Author's note: Exactly a month since the last update. I hope that 2008 finds you all happy and healthy. A short 'thank you' at the end, and title and lyrics is from a song by Sara Evans.

--

CHAPTER 35 – That's The Beat Of A Heart

Sometimes it's hard to don't
want to look over your shoulder
'Cause you don't want to
remember where you've been

The sound of his little brother screaming in the other room wakes Lucas up. He slowly opens his eyes and after looking at the alarm-clock and seeing that it's only 3.15 in the morning he turns to cuddle up with his sleeping girlfriend. Although Brooke isn't sleeping. Instead she sits up in the bed, back rested against the headboard, and she's covering her ears with her hands, looking really tired.

When the wailing stops she slowly lets her hands fall and sighs;

"He's been screaming for an hour…"

In the now silent room the thwacking of the fan seems louder and he makes a mental note that they need to buy a new one. It's not really helping and the sound just adds to Brooke's inability to sleep.

But however hot it is in the bedroom he slings his arm around her belly and nuzzles his head at her side before he mumbles back; "He's just a baby Brooke, babies tend to do that…"

"I know that!"

There's an irritated pitch to her voice and he feels sorry for her. He knows that she has not been sleeping very well the last couple of nights since its so hot outside and her body feels swollen. And since it's just a week and a half left until her due-date she really needs the rest.

"Is there anything I can do?" he asks with his face still buried in the pillow.

"No… It's just that when he cries like this it makes my breasts ache and I can't sleep. It's making me crazy…"

There is something else in her voice that makes him rub the sleep out of his eyes and look at her and he realizes that she is about to start crying. Starting to get worried, he sits up too.

"You're in pain? Why didn't you wake me up Brooke? Maybe something is wrong…"

The last two weeks since graduation has been pretty uneventful. Easy summer weeks with lots of lazy time spent at the beach or in the shadow in the backyard. Brooke has been calm and satisfied with just taking it easy too and they've spent lots of time with their friends. That's why he hasn't really seen this coming.

She shakes her head and the first tears fall down her cheeks. "No, nothing's wrong. I asked Karen and she says it's because my body is getting ready for Emma. Like every time little Keith cries my body thinks that I need to feed him…" She wipes the tears away with an annoyed sweep. "You know that this is insane, right?" she asks him through the tears. "You do realize that we are way too young to become parents Luke?"

The quick change of subject throws him off a little. Of course he knows that they're too young, at least according to statistics, but he's not feeling worried the way she does anymore. He just has to look at Brooke to know that everything will be okay. They've been to hell and back during their relationship and since they've made it this far he's not sure what could ever break them. So he pulls her to him and softly dries her tears away with the back of his hand.

"Don't worry so much Pretty girl. That's my job… and we'll just take it all one day at the time, okay?"

But her tears just keep falling in a steady stream. "Is this how it's going to be now Luke? Me being awake all night while you're sleeping?! He's been crying for an hour and you've slept like a prince… god, we're not going to be able to do this, are we?"

"Hey…" he says softly, putting a finger under her chin and lifting it so that she has to face him. She seems really upset and for no real apparent reason. As late as yesterday they had talked about how great it was all going to be once Emma was born, and about all the perks of being young parents. But now, in the night's darkness, she seems so much more unsure.

"What's the matter Brooke?" he asks softly and tries to calm her by running his fingers through her tangled locks of hair. "I thought you were fine with all this. It's just a few days left… imagine when we get to see her…"

The words meant to make her feel better seem to upset her even more and Brooke blinks away new tears. In her pj's with her eyes all red she looks so young. As if the very protruding belly is out of place on her body.

"Do you think I could have a c-section, just like Haley?"

"Why would you want that Brooke? I don't want them to cut you open."

"Thenyou push it out!" she snaps, suddenly with a lot more harshness in her voice, and he realizes.

"Are you scared?" he asks and cups her face in his hands. She nods and looks down. Why hadn't he realized this before? Of course she is scared. God, if he was the one having to go through with labor and childbirth he would pretty much be scared shitless by now. To him it was scary enough that Brooke was going to go through all this and that he himself couldn't do anything to help or comfort her. But Brooke had seemed so strong when dealing with everything about the birth of Haley's babies that he thought for sure she was fine.

He himself had worried for weeks now about what would happen if everything didn't go like it should. But now he realizes that even if it did, Brooke would still be in a whole lot of pain. She would probably bleed too, and frankly he doesn't do so well with blood.

