Reassurance

Lucas walked into Karen's Cafe, saying a quick hello to his mom as he took a seat at the counter. She set a cup in front of him, filling it with the black coffee that he sorely needed. He thanked her quietly, taking a long sip.

"Brooke's not here."

"I know. Is it so hard to believe that I came here to see my mom?"

"Yes." He sent her a pointed look and she quickly relented. "I'm kidding. Really, though, why aren't you with Brooke?"

"She's cleaning."

His mom's cafe was one of his many ways of distracting himself before it was time for him to head over to see Brooke, who was in the midst of some serious spring cleaning with Peyton. When he'd stopped by her house earlier that morning, Lucas joked that cleaning really wasn't what most people would do on their day off, but Brooke insisted that Peyton's house was a pigsty and it needed to be done. Then she made it clear that he was not to come around to her house until later that evening, something he wasn't happy about, but he knew it was no use arguing over.

"What a way to spend her day off."

"I agree," Lucas said. "She should be spending it with me, especially since I've been gone the past few days."

"How'd your trip go, anyway? I never got to hear about it."

"Good. Lindsay's dad loves the outline. He even thinks we'll have to do an international tour, along with the national one."

"International?" Karen didn't look extremely happy at this and he couldn't blame her. "I'm not sure how I feel about you being gone that long again."

"Believe me, I definitely don't know how I feel about it either, but don't worry— we don't have to deal with it for awhile."

Karen leaned against the counter and he could tell by the look on her face that the subject was about to get more serious. "Do you know that Rachel is back?"

He simply nodded. He was surprised that his mother already knew, but then again word got around fast in Tree Hill.

"Have you told Brooke yet?" Karen continued.

"Actually, she knew before me. Rachel came to my house while I was away and Brooke was there to greet her."

"So they've already met?" Karen asked in surprise.

"Yeah."

"How does Brooke feel about it then?"

"She wasn't happy at first. She got a little insecure, I guess. She was worried about Rachel taking me away from her."

"You told her that would never happen right?"

"Of course," Lucas said, slightly amused at how worried his mother looked right now. "She knows how much I love her."

Karen was clearly relieved. "Good."

"Geez, Mom, you looked more freaked out than Brooke did."

Karen chuckled lightly, refilling his now empty cup with steaming coffee. "Sorry. I just think that you and Brooke are perfect for each other and I'd hate to think that Rachel could come in the way of that. Don't get me wrong, I actually did like Rachel sometimes. She was very…friendly, to say the least. I just never thought that you and her fit very well. And after what she did to you, I guess I was right."

"It's been years," Lucas said, "I'm over everything and I'm over her. Brooke is the girl I love. I'm not worried at all about Rachel trying to change that. Anyway, I don't think anyone is giving Rachel enough credit. Why does everyone assume she's here for me?"

"I don't know," Karen said with a shrug. "I guess it's just the first thing I thought of when I heard she was back and I know I'm now the only one who was thinking along those lines."

"Even if she is, no one has to worry. I love Brooke. It's as simple as that."

"I know it is," Karen said. "Now, are you hungry?"

"Of course," he said with a grin. He gave his mom his order and she disappeared into the kitchen. He was just about to grab a newspaper when he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"Well, well, look who it is."

Lucas twisted around to find the feisty redhead that he and his mother had been talking about only a few seconds before. Rachel smiled at him in that mischievous way of hers that she knew he never could resist, but he just smiled politely at her.

He was now incredibly happy that Brooke had another day off, because she would not be very happy to deal with Rachel in the place that she worked. He could imagine the immediate tension it would bring to the café.

"Rachel Gatina. It's been a long time. How've you been?"

"Okay," she said, her smile faltering slightly. She slipped onto the stool next to him and her playful smile returned. "Miss me?"

He laughed. "Uh…"

"Oh come on, you know you did. Once your life has been blessed with Rachel Gatina, it will never be the same without her."

"You know you're starting to sound like Chris Keller, right?" he said, referring the egomaniac rock star that had caused chaos in the lives of Nathan and Haley back in high school.

"Ugh." She winced at the comparison. "Okay, I'll tone down the narcissism."

"Good. So..." He took a slow sip of his coffee, glancing at her purposefully. "What brings you back here?"

She shrugged. "I missed everyone."

"That's funny coming from the girl who was in such a hurry to leave this place. I can't even count the amount of times you referred to Tree Hill as hell on earth."

"You learn to appreciate this place once you leave," she said thoughtfully. "I complained about it a lot, but I really did love Tree Hill most days. I had some of the best days of my life here."

"So where are you living now, exactly?" He hadn't had any contact with Rachel in years and, except for the fact that he was pretty sure she was still modeling, he had no clue what was going on in her life.

"New York City."

"Still modeling?"

"Yup."

"And how's that going?"

"It's paying the bills."

