Chapter Thirty-Seven: Miss
"Hey," She said softly as she remained in the doorway.
Julian slipped out of the bed and made his way over to the other side to get Emma. She stirred slightly but didn't wake as he carried her toward the door. "It's good to see you, Peyton. We missed you." He said as he walked past her.
Peyton smiled as she tucked a stray curl behind her ear. "I missed you too."
"What are you doing here?" Brooke asked as she struggled to sit up once Julian had left leaving her and Peyton alone.
Peyton saw how much Brooke was struggling to sit up and how much pain she was in due to the amount of wincing she was doing. She hurried over and helped her get comfortable. "I came to see you." She answered simply. "Why didn't you tell me you were pregnant?"
Brooke shrugged. "I didn't know how."
"Brooke," Peyton sighed as she sat down on the edge of the bed. "It's not that hard. All you had to do was pick up the phone and call me."
Brooke shook her head. "You're my best friend; I'm not supposed to tell you over the phone. I wanted to tell you so badly but it never seemed like the right time. I hate that you live in a different state and the only way I can talk to you is on the phone. There's so much I have to tell you and only you because you get me like nobody else in the world. I miss you so much, Peyton."
"I've missed you so much too," She smiled.
"Then why don't you ditch Philly and come back home where you belong?"
Peyton sighed. "I really do miss it here, Tree Hill's my home and it feels weird to be in a place that is so different from here. I miss seeing you on a daily basis, I miss seeing Nathan and Haley and I can tell that being this far away from Lucas is starting to take its toll on Connor. I've realized how much I've missed and I don't want to miss anymore."
"Good." Brooke smiled.
"It's not that easy, Brooke." Peyton frowned. "Mike and I have had so many fights over the past couple weeks because I've told him a few times how much I want to move back here and he refuses. He won't listen to me and I don't know what to do."
"Don't do anything." Brooke shrugged earning a questioning look from Peyton. "I'll take care of it."
Peyton couldn't help but laugh. "No offense, but I think you're going to have a harder time than me convincing him to move back."
Brooke shrugged. "I don't know about that."
"So, are you going to tell me what happened with you and why you're in the hospital?" Peyton asked as she leaned forward and rested her head on the edge of the bed.
"Julian and I went out with Jess and Luke for dinner and I got up to go to the bathroom and on my way back I fainted. I was in the early stage of a miscarriage but they got me to the hospital in time to stop it from progressing so they were able to save the baby." She explained.
"Do they know why you fainted?"
She nodded. "I haven't been eating and it caught up with me. I was mal-nourished and severely dehydrated."
"Brooke!" Peyton exclaimed. "Do you know how dangerous that is to you and especially the baby? That little boy or girl is depending on you for everything and it's not fair to deprive them of vital nutrients."
"I know," Brooke said as she hung her head in shame. "I don't know why I did it."
"Does it have something to do with your mom marrying David?"
Brooke raised her eyebrows. "You know?"
She nodded. "Sam told me out in the waiting room. I stopped and said hi to them before I came in here."
"It has a lot to do with that and Emma and my dad." Brooke said softly.
"Your dad?" Peyton asked. She knew how protective Brooke was of her father and she also knew she never talked about him. Since he died, Peyton could only recall Brooke talking about her dad twice. "What about him?"
Brooke shrugged. "I hate that my mother married David. I want to be okay with it and happy for her but I can't because I don't think it's fair to my dad. I don't want to accept David as a part of our family because that means my dad has been replaced."
Peyton shook her head. "No one can replace your dad, Brooke. Just because David's now married to your mom doesn't mean he's your new dad. He makes your mom happy and that should, in turn, make you happy."
"I know and I've tried to be happy for her but it doesn't work."
"How come?" Peyton pressed.
"I think because I never saw her that happy with my dad so how do I know that she really loved him? What if she only married him because of his money? There's a lot I don't know about his relationship with my mom and I want to know."
Peyton nodded. "You deserve the answers."
"How am I supposed to get them?" Brooke asked.
"I'll take care of that."
Brooke smiled and raised her eyebrow. "How?"
"You take care of Mike for me and I'll take care of Bitchtoria for you."
"Please don't call her that," Brooke begged. "It was a suitable name for her a few years ago but she's changed, Peyton."
"If you say so." Peyton groaned as she rolled her eyes.
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"Hi Victoria, its Peyton." She said into the phone as she paced back and forth.
"Peyton," Victoria sighed. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this phone call?"