"I can't stop thinking about it" she says and leans towards his chest. "Not since we saw that video…"

"Yeah, that thing was pretty scary…"

He can feel himself going a bit pale just by thinking of it. They had both been totally unprepared for that. In their health-class last year Mrs. Conner had made it sound like childbirth was a breeze. But they had watched that video months ago. Had she been dwelling on this ever since then?

They're both quiet for a couple of minutes, each of them lost in their own thoughts, but then the high pitched sound of his baby brother's cries is heard through the wall again and Brooke cringes.

"As I said…" she finally states and points from herself to him. "This; Us having a baby… That is insane!"

Sometimes you'll drown it out with all your rage and thunder
Sometimes you'll drown it out with all your tears
There'll come a time when you hear it and you'll wonder
"Where in the world have I been?"

----

The next morning life is back to normal. 'Or as normal as it would get these days', Brooke thinks as she puts her bowl of cereal in the sink after breakfast. Karen comes into the kitchen looking tired, and hands baby Keith to Lucas, who sits by the kitchen table reading a book.

"Can you watch him for half an hour? I need to take a shower."

Lucas nods and shifts the little boy nervously in his arms. "Yeah mom, sure."

Karen leaves the room again and Brooke watches as the little chubby boy's face wrinkles up in preparation for new tears. 'Not again' she thinks and quickly shields her ears for the coming sound. And as Keith starts crying she watches Lucas trying to rock him and hush him but nothing works. At first she thinks about leaving the room. Just to go into the bedroom, call Rachel and ask her to come earlier to get her for their day at the beach. But at the same time, seeing Lucas being all nervous and distressed about not being able to help his mom out makes her sad. She knows that he still has all these worries about his mom being alone when they leave for college and that he wishes he could help her more.

In the back of her head she still has all the thoughts from last night but a greater need of helping her boyfriend takes over and she finds herself walking over and picking the crying baby out of his arms. She has no clue what so ever to what she is doing but if she was Keith she'd be crying too the way Lucas rattles him.

"Hey cutie… what's up?" she mumbles softly and rests the baby against her shoulder. "Why are you so upset, huh?"

The hick-upping cries stops almost instantly and when she looks at Lucas with a surprised face she sees the same expression mirrored on his.

"How did you do that?" he asks sounding perplexed and she looks down on the now quiet baby before whispering;

"Believe me… I have no freaking clue!"

Lucas' frown turns into a smile and he goes back to his book.

"Well, what ever it is you're doing, keep doing it…"

There'll come a time you die,
If you could only hold her
'Cause I know that's where I am

-

Rachel steps out of her car outside Lucas' house at eleven o'clock and heads up to the open kitchen door. Usually she would knock but since the door is open she walks right inside. She sees Lucas first, standing by the sink and loading the dishwasher, and then she sees Brooke.

Her friend is sitting by the table and she has Lucas' little brother propped up on her lap. Karen sits next to her and they seem to be looking at a photo-album. It's like a preview of family-life. Brooke's family life.

"Hey guys" she says and steps into the room. Brooke looks up and smiles brightly.

"Rachel! Come look at this. Lucas was soo cute!"

Looking over her friends shoulder she eyes the pictures. Not exactly her idea of how to spend her Saturday, looking at baby-pictures of Lucas Scott, but Brooke looks so hyper that she has to laugh.

"Whatever fatso, I don't want to see your boytoy in diapers… I thought we were going to the beach?"

Lucas mumbles a "thank you!" from behind her and Brooke huffs.

"We are, skank. I was waiting for you."

She hands over the baby to Karen and strains to get up from the chair before saying "…and for your information; I'm not fat. I'm pregnant!"

Rachel laughs at this but falls silent when seeing the looks of warning from both Lucas and Karen. And when Brooke goes to put her coffee cup in the sink, Lucas mouths "No teasing…"

So it was one of those days…

"Well, come on then Slim-Jim. We have to pick up Peyton."

Brooke huffs again and Lucas rolls his eyes as if saying 'that'll just make it worse' but Karen stiffens a laugh. Then Lucas walks up to Brooke and kisses her gently before nudging her to go.

"Be careful baby…" she hears him mumble to the brunette. "And call if you need me."

