When Nathan, Haley, and Jamie got upstairs, they all slapped each other high-fives.
"And now we wait," Haley said, glancing at the window that overlooked the backyard. "But no peeking, Jamie. Or you, Nathan," she added with a roll of her eyes when she saw her twenty-three year old husband sneaking towards the window.
"Hey, I just want to make sure Brooke hasn't drowned Lucas yet," Nathan retorted, holding up his hands in surrender. "Good job on remembering the sneeze signal, Jamie," he added. Jamie smiled.
"Oh yeah, that reminds me," Haley said suddenly. "Uh, Jame, what happened with Uncle Lucas kissing Brooke?"
Jamie shrugged. "I came downstairs one night for a drink, and they were on the couch hugging. Aunty Brooke was crying. Uncle Lucas kept kissing the top of her head and whispering, and then he said something…Pretty Girl, I think. Then she looked up and kissed him. Does that mean that they're going to get married?"
Haley rubbed Jamie's head, making his blonde hair stand up much like Lucas's. "I don't know, Jamie," she said simply.
While Nathan and Haley got into deeper conversation, Jamie tiptoed to the window. Angling his blonde head out, he said, "Look, Momma, it's Peyton! She's coming up the back walkway!" Haley and Nathan turned to look at Jamie.
"Hey, buddy, I told you not to look. And, no it's not, it's just Brooke and Lucas." She walked over to grab him, but took a quick peek out the window. Suddenly, Haley swore.
"Nathan, it is Peyton! Go get her, she can't see Brooke and Lucas right now!"
Nathan swore as well, taking off down the hallway. What Brooke and Lucas needed right now was some time, with no distractions, especially one named Peyton. And both he and Haley wanted to spare Peyton's feelings. Nathan needed to stop her, but he knew that there was no way he could get there in time.
Brooke and Lucas stood in the backyard, swaying slightly in their embrace. Their eyes were closed, the moment was perfect.
But it all ended when they heard someone murmur, "Oh god, I gotta get out of here." Brooke and Lucas released, turning to see a Peyton who already had tears running down her face and shock in her eyes.
"Oh God, Peyton, no, Peyt!" Brooke called, leaving Lucas's side and trying to catch up to her friend. Lucas simply stood there.
But Peyton just held her shaking hands up. "Brooke, don't. I can't do this right now, especially not with you. Damn, just… just leave it, ok?" She turned to walk away, just in time for Nathan to come skidding around the corner.
"No, Peyton don't go over there!" he was saying, but Peyton just pushed past him without a second glance. Nathan turned back to the couple. Brooke was standing with one hand half-raised, as if she wanted to pull her friend back into the yard where they could talk about everything. Lucas looked simply dumbfounded.
"I guess I was a little late, huh?" Nathan asked, putting his hands guiltily into his pockets. All three smiled sad half-smiles.
Peyton was peeling down the road, to god knows where for the second time in a week. It all hurt so bad, she couldn't breathe, she couldn't think, and it was taking all of her strength not to start ripping pieces of her car apart. Already, her knuckles were white on the steering wheel with the pressure from her gripping it so tightly. Even this speed made her feel no different, for everywhere she looked she could see them.
Peyton got to her office in TRIC in record time, throwing her self onto the couch, burying her head in the pillows. She couldn't even close her eyes, because the image of them folded perfectly against each other was burned into the back of her eyelids. She couldn't even cry.
Peyton couldn't do anything but lay there and wait for the pain to ebb…
Back at Nathan and Haley's the mood was tense. Brooke and Lucas sat together on the couch. Brooke had a silent tear running down her face, and Lucas stroked her hair, comforting her just like he had a week ago. Nathan and Haley sat across from them, occasionally exchanging anxious glances before looking back at the two on the couch. No one said anything.
It was Brooke who finally broke the silence. "I have to go find her," she said. She stood resolutely.
Haley stood as well. "Brooke, you know how much I love you, and Peyton too, and I don't know if that's the best thing for right now. You should just stay with Luke, or us, but don't go looking for Peyton."
"Haley, I have to talk to her. She's my best friend, and I can't put her through something like that." The look on Brooke's face was dangerous. Even Haley didn't argue. "Thanks for dinner, you two," Brooke added, softening her tone to a whisper. "And thanks for… for everything else." She turned on a heel and went into the entryway.
"I'm coming too," Lucas announced, following Brooke.