He looked at her curiously. "You don't sound so excited about it."

"It's great. It just gets a little old after awhile…" She trailed off, her eyes traveling over to the window, and he waited patiently for her to continue. "Anyway." She focused her attention back on him. "I met your girlfriend the other day."

"I heard."

"She was very welcoming."

"In Brooke's defense, she really wasn't expecting to see you there."

"Brooke, huh?"

"Yes, that's her name."

"Hmm…"

He stared at Rachel inquisitively. She clearly was trying to keep her mouth shut, either because she had nothing good to say or she just didn't want to get nosy, but since Rachel was the nosiest person he knew, it had to be the first option.

"Rachel, you don't even know her."

"I didn't say anything!" she said, raising her hands in defense.

"I know what you're thinking though. You don't like her."

"She just seems like a bitch," Rachel said bluntly.

"You mean she seems like you?"

"Ha. Funny. Seriously, though, I'm just looking out for you."

"I appreciate that, Rachel, but I don't need you to look out for me. It's been five years. We're old friends and we have a past and that's fine, but it doesn't matter anymore. I've got a life here – a great life— and if you're here to screw up the one great relationship I've ever had then you might as well leave because you're wasting your time."

Rachel kinked an eyebrow. "It's a bit arrogant of you to assume I'm back here for you, don't you think?"

"Then why are you here?"

"I already told you—to visit old friends. Is that so hard to believe?"

She sounded sincere, but he knew Rachel well enough to know that she wasn't just here to see old friends and after her quick judgment of Brooke, he was starting to think that his comment earlier about not giving enough credit to Rachel had been said too quickly.

He wasn't going to push her, though. It wasn't his place. And so he fell into silence, staring down at his coffee. He hoped his mom would be back with his food soon so he could find a distraction from the confusing redhead sitting next to him.

"Sorry about calling Brooke a bitch," he heard Rachel mutter next to him.

He just smiled. He'd always had a way of making Rachel feel incredibly guilty and his power over her obviously hadn't changed over the years.

"It's okay. She wasn't calling you the nicest of names yesterday either. She's a great girl, though…" He smiled subconsciously as he thought of his pretty girl.

"And she's got a kid?" Rachel wasn't speaking judgmentally this time, but rather curiously.

"Yeah." His smile grew wider. "Her name's Kate…"

"I always pegged you as the fatherly type," Rachel said thoughtfully. "One of the many reasons you and I would have never worked. I'm ages away from being ready to have kids."

"You never were too fond of kids," he said with a laugh. "I remember when Jamie was born, you called him an 'it' for the first few weeks and looked grossed out at the thought of even touching him. And when Lily was born, you pretty much stopped coming over to my house"

"Yeah, I've gotten a little better with kids since then," she said, laughing too.

"I hope so…"

"I'm glad that you're happy, Luke," Rachel said after a few seconds of silence.

"Thanks," he replied, a little surprised at her words.

She nodded, standing up. "Well, I've got some people to see, so I'll leave you be."

"Where are you staying?"

"Mouth's letting me crash at his place."

"Do you know how long you'll be here?"

"I'm not sure. I'll definitely see you around, though."

He smiled. "Sure."

She turned around, sending him a small wave, and then walked over to the door, disappearing outside. To his surprise, it was actually really nice to see Rachel again. They'd always gotten along well, something that came as a shock to most, and despite everything that had happened, it was good to get a chance to catch up with her.

Seeing her had also proven something else to him and that was that Brooke was really the only girl for him. He and Rachel had had a lot of good times, but he was never as serious about her as he was with Brooke. There was just no way that anyone could even compare his and Rachel's relationship to his and Brooke's.

There was one main difference, however, and that was that Lucas loved Brooke. It was as simple as that. He'd loved no one else before her. He cared for Rachel, as well as his other past girlfriends, but he had never been in love with anyone like he was in love with Brooke.

Brooke was his soulmate. He was sure of that. She was his life now. Brooke and Kate. They'd taken over his world in such a short amount of time and he'd never have it any other way.

888

Brooke didn't mean to pry about Rachel without talking directly to Lucas, but all he ever told her about Rachel was that they were never that serious and that Rachel had cheated on him. That was basically all she knew. She asked Lucas a little more about Rachel yesterday, but he didn't give her much to work with. She doubted it was because he was hiding anything from her— he was probably just not interested in talking about it— but she needed to know more and that was why she couldn't help but bring it up now.

She was sitting at Peyton's kitchen table, right across from Haley, who had come over after school with Jamie. The kids were all outside and so she wasn't worried about any distractions.

"Haley, what exactly can you tell me about Rachel?"

Haley smiled. "I was wondering when you were gonna bring her up."

"It's just that Lucas doesn't really say much about them other than the obvious and I guess I should be asking him, but I wanted to ask someone with a more objective point of view."

