Lucas paced back and forth but he knew he feet were already tired from his constant movement along the floor of the hospital hallway. He'd gotten a call from a screaming Peyton informing him of Brooke's fall from atop of her staircase. He rushed to the hospital with his mother and found Peyton and Nathan already waiting in the waiting room.
Brooke had yet to wake up from her fall and the doctor's determined that she had a concussion from the fall. They were now checking on the baby and trying to find a heartbeat, so far no luck.
"How much longer is this going to take?" Nathan mumbled under his breath.
The sound of Nathan's voice broke Lucas out of his dazed pace. "What were you doing there again?" Lucas asked. He didn't feel convinced by Nathan's original answer.
Nathan had been pulling away from Peyton house when a distraught Peyton came running from the house. He placed Brooke into his back seat and drove both her and Peyton to the hospital, but he told Lucas that he'd only been there dropping off Brooke's things when he heard Peyton scream for him. Peyton covered for him and backed up his story in fear that the truth would start a fight between the two brothers.
"Like I said the first time…" Nathan's hands began to ball up into fists but a simple touch of his arm from Peyton instantly calmed him down. "Brooke left a few things at my house and I thought she moved in with Peyton so I stopped by Peyton's house on my way home from the gym to drop them off to her when I heard Peyton scream that Brooke had fallen down the stairs."
Lucas furrowed his brows as he thought over Nathan's response to his question. He decided that he would drop it, for now at least. "I just hope my son is alright." He began to pace the floor again.
"I think we're all thinking that and then some." Peyton said. "But can you please sit down? You're making me motion sick with all of that pacing back and forth."
Lucas let out a heavy sigh as he plopped down into the seat next to Peyton. "I just wish they would keep us informed on what is happening with my fiancée and unborn son."
Nathan shuttered at the sound of Lucas calling Brooke his fiancée, but his worry for Brooke and James were keeping him quiet.
"Nathan?" Haley raced off of the elevator and into the waiting room where she wrapped her arms around Nathan's neck.
Nathan caught Haley in his arms as she entered the room. "I'm so glad you are here." Nathan knew Haley was sound and stable emotionally, and she was also a great shoulder for him to cry on whenever he needed her.
"Lucas!" Haley released her hold on Nathan's neck and pulled Lucas into a tight hug. "How is Brooke and the baby?"
Lucas took a deep breath, but couldn't help but feel slightly calmer with Haley's presence. "We don't know anything yet but Brooke hasn't woken up since the fall back at Peyton's house and they are trying to figure out if James will survive the fall."
Haley began to nod her head slowly as she absorbed all the information about Brooke's accident. "How did all of this happen anyway?" She looked around the group of friends.
Peyton stood up from her position in one of the waiting room chairs. "No one knows for sure but after I came back inside from sending Nathan off I heard a loud crash and then found Brooke lying at the bottom of my staircase."
"So she fell down the entire staircase?" Haley questioned. Something about the story wasn't adding up for her.
Both Peyton and Nathan shrugged in unison, but before anyone else could speak any further Karen came running toward the group of high school friends. She'd been allowed to go in the room during Brooke's ultrasound.
"Lucas!" Karen called out to her son. "Brooke is awake and they just found a heartbeat on the ultrasound."
Lucas didn't take a second to think before he started running toward Brooke's hospital room. Nathan, Haley, and Peyton ran after him.
Lucas fell to his knees at Brooke's bed side after she smiled at him for the first time since her accident. Tears began to stream down his red cheeks as he took her hand into his own and planted a gentle kiss on it. "I'm so happy you are alright."
"Well so is Jamie, look Luke!" Brooke nodded toward the monitor of the ultrasound. "And he is kicking his mama like crazy." Her smile was weak but wide.
Lucas pulled himself up off of the floor of her hospital room so he could get a look at the ultrasound of Brooke's round stomach. "Is he going to be alright?" He asked the doctor.
The doctor nodded reassuringly. "You have one strong son, but Miss Davis broke the fall with her hands so she didn't land completely on her stomach.
Brooke smiled proudly, but kept her eyes on the screen of the ultrasound monitor. "All I was thinking about when I was falling was hurting James and ways I could protect him before I actually fell."
"And in doing that she landed on her head rather than her stomach." The doctor sounded amazed. "She shifted herself mid-fall to protect your son."
Lucas looked down at Brooke lovingly. "I'm pretty proud of you, Brooke Davis. You survived falling down a flight of wooden stairs and shifted your body to protect our unborn child."
Brooke frowned in confusion. "I didn't fall down the stairs! I fell going up the stairs and then fell back down the one or two steps I'd managed to make it up before I slipped on my heels."
A unison sigh of relief was heard around the room.
"B. Davis, you had us all worried about you and my nephew." Peyton rushed over to Brooke's bedside.
Brooke laughed and wiggled her toes. "I guess no more heels for me, huh?"
