Disclaimer: Gilmore Girls is owned by Amy Sherman Palladino and One Tree Hill is owned by Marc Schwahn. Both are also owned by The W.B.

Chapter twenty-one

"Overdue"

Tree Hill, North Carolina

"You're a few years overdue. I spent them waiting here for you"-The Getup kids

"Wow Brooke," Haley said, "how'd you manage to get past the nurses? They're only letting family in." Brooke was distracted by the fact that she was thinking of a million different ways of killing her friends for not telling her that her ex-boyfriend who cheated on her with her best friend was going to be there. She stared at the floor, avoiding Lucas's gase, who was trying very hard to get her to look at him.

"Brooke," Haley repeated, "you still with us?"

Brooke came out of her death plotting, and looked at Haley. "What?" she asked, not having heard the question.

"Good," said Haley, "I just wanted to make sure you were still alive, and that I wouldn't have to...you know...call a nurse for you as well."

"Oh, I'm fine," Brooke said, "I actually have some place to be," she walked over to Nathan and gave him a hug, "you get better buddy, okay?"

"Okay..." Nathan said, looking at Brooke like she had grown two heads. She was acting very weird now, of course he should have known that she would have when she saw Lucas there. Right now he was just happy that Brooke hadn't killed Haley or him...or Lucas for that matter.

Brooke let go and walked out of the room, an angry expression on her face. God, why couldn't they have at least given her a heads up? Lucas was the last person she wanted to see, not that she still had feelings for him or anything. But it still hurt thinking about what he did...

Moments after Brooke had left, Lucas looked at Nathan and Haley and said, "I'm going to go after her," then exited the room leaving a very worried looking Nathan and Haley.

"God, I hope they don't kill each other," Haley said to Nathan.

He chuckled. "Well at least we're in a hospital," he said, "if they do attempt to kill each other, at least there's doctors around to fix any damage that's done." Haley glared at her husband and hit him in the arm.

"Ow!" he exclaimed. "Hales, I was just in a car accident. What are you doing, hitting me?"

"We're in a hospital," Haley said with sarcasm, "there's doctors around to fix any damage I might have done." Nathan frowned at her, and Haley laughed, kissing him on the cheek.

Down the hallway, Lucas followed Brooke, calling, "Brooke! C'mon Brooke, just stop and talk to me."

Brooke turned around and looked at him, anger in her eyes. "What about, Luke? There's nothing to say. You said it all when I saw you kissing my best friend on her webcast, and then when you decided to leave Tree Hill for Nowheresville U.S. A instead of staying and dealing with your problems."

"Brooke," Lucas said, "come on, I thought it would be easier on the both of us if I just left. I mean, I know there was no way you wanted to see me."

"You're right, I didn't Lucas," she said, "and I still don't. But you know, we were going to have to deal with it sometime, and you just left. Are you so much of a coward that you can't face your problems?"

"I did face my problems," Lucas said.

Brooke rolled her eyes in disbelief. "An instant message to Peyton doesn't count," she said, "and you didn't even try to contact me. Instead you just let me wonder what the heck went wrong for months, making me think I wasn't enough for you for months, always wondering if I'd done something wrong."

"Don't think that, Brooke," Lucas said, "it wasn't anything to do with you. It was all me. It was all on me. I was the one who did it, I went to Peyton. You did nothing to make me go to her. I'm sorry that you ever felt that way."

"Well, it's a little too late for apologies," Brooke snapped, "I carried that guilt around for months, Lucas. Do you have any idea how I felt? Oh wait, you don't, because you left."

Lucas was a little pissed off at the way she was acting. She was trying to make it seem like he had done nothing to make amends with her or Peyton when he had. "Don't try and make it sound like I didn't say I was sorry, or anything else like that," he said, "don't make me out to be the bad guy. I explained it all in the letter, not in any instant message to Peyton."

"The letter?" Brooke's expression changed from anger to guilt.

Lucas sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Yes, the letter, the one that I wrote to you and Peyton before I left for Nowheresville U.S.A as you call it," he said, and then added, "you did read it, right?"

