Hey guys. I'm sorry that it's been six weeks since the last update. Life has not been playing in my favor lately. I've been super busy lately with graduating, and I've been having health problems that limit my physical ability to write. So it's out of my control and I'm sorry. I really want to write and I have a ton of stories and ideas flying around in my head.
So I've been having a lot of people asking and commenting about this story; is Julian still in this story? I don't want Julian; Let Brooke and Lucas be back together; and so on. Yes, Julian is in this story. Hence the title and summary.
I do realize that the readers of this story are either Brucas or Brulian, and maybe some are in between. I do want to set something straight though for all my readers. The way I'm approaching Brooke and Julian's relationship is very different from the show. I'm not going to rush it and it's going to progress in a different way. This is obviously because of Isabella and the baby. Rest assured, there are still going to be a lot of Brooke and Lucas moments as they go through the ups and downs of parenting and the pregnancy.
Remember you can always see sneak-peeks into chapters and one-shots on my Tumblr page (joylaughdream) or link in bio!
"Mama!" Isabella shouted, walking down the stairs still in her Cinderella pajamas. She rubbed her eyes as she looked around for her mom. "Mom, where are you?!"
"I'm in my room, Bella." Brooke called back. Isabella turned and hurried through the family room. Opening the door to her mama's room, Bella ran into the room. "Morning mommy!"
"Good morning baby" Brooke smiled, as she looked at her daughter through the mirror. She was standing in front of her full length mirror, a pair of black skinny jeans on and her shirt pulled up to her chest.
Bella went over and climbed up on the bed. Turned around and sat down; looking at Brooke. "What are you doing?"
"I'm just looking at my tummy" Brooke said, turning sideways in the mirror. She was about thirteen weeks and you could see a small bump over her toned stomach.
"Why?" Bella questioned.
"Because I want to see how big the baby is."
"How big is it?" Bella asked.
"Um, it's still pretty little." Brooke answered, not sure herself. Isabella looked at her puzzled, "Like my doll?"
"It's smaller than your baby doll, Bella." She explained.
Isabella's eyes got wide. "Wow! The baby is really, really small!" she said astonished. Brooke turned around and smiled at her daughter. "Uh-huh."
"So how big is your tummy gonna get?"
"Here, I'll show you." Brooke went to the side of her bed, grabbing a pillow. Returning to the mirror, she stuffed the pillow underneath her shirt. "Uh, about this big-" She answered, turning around for Bella to see.
"Whoa!" Bella's eyes opened as far as they would go, as she stared in amazement. "That's humongous!"
Brooke smiled a smile that only a mother could. Kids always had the best compliments to give. "Wow, thanks for the compliment, Belle." She retorted, as she took the pillow out of her shirt and tossed it at her daughter.
Bella started giggling and purposely rolled off the bed, while not so gracefully landed on the floor.
"Be careful baby, you don't want to break your other arm." It had been a few days since the memorable trip to the ER. Isabella had a bright pink elbow cast on her left arm, and would have it on for a couple weeks.
"I won't." Isabella stated. She got up and went over to Brooke's vanity, looking at all the makeup. "Ohh" she smiled, picking up the lip-gloss. "Mommy, when can I wear makeup?"
"When you're older" Brooke answered.
"But I'm six! That's old, Mom…well, it's old, but it's not really old like you and daddy."
Brooke raised her eyebrows playfully. What was with her daughter with the wonderful compliments this morning! Walking over to her vanity, she leaned down and wrapped her arms around her daughter. "First of all, I am not old, missy" she stated, as she began tickling her.
"Uh-huh. You're old, mommy" Bella giggled.
Brooke laughed, "I am not."
"Mm-hmm" Isabella nodded, then she turned her head and looked up at her with a puzzled look.
"What?" Brooke questioned.
Isabella squinted her eyes. "Momma, why do you have a grey hair?" she questioned with a sly smile. "What?!" Brooke quickly looked in the mirror. She saw that her dark brown hair was still indeed dark brown; and it should be, she was only twenty-three! She looked back to her daughter, "why you little—how do you even know about grey hair?'
"Daddy" Isabella smiled, then broke out into a fit of laughter.
That made Brooke just smirk. Isabella was such a little stinker! "Well if I do get grey hair one day, it's going to be from you, little one."
"Na-huh." Bella argued in her high-pitched voice.
"Ah-huh." Brooke argued back, using the same voice. She then turned Isabella towards the door and gave her a playful swat to her bottom. "Go get dressed you, little heathen."
Bella giggled and left the room to do as she was told. As she was running through the family room, she heard a knock at the front door. "I'll get it mama" the six-year-old shouted, and going over, she opened the door. She looked up curiously when she saw Julian standing there.
"Hey Izzy" Julian smiled. He was holding a coffee carrier, holding three coffee cups.
"Hi Julian" Bella smiled, then she turned her head over her shoulder and shouted "Mommy, Julian's here!"
"I like the whole bedhead thing you're rocking there" he teased. Isabella gave an outraged face, "Hey! My mom didn't do it yet and I can't 'cause I got a cast" she held up her injured arm.
"Yeah your mom told me that you hurt your arm" he said, shutting the door and following her over to the kitchen. "How's it feeling?"
"It's ok" Bella replied, shrugging her shoulders. She went over to one of the kitchen bar stool and tried to climb onto it but couldn't because of her cast. "I need help."
"Here, I'll help you" Julian set the coffee holder on the counter and he lifted Bella up onto the stool.
"Thank you" Bella said politely.
"Your welcome and here-" he grabbed the smallest cup out of the carrier, "One small chocolate Frappuccino with extra whip cream." He said, handing it to her.
"Thanks, Julian" Bella smiled. Julian grinned at her just as Brooke came out of her bedroom, "Hey" she smiled, seeing Julian.