"No you're not, Lucas, I have to do this on my own. And besides, do you really think that Peyton wants to see us together right now?"
Lucas shook his head as they went out the door. "I don't know what Peyton wants. But sooner or later she is going to have to accept us, and don't you want it to be sooner than later?"
Brooke looked back at him, silent but trying not to concede the point.
"Look, I'll wait in the car if you want, but I'm still coming."
Brooke gave in, and the two got into Lucas's car. Brooke had taken a cab to Nathan and Haley's. As the mustang pulled out, the brunette said, "Let's check the house first, then Tric."
They were the only words exchanged during the car ride. When they got to Brooke and Peyton's house, they cruised by slowly.
"No car," Lucas said, stating the obvious. "Should we check Tric now?"
Brooke nodded.
When the car pulled into the club's parking lot, Brooke got out and ran up the steps. There was no light on in the club, but Lucas and Brooke had seen Peyton's car here.
"Peyton?" Brooke called into the consuming darkness. "Peyt, where are you?" Her voice got quieter and quieter, but since there was no other sound in the room, it echoed madly. "Peyton…"
Suddenly, Brooke heard a scuffling sound, and turned just in time to see the blonde charging at her. "Peyton!" was the only thing Brooke could gasp as Peyton grabbed Brooke's hair and lad her to one side of the room. "Peyton, what are you doing?" Brooke yelled, but Peyton said nothing. Instead, the two just got closer and closer to one floor-to-ceiling window…
"Peyton!" But it was too late. The blonde threw her old best friend's writhing, screaming body through the plate glass, second story window, and onto the cement forty feet below.
"Brooke…" Lucas's voice seemed to be calling from far away. "Brooke?" It came again, louder and clearer, like a radio being tuned. "Hey, pretty girl, wake up. We're here."
Brooke peeled her forehead off the cold window. Lucas was leaning over the center console of his car, shaking Brooke's arm gently and watching her with caring eyes. "What—whhaat?"
Lucas chuckled. "You fell asleep, and I guess you had a nightmare. But we're at Tric now."
Brooke laughed nervously, remembering the dream. "Great," she said dryly. Then she bit her lip and turned to Lucas with a more serious air. Her eyes pleaded for something.
"Hey, pretty girl, it'll be ok," Lucas comforted, reading her perfectly for the first time in a long while. He took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "You'll do fine. It'll all work out, ok? Come here," he said, pulling her into a consoling hug, not unlike the one when he confessed his feelings to her. They were silent for a moment. Then they released, and Lucas turned towards Tric.
They could see a light shining down from Peyton's office window, which was at least of some relief to Brooke. Lucas gave Brooke's hand another squeeze, and she smiled appreciatively at him before climbing out of the car.
In the office, Peyton's hurt had subsided to at terrible anger that blocked al rational thought, save for one idea that she had before: It's Brooke's fault. If she had just stayed away from him, I would be the one kissing Lucas poolside. It should have been me. She was just trying to decide on something to do when she heard the door open in the main room.
"Peyton?"
It was the last voice Peyton wanted to hear. She raised her head from the pillow, fire in her eyes.
It came again. "Peyton, where are you?" Peyton didn't want to talk to anyone right now, much less her, but she knew that Brooke wouldn't be going away anytime soon. She rose from the couch and wandered blearily to the door.
"What the hell do you want, Brooke?"
"To apologize," Brooke said, cutting right to the point and walking inside past Peyton. "You shouldn't have seen that, especially since you just got back from… wherever you were. I should have talked to you about it first, and I'm sorry." Brooke's sincere tone fell on deaf ears.
"Don't pull that BS with me, Brooke," Peyton said scathingly, and Brooke raised an eyebrow. "You've wanted him since you came home."
Brooke shook her head. "Peyton, I came here to apologize, but if you can't take it, then I'm leaving." Just like she had when she came inside, Brooke strode past Peyton strongly.
She was halfway across the club when Peyton caught up with her. "Bitch, I'm not done with you," Peyton said, grabbing Brooke's arm and turning her around. "You said that you were sorry, but you're still with Lucas. If you really were sorry, you wouldn't be with him."
Brooke snorted with derision. "I said that I was sorry, yeah, but for what you had to see. I'm sorry for not talking to you about it. I'm sorry for the way that you're feeling, and I'm sorry that I caused it. But, I'm definitely not sorry that I'm with Lucas now. Not for a second."
"So, what, you've wanted him since you came home?" asked Peyton contemptuously.