Everyone laughed together at her.
"No more heels!" Karen pointed her index finger at Brooke. "Not even for your wedding to my son."
Lucas and Brooke both looked up at each other, because neither told her about their engagement yet.
"I saw Keith's ring on your finger." Karen nodded toward Brooke's petite fingers. "I gave that ring to you, Lucas to give to the woman you wanted to marry. Is that woman Brooke?"
Lucas linked fingers with Brooke but kept his eyes on his mother. "She is the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with."
"Brooke?" Karen turned her attention on the pregnant teen.
Brooke smiled and nodded her head once. "I am crazy about your son Ms. Scott and I want to spend the rest of my life with him." She took a deep breath before continuing. "After my scary fall, everything just suddenly became clear to me and I'm so sure of my decision to marry Lucas."
Karen reached into her purse and grabbed out a brown envelope. "This was in your stuff and I found it while Lucas and I were moving you into his bedroom."
Inside of the brown paper envelope were the papers needed for Brooke to become emancipated from her neglecting parents. She'd never gotten the chance to present them with the papers before they kicked her out of their home for being pregnant.
"I went over to their home and caught them leaving for another vacation." Karen explained as she handed over the document to Brooke. "And I convinced them to sign it for you before they left Tree Hill for god knows how long."
Tears began to sting the back of Brooke's eyes. "You did that for me?" She fanned her eyes with the envelope.
Karen smiled down at Brooke. "Well I figured it was the only thing tying you to them and it was obvious that you were no longer a part of that family, so this is your welcome to the Scott family."
Nathan kept his composure as he listened to everything, but inside he felt himself crumbling. Brooke had made her final decision, and that was to be with Lucas. He felt like there was nothing he could do to get her to change her mind.
Haley knew this had to be bothering Nathan so she reached over and grabbed his hand. "I'm sorry." She mouthed to him when their eyes connected.
A soft smile stretched across his face and he pulled Haley closer to his side. It was as if he suddenly realized that he had a dream of a girlfriend in Haley, but he'd been neglecting her due to his feelings for Brooke. It appeared that Haley was willing to work past all of that.
"Are we ready for this?" Peyton stood up from her position on the carpeted floor. She dusted off her knees and fixed one of her loose blonde curls.
Brooke rubbed her round stomach. "I've been so ready for this."
She was now nine months pregnant and getting married in a church to Lucas Scott. Four months had passed since her brutal fall going up Peyton's stairs and so much had changed.
Brooke and Karen grew close as Brooke helped Karen around the small two bedroom house while Lucas worked at the café alongside his best friend, Haley James, to save up for the couple's first apartment.
Karen and Keith had made plans to try to have a child so they'd gone off and frozen an embryo to save for the right moment. Karen felt like it was time so she went ahead with implanting the embryo and was now pregnant.
Haley and Nathan were working on their relationship, and spent every waking moment together.
Peyton had moved down to Savannah to live with Jake and his daughter Jenny, but had come back to Tree Hill to see her father off before he went off to sea once again and so she could be present for Brooke and Lucas' wedding day. She was crossing her fingers and hoping that Brooke would go into labor while she was still in town.
"Lucas is now in position with Nathan." Haley reported back to Brooke after checking on the process of the wedding ceremony.
Nathan had given Brooke his blessing to marry his brother after the two had a heart to heart conversation that lasted them all night. Both got closure on unresolved issues and feelings that were lingering between the two of them that in the past usually kept them going back to one another.
Nathan and Brooke both knew that they'd love each other forever, but they now realized that they were not meant to be together forever. They were too toxic and unstable together, and that is not something James needed to put in the middle of.
With closure of that relationship came the start of a healthy relationship between Nathan and Lucas. The two brothers grew close over their love for basketball and Brooke.
"My girls look amazing." Brooke smiled and reached her hands out to both Peyton and Haley.
With Haley's help, Peyton pulled Brooke out of her chair.
"The bride looks just as amazing and stunning." Peyton said with a bright smile.
Brooke shook her head and index finger. "Even though I am nine months pregnant I still am the best looking girl in the entire church building."
The girls all laughed together.
"Brooke! You're up." Karen poked her head around the corner of the door leading to Brooke's bridal suite. "You look so beautiful."
Peyton and Haley gathered up their flowers before darting out of the bridal suite and toward the chapel where Lucas was waiting to marry Brooke.
"I'm so proud of you and Lucas." Karen linked arms with Brooke and began to lead her toward the chapel doors.
"For what?" Brooke looked over at Karen.
Karen gave her shoulders a light shrug. "For proving everyone wrong and me right. I knew you two could be great at this whole married teenage parents' thing, and you've both done nothing but prove me right these last few months."
"You're gonna make me cry, Karen!" Brooke playfully pouted her full lips as she fanned her eyes.
