A/N: Thank you for the awesome reviews. Thanks to my beta: Leeese.

Chapter Thirty Eight

Over My Head

For the next few weeks, Lucas, Brooke and Maddie worked hard training Lola especially Maddie. She wanted to prove to her dad that she was doing a good job in taking care of Lola. As much as she didn't want to, she even helped Brooke clean up Lola's messes when she had accidents in the house. It took Lucas awhile, but he even began to enjoy having the little puppy around.

While the Scott family was adjusting to the new puppy, Rachel and Owen were getting ready to move from New York City to Wilmington. To their delight, they were able to not only sell their apartment, but also find a house in a short time span. It was a perfect two story four bedroom house with a big backyard for their future children to play in.

Shortly after that was the grand opening of Brooke's Children's Boutique. The first day was a huge success – socially and commercially. Brooke couldn't count how many items were sold. She didn't particularly care. She just was thrilled her business was off to a great start and knew she had made the right decision in not partnering with Richard.

Soon, it was the first day of kindergarten for Maddie, Jamie and Jenny. Bridget was upset she wouldn't be able to go with them. It became even worse when Millie announced she was going to not only be a working mom, but she was going to work for Brooke at her store. She had thought about changing careers since she and Mouth decided to move back to Tree Hill. She just wanted to wait until they found a house before she discussed the subject with Mouth. Mouth was very supportive about his wife's decision to change careers. However, this meant Bridget would be put in daycare with her brother and she wasn't happy about it.

The days continued to pass quickly. On Halloween night, Lucas and Brooke took the children out for trick or treating. Both Brooke and Maddie dressed up as superheroes while Jamie wore his racecar suit again. Jenny and Bridget both wore princess costumes. Little Edward was dressed as a little Dalmatian. Lucas was the only one who didn't wear a costume.

Brooke tried to convince Haley to come along since she had made a superhero costume for her too. It was made to fit over her baby bump. However, Haley refused to wear it or even go along with them. She wanted to spend a peaceful evening with her husband and didn't believe she would be able to walk for that long.

"Why the hell would you invite Rachel to my baby shower?" Haley demanded as she and Brooke discussed the last minute plans for the baby shower. They were going over the guest list. However, Haley interrupted her as soon as she heard Rachel's name. "She is your friend, not mine." Brooke tried to reason with her, but she wouldn't have it. "Tell me one good reason why I should let her come to my baby shower."

"Knowing her, she will probably get you an awesome baby present," Brooke reminded her. "And she doesn't have many friends here. I'm trying to make her feel welcomed and you're not helping." She didn't want to tell her friend that Rachel had been acting strange ever since she had moved to North Carolina. Brooke couldn't quite put a finger on it, but she could sense something was bothering her. She just wished Rachel would tell her what it was. "At least it's not Peyton. Of course, I wouldn't invite her anyway. So can Rachel come?"

Haley let out a deep sigh before she agreed. "So what is the final count of people attending my baby shower again?"

"We have me and Maddie, Millie and Bridget, Jenny, your mom, Quinn, Karen, Deb, Victoria, Lindsey, Mia, Rachel and your secretary Renee," Brooke told her. "So it is fourteen people. I'm so glad Karen is willing to close the café so we could hold the baby shower. Speaking of my future goddaughter, did you and Nathan ever figure out a name for her yet?" she asked anxiously. They hadn't had a chance to talk much since she had opened her clothing store.

Haley just gave her a smile. "Yes, but we want to keep that a surprise until the birth."

Brooke pretended to be hurt. "You don't even want to tell her own godmother her name? Why is it such a secret?"

"Because it's more fun this way," Haley replied. "And please take Renee's name off the invitation list. She's not my secretary anymore. I fired her a couple of months ago. She was trying to tell me how to run my business and was chasing away potential music students. I tried to tolerate it as long as I could, but something had to be done. Annie, our next door neighbor who Maddie went to when she ran away, is now my personal assistant. And that is working out great."

"Annie seems like a nice girl," Brooke agreed. "Do you want me to invite her to your baby shower instead?"

"Actually, I already asked her and she is busy that afternoon," Haley replied. "Besides, she thinks it might be weird since I'm her boss and everything. I told her that if she changes her mind, we would be happy to have her."

Brooke changed the subject. "So what do you guys usually do for the Thanksgiving holidays?"

"Nathan and I always go to my parents' house," Haley replied. "Thanksgiving is my mom's favorite holiday. You're welcome to join us, but Lucas and Maddie will probably go to Keith's and Karen's house. They do every year and then we all come together for Christmas. What did you and Julian do?"

"We didn't have a grand holiday for Thanksgiving since it was just the two of us," Brooke replied. "Sometimes, his mom came and visited us or Rachel. But most of the time, it was just me and him."