"Maybe I have," Brooke shrugged with a smirk, but then narrowed her eyes and leaned in. "But you never even cared to ask. But when I went to tell you, you didn't care for an answer. You're loss, huh?" Brooke smirked sardonically again.
"Brooke—"
"No, you could've cared less what I was doing in Tree Hill. You were too busy lusting after an engaged guy." Brooke shook her head.
Peyton narrowed her eyes as well. "Nah, Brooke, I was chasing the guy for me. Even if he wasn't chasing back, he still talked to me a helluva lot more, don'tcha think?"
"Peyton, I'm not going to do this," Brooke sighed finally, "I just came to apologize. If you won't take it, then no skin off my nose." She turned and walked away.
Brooke thought she had silenced Peyton, but she stopped when Peyton called after her. "You really think Lucas wants you? Think he loves you? How many times has he told you that before leaving you, or running back to me? Or cheating on you?" Peyton's words stung, but Brooke tried to regain her composure as she kept her back to the blonde. "Because I can't even count them on two hands," Peyton continued, "You'll never be good enough for him. He'll get whatever he wants from you, then come running back to me, like always."
"Peyton, I came here trying to apologize to you, for what you had to see," Brooke started for the third time, but Peyton interrupted.
"So you're sorry you're with him?"
"No, I'm not. I'm sorry for what you are feeling right now, and I am sorry I caused it. But I'm not going to fight you to make you understand."
Tears began running down Peyton's cheeks. "Stupid slut. I was supposed to be the one for him. We were supposed to be together, not him and some random bitch that came in later. We were a perfect match, and I was so in love. I don't see how could possibly look at you next to me."
Peyton's stinging words bought out the worst in Brooke Davis. She smirked viscously. "You mean, you were the comet?" she mocked as she finally turned to face Peyton. "Tell me something, Peyt, when you were at the house, did you happen to see the book on my bedside table?" Peyton's stony face gave Brooke the answer she had been looking for. "Look's like you assume a little much, Peyton. Lucas was right: I was the only one for him. Did he ever tell you how many times he wanted to be with me, not you? You ever wonder why you never had a nickname, why he never showed you his world, or wrote you letters, or anything special like that?" Brooke laughed at Peyton's stunned face as tears began to stream from her green eyes. "I'll always be in his heart, and as long as I'm with Lucas, you get sidelined. Think about it; you know it's true. And yeah, I know that you are going to always try and get him back with your sad, pathetic whining, and maybe you will, for a time. But he and I are meant to be, and we'll always find our way back."
"Bitch," was all Peyton could choke out.
Brooke smiled and shrugged. "Better than being a whore." Ending on that viscius note with a glare, Brooke turned and walked out.
Lucas saw her broken form wandering down the stairs, and he sat up from his reverie. He had dozed off slightly, so that he was in a dream-like state. But as soon as Brooke came out of that door, even though she was fifty yards away, he could see, or maybe sense, the hurt, and he was instantly awake. When Brooke got to the car, Lucas didn't even need to ask; he could tell from the look on her face. She climbed in slowly, and he turned on the car without a word. He knew she didn't want to talk about it. Luke just put an arm around her, pulled her closer until their bodies rested peacefully against each other as he drove off.
It was silent in the car for several minutes, until Brooke said, "Luke, can I stay with you tonight? I don't want to be alone."
"Of course you can," replied Lucas with a contented sigh.
That night, Rachel's dreams were so tumultuous that they awoke her almost every other hour, but every time she fell back asleep, she would see the same vision again…
She was in a maze, standing alone in the center of the intricate labyrinth. All around her was a crushing blackness, a tangible, hot darkness that got worse and worse with every wrong turn she took in an
attempt to escape the maze. She was suffocating, it was getting worse, she couldn't do anything but keep going, making more wrong turns in her dizzying downward spiral.
But then… she saw a light. It floated there just a few feet in front of her. It was so startlingly perfect, that at first Rachel wanted it for selfish reasons. Everyone else would want it, and she would have it. But, slowly she saw, that the more she tried to grab at it, the more the darkness lessened. She followed it, mesmerized, down the winding corridors of her dream, and the less confusing the maze became. Rachel followed the orb until she was out, then turned her back and began to walk away from the light. It followed her, but she pushed it away. Eventually, it left, and the darkness returned, the crushing blackness overwhelmed her. She turned back for the light, but it was getting fainter and fainter, and a sudden longing burst forth from her heart, and a looming sadness that she had pushed away the only thing in her life that had been good to her. Rachel always woke at that part, with the sadness still weighing on her.