"Hey"
"Mom, look! Julian got me a frap-uh-sheen-o" Bella tried pronouncing the word. Brooke laughed, it was hilarious to see Isabella tried to pronounce words. It had become increasingly difficult for the six-year-old since she had recently lost both of her front teeth. Every words had a lisp to it.
"Yeah, I see that." Brooke smiled with a little shake of her head. Her daughter didn't need caffeine. Bella was already active enough without the coffee. Brooke glanced over to Julian, giving him a look.
"What?"
"Coffee for a six-year-old. Really?"
Julian grinned, "Its decaf. And I got you one too" he grabbed the other cup and handed it to her. "A latte, extra foam."
"Ohh" Brooke smiled, taking the cup. He definitely knew her favorite coffee. Taking a sip, she asked "So what are you doing here? I thought we were meeting tonight?" After their canceled lunch meeting last week, they rescheduled it for tonight at her house.
"Yeah we still are but I thought I'd dropped off some character references and a little revised script so you had something to look at and work off of for the wardrobe sketches" he explained.
"Oh, thanks" she smiled. She hadn't even thought of that. She'd been busy the past few days, working on her Little Missy clothing line since she was meeting with the investors and board that week. It was always stressful when she was preparing for a meeting. And on top of that, she had to take care of her daughter, and Isabella really couldn't do a lot for herself since she had a cast on her arm.
"I also wrote down how some of the characters appearances are supposed to be and their personalities" Julian added.
"Ok" Brooke nodded, as Julian handed over the folder to her. As she was grabbing it, her eyes met his in a way that hadn't happened before; and for a moment, they just stared at each other.
"Julian?" Isabella said, interrupting the moment. Julian quickly looked down to Bella. "Yeah Izzy?"
"Do you want to sign my cast?" She asked, holding her arm up. "All my friends have signed it. Look! Jamie did, and Jenny did too. Oh, and Auntie Peyton wrote her name here-"Bella pointed out the different names on the cast.
"Yeah Izzybelle, I love to sign it." Julian grinned as she finished, using his special nickname he gave her. Isabella smiled, then looked over to Brooke. "Yes!—Mom, can you get the special markers?"
"Sure, baby" Brooke went over to the fridge.
"Special markers?" Julian repeated, as he watched Brooke grab a basket on top of the fridge. She put the basket on the counter and Julian smiled as he understood. They were permanent markers.
"Julian, what color do you want?" Bella asked, leaning over and rummaging through the basket.
"Um, well I like green, or blue" Julian answered. Isabella grabbed a marker out of the basket and held it up. "How 'bout black because it's chic."
Brooke laughed. She didn't even know if Bella knew what chic meant. "It's chic, huh?"
"Ah-huh." she nodded, "Black compliments everything!" Bella exclaimed, her eyes as big as her personality.
Julian grinned, "Well than I'll have to use this one. Where should I write my name?" he asked.
"Right here! So I can see it." Bella pointed and then she handed him the marker.
As Julian was writing his name of Bella's cast, Brooke smiled at him. Julian was such a good friend and he was so good with her daughter.
"There!" Julian finished.
Bella looked at it and smiled. "Mom look-" she showed her.
"Wow" Brooke noted.
Julian stood up. "Alright, well I gotta go. I'll be back later and we can discuss the designs and stuff. You said six o'clock, right?" he clarified. Brooke nodded, "Yep."
"Ok, well I'll see ya" Julian turned towards Bella. "Bye Izzybelle" he said, ruffling her hair.
"Julian!" Bella exclaimed.
Julian laughed and started walked towards the door. When they heard the door shut, Isabella looked back to Brooke. "I like him" she smiled.
"What?" Brooke questioned.
"I like Julian. He brings me coffee!" Bella said in an enthusiastic tone.
Brooke smirked. "You don't need coffee, little missy"
"But it's so good! It's like…the food from the gods!" Isabella stated. That made Brooke laugh. "Oh my god" she rolled her eyes. "You've been spending way too much time with Haley." She grabbed her latte off the counter and went to go start working on her sketches.
Brooke was sitting down in her kitchen sketching some ideas for Julian's new movie wardrobe. She had looked over the papers that Julian left and was actually getting a lot of inspiration off of them.
While she was sketching, she heard little footsteps come into the room. "Mommy" she heard her daughter say.
"What baby?"
"I'm bored" Isabella complained, going over to the couch. Brooke laughed, "You're six. How can you possibly be bored?"
"Because I am!"
"Well, why don't you go upstairs and play in your room?" Brooke suggested, while she continued sketching. She had learned over the years of being a mom at the same time as a successful business woman that you could continuing working while carrying on a conversation or dealing with a whining kid. If she stopped at every interruption, she'd never finish anything.
"I can't" Bella stated.
"Why can't you?"
"Cause I got a cast!" Bella stated.
"Bella, you can still play even with your cast on"
"But it's too hard and 'sides, I don't wanna play upstairs" she complained.
"Why don't you do watch some TV?"
"There's nothing on." Bella complained. Brooke turned her head and looked at her daughter; raising her eyebrows as she did so. She saw that Bella was hanging upside-down, leaning over the back of the couch. "Ahem!"
Bella looked over to her. "What?"
"Isabella, sit on the couch the right way please" Brooke reprimanded.
"Why?"
Why? She thought. The better questioned was-why did her six-year-old always have to question everything. "So you don't fall and break your other arm" Brooke explained.
"I won't!" Isabella said sassily.
"Isabella" Brooke warned. Sighing heavily, Bella righted herself and sat on the couch. "I wasn't gonna fall" Bella mumbled.
Brooke rolled her eyes. Isabella was definitely six going on sixteen. What was she going to do when she actually had to deal with a teenager? Well, at least she could have a glass of wine when that day came. Right now with her current state; she couldn't. Looking down at her stomach, she thought 'Yeah, it's because of you, little one. You're depriving mommy of her wine!'. Shaking her head lightly, Brooke turned back to her work.
