A/N: Thank you for the awesome reviews. And thanks to my beta: Leeese. Please don't forget to vote in my poll in my profile.

Disclaimer: Don't own OTH

Chapter Twenty Four

As Brooke managed to find her voice again, a man pulled a bound and gagged Deb into the room. Owen and the other man were right behind them carrying an unconscious Rachel. Brooke was horrified to see that Deb was badly bruised all over. Deb was then pushed onto the couch next to Brooke while Rachel was ungracefully placed onto the floor in front of them. Carrie then ordered the men to tie and gag Rachel before she turned back to Brooke. "I would let you go, but I don't want to throw Nathan and the police off by not having three burnt bodies for them to find."

Brooke looked at her shocked. "If you really think Nathan will marry you after killing his mother and sister-in-law, then you have really lost touched with reality," she exclaimed angrily before she quickly became quiet. She realized her mistake and hoped that nobody else had noticed it.

However, Carrie did. So did Deb. Carrie smirked at her as Deb gave her a surprised look. "So you and Lucas finally got married?" Carrie asked her. "Congratulations. Too bad it will be a short marriage." She then turned to her employees. "Let's move out," she ordered and everyone headed out of the room except for Owen. He quickly put tape over Brooke's mouth before he shut the lights off throughout the house and headed out of the door.

Brooke's eyes adjusted to the dark as she began to try and get out of her restraints. She looked out the window for a quick second and helplessly watched as the truck sped away. As she struggled, she began to smell smoke. She was relieved to see that the fire wasn't in the living room. However, she knew if gasoline had been put down around the house, the fire would spread quickly. They had to get out of there.

The seconds slowly went by. The room was soon filling up with smoke and none of the three could scream out for help. Yet, she could see that Rachel had woken up. Suddenly, she heard the faint sound of sirens. She was relieved when she heard that they were coming closer and knew that one of the neighbors had called for help.

She jumped as she heard noises that sounded like someone was kicking down the front door. She was surprised but relieved when she saw Peyton come into the room. She ran over to Brooke and ripped the tape from her mouth. Brooke winced just for a second before she started to get the feeling back on her mouth. Brooke was about to ask her the million questions that were going through her head, but Peyton didn't let her. "I'll explain everything after we get you three out of here."

Brooke quickly agreed as Peyton undid her restraints. They then helped Rachel and Deb. Rachel easily got up from the floor. However, Deb was another story. Her wounds made walking too much of a struggle. It was quickly decided that Rachel and Peyton would help her. Brooke walked out in front of them, but she kept looking back to make sure that they were right behind her.

"How did you know we were here?" Brooke asked Peyton as a paramedic examined her. Deb had been sent to a hospital along with Rachel, who had a concussion. Peyton had assured the paramedics that she was fine and it had been confirmed after the paramedics checked her over. They then began to work on Brooke.

"Nathan told me the address after we realized that you guys might be in danger," Peyton told her as the paramedic began assessing Brooke. She then asked, "Do I even want to know why Haley wasn't with you guys?"

Before Brooke had a chance to answer, she heard a familiar voice calling out her name. She turned towards the small crowd that had gathered to see the fire and was relieved when she saw Lucas making his way through. He ran over to her and they embraced in a tight hug. "Thank god you're alright," he said as Nathan caught up with his brother. "Nathan and I thought the worse when we found out that Carrie was the one who was chasing after you."

"Where's Haley?" Nathan asked her anxiously. Brooke was quiet for a moment. Nathan somehow knew what had happened just by the worried look on her face. "Don't tell me that that bitch has kidnapped my wife? Why the hell she would do that?"

"Because she doesn't just want you, she wants your baby too," Brooke told him as Agent Hargrove walked over to them. "And she says that she won't wait until Haley's due date to get the baby either."

"But that is dangerous for both mother and baby," Lucas said in an alarmed tone.

"How many weeks she is again?" Agent Hargrove asked them.

"She is just twelve weeks," Nathan replied, remembering their appointment just the day before. He frowned with worry as he added, "And Dr. Copeland told us that a baby can survive at least twenty-one weeks. But it would be a struggle for the baby."

Agent Hargrove nodded. "We have more than enough time to find Haley before Carrie does anything to her. We'll start the search back up in the morning." Nathan was about to respond when Agent Hargrove turned to Brooke. "How well do you know Carrie?"

Brooke sighed. "Unfortunately, I don't know her as well as I thought I did. She was there before I started working for Dan. She doesn't have any close family. But she could be lying about that."

"Then we'll start in Las Vegas and go from there," Agent Hargrove said before he turned to Nathan. "I'll schedule us on the first morning flight out to Nevada. Don't worry, Nathan. I promise you that we'll get Haley and your son back safe and sound."

Nathan wasn't convinced, but he knew that Carrie wouldn't hurt Haley while she was pregnant. He also knew that if Haley was further along that it would be an entirely different manner. Lucas tried to cheer him up. "Come on, Nate. We should go check on Mom at the hospital."

