Wow! Awesome feedback on my previous chapter. Thanks to all my readers, reviewers, and followers. I am so excited to write Brooke's pregnancy. I haven't decided on what she'll have (Boy, girl, twins?) so feel free to give me suggestions, I love getting feedback!
"I'll be back with your test results"
"Ok, thank you" Brooke said, as the doctor was left the room. She was at the doctors, finding out if she was pregnant.
It felt all so familiar to her, it was like déjà vu; the hospital gown, the exam table, even the room brought back memories. It took her back to a time six years ago, where this almost exact scene had played out. Brooke could remember how scared she'd been. She had already gone through a pregnancy scare before with Lucas, so when the at-home pregnancy test was positive, she thought it was nothing. But when the doctor came in and told her that she was indeed pregnant at eighteen; the weight of the world fell on her shoulders. But in some ways, it was just what she needed. She needed that responsibility, and having a baby definitely forced her to grow up.
All she ever wanted was a family, a good one, but instead she got unreliable parents and had a very lonely childhood. She just wanted a family. So when she had Bella, she got that. She had tried hard over the past six years to the best mom to her daughter. All she wanted was for Isabella to have a loving, stable childhood; something she never got.
Looking down at her stomach, she thought about the baby. In her heart, she knew that she was pregnant; she'd felt this exact way when she was pregnant with Bella. It was like a mother's intuition of knowing when they're pregnant. Now all she was waiting on was the doctor's confirmation.
Lucas was walking down the hallway of Tree Hill High School, with Bella and Jamie in front of him. He'd picked them both up from school as today was their first basketball practice. But first they were stopping by Haley's classroom. The school was relatively quiet with only a few students in the halls.
Lucas saw that Bella stopped in front of one of the showcases. "Whatcha looking at Bella?" Lucas asked, walking up to her. Looking at the case, he saw it was one dedicated for cheerleaders. "Dad, look" Bella said, pointing to one of the pictures, "That's mom when she was a cheerleader"
Lucas smiled. It was an old picture of Brooke with her cheerleading squad. The picture brought back so many memories for him. It was hard to believe that it had been six years since he and Brooke were in high school together.
"Momma looks so pretty" Isabella commented breathlessly.
"Yeah she does" Lucas agreed.
"Is that my mom?" Jamie asked, looking at the picture.
"Yeah, your mom was a cheerleader too" Lucas answered. He actually made him laugh to think that Haley was a cheerleader; it just so wasn't her.
Bella took a step back from the case. "I can't wait till I'm a cheerleader"
"What! I thought that you wanted to be a basketball player?"
"Dad!" Bella said dramatically, "I'm gonna be a cheerleader when I'm in high school" she explained, "Wait Daddy, how long till I'm in high school?"
"Um, about nine or ten years" he answered. The thought of Isabella being in high school actually scared him a little. It was like he could already envision her at sixteen, and he had a feeling that she was going to be just like her mother; popular and the head-cheerleader. Isabella was so much like Brooke, but he could also see some of himself in her. It was like she was the perfect combination of them.
"I'm so 'cited for high school" Bella shrieked.
"Let's just work on getting you through Kindergarten first" he chuckled. They started to walk down the hallway again as Lucas lead them to Haley's classroom. He knocked on her open door. "Hey Hales"
"Hey guys" she smiled at her son and niece, then looked up to Lucas. "Thanks for picking up Jamie" Haley acknowledge. "Nathan was at Slam-ball practice and I was stuck on detention duty today"
"Oh" he sighed, feeling bad for her.
"Yeah, five delightful students who—Oh!" Haley's eyes widened when she saw her niece. Isabella's hair was a totally mess. "Um, Izzy, who did your hair today?" she asked, trying hard not to laugh. Bella, with a less than impressed look; pointed up at Lucas. "He did it"
Lucas held up his hands. He was good at a lot of things, but styling his daughter's hair was not one of them. He usually didn't have to have Isabella on school mornings, but this morning he did. It was technically his weekend to have Bella, but since her birthday was the next day, Brooke wanted Bella at her house; so Bella had spent the night at his house the previous night.