"I wouldn't exactly call me objective when it comes to Rachel," Haley replied.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I really didn't like her. And when I say really, I mean I really, really didn't like her. I was this close to hating her, actually."

"Was she really that bad?" Peyton asked from her seat next to Brooke.

"She could've been worse," Haley said. "I think I really didn't like her because I felt like she was corrupting my best friend. Lucas had already gone through his little rebellious stage a year earlier and then Rachel came into his life and I just felt like he was heading back in that direction."

"What was Rachel like?" Brooke asked. She wanted to know why Lucas had been so attracted to her in the first place.

"In short, she was the slutty cheerleader who lived for parties and boys."

Peyton nudged Brooke. "Sounds like someone I used to know."

"I've changed since then," Brooke said in annoyance. "And you know there was more to me than that."

"That's true," Peyton replied.

"I'm sure there was more to Rachel too," Haley continued. "That's what Lucas always claimed anyway."

"Then why did Lucas like her?"

Haley looked thoughtfully at her. "Rachel was actually really good to him after his Uncle Keith was killed. I don't know what happened, but she just decided that she was going to be his actual friend, instead of throwing herself at him like she normally did. Lucas really needed a distraction during that time and Rachel gave him that distraction. That's when they started getting close and then a few months later, they were dating. I, of course, wasn't too pleased about that, but I couldn't do much about it."

Brooke wasn't expecting this. She'd thought that Lucas and Rachel had been a trivial high school romance with little emotional involvement, but what Haley had just described seemed much more than that.

"So they weren't solely physical?" Brooke asked.

"Oh, they were definitely physical. It was nauseating, actually. But Lucas was the first guy Rachel actually dated exclusively, so I think there was more than the physical aspect to it. Of course, I never really saw it, but I'm sure that there was more to them than sex."

This wasn't what she wanted to hear. She wanted to hear that Rachel and Lucas had a short, purely physical romance that meant nothing to either of them. She didn't want to hear that Lucas was the first guy Rachel had been serious about because that probably meant that Rachel was the first girl Lucas had been serious about.

"Oh, Brooke, I'm sorry." Haley was looking at her guiltily from across the table. "I'm sure that this isn't doing anything to comfort you, but you have to believe me when I say that, even though Rachel and Lucas weren't completely meaningless together, they were never even close to having what you and Lucas have."

"I just didn't know that they were so close," Brooke murmured. "I mean, she helped him cope through his uncle's death. That's a pretty big deal."

"I know, but it doesn't mean that they had some epic high school romance. They were good friends for a period of time and then they briefly dated. Thenshe cheated on him with Nathan's uncle and threw away any chance they had of becoming something more. Rachel cared about Lucas, I know she did, but she didn't even tell him about Cooper. He had to find out through Nathan. And even if she didn't cheat on him, they would've broken up by the end of the summer since Rachel was going to New York for school and Lucas was going to UNC. There was no way they would've even tried a long distance relationship."

"Yeah…"

Brooke really didn't know what to think about Lucas and Rachel anymore. The insecurity from last night was coming back.

"Brooke, you should really talk to Lucas about this. He can explain everything so much better than I can. But please promise me you won't let this get to you. He and Rachel were nothing compared to you both."

"I'll talk to him," Brooke said quietly. "And I won't let it get to me."

Well, she'd try not to let it get to her. There was no guarantee, however, that she'd be able to.

888

Brooke stood at Lucas' front door, Kate's hand in hers. She was going to talk to him tonight and clearthe air about everything right away. She didn't want this whole thing dwelling on her mind much longer.

"Hey," Lucas said with a grin as he opened the door. He winked down at Kate playfully. "Lily's inside waiting for you."

Kate beamed in excitement, slipping past him to go find Lucas' sister.

"Lily's over?"

"Yeah, she's spending the night. I figured she'd keep Kate occupied so we could spend some alone time together."

She was glad that Lucas had thought of that. She needed all the alone time she could get with Lucas tonight and Lily would definitely prove to be a good distraction for Kate.

He opened the door wider, motioning for her to follow him inside.

"That's good," Brooke said as they walked into his living room, "because we need to talk."

He turned to look at her, clearly confused. "That doesn't sound good."

"Relax, I just have a few questions for you."

They sat down on his couch. She heard Kate and Lily running around upstairs. Now was her chance to get everything out of him.

"What kind of questions?" he asked curiously. One of his hands moved to rest in her lap. She took it, twirling her fingers with his.

"Rachel questions," she answered.

"Ah, yes, Rachel. I bumped into her at the café today, by the way."

She stared at him in surprise. "And you're just telling me now?"

He looked slightly amused. "Well, since you've been keeping me away from you the whole day I haven't really had the opportunity to tell you."

She settled down at this; he was right. "So what happened?"