"Well I'm surprised you actually picked up considering Julian has tried calling you for the past twelve hours and you didn't pick up for him—"
"Why would he be trying to call me? He knows that I'm on my honeymoon in Tahiti."
"Brooke collapsed yesterday and she almost had a miscarriage. He thought her mother would like to know." Peyton sniped.
"She what? Is she okay? What about the baby? How is Julian doing?" She panicked.
"They're all fine. She's just been really stressed lately and most of that stress is related to you."
"What could I have possibly done that led her to collapse?"
"You married David." Peyton said simply.
'You know, Peyton, I really don't like your tone." Victoria huffed.
"I don't care if you like it or not; you're not my mother." Peyton shot back.
"I know that but that doesn't give you the right to speak to me the way you are. I don't understand why you are always so unpleasant to me."
"I don't like you." She said. "I saw how you treated Brooke growing up and even though you and she claim you made up for it and things are better now I disagree. You still treat her poorly and you don't even consider her feelings when you marry David—"
"None of this is your business." Victoria interrupted.
"It is my business because Brooke is my best friend and I'll do anything for her and that includes calling you out when you're wrong."
Victoria sighed. "What does she want me to do?"
"She wants you to come home so she can talk to you about Ethan. I don't know why, but she misses you, Victoria, and she loves you…a lot."
Victoria struggled to keep her voice from cracking. "Tell her I'm on the next flight home."
"I will." Peyton said curtly. "Goodbye Victoria."
"Goodbye, Peyton." Victoria replied before hanging up and reaching for her suitcase. "David, dear, we're going home."
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"Hi Mike," Brooke greeted when he picked up. "How are you doing?"
"Not great, she doesn't have much time left."
Brooke ran her hand through her hair as she recalled when her dad was dying and he didn't have much time left. "I know how hard it is." She said softly.
"You do?" Mike asked surprise evident in his voice.
She nodded. "My dad got diagnosed with emphysema and died a few months later. Watching him suffer was the hardest thing I've ever lived through; I know what it feels like to watch the person you love the most slowly decompose day by day."
"I didn't expect to be this emotional, I'm sorry." He said and Brooke could hear him cough and sniffle as he tried to regain his composure. "How are you doing? Peyton left in a hurry yesterday and said something about the fact that you're in the hospital. Everything okay?"
She nodded. "I fainted and was in the beginning stage of a miscarriage but everything is okay now."
"God, Brooke, are you sure?"
She smiled at his concern. "Yeah, I just have to take it easy until I get my strength back."
"So, to what do I owe this wonderful phone call from you?" He smiled.
"Can you come back here to Tree Hill?"
She heard him sigh loudly. "Brooke. I can't."
"Why not?"
"Because my dad's whole life is up here and he's struggling with losing my mom it wouldn't be fair to force him to move down to Tree Hill right after she passes."
"What if it's what he needs? What if everywhere he looks he sees Colleen and what he shared with her during her life and it becomes too much for him to handle? Don't you want to spare him the agony of that?"
"If it comes to that then I'd consider leaving Philly but I can't just tell him to pack his bags because we're moving to North Carolina."
She sighed. "Well I miss my best friend. And my godson and goddaughter. And you. I miss all of you and the past few months have been miserable without you guys."
"It's just been hard because you've never been away from Peyton for this long before. You two have always been connected at the hip, it's expected that you'd go through some sort of separation anxiety." Mike tried to reason. 'It'll get better."
"No it won't," Brooke whined. "She hates it up there."
"She does?"
Brooke brought her hand to her forehead and shook her head. "I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry."
"Well you did and now you need to elaborate." Mike said.
"It's just all foreign to her and she doesn't like that. She misses being able to stop in at my house just because. She misses hanging out with Nate and Haley while Jamie and Connor splash in the pool. She misses it here and she's tried telling you that but she said you won't listen." Brooke said as she twirled the phone cord around her finger.
Mike sighed. "I thought she was just sad because my mother was dying but now I've realized it's probably a combination of that and the fact that she misses her old life. I just don't know what to do, Brooke. If I stay up here she's unhappy. If I come back there my dad will be. I just don't know."
"She's coming home tomorrow afternoon so how about you plan to pick her up at the airport and then bring her someplace for dinner and just talk. And listen. You need to make sure you listen to what she is saying Mike because she feels like you haven't been. Whatever you decide to do you need to decide together and agree upon it." She said.
"I know," he said. "Thanks Brooke."
"Anytime." She smiled. "And hopefully I'll see you soon."
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Later that night, Brooke was discharged from the hospital and ordered on strict bed rest for the next week in order for her to gather more strength. Peyton had brought Sam, Jack, Emma and Ryan home earlier in the afternoon so they could get the house looking its best before Brooke returned.