Karen stopped walking and turned to face Brooke once they reached the doors of the chapel. "I get to officially welcome you to my family and I couldn't have chosen a better person to be with my son."
Brooke hugged Karen as tightly as she could. "I love you and Lucas so much and I am so thankful that you have been so welcoming of me and James to your growing family." She gently touched Karen's stomach.
"Now I'm gonna cry." Karen laughed and took a deep breath before offering Brooke her arm again. "Let's go get you married."
Brooke linked arms with Karen and the two women made their way down the aisle toward Lucas and the wedding party that included Peyton as the maid of honor with Haley as a bridesmaids and Nathan as the best man with Skillz as a groomsman.
Karen kissed the cheeks of both Lucas and Brooke before she took her seat in the first row of seats. There weren't very many people attending Brooke and Lucas' wedding besides the cheerleading and basketball teams.
"Dearly beloved, we have gathered here today to join this man and this woman in holy matrimony." The ordained minster started the ceremony.
Lucas winked over at his pregnant bride and mouthed the words. "I love you."
"I love you too." Brooke mouthed back to him.
"They, Lucas and Brooke, claim their love to the world with their own vows to one another." The minster nodded for Lucas to start his vows.
Lucas took a deep breath before he began to vow his love for his soon to be wife. "Brooke Penelope Davis! I have loved you from the first moment our eyes locked. No woman has been able to catch and hold my attention the way you have." He gave her hands a tight squeeze. "Most people in our world tell us that we are complete opposites but I love that about our relationship. I also love the way you kink your eyebrow when you're trying to be cute and the way you quote Kim-yo even though I've never seen you read it." Lucas chuckled. "I could go on all night telling you all the things I love about you but now I have the rest of my life to do so."
Brooke began to tear up as she listened to Lucas' wedding vows. "Lucas Eugene Scott!" She laughed enough though her tears were beginning to show in her chocolate brown eyes. "I love you so much and when we met I felt like it was too good to be true. I couldn't believe this amazing guy wanted to be with me!" She began to rub his palms with her thumb. "But you've helped me become a better woman. Before I met you my life was all about me, me, and me."
Everyone in the church laughed.
"But now that I'm standing here at nine months pregnant, I can truly and happily say that for the rest of my life my world will revolve around me, you, and our beautiful son." Brooke smiled. "I can't wait to start the rest of our lives together."
The minster waited a few seconds before he continued the ceremony. "Lucas and Brooke, today you have come here to exchange those vows." He turns to Lucas. "Lucas? Do you take Brooke to be thy wedded wife to have and to hold from this day forward? For better or for worse? For richer or for poorer? In sickness and in health? As long as you both shall live?"
Lucas looked from the minster and back to Brooke. "I do."
"Brooke? Do you take Lucas to be thy wedded husband to have and to hold from this day forward? For better or for worse? For richer or for poorer? In sickness and in health? As long as you both shall live?" The minster asked her.
With a big smile upon her face and no hesitation, Brooke replied. "I do!"
The minster turned to the wedding party. "The rings please."
Brooke and Lucas both slightly turned their bodies to receive the wedding bands they picked out for one another from their maid of honor and best man.
Peyton handed Brooke Lucas' wedding band while Nathan handed Lucas Brooke's wedding band.
"Brooke." Lucas placed the ring halfway up her thin finger. "This ring symbolizes my never dying love for you and my desire to spend the rest of my life by your side as your husband from this day forward." He slid the ring completely onto her ring finger.
Brooke smiled and dropped her hold of his glance to get the first look at her wedding band. She smiled again and looked up at him to give him his ring. "Lucas Scott." She began to place the ring on his finger. "This ring is a symbol of my desire for you to be my husband and me to be your wife. It also shows how I feel inside, and that is that our love will never end but it will get stronger." She slid the ring onto his finger.
"Before I announce this newlywed couple to the world for the first time I must ask if anyone objects to this union?" The minster looked around the small church, but no one said anything so he continued. "I am proud to pronounce Lucas and Brooke Scott, husband and wife." The minster announced. "Lucas, you may now kiss your bride."
Lucas' smile grew as he pulled Brooke closer to him before taking her face gently into his hands. He planted a passionate and solid kiss upon her lips. "I love you so much."
Brooke giggled and kissed him once more. "I love you too, Husband."
They linked their fingers once again before turning toward their wedding guests and walking out of the chapel. Outside of the doors to the chapel they signed their marriage license. Afterwards they headed outside to the red, vintage Mustang awaiting their arrival.
Brooke gasped after she climbed into the passenger seat.
"What?" Lucas got into the driver seat.
Brooke bit down on her bottom lip. "Don't be mad at me okay!"
Lucas laughed. "You're my new wife! What am I going to be mad about on a day like this?"
"You might get mad after I tell you that my water just broke on the passenger seat of Keith's vintage Mustang." Brooke rubbed her round stomach. "I am going into labor on my wedding day. Who does that?"