Nathan just nodded as he followed his brother and sister-in-law back to the car. Peyton was right behind them. As they walked, they were relieved to see that there was minimum damage to the beach house. The firefighters then confirmed that it was safe for them to go back into the beach house. They had managed to stop the fire before it had caused any structural damage.

"We'll get your stuff when we return from the hospital," Lucas told Brooke. She gave him a confused look. "I don't want to spend another minute without you."

"What about Haley?" Brooke asked him

"I'll do that. Lucas needs to be with you," Nathan replied. "We've already talked about it and we agreed that we need to be with our pregnant wives. After all, we don't want to lose you or my niece or nephew."

Brooke suddenly felt guilty. "I'm sorry that I couldn't stop them, but they had guns," she said. "And I was still recovering over the fact that it was Carrie."

"Brooke, you don't need to apologize. It wasn't your fault. None of us knew that it was Carrie," Nathan replied. "If there was anybody to blame, it's me. I should have figured out that it was Carrie once she came to your belated birthday party."

Peyton suddenly spoke up. "You two need to stop blaming yourselves. It wasn't anybody's fault. It just happened. So why don't you just focus on getting Haley back?" she suggested. Brooke and Nathan knew she was right and didn't say anything more about the subject.

Soon, they were at the hospital, talking to the doctor to get an update on Deb. There was good news. Despite Deb's many injuries, she was going to be fine. Everyone was relieved. As they were heading down to her hospital room, Brooke suddenly remembered something important. "Lucas, she knows we're married," she told him. "I accidently slipped it out when I was telling Carrie off." Nathan and Lucas exchanged looks. "Do you think that she will be mad?"

"I'm more worried about telling your parents the news than my mom," Lucas replied. "Does she know about her second grandchild?"

Nathan shook his head. "No, I only told her that you two had news for her. I just didn't say what it was."

Lucas let out a sigh. "Well, we might as well tell her about the baby too," he said. "I think she needs good news after seeing what happened to Haley."

Brooke had to agree. They took each other's hand and walked into the room. They exchanged smiles with Deb as they approached her bed. Nathan was right beside them. "How are you feeling?" Brooke asked her.

"I'm still sore, but I'm better than I was earlier," Deb replied. "I'm just glad you're ok. Have they found Haley yet?" she asked them anxiously. Nobody said anything. "I'm sorry about telling Carrie about the beach house. I really didn't want to tell her, but she kept torturing me until I finally caved."

"Don't worry, Mom. We'll find Haley," Nathan assured her. Even though he was telling it to her, he was really saying it for himself. "You just focus on getting better." He then gave her a kiss on the cheek before he left them.

Deb knew that he was distracted. So she turned to Lucas and Brooke. She raised her eyebrows at them. "Now was I delirious or did I really hear that you two got married?" she asked them.

Lucas turned red. "We're sorry, Mom. I was going to wait, but Brooke wanted to get married before our baby was born."

Deb gave him a confused look as she asked, "What?"

Lucas and Brooke exchanged looks before they turned back to her. "Well, it turns out that you are going to have two grandchildren this fall. Brooke is still pregnant."

Deb turned to her surprised. "But I thought you had a miscarriage."

"I was pregnant with twins and I lost one of the babies. However, the other one is still in here," Brooke explained as she managed a small smile. "Dr. Copeland told me that I'm six weeks behind Haley. So the baby will arrive just in time for Thanksgiving."

Deb just shook her head in amazement. "I guess there is nothing else to say but I'm thrilled for you and Brooke."

"And we're planning to have a second wedding after Haley comes home safe and sound with all of our family and friends around us," Lucas said. He grinned as he added, "And you're invited this time."

"I sure hope so," Deb replied as she pretended to give her son a stern look. "I don't know if I would be able to handle not being invited to both weddings."

"Just promise us not to tell anybody else about our wedding or the baby. We want to wait until after Brooke has got through her first trimester to tell people including her parents," Lucas told her. "We don't want anything to happen to this baby too."

Deb nodded understandingly. "I won't say a word to Keith and Karen," she promised.

Brooke smiled gratefully. "Thanks Deb. I really appreciate that."

"We'll let you get some rest now," Lucas said before they exchanged good-byes. They then quietly walked out of the room. Neither were surprised to see that Nathan had disappeared. Lucas looked down at Brooke, who was looking worried. He then embraced his wife in another hug. "Everything is going to be ok. Nathan will find Haley and then we can finally put all of this behind us. We'll get married again and start our new life with our baby."

Brooke hoped so. She looked down at her belly for a moment before turning back to her husband. "I know we don't know the sex yet, but I have a feeling that it's going to be a boy," she told him. "And I have been thinking of the name 'Jayden'. What do you think of that for our son?"

Lucas gave her a smile. "I love it. And even if the baby isn't a boy, she will still have the best parents ever."

"The baby will be a boy. I know it," Brooke said. She then frowned. "What's wrong? I thought you wanted a boy."

Lucas knew that was true. "All I really want is you to stay strong so the baby could be born healthy."

Brooke looked at him. "Did you really mean it? We're going home and you're staying with me?" she asked him anxiously.

Lucas gave her a comforting smile. "I'm not going anywhere."