"Where are we going?" Brooke asked when Julian passed their street. "You didn't buy a new house again did you?" She smirked.
"No," he laughed. "I just want to spend a little more time alone with you before we go back home to a houseful of kids."
"So, where are we going?" She smiled.
"It's a surprise." He grinned as he continued to drive toward his destination.
A short while later they arrived at the local coffee shop where she had spent many mornings with Sam eating breakfast and talking about her birth mom who waitressed the tables around them. "What are we doing here?" Brooke asked as she unbuckled her seatbelt.
"Easy," Julian said as he helped her.
"You're really going to make my life a living hell for the next week, aren't you?"
"The doctor said that you're only allowed out of bed to go to the bathroom and that's it. He'd be pissed to find out that I'm taking you into a coffee shop minutes after getting discharged." He said. "I also don't want anything to make you risk losing the baby again."
"We're not losing this baby." She said as she patted her belly.
He helped her out of the car and held her hand as they walked slowly into the empty coffee shop. The only person in there beside the teenage waitress was a small old man nursing a steaming cup of coffee. "What are we doing here?' Brooke asked again as he helped her slide into a booth.
"I really like this place." Julian said as he looked around. "The mirrors make it look like it's a lot bigger than it really is. The bar is a nice place for people who are just stopping in for lunch to eat. It has that small town feel, you know?"
Brooke nodded unsure of why he was rambling the way he was.
"It's also where I fell in love with you."
Brooke's eyes widened. "Here? Really? When?"
He smiled at her amazement as he reached for her hands and held them on the table. "You don't remember?"
She shook her head. "The only thing I remember is crying like an idiot after I read the breakdown of the girl you were looking for to play me in the movie and you definitely could not have fallen in love with me then."
"That's where you're wrong." Julian grinned. "That's the exact moment that I fell in love with you and knew that if I got the chance to spend the rest of my life with you I'd be the luckiest man in the world."
"Why that moment?" She asked. "Why not the night after we made love for the first time? Why not that time on the beach when you said if you could spend every day like that day you'd die a happy man? Why not—"
"You let your guard down for the first time around me. You let me see the most vulnerable and sacred part of you and you didn't hide it or try and shy away. I know that I caught you off guard that day but you did the same thing to me. You said that you had a hard time letting people in in the past but that day you had no problem letting me in and that meant the world to me. I knew then that I was in love with you and I couldn't let you get away." He said as he squeezed her hands.
"I really love you, you know that?" She smiled.
"I really love you too." He said as he leaned across the table to wipe the one tear that had fallen off of her cheek.
"What do you say we head home to our houseful of kids?" She asked as she nodded toward the door.
"Let's do it." He grinned as he helped her up.
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"Mommy!" Emma squealed when she saw Brooke walk through the front door.
Seeing Emma wrap herself around Brooke's leg made Julian's heart melt. It showed how far they had come with her and although they still had more to go the progress she had made in just the past few days was astounding. "Easy, Em." Julian cautioned. "Mommy's a little sore still."
"Where's the baby?" Ryan asked.
Brooke smiled. "The baby still has a lot of growing to do before he or she can come home to live with us."
"So it's still inside of you?"
Brooke nodded. "The baby won't be here for seven more months."
Ryan huffed. "Seriously?" He cried.
"Seriously, bud." Julian said as he picked him up. "What do you say, time for bed?"
Ryan shook his head.
"It's late, Ry."
"Yeah, but tomorrow's Saturday." He grinned.
Brooke laughed. "He has a point."
Ryan smiled in satisfaction. "Mommy's on my side."
"Okay, well what do you want to do tonight?" Julian asked.
"Watch a movie!" Emma exclaimed.
Julian looked over at Brooke who nodded. "I'll be resting." She shrugged.
Julian, Brooke, Peyton, Sam, Jack, Emma and Ryan all gathered in the large family room to watch Cars, Emma and Ryan's current favorite movie. Ryan loved pointing things out to Peyton since she had never seen the movie and Ryan was an expert seeing as he had watched Cars at least fifteen times. Sam and Jack weren't paying attention at all to the movie and Brooke wished she could hear what they were whispering about because Jack didn't look that happy. Julian smiled as he glanced down to see Brooke cuddled in his arms while she played with Emma's hair since she was lying in her lap. e couHe couldn't help but feel content with his life since he knew everything was okay. His baby was going to be all right, his wife loved him, his kids were happy and those were the things that mattered the most in life.
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