"Mom?"
"What?"
"Can I go outside and play?" Bella begged, turning around and kneeling on the couch; looking at her momma.
"No."
"Why?" she questioned.
"Because I'm working Bella" Brooke reasoned. Bella huffed, "I can play outside by myself, mama"
"Not happening, little missy" Brooke stated firmly. There was no way that she was letting Bella play outside by herself, especially since she had a cast on her arm and because of what happened the last weekend. Knowing her daughter, Bella would try riding her scooter or try climbing on something; risking injuring her arm further, or worse, breaking the other one.
"But I wanna go outside" she whined.
"No."
"But mommy, I wanna play!"
"Isabella, I said no"
"You're not being fair." Bella argued with a pout.
"Isabella" Brooke warned, her tone having an edge to it. She was quickly losing her patience with her daughter. Bella didn't argue further and quietly sat back down on the couch. She knew that tone of her mama's voice.
Brooke breathed a sigh of relief when it became quiet. For the next few minutes she worked on the sketch, finally completing the one. Putting it to the side, she took out a sheet of paper to begin another one when she heard noise coming from the kitchen. Turning around in her chair, she saw that Bella was standing on the counter, reaching for something in a cabinet.
Getting up, she sprinted to the kitchen. "Excuse me?" Brooke said playful but warningly, as she lifted her daughter off the counter. "And what are your doing, little monkey? Are you trying to get into trouble and get a time-out today?"
"No!" Bella answered quickly, as Brooke put her to her feet. She didn't like time-out! "Mama, I was getting a cup" she explained quickly, giving her face of pure innocence.
"Oh, Mm-hmm" Brooke nodded. The cabinet that Bella was trying to get to was the one that she kept Isabella's left over birthday candy in. "But aren't the cups over there?" she questioned, pointing to the cabinet on the opposite wall.
Isabella shrugged, "I don't know"
Brooke was beginning to call Julian's bluff. He have had to of giving her daughter caffeine. Isabella seemed extra energized that morning. "Remind me to never give you coffee." Brooke mumbled.
"Huh?" Isabella looked up at her mom puzzled.
"Nothing, baby."
It was then that Brooke decided to give up trying to sketch that morning and focus on her "bored" daughter. She could always work later anyways and it seemed that Bella was needing her attention. So she reached down, picking Bella up and sat her on the counter. "Ok, so what do you want to do today, Baby Davis?" she asked, "We have the whole day…well, let me rephrase that, we have about an hour since your dad's picking you up at 11:00."
"Why is daddy picking me up?" Bella questioned, her face puzzled.
"Because its daddy's night, and he's taking you to the basketball game in Charlotte"
Bella's face turned to one of excitement. "Oh yeah, I forgot" she smiled widely.
"Remember how your dad said that he wanted to take you there since you couldn't play in her first game?"
Isabella had been upset, you could say, about not being able to play in her first game. The day after the ER visit was her first game and she refused to go with Lucas to it. She had been cranky and petulant that day too, and she ended up in a few timeouts. But Lucas felt bad because he was the one that caused it, so he promised to take her to a real NBA basketball game.
"And I think Nathan and Jamie are going too." She added.
"Can I wear my cheerleading outfit to the game?" Bella asked.
"Your Raven's cheerleading costume?" she asked. Isabella nodded her head.
"Well baby, it might be too small. I made that for you almost a year ago and you haven't worn that in a while." She informed. But when she saw Bella's little face fall she added, "But if it fits, you can wear it."
"YES! I'm gonna go get it now" Isabella moved to jump off the counter and ended up hitting her cast against Brooke's stomach.
"Ow!" she cried, her little arm was still sore.
And at the same time, Brooke was wincing as she felt pain in her stomach. It was the same pain she'd been experiencing. It wasn't as painful as it had been in recent days, but it was still concerning nonetheless. She was going to ask the doctor about it at her next appointment.
"Bella, are you ok?" she questioned, looking over her daughter's arm eventhough she couldn't see anything since it was covered in a cast.
"Ah-huh...mommy, are you ok?" Bella asked, concern and confusion written on her little face. Brooke nodded, "Yeah Bella, I'm ok"
"Momma, you look hurt"
"I'm fine."
"Are you sure?" she asked again.
"Yes, I'm sure" Brooke assured. She never once in her life thought that she'd have to reassure her six year old that she was ok.
Bella glanced down to the floor. She knew for sure that her momma was fibbing. But what she couldn't figure out, was that her mommy told her it was bad to lie. So why was her mom lying?
She was quiet for a moment before looking back up at Brooke. "Mommy, why aren't you coming with us tonight?"
"Because-" Brooke started, tucking a piece of Bella's hair behind her ear. "Julian's coming over here tonight"
"Why?"
"Because he and I are having a business meeting." Brooke answered.
"Is that like work?" Isabella asked.
Brooke nodded, "Yep." Then she asked "What?" when Bella made a face. Isabella scrunched up her nose. "Yuck! Work!"
Brooke laughed, "And what do you know about work?"
"I do school work at school and its sooo boring!" Bella complained, leaning her body back for emphasizing; as Brooke held her.
"Well that's just because you're so smart." Brooke smiled, bring her back up.
Isabella's teacher had said that Bella had tested well above her little classmates, and that they wanted to do farther testing on her to see if she could get placed in the next grade, or maybe, even go to a different school. Brooke knew that her daughter got that all from Lucas.
Isabella smiled and flounced her shoulder, "I know, mommy."
Brooke rolled her eyes. Yep, her daughter got her brains from Lucas and her personality from her. Isabella was definitely a combination of the both of them.
In the recent weeks, she was beginning to wonder what the little guy inside her would be like. Would he be more like Lucas, or would she be more like herself. She hadn't decided yet if she was going to find out the gender of the baby. She and Lucas still had some things they needed to talk about, but she figured they'd talk at her upcoming doctor's appointment the next day.