Brooke bit her lip, the guilty expression not reading her eyes. "No," she said.

Lucas looked at her, curious, eyebrow arched. "If you didn't read it, then what did you do with it?" he asked.

"Um..." Brooke hesitated, not wanting to tell him. She figured it would result in another yelling match. "Well, that's quite a funny story, actually..."

"Brooke," he said, "what did you do with the letter?"

"We..er...um...I..." Brooke stammard, wishing for some distraction to come along and stop her from having to tell him. None did however, and Brooke blurted out as fast as she possibly could, "PeytonandIhadabonfirewithit."

Lucas looked at her oddly. "Can you repeat that again, please? I didn't understand a single word you said."

Brooke took a deep breath and when she let it out, she repeated, "Peyton and I had a bon fire with it." She waited for some reaction from Lucas, but he simply looked at her, waiting for her to continue her explenation. "We didn't want to take all those old wounds with us, and so we just sort of...we just burned it, Luke. We thought it was better not to open it all up again."

Lucas laughed slightly. "Well, that explains your guilty expression when I asked about it," he said, and he was silent for a moment, then added, "look, I'm going to stay here with Nathan and Haley to make sure everythings okay for the two of them, but why don't you have dinner with me tonight at my Mom's cafe? We need to talk about this, so why not do it as soon as possible? I'd rather not be on your bad side the entire time I'm in Tree Hill. You can yell at me all you want then."

Brooke smiled slightly. "That sounds great Lucas," she said, "thanks."

"Your welcome," Lucas said, glad that he and Brooke were going to have a chance to work out their issues. Just as though they'd read his mind, Dan and Deb Scott came walking down the hallway, and Lucas's stomach dropped. Uh-oh, he thought, this can not be good. Brooke was apparently thinking the same thing.

"You'd better go do damage control," she told him.

"Yeah," he said, "we don't need Nathan getting anymore injuries then he already has by trying to kill Dan."

"You're right about that," Brooke said, and then added, "I'll see you tonight."

"Yeah, tonight."

Lucas turned to leave but was surprised when Brooke called after him and made him stop; she gave him a hug, and told him, "Welcome back, Luke." Lucas smiled and hugged her back, and then Brooke left and Lucas headed back to Nathan's room, hoping he could do damage control between his brother, Dan, and Deb.

Nathan and Haley had somehow found themselves kissing when they heard the cold laugh."Well, well, look at what we have here," came Dan's voice, "my son and his wife playing tonsil hockey in the hospital. You know, you might want to close the door next time. Anyone could walk in."

Nathan and Haley broke apart at the sound of his voice, and Haley was embarressed while Nathan was angry. He scowled at his father. "Thanks for the advice," he said, "next time, it will be closed to keep people like you out."

"Come now son, is that anyway to treat your father?"

"You don't deserve to use the word," came Deb's voice, who had just appeared by his side, and she added, "nor do you deserve to be treated like one." She walked over to Nathan and gave him a hug. "Nate, I'm so glad you're okay."

Nathan frowned. "Mom, don't act like you've been a saint yourself," Nathan said, shoving her away, "you've been just as bad as Dad, if not worse. Not only did you push me away, but you completely rejected my wife as well." He pulled Haley down onto the bed with him, putting his arm around her shoulders in a protective manner.

"He's right, Deb," Dan said, "don't come in and act like you're such an angel."

Haley, irritated by Dan's pressance, shot him an annoyed look. "Mr. Scott, if your not here to help the situation, I suggest you leave, because Nathan and I have some things to discuss with Mrs. Scott."

Deb looked at her daughter-in-law appriciatively and Dan scowled and left. "Thanks for that," Deb said, "I'll only stay if you want me to stay."

"Mom, nows really not the time to get into all of this..." Nathan started to say, but Haley looked at him pointedly.

"Nathan, she's your Mother," Haley told him, "we're going to have to deal with this sometime, why not now? You almost died and if something like that happens again, you might not be able to get a chance."