Haley chuckled, shaking her head as she looked at Luke. "Oh! Of course you did" she laughed. Opening a drawer to her desk, she pulled out a hairbrush, "Come here sweetheart, I'll fix it" she said. Isabella went over and stood in front of her.
"So how do you feel about the whole Slam-ball thing?" Lucas asked.
"Honestly, terrified" she admitted, "I'm just so afraid that he'd going to hurt his b-a-c-k again" she spelled out the last part.
"That spells back" Bella said proudly. Haley smirked, "Thank you Izzy". She should have known that she couldn't get spelling out the word past the two little kids; Isabella and Jamie were extremely smart.
"So did the doctor say anything about it?"
"That he's fine to play, but I'm always going to worry"
"Yeah well, I'm starting to worry about Brooke" Lucas revealed.
Haley gave him a puzzled look, "Brooke. Why?"
"Well, I don't know…she's just been different lately, like she won't talk to me and when we were in Charlotte, Brooke kept saying that she was really nauseous and tired. Do you think she might be sick?"
Haley was silent for a moment, realizing that Brooke must not have told him about the pregnancy. So not wanting to act like she knew something, she said "No I haven't noticed anything"
"Well I just hope she's okay" he said, his voice full of worry.
"I'm sure it's nothing" she lied, then quickly changed the subject. "So I hear someone has a birthday tomorrow"
Isabella smiled. "Ah-huh, and I'm having a party. My mom said that there's going to be a bouncy house and cake and a piñata" she said all in one breath. "She wanted to have a clown, but I don't like them; they're scary."
"Yeah they are" Haley agreed.
"You sure they didn't swap our kids at the hospital" Lucas joked.
"I highly doubt that, Brooke told me that Izzy was born in LA"
"LA" he repeated. Surprisingly he hadn't known where his daughter was born. "She told you that?"
"Yeah" she confirmed, clipping Isabella's the bow in place. "There" she said. Lucas looked at the perfect pony-tail that she created in less than two minutes. "See, now how do you do that?" he asked astonished.
Haley stood up, "Oh, years of practice"
Isabella pulled Lucas's hand, "Daaaddd, can we go to basketball now" she whined impatiently. Lucas smirked, "Yes, come on"
So he and Haley followed Jamie and Bella down the school hallway, leading to the gym. Lucas held open the door, allowing Haley and the kids to go in first.
Arriving in the gym, they saw Skills standing by the bleachers with a few other kids. Immediately Bella and Jamie ran to Skills. "Hey, it's big game James and little B. Davis" Skills greeted.
"Hi Uncle Skills" they both said.
"Hey, what up man" Lucas said, giving him a bro hug, "So where's Junk and Fergie?" he asked, noticing the absence of the two coaches.
Skills started to laugh, "Those two knuckleheads thought this was a paid coaching job."
Lucas starting laughing too. "So what are you the coach now?"
"Yeah" he said, "I figured that I had some time between coaching the high school team, so I'd coach these little kids"
"That's really nice of you, Skills" he acknowledge, as Bella came running up to them. "Uncle Skills?"
"Yes Little B.?"
"Um, when do we get our jerseys?" she asked. Lucas smirked. His daughter had been constantly talking about getting her basketball jersey since he signed her up; she wanted to have one just like her daddy.
"You want your jersey?"
"Yes" she said quickly.
"Well I might have them in this box right here" he pointed to a box on the bleachers. Bella eyes lit up with excitement. He blew his whistle, "Alright team huddle up". Six little kids came running over to him. Besides from Bella and Jamie, there were only five other kids on the team.
"Ok, now we have some jersey's here" Skills started digging through the box. "The first one is for Bella" he said, holding up the jersey. It had Little B. Davis written on the back along with Lucas's old number. "Oh Skills, that's so cute" Haley smiled.
