Chapter Twenty-Six: Lie
Ryan's first day as part of the Baker family had been spent at the house getting to know everyone better. Brooke hadn't taken him to meet all of their friends and family because she knew he wasn't ready no matter how hard he tried to persuade her he was, she knew better. Julian didn't want to overwhelm Ryan so they spent the majority of the day out on the beach playing in the water and building sand castles.
The next day, Julian had to go into the office to take care of a casting issue and Sam and Jack had school much to their displeasure. Brooke had told them that if they had applied themselves a little bit more in English class they wouldn't have failed and been forced to repeat the year. When Sam and Jack both brought home failing report cards, Brooke and Julian exploded. They had been doing so well…neither of them understood why they had failed. Sam had explained that they might have skipped class a few times. Julian asked her to define a few. Thirty-three classes Jack answered. They were grounded for the entire summer; both of them were ecstatic for school to start up again so they would finally be released from punishment.
With Julian at work and Sam and Jack in school, Brooke decided to head into her store with Ryan to show him around.
"You work here?" Ryan asked as he looked around the spacious room.
Brooke nodded. "Do you like it here?"
"Brooke? Is that you I hear?"
"Hey, mom." Brooke called back. "Can you come out here for a sec?" She turned her attention back to Ryan. "You ready to meet my mom?"
Ryan's expression turned to pure terror as Brooke knelt down to his height. "You don't have to be scared sweetie. She's a nice lady and she's going to love you just like I do."
"You have to finalize the designs for the spring—" Victoria stopped suddenly when she saw her daughter talking to a small boy. "Brooke? What's going on?" She asked as she placed her clipboard down and cautiously walked to the center of the store.
Brooke stood up at the sound of her mom's voice and smiled as she placed her hands on Ryan's shoulders. "This is Ryan. Our son." She said proudly.
Victoria's features seemed to melt as she looked at Ryan and then back at her daughter. Suddenly, Ryan scampered away from Brooke and wrapped his arms around Victoria's legs. "Hi." He said as he looked up at her.
"Hi, sweetheart." Victoria smiled as she crouched down to pick him up.
"You look just like Brooke except older." He observed. "I look more like my daddy than my mommy."
Victoria stared at him. "You do look a lot like Julian now that you mention it." She agreed.
Ryan shook his head. "I was talking about my real mommy and daddy, the ones that are up in heaven."
"Oh," Victoria nodded as she looked over at Brooke. "How old are you?"
Ryan held up six fingers.
"Wow, that's a big number!" She smiled.
"I just turned that many last week. My mommy was too busy to give me a birthday party though. I told her it was okay but on the inside I was really sad."
Victoria quickly asked him another question to distract him as well as herself. She couldn't let herself imagine what his life was like days before. She knew Brooke wanted to tell her all about how and when and why they had adopted Ryan but for right now she was content just listening to him talk.
Brooke smiled as she watched her mom and son talk animatedly on the couch as she quickly checked her e-mail before sorting the designs for the new line. In less than five minutes she had taken care of the job her mom had been panicking about moments before when she entered the store with Ryan. She leaned against the counter and simply smiled as she continued to watch her mom interact with Ryan.
--
"Now who are we going to meet?" Ryan asked as he reached for Brooke's hand as they left the store.
She smiled. "Who do you want to meet?"
He shrugged. "Do you have any friends my age?"
"I don't know any six year olds but I do know an eight year old."
Ryan's eyes lit up. "Who?"
"Why don't we go meet your Aunt Haley and Uncle Nathan?" She suggested.
"Which one of them are eight?" Ryan asked.
She laughed. "Neither one of them; their son Jamie is and they also have a little girl named Sarah. She's almost two."
Ryan smiled up at Brooke. "I like meeting all your friends."
"They're actually more like family." Brooke shrugged. "I like introducing you to them. They all really love you."
Ryan blushed. "I've only met your mom."
"And Julian and Sam and Jack; you've met all of them already."
"Yeah, but they're different." He shrugged.
Brooke smiled as she helped strap him into his car seat. "What's your favorite food?" She asked after she climbed into her seat and looked at him through the rear-view mirror. "Julian's going to stop at the grocery store on his way home from the studio and we thought you could pick what we have tonight."
He shrugged. "I like macaroni and cheese."