Haley had forgotten Brooke wasn't speaking to her parents back then. "Well, now you have Lucas and the rest of the Scott family to spend the holidays with. And you made up with your mom so you can invite her along too. I'm sure she doesn't have Thanksgiving plans."

While Brooke and Haley were talking, Lucas was driving to another location to talk to someone else. He had been surprised when this particular person wanted to talk to him. Normally, Rachel would go to Brooke to discuss her problems, not him. But she had told him this wasn't something she felt her best friend could help her with.

Lucas soon arrived at his destination and parked the car in front of Rachel's house. He climbed out of the car and went up to the door. He rang the doorbell and jumped when he heard barking on the other side of the door. He wasn't expecting to hear a dog. He calmed down as Rachel came into view.

"I'm so sorry about that. I forgot to warn you about Juliet," Rachel said as she scooped the white Pomeranian under her arms. "Owen got her for me as a belated wedding present. Isn't she adorable?"

Lucas just gave her a smile. "I don't even have to guess to know you got the name from Romeo and Juliet," he replied.

Rachel returned the smile as she closed the door behind them. "It was the only Shakespeare play in high school I was willing to read and understand what they were saying." She put her dog down before she turned back to her guest. "Can I get you anything to eat or drink?"

Lucas shook his head. He wanted to get down to business. Rachel didn't say anything as she gestured him to sit down on the sofa. He did as he asked, "Is everything okay?" There was more silence. He noticed she was getting upset. "Hey, what happened?" Lucas asked her in concern as he tried to comfort her.

The tears fell as Rachel managed to speak. "I can't do this." Lucas was confused, but he didn't have a chance to answer as she continued. "I thought it would be easy since Owen and I are in love. At least, I thought we were. But all we do is argue about everything. It doesn't matter whether it's about money or the nursery. No matter how the conversation starts out, we start arguing. We're like Richard and Victoria, only worse."

That sparked Lucas's interest. "How are you two worse than them?" Rachel realized she had said something she shouldn't have. "Has the relationship gotten physical?" he asked anxiously. Rachel was about to protest when Lucas looked at her hard. "Rachel, is Owen hitting you?"

Rachel let out a deep sigh before she answered him. "Owen has started drinking again," she admitted. Lucas was about to respond when she continued the story. "But he does it in the bar. The bartender knows better than to let him drive home drunk. So he usually calls me when Owen has had enough and I drive him home."

Lucas just shook his head in disbelief. He didn't want to hear her excuses. "How do you know he won't bring it home or get in a car accident and kill someone? Or you?" he exclaimed as he shot up from the couch. "You have a baby on the way! You have a responsibility to yourself and your unborn child to be safe and away from your drunken husband!"

Rachel gave him a look. "Don't you think I know that? I've tried to tell Owen he needs to stop and get help, but he doesn't want to listen to me. He never wants to listen to me. He does whatever he wants." There was a short pause before she spoke again. "It wasn't like this in the beginning, but we have been having problems since we've moved here. I know that he doesn't miss New York. He really didn't mind moving here." She let out another heavy sigh. "I think it's because we just weren't ready for marriage. I don't know what to do. I love him, but I can't live like this. And I can't raise a baby by myself. I wouldn't know what to do."

Lucas tried to calm her down. He could tell she was feeling overwhelmed at the thought of marriage and having a baby so quickly. He knew exactly how she felt and he now understood why she had called him. "You and Owen can still work this out before it's too late. All you have to do is try to talk to Owen one last time and give him an ultimatum: rehab or you leave him. If he doesn't want to listen, then I'll try and reason with him and give him a chance to come to his senses."

Rachel tried not to laugh. "I don't think your methods of reasoning with him will go well with your ex-wife. As much as I want Owen to stop drinking, I don't want you to get into another custody battle with Peyton. I know how rough the first one was on you; especially since that judge gave custody to Peyton after you had an outburst in court. I hope someone complained about him because that was not fair."

"Well, it doesn't matter because I was able to get back custody of Maddie," Lucas replied.

Rachel nodded in agreement. She didn't respond as she started to think about a request she had planned for awhile, but she was trying to figure out the right time to tell Lucas and Brooke about it. "Lucas, I don't know what will happen in the future with Owen or this baby, but would you and Brooke take care of my child if something happens to me and I'm not able to? I don't want Owen to do it, not while he is drinking." Lucas was speechless. That wasn't what he was expecting to hear from Rachel. "I know you two are already going to be the godparents. And you have Maddie to think about, but I really want you and Brooke to be named guardians of my baby."

Lucas was silent for a few moments as he considered the thought. "I'm sure Brooke will agree with me when I say we would be happy to be your baby's guardians."

Rachel gave him a grateful smile. "Thank you, Lucas. You don't know how much this means to me."