She then lifted Bella and put her to her feet. "Alright little miss personality," She gave Bella another playful swat to her bottom and said "Go to my bathroom and get the nail polish stuff"
Isabella's face lit up with excitement. "Really?" she asked.
"Yep. I'll doll you up before you go out with daddy" Brooke smiled. Bella shrieked with delight and took off towards the bathroom.
Lucas and Isabella were in the car. He'd picked her up from Brooke's and was heading over to Nathan and Haley's. Both he and Nathan had planned to take Bella and Jamie to the Charlotte Bobcats game. It was the first professional game the little kids had been too, so they wanted them to experience it together.
As usual, Bella had been a chatterbox in the car; talking nonstop in the fifteen minutes it took to get to Nathan and Haley's. She'd told him about her day and everything she did including what TV shows she watched and when she played with her Barbie dolls. "Oh, and daddy, me and mom did makeovers and she painted my nails."
"Well that sounds fun"
"It was." Bella affirmed. "And guess what?—I got to stay in my jammies all morning! Then mama made me get dressed. I wanted to wear my cheerleading outfit to the game but I put it on and Mom said it was too small. But it wasn't!" Bella said, a pout forming on her lips.
"That Raven's cheerleading outfit your mom made you?" Lucas questioned. Didn't Brooke make that for her like, a couple months ago? It was when he took her to her first Raven's game?
"Uh-huh. But daddy, it fitted me! And I told mom that but she still said no." She pouted. Lucas smirked at her indignant pout. But thinking back, it had been almost a year since that game. He couldn't believe that he'd been in his daughter's life for that long. It seemed like just yesterday Brooke told him that he was Isabella's father.
"Dad, why are we here?" she asked, looking out her window.
"Because we're picking up Uncle Nathan and Jamie" Lucas answered, as he was pulling up Nathan and Haley's driveway. Isabella furrowed her brow, as Lucas put the car in park.
"But I thought we were meeting them at the basketball game?"
Lucas got out of the car, and then slid the seat forward; allowing space for Bella to climb out. "Nope, they're riding with us" he explained. Isabella let out a squeal and tried to hurry out of the car, but found it difficult to get out of her booster-seat with her cast. "Ugh!" she twisted and squirmed in the seat.
"Whoa, whoa. What's the hurry?" Lucas chuckled, as he reached back into the car to help his struggling daughter.
"I gotta go tell Jamie 'th-omething'" Bella answered, her two missing teeth causing a lisp.
"'Th-omething" Lucas mocked, smiling at her. Bella pouted, "Daddy!" though she too was starting to crack a smile. Lucas laughed, as he freed her of the seatbelt. As she started to move, Lucas caught a glance of her cast. "Hey, wait a second! Whose name is that?" he asked, catching her arm.
Bella looked down. "Julian's." she replied. Lucas furrowed his brow in confusion. He hadn't seen Julian in over a week. Isabella had only got her cast a few days ago. When the hell did Bella see Julian?
"When did Julian sign it?"
"This morning." Bella answered, then smiled. "And guess what? He got me coffee! And he got mommy coffee too. But then mommy said that she's never giving me coffee again, but I don't know why-"
Ignoring her rambling, Lucas asked "Where did you see Julian this morning?". Bella sighed dramatically, like the answer was obvious. "Daddy, he came to mom's house."
That made Lucas even more confused, though he was started to become a little suspicious. "Why was Julian there?"
Isabella shrugged, "I asked mommy and she said it was work stuff, and that's why they're having a business meeting tonight." She answered.
"They're having a business meeting tonight?"
Bella nodded, "Yeah daddy. That's what she said."
Lucas moved back to allowed his daughter to get out of the car while he was silent. Brooke was having a business meeting with Julian. What business could they be doing? His mind raced flashed, racing through images of the two of them and remembering the phone call Brooke had received at ER a few days ago.
He was definitely beginning to question if something between them was going on. The more he thought about it, he was beginning to feel anger overtake him. Had Julian just been using him to get to Brooke all this time?
"Daddy, are you ok?" Bella asked.
Lucas shut the car door. "Yeah princess, I'm fine." He assured. For once he was happy that his daughter was a blabbermouth. Isabella couldn't keep a secret to save her life and was always a nonstop chatterbox. Maybe he could get his daughter to tell him what was going on at Brooke's house.
"Hey Luke." Haley smiled, as Lucas and Bella walked into the kitchen. "Hi Izzy."
"Hey Hales"
"Hi Aunt Haley" Bella smiled.
Haley glanced down at her niece, "Wow! Don't you look pretty, Izzy!" she smirked. Bella was wearing a bright blue frilly skirt with multi-colored leggings, a grey leopard shirt and a rainbow scarf. And to top it all off, she had pink converse shoes on.
Isabella twirled in her skirt and beamed, "Thank you Aunt Haley. I dressed myself today!"
"I can tell." Haley laughed.
Lucas just smiled at his daughter. He had to laugh that when he picked Bella up from Brooke's house, Brooke was stating that she couldn't wait till Isabella got out of her 'picking out her own clothes' phase. It was hilarious to see Brooke and Isabella; fashionista mother and free-spirited daughter.
Though Lucas didn't care what his daughter wore. It was fascinating to him to see Isabella's personality changing. It amazed him how much it seemed to have changed in this last year that he was a part of Bella's life. Soon she'd be graduating kindergarten and going into first grade. To Lucas, it seemed like time was just flying by.
"Oh, and Aunt Haley look!" she exclaimed, running behind the counter over to Haley. "My mom did my nails too."
"Wow, very pretty!" Haley smiled.
"Where's Jamie?" Bella asked, looking around for her cousin.
"Um, I think he's upstairs." Haley guessed.