Nathan knew she was right, and nodded in agreement, though reluctant. "Okay Mom," he said, "you can stay. We really do have somethings that we need to work out."

Deb smiled, glad that they were going to get this chance. "Good," Deb said, "because I'd like to tell you first that I'm divorcing your father." There was an odd silence, and Nathan and Haley exchanged looks of surprise.

"Guys, I just thought you'd like to know that I just saw Dan and Deb out in the hallway..." Lucas walked in saying, and upon seeing that he had walked into an awkward situation with Haley, Nathan, and Deb realized that they obviously already knew that and it was time for him to go. "And you guys already know that, apparently, so uh...do I stay or go?"

Nathan smiled at his brother. "It's alright Lucas," he said, "you can just go. We've got somethings to work out."

A few hours had passed since they'd arrived in Tree Hill. Lucas was at the hospital visiting Nathan, and making sure everything was okay. Now there was just Keith and Karen, left alone to deal with their issues. She'd been surprised when his familiar truck had pulled up to the house, and upon opening the door and looking at him, the first thing that had come out of Karen's mouth was, "You look good."

There had been a moment of awkward silence, and Keith coughed out of nervousness, and replied, "Thanks."

They stood there staring at one another and neither one of them knew what to say. No one wanted to make the next move, although they both knew the ball was in Karens court. "So," she said, "you want to come in?"

"Ah, yes," Keith replied and she moved out of the way so he could. He looked around the house. "Nice to see the place hasn't changed."

"Yes," Karen said smiling, "I thought about it a few times, being so bored without Lucas here, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it."

Keith turned and smiled at her. "I'm glad you didn't," he said.

The stood there, each staring at the other and both a little uncertain. "So, you want to sit down?" Karen said finally, breaking the silence and the moment.

"Yes," said Keith, "that'd be nice." They both went and sat down on the couch, and the instant they did the conversation came easy, and they were both once again the same Keith and Karen they'd been before Keith had left. That's the funny thing about when you know a person so long---no matter which one of you goes away, and how much time passes during the seperation, the conversation still comes easy, and you are still two old friends, no matter what.

Nighttime found Lucas sitting at the cafe, preparing for Brooke to show up. He hadn't gotten any food out because it did not seem like the type of conversation where anyone would be wanting to eat any time soon. Instead he found himself preparing for it mentally, and inwardly cursing himself for agreeing to do this. What had he been thinking? This was only going to end badly, and he couldn't help but feel like running. No, he would not run. He would sit through this entire conversation even if it killed him. Besides, it would be preperation for the other conversation he was going to have to have with the girl that he really wanted to be his girlfriend...Rory...and he knew he was going to have a conversation just like this one with her especially after he had just left her in the middle of the sidewalk after she had just kissed him.

The sound of the bell that hung overhead the door ringing brought him out of his throughts into reality. He turned and saw Brooke standing there, looking at him expectantly. "Hi Brooke," he said.

"Hi Lucas," she said and then they simply stood there for a moment, until Brooke cleared her throat and said, "Let's just get this done with. This conversation has been way overdue." Lucas nodded in agreement and walked over to a table and pulled a seat out for her and she sat down in it, then he sat down in the seat across from her, looked her directly in the eye, and took a deep breath, preparing himself for the conversation they were about to have, where they were going to analyze everything to death.

Lane Kim had finally given in and handed Jess over his car, and was now snug asleep in the backseat muttering something that sounded a whole lot like she was cursing Bono for going on tour with No Doubt that one time. "Stupid Bono...what were you thinking...dumb choice for an opening act..." Rory heard her best friend muttering in the back seat of the car.

Jess chuckled from the drivers seat. "Man, we need to get her a boyfriend," he said, "her entire life revolves around music and she's far too tense. I will never go on another road trip with her again, unless she relaxs."

Rory quriked an eyebrow at Jess. "And a boyfriend is your solution to getting Lane to relax?" she asked.

"Well yeah," Jess answered as though it were a no brainer solution to the problem, "what better way to get a person to relax then have them get a little something?"

"Jess," Rory said, "despite what you think, not every girl is into getting themselves a little something."