"That's my favorite too!" She exclaimed. "Julian makes the best homemade mac n' cheese."
"My old mommy used to just make it out of the box. What does the homemade kind taste like?" He asked.
"It's the best macaroni and cheese ever; you're going to love it." She assured him.
--
Jess had been pacing back and forth in the kitchen for an extensive amount of time. Lucas was in the living room watching television and working on his latest book while she paced nervously talking to herself. He stood in the doorway and watched her as she placed her hand on her hip and shook her head as she mumbled something he didn't understand. "What're you doing, babe?" He grinned. She jumped when she heard his voice. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He said as he wrapped his arms around her. "What's up?"
"Aren't you supposed to be working on your book?"
"I'm not allowed to come into my own kitchen to get a glass of water?" He asked.
She shrugged. "You are. I just…I—I don't—"
He stared at her curiously. "What's wrong?"
She nervously wrung her hands together as she avoided eye contact with her fiancé. "I don't know how to tell you something but I've been keeping it from you for almost a week now and I can't keep it to myself anymore without exploding so I—"
"Jess," Lucas said as he placed his hands on her shoulders. "Just tell me."
"I'm pregnant."
--
"You ready?" Brooke asked as she helped Ryan fix his t-shirt.
Ryan nodded eagerly. "Is Jamie home from school yet?"
"Aunt Haley just picked him up."
"I don't have to call her Aunt Haley yet, right?" He asked nervously.
Brooke shook her head. "Whenever you're ready."
"Even if it's when I'm thirty-seven?" He looked up at her and grinned.
"Even if it's when you're thirty-seven." She laughed.
He giggled. "Can we go inside now?"
Brooke knocked twice before pushing the heavy oak door open. "Haley! Jamie! Come here!"
They both heard as Jamie bounded down the staircase at the sound of his aunt's voice. "Aunt Brooke!" He exclaimed while he was still out of sight.
"Jamie!" Haley scolded as she emerged from the kitchen. "I just got Sarah to go down for her nap. Use your inside voice."
Jamie came to a screeching halt when he saw Ryan standing in front of his aunt. Haley did the same thing only she glanced curiously at Brooke before smiling down at Ryan. "Who's this handsome boy?" She asked as she knelt down to Ryan's height.
"This is Ryan Baker." Brooke smiled.
Haley squealed. "Brooke!" She exclaimed as she stood up and enveloped her in a hug.
"Ryan, sweetie, this is Jamie. Jamie, why don't you go show Ryan some of your toys?" Brooke suggested after she pulled out of Haley's embrace.
Both Haley and Brooke watched Jamie lead Ryan into the living room with smiles on their faces. "You have a kid!" Haley squealed a moment later.
Brooke couldn't help but smile.
"When did this happen? Why didn't you call when it did? Where'd he come from—"
"Slow down, tutor mom." Brooke laughed. "It happened two days ago. We didn't call because we just wanted to have him to ourselves for the first couple of days. His parents died when their house exploded from the meth they were cooking in the kitchen…" Brooke proceeded to tell Haley everything she knew about her new son as they made their way into the kitchen where Haley made tea.
"How is he?" Haley asked when Brooke had finished.
She smiled. "He's great. He's smart as a whip, he's witty and funny and so kind-hearted but I can't help but be scared."
"Why?" Haley asked.
Brooke shrugged as she watched Jamie and Ryan interact. "I don't know what I'm doing." She said.
"You're letting him be a kid again." Haley said as she placed her hand on Brooke's knee. "His innocence was taken away when his parents enlisted his help with the meth but you're giving him his childhood back. You're letting him be a regular six-year-old kid, Brooke."
"What if he does something bad like lies to me? Or what if he crosses the street when a car is coming? Am I allowed to yell at him and scold him or will I end up scaring him which will result in him hating me? What if he gets taken away from me because the agency doesn't think that Julian and I are fit parents?" She panicked.
Haley simply smiled at Brooke. "Look at him." She said pointing to where the two little boys were playing. Jamie was showing him all of his toys, Ryan was laughing and smiling. "He's your son. You're supposed to discipline him if he does the wrong thing and he won't hate you for that. He needs to know what's right and wrong and what's acceptable. The agency isn't going to take Ryan away from you and Julian because you two were destined to be parents and you're already amazing parents to Sam and Jack." She said. "And besides, if anyone ever tries to take Ryan away from you they're going to have to deal with me."