Nathan was tossing and turning in bed when Haley woke up. Glancing at the clock, she saw that it was near four a.m. Nathan and Haley had gone to bed not long after Brooke and Lucas had left, too drained to stay up.
Haley turned to her husband, startled to see how distressed he was. Nathan was sweating and mumbling in his sleep, as well as tossing and turning.
"Nate," she whispered, shaking his shoulder slightly, "Nathan, wake up!"
"Huh?" Nathan jerked awake.
"Nathan, you were having a nightmare. What happened?"
Nathan shut his eyes in a grimace of pain. "Nothing."
"Nathan… what happened? You've never been like that. Just tell me."
Nathan rolled over to face Haley more directly. "It was Jamie," he confessed, "He was just standing there, calling out to me, and I couldn't get to him. I couldn't even move. Then he told me his heart hurt and he collapsed. And I still couldn't move. I couldn't help him." Nathan's voice had that hoarse tone. "That's what my dad was. I never want my son to feel like I did growing up. I'm always going to be there for him."
Haley nodded thoughtfully. "I know you will be, and even if you can't, I'll be there for Jamie. You're not Dan. Jamie'll never feel any of that. I promise." She leaned onto Nathan's shoulder, comforting her husband with the closeness between them.
It wasn't until four in the morning that Lucas woke up. Looking over, he was pleasantly surprised to see Brooke sitting up with her knees drawn up to her chest. The last time he saw her, Brooke had been wearing one of his old jerseys, sleeping peacefully on his shoulder.
When they had first arrived back at Lucas's house, everyone else had been asleep. The two snuck quietly into Lucas's room, and Lucas fell onto the bed. When he had looked up, Brooke had been hovering hesitantly by the door.
"What's wrong, pretty girl?"
Brooke had smiled and fingered her necklace. "Nothing is going to happen, ok Luke?"
"Of course not," Lucas had assured her. He pulled her down on to the bed with a small kiss. "I promise. We'll just sleep."
It was four hours later now, when Lucas woke up and saw Brooke awake. The room was dark, save for the strip of silver moonlight that fell across the bed, but he could still see her features crystal clear.
"What's going on, Brooke?"
"Nothing," she whispered, "Just watching you sleep. It's so peaceful. Slow, relaxing, rhythmic, you know?"
He smiled. "What's wrong, though?" he asked. "I can tell when something is bugging you," he added when he saw her inquiring face.
She gave in. "I said some things to Peyton tonight, and I can't take them back."
"Did you mean them?"
"Yes. I mean, no. Ugh, I don't know. I just let everything loose, everything that I've been burying, and I let them go on Peyton. It was the heat of the moment, and before I knew it, I snapped abnd everything began pouring out of my mouth, and now I can't take it back and I don't know what to do. I don't want to lose her or you, but I feel like I have to choose, you know?"
"Brooke, I know you, and I know Peyton. What did she say that made you snap?"
Brooke sidestepped the question with silence. "Luke, why did you fall for me?" she asked after a moment's deliberation.
He thought for a minute. "Plenty of reasons. You bring out the best in me, Brooke, you are a spark of life, so tough on the outside because you don't want to get hurt, everything about you. You were a mystery to me, and I wanted to be a part of your life. But, it was your heart the most," he said, "You tried to show me when we were first together, but I was so…overwhelmed… and I couldn't see it. Later, I saw it when I was watching from afar. That was when I really fell for you, but then you left for California. I finally got a second chance when you came back, and I was so happy. But I made mistakes, and everything with Peyton and I didn't know what to do, and I lost you again. That was the biggest mistake."
"Do you love me, Lucas?" Brooke asked suddenly.
"Without a doubt, Pretty Girl."
"Will you be here in the morning?"
"I wouldn't think of being anywhere else."
"Good." She gave him a light kiss on the forehead and laid back down.
Lucas pulled her close for the umpteenth time tonight, pressing her body against his, and the two drifted into sleep.
A/N: Well, tah-dah! Haha, I hoped you liked it. And I know that Brooke's nightmare thing was kinda twisted, but that idea came to me in a dream and I HAD to put it in.
Also, now that Brooke and Lucas are together, we'll steer away from everyone focusing on them, and into more storylines for everyone. You got a taste of a few in this chapter.
Reviews are loved, and, as always, thanks for reading!