"I'm gonna go find him" Bella said, quickly leaving the kitchen. Lucas and Haley watched as she ran through the living room. "JAMIE! JAMIE, I'M HERE! IT'S IZZY!" Bella shouted as ran up the stairs.
Lucas smirked as he shook his head lightly. "That child has one volume" he stated.
"Ah, well, in that regard she's just like Brooke." Haley smiled, thinking about how energetic and bouncy Brooke usually was.
Lucas chuckled, "Yeah." He leaned against the counter, his mind focused on Brooke…and this news that his daughter shared. He glanced up to Haley. "So, um, have you like noticed anything going on with Brooke?"
"What do you mean?"
"Uh, I don't know" He started in his high-pitched voice. He walked over to the counter and took a seat on the bar stool. "It just seems like—do you think that she's dating someone?"
Haley laughed, "Who could she possibly be dating? This is Tree Hill."
"Well Bella told me in the car that Brooke said Julian was going over there tonight" he told.
"Lucas Scott!" She gasped, "Are you using your daughter to find out information about Brooke?" she accused.
"No" he defended, though rather weakly. "But Haley, do you think that Brooke's dating Julian?"
Haley leaned against the counter and thought for a moment. "Well she hasn't told me anything—but Luke, you can't get upset if she decides to start dating again. I mean, it's her choice, it's her life."
"Yeah." He sighed, wishing that he hadn't been so foolish three months ago. He had the girl of his dreams right there, again, and he screwed up.
"Hey! Look what monsters I found upstairs!" Nathan exclaimed, as he was descending down the stairs; carrying Jamie and Isabella upside down. Lucas turned and smirked at them.
"Daddy!"
"Uncle Nate!"
Nathan gently set the little kids down on the couch, and strolled over to the kitchen. "Hey Luke"
"Hey man." Lucas said, "Ready for the game?"
"Oh yeah—and look what I got for the road" Nathan smirked. Going over to the cabinet and pulled out a bag of gummy bears.
"Gummy bears!" Isabella squealed as she was looking over from the back of the couch. She and Jamie ran over to him. "Can we have some now, Uncle Nathan?"
"Yeah dad, can we?"
"Yeah, sure guys." Nathan smiled, crouching down and opening the bag. Lucas looked at his brother like he was crazy. "Dude, seriously?!"
"What?"
"Gummy bears?"
"What? I like gummy bears" Nathan reasoned innocently. Lucas shook his head with a chuckle, "I'm not talking about you, I'm talking about the kids" he pointed out.
"They like them. Look!" Nathan stated, not understanding what he was saying.
"Nate, we're going to be in the car with them for the next two hours." he explained. But Nathan brushed it off, "Dude, they'll be fine. A little sugar never hurt anyone."
"Yeah Daddy, I'll be fine." Bella assured him, as she was chewing on her gummy bears. But Lucas could help but slightly cringe. Isabella and sugar did not mix.
"Hales, we gotta start giving Jamie some miracle grow or something" Nathan said, as he stood up; looking at his son.
"What?" Haley laughed confused.
"Look how much shorter he is next to Bella" he pointed out. Haley and Lucas both looked at the two little kids. And it was true, he was a lot shorter. Even though Isabella was a few months older than Jamie, she was a good couple inches taller than him. Bella had definitely gotten her physical attributes from Lucas.
"Sorry bud, you take after your mom there." Nathan said to Jamie.
"Hey!" Haley exclaimed, "I am not short."
"Hales, you are so tiny that I could pick you up and throw you across this room like a basketball." Nathan laughed.
Haley just rolled her eyes and chuckled. "So do you have your tickets for the game?"
"Uh, yeah" Nathan said, and then he started looking around. "They're-"
"Right here" Haley smiled, holding them up.
"Oh, thanks babe" he smirked, taking them from her. He looked over to Lucas "So Luke, you ready for front row seats" he asked, acting like an excited school boy. The last time he'd been to a Bobcats game was when he and Lucas were in high-school.
Lucas grinned, just as excited. "This is going to be awesome."
"So what time will you guys be back?" Haley asked.
"The game starts at two, so probably around eight or nine." Nathan replied, "Uh, Luke, do you have to bring Bella back to Brooke's house tonight?"
"Yeah, but I already told her that I'd be back a little late." He answered.
"Alright Jamie Scott, you be good for your dad, ok?" Haley warned lovingly.
"Yes, momma."
"Come and give me a hug goodbye." She said, holding arms out. Jamie went over and quickly gave Haley a hug. "Bye mom."
"Bye buddy."
Jamie ran to Bella. "Come on, Izzy. Let's go out to the car." He hurried to say. "Yeah." She agreed, and the two kids ran towards the front door.
"Guys wait—"Lucas started to say, but Isabella and Jamie were already out the door. "Alright, bye Hales. See you later." he said, as he went to follow the kids.
"Bye babe" Nathan said, leaving to follow his brother.
"Have a fun time!" she exclaimed, as they walked out the door.
"Damn it. Come on!" Brooke mumbled, as she was on her tip-toes reaching in the cabinet for a bag of pretzels. She was having a strong pregnancy craving for something salty and she just happened to have pretzels at her house.
She jumped up a little bit and managed to get hold of the bag. "Ah-ha" She smiled, lowering the bag. She moved over to the other cabinet and grabbed a bowl; pouring some of the pretzels in the bowl.
Taking a bite, she smiled blissfully. When she was pregnant with Isabella, she always craved sweet stuff, like chocolate or cupcake. But with this pregnancy; it was everything salty. Though what was unusually to her, was that with Bella, she didn't start having cravings until she was almost 5, 6 months along. But with this baby, the cravings seemed to have come really early. But she accredited that to the fact that this was her second pregnancy.
Knock, Knock!
That would be Julian. Setting the bowl on the counter, she went over to the door. "Hi." She smiled, opening the door.
"Hi Brooke."