Jess laughed, "Rory my friend, not everytime a person says that someones 'getting themselves a little something' does it mean that they're talking to themselves. I was merely implying that Lane should get a little tonsil action, not sex."

Rory rolled her eyes. "Oh well," she said, "you never know with you."

Jess chuckled, even more amused. He looked to the other side of the street and said, "Hey, isn't the place you said we should be looking for called Karen's cafe?"

"Yeah," said Rory, "why do you ask?"

"Because if it is, then we're here," Jess said, parking next to the building that had a sign on it that said 'Karen's Cafe'.

Rory let out a squeal of delight. "Thank God!" Rory exclaimed. "I can finally talk to Luke."

Lane wokeup upon hearing Rory's squeal. "Did you just squeal?" she asked, looking at her bestfriend like she was crazy. Rory blushed slightly and muttered at Lane to shut up. Lane looked around her surroundings and grinned. "Thank God, we're here. Now I can go to the bathroom."

Jess turned off the car and took the keys out of the ignition and the three teenagers got out of it, stretching their cramped legs for a moment. They had been in the car for a very, very long time. Lane ran up the front steps of the cafe and went quickly in, and Rory and Jess laughed at her for her eagerness to use the bathroom. Jess opened the door and held it open for Rory, who went inside and looked around her surroundings. The place was nice. She could see why Lucas liked it. Jess came in and stood next to her and noticed that Lane was just standing there in front of them, motionless.

"Lane, you might want to go to the bathroom before you pee your pants," Jess said, "because I'm definately not cleaning up after you, and I know you want to, and I know Rory definately doesn't want to..."

His voice trailed off when he noticed what had made Lane stop. Rory looked at them oddly, and then she noticed what they were staring at as well. It was Lucas sitting at a table with his ex-girlfriend, Brooke, looking very guilty and shifting nervously in his seat. "Hi guys," Lucas said, "this is a surprise."

Lane gulped in fear of what might be going to happen next. "Uh, I'm just going to go look for the bathroom."

"Lane, you can't leave me here---" Jess started to say, but Lane was already on her way. Rory looked helplessly at Jess, who was heading after her.

"Jess, don't---"

"Sorry Rory, but I don't want to be here for world war three," Jess said and quickly followed Lane in search of bathrooms, even though Rory highly doubted that he actually needed to go.

Rory, Lucas, and the girl who Rory assumed was ex-girlfriend Brooke were suddenly left alone after that, and the tension was incredibly thick. No one spoke. Brooke, for whatever the reason, popped up from her seat after a few moments and walked over to Rory with a bounce in her step, and cheerfully said, "Hi, I'm Brooke," grabbing Rory's hand and shaking it.

Rory looked at Lucas for some sort of explenation, and he simply shrugged, just as uncertain as her. "Hi, I'm Rory," she said, not really knowing what else to do. She looked at Lucas and from the look on his face Rory half expected him to start hitting his head on the table in a few minutes. This was going to be interesting.

A/N: So, after a long hiatus, I'm back. I know, I'm horrible for having left you with a cliff hanger and for not updating but life seriously got in the way. Let's just say I pulled a Rory in season one...with a Tristan involved...and then found out...well...lets just say I've been wishing I could kick myself for months now, knowing the guy has a girlfriend...if any of this makes sense. But even with guy problems, I still updated. Yay for me. Also, as a side note, I wanted to let you know that my book was published in march. It's called Sandy Shores and if your interested, you can find it on or on (its only available online right now, but if I can get enough people to buy it, it will be in bookstores). I will not answer reviews from chapter twenty as I did not update for so long and there's a ton of them now, but will answer reviews in the next chapter...if I still have reviewers left after not having updated for so long. Thanks you guys for putting up with me and my issues. ;)

Love n' stars,

Cambria

P.S----For anyone who buys Sandy Shores, I am fully aware of the bad editing job. I don't want a million people telling me every little thing that was wrong. It was SELF-PUBLISHED after all, meaning that my Mom and I were left to do a majority of the editing ourselves. So give me a break, please:)