"Man, that's awesome" Lucas commented.
"Yeah. Since they're five, I figured that I'd put nicknames on the back" he explained. Bella gave an outraged face, "Uncle Skills, I'm going to be six tomorrow"
"Oh yeah, you're birthday's tomorrow, right?" Skills asked, acting like he didn't know.
"Yeah" she nodded, "Are you coming to my party? There's going to be a bouncy house and cake"
"Damn, a bouncy house and cake! Count me in"
Lucas bent down, "Come here Bella, I help you put it on" he said. So Bella ran over to him, and he helped her put it on. His daughter couldn't look anymore adorable in her blue jersey.
Isabella smiled, "I look like a real player now, Daddy. I'm a raven just like you were"
"Yeah you are, kid" he smirked. He loved being a dad, and seeing his old number being used and knowing that his daughter wanted to be like him, made him smile.
Hearing the door open, Brooke looked up; seeing the doctor come in. "I'm back, Ms. Davis"
Brooke gave her a small smile. Her heart was beating fast as the doctor as the doctor took a seat. She had been mentally preparing for this moment for a couple of days; to know that she was for sure having another baby with Lucas.
The doctor looked at Brooke. "So the test came back" the doctor said, starting to smile "Congratulations, you're pregnant"
"Wow, ok" she mumbled, though the news didn't come as a shocker to her, she knew all along. "How far along am I?"
"You look like you're about nine weeks"
"And the baby's fine?" She questioned. The doctor nodded, "Your baby is perfectly healthy from what we can see"
"Ok". She was happy that the baby was healthy.
"Is this your first?" The doctor asked.
"No" Brooke shook her head, "I have a five, almost six year old daughter. Actually her birthday's tomorrow."
"Well, what a nice birthday present for her" The doctor said. Brooke hadn't even thought about what Isabella was going to think of having a little brother or sister. But she wasn't worried about that; back when she and Lucas were dating, Bella had expressed multiple times that she wanted them to have a baby.
At the mention of her daughter, it made Brooke think about Bella's doctor's appointment the previous week. She was suddenly hit with fear and worry that the baby might have HCM. "Um, I have a question?"
"Yes?"
"When would I be able to tell if the baby had a heart condition?" she said. The doctor's face turned to curiosity. "Oh, is there a family history of heart condition?"
"Um, yeah. The baby's father has HCM"
The doctor drew her hand up to her face, thinking. "You know, I'm not a specialist with fetal heart conditions but from what I know, I pretty sure that it's something that will have to be tested and determined after the baby's born"
Brooke gave a defeated look. She was going to have to wait seven months to find out if her new little one had Lucas's heart condition!
"Maybe you should see a prenatal heart specialist" The doctor advised.
"Yeah, maybe I will" she mumbled. She didn't know if she could wait the entire pregnancy to find out. The week's wait to find out if Bella had HCM had been hell for her and Lucas.
"Alright, now we get to go over prenatal meds" The doctor handed her some pamphlets. As she began to explain different vitamins, Brooke was half listening; instead she was worried about the baby and how she was going to tell Lucas that she was pregnant. Maybe it wasn't worried, maybe it was more of wondering how she going to tell him. They had been broken up for two months and weren't on the best terms because she was still angry at him. How was she going to tell him? And how were they going deal with the pregnancy and raising another child together?
"Okay, so do any of you know how to dribble?" Skills asked the group of kids who were sitting on the gym floor. Isabella's hand immediately shot up. "I do!"
"Okay Bella, let's see what you got" he said. Bella stood up, and Skills tossed her the ball; and as Lucas had shown her, Bella started to dribble the ball.
Skills raised his eyebrows, impressed. "Now do you think you can dribble it over to the basket?"
"Mm-hmm" she said, concentrating on the ball. Bella carefully dribbled it over to the basket and threw it through the hoop; making a basket.
"Damn Little B., you good" Skills complimented, as everyone else clapped. Isabella flounced her shoulder, smiling, "I know"
Lucas and Haley smiled at her, seeing how much Bella was into herself. "She's not Brooke's daughter" Haley laughed sarcastically.