"Ready to get to work?" she asked, as she moved to the side, letting him walk inside. "I've been working on some sketches"
"Great!" he smiled, setting down on the counter.
"Would you like something to drink?"
"Um, I actually brought some wine" he offered. Brooke paused. He must not have known that she was pregnant. "Uh, I-I have iced tea here." She said awkwardly, "But if you want-"
"No, no. It's fine. Iced tea sounds great" he grinned.
"Perfect! I'll get you some." She smiled.
"Whoa, look how big it is!" Bella exclaimed, looking at the massive gymnasium. They had finally arrived at the Bobcats gymnasium. And both she and Jamie were looking around the gym amazed, being captivated by the lights and noises. "Dad, look at the huge TV!" Isabella pointed at the screen. Lucas smiled at her excitement. He could remember being the exact way when Keith took him.
"Man, this place is packed." Nathan commented, looking around at the huge crowds of fans.
"Yeah." Lucas agreed. It was definitely going to be hard to keep track of Bella. And his suspicions were confirmed not even a minute later when Bella shrieked "Look at that!" and then she took off a few feet in front of him, going over to the railing that enclosed the gymnasium.
"Isabella!" he scolded, going after her. He caught her and scooped her up in his arms. "God, Bella, you can't run off like that."
"Daddy, I was just looking at him" she pointed to the Bobcats mascot on the court.
"I know, princess" He righted her in his arms so that he was holding her properly. Lucas then looked straight into his daughter's eyes, making sure he had her attention. "But Isabella, you have to stay by me. I'm serious, I don't want you wandering off like that; there are a lot of people here."
"Ok, dad." She promised. So Lucas carried her back over to Nathan.
"Come on, Luke. Let's head to our seats" Nathan said. He held Jamie's hand, and he and Lucas started making their way down the stairs.
"Daddy, what's that guy's name?" Jamie asked. Nathan looked to where he was pointing. "The mascot?"
"Yeah."
"Um" Nathan wracked his mind, trying to remember the name.
"Isn't it Rufus?" Lucas remembered. "Yeah, that's it." Nathan said.
"Dad, look at the cheerleaders" Bella smiled, intrigued by the cheer moves.
"Yeah" Lucas smiled back, as they arrived at their seats. He sat Bella down in the seat next to Jamie; so that he and Nathan were on the ends. They had managed to get practically front row tickets, so they were basically right on the court.
"Daddy, is this where were sitting?" Bella asked amazed.
"Yeah." He answered, grinning at his daughter's face. Isabella looked around. "You ok?" he smirked. Bella was never this speechless.
"Daddy! We're right by the court!" she exclaimed, eyes wide.
"Yeah well, I promised to make it up to you, princess, for your arm getting hurt."
"Thank you, daddy!" She shrieked, crawling over the chair and giving him a hug. "You're the 'bestest' daddy ever!"
"You're welcome, princess." Lucas smiled, hugging his daughter back.
Julian put the sketches on the counter. "Well I think these designs are great." He stated.
"Yeah?" Brooke smiled.
"Yeah" he confirmed, smiling back at her. "Now all I have to do is try and push for production."
"So this movie isn't going to be made for like what? A year?" she asked.
"Uh, no. Actually, it moved up on the production list and will probably beginning in five or six months."
Brooke reached for the bowl of pretzels that she had left on the counter. "So what about Lucas's movie? When's that going to be done?"
"Um…"Julian paused. He glanced over at her with a perplexed look on his face, and with hesitation; he questioned, "Lucas didn't tell you, did he?"
Brooke munched on a handful of pretzels. "Tell me what?"
"Uh…his movie got canceled." He revealed. Brooke stopped eating. "What?"
"Yeah, his movie lost the studio's backing, so it went into turn around. But it's basically over. "
"When did this happen?"
"Last week" Julian replied.
Brooke was quiet. Why didn't Lucas tell her? She had been around him a lot in the last week with Bella's injury, so why didn't he tell her? "Well that's too bad." She muttered.
"Yeah it is" he agreed, "Because I was really looking forward to telling your story" Julian said. Brooke looked at him curiously, "Oh?"
"I just feel like with the novel; you, your story, just had a bigger meaning—like it's about everything that you, and Lucas, and Peyton went through it high-school and I wanted to portray your story with truth, honesty, integrity." He explained. "You understand what I'm talking about with the book."
"Well…" she stopped him, "I've actually never read it" she revealed.
"Really?" he was surprised by that.
"Yeah. You know, when I was living in New York, it would have been too painful to read it, with everything that had went down, and with Bella." She explained, as she moved to the couch and sat down. "But then when I moved here, it was like I just suddenly started dating Lucas again, and there was no point to reading it. I didn't want to open old wounds."
Julian followed her over and sat down next to her. "Well truth be told, I only read the book because of Peyton, but…" he paused briefly, "I related to it because of you."
Brooke stared at him. It was like her heart was melting at that moment. She wanted to stop this feeling…yet, she loved this feeling at the same time.
"But I'm a little confused on one thing in the book. Lucas doesn't mention Bella in it. Was it to protect her? Or because you didn't want her in it? Because all it says that you left and it seemed like you disappeared into the dead of night?" Julian wondered.
"Luke didn't know about her when he wrote the book" she disclosed.
"You didn't tell him?"
She lightly shook her head, "Nope."
"So you left when you were in high school?"
"Uh-huh. I left without telling anyone that I was pregnant," She answered, "And I got so much criticism because for it."
"So you left because of who? Lucas? Peyton?" Julian questioned. Brooke took a moment before answering the question, for the first time in a while; pondering the question. "Honestly, it was probably both. My friendship with Peyton was falling apart at the seams, and Lucas and I were at a really bad place."
"So if you don't mind me asking, why didn't you tell Lucas about Bella?" Julian asked.