-

Its Saturday so no beach for the guys. For Lucas and Nathan, Saturday meant the River Court and hours of basketball. For herself, Rachel, Peyton and Bevin, it meant a day of laziness down on the beach.

She'd like Haley to come too but the twins are way too small for the strong sun at the beach and since Nathan is playing ball with Lucas, Haley stays home.

They've nicked a couple of sun beds just down by the water and although there is hardly any wind, the sound of the waves is calming. She has her eyes closed behind the sunglasses and listens to the lazy small talk between Peyton and Rachel. She's still not completely used to having Peyton there, but she has to admit that it feels nice, and Rachel finally seems to come around to the presence of the blonde as well.

That first day after graduation when Peyton came with them to the mall could have gone straight down the drain hadn't it been for Haley. Rachel had loud and clear expressed her thoughts about how Peyton had treaded her friends the last couple of months and Peyton had ended up crying inside a fitting-room at Gap. But Tutor-mom had fixed things. She had grabbed Rachel's arm firmly, pulled her into the small cubicle with Peyton, and while Brooke waited outside with the twins Haley had told both the girls to cut the crap and reconcile for their friend's sake.

Surprisingly they had. And it had pretty much been smooth sailing since.

Of course, sometimes the jealousy flared. But she made sure that Rachel knew that she wasn't about to be replaced. Peyton hanging out with them had nothing to do with yet another shift of BFF's. Rachel and Haley still held the top spots.

And last night when Rachel was about to drop her off at home after spending the afternoon at the mall, she had a long talk with the redhead about her position as godmother, and Rachel had seemed relieved to hear that she wasn't being replaced in that category either.

She's a little worried about the college thing though, because Rachel hardly talked about college and she had been so busy thinking about herself and Lucas and the soon to come baby that she hadn't really thought about where Rachel was going. And when she had asked her friend, the closest she had come to an answer had been 'yeah… well, it's gonna be fine…'

She shifts on the sun-bed to find a more comfortable position. Sighs, and shifts again.

She's eleven days from her due-date and it's not fun to be this big. She's not complaining out loud, but god does she miss her toned cheerleader body. She misses her flat tummy the most, but getting rid of the excess fat on thighs, upper arms and face would be lovely too.

Haley says that she understands but she never got this far in her pregnancy. Her babies had been delivered early, and of course, everything had its pro's and cons.

Pro: Haley didn't have to go through 38 weeks of pregnancy and she got a c-section, which meant that tutor-mom never had to go through labor-pain.

Con: Josh and Jamie had spent almost 7 weeks in the neonatal unit. Haley had twins so she got fat sooner. And Haley got a big scar…

"I wish Lucas could give birth to the baby…" she mutters and reaches for the sun-block that's sticking out of Peyton's bag.

The blonde laughs and hands it to her.

"I know he's pussy-whipped and all, but that is a hard wish even for him to grant, Brooke."

"I guess…"

She rubs the lotion on her belly and sighs. Suck it up, right? Wasn't that what Rachel had said the other day? Suck it up and take responsibility for your actions…

Maybe she's just tired of being pregnant, or maybe it's because she's starting to see the end of carrying around this extra person, but it's becoming more and more uncomfortable.

And today is worse then ever.

"I'm feeling strange…"

It's like a dull cramp in her lower back, and once in a while it kind of sends tendrils of pain to the front of her belly. It's not bad or anything, more like menstrual cramps, but still it makes her a little restless.

"You want me to call Lucas?"

Rachel looks up from her magazine but she shakes her head.

"No, I'm fine. It's more of a weird feeling."

And she is fine. Lucas has fun with the guys today and she feels as though he deserves that, especially after she had kept him awake half the night with her sudden fear of giving birth. Even though it wasn't reallysudden, she still feels a little embarrassed about how she had just snapped at him for no reason, since he had no way of knowing that she had been thinking of that video.

Peyton and Bevin lay back down on their sun-beds but Rachel gives her a last glance and says "Are you sure?" with a raised eyebrow.

It doesn't hurt anymore so she nods and looks around at the crowded beach. It's probably over 85 degrees but at least there's a breeze down here.

"Have you talked to Chase" she asks instead and tries to sound casual and non-caring about it because she knows that the boy is kind of an itchy subject for Rachel. Ever since she kind of 'hooked them up' two weeks ago, when Peyton helped her drop that ice cream down Rachel's cleavage, Rachel hadn't been seen flirting with any other boys. Not even the life-guards, and even she herself flirted with those.