"And here I thought my grandbaby was going to be a cheerleader!"
Everyone turned their heads, as Karen walk into the gym. "Mom?" Lucas said shocked. "Grandma" Isabella shrieked, running to her. Karen bent down, picking her up, giving her granddaughter a hug.
"Mom, I thought you were coming tomorrow?" Lucas questioned as he walked over to her.
"Well I was but I decided to come early; spend an extra day with my grandbaby" she smiled, looking at Bella and hugging her tightly. "Oh my goodness, you've gotten so big!"
"Grandma, I missed you"
"Oh I missed you too, sweetheart" she said lovingly, adjusting Bella on her hip; she then noticed something with her granddaughter's smile. "Bella Davis, is that a missing tooth I see?"
"Ah-huh. I lost it last week, and now I have another wiggly one"
"Another?" she marveled. Isabella smiled, pointing to her loose tooth.
"Hey Mom, where's lily?" Lucas asked, wondering where his little sister was. Karen turned her attention to Lucas, "Your sister is at home with Andy, she wasn't feeling well so they decided to stay back" she explained.
"Grandma, did you see the basket I made?" Bella asked. Karen nodded her head, "Yes I did. It was the bomb, as they say" she said, then she put Bella to her feet. "Why don't you go finish your practice and I'll watch with your dad, ok?"
"Ok" Bella agreed, running back to Skills and the rest of the kids.
As they started walking towards the bleachers, Lucas wrapped his arm around his mom's shoulder. "Can you believe she's going to be six? It seems like just yesterday you were six" Karen reminisced.
"Ah mom"
"What, it does. You know it still hard for me to believe that my baby boy is a father" she stated. Lucas started to become embarrassed; hearing his mom call him, her 'baby boy'. But he loved his mom and was happy that she was back in Tree Hill.
"Hi Haley" Karen greeted, sitting down next to her on the bleachers. "Hey Karen" Haley smiled.
"Can you believe how big they are?" Karen commented, as they watched Bella and Jamie dribble basketballs.
Haley nodded, "Yeah I know. It's seems like just yesterday Jamie was born"
"Same with Lily" she agreed.
Lucas frowned a little. He wished he could have been there when Bella was born. To see her when she was a baby. Of course he'd seen pictures, but it wasn't the same thing. He often wondered what would of happened if Brooke would have told him about her being pregnant. How would they had handled being parents in high school? He saw how Nathan and Haley were, and wondered if he and Brooke would of had that? Maybe they would have gotten married? Or maybe their lives would be down a completely different road?
"Hey Millie" Brooke exclaimed, as she walked into her store.
"Brooke, I've tried calling you"
"What?" Brooke pulled out her phone as she was walking up to the store counter. She saw that her phone had a few missed calls. "Oh, I'm sorry Millie; I didn't hear it. I was at the doctors this morning" She explained.
"The doctors? Are you ok?"
Brooke gave her a small smile, "Yeah I'm fine, everything's fine, it's just that I…I'm pregnant" she revealed.
"Oh my God!" Millie exclaimed surprised. "You're pregnant…Is it Lucas's?" she questioned. Brooke had confided to her about the breakup with Lucas. Millie practically knew everything about her life. She had known her and Bella for years. Millie was Brooke's only real friend when she lived in New York.
"Yes" she confirmed, "But he doesn't know yet so I'd really appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone including my-"she was cut off by the sound of the door to the store opening. Brooke was in shock by the person who came into the store. "Hello Brooke"
"Mom?" Brooke gasped. She was in shock that Victoria was in Tree Hill. She hadn't seen her since New York. "Wha-What are you doing here?"
"And hello to you too" she said, walking to the front counter. "The reason why I'm here is for Isabella's birthday. What kind of grandmother would I be if I didn't come for her birthday party?"
"The same mother you were to me" Brooke retorted.