"We just caught up. She's living in New York and still modeling. I asked her why she was here and she told me because she's missed everyone. I'm not so sure about that, though."

"You don't think she's here for you, do you?"

"I don't know. It's been so long and I'd have thought she would have moved on a long time ago. But it's Rachel, so who knows. I really hope she isn't here for me, because she'd be wasting her time if she was." He sent her soft smile. "There's only one girl for me."

She was unable to keep from smiling back. "Good to know."

He scooted closer to her, his arm wrapping around her waist. Placing a kiss on the top of her head, he looked down at her seriously.

"So what were these Rachel questions you wanted to ask me?"

"I was talking to Haley today," she began, "and she told me some stuff about you and Rachel that you never told me."

He pulled away from her slightly so that he could look straight at her. "Like what?"

"Like that you and Rachel were more serious about each other than you've claimed."

"Brooke—."

"She told me that Rachel helped you after your uncle died, that you two were really close during that time. She said that you were the first guy she ever exclusively dated and that she cared about you a lot."

She watched as he sat there, eyes narrowed. He didn't exactly look conflicted or guilty, but more like he was trying to figure out how to explain everything properly.

"Rachel was a good friend of mine once," he said slowly. "We both cared a lot about each other. And yes, Rachel and I weren't just physical, we had some sort of emotional connection, but it was never anything like you and I have now. I can tell you that without a doubt because I was there. I was in the relationship and I know that I was never serious about her in the way that I'm serious about you."

"I know," Brooke said, "and I can understand that there have been other girls in your life who you cared about, maybe even loved. I get that. You have a history that came before me. What I don't understand is why you always made it seem like you and Rachel meant nothing. Did you think I couldn't have handled knowing that you cared very strongly for another girl at another point in time?"

"No, of course not. I just…" He shook his head, frustrated. She didn't mean to put him on the spot like this, but she had to know. "It's just that mine and Rachel's relationship was on another level than mine and yours. Rachel was a just high school fling. I never saw a future with her after high school. Honestly, I don't even know how we lasted as long as we did. But with you…I'm always thinking of our future. I want a future with you, Brooke. It's not just a fling we've got going on, it's so much more. You and I are going somewhere, whereas Rachel and I were going nowhere. We were just passing the time until we found the ones we were meant to be with."

She listened quietly, knowing that he was being honest with her right now.

His eyes bore intently into hers as his hand gently squeezed hers. "You've just got to trust me on this."

She nodded slowly. "I do."

A smile lit up his face as he relaxed. Taking a deep breath, he leaned back into the couch and rested his head on top of hers.

"I'm sorry about all this, Brooke. I never meant to make you worry like this."

"It's okay…I might be overreacting just a tad."

"No, you're right to react this way. I should've told you more about me and Rachel instead of leaving you with only the obvious details."

"I understand, Lucas. What you and Rachel had isn't that big of a deal to you anymore and so you didn't want to make it a huge deal with me. I get it and I probably would have done the same thing."

He looked down at her, his fingers tracing up and down her arm. "I just need you to know that you have absolutely nothing to worry about. Even if Rachel is here for me, I'll never let her try anything. We'll make it through this, Brooke, don't worry."

"I know we will."

She leaned against him, comforted by his simple touch. She felt bad for bringing up her insecurities to Lucas again, especially since they'd had a similar conversation last night, but now she was once again sure of the fact that Rachel wouldn't be a problem.

She and Lucas had been sailing smoothly throughout their relationship so far. It was inevitable that something stirred up some trouble for them and if Rachel was that something then Brooke knew she and Lucas would be okay. She wasn't worried anymore.

She just hoped that she'd feel the same way when she saw Rachel again.

A/N: So this was pretty much another filler chapter, but like I always say with fillers, it was needed to move the story along. Next chapter things should get pretty interesting…

Thanks for reading and please remember to review!!!

Lena: Hello again! First of all, thanks so much for another awesome review. I get so excited when I open up my email and see that you've left a review! I'm glad you pointed out that you thought Peyton wasn't being very understanding with Brooke last chapter. When I was writing the chapter, I kept thinking that maybe Brooke was overreacting a little. I mean, she really doesn't have much to worry about because Lucas is head over heels in love with her. So I kind of had Peyton voice that out in the chapter. Brooke had a good reason to be insecure, but I knew that some people would think Brooke was overreacting and some people would think she wasn't, so I had Peyton there to show the other side of things. And I won't say much about Peyton's little mention of them getting married, but I will say that it's okay to get your hopes up because either way you won't be let down ;). That's funny that I wrote the chapter similar to how you imagined it. From the moment I planned it, I knew I didn't want Brooke to go pick up Lucas. I wanted him to wonder why she wasn't there and then to know something was wrong and go see her and figure out what was bothering her. I'm happy you liked Lucas' speech. It was my favorite part to write that chapter. Thanks again for reviewing!!!