"I think that it was just a really bad time to tell him. I mean, literally, two weeks after I found out, there was a shooting at our school. So with Luke's uncle dying and Peyton being shot, it was just bad timing." Brooke explained, "But then after things had started to settle down, I did start to notice little things going on between Lucas and Peyton. I realized that he was in love with her, and it was something that I denied for the longest time."
Brooke then stopped for a moment. She was trying to figure out all her emotions. But at the same time, it felt good for her to finally be able to talk about all everything that had gone on, and that she'd been dealing with. Before when she was dating Lucas, she could only talk to him a little about it.
"So one day, I just acknowledged it, and that's when I decided to move on."
"And that's when you left?"
"Yep." She replied, then stated bitterly, "And then I was forced to go to my mother for help, and trust me; she reminds me of it every day."
Julian looked at her with understanding. "Yeah well, I have one of those too." He said. Brooke looked at him surprised, "You have an evil bitch mother?"
"No, a perennially disappointed father" he corrected.
"Oh" she sighed with sympathy.
"I took my mom's last name so I could make it on my own, but time and again, I go back to my dad for help, and time and again, he makes me feel like a failure." He told. Brooke looked at him with understanding.
"But one of these days…" he trailed off. Brooke smiled and held up her glass of water, "Well here's to that day. And maybe I can help you get there with my designs."
Julian smiled and clinked his glass of water. As he was looking at her, he couldn't figure out how Lucas could do the things that he did to her. Brooke was beautiful, strong, so full of love, and she did so many wonderful things. He had read about her in the novel hundreds of times, but even Lucas's words couldn't do her justice. Brooke Davis was…amazing.
It was dark outside by the time that Lucas and Nathan were heading back from the game. The two little kids had complained about leaving, stating that they weren't tired and didn't want to leave. Looking in the rearview mirror, Lucas smirked. Isabella and Jamie were sound asleep, leaning their heads against each other; each in their new Bobcats jerseys.
"I think they had fun." Lucas asserted.
"Yeah. It was a fun night." Nathan agreed, then smirked "Remember how six years ago we made this trip. Just us. Now look at us, we took our own kids down here." He paused, "You know what's strange—it's like it's hard for me to remember my life the time before Jamie. I don't know, its weird." He trailed off.
"No, I get what you're saying" Lucas acknowledge, "It's the same for me with Isabella. It's like the last year has flown by."
"The next six months will, with Brooke being pregnant. Trust me, when Haley was pregnant, it went by so fast—And I just want to say that I think you're doing a great job with Bella" Nathan said.
"Really?" Lucas asked skeptically, "Cause sometimes I think I'm screwing her up. With all the mess I created with Brooke…" he trailed off.
"No man, I'm serious. I've seen the way you are with Izzy. You're a great dad to her. Look at how you took her all the way down here to Charlotte for a Bobcats game, just because you felt bad that she broke her arm." He remarked.
"Thanks" Lucas smiled, "and I think that you're doing a great job with Jamie."
Nathan turned and looked back at his sleeping son, silently smiling with pride as he did. Then he looked over at his niece.
"You know I can remember that when I was about their age, Keith took me to a Bobcats game." Lucas divulged, "It was Keith, my mom and I, and we all went to Charlotte and that was the best night of my life. And then after the game, Keith took me into the gift shop and bought me my first jersey. I was six-years-old." He smiled, thinking back on the memory.
"Did you know that Dan never me to do stuff like this." Nathan revealed.
"What?" he asked, looking surprised?
"No" Nathan shook his head. "Dan never took me to out to professional basketball games, or just out on like, a father son trip. It was always about my games." He explained, thinking back on what a terrible father Dan was. That is why when he had Jamie, he promised to be a hundred times better dad than he was.
Then he continued. "You know my mom actually planned a family vacation for us once. It was to California. Disneyland. It was all set up to go but then Dan found out that there was a basketball camp that week, so he made my mom cancel the trip, and he sent me to this god-awful place. You remember when we used to place against those Pinkerington Hicks? Yeah—the camp was just like that. I was ten and after that camp, I kinda started to resent playing basketball."
"Wow, man. That sucks, I'm sorry." He would have never of thought that it was like that for Nathan.
"Actually, I was always a little jealous of you."
"Me?" Lucas's voice went up an octave, "Come on, you were Dan's golden boy!" he said. Nathan laughed, but then turned serious. "No honestly, I wouldn't have admitted it when I was younger but I was always jealous of you. What a great relationship you had with Keith"
When he finished talking, Lucas's mind was drifting back on Keith. God, he missed him. He wished that he was still with him. There was so much he wanted to talk to him about, so much advice he wished he could have. Keith seemed to have the best answers, knowing what to say and how to react to different situations. If only he could still talk to his uncle.
"So can I get you anything else to drink?" Brooke asked, gesturing towards Julian's glass. "I have some juice boxes in the fridge, or…?"
Julian grinned. "I'd love to, but I should probably get going." He said, leaning forward and placing his glass on the coffee table. "Um, this was nice, Brooke."
"Yes, it was." She agreed, as she too leaned forward, setting her glass on the table. Looking over at him, she sighed. "Julian, what was this?"
"Um…we should probably just say that is was, what it was, because anything else gets complicated." He answered.
"Perfect." Brooke nodded. Julian stared at her for a moment. God, she was beautiful. Ever since he met her a few months ago, he just thought that she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. "We should do this again"
Brooke furrowed her brow, "do what again?" she asked.
"We should do this again, you know, talking and hanging out…and maybe next time we could go out to dinner or something?" he grinned, putting the question he'd be dying to say, out there.
Brooke sighed as she continued to hold his gaze. A part of her really wanted to say yes to his question because quite frankly, she was beginning to have some feelings for Julian. She didn't know how long she'd been feeling them, but they were definitely strong tonight as they were sitting there on the couch.