Brooke smiled. "He's just so different from Sam. I know he's not telling us everything and I don't want to force him to tell us but I just want to know that he's happy here with us."
"He looks pretty damn happy to me." Haley nodded toward her son who was playing cars with Ryan who was laughing at something Jamie had said.
Brooke looked over. "He's my son." She said and Haley grinned as she watched a smile spread across Brooke's face. She had said it so many times since she arrived with Ryan but she didn't tire of hearing it. She saw the way Brooke's face lit up when she talked about Ryan and the way he interacted with Julian, Sam and Jack back at the house and how he warmed right up to Victoria. She smiled when Brooke told her about how she crept into his room the first night just to watch him sleep and ended up holding him against her chest reveling in the fact that he was theirs. Haley was sure she'd never seen Brooke happier than in those moments she was talking about her son.
--
"Are you going to say anything?" Jess panicked. Lucas had yet to respond, instead, he just continued to stare at her.
"You're sure?" He finally asked.
She nodded. "I took three at home pregnancy tests and I had one of the nurses down at work run my blood."
"We're having a baby?"
She shook her head. "I knew you were going to freak when I told you. I should have told you before you proposed—"
"Jess," He smiled. "I couldn't be happier about this."
She looked up at him. "Really?"
"Really." He nodded.
A smile spread across her face as she wrapped her arms around him before leaning in to kiss him. "You're okay with having a redneck wedding?" She giggled.
"Are you kidding me? This is a dream come true for me. When I was a little kid I dreamt about the day I'd get married in the trailer park with my bare-foot pregnant wife busting out of a cheap white dress that's three sizes too small for her."
Jess threw her head back as she laughed. "Good, because that's what I pictured as a little girl, too."
"You better tell Brooke about the pregnancy soon because I doubt you're going to be able to fit into a size four in a couple of months for the wedding." Lucas said.
"How am I supposed to tell her?" Jess shook her head. "This wasn't supposed to happen."
Lucas furrowed his brow. "What wasn't supposed to happen?"
"I wasn't supposed to get pregnant."
"She's come to terms with her situation. She was happy for Peyton and Hales when they told her they were pregnant, she's going to be happy for you too." He assured her.
Jess shook her head. "You don't understand."
He reached for her hands. "Make me, then."
"Brooke and I have more in common than one would think." She said cautiously. "I was told shortly after I got my abortion that the chances of me getting pregnant were slim due to a complication the doctor encountered while doing the procedure."
Lucas stared at her dumbfounded. "Does she know?" He asked when he finally found his voice.
"About the pregnancy, no." Jess replied. "But I told her that I knew what she was going through a while back and she said that I didn't but I told her that I understood more than anyone. That's when I told her about me and how similar our cases were."
He shook his head. "You didn't think to tell me? We've talked so many times about having kids together and you just let me go on thinking that we wouldn't have a problem when it came time to get pregnant. What were you going to tell me when three years down the line from now when we didn't have a kid after months and months of trying? You know how badly I want more kids!" He tore his hands away from hers.
"I didn't want to lose you!" She cried as she reached out for him. "I was scared you'd leave me and I couldn't handle that. I didn't want to hurt you, Lucas."
"What were you going to tell me when after trying for so long we still weren't pregnant?" He asked again.
"We would have gone to the doctor and figured out then that the chances were slim to none." She shrugged.
He slammed his fist down on the countertop. "You were going to pretend that you didn't know? How could you do that?"
She shrugged as she wiped her eyes. "I don't know but the important thing is is that it's never going to come to that. You know the truth now and we're having this baby together."
"How am I supposed to trust you now?" He asked softly as he turned to leave. "How am I supposed to know when you're lying to my face and when you're telling me the truth? I was lied to by Peyton for seven months before I finally figured out that she was seeing someone behind my back and that hurt like hell. I'm not going to go down that path again, Jess."
She stood in the kitchen by herself for a long time after he slammed the front door. She wasn't sure where he went and in all honesty she really didn't care. Her fiancé had just compared her not telling him about the fact that she couldn't have kids to his ex-wife cheating on him. They were so not the same thing. They didn't even compare to each other. They were like apples and oranges. Weren't they?
