'. Brooke knew it was more than that though. That night in Italy she'd felt something she hadn't felt for a long time, something she thought she'd locked up tight and thrown away the key. And it was something that had made her unable to feel anything for John when she returned.

She didn't want to call him though because not calling him - not talking to him, or seeing him – seemed to be working. She was fighting the feeling back into its box, the key was almost in place.

'Out of sight, out of mind' as the phrase went; if he were not out of her sight, she knew she would have a very hard time keeping him from her thoughts.

There was the sound of feet passing quietly across the carpet, and then the rustling of the duvet as Amy crawled underneath it.

"Hey baby girl, what's up?"

"I had a bad dream," came the muffled reply.

"Do you want me to take you back to bed?"

Amy shook her head. "I want to sleep in your bed."

"Ames…" Lucas began with a sigh. He was meant to be firm with her about sleeping in her own bed. "Come on," he said after a second. "Let's go outside."

Amy looked up, and Lucas got out of bed, picking her up. She wrapped her arms round his neck and he held her as he headed out of the bedroom and down the hall towards the living room. He supported her with one arm as he came to the screen glass doors that led onto the balcony, and opened them with his free hand.

Rubbing her back to warm her in the cool night air, he stepped outside, closing the door half way behind them.

"Look Ames."

New York at night was just as beautiful as always, and Amy smiled a little before she leant her head back against his shoulder. Lucas rocked her slightly, feeling her slip back to sleep in his arms.

He thought about her mother, as he always did now when he looked at her. Lucas had thought that after a while of barely seeing each other, he would just stop thinking about Brooke. She would fade back to that vague presence in the back of his mind, as she had in the previous couple of years.

And for a little while that seemed to happen. After a couple of weeks he forgot about the kiss…or non-kiss. He didn't think about what it meant anymore, or whether they needed to talk about it. He didn't feel guilty when he looked at Emma.

And then as weeks turned into months, although he wasn't really thinking what had happened in Italy anymore, he found himself thinking about her.

Because whatever had happened, whatever was, or wasn't going on between them, he just missed her.

Brooke threw her keys on the side table as she entered her apartment, pulling off her scarf as she headed for the ringing phone. They were a week into October, and had just hit a cold snap.

She reached for the receiver and picked it up, looking behind her, about to collapse onto the couch. But something in the voice on the other end made her stop.

"Ms Davis?" She didn't recognise the woman's voice. And there was an urgency in it that made her think she wasn't try to sell her double-glazing.

"Yes, this is Brooke."

"We've been trying to reach you. This is New York County Hospital. I'm afraid you're daughter was brought in 20 minutes ago - "

Brooke's heart stopped.

"She was badly injured in a car crash. You husband gave permission for emergency surgery and she's in the operating theatre at the moment - "

The phone fell with a clatter as Brooke ran for the door.

Bum. Bum. BAH!

Can't go a whole story without a single bit in a hospital! Please review!