But another part of her was holding back. Everything in her life was so complicated right now. Between Isabella, and dealing with Lucas, and now the pregnancy. Would dating complicate that?
"Julian, I don't if that would work" Brooke said.
"Why?"
"Because…I'm pregnant."
"Oh…" Julian's face dropped a little. "So that explains the 'no wine'?"
Brooke lightly laughed, "Um, yeah."
"And its Lucas's?" he asked.
Brooke nodded. "Yep."
"Oh, I see. So you and Lucas are back together-" he assumed but Brooke quickly cut him off, "What! No, no, no." she rushed to say. "Lucas and I are still broken up, and trust me—I don't think that we're getting back together."
Julian was silent for a moment, then his face turned to confusion. "I'm sorry but I don't understand. If you're not with Lucas, then why can't you go on a date with me?"
"You'd still want to go out with me even though I'm pregnant, and on top of that have a daughter?" Brooke asked, then mumbled "Most guys would be out the door at the word 'kid'."
Julian grinned. "Well I'm not like most guys."
Brooke smiled at him. Damn, that grin was sexy! She glanced up and met his eyes. She held his gaze for what seemed like hours, as she was moved closer towards him; their bodies only inches apart. Her heart was racing, and as she explored his facial features, an indescribable feeling wash over her. And then without hesitation, she moved closer…
KNOCK, KNOCK!
A knock at the door brought them out of the moment. Glancing over at the door, Brooke suddenly remembered who it was. Shit! She had forgot that Lucas was bringing Isabella back tonight.
Julian also turned his eyes to the door, "Who's th-"
"Lucas." Brooke answered the question before he could get it out. "Uh, he had Bella tonight." She rushed to say, as she stood up.
"Um, I should get going." He said for the second time that night, standing up as well. "But I was serious about what I said, Brooke. I would really like to do this again."
"Me too." She smiled in agreement.
They heard another knock on the door along with a "Brooke!" So she moved to open the door, and she saw Lucas standing there with Isabella asleep in his arms. "Hey Luke."
"Hi Brooke" he said, then glancing over; he realized that Julian was there. What the hell was Julian doing over here? It was ten o'clock at night. No business meeting lasted this late!
Jealous rages were starting to overtake him but he took a few calming breaths. "Uh, Hi Julian." He said as if he demanded an explanation for his being there.
"Luke." Julian greeted, then he looked at Brooke. "Uh, I'll talk with you later so we can figure it out."
"Yeah." She said shortly, though she was sure that she was blushing.
"Bye Brooke." He said, making his way out the door.
"Bye." She then turned her attention to Lucas and her sleeping daughter. "So you can figure out what?" Lucas questioned.
"It's nothing—here, I'll take her up." She extended her arms out.
"Brooke, I can take her-"
"No, trust me. I can do it." She said firmly, reaching for her daughter. She needed a moment to get away from Lucas; she just needed to clear her head. So many things had gone on tonight. So she took Isabella from his arms, and carried her up the stairs.
Once she got in the room, she grabbed a pair of pajamas out of the dresser and carried Isabella over to the bed. Years of being a mom had taught her how to maneuver around with a sleeping child in her arms. Brooke placed her on the bed and gently took off her jacket.
Isabella started to stir as she was changing her. "M-mommy" she mumbled.
"Shh, baby. Mama's just changing you into your jammies. Go back to sleep" Brooke soothed softly, putting the nightgown over her head.
"Mama, I-I saw Rufus." She muttered sleepily.
"Huh?" she questioned. What was her daughter talking about? After getting her arms through the nightgown, Brooke glanced down and realized that her daughter was leaning against her arm; asleep.
As she finished changing her daughter, her mind drifted back on tonight. She almost kissed Julian! And she agreed to a date with him! Was she ready for this? Could she handle dating again all while being pregnant with Lucas's child and having to co-parent with him?
But at the same time, she couldn't help but smile when she thought of Julian. He was such a nice guy. He was so caring, and understanding, and damn, that grin was sexy! Plus he was great with her kid, which was hard to find in a guy.
Her mind was clouded as she lifted Isabella up and placing her under the covers. Putting her stuffed bunny next to her and pulling up the covers, Brooke gave her daughter a kiss. "Night baby."
Leaving the room, Brooke went back downstairs to Lucas. "Hey" she smiled, "So it looks like she had fun tonight."
"Uh, yeah. It was a great time at the game. She and Jamie had a lot of fun."
"Good." She said. It was a quiet for a moment, and it was a little awkward between them.
"So your doctor's appointment tomorrow?" he asked, breaking the silence.
"Yeah."
"And it's at 11:00, right?" he asked, wanting to make sure. This was the first appointment that he going to be at and he wanted to be there.
"No, it got moved to 3:00." Brooke corrected, "They called today. I meant to tell you"
"Oh, it's fine." He stated, putting his hands in his pockets. "Alright, well I should get going." He said. Brooke nodded, "Ok."
Lucas opened the door, "I'll see you tomorrow, Brooke."
"Bye." She said. When the door closed, Brooke turned back; facing her house. Tonight had been exciting, and confusing, and exhilarating. It was like she was ready to move on and start a relationship. The thought of a fresh start in a relationship sounded so refreshing. But as she rubbed her hand over her stomach, she couldn't help but think of Lucas. This was his baby, and they already had a daughter together. It was all just conflicting emotion and feelings. What was she ready for?
Again guys, sorry that this update took so long. I hope to never go this long without an update. To make it up to you guys, I'll give you a little insight on the next chapter. The next chapter will be about the doctor's appointment and it will reveal what Brooke is having (Girl, Boy, Twins?). Remember to cast your votes on what you want her to have!
And check out my Tumblr (joylaughdream) for one-shots and sneak peeks for this story. I'll also be posting an Author's note where I'll give an insight about how I'm going to end this story (still not for a while though)
Anyways, Remember to Review! ;)