Rachel sits up and pulls a hand through her fiery red hair, seemingly a little uncomfortable.

"Yeah, I saw him last night…"

"Yousaw him? What the fuck Rachel? Did you go on a date with Chase without telling me?!"

She's excited and a little angry at the same time, but the sudden rosy spots on Rachel's cheeks stop her from rambling further. Was Rachel Gattina blushing?

"Hey you little slut…" she says to get the redhead to look at her. "Did you sleep with the clean-teen?"

"No…"

Now Peyton and Bevin are sitting up too.

"But you totally made out with him" Peyton says and laughs. "It's all over your face."

"Shut up!"

The girl blushes some more and stands up.

"Okay, so maybe I did. But what can I do, right? The guy is cute and he's a clean-teen! It's not as if I can just get him drunk and sleep with him in the backseat of his car…"

"Why not?"

Bevin giggles, but when Rachel turns to go down to the sea and cool off, she suddenly feels like calling her back. Because the dull cramp is coming over her again and she feels worried.

"Rachel?"

The redhead turns, ready to scold her for what she probably thinks will be a sarcastic or bitchy comment about not getting any. But she holds her hand pressed against her lower back and smiles a little crookedly.

"Could you not go swim right now? I think I might want to call Lucas after all…"

Just to be sure.

-

They probably draw attention to themselves in the doctor's waiting room as they all sit in a group and wait. The girls are still in their beachwear and he's still sweating like a pig in his basketball attire. But Lucas doesn't care. He just wants to make sure that what ever it was Brooke was feeling isn't labor.

She's okay now. She has been ever since he came rushing in here all sweaty and worried, and she's talking to Rachel about some dude in their English class.

She looks fine too, and he rubs her back absentmindedly and checks his watch. Was it supposed to take thirty minutes to get a check up when Brooke was only a week and a half from her due date?

"Excuse me?" he asks when the nurse walks by. "We've been here half an hour… Is the doctor ready soon?"

"Yes, just five more minutes. Then we'll call you."

"Okay, thanks…"

Brooke looks up at him and shrugs apologetically.

"We can go home Luke. I told you, I feel fine now… I'm sorry I ruined your game…"

He touches her cheek and smiles.

"Nuh-uh pretty girl. We're not leaving until you're checked out. It could be just lack of sleep but I'll feel much better after they've looked at you."

Rachel seems to agree because she's nodding.

"Besides, Brooke…" she says. "You heard what Haley said. It could be early labor."

Brooke pouts and rests her head against his shoulder. Haley kept herself updated over the phone, ready to drop the twins off with Deb if it turned out that this was it. But she had also told him over the same said phone that she really didn't think that was the case. She had said, quote; if your girlfriend is in labor you'll know, believe me…" and he agrees. It feels as if Brooke was giving birth to their daughter within the next hours, she wouldn't be sulking because he refuses to take her to the mall.

Maybe she was just feeling worried again? About the birth and all. He wouldn't blame her, because ever since she woke him up last night he's been feeling increasingly worried as well.

"Brooke Davis?"

The nurse calls and he stands up and gently pulls his girlfriend with him. Rachel, Bevin and Peyton decide to wait where they are and Brooke assures them she'll be back in five minutes. And then they walk into the doctor's office and he can't help but feel a little nervous.

"Sometimes I wish they would say Brooke Scott…" he mumbles, and it's not until the words have actually left his mouth that he realizes what that implies. Brooke freezes and looks up at him but he doesn't have to explain because Dr. Shandwick meets them in the doorway.

"Hello Miss Davis. Straight from the beach, I see?"

Scott.

She nods, seemingly still a little stiff, and he wonders what is wrong in his head since he can't seem to stop thinking about that name-thing.

"So let's look at you. The nurse said that you've experienced some cramping, is that right?"

"Yeah… but it's better now."

He watches as Brooke lays down on the exam-table and pulls up her tank top. She's still wearing a bikini underneath and she has sand stuck on her skin. The doctor feels around on her belly and mumbles stuff about the baby being in a good position and about no dilation. And he breathes out. Everything seems okay.

Then the older man brings the ultrasound over and when he puts the probe against Brooke's skin, the sound of Emma's and Brooke's hearts both fill the room. And he relaxes even more, because it sounds just like usual, Brooke's are nice and slow, while their baby's heartbeat sound quick and happy.