--
"Is the macaroni almost ready?" Ryan asked as he walked into the kitchen where Julian was cooking and Brooke was telling him about her day.
"In a little bit." Brooke answered as she pulled him up onto her lap.
Ryan looked around. "I like it here."
Brooke kissed his head and squeezed his little body against hers. "I'm glad."
"When's Sammy coming home?" He asked.
Julian grinned at Ryan's nickname for her. "She'll be home in a little bit. She's at the library studying."
"With Jack?" Brooke asked.
Julian shook his head. "I don't think they'd get much studying done if they were there together. He's out looking for a job."
Brooke nodded, impressed. "Good for him."
"Will I have to get a job?" Ryan asked.
She shrugged. "If you want to get one when you're older you can but try to enjoy being a kid because you'll be an adult before you know it."
Ryan nodded before scampering out of Brooke's lap and darting up the staircase. "He has so much energy."
Julian laughed. "Did he tire you out today?"
"Sort of. He only met my mom, Hales and Jamie. Nathan was at the gym and Sarah was sleeping so he didn't get a chance to see them but he had fun. I would have taken him over to see Peyton and Mike but they're in Philadelphia visiting Mike's parents so we'll just have to wait until they get back."
"I wish I could have gone with you today." He said as he stirred the pot of boiling macaroni.
"I do too. I was thinking that tomorrow we could go over and visit Jess and Luke, you want to come?"
"Absolutely." He grinned. "Have you talked to Jess lately?"
Brooke shook her head. "We keep missing each other. Well, actually I keep missing her. She hasn't been returning my calls but she's probably just busy with work and moving into the new house. It's no big deal; we'll just show up there tomorrow." She shrugged. "We need to remember to bring a housewarming gift with us, don't let me forget."
"How'd Haley react to you showing up with a little boy today?"
"She was shocked but so happy for us. I told her about all my concerns and she reassured me that everything was going to be okay."
Julian couldn't help but smile. "You need to stop worrying so much, Brooke."
"I know, it's just that—"
"Come here!" Ryan's voice called.
Brooke glanced curiously at Julian before reaching for his hand and leading him up the staircase to where Ryan was. When they got to his room, Ryan was sitting on his bed smiling. "Like it?" He asked as he nodded over to his left.
Brooke and Julian both looked over to see crayon all over the wall.
"What did you do?" Brooke cried.
"I colored a picture." Ryan answered proudly.
"On the wall?" She asked incredulously.
He nodded. "Don't you like it? It's our family."
They both looked closer. At first all they saw was the crayon on the wall but when they took the time to look at what was drawn they saw Julian standing next to Ryan who was next to Brooke and the three of them were holding hands. Sam and Jack were a little more off to the side kissing each other.
Brooke sat down on the bed beside Ryan and Julian followed as he sat down on his other side. "You're not supposed to draw on the walls, Ryan." She said. "Crayons and markers and colored pencils are all meant to draw on paper with not on walls. It's a big mess to clean up." She was trying to remember what Haley had told her earlier in the day. He had to know right from wrong; he had to know what was acceptable and what wasn't. She just hoped she wasn't being too hard on him and that he wasn't going to hate her after she disciplined him.
Ryan looked down at his lap. "I'm sorry. I can clean it up."
Julian shook his head and Brooke furrowed her brow. "I like it." He said.
Ryan looked up at him. "Really?"
Julian nodded. "It's like a family portrait."
Brooke looked over at Ryan's creation and as much as she wanted to clean it off and paint over it and tell him it was a bad thing he had done, Julian was right. It was their family. "I like it too." She smiled. "Especially the Sam and Jack part."
Ryan giggled. "I like that part too but my favorite is that." He said as he pointed to where he, Brooke and Julian stood holding hands with smiles on their faces.
"Mine too." Brooke whispered as she kissed the top of his head.
Julian made a show out of stretching his arms over his head before wrapping them around his wife and son before tickling them as the sounds of their laughter filled the room. Brooke begged for him to stop but Julian had no intention of letting up. Ryan joined Julian and began to attack Brooke with his little fingers giggling at the sound of her laughs and shrieks. Julian stopped for the briefest of moments to relish in the sound of laughter and the feeling of sheer happiness he knew they were all experiencing and couldn't help but fall more in love with his wife and son.
--
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