"Oh please Brooke, stop with the dramatics" Victoria said rudely, then turned to Millie. "You, the assistant, I will need all the sales records from this store immediately"
"Excuse me, but why do you need the sales records?" Brooke questioned. Victoria turned back to her, giving her a fake smile. "Because, as you blatantly pointed out in New York, I don't own the company, I just work for it; so that's what I'm doing here, work. The board has been questioning why the sales have dropped in this store, so I'm here to figure it out" Victoria explained, then added. "Don't worry Brooke, I've already forgiven you for your lack of judgement in New York"
"My. Lack. Of. Judgement" Brooke said through gritted teeth. Her mother had some nerve! She did what she had to do for Lucas, and their daughter's protection. She would never apologize for that.
"Yes" Victoria answered simply. Then she turned her heels, going to the back office. "Millicent. Now!" she called out.
Millie gave her a sympathetic look, then went to follow Victoria in the back office.
Brooke clenched her fists in frustration. She didn't need this. This last week had been too much; first with worrying about her daughter's health, then finding out she was pregnant again with Lucas and worrying if her baby had a heart condition. So now this, with her mother being back in Tree Hill, sent her over the edge. She need a drink! But then she remembered that she was pregnant. Damn it! She thought, she could really use one right now.
"Grandma, look. This is my room" Bella said, as Karen followed her into her bedroom. "I didn't have a room last time you were here"
"Oh, Isabella. It's beautiful" she complimented, looking around the room. Her room was painted pink, and Karen noticed that she had Lucas's old furniture. It brought back so many memories for her, especially with Isabella's bed was the one that Keith had bought Lucas when he was four.
"This was daddy's old room"
"And it was also your mommy's room for a time too" Karen informed. Bella furrowed her brow, "But you're daddy's mom"
"You right, but there was a time where I had to step in to be your mommy's mom" she explained. "Oh" Bella was starting to comprehend it, just then Lucas walked into the room. "So mom, what do you think of the old room?"
"Oh Lucas, it's wonderful" Karen exclaimed. "I loved what you did to it"
"Yeah well, Nate came over and helped me paint. Hales and this one" he placed his hand on Bella's head, "Picked out the rest of the stuff in here"
"Pink's my favorite color" Bella informed.
"Really, I couldn't tell" Karen joked. Lucas laughed, his daughter was the definition of girly. He had learned over the past few months that little girls have a lot of beauty accessories. Bella had nail polish, headbands and bows littered across her dresser.
"Hey daddy, can we watch The Little Mermaid tonight since Grandma's here? Please" Bella begged.
Lucas sighed; he swore that he'd seen every princess movie with her, but thankfully tonight he had a good excuse. "Sorry kid, not tonight. Your mom's picking you up after dinner". Isabella gave a sad face, starting to pout. "But I wanted to be here with Grandma" she whined.
"Bella, I'll be here for a few days and I'll be at your party tomorrow" Karen explained. Isabella was appeased with the news. "Ok"
"And that reminds me" Lucas said, crouching down to Isabella's level. "Before your mommy get here, a certain little girl was playing with her dress up clothes in the living room last night and forgot to clean them up."
Bella gave a confused look. "Who. Me?" she pointed to herself, playing dumb. Karen stifled a laugh but Lucas couldn't help but smile at his daughter's antics. "Yes, you." He laughed, "Can you go clean it up please?"
"But daddy you were playing too. You were my prince charming" she reasoned.
"Isabella, go clean it"
"But-"
"You know, we could just skip dessert tonight instead" Lucas threatened lightly, standing up. Bella's eyes got wide, "Daddy, I'm gonna clean it right now"
"I'd thought you say something like that" he muttered, as Bella hurried out of the room. He turned his attention to his mom. "Coffee?" he asked.
"I'd love some" she answered. They left the room and started walking to the kitchen. "So you were playing dress up too, huh?" Karen teased.
Lucas started to blush, "Maybe?"