"What you're feeling is probably Braxton-hicks" the doctor says and smiles. "And it's completely normal. A lot of women have these pre-term labor cramps for weeks before the real thing starts. It's nothing to worry about."

"So is there something we should think about? Should she take it easy or maybe lay down more…"

"No. it's just the body preparing for labor. These early cramps helps pushing the baby into the right position for the birth. It's probably perfect timing since your calculated due-date is August 3rd."

"Okay. See Luke, I told you it was fine…"

His girlfriend smiles up at him and he pokes one of her dimples gently and smiles back. The dents in her cheeks are even deeper nowadays since her face is a little rounder.

"Good."

The doctor pulls her shirt back down and pats the rounded belly.

"Well, I guess I'll see you on your regular appointment then Miss Davis. At two o'clock on Monday, right?"

Scott.

Brooke nods happily and he himself tries to shake some sense into his head.

Seriously…

So listen with all your heart
Hold it inside forever
You may find all your dreams have already come true
Look inside and find the part that's leading you
'Cause that's the beat of a heart

--

They're sitting at the kitchen table having dinner later that evening and Karen is still scolding Lucas for not calling when they went to the hospital. Brooke thinks about saving him, but he looks so cute all pouty and defensive, so instead she spears a meatball on her fork and smiles.

And when Karen gets up to go get Keith from his crib, she pats Lucas' thigh under the table.

"Baby, don't worry. I love you."

He sulks and she knows he's doing it to cram out every little drop of extra attention from her.

"Why doesn't she tell you off, huh?"

"Because I'm the one with the Braxton hiccups or whatever its called. She feels sorry for me as it is. You on the other hand, you're the one that got us here…"

"Me?"

He looks surprised, yet amused, and he's making a face as if saying 'you MUST be kidding me'. She glides her hand higher up on his thigh and smiles.

"Yes you Broody. You're the little perv that got me pregnant, remember? I wanted to wait until we were married, but you just…"

She doesn't get further because he grips her sides and tickles her, making her laugh so hard that she almost spills her glass of lemonade.

"No, stop it Luke…" she chokes out laughing and tries to squirm out of his hold, but it's impossible.

"Take that back Brooke… or…"

He tickles her more and he's laughing too now.

"No!"

"You know as well as I do that you seduced me…" he says with faked innocence and a flirty grin. "I was the scared virgin in the car, remember? And you took advantage of me while I was drunk."

He tickles her a little more and she squeals.

"Plus, you were the one that made me forget about the condom when we were at the cabin" he continues. "We wouldn't have been in this tight spot if you had just let me get protection…"

He still smiles but she's not laughing anymore. And maybe he sees the change of expression on her face because his fingers loosen their grip and he slowly releases her.

"What do you mean Lucas?"

"What?"

He looks insecure, as if he senses that he might have said something stupid but still hasn't figured out what that something is.

Did he blame her? It was the truth wasn't it? She hadn't let him go… if she had listened to him that night in Rachel's parents cabin, then they wouldn't be on the verge of becoming teen parents.

Suddenly her bottom lip trembles.

"I'm sorry…" she mumbles quietly and Lucas looks back at her confused before he seems to understand what she means. Although right then Karen comes back into the kitchen.

"He fell back to sleep… Sorry, where were we?"

Lucas' mother stops and looks between them for a second. Lucas is still bent over her chair and she gently pushes him away.

"Oh, that's great Karen, really…"

She tries to hold her voice as normal as possible although all she wants to do is run into the bedroom and lock the door. And Karen seems to buy it. But Lucas sure doesn't.

"Thanks for dinner mom" he says and grabs her hand. "Brooke and I need to go talk about something. I'll do the dishes a little later."

"But…"

"No mom, we really need to sort something out. I'll be right back."

Then he turns to her and pulls at her hand gently. "Come on Brooke."

Two seconds ago she wanted nothing but to leave the kitchen, but now she wants nothing but to stay. Yet she gets on her feet and silently follows him into their bedroom, and she sits down on the bed while he closes the door and sighs.

"Don't say that you think that I blame you…" he mumbles before even turning to face her. "Because if you say that, Brooke, then I'm seriously going to get angry…"

"Lucas…"

"No!"

He actually sounds a little angry and she pulls her shoulders up defensively as he walks over and sits down beside her. He fiddles with the bedspread and she watches him out of the corner of her eye.

"It's true though…" she mutters and strokes her belly. "I did keep you from going up to get the condoms… you said that they were in the other room and I told you to forget them…"

She bites her lower lip to stop it from trembling further, and this time when her boyfriend sighs, it's a sound of despair.

"I was kidding Brooke. Kidding! We were playing and you said it was my fault, and I knew that you were kidding, right? So why can't you understand that I was just playing along?"

He turns towards her and his blue eyes are more serious than ever. "You know that I want this. I want you and the baby and the life we have planned…"

"But…"

"No freaking 'but'. Not a single one, okay?"

He grabs her hands in his and she hesitantly meets his gaze, knowing that he'll wait until she looks him in the eyes before he continues.

"Listen baby. I know that you're not insecure about us anymore and that you want this baby too, so I'm gonna be honest and tell you something, okay?"

She nods.

"I wanted you to be pregnant in junior year… Maybe you think I'm nuts, but I did. I even told my mom so you can ask her if you don't believe me."

He's silent for a second as if thinking. "That night when I came over to your house to give you that 'I'll be there for you and the baby'-speech and you told me that you had lied… I actually went home and cried. My mom came home and found me sitting at the kitchen table and I never thought I'd feel like that, but I was so sad…"

She feels confused now. What he's saying doesn't make sense. But he lets go of the bedspread and starts playing with her hand instead. Drawing patterns in her palm with his fingertip.

"The weird thing was that I didn't know then why I was so upset, but now I do. The 'loss' of that baby meant no connection to you… no future with you…"

"Come on Lucas, don't…"

She hushes him and leans in to kiss him but he backs up.

"Brooke, listen. I don't blame you because it was MY fault, okay? I know that you were kidding out there in the kitchen, but I'm not joking now. I've wanted you to have my baby ever since I realized you weren't pregnant that night. I hoped for it so many times. Remember how I wasn't even scared or upset about you being pregnant when you told me? I was just mad at you for lying, remember?"

Her eyes are wide now.

"But you were the one that always made sure we were protected Luke… you said…"

"Wait Brooke… I have condoms in my bag… I'm just gonna go and get them…"

"I know what I said. I never went though, did I?"

"No…"

This time he is the one leaning in for the kiss and she lets him. His lips feel so soft against hers.

"You know that I love carrying your baby, Luke. And if you misunderstood last night, then maybe I should clear things up. I'm not scared of having your baby. I'm just scared of giving birth to her."

He kisses her again, even softer.

"Well, I'll be there with you pretty girl… all the way."

She smiles, but then frowns a little as one of those tiny cramps wash over her, and he notices it.

"You okay, Brooke?"

"Yeah, it's just another one of those Braxley hiccups…"

He laughs. "Braxton-hicks, babygirl. Braxton-hicks."

-

No one can tell you how to get there
It's a road you take all by yourself
All by yourself

The new fan makes hardly no sound at all as it cools the room and yet Lucas lays awake and stares at the ceiling. Brooke sleeps comfortably beside him, one arm around his waist and head against his chest, and he keeps running his fingers through her silky hair.

He can't stop thinking about that weekend.

The discussion he had with Brooke after dinner, together with his weird reaction at the doctor's office, made the memories even more clear. And for an hour now he has been laying like this, replaying that weekend in his mind.

So many things had just felt so right about that weekend. And maybe that was the reason to why he felt so utterly confused when Brooke had broken up with him a month later. During that weekend he and Brooke had been in their own bubble of bliss, kind of like they were right now, and even though Peyton was there and Rachel kept trying to embarrass his girlfriend, they had managed to stay in that bubble. Protected.

That night when Pete from Fall Out Boy stayed over, he remembers thinking that he could just sit in that plush armchair with his arms around Brooke forever. She had seemed so at ease in that cabin. So calm. And he had needed that so much because they had all been so broken after the shooting. She had felt so small all cuddled up in his big hooded sweatshirt and he remembers holding her tighter when the others got up and got ready to go to bed.

"Don't get up…"

She sighed happily and rested against him. "Aren't you tired?"

"No."

He shook his head and kissed her temple, then her cheek and then her neck. She giggled but lent her head a little more to the side, letting him have even more of her cream colored skin.

"Stay up with me?" he whispered while continuing to kiss her softly and she nodded.

They stayed like that for at least ten minutes, her seated between his legs, wrapped up in his arms and seemingly content with him placing soft kisses up and down her exposed neck. But then she turned.