"Oh Luke, I think it's cute what you do for Bella" she stated, as they walked into the kitchen. Lucas went over to the coffee maker, as Karen took a seat at the table.
"Creamer?" he asked.
"Don't you even know your own mother?" she joked.
Lucas chuckled as they went over to the fridge. He smiled looking at the door. It was filled with all of Bella's artwork she had made. His house had completely changed over the last nine months. Going from a bachelor pad to a single dad home. His house was now filled with Barbie's and princess dresses, and it was rare if the kitchen table didn't have some kind of glitter art project; but he wouldn't have it any other way. Lucas loved his daughter, she was the best part of his life.
Lucas placed two cups of coffee on the table, sitting down opposite of his mom. "So how are things between you and Brooke?" Karen asked.
He gave a shake of his head, "Not great"
"You two still broken up?"
"Yep" he answered, taking a sip of his coffee. "We don't really talk unless it's about Bella"
"And how has Isabella taken to your breakup?" she asked.
"Um, pretty good. I don't think she quite understands it or has gotten over it; and I'm pretty sure that she thinks that we're going to get back together" he said.
"But you don't think that?"
"Honestly, I don't know. Brooke's angry at me" he stated, "But I'd love nothing better than to be with her again. I want Bella to have a real family"
"Oh, Lucas, you have to give it time. I'm not going to sugar coat it, you hurt her; and considering what happened in the past with you two, she needs time to forgive." Karen placed her hand on his. "But she forgave you once. Maybe something will happen that will bring you two back together"
"I hope so" he mumbled.
Karen looked at her son, and smiled. "Keith would be very proud of you"
"You really think that?" he countered.
"Yes, I do. Look at what happened in this past year. You found out that you had a daughter and look how you handled it"
"But what kind of father am I?" he questioned, "I wasn't in my daughter's life for five years. I'm just like Dan"
"Lucas Scott" she admonished, giving him a firm look. "You are nothing like Dan. You didn't abandon you're child, you had no idea about her" she defended. "You and Brooke both made mistakes and wrong decisions when it came to your relationship and Isabella. But I can assure that that little girl loves you, and that Keith would be proud of you"
It touched his heart to hear his mom say this. He was always wondering what Keith thought of this situation with finding out about Bella, and then being a father to her. He'd hoped that his Uncle would be proud of him.
"He raised a good man" Karen remarked. Lucas gave her a look, "But mom, you raised me"
"Yes, but even I admit that I couldn't teach you everything. Keith was the one that gave you a great example of what a father was. You are the dad you are to Bella because of him"
Lucas smiled at her, as they heard Isabella come into the kitchen. "Speaking of her" Karen quipped, seeing her granddaughter.
"Daddy, I'm finished cleaning" she announced. Bella went over, standing around the fridge. "Um, can I have a Popsicle, pleeaassee"
Lucas shook his head, "Bella, we're going to have dinner soon"
"But-but it'll be my desert first. Please daddy. I cleaned so much I'm 'kneehidated'" she said dramatically.
Lucas and Karen gave her a confused look, then Lucas started to chuckled. "Dehydrated?" he corrected, figuring out what she said. Karen started laughing too.
Isabella nodded her head, "Yeah that" she confirmed, "Please daddy" she begged, widening her identical baby blue eyes to his; giving him a pathetic look. Lucas couldn't say no to her. "Fine, but just one"
Karen smiled. She couldn't resist those eyes when Lucas was around her age.
"Yay!" she squealed, opening the freezer door. After pulling out a Popsicle and shutting the door, she went over to her daddy. "Here peanut" Lucas lifted Bella up, and sat her on his lap.
Karen smiled at her son and granddaughter; she was on cloud nine. She couldn't believe how lucky she got with her son and granddaughter. As she looked at Bella, she couldn't help but notice that Bella resembled Keith when she smile. Maybe it was because Lucas resembled Keith, and Isabella resembled Lucas. But one thing Karen knew was that Keith was looking down on them, smiling; and in some way, he was watching over them.
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