"I have an idea…" she whispered and the gleam in her eyes twinkled even brighter. She grabbed his hand and pulled him with her as she got out of the armchair, and he shivered slightly at the loss of her warm body on top of his.

"Where are we going?"

"Hush… just come on…"

She dragged him with her out into the kitchen, and as they passed his brother in the hallway he mumbled a "Night Nathan…" on the way. Nathan just smiled and shook his head, probably still laughing on the inside at Brooke's antics earlier when trying to get Haley's ring, and went up the stairs to join his wife.

Brooke didn't even turn on the kitchen light, she just opened a cupboard and brought out two glasses, then she took a bottle from the wine-rack and examined it in the pale moonlight from the window.

"You like red?" she whispered smiling and he couldn't stop himself from kissing her.

"It's my favorite color… you know that…at least on you."

She rolled her eyes as if he was being stupid but kissed him back before going back to examining the bottle.

"This is a -96 Tiganello… Rachel's parents have great taste…"

Having no idea what she talked about he just grabbed a corkscrew out of the top drawer behind him and snaked his arms around her waist under her sweater. Her skin felt hot under his hands and he caressed her toned tummy.

"Lets go back into the living room…"

They tiptoed through the dark house and listened to the muffled sounds from upstairs signaling that their friends were all going to bed. And while he put some more chunks of wood on the fire, Brooke put the glasses and the bottle down on the mantelpiece. He watched her get a couple of blankets and cushions from the couch and laid them out on the floor. Then she took the two steps over to him and grabbed the hem of his shirt.

"Take this off…"

He let her strip him of his shirt and smiled as he watched her do the same with her own sweater. Her skin glistened in the light from the fire and he ran his hands over her upper body in pure adoration.

"You look beautiful Brooke."

She shivered under his touch and leaned up to kiss him. And the feel of her tongue against his own made him pull her down with him until they were both sprawled comfortably on the blankets.

She sat straddled over his lap and with somewhat shaking hands he poured the red wine into the two glasses before handing one to her.

Her eyes told him to taste the liquid and once he did, her lips was back on his, mixing the full taste of the wine with the wonderful taste of her.

This wasn't the usual way they did this. The way she touched him was so much slower and gentler then she usually did when she wanted him, yet her eyes told him that she wanted more than kissing. And when she put her glass down, he did the same.

"Make love to me?" she whispered.

"Here?"

For a second he thought about what would happen if the others came down to get a glass of water or to see why they hadn't gone upstairs, but then he succumbed to the feel of her caressing hands.

"Yes… here, in front of the fire…"

He kissed her peach-soft neck again and whispered:

"I could marry you…"

Brooke stirs beside him and he pulls her closer. It's way past midnight and he should be sleeping, but he can't.

He can't stop thinking about that weekend, because three times that weekend he had really meant that half-hazy comment. And he can't even count the times he thought about it since.

He could marry her. He would marry her.

Or at least he wants to.

He has no idea at all what the beautiful brunette next to him wants, because her facial expression when he accidentally said that he wanted them to say 'Brooke Scott' at the doctor's office had been both confused and a little hesitant.

He moves a little and Brooke sighs.

"Go to sleep Broody… seriously… your tossing and turning makes me insane…"

He can't help but to chuckle and she clamps a hand over his mouth and pulls his head closer to hers.

"Shut up… sleep…"

Her breath is warm and he kisses the tip of her nose before finally closing his eyes.

No stress, right?

They had all the time in the world. Ten more days before the arrival of their daughter. Then college, and life…

He pulls her closer, so close that he can feel her heart beating against his skin. And he knows she'll start complaining soon because of the heat, but he takes his chances. Just because he loves the soft thumping feel so much.

So listen with all your heart
Hold it inside forever
You may find all your dreams have already come true
Look inside and find the part that's leading you
'Cause that's the beat of
Oh it's the sweetest sound,
'Cause that's the beat of a heart

----

Author's note: A huge thank you to Ellie, who during the last weeks have listened to constant whining from me. The same goes for my precious Emma. (Love you both).

And as usual, great thanks to Cami and Casey for being my girls. And to Daniel for reviews that always have me striving to write better. Thank you to all my FF-girls and to each and every one of you who take time to review this ridiculously long story.

You all have been a big part of making 2007 a great year for me. Hopefully I'll bring you even better stories